Another sting in the tail

Posted by mtbnomad

So, for the second Thursday in a row I would be spending the evening with a bunch of guys in muddy woodland, last week 180,000 at Glastonbury, this week 20 at the weekly BrightonMTB meet.

The night began as usual in the car park at Sussex uni, greeting a few new faces and comparing new kit. Time to choose a ride leader, and after a little persuasion Rob was volunteered… I think he realised he wouldn’t have to ride UP as much singletrack if he was leading the group! This was the first night ever I had forgotten my pack, so I was half expecting to get a puncture before even leading the carpark.

Off into Stanmer park we rode, up the usual firetrails until we reached the first group of trails at the top. We warmed up with a couple of old favourites, before riding a trail with some nicely built features, first a nice log pile followed by some nicely shaped doubles and berms. The route out of here was a little narrow and more than one person suffered a “bike, tree interface”.

Next up, my “favourite”, tank traps, a rooty off camber section of trail. Ronnie as ever was doing his best to show the “easy” way in, but few seemed to believe him and took the better trodden path. Ronnie had helped me out a couple of weeks ago with choosing a line through here and it helped a lot tonight, resulting in riding it with much more flow.

To infinity and beyond, or just to Buzz Lightyear trail, with a couple of new features to roll over. As flowy as ever this was a great trail.

We now headed to the other side of the park via a nice fast section of downhill fireroad. Nerves were tested to see who would brake first, a couple of walkers making interesting trail features. A choice of routes uphill followed either the singletrack or the easy fireroad. Sadly I have to report that I was slower on the fireroad than the guys riding up the rooty singletrack. Next time hey…

The next trail led us to the “Sting in the tail” feature. This has been built up over a large fallen tree and after a few tales of somersaults over it, about half the guys hit the feature nicely including it’s shaper. Queue much goading of Ronnie who didn’t fancy it tonight. I didn’t either of course, but have since sneaked back on my own and conquered it, and indeed it is now nice and smooth.

“Lights are gay…”, Ali was chastised by the northern contingent for having the cheek to turn on his lights before 9pm. I mean, why would he, we could see at least 5m in front of ourselves by that point!? Ali wasn’t “so gay” though when he brought out the traditional sours sweets a couple of trails later…

A couple more trails, losing and regaining Ronnie in the process, led us down to the bottom of the Park and back to the cars. After putting the bike in the car I saw Ronnie approaching me, hopefully to complement me on a great ride… “Have you ever written a ride report Chris?!”.

First ride

Posted by mtbnomad

I recently discovered mountain biking a few weeks ago after me and my friend decided to randomly meet in the middle of nowhere in the country just for fun. After that I started to look into mtb, that’s how I found the Brighton MTB page on the internet.

I enquired and received a very friendly response from Ronnie, who would kindly explain to me how to overcome the obstacles and would wait for me, he told me to “look for the orange bike” and so I did. I investigated a bit more about bikes and changed my old bike for a new one on a Thursday, the very same day I headed to the night ride straight from the shop, somehow the group found that quite funny.

I am reasonably fit, I go to the gym regularly and ride a couple of times a week mainly off road, I had even cycled 50 Km two weeks ago so I though it would be fairly easy, just a bunch of guys leisure riding in the downs maybe… I was wrong, and I was not fit!

The trails and the obstacles we went over in the forest were just amazing, the terrain, the obstacles, every little detail was the product of years of dedication of a man with a passion for mountain biking. Despite of being left behind most of the time and falling off my bike twice, I had a whale of a time, I just can’t stop thinking about it, I just want to go back.

I would highly recommend anyone to join any ride but be careful, it’s highly addictive!

Best,

Alberto

Thursday thoughts

Posted by mtbnomad

“I bought a bike last week and rode straight out the shop to here for my first ride here and my first night ride”

” I have been persuaded to lead tonight, glad it is only twenty seven”

” I am new tonight so that is why I am hiding”

“Don’t look, he has no head”

“Does my bum look big in this?”

” whistle – check, wristguards – check!”

“now you see me, now you see me”

” Are you ready Mike?”

” I hope this headset is back the right way round”

” How hard can it be?”

” I don’t want to turn around, what is he doing?”

“I can’t see from here”

“I can”

“I feel like a doppleganger”

“why is everyone else’s bike the wrong way up?”

“do you like that lycra feel?”

“not the feel, just the look”

Learning to fly

Posted by mtbnomad

It lies in wait, hidden in the undergrowth and waits to catch you unawares. Daunting, dangerous, defeatable. Many of the obstacles on a mountain bike trail are challenging; narrow gaps, steep drops or a log structure that makes you girdle your loins and race to certain doom on the hidden side but the most fearsome for some is the natural jump.

