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Tales From the Trails
What is it about rainy, windswept days that seems to attract people out
at the moment? All through summer, we would see an average of about six
people turning up on a Sunday morning to ride in t-shirts and shorts on
dry and dusty trails, stop to relax in the heat of the midday sun and
finish with a well-earned pint or two outside the Cricketers. Now that
winter has decided to let it's presence be known, we are geting huge
numbers of people turning up to brave the elements, get covered in mud and
stand shivering watching as a few plucky souls skid down slippery slopes
on their backsides, their bikes no longer necessary in their journey to
the bottom of the hill. Is it because we are all roughy-toughy mountain
bikers who aren't scared of a bit of hardship in our pursuit of pleasure,
or are we all just nutters? Which ever it is, it's great to see so many
people joining us out on the trails.
And so to this Sunday's ride. Thirteen plucky souls turned up at the
station having braved the wind which was strong enough to make you feel as
if you were riding backwards. Amongst these were two first timers, an
offroader who hasn't been on a Sunday ride in a long time and a roadie who
was to experience his first taste of off-road riding (it's not always that
muddy Mark, honest!!). The plan this week was to do one of our more
traditional routes that we haven't used in quite a while and head out to
Happy Valley and the North Downs Way, following it Eastwards as it skirts
the hills which overlook the M25. As soon as we left the station the rain
started, as if it had been waiting for us to turn a wheel before
unleashing it's wet misery on our souls. Within a quarter of a mile, the
group had been split up as most people stopped to don their waterproofs.
After we re-grouped, we continued down to Purley before turning off the
A23, along a residential street and down what appeared to be somebody's
drive but what is actually a killer climb up into a section of doubletrack
which althogh easy to ride in summer, is an absolute beast in winter due
to the mud. We regrouped at the end of the trail and after hearing 1,000
sexual innuendos about James's horn (which was to become the order of the
day), we rode over to Happy Valley. The main bridleway which runs through
the bottom of Happy Valley used to be a pleasure to ride. It snakes it's
way through the base of the valley as it slowly climbs south towards the
next climb out onto the North Downs. Those of you who have ridden it in
the past will have fond memories of it's good surface allowing the riders
to keep up a good pace; well all that has changed. The council, in it's
wisdom, has decided to surface the whole trail in wood chippings which
have mixed with thick mud to produce a surface like lumpy treacle. One
look at it was enough to make us decide that it would be easier to ride
across the wet and muddy grass all the way to the top of the valley and
whilst it may have been marginally easier, it was still a bind and made
everyone's tyres take on the look of those usually found on tractors.
After climbing out of the valley, we proceeded to the North Downs Way
which proved to be a relief as it's a well surfaced trail which gently
undulates along the top of the ridge of hills overlooking the M25. People
were noticed to visibly cheer up on this section of the ride, that was
until we hit the next singletrack section which once again re-introduced
us to Miss Mud. Luckily this didn't last too long and we were once again
on well surfaced trails for a while before hitting tarmac for a short
period and then onto a long, winding downhill section that proved to be
the most technical riding of the route so far. This section was the first
proper downhill of the day and as such, had to be savoured and enjoyed for
it's gravity-assisted luxury. It starts off on a hardpack flinty
singletrack section whose gradient allows you to build up speed very
easily before you have to scrub it all off for a 90 degree left-hander
which leads into a flat section. From here, the trail descends again on
slippy mud, round a right hander and into a root-strewn section which runs
along the edge of a steep banking. After about 100 yards of this terror,
the trail suddenly drops to the right next to a set of steps which drop
down the banking, turns sharp left along another bank edge and then right
again next to some more steep steps. This leads into an open singletrack
section which has more steps on a left hander (which need to be ridden to
get the fastest line) and then a quick sprint section to the finish on a
footbrige over the Caterham dual carriageway.
From here, we crossed a field (which apparently is part of Sustrans
Route 21),descended again on a wide dirt track and rejoined the North
Downs Way and into another climb to meet the Caterham Girls School
bridleway/drive. Instead of taking the well surfaced bridleway, we climbed
up an impossibly steep trail which although (just) rideable in dry
conditions had everyone pushing and carrying their bikes on this occasion
and introduced many of us to a new sport, mud skiiing. After a rest at the
top, we carried on along a mixture of singletrack and road until we
reached the woods which contain the Wall of Death. Once at our favourite
place of terror, the usual few took the next ten minutes of time
entertaining those not daft enough to risk life and limb for an adrenaline
rush and the chance to make everyone else laugh uncontrollably. Pete
pointed out a new route into the WoD and even after crashing twice (to
raucous laughter), others queued up to ride into the near vertical slope
and fall off ungracefully in a heap at the bottom. I tried to entertain
everyone by jumping into the valley (20 foot drop before the wheels
re-introduce themselves to Mother Earth) and after calming down afterwards
(it's really scary), we continued to the main car park before getting to
the top of the next downhill.
This downhill is one which we only found recently and is an absolute
corker. In it's half mile length it drops the full height of the North
Downs and consists solely of tight and twisty singletrack on mega-slippy
mud and also incorporates a few drop-offs and super technical sections
that require all your wits to get through. Luckily, there was only one
crash (not too lucky for James, mind) and after we'd crossed some land
which we may not have had permission to do so (oops), we met up with the
Convent School bridleway again and followed it through to Woldingham
Station where we traversed the footbridge (inlcuding riding the stairs for
that all important bit of street riding) and turned onto the road again to
get us to the base of Bug Hill. Here, the group split between those who
wanted to cut off early and return by road and the others who wanted to
continue off-road. We said our goodbyes and rode off through the posh golf
course and up a ridiculously steep hill to the Sainsbury's at Warlingham.
Unfortunately, we suffered from the first mechanical of the day and spent
20 minutes sat out of the rain at Sainsbury's fixing the chain and eating
food purchased from said supermarket, where we had some really strange
looks as we walked through the aisles covered in mud and still wearing our
helmets. The weather at this point took a turn for the (much) worse as
torrential rain beat down on the tarmac outside our temporary shelter.
Never ones to be scared of a bit of rain, we set off again along trails
which were now 2 inches deep in water and in some places had taken on the
appearance of streams; those with glasses were finding it hard to see
through the mud and water splattered on the lenses and those without were
blinking like they hadn't seen daylight in ten years. It could only get
worse and sure enough, the bridleway which crosses Farleigh Golf course
was so wet that I felt homesick for my beloved Lake District and by the
time we reached the top of Rachael's Downhill, we were soaked to the skin
and pretty much without the benefit of sight. As I said at the beginning
of this report, we are either roughy-toughy mountain bikers or nutters, so
this small hindrance was never going to put us off and we pedalled off at
top speed into Rachael's with not a care for our safety or sanity.
Amazingly (especially for this well known trail) everyone got down safely
and we carried on to Forestdale where we came across a rare sight indeed -
the lesser spotted bicycle riding Marco, who was out on his singlespeed
for a quick blast (despite the weather - nice one mate). He joined up with
us for the last climb of the day (through Addington Palace Golf Course and
Bishops Walk) and the return trip to Croydon. We finished the day with a
(debatably - I think so, others don't) brilliant and technical descent and
singletrack section on a hill that we all know well.
Once again then, a brilliant Sunday ride which incorporated some
excellent riding and a great deal of laughs. The riding has been covered
above, but the laughs (and you probably had to be there) included James's
horn, Tony's sugar licks, the Cannondale comments and many more too risque
to write here.
Cheers everyone,
Jason.
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