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Tales From the Trails
Every now and again you will do a ride which just seems to be perfect.
The weather will be just right (bright, warm - but not hot - dry), the
trails will be bone dry and the people you're with will all gel together
and raise the enjoyment level by a hundred percent. Add in a certain level
of lunacy, some none-serious crashes and most importantly, a cafe that
sells shortbread, cuppas and sandwiches and in my eyes, you're getting
close to that level. Yesterday's ride was one of those that will be
remembered by all who attended for a long time to come and goes down in
history as one of the best that we have done, period, regardless of the
number of mechanicals and crashes that we had. Three people have already
e-mailed me to say how good it was, with one saying it was his best ride
ever. What made it so good? read on....
In the past few weeks, most of our rides have been based around the
Croydon area and whilst the trails which surround this fair town are great
and offer a few surprises, they have no chance of competing with those
which can be found around the Leith Hill and Holmbury Hill areas. For
starters, the hills are much bigger, the downhills are longer, faster and
more technically demanding, the singletrack is of a much better quality
and there is a greater concentration of trails per square mile, meaning
that it is possible to ride all day without ever re-using the same trails.
We try to get down to the Leith Hill area at least once a month and this
last weekend was the one chosen.
When we arrived at Westcott to meet up, the first thing that I noticed
was the number of new faces; out of sixteen of us, six were to experience
their first Addiscombe ride, and had chosen to do it at Leith Hill; did
they know what they were letting themselves in for? After the usual faff
around, we headed off over the Greensand Way towards Coldharbour on the
sandiest trail I have ever ridden on. With the recent dry weather and the
number of 4WD vehicles and enduro bikes that use the track, the sand was
extremely fine and up to a foot deep in places; Blackpool Town Council
would have been very jealous, especially as there was no dog muck, litter
or hypodermic needles in this sand! It was awful to ride in though, and
sapped energy from us relentlessly. It was a relief to get to Coldharbour
and begin the steep climb up to the cricket pitch and onto the singletrack
trail which leads west from the summit. From here we crossed the open
grass area and dropped into the first downhill of the day, a steep rocky
open trail which is littered with tree stumps, drop-offs and boulders and
does a good job of waking you up. With us all down safely, we set off on a
singletrack climb which led us up the hill in the direction of the tower
but before we reached the top of the hill, we turned and dropped into the
Laughing downhill which as per normal had everyone smiling and talking
about the descent. It was then time for a cup of hot chocolate and a
sarnie, so we climbed up to the cafe for a well earned rest.
From here, we picked up a new singletrack trail (well, new to us),
followed it through to the car park and into the next downhill, a lovely
rocky descent with a brilliant drop-off half way down which I missed,
meaning that a few of us went back up to ride it again whilst various
people repaired punctures. Once we were all back together and wheels were
back in bikes, we re-mounted and set off down the rest of the hill at top
speeds, rattling over rocks and cornering at the very limit of tyre
traction before hitting a dusty singletrack trail which kicked up so much
dust, those at the back couldn't see. I don't know, all winter everyone
whinges on about the mud and when it does get dry, they complain about the
dust - you just can't win, can you? At the bottom, we realised that we
were missing a couple of people - it turned out that one of the lads had a
double puncture which took ages to fix as he didn't realise the other was
gone until he'd fixed the first. Still, it gave the rest of us the chance
to have a fag, shoot the breeze and try each other's bikes out for a bit.
We turned on to the road, picked up the next singletrack climb and
struggled up to Holmbury Hill road where once again, we had a couple of
people missing; this time it was a chain that was too tight, so Joe nipped
back down the hill and put a couple of extra links in from a spare chain
he just happened to be carrying, presumably for self defence purposes when
faced with the ratboys (Latin name rattus-scummus) of Tampax Alley.
