Ow! This video hurt to edit- it has a crunching crash which still makes me gasp. At the time of course it was even more horrid to watch!

It was the freeride group with Nirvana today adn I have not done it for ages but need some practice since I did "Jab in the Eye" and "Proper Beau".

We started on the gap jump, Captain Underpants, and then over to Heads roll where we sessioned and sessioned the 2 gap jumps in the middle. 

After Luka came a cropper on Rollercoaster and bust his collar bone we did some hairy descents down deliverance and then 5 of us carried on to Donnie Darko. I did a demo jump and  Anthony and Matt tried it a couple of times. Ed decided "maybe not", but while Gareth was videoing we all did it again and this time we did it better and it looked and felt smooth.

Clearly it was impressive as Ed decided to go for it so I clicked record on the video and ... "oh boy" he decided not to jump it but rather to try a front flip off of it! Unfortunately that turned into a somersault landing on his head and folding in 2- all on video- watch to the end for the entertainment! (My reaction in words says it all!)

Amazingly he was soon up and walking away, a little dazed and confused! Imagine if he did not have a helmet on! Anyway we were done for the day so we singletracked windy willows and home for tea!

So enjoy the video in the knowledge he walked away unscathed but with a bit of a headache!

Shuttling Hurtwood?!

What a glorious February day- spring is surely sprung! 

I met with Mark the rnager for Hurtwood Control as he needed weekday riders to track singletrack routes on GPS and I wanted at last to give something back for all the great trail riding I do in the area.

I threw my bike in the back of his pickup and we unpadlocked the gate in Walking Bottom car park and headed up the bridleways. He dropped me off at all the trail heads and then I rode them all to track them on GPS and download to his laptop. 

These trails will eventually get published on Hurtwood Control forums for all registered users so... if you ride the Hurtwood, Holmbury, Pitch Hill, Winterfold, Farley Green area then you should become a friend (click here) and contribute both to keep the trails maintained and maintain access for mountain bikers and also to get on the forum and get the trail maps.

We tracked Pitch and Holmbury- even one trail I'd never done. The laptop gave up before us and as the sun was still shining I rode back up to Winterfold and practiced my slow switchback technique- see video and then rode Orange Clawhammer jumping through the clawhammer trees.

Next week we will track Winterfold singletrack if I can find it all!

Indoor Climbing

Today I went indoor climbing at Craggy Island in Guildford with Jackie. 

I have not climbed for a long time so was out of practice and shape for it. It was pretty amazing to join the lunchtime special and climb with so few people around- I've only ever been to climbing walls at weekends and evenings before when it is pretty busy.

They've done loads of development there and there are even more routes. I renewed my membership and we climbed for 2 hours mainly on 4+ and 5 as the routes are pretty tough. We did a couple of 4's when we got tired and to get some technique back.

Forearms were pumped and grip strength challenged within minutes- boy will I feel that for the next few days! I actually forgot how much fun it is and so will go do some more now I have a climbing partner.

Jackie's a fair bit better than me but we can keep practicing and working on our technique to challenge one another. Can't take pics of video when climbing as am too busy belaying!

Proper Beau- Done!

Rode with Nirvana again today as I'm a right regular now and need my fix!

Now I'm just one of the boys when it comes to riding, Simon decided I needed to become a "Proper Beau" master. So we sprinted on up to Peaslake and up Pitch and turned onto the "Warm-up" jumps on Proper Beau- the first is a slight downhill onto a small ramp and a tiny gap jump that if you don't clear it you won't get into trouble, the 2nd is a bigger ramp and a bigger gap to clear, the gap is filled with logs so its not too nasty if you land on them but its not that comfy either.

After a few fast and faster sessions over these playing with our speed and technique we were clearing them enough to be ready for the big gap jump no.3. So Simon and Gilles demo'ed the bigger gap jump on Proper Beau - it's about an 8 foot gap but the ramp up looks huge as you roll in fast to it. However if you miss the landing tranny, again, you won't hurt too much but you'll get a jolt.

I gave it a go for my first time and landed pretty well on my first attempt, so next we rolled in as a 3 rider sequence and this time I was faster and flew off the ramp and landed perfectly on 2 wheels on the great tranny- it felt sweet!

We carried on down T2 to the car park and then watched Simon and Gilles drop off "New Values" - a DH roll in to a large drop over roots and a nice steep smooth transition. As usual they made it look easy.... so I rode up to it twice but decided to leave on a high note and save that adrenalin shot for another day. Watch this space....

Nirvana Sunday Ride

Sunday was another great day so I joined the Nirvana ride again and we had a lot of fun as usual. Lots of new faces with an international flavour.

I even rode off "A jab in the eye!" drop off and had a couple of stabs at the big quarry jump but that one still remains a challenge for me to speed up and clear the gap!

