Ride Reports

night riding

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First Thursday Night Ride – 26/09/2013, latest night ride 28/11/132013-01-10 19.08.05

I’d been away from Mountain Biking for about ten years. I gave my self a kick up the derrière and got back into the saddle and after some solo time (that sounds a little wrong!) and a new bike, I thought it would be a good idea to see if there was anyone else I could ride with.

Thanks to the power of Google I discovered Brighton MTB and joined them on one of their Thursday night rides. It was great to be led around Stamner Park through some of the great trails. The sight of 15 illuminated bikes cutting through the trees was amazing.

I will be back for more.

Toby

True to his word Toby has out again last night hurtling through the dark, holding pace with the pack on the singletrack and coping with all the uphill stuff without complaint. He did slip at one point and I was forced to stop otherwise I would have coped with a greasy, muddy stump easily of course but to make him feel better I waddled like a duck astride the bike over the next two to save his feelings but obviously could have managed this easily – easily.

I did slide into a tree at a later point and he did not repay the favour and made it seem easy as he casually waited and rode around it as if it was not difficult at all. My feelings were hurt at at that point.

So if you have been away for a while, e.g. ten years like Toby, then you could take a chance and return to the saddle. You also receive the cast iron guarantee that a full winter’s riding will bring you up to our gold standard of “barely mediocre” like the rest of us.

Ronnie

 

Lady of the evening

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IMG_3671Having only ever joined Brighton MTB on weekend rides I thought it was about time I made the effort to get out on one of their weekday evening rides. I decided to join their Thursday night ride as it was billed as a more relaxed pace and not being the quickest on climbs this suited me fine. Continue reading →

UK bike park

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  ukbp jumpsThere is a myth whispered quietly between mountain bikers of a prize often looked for but rarely found. What it is isn’t entirely clear,  the biggest rush, the smoothest jump, the longest – maybe never ending – trail, no one really knows. You don’t win the prize by entering a lottery or answering a question. To win you must first search for and find a thing esoteric and known only in a mountain bikers heart; all that is known is that it can be ridden and once found you must ride it like the world is ending behind you. The thing has a name, it’s called the Gnarr, and to ride it like the world is ending just behind your back wheel? That’s less complicated, you shred it. (apparently). Continue reading →

Chris’s ride report

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IMG_3680 I lived in Brighton a few years ago during my university placement and it was where I learnt to ride technical trails.  I still come back each summer to race at Brighton Big Dog

I have kept in touch with Ronnie who has supported me in the world of racing over the last few years and as I had a local visit planned it seemed a good excuse to come back and ride on a Thursday night ride with Brighton Mtb.

Meeting up at Sussex uni it was nice to see such a variation of bikes, gear and riders, from flowery helmets to fat bikes they had it all. After a quick chat about bikes and riding with journalist Tom Gallagher and Jimbo (Sussex mtb/SouthDownsmtbskills/Quest) we headed out in Stanmer wood and we quickly hit the twisty single track Stanmer is known for and where I was promptly dropped by Ashley on his Jones, damn! Being fast uphill can’t help me here.

The Stanmer trails were sticky but still running well for January I thought; my local riding has suffered badly over the winter. With a high concentration of riders the best single track gets a hard time, with little maintenance the single track rapidly turns into double track.

I usually ride long countryside routes, linking forest areas together, this helps my general fitness, but riding more technical singletrack with varied trail obstacles like Stanmer would help me bIMG_3681e a better all-round rider, even if we only managed 11miles in 2hours!

It was refreshing to ride with a group that managed to keep up a good pace, with stationary time kept to a minimum, riders could skip sections to recover or chase faster riders up the hills or through the single track.

Riding Stanmer  with Brighton Mtb would make any keen or novice rider improve; it sure showed me that my technical riding skills need work before the summer season if I’m to ride efficiently.

Chapeau guys! keep up the good work and I’ll see you in the summer, if not before.

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2013-01-10 19.08.05

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Chris Noble

(link to Chris’s racing site is on the sidebar)

Night riding

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People say it’s one thing to nail a 12 ft gap jump, carve a wallride and get weightless down a drop so big you get a sense of what Felix Baumgartner went through but it’s quite another thing to do the same in the pitch dark with only a couple of battery powered lamps strapped to your helmet and handlebars to light your way.

To be fair I wouldn’t have a clue about gap jumps, wall rides or drop offs of more than a foot high but since riding with Brighton mtb I’ve taken to riding at night like a fish to mud, at least in enthusiasm rather than competence. Continue reading →

Have I made the right choice?

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by Ryan Walker
I’m fairly new to the sport (2 months) and have only really ridden local bridleways around my local area of Haywards Heath.

I turned up last Thursday at Stanmer and feeling mildly daunted by the whole prospect, particularly as this was the first time I’d even considered night riding, was made to feel at ease by Ronnie who promised me that they wouldn’t leave me behind.

The ride was fine for pace up until we started ducking, diving, weaving and bobbing through trees, bumps etc… That was the moment that I realised that I was not quite up to the same pace as the other guys but, as promised, someone stayed behind me and there were more than enough stops for me to comfortably catch up and not feel like I was holding the group back.

This was a totally new style of riding for me but by then end of it I could tell I was getting better, faster and more confident. (Even after I took a flying rugby tackle at a birch tree for my first ‘off’ since buying the bike).

In short, I’ve been looking for a new sport to get into since hanging up my running shoes, and have been slightly worried that this might not be the answer.
I can now relax as mountain biking is everything I hoped it would be and can’t wait to get better at it and start doing some of these silly Enduro races and the like.

See you on Thursday.

Last ride of summer?

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Starting at the carpark with over 20 riders was a bit daunting, but fear of getting left behind was soon alleviated once we got going.

The pace was fairly relaxed and there were plenty of stops (with headcounts) to make sure everyone had caught up. It was great to ride with such a big group and there were smiles all round.

The trails were amazing, and different from my normal haunt of Friston. Stanmer is much more ‘pedally’ throughout the ride, and many of the corners are tighter.  Friston tends to be a long slog up – get your breath – hurtle down – repeat (though his is changing with new trails such as Dave Knows Best / Fearnes Creek). If you ride Stanmer at night I’d recommend a helmet lamp over a bar-mounted one (or both).

The conditions tonight were surprisingly good. Much drier than I expected. This meant that the tree roots were not slippery. Stanmer is VERY rooty, so this ride would have been tougher in the wet.
I never felt hurried and never got lost, even though I ‘felt’ lost for most of the ride.

I’ll certainly come back for more, but next time on my rigid singlespeed.

Thanks guys. Epic evening!

Gus. http://cycleseahaven.org.uk