Hi Ronnie

22 – 25C,  humidity 5%, Trek superfly AL 29er,  rocky & hot

enjoy the photo’s

Ash

After years of wanting to join Brighton MTB but being prevented by the combined complexity of balancing a job that demands too many hours, 2 kids and a bike that kept falling apart, Thursday 4th August marked only my 2nd attempt to get out on a Thursday night and enjoy the trails of Stanmer Park.

I had spent the day looking out of the window of my meeting at Brighton Town Hall, watching the skies empty themselves and wondering if I would make it. My last ride in the rain had been on my brand new Genesis Core 40 which had come equipped with Continental Mountain King tyres. These are without doubt the worst wet weather tyres I have ever used and I had come off quite badly ending up in A&E… nothing to do whatsoever with my general lack of skill on a bike and entirely the fault of the rubber! My ego was bruised and my legs were cut up but by late afternoon the rain had stopped and so there were no excuses. I got on my bike with its lovely new grippy Maxxis High Rollers and headed for the University car park.

Having failed to regain all of my confidence since I came off I was pleased that the ride got underway at quite a relaxed pace and that I wasn’t the only one taking on the slippery ground with at least a modicum of apprehension. We started by doing a portion of the Big Dog course and I can now be confident of a top 5 finishing position I am sure. (Actually I am only doing the One Dog and was not far off last place in 2010 so I might need to revise my goals somewhat nearer the time.)

The rest of the ride combined some trails that I am familiar with and some that I am not, but all of which are great fun. One of the things I really enjoy about the Thursday night ride is that the uphill bits are treated in the way that uphill bits should be… they are a necessary evil which are only tolerated because they inevitably lead to going downhill fast afterwards. As the evening progressed and the light faded my lights went on and I was particularly impressed by the riders who had forgotten, or not bothered, to bring theirs but who continued regardless. At risk of being accused of having rather traditional views I have always been firmly in the camp of riders who prefer to be able to see where they are going when riding fast over slippery roots and unexpected obstacles.

Nonetheless, everyone made it back and there were no serious injuries. Once in the car park Ronnie approached me with a friendly question; ’You’ve been a couple of times now haven’t you?’ What a nice chap I thought, enquiring as to whether I had enjoyed the ride and whether I will be back. ‘Yeah, great ride’ I answered innocently. Then, without missing a beat, he pounced; ‘Good, you can write the ride report then’.

Oh well, a small price to pay for some fine riding.

Martin Edelman

July 7th 2011 marked my first ride with Brightonmtb. I must admit I was pretty nervous, and rightfully so, as when I arrived I was by far the youngest attendee. After a few brief introductions and a casual ‘you’ll pick up names on the way’ from Ronnie, we were off and riding.

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect with regards to the riding style. I’m used to flowing singletrack and wide bridleways, uphill and down. But this was something quite different.

I would describe it as ‘Technical Singletrack’ as that was pretty much what it was. We worked our way up the hill whilst often looping back on ourselves down various manmade, but not obvious, trails, all of which had their fair share of drops, jumps, logs, corners, and close knit branches you’re sure to clip your bars on constantly. This made it incredibly fun.

The pace we rode it, well, we weren’t hanging about, and I was pushing pretty hard. Riding by myself I wouldn’t have done half the stuff I rode that night, just due to having lots of people behind me I didn’t want to upset by stopping. That said, when you nail something really tricky, it makes you feel pretty good, so I was fairly pleased by the whole affair.

I fell off just twice, which I was fairly pleased with, and, like an idiot, had thought earlier in the day that I probably wouldn’t need knee pads, it won’t be too intense. Well that was regretted the second I fell off onto both my knees!

But falling off just makes it more enjoyable, like you’re putting the effort in to achieve. Mind, lifting a hand off the bars to avoid getting stung by nettles (despite full arm and hand clothing coverage) is a bad idea, and will result in the bike falling off you.

Not been much of a story to these few paragraphs but I just have to get across that until you ride with people that are better than you, you will never get better, as when you ride by yourself there is limited motivation to push yourself, for obvious reasons. With others there it’s hard not to push yourself! Which will always result in improved skills.

On the whole I had a great evening ride and will be sure to return for another helping.

Will