Continue reading →

4 days in Wales

Posted by mtbnomad

We arrived at Bryn Bettws Log Cabins situated in the heart of the Afan forest late on Thursday night. It was the first full season the cabins had been open and we quickly made ourselves at home celebrating St Patricks day with a few cans of the black stuff.

The next morning we woke early and got stuck into making packed lunches and sorting our bikes out for the days riding. By 10.30am we’d driven over to Glyncorrwg MTB centre only to discover that a few of the Afan trails were closed due to winter damage and the Japanese Larch virus that was forcing the Forestry Commission to fell 13% of the trees in the area.

Luckily White’s Level was fully open and had also had received it’s post winter maintenance, so we set off along past the ponds to the start point. Ronnie and Mike had warned me that the 6km sheep-track climb was quite a challenge, but thankfully it wasn’t too bad once we got past the technical rocky lower sections of y Trwyn and into the hardpacked forest trails in Dastardly and Mutley. One hour later we’d ground our way up through Two Tombstones and broke out of the trees onto the top of the mountain. From here we could see the berms that opened up the new Black Run, but we opted for a quick snack and a run down the Red to open our singletrack account for the weekend.

The first section Windy Point is a fast rocky trail with a few small hits and switchbacks that took us quickly back down into the forest. The first thing that hit me was how fast these trails were. In order to keep up with the others who’d ridden there before I had to put my faith in the trail designer and put my foot down. I was soon grinning from ear to ear, hammering down the rocky singletrack and taking the hits and riding berms like a pro. Next up was Energy which provided some bigger jumps, tabletops and more climbing until it dropped down a very fast trail sporting more excellent hits and a couple of baby rock gardens. Here it dropped into Goodwood where boardwalk sections lead us through a forest clearing and back down into the trees. Darkside is the final section and in my opinion the best section with a very fast trail that had lots more well placed hits and drop-offs, eventually bringing us back down to the MTB centre. With time for snacks and a bit of bike tweaking we’d completed Whites in just over two hours – not bad for our first run!

After lunch we headed back to the Cabin where to ride Y Wall. We rode up a fire-road near our cabin past the new 4x course to Piccadilly. Piccadilly starts with a bit of a climb, but quickly transforms into a hardpacked fast rolling track not dissimilar to some of the runs we have in Stanmer. As quickly as I was enjoying the tree-lined decent it suddenly broke into the sunshine and through a fast rocky decent that cut into a big switchback that then traverses quickly down the side of the hill. Next up was Graveyard which is a spectacular section of tree-lined singletrack that beguiled us into believing we we’re Brian Lopes attempting a record breaking run down Whistler. As we flew down the rocky hardpack trail the terrifying clattering sound of our bikes was augmented by the whoosh of tyres pumping through corners and the whoops of delight from my fellow riders. Again breaking out of the trees we climbed up to the top of Zig Zag which was the finale of Y Wall. Again this is a stupidly fast trail that just taunted us to ride faster than we should have. It’s difficult to find words to describe how good Zig Zag is, so it’s probably best if you just go there and ride it!

The next day we drove to Brechfa Forest which was about 45 minutes drive from Afan. Here we rode the Gorlech Red run. As usual for Wales the ride started off with a reasonably punishing, but beautiful climb up fireroads and tree-lined singletrack. After 1/2 hour we hit the first downhill section which provided fast berms and plenty of small jumps which I managed to take with varying degrees of elegance. After another huge climb which took us to 3000 ft we hit the downhill sections. It was generally quite a fast flowing ride that was lots of fun, punctuated with moments of brilliance. I loved the berm that quickly dropped us into 30ft chute that had to be taken at full speed in order to make the 40ft near vertical assent that directly followed it! There was some extremely well designed climbs that broke into more grin inducing fast flowing singletrack that we pumped through working hard to keep our tyres on the ground. The run ended with a sublime downhill section with switchbacks, tabletops and berms back down to the car park.

In the afternoon we decided to have a leisurely ride around the green/blue trail and enjoy a bit of sunshine. We left our pads in the van and headed off on the ‘family’ route. Amazingly on this beautiful sunny Saturday the trail was completely empty and we quickly discovered that the trail had a split personality as we took the manicured trails at what felt like an illegal speed. The highlight of this run was on what I expected to the a boring run back to the car park, which in fact turned out to be one of the gems of the trip as we carved and pumped our way down an incredibly well designed and thankfully deserted trail, once again at eye watering speed.

