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Date: 3rd May
2009 Dave has planned his classic 3 lumps loop (Pitch Hill, Holmbury Hill, Leith Hill and back again) and the good weather all week means we have dry, dusty and fast running trails, perfect conditions to undertake this challenging loop although there is a constant undercurrent of mutiny on the good ship DOMTB. More on that later. Before setting out from Peaslake we say hello to Nick, an old MTB acquantaince of mine and seller of my SX (second hand) and Rob's Orange 5 (from Cycleworks in Leatherhead) before heading up to the top of Pitch Hill and trails Zero to 5 taking in Trail 1.5 on the way which is now cleared of most obstacles (except the one I bashed my shin on) and riding sweetly. Back through Peaslake village passing Nick again and up Radnor Road to the steep bridleway entrance on the left and onto Holmbury Hill, cutting our way across the hillside before we plateau out at the trig point. My eye is caught by another very distinctive rider taking in the view. "Hi mate, didn't we see you somewhere last week?" "Yes, I was at Swinley" (which is where we rode last week) replied Peter who must be about 6' 4" and has long flowing dreads out the back of his pisspot lid. Told you he was distinctive. Peter follows us down Yoghurt Pots before heading off in the opposite direction with some vague directions from us. It's here that the first good-natured disagreement over which route we should take occurs. A couple of the other riders including me have alternative and additional trails in mind that we keep on suggesting to Dave. Dave takes it well and we head down the trail parallel to Telegraph Road before reachig a fork in the trail and climbing to another bridleway, disagreeing about which way to go nextand then going back down same trail to the fork and down to the WI Hall in Holmbury. Next off Felix recommends we should take the trail past Upfolds Farm to the top of Leith Hill and Dave is learning to go with the flow now and off we set. Unfortunately, the powers that be have decided to transform the narrow, rooty, testing trail that this was into a six-foot wide smooth 'motorway' that is pretty boring but gets us to where we want to be. The final climb up to Leith Hill Tower passes without event and we pause for tea, flapjack and the odd banana here and there. Next off we drop in to Personal Hygeine before taking in the Cricket Pitch, Deliverance (well, me and Felix do) and down Regurgitator and over to some trails that I last rode way back in October 2003. We caught up with Simon and a group of riders from Nirvana here, riding some great trails although I had a comedy moment riding down a short steep drop I came across a really boggy section of trail. My front wheel stopped dead and I went over the bars. However as the bike was stuck fast I pushed out with both my hands, doing a handstand before pushing myself back onto the bike which was retunrung to the correct position although now falling sideways. Not much damage done but it gave the rest of the group a laugh. Dave leads us out of the woods ( I didn't have a clue where I was) and we cut across Coldharbour Lane heading towards Summer Lightning and Dave leads us down a wonderfully loose, dusty, sketchy and steep descent; lovely! Onto the four Summer Lightning sections and down another new descent that leads us to Dave's favourite Leyland's Road an off-road climb that goes on for miles taking us back up the long drag towards Leith Hill Tower. Cutting right we head across to the High Ashes Farm descent, a wonderful, fast, rocky descent that takes us to the Horsham Road. We now normally follow the steep zig zag climb up to the Greensand Way but again I suggest an alternative and after a few moments of discussion Dave agrees. This time we follow the climb that loops us around the back of the WI Hall and Felix comments that the reason that I like the climb is that most of it is downhill and those bits that are uphill don't feel like you are climbing at all; just the way I like my climbs! Finally we drag ourselves to the top, via the car park singletrack and then onto Reservoir dogs and a final supercharged descent down Barry Knows Best and a quick stop in Peaslake Stores for provisions before heading back to the car. 25 miles of great trails, a fair bit of climbing but plenty of fast descents. This really was a blast.
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