I was pretty nervous about that but its good to be getting back into doing drop offs and some jumps.

Above is a quick review of MY ride- a longer video with all the riders on is on the Nirvana cycles blog here.

Plus more pics here

Just the 2 of us!

Well its a long time since I rode with just Pete. It was kinda fun riding just the 2 of us again. After all it was Pete that showed me we had all this singletrack around the Surrey Hills and I have to credit him with being the one rider whose lines I watched and followed for years until I became a much better rider.

He doesn't ride so much nowadays but he is still a great rider and its so nice to ride with someone you know so well -both in terms of riding styles, fitness, skills and technique but also when you have so much history its so easy to chat away in a relaxed manner and giggle about old stories.

We went exploring over Winterfold way and played on as much singletrack as we could find- we really kept on the move not having to stop and wait for anyone else so it was a good workout too, although we had some long stops to chat. Seems I know a lot of local riders now though cos there were quite a few others we bumped into and got chatting to.

All in all we totted up some 30km over 4hrs of glorious sunshine, with a couple of tea stops of course. Hope we both have legs left for our respective rides tomorrow.

Nirvana Wednesday Ride

OK so we all come for the marvellous mountain biking but inspired by the fact that 2 new riders joined us today because they found us on the blog I thought the theme for today would be what brought you to ride with Nirvana Cycles?

Today Chris joined us as he's on leave from the RAF having just got back from Afghanistan and being a northerner down south he doesn't know how to find the great local mountain bike trails that he has heard of via the grapevine. He chanced upon this blog and here he was riding with us and having a lot of fun just having a go at some of the jumps and singletrack we regularly ride. He'd have never found it without us and now armed with his maps from the shop he has a better chance of finding it again. But I'm sure he'll be back for more group rides.

Guy also found the blog and came along as he wants to train for his holiday tour riding across the highlands of Scotland this Summer. He's here to improve his fitness and had not ridden such technical trails before but hopefully he'll be back for more and will not only improve fitness but gain some more technical skills to beat his buddies on that ride.

Then again there are the long termers- Richard used to play Golf but wanting to lose some weight he started road riding until he bumped into an injured mountain biker in A&E and decided that looks like fun. So he came and joined the Nirvana rides. There was no turning back and I'd guess that his mountain biking love has surpassed his Golf nowadays. The bikes have also gradually upgraded from that £100 secondhand heavy weight clunker to a svelte plush 5" travel Turner 5.5 spot- and wow what a difference the bike makes eh?

John and Chris started out on a guided ride with Nirvana and borrowed some demo bikes, John loved his Lapierre Zesty so much he phoned the shop to reserve one before he even finished the ride, now he's a regular weekly rider. And as for Chris- well just look at him on the video and you just know he has the bug!

As for me well I was a competitive netballer always trying to find time to play on my bike between matches (and not get injured!)- but eventually the netball commitment got beaten down by the freedom and thrill of riding my bike when and where and with whom I liked. I bumped into the Nirvana Group on holiday in Morzine in 2001 and was thrilled to find out they had singletrack trails in my backyard of the North Downs- wow!

Whatever your reason for riding- you're welcome on the ride as I'm sure we'll infect you with this bug and convert you to a regular or as a minimum show you some awesome local trails to ride.

Half Term Being Aunty

Ella and Cal came over for a sleepover, but really it was an excuse for me to play Wii and take 2 kids out for a very muddy bike ride.

As usual we had loads of fun, treats were earned by playing Wii and no sulking if you lose! Cal is pretty good at these games now he knocked me out in boxing several times! I swear Nintendo adjust for age!

They are so lovely and boy they really love having fun with their Aunty, if only I could get them to go to bed!! We watched Happy Feet but when it ended Cal was sparko on my lap and Ella was snoring on the sofa- I had to carry them both to bed. (I'd fail as a parent but as a naughty Aunty I'm ace!)

Sunday Nirvana Ride

It's valentines weekend and clearly those of us whose first love is really our mountain bike were out for a ride- 8 of us started out.

The Sunday rides from Nirvana Cycles are advertised as free but this one truly became a FreeRide, unintentionally we ended up not piling on the miles this week but instead finding anything that we could rollover that might trip us up or we could launch off to get 3 inches of air, and there was plenty of material around Leith Hill.

We'd lost Nick off the back in the first climb so we played on the Summer Lightning DH trail jumps getting some good speed and air off the first 5 jumps while we waited for him to find us. Then we let Jason ride his nemesis jump that had ripped his shoulder rotator cuff some months ago, fortunately no repeat of that.

Heading on up to Leith- Gilles and Simon sessioned Donnie Darko until Nick found us, then we played on Windy willows a little then back up to a packed Leith Tower for tea and cake. We met with Ian, Jo and Vier and picked up a couple of other riders at the Agony Aunt log jump, who tagged on to play on some drop ins and then play on the jumps in the quarry.