The next day we’d hoped to ride Skyline, but with the few decent sections closed we decided to have another go at Whites to see if we could complete it in the magic 90 minutes. This time the run was rather special. We quickly climbed to the summit in 45 minutes and hammered down the descents without stopping in another 45 minutes and then spent another 45 minutes trying wiping the stupid grins off our faces whilst we drank tea in the car park. We drove back to the Y Wall and rode that again to make sure we could do Zig Zag another couple of times.

Our last ride in Wales was at Cwncarn where we rode the Twirch trail, a 15k red run around the mountain. We’d heard from all the locals that the ascent was a nightmare and it didn’t disappoint. It had rained overnight and the mountain was shrouded in low cloud which made the roots and oily stones that criss-crossed the relentless climb very unenjoyable. The ride down wasn’t much better as the poor visibility and slippery singletrack caused some near misses and a rather spectacular wipe out. When we got to the bottom our plan of riding the black run was thankfully scuppered by a bowl of hot veggie stew in the back of the van and the relaxing and warm prospect of a relaxing drive back to Brighton.

Two weeks later, I’m still buzzing from my first riding trip to Wales and I can’t wait to get back there for more. A couple of tips from the locals we met for next time include, when riding Brechfa, visit the nearby Cydcoed, to check out some local trails near the wind turbines that can be found from an unmarked carpark between the Afan trail centre and Glyncorrwg. And when riding the Black run at Brechfa, when you get to the bottom rather than take the fireroad back to the car park, move onto the family trail and enjoy the sublime high speed decent back to the car-park (as long as there’s no families on it!)

Carl

Swaning around Stanmer

Posted by mtbnomad

It was a chilly night as I raced down the hill to the new meeting point outside the Swan Inn. A little bit late again. I’ve been coming out for the Thursday night ride for the last six months or so and therefore still see myself as bit of a rookie, especially in the wet. The variety of the rides according to the differing conditions, the complex web of trails and the knowledgeable company means there’s plenty of scope for entertainment.

There was a slightly smaller group of riders than usual that night, but all were ready and raring to go. Our relatively modest number was possibly due to the prospect of a muddy ride because of the considerable amount of rain that had fallen in the preceding days. Definitely a change to the hard ice and soft snow back in December.

“Right, it’s one minute past seven!” I heard someone cry only seconds after my arrival. And we were off – everyone keen to get moving and keep the cold at bay. We headed down to our former meeting point at the university car park to pick up any one who hadn’t heard of the new arrangements or had chosen to go there anyway. With the stragglers rounded up we set off with a group of eight or so riders.

As normal we started with a bit of uphill to get the blood moving and headed towards, and then up into, the Great Wood, forsaking our more normal climbing start past the dew pond. It was clear that the mud, the leaves and the general muckiness were going to make it slower going than usual. My mind was wandering at this point and, as I lagging behind slightly, a couple of friendly voices made a check to see if I was ok. Nice to know there is always someone around to make sure you’re not lost in the blackness of the night!

We rose to try a couple of higher trail sections in the hope of dryer ground but found nothing but sludge and ankle-deep brown puddles. Not that it stopped us trying to rip through the trails and didn’t meant they were any less fun; admittedly at a rather slower pace than usual. Then after a while we moved on to do what is affectionately called ‘tea and cake’ by the regulars. It’s a nice stretch of flowy singletrack where I presume, at the end of it, there is normally an opportunity to stop off to sample the refreshments at the village teashop (but not at that time of night unfortunately!). Through that section I’ve been told it’s best to always try to keep on the ‘high road’, though more often than not I still manage to end up clambering past some overgrown spiky bushes at one point or another. Further down the trail a small queue had backed up and one of us, whilst waiting, attempted to stay propped up by leaning on a small tree. However, the tree had quite been unexpectedly been cut off at the root and very nearly caused a slapstick situation; falling to the floor with tree still in hand. Despite the fact it didn’t quite happen, the thought of it was still found to be quite amusing by those of nearby.

The gravel track uphill faced us next and provided the opportunity for a more relaxed chat, until approaching the top when the need to catch your breath takes over. After that, as usual, we did a load of great trails including that initial steep off camber section that felt just that little bit too dangerous in the slippy, rooty muddiness (and, for me, involved rather too much putting foot to the floor), sweeping berms (that didn’t provide quite the same satisfying flick-through as they do in the dry), plus numerous obstacles that seemed at least twice as intimidating in the wet. On one pointy topped pile of logs, where a steady speed is needed to get over, I bottled it at the last minute, braking harshly. Fortunately I found myself elegantly perched on top of the pile and had come to no harm – though I did manage to disrupt a couple of logs in the process, which I duly replaced.

