Badgers in heat - Epping Forest Summer rides

You have a good memory sir! :0)

1) BN
2) IR
3) Doctor_Cake
4) Howard
5) Ramsaye
6) fasih
7) xkittyx
8) iorekah
9) Aroogah
10) spotter
11) Ricochet
12) jesm
13) yal
14) TomvanHalen
15) YAL
16) ninelives
17) Shoosh
18) 7Üp ?
19) mmccarthy
20) Dom ?
21) pops ?
22) branwen
23) dicki ?
24) stedlocks
25) Farcuss
26) Big_Poe
27) @blowfish ?
28) @malandro ?
29) @HoKe ?
30) motter

If all these folks turn up, this ride will be supreme, and will forever go down in LFGSS lore.

Make it happen, people.

^ The tea hut/pub should do well that day

The prospect of a a thirty forumer Epping ride makes me moist.

The prospect of a a thirty forumer Epping ride makes me moist.

I have just bought a Magic Cog and am now ready to max out my lols for these rides.

I'm up there now.... I've found loads of trails that I never knew existed....over Theydon Bois end. I'm ballbagged from all the climbing, and am still 25 miles from home......hopefully, this sausage sandwich will kick in soon!!

I have just bought a Magic Cog

Is this like those 'magic' beans you once bought?

I've found loads of trails that I never knew existed....over Theydon Bois end

You would have found them sooner, if you came on more rides ;-)

If you mean Wiggle are doing psilocybic shrooms then yes those are the ones

Yeah, you know, the ones I flogged to you!

psilocybic shrooms

Got to be an improvement on Haribo.

Hmmmm...

Provisionally yes, but I'll be half way through chemo, and susceptible to potential bonkage. On a scale of one to fuckaduck, how hard will this potentially be?

I can't promise that you won't bonk, but nobody ever gets left behind and there's usually plenty of breaks for cake, photos and chat ( especially if stedlocks gets started ).

Here comes the boring bit....

Starting and finishing point for all rides will be at Chingford Station. There's lots of room for people to wait around with bikes and plenty of shops nearby for last minute stocking up of food/drink/fags/booze etc.. For anybody driving there, I can give you directions for free parking nearby.

The duration of the rides isn't set in stone, so they can be cut shorter or extended depending on what people want to do.

It's worth bringing along food & drink, but there's various places to stop throughout the rides. The tea hut is guaranteed at least one visit and there's plenty of pubs about in the area too.

I don't ask much, but these are some guidelines that I'd like to set out:

Please try to sort your bike out before the ride. Don't decide that your brakes need bleeding while we're all standing about in the car park. Fettling is fine ( pumping up of tyres/forks/shocks ), but do your best to have a fully functioning bike when you arrive.

Try to carry the basics – Something to drink, some food, at least one spare inner tube & some patches. I will have a pump and basic tools with me, so those things are optional. I'd recommend wearing gloves, but helmet use is entirely up to you. I won't lead you into doing anything silly or dangerous, but you are responsible for your own well being out there.

Epping Forest is not a racetrack. If you want to race, go and enter a race. Obviously some element of competitiveness will rear it's head. This is fine, but please limit it to racing uphill, where you've less chance of hurting yourself or anybody else.

Please don't scare horses, run over dogs or generally endanger anyone else using the trail. It's not Whistler bike park. The trails are open and shared and sometimes busy, so don't act like a twat towards people out enjoying themselves for the day. LFGSS forum members are well known for their polite and deferential manner, so I know this won't be an issue.

There will be a mixed range of abilities on the rides. Several back markers or 'sweepers' will be required. This won't be a day long job, as nobody likes to be stuck at the back, so people can take it in turns. As long as I know who's going to be the last rider through at each point, as I really don't want to have to go looking for anyone. We'll stop to regroup at the top of any climbs, the bottom of descents and at any road crossings ( some of which can be a bit dodgy ).

If you're uncertain of your ability to ride an obstacle please tell me. There are no razor sharp rocks, or deep ravines to go crashing into, but even flying off into a small bombhole the wrong way could land you in hospital*. It's advisable to give some vocal warning to the rider behind you, if anything dodgy is up ahead.

Please do take lots of photos.

*I have had one hospital visit and would prefer not to do it again

tldr - GO BACK AND READ THE WHOLE DAMNED THING!

1) BN
2) IR
3) Doctor_Cake
4) Howard
5) Ramsaye
6) fasih
7) xkittyx
8) iorekah
9) Aroogah
10) spotter
11) Ricochet
12) jesm
13) yal
14) TomvanHalen
15) YAL
16) ninelives
17) Shoosh
18) 7Üp ?
19) mmccarthy
20) Dom ?
21) pops ?
22) branwen
23) dicki ?
24) stedlocks
25) Farcuss
26) Big_Poe
27) blowfish ?
28) malandro ?
29) HoKe ?
30) motter
31) Bullheart

Perfect. I'm happy to die on route anyway, so long as someone can drop my bike back to my wife. It's worth a bit.

Sounds ace!

1) BN
2) IR
3) Doctor_Cake
4) Howard
5) Ramsaye
6) fasih
7) xkittyx
8) iorekah
9) Aroogah
10) spotter
11) Ricochet
12) jesm
13) yal
14) TomvanHalen
15) YAL
16) ninelives
17) Shoosh
18) 7Üp ?
19) mmccarthy
20) Dom ?
21) pops ?
22) branwen
23) dicki ?
24) stedlocks
25) Farcuss
26) Big_Poe
27) blowfish ?
28) malandro ?
29) HoKe ?
30) motter
31) Bullheart
32) pit

If we swap bits before we gave it back, would she notice?

Also, do you have any gold fillings or other precious metals holding previously broken bones together?

I'm happy to die on route anyway

Please don't. People will start accusing me of 'murdering' again.

Get some dates up then Pete!

Sorry mate, I can still only say mid-to-late September at the moment.

Are these routes do-able on a cross bike?
My dad lives in Chingford so could arrange a visit and come along to this, but I don't have a MTB.

1) BN
2) IR
3) Doctor_Cake
4) Howard
5) Ramsaye
6) fasih
7) xkittyx
8) iorekah
9) Aroogah
10) spotter
11) Ricochet
12) jesm
13) yal
14) TomvanHalen
15) YAL
16) ninelives
17) Shoosh
18) 7Üp ?
19) mmccarthy
20) Dom ?
21) pops ?
22) branwen
23) dicki ?
24) stedlocks
25) Farcuss
26) Big_Poe
27) blowfish ?
28) malandro ?
29) HoKe ?
30) motter
31) Bullheart
32) pit
33) MetalMelly - date dependent