North Downs with Pete and Lee

October 18th

Wow people to ride with at last! Pete actually made it out on a bike and Lee came down from Oxford for his first tour of the North Downs singletrack.

Pete ahd a route in mind rather than just playing on singletrack. Recently I've been riding on my own a lot so I've started just playing and sessioning the best singletrack routes. Parking at the Holmbury village CP climbing up to Homlmbury hill viewpoint and heading over to the reservoir via black hole and then sessioning "Golden Birdies" 4 or 5 times (takes about 5 mins to get down and 10-15 to climb up) and "I should coco" a couple of times, then back via "Yoghurt pots" and "Telegraph" back down to the CP. Dry trails and fast tracks.

So anyway today we start in Peaslake and climb up Pitch hill and play on some of the singletrack that I think is called "T1, T2" which has been logged a bit but the route is coming back now and then down "Baptista" which has been logged a little too but is still fun, twisty and challenging but not so much to manoeuvre your handlebars through nowadays and back down to Peaslake.

Too early for tea so we climbed up to the reservoir and top of Holmbury, yoghurt pots, then the off camber parallaling Telegraph and the new stuff Dave showed us (nameless). Took the bridelway past the school until we climbed almost to Leith. At Leith Tower we had tea and sandwiches and cake of course and bumped into Simon from Nirvana, reminding me I must ride with him again.

"Windy Willows" was the usual fun but a bit muddy over the log jumps at the end!
Scuttled down the steep descent towards Friday street then climbed up via Simons Copse and back down the bottom of Summer lightning to Rookery. Cross the A25 and along white Down back across A25 and climb up near Abinger to Holmbury.

Lee thought we were done but we pointed towards Peaslake and how much further we still had to go. He was sprinting ahead on his light 24lbs Specialized hard tail and I steadily did leg presses on my 33lb Hustler FR set-up to climb on up to the top of Holmbury.

Finally we had the fun fast fling down Golden Birdies which was massive fun as usual such sweet singletrack! And of course tea at the bus shelter at the bottom and cake AGAIN!

40km done, 6.5 hrs out, moving for 4.5 hrs (so lots of chat and tea breaks going on!)

Back at Pete's Is had cooked a Vegan meal for us and Lockey came round so it was good to catch up after a few years absence!

Lazing on a Sunny afternoon!

Lazing on a Sunny afternoon!, originally uploaded by kendyck1.

What can I say September has won me over - another Sunny weekend.

Saturday I fixed my Marzocchi 55 ATA2 forks back on my bike after Windwave bled the TST cartridge for me. To test them out I rode 32km from Reigate through Colley Hill to Headley, top of Box Hill back down to the A25 then along from Brockham to Dungates lane and the bridleway back. They are sweet again now they are fixed I love them- I just hope they stay that way as its such a hassle to take them off and send them in to get sorted.

Got a HC then off to G&H for dinner and movie.

On Sunday it was gorgeous again so I rode Bracknell singletrack with J&M for 25k, couple of hours. Aliens and twsited sister then over to do the DH with the tabletos which I flew over asnd cleared 2 of them. Then I raced back to the picnic area to meet the kids for a picnic, played in the playground then off for a walk/run/walk in the forest. Finished with a piggy back race and an ice cream.

Weekend was only dampened by Mum having a fall and texting to say she'd sprained her ankle and passed out with the shock! Dad feeling a bit twingy too in his back. Nurofen on drip feed there right now.

Afan Argoed - 21 Sept

Afan Argoed - 21 Sept, originally uploaded by kendyck1.

Sept 21/22 2008

Another great weekend- September beats August for sure.
I shot off to Afan rode the Whytes level from 4:30- 6:30 pm and camped over.

Sunday I rode the Wall then headed home. Perfect conditions, dry trails, warm sunny wetaher but not too hot!

Great!

Long shadows at Box Hill

Long shadows at Box Hill, originally uploaded by kendyck1.

Sept 14 2008

Such a beautiful weekend at last! I took a long ride from Denbies up Ranmore over to White Down across and up to Leith Hill via Friday street, played on some singletrack and back down Summer Lightening then across and back up to Denbies and westhumble.

Some 40 odd kms! I finished around 6:30 in the long evening shadows as the sun set beautiful!

Sept ride at Granny's

Top of the Hill, originally uploaded by kendyck1.

Sept 13th

Before I headed out for a ride on the North Downs I had a ride with Cal and Ella and Ella was brave enough to ride down the big hill with me so we did that over and over and over.

Then Ella even rode my bike with the saddle down but I had to sprint next to her in case she stopped and fell off sideways. This pretty much exhausted me before my real ride!!

Coed Y Brenin

Coed Y Brenin, originally uploaded by kendyck1.

After a meeting in Birmimgham I headed up to CYB and had a wet then dry run around the MBR ride now clle the Dragons' back although I extended it with a fe other bits of singletrack.

I was going to stay ov er but I'd actual;ly forgotten to put my tent in and the weekend looked wet so I drove home and rode there.

Reigate Hill

Reigate Hill, originally uploaded by kendyck1.

Finally a Sunny day so got out there rapido to climb up Reigate Hill and have some fun on my bike- wow what views and much less mud!

Yep I know this pic is repetiive but the view was the sme and the day was great so here it is again!