There was quite a bit of sessioning the kickers in the quarry until Gilles cleared the big one and hit his high for the day. We started back over to Redlands via Deliverance which we all made it down in a variety of sketchiness and then we watched Simon's build up to the big jump and then his bunny hop technique off the ramp at the bottom (what an anti-climax!)

Over in Redlands there's a fallen tree to ride over and our confident team knew they could ride it no problem but with a camera on them their unanticipated circus antics were entertaining for the cameraman if not the riders!

The trails are pretty muddy but all still ridable and again we were blessed with sunshine and the warmest day we have had in ages.

Finished at the shop for some of Liz's cake and a cuppa with Simon to tell our tales and show videos!

Wednesday's Old Blokes Ride

Team Lapierre Zesty

Wednesday's ride saw a rivalry between the Turner riders and the Lapierres, with a Cove Stiffee and a less than Zesty Orange thrown in.

Claire, Matt and John were riding for the Lapierre Zesty team with his and hers blue 514's and Matt's bling top of the range 914 in black. We slightly outnumbered the Turner 5 spots for a change who were down to 2- Gilles and Richard but just to throw in some mix Chris was squeezing his new Orange 5 in there and ex-singlespeed champ Jason was back with the full 27 speed Cove Stiffee.


Team Lapierre v Turner (oh and an Orange boy!)

After 2 days of rain and freezing temps the sun again shone on us and we ventured out into the blue skies and deep mud. Heading over to Holmbury, Pitch and Winterfold where going was pretty good versus the slop on the Leith Hill trails. Again we all took on the adrenalin shot of 2 headed dog and then further into the mud we ended up riding up a river (OK Gilles it was justa stream but its all your fault!).


It's always great to look at the different levels of skills and fitness of each rider. After all we have all been there at some stage. So often a newer rider comes along and feels concerned to be at the back or not able to ride some of the technical routes but are soon regaled with stories from the rest of us- we all started out there too, looking over precipice drops and saying "You ride down that?!" and yet now we just ride over it with hardly a qualm.

Plus we have all had our stint at the back of the group (some of us more than others)- always catching up and breathless as the rested front runner take off again when you get there. BUT we all stuck with it and kept on riding, kept pushing our skills limits and kept on improving so now we can ride with the pack or ride the technical stuff (which gets to be more and more fun).

So the moral of this story is "Stick with it", keep coming out riding with us and you too will see the improvements in your skills and fitness- and boy that sure feels good!

Nirvana Sunday Ride

Sunday's ride was a real melee of experiences. 12 riders rocked up at the shop ready to roll at spot on 11am, despite the forecast of freezing rain and snow due this afternoon. As usual some old regulars and some new faces, some new bikes and some old trusty rides!

Calvin having broken a Titus was riding his newly built Mojo SL and I was riding my new Lapierre Zesty 514 which has already won my heart! We even had 2 roadies, Simon and John who were trying out the demo Turner and Lapierre Zesty as we attempted to convert them to the dark side of biking!

There was still some snow on the trails in a lot of places but melting to slush with a splash of mud, a nice recipe for sludge. The going was entertaining in places due to these varied conditions wheels could slip in any direction at any moment. But the sun was shining and the sky blue and it was really another glorious

winter's day.

Heading up to Holmbury, Jason skipped his Cove Stiffee into a rut and a stick promptly entered his rear mech and broke his rear hanger off. (Testament to why we have replaceable hangers instead of broken frames). This is where we split into EVIL nasty riders who took off with Simon to carry on riding and the goody two shoes NICE riders who stayed with Jason as we converted his bike to a singlespeed! (Ken and me!)

The Nasty and nice ones reconvened at Peaslake for a cuppa after a run down Golden Birdies/Barry Knows Best/ Reservoir Dogs (whichever you call it). Then we headed up over Winterfold and everyone had a look at the 2 headed dog, most riding it to varied levels of success- John who was riding the demo Turner 5.5 Spot took a real fast run at it and escaped with only a minor crash. (See video)

We piled some more miles under our wheels skirting the edge of St Martha's and back through Albury. By the time we got back to Abinger Jason's singlespeed legs were burnt out and Gilles was spent (and that hardly ever happens!) but we made it back to the shop to repair bikes and replenish energy with a nice cup of tea. Smiles all round and a couple of roadies who had also been won over by the Zesty and the North Downs riding- only time will tell if we succeeded in converting them but judging by their smiles.....!

Riding stats: -

Riders: - Simon, Nick, Gilles, Ken, Claire, Jason, Simon, John, Calvin, (oops- 3 names I didn't get sorry guys let me know who you are and eventually I will learn!)