Once on the go again, we climbed up Holmbury Hill to the trig point and
lowered our seats for an attempt at the legendary Widowmaker, but to our
dismay found it closed and blocked with trees. Not wanting to miss out on
an adrenaline rush, we talked Jon into doing a ridiculously large and
dangerous drop-off next to the trig point and all stood at the bottom
awaiting the impending catastrophe. Fortunately, he rode it smoothly and
survived unscathed, to the rapture and applause of the crowd. The whole
thing has been captured on video, so expect to see his heroic act on a
computer screen near you very soon! Once back at the top, we decided that
we'd ride the BMX track, so called because it is littered with whoops,
jumps and berms and continues downhill for around a quarter of a mile
before spitting you out at the bottom of the hill. The last time we all
rode this trail, all the dips between the jumps were full of mud and water
but on this day, they were dry as a bone and made the going really quick
and fun. There was one muddy patch right after the biggest jump and as
luck would have it, a number of us ended up in it, but the trail really
was so good that a number of us rode back up the hill to ride it again.
The good thing with going to Leith and Holmbury Hills with new people
is that invariably you will both know trails that the others don't and
this was no exception. Jon led us into a wonderful twisting and undulating
singletrack trail known as Telegraph Road which climbed then descended
gently before turning and dropping straight down a banking and over a
number of drop-offs before spitting the exhausted and ecstatic rider out
in Holmbury St Mary village. We were then faced with another climb,
followed by a road section and a long, drawn out climb back up to the top
of Leith Hill and the recently re-discovered quarry. As soon as we reached
the quarry, a number of us were straight off to the top to ride the
incredibly steep bankings which drop the full height of the cliff on very
loose earth. The main (and largest) of the drops is a real leap of faith
as when you are stood at the top, it looks barely rideable. However, with
your seatpost right down and your weight over the back of the bike, it's
surprisingly easy and it wasn't long before one after the other of us was
riding it to the cheers of everyone else. Once we'd exhausted that, we
moved over to a couple of jumps and started to ride these, each time with
more confidence and more speed, right up until the point where Adam had a
go, flew through the air for what seemed like an eternity , landed, and
was instantly catapulted over the bars by his rear shock rebounding too
fast. Once we'd checked he was okay and stopped laughing, we moved further
down to a drop-off which when taken at speed would carry the rider through
the air for about ten yards before landing and having to turn sharply to
miss a tree. Joel was soon styling it up over the jump, as was Jon,
Martin, Joe (from Cumbria) and myself. Not to be put off, Joe P decided to
have a go but every time ended up riding down the rocks rather than
jumping; he's been too long without a proper crash and has forgotten how
great pain is!!
Time was now getting on and people were beginning to fatigue, so we
carried on up to the more traditional drop offs and rode these for a bit.
It was whilst we were at one of the sets of drop-offs that Jono noticed a
tree trunk which had fallen and now bridged a large gap between two mounds
of earth with a large drop underneath. Foolhardily, he mentioned that if
the branches were removed from it, he'd have a go at riding it and before
he could have a rethink, various people were at work getting rid of all
the protruding branches, stumps and loose bark. With his pride in
question, Jono now had no choice but to attempt this foolhardy stunt. He
lined up, set off, got four feet and hopped off the side to hoots of
laughter, somehow landing unscathed in the bottom of the pit. Not to be
put off, he lined up again, clipped in and rode it in one piece to a
deafening round of applause and cheers. Joel, who had been watching all
this, decided that he was not to be beaten and lined up for an attempt.
With a flurry of cursing, he set off and cleared it as well; applause and
cheers once again filling the woods. If you'd like to see the video clips
of both these loonies, please have a look at http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~jonob/log
Now thoroughly entertained, we headed off for the last section of
singletrack of the day, a long and fast trail which leads to the base of
one of the valleys which make up Leith Hill. The trail really is a treat,
especially at this time of year when the surface is bone dry and the
myriad corners can be railed at top speed as they twist and turn between
the narrow gaps between the trees. In what seemed like no time, we were
out of the first section and into the second, which is a great deal
steeper and looser, something that caught me out as I slid off the trail
and ended up dumped unceremoniously on an old tree trunk at the base of
the hill. From here, we climbed back up onto Greensand way, fixed another
puncture and returned to Westcott, our starting point for the day and now
our finish point.
I started this by mentioning the perfect day and to me, this definitely
came close to one of those. Everyone I talked to had loved the ride, we'd
done enough riding to tire us all out and had no bad injuries, as well as
spending most of the day laughing our heads off at each others antics.
Next weeks ride will be around Croydon on the trails leading out to the
Wall of Death where once again, the usual crowd will be attempting daft
stunts to amuse the masses. If you don't come, you could be missing out on
another perfect day.
Jason.
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