As we headed on down back to the car park the tiredness and frustration was getting the better of some of us. Bike back ends continually flipped out in the mud and even slight inclines seemed too much to handle except by trudging up them off the bike. My lesson for the ride is that I should perhaps try and get hold of some tyres that can cope with the mud a little bit better. A great ride all in all.

David B

Last night ride of 2010

Posted by mtbnomad

An ennead of riders took to the trails on the last night ride of the year with everyone hoping for a fast, dry ride. I had arrived early and already ridden some of the trails and found the climb a slog and some of the trails saturated. Hopes for dry trails were about to be dashed immediately on the first climb.

It was a slow, muddy climb even on the fireroad so perhaps the suggestion of climbing up the singletrack should have been accepted. The dew pond still looked frozen in the dark as we passed but the ground was squelching from the thaw. It seemed as if we had the place to ourselves probably because we had the place to ourselves. Apart from some hoofprints from a lone horse the place looked unused for days.

Only managed two of the jumps in the air and nearly stopped twice, pedalling and squirming in the mud. Luckily I managed to block everyone behind me. As my handle bar light had fell into the usual emotional huff at being turned on I was relying on my helmet light and a half used battery and beginning to struggle to see anything of the trail ahead. After two attempts we found the Witches Table and nobody had pulled a log this week so it was rideable but slippy. I got lost at this point as my 3000 candlepower helmet light had dimmed to about one. I followed the tail of the group through another trail “riding within the limit of my lights” as we used to say. This no longer applies if Jimbo is behind you as he utilises the output of a small lighthouse to cheat and ride in the daylight instead.

At the end I changed the battery and everyone else fumbled behind Neil. Quality Street. On the outside pocket of his packback.

Another trail that challenged all our tyres – there must be something that copes with mud and roots….

Climbing, climbing, climbing. Lumps and bumps.

“lets ride around this very dry trail!” Really muddy – as it had been almost ploughed by car wheels. Back into the dry of the tree cover. Not dry.

Slip, slide, catch, hope etc. but still fun. We had got spead out a little so re-grouped and agreed to head ever downwards. We had some turns about leading the group and everyone who went to the front seemed to find an extra gear to hustle throught the twists and turns. On one trail I pedalled the whole thing, even the corners, never braked and barely held on. We were going downhill the whole way as well.

For my New Year resolution, I will definately ride more often, and get fitter, and lose weight and…

A short loop around the ridgeline and a final trio to the bottom with an alternative finish to the usual. This strung us out a bit so as we reached the bottom the first rider turned for home. The remainder of us trundled back to the cars trying to spin the mud from our wheels. Unsuccessfully.

I had clipped an inexpensive camera to my shoulder strap as a trial. From the pictures either a really big flash or a different camera may be required for night riding but anyway preserved for posterity my last ride of the year.

So at the end of the year thanks to everyone who guided, organised, rode lead, rode tail, marshalled, built, repaired, took photos or videos, wrote a ride report, reviewed a bike or helped in any way.

And to everyone who rode with us, thanks for coming along.

Bliadhna Mhath Ur

California

Posted by mtbnomad

Lake Perris was a convenient start point for an 18 mile ride. The trails are dry all year round and the claim is that they are dry within a few minutes of any rain stopping so no need to plan, just meet up and ride.

Trees, obstacles and narrow singletrack were missing but really it is riding in scrub desert. Doubletrack seemed to be old Jeep trails but they seemed an endless run of these so if you lived out here you could either put together an endless mix without repeating the same trails or perhaps get completely lost and die in the heat.

Mid November temperatures were in the 80’s, or 30 degrees, which was hot. Wind was minimal and the few riders that I saw were sweating buckets. I am told that 70 is the preferred option lower than that seems a little cold.

One of the riders had a Santa Cruz of course but fat tyres for sandy, dusty trails were the order of the day. I asked about mud tyres and it seemed that the shops did not stock them at all.

On this day two riders in conversation at an easy pace would ride an 18 mile loop in less than three hours. Clip the clean bikes back into the Honda Element and home within an hour. Los Angeles is just over an hour away without traffic so the number of possible riders was huge but maybe I missed them all.

JensonUSA are based nearby and more trails start outside the door to them, literally ride from the door. Sometimes they ride lunchtimes. Jenson have offered guided rides to any of us who venture over and can link with riding groups nearby and further afield in Marin County etc. As I may be back in early spring I hope to be able to ride a bundle of trails in the dry, nonwet, warm, non-cold, sunny, non-winter, desert conditions.

My flight was £450 and hotel was about $100 per night for a suite. Car hire booked here was £120 for two weeks. Fuel is free, food is about $10 for 2000 calories served in a bucket sized portion.

