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

do they do a day pass for swinley?

am also thinking of doing some training for MTB riding, i know i can go and learn by my mistakes but part of me thinks i'd get more fun from it and be better off learning decent technique to start with

can anyone suggest a good place to learn - gorrick.com has some one day courses...

gary, what are you up to tomorrow and Sunday?

I'm away this weekend but I'm up for a ride (whatever the weather) next weekend James.

Am meeting a friend who is actually an MTB instructor for a ride around Queens Wood tomorrow.

Will be meeting at 10.30 at Crouch Hill station.

If anyone wants to come along mention it on here.

We are just going to be messing around, with the intention that I will learn a bit of control for the bike. Then may try to schedule a day out of London for a group of us and to do a half day of training and half day riding in the near future.

Might be up for this James, will let you know if I'm in.

sweet

Signed up to post this. (Owain from last weekend's ride).

Yes, I'm up for that tomorrow morning. Train route seems``Interesting'' to get there from west london.

gary, what are you up to tomorrow and Sunday?

retouching/vat return/drinking wine/thinking about when i'll take up cycling again etc etc.

i'm not doing any mtb in the rain/mud. had my fill of it over the years and can't be bothered. if i had my SS up and running then i'm more likely to ride if it's a bit muddy. the bouncy bike is a pain to clean and has bugger all mud room.
if we get a dry/cold winter i'll be out in the hills, trails are fast as fuck when frozen :-)

Am meeting a friend who is actually an MTB instructor for a ride around Queens Wood tomorrow.

Will be meeting at 10.30 at Crouch Hill station.

If anyone wants to come along mention it on here.

We are just going to be messing around, with the intention that I will learn a bit of control for the bike. Then may try to schedule a day out of London for a group of us and to do a half day of training and half day riding in the near future.

That sounds more fun than the CX thing. In. I can take a bike on the Overground right?

yep, overground works fine for bikes

Cool. 8 miles on through town knoblies is probably best avoided.

I would come around but I lack the necessary tool to change the cog from an 18 to 20t (55gi).

HTFU scoble

I'm in for this today.

If anyone wants to meet at Finsbury Park at 10am to ride up the old railway line, there's some fun single track on the way.

Meet at the Park gates nearest the tube, then we can be at Crouch Hill by 10.30.

ill come back that way with you, have planned my route out to crouch hill

see you all in a bit

That was bucketloads of fun.

Great little group, alockett, tom a&e, owain, Lucy and me. Lucy was awesome at explaining lots of techniques to make things easier, positioning of body for climbing and descending. Hand position for climbing was very useful. As we did a few loops I could see the improvements as we went round. Owain and Andy were also hugely informative.

Shall try to organise a proper day with Lucy for the forum mtb folk. Half a day of training and then an afternoon ride. We can split the costs amongst us to pay for lucy's time.

My favourite moments were discovering the joys of suspension and bouncy tyres when we we bombing down a hill to discover it had a section of massive steps. Thankfully I had just been advised by Andy to bend my arms on descents but it did feel like I was riding a huge blancmange. We also did a really slippery descent a couple of times, after the first time I was told to focus on the exit for difficult sections and the second time it was much easier.

I do need to reset my front mech limit screws but basically a great morning out.

Thanks to all.

Cheers for organising it James, and pass my thanks to Lucy for leading us round and passing out the hints and tips.

Nice little run around.

Yes, that was a nice morning's messing about.

So who's up for something in two weeks? I'm at a conference next weekend so no riding for me.

In

Is anyone doing anything this weekend?

Yes
Don't know which day I am free yet

Free both days at the moment, definitely up for a ride

should have my bike back working by then, so in, depending on day/time/location...

Excellent. James, you're the one with plans, so I guess you're in the driving seat re: which day you want to go.

Event details
had some contact with Charliethebikemonger recently again,
and wanted to put a shout out for him again, proper mentalist,
heres his blog which is good for 2 reasons
http://www.charliethebikemonger.com/page42.htm

1. It mentions a MTBO event that Im organising for 06 Nov.
   This is on the Purbecks Dorset, you go past Bournemouth a bit or, train to Poole or, Wareham.
   Struck me that if people want a good weekend away and they arent bedwetters
   you could come down fri/sat do my event Sat (see flyer on link)
   then ride Sunday on the Purbecks
   heres a flavour http://www.singletrackworld.com/trailguide/uk/south-west/the-isle-of-purbeck/
   
2. Charlie talks about some monthly adventure riding hes doing into the winter.
   stay strong