Distance: - 37 km (for the NICE guys, a tad longer for the EVIL ones)

Duration: - 4hrs 24mins

Photos: - see slide show in right column and video above.

Nirvana Old Blokes Ride

It cannot have escaped anyone's notice that its been snowing lately! So I decided to join the Wednesday's Old Blokes Ride from Nirvana cycles as it was sure going to be a fun one. For those who haven't made it out to the North Downs while its been white here is a taste of what its like...

5 of us turned up, Simon, John, Ken, Brian and Claire and headed on up Rookery on some crunchy ice to start with - which (if you know the stepped bridleway climb) led to a lot of wheel spinning and eventually hike a bike!

Climbing up to Coldharbour called for some skilled pedaling- you have to keep your weight even on both wheels, pedal very smoothly and try not to turn the wheels too much or else you are fish tailing all over the place. The terrain quickly varies from slippery compacted ice to crunchy and very grippy snow. You can get speed up on the latter but beware because you can suddenly find your self back on the slippy stuff.

Once confident on the snow conditions Simon led us over some nice technical sections around Leith Tower, its amazing how different the trails look when covered in white stuff and it feels like riding new trails. Everyone had a go at playing over the technical drops and all stayed upright!

A quick coffee at the Plough in Coldharbour and warm up by the open fire and then we headed back out on the Summer Lightning downhill course which was a thrill then back via New soemthing Face trail (I must remember the trail names Simon tells me!) I was sweeping up the back while Simon and John were crashing and getting buried in the snow - it was like skittles watching them fall in front of me.

Well the trails are in excellent conditions to ride and the blue skies made it a perfect day, but beware the backroads on the way back- they are still compacted ice and it was like riding on an ice rink on the way back to the shop.

If you haven't been lucky enough to ride it yet, hope for more this weekend and come out and play!

28cm + 5 inches = Snow Bike

We heard the forecast on Friday for heavy snow on Sunday/Monday. Like an excited kid on Christmas eve I kept looking out the window on Sunday night watching the white stuff falling and settling- "oooh tomorrow I need to ride!"

Monday morning and it was still snowing and we had about 20cm on the ground already- bike gear on and I was off skidding up the bridleways to Colley Hill I met a lady on snow blades skiing down with a big beam on her face. At the top the kids were toboganning through the amphitheatre/bombhole and giggling as snowballs hit them. Everyone was in such a jolly mood.

Most people were off work/ school but some sorry people were still having to travel

despite reports that the M25 was shut in several places. I crossed over the M25 and it was difficult not to be smug that I was playing on my bike while these people suffered...

I probably did not choose the best tracks after this as, what was flowy fast singletrack just 2 days ago became a tough slog through almost 30cm of snow right on the top of the golf course.

I headed into Walto

n on the Hill and narrowly avoided the 

snowballs as I pedaled through a battlefield near the pond. The swans and ducks did not look too amused at the state of their pond today.

I had set out with the intention of reaching Box Hill to collect my snowboard from M&D and hike up to ride the hill, depsite the tough going I was stubborn enough to complete my objective. I had a pretty hairy descent down Box Hill but the climb up the icy road was the worst of the day, a tree down outside the railway station, half blocking the road.

I was exhausted reaching M&D's 4 hrs later (normally takes 1.5hrs). Too much so to go snowboarding, or even to ride home. I had lunch to revive myself and dried my clothes then I cycled back across Denbies and down to Deepdene station. Caught the 4:30 (which arrived at 4:55) into Reigate and then cycled home in the dusk. Phew what a day!

The BBC tell me we had 28cm of snow (not seen so much for 20 years), combining that with the 5inch travel on my new Lapierre Zesty 514L bike led to a fun and very memorable day.

 

Nirvana Sunday Ride

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Now I've been doing a few of the Wednesday rides and I've got my new light bike I decided to join the Nirvana group ride on a Sunday which I have not done for years.

Wow! Having this new lighter bike really made it sooo much more fun, for once I was not at the back, in fact I was in the middle of the group and it was great fun - even on the climbs! So nice to have a bike that responds on the climbs and does not wallow up sapping all your energy.

Trails were reasonably firm as it was cold so the mud was a little more frozen. We had 11 people at the start but after the Peaslake stop just 5 of us left the others having split off and headed back. We rode from Westcott up rookery to Summer lightning DH trail then over Leith - watched Gilles and Sam ride sticky fingers then over to Peaslake for tea and cheese straws.

We headed up Pitch to Proper Beau where Gilles and Sam were persuaded to pose for the camera in the above video. Then we made a speedy return through some very light snow flurries back to Nirvana Cycles for tea with Simon.

Some of the riders: - Gilles, Sam, Richard, Ian, Jo, Claire, Bettina, Simon, Duncan, and 2 names I don't know yet.