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

Magnets

Can pick up shrapnel and treasure whilst riding.

Couldn't resist going out today! Chilterns again, so many trails round here just got to be careful as there are also a lot of walkers. More fun on a rigid fork, have to look where I'm going!

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Just to finish off “Dammit goes to Leith Hill”, I did a circuit of Summer Lightning which was fun- there’s a few bits of what I refer to in my head as “proper mountain biking”, steep, rooty, rutted and quite a challenge when taken fast.

Some of the gaps between signs were a little long but I always managed to pick up the route again.

Being an idiot I did not take any food with me so decided to get some at the tower cafe- this was an error. It took 40 minutes to get served and in that time I got really, really cold. The sausage roll was nice- although in one final and masterful bit of trolling they heated it to 2,500 degrees before handing it over so I got to sit there for another 40 minutes until it cooled down enough not to burn my mouth- which meant I had four dogs sat in an arc in front of me at one point waiting for me to give in and hand over my lunch.

I think it would be fun to ride to the tower, do the loop and then ride on- or possibly back to the car. Is there a route to the tower that is handily anchored at a car park?

I usually start from Starveall car park (mind the height limiter or it will tear the bike off your roof mounted rack) and then its never too far back from the Tower to the car.

head up to the tower, explore around there and then head over to Summer lightning. By the time you get to the bottom and have done a bit more exploring then the the climb back up to the tower and you are good to head back to the car.

The cafe at the tower seems amazingly slow considering they have about half a dozen folk packed into the kitchen it takes them forever to drop a teabag and some hot water into a receptacle and hand it over with a slice of cake

*explore around there..

instead of heading down SL from the tower head down the dog-legged path that has barriers either side and then explore off to the right hand side from there.

you can try to find windy willows as per this site but TBH all you need to do is find the network of trails down there and then do some exploring. They are the kind of trails that were in the snowy video edit I posted a week or so back

I think it would be fun to ride to the tower, do the loop and then ride on- or possibly back to the car. Is there a route to the tower that is handily anchored at a car park?

I do a half day ride loop starting in Dorking that takes in Leith after passing through other popular trail spots you may have heard of :)

Well I say 'I do' but the last time I did something like this was about a year ago. Le sigh.

Been riding my gravel bike around the Cwmcarn valley, where the Twrch and Cafall trails are on each side.

The scenic drive there has been closed for the past 5 years or more due the the forestry commission tackling the Ash dieback.

They must’ve pumped a fair wedge of cash into it to get it ready to reopen in March (now delayed thx Covid) as they’ve resurfaced the 7 miles of Forrest Drive.

It was as I was riding up part of the Forrest Drive I noticed new mtb trails being built.
It branches off from the Twrch trail a little way up from the sharp left turn up the short, steep concrete slope near the Twmbarlwm point (if you know the trail).

It didn’t look like there was much more to do before it’s ready to open. So hopefully sometime this Spring and it’ll be open.

This and the unofficial trails that have been added* make it worth a stop when you’re heading into Wales to other locations.

*such as the one dug from near the start of the Y Mynydd Downhill track

took Dammit round that one a while ago

Is that the route meant to link twitch and cafell? Saw something on the forest ranger page, looks like they're creating one big loop with both tracks.

Hmmm, not sure if it’ll make one big loop.

It’ll probably make Twrch shorter as it’ll chop a fair bit off with a more direct route back to the floor of the valley. That is unless it’s just adding more to that side of the valley without offering a route back to the centre?

Have a look at the link below that shows the additional unofficial trails in the area.
https://www.trailforks.com/region/cwmcarn-forest-drive/?activitytype=1&z=11.9&lat=51.63555&lon=-3.10255

What a difference a day makes.

Nobby Nic // Rocket Ron combo is one of the best all rounders I’ve ridden. Haven’t had to push since I’ve got them and they clear mud (and snow) really well. Would recommend. 10/10.

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I followed my youngest yesterday round the berms at Cathkin Braes. He was on new Nobby Nics, I was on old Vittorias.. He flew round, I had no traction on the ice! New tyres beckon.

Regarding Nobby Nics on the front, I was using them front and rear and then tired a Hans Dampf up front instead - marked improvement, especially when cornering hard.

@t_w took us on a good route from Peaslake - Leith Hill - Redlands, then just bombed down the hill from Redlands(200% fun) into Dorking from there.

I have an unused reverb in the box, not sure on travel and it's in my garage so won't know for a few days at least.
Will report back!

Still lots of snow on the woods down here in south Somerset

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Mountain biking is class. I'd forgotten how much fun/fast it is doing descents on a bike with appropriate tyres and suspension.

First proper test on my new Sentier vrs. Dropper posts are a revelation and 2.6" magic Mary / Hans dampf are great! RRP guard on the front was a nice shout - ended up getting the cable tie version as the bolt equivalent was out of stock everywhere. Ass saver on the back does basically nothing - mud hugger might be necessary.

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Have you encountered some super technical gravel, or is it just for traffic light stops?

STG©️

I know nothing about forks. Been happy with the manitou magnum @pit sold me but it seems my next frame will likely be a 29” HT thing and trying to figure out if this RS lyric is a good option as it’s so heavily discounted atm:

https://www.bike24.com/p2430180.html

Any comments?

As with everything right now. Yey, Brexit.

Super short offset... what are they going on?

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@russmeyer is in Sweden.

Awesome fork at a great price.

There's a few things with Rockshox forks, but if you can do the 50 hours service they'll be great-
They generally put too much grease (think most brands are generous) in the air spring and air transfer port can get blocked and become either sucked down, or stuck up, or both in my case.
They use a bath oil that's pretty viscose and can be made totally better by using something lighter.