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If you ain't ridin' in December you ain't nuthin!

7th December 2003 Richard - Stane Street

You know that you haven't been out in a long time when as you are getting ready to go out your wife says:

"you haven't been out riding for ages".

I didn't make it out last week or the week before due to the deluge of biblical proportions. I kept on seeing lots of animals travelling around in pairs and I'm sure I saw Mrs Noah making a few packed lunches. Well, at least I must have accumulated dozens of brownie points if nothing else.

But back to the present...on a cold but bright morning a blast along the road to the meeting point at Ryka's cafe turns out to be wasted effort as a last-minute phone call advises me I am the only one out today. Still, now that I am out and warmed up I may as well make the most of it. After a quick trip around Denbie's estate I return via Stane Street and Epsom Downs.

It's actually quite nice riding on your own - no pressure to keep the pace up and you can stop and take a few photos whenever you want. I tried to get some pictures showing the trails that are prevalent in this area - hope you like them.

I return home cold but feeling good having covered 20 miles in a couple of hours.

Storm damage

with plenty of mud too

typical North Surrey terrain - a mix of chalk and flint

Richard demonstrates hat-hair as in, "oh, is that from a brain sieve?"

14th December 2003 Richard, Mark and Bandana Man (Dave) - Pitch_Hill and Holmbury_Hill

The sun is shining and it's a beautiful, crisp morning at the end of autumn with winter fast approaching.

From the Hurtwood car-park at Peaslake we head up Pitch Hill towards the location of the Surrey North Shore. This has now been dismantled but there is plenty of evidence of just how hairy it was. Walkways 15 feet up in the trees with 5 foot landing ramps et al. It's still worth a visit as there are some great trails through the woods here that I have never seen before including the legendary 'Holy Trail'.

Bandana Man

Surrey North Shore - sorry, no more

The 'Holy Trail' on Pitch Hill

Mark on Barry Knows Best

The trails are full of places to get some 'air' and Bandana Man and I are soon stylin' it up although Mark seems happy to keep his wheels firmly on the ground.

After refreshments at the Peaslake bus stop a final climb up Holmbury Hill followed by the Yoghurt Pots (which are full to the brim) and Barry Know Best rounds off a great ride.

21st December 2003 Richard and Mike - Pitch_Hill and Holmbury Hill

The winter solstice - the shortest day of the year - it's gunna get lighter from now on - whatever....

Whichever way you look at it I was determined to get out riding today. Mike had given me a call yesterday that he was hooking up with some guys from singletrackworld so I was keen to tag along.

We met at the High Ashes car park and after quick intro's to Alex, Gary and Hamish we were straight into the serious business:

"So where we gonna go then?"

They fancied visiting Pitch Hill as they didn't know much about it. As I was only there last week it was decided I would lead the way - let's hope I can remember which route Mark took. We headed off there via Holmbury Hill and we were soon spotting trails off amongst the trees including the descent that earned the name "Holy Shale" and which achieved cult status as the day wore on. But I was determined to at least find the way back to the old North_Shore before being sidetracked...

***Click to enlarge***

Mike loses it going through that big puddle at the end of Reservoir_Dogs

Alex launches the Ellsworth ID off a sizeable jump on Pitch Hill...

Pitch Hill skyline

Hamish gets some phat air at the end of some of the great singletrack we discovered on Pitch Hill

On One meets Kobe_Ti

Gary on his On One inbred on one of the roll-in's on Barry_Knows_Best

...and then lands it. Look at that rear swingarm position - the whole six inches!

The quarry (no, not that one)

Hamish

Alex gets some more phat air. This is at least a four feet drop

...Lucky for me, we found it as well as a whole host of other stuff that we just spotted going off the bridleways...

"wow, where does that go dude?"

"I dunno, wanna try it?"

...and off we went. We ended up getting hopelessly lost but found some great trails and drop-off's. According to Alex "it rocks". It took a compass, a couple of dog-walkers and a dash of good luck to make it back to finally descend the "Holy Shale".

There was just enough time to take the return ride over Holmbury_Hill before heading back to the car park. Another great day's riding at the end of what has proved to be my best MTB'ing year so far.

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