I enquired about night riding but this seems less popular over there so I have highlighted the difference with the UK and would love to try a night ride in the desert. With a guide. And no bears. Or cougars. Or cactus. And lights that do not turn off when I jump.

Two Thursdays

Posted by mtbnomad

Two reports from two different Thursday night rides

Turning up in the car park to a varied mix of riders I was a touch disappointed not to see any bouffant hair and talking cars, surely anyone born in the 70’s expects this for a (k)night ride(r)….

A bunch of 14 headed off in to the woods with lights blazing for some nice swoopy singletrack before cutting through the uni and into some more twisty sections of ups and downs.

I know some of the trails in this area reasonably well but following through what seemed to be an endless mixture of fast, swoopy, technical, dry, rooty, jumpy and large obstacle laden trails I was completely disorientated and absolutely loving the added excitement of the torch lit trails.

Towards the end of the ride I got some much appreciated tuition from Ronnie, who having built many of the trails was able to introduce me to a new more flowing style of riding, trying whole sections without pedalling and minimal braking with only one or 2 minor tumbles! I was well pleased to get over the big ladder first time, plunging in to a dark shadow from 4ft up was so much fun, if a little scary!

I’ll certainly be back, what a great way to spend a dark winter evening!
Ben

Turning up in the carpark to nobody. The cars had a heavy covering of snow and were going nowhere. Everybody must be riding in. I cannot be the only one to want to ride in the snow. I was early, that must be it.

I had cold toes the previous week so I felt the snow justified changing to winter boots and pulled out my Lakes, long socks, long trousers (Gore Windstoppers), lots of layers and fleece gloves. I though a short warm up was called for so attempted to ride off the tarmac onto the grass. Nearly managed it just need more commitment. More speed carried me off the snowploughed black stuff into the white stuff and promptly submerged. I could see my feet but only at the top of the pedal stroke; it seemed deep. I warmed up around the car park instead.

Neil arrived fresh from his snow exploits of the previous evening with the confidence of a semi pro. We waited a little but no cars or riders appeared so we headed off. Neil noticed the extra depth of snow within about a foot, as it was an extra foot and implied it might be a little more difficult than he had suggested. I could hardly pedal. Neil attempted to ride up a slope. Neil decided to ride the familiar path instead.

I had left on the Trailrakers so I could gain traction deep down but if I hit something lumpy I veered off course and despite my many fruitless attempts it was impossible to avoid careering around in wide circles. I tried following Neil’s tracks but that only partially worked. We attempted to race to the top of the trails and imitating the tortoise rather than the hare we made it in less than an hour with less than fifty stops. I had already started eating an energy bar as the it seemed like endless toiling.

We made a fist at riding some of the familiar trails and managed two. Just two. Well I managed two. I tried one obstacle despite my riding partners incredulity. I did not manage the top but walked over the rest to leave the impression that it was possible to ride it. Smugly he rode off in front and then promptly went off piste. I think he rode some and snow-waded the rest. So he only gets almost two. We did ride one trail where riding second allows your riding buddy to clear the snow off the laden branches for you.

We fought our way back down the fire road with no lights just for fun but the reflected light was enough to see clearly.

Almost two hours of effort but I had great company for a great ride and everyone else missed it.

Ronnie

Best Tuesday Ride Ever?

Posted by mtbnomad

After 2 years of riding with Brighton MTB, I thought it time to finally submit a ride report. During this time I’ve ridden in the Alps, Wales, Scotland, Quantocks and Forest of Dean, amongst others.
None of the above were worthy of a ride report (read “I couldn’t be arsed”).

The historic event that finally produced a report could cynically be seen as shameless self promotion – it’s a Tuesday night “Mile Muncher” ride.
Whilst last night was not the most memorable Tuesday ride on record (2.5 inches of snow made the first outing one to remember for me, Mark B and Graham) it was an absolute cracker. Mark B and I met up in Patcham before taking in Tea and Cakes en route to meet Damian and Martin H at the Uni car park. From there, a fast blast out onto the Downs led back into Stanmer and a whole network of dry, fast and flowing singletrack.
We finished the ride at the bottom of the bomb hole and left Martin to ride back to Uni whilst the remaining 3 of us climbed back up to the top end of the park on tired legs.
The ride was good fun but the great riding conditions made it even better.

By the time I got back home, I’d covered 20.7 miles and managed to maintain an average speed of 8.8 mph – not bad given the amount of singletrack miles.
There is one unanswered question from the ride though: What has happened to Sam the Bongo Man? Answers on a postcard to the normal address.
Try a “Mile Muncher” ride, it might just be worth writing home about.

Brian