Let's offroad / mountain bike / mtb / ride dirt

Stanton sherpa or Sanderson town crier?

Stanton Sherpa mk3 ftw. I have a rigid fork, 29er wheels with plump road tyres, flat bars and a long stem for winter grinding, and 650b wheels with plus tyres, suss fork, risers and a stubby stem for trail rides. It's versatile, fun and surprisingly sprightly. Only downside for bike packing would be the one bottle mount, but I use a osprey bladder thingy for offroad touring anyway.
I do love @Dammit 's Pace hardtail too if you wanted more differentiation from a gravel bike.

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Omg now I have seen Nicolai emtbs.
Those are quite disturbing.

Might buy a Nicolai next time

I mean...I still want to have a go 😅

Youngest's MTB coach has a pinion Nikolai.. I think it's badass

So, if I wanted to park somewhere near-ish, then ride to Leith Hill, ride Summer Lightning then head back to the car where would people recommend that parking place to be?

If you want to stay Westcott side. There’s a small car parking bit at the end of Springfield road in westcott, where the road starts to bend, would be a short spin up to bottom of summer lightening from there. We use it if we do the nirvana loop.

you can also park at Coldharbour near the Plough Inn for a different side of the woods. You are at the bottom of the second section of SL but can follow Wolvens Lane up a short shallow climb then left onto the oldest sections of SL.

Follow these as normal to the bottom, climb back up to the tower then follow SL back down again to Coldharbour.

Then you finish with a descent rather than a climb, which is nice.

Can also take on some Darkside trails (you know, that area that must not be spoken of by name on the other side of the road).

Youngest's MTB coach has a pinion Nikolai.. I think it's badass

The dream.

you can also park at Coldharbour near the Plough Inn for a different side of the woods. You are at the bottom of the second section of SL but can follow Wolvens Lane up a short shallow climb then left onto the oldest sections of SL.

Follow these as normal to the bottom, climb back up to the tower then follow SL back down again to Coldharbour.

Then you finish with a descent rather than a climb, which is nice.

Can also take on some Darkside trails (you know, that area that must not be spoken of by name on the other side of the road).

Just about to head out to do this - thanks!

Is it hard to miss the Wolvens Lane>SL turn, or should I watch out for something to tell me I've gone too far and to go back?

there is a wooden signpost for summer lightning.

Ride circa 500 metres max from the Plough into a small opening/car park and turn left there. SL is then on your right.

The car paRK is at the crest of a shallow climb. ~If you start descending on Wolvens lane you have gone too far

there are two options for the left turn.

one on the ahem, left is a boggy bridleway. Ignore that. Take the right fork that goes up over a gnarly rooty section. Another 50 metres on there and SL is on your right

Cheers- didn’t apply in the end as it’s impossible to park anywhere near there at this time of day.

shame, I've never arrived there that late so wasn't aware of that. An alternative in future is what is shown on Google maps as Redlands parking or Shoe Tree car park both a bit further along Coldharbour Lane (although I have always known them as the Windy Gap car park)

Windy Gap was also chockers - I think that getting out of bed and hitting the road early is the answer if you don't want to park in Leith Hill Place (which was the closest car park to the Plough Inn that had any room).

The steep trails off Pitch yesterday and the mellow Peaslake and Holmbury trails today were stunning . Fast and grippy was so needed after months of greasy slop. Tempted to take the Hillbilly off the front as it was pretty squirmy when I needed support but it'll probably piss down for three weeks if I do....

did the "nirvana killer loop" from guildford/newlands corner yesterday. was ace. aiming to weave in a few more trails/singletrack around peaslake/holmbury next time though - https://www.strava.com/activities/4817154636

I had a great time on the Hardtail yesterday, today however I did everything wrong - not enough food, too many layers, no warm up and just didn’t gel with the trail bike. Did a circuit of SL and came home.

I cleaned my bike

1/10

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Isn't Muc Off a bit overkill for removing cobwebs?

Kapow!

I also rode my bike - there was an appreciable layer of dust over it. Surprisingly grippy out there considering the slop.

The spiders take it out for rides at night!

You got lucky with that dropper length eh?

a great day out on the trails today. Only an XC ride from Epsom to box hill and back but the trails were so much better than 7 days ago it was amazing.

Last week I was freezing my butt off and the trails were full of frozen snow and ice and the ruts were frozen solid versus this week the same trails were firm but running sweetly and I was in shorts