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.