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

Thanks for the advice - Will swap a 32T chainring in or try to buy a 19t freewheel. :-)

Caspar [quote]MrSmith i'll be up for trying some new routes around london.
if you have transport the trail centers in wales are good fun and are ridable all year round.

A few friends said that the new section of the Whites Trail in Afan is awesome, I missed out on that weekend![/quote]

they were right. It's been funded by all the wind turbines they put up there. I love that trail!

Got lots of tables in the new bit which are ace fun but spaced a bit weirdly. Found it easier on my hardtail than the full suss too..

not me by the way :-)

I was gonna say, that's graham innit

Looks like good weather this weekend, gonna head up to mecca in the work van (factory) to get some 4X practice if you fancy it Andy?

hopefully it's going to get colder which means less mud

gotta do some study on Sunday tim. Hitting up Esher on the Kobe on sat but want to get up to Chicky again soon

lucky Hitting up Esher

Going to Esher

thanks, it was kind of tongue in cheek rob

Still I assume freeride slang isn't the thing round these parts?

no you meant it, I bet you were doing the hand signals at the same time too

RPM [quote]lucky Hitting up Esher

Going to Esher[/quote]

Smacking my Esher up.

taking it up the esher more like

Sooo... meeting before 9 am on sat 26th (Oztralia day) @ clapham jn. for a train ride down to Dorking
then ride those trails!

Can't do this w/e, but if it's going to be a bit of regular action I'll look out for the next one.

MrSmith
any road sections are really tedious so i ride off-road to leith/pitch/holmbury hills from dorking

I've been doing a bit of research and thinking of heading for the redlands trails and leith hill. Can you suggest an off road route from Dorking over there? Seems like Coldharbour Lane goes all the way but looks like it will be dull. I love the fact that there's a coldharbour lane in the countryside - I wonder if it will be full of crackheads and rip off dealers like my local one?

well i'm going to go for a ride on sunday probably getting the 9.19 from wimbledon to dorking
happy to show people around but have a few stipulations
no lycra unless under baggys, and wear a helmet (i have broken 3 so far, but my head is still intact)
will be doing about 25-30 miles fast but not racey pace.

It was a great Saturday morning! 35 minutes from Clapham junction to Dorking, followed by a muddy uphill route to the trails. We rode for 3+ hours, had a couple of flapjak breaks in the middle, finished with a nice satisfying pint. They flew back down to dorkingon the roads.. we even overtook a geared roadie ;-)

I saw a couple loading up 2 new shiny bouncy bikes into a 4x4 outside the pub -
me "Is there anywhere to clean you bikes around here?"
them "no."
me (peering closely at the bikes) "oh yeah, sorry, they do have mud on them, I couldn't see it!"
them "okaaaay"
I think I insulted them - oops! Our bikes were filthy - hopefully MOmentum has a picture to prove it..

Oh, thanks again for the earlier advice MrSmith was on 34x16 and I was a really happy bunny - it was excellent.
(I'm not so sure about the toe-clips and straps I used though!)
Next time Leith Hill? Anyone?

That was wicked fun - great to get out of London and get muddy. Got a few odd looks because I was on a crosscheck with drop bars and took me a little while to remember how riding on dirt works. The guy we overtook down the hill was on a colnago with Mavic Cosmic Carbon wheels so have no idea how we were going faster than him! Definitely gonna have to make this regular cos it was awesome. MrSmith's rules on lycra and helmets are spot on.

I might go down on Saturday morning if anyone else is keen. Meant to be sunny but bitchass cold according to the BBC.

what's the lock for?
botles and cages? if you are thinking of doing a bit more offroad then invest in a camelback type backpack (big enough to fit a waterproof and spare tubes) great for doing the dunwich dynamo too.
i may be about saturday, don't know yet?

Woo-hoo! Bottle cages a go-go!
Someone asked if we were part of the 'retrobike crew'.. I said we are part of the weirdo-bike crew..
Momentum I should be up for it again on sat! Luckily I still haven't cleaned my bike... :-(

Post the other photos.. go on.. :-)

MrSmith what's the lock for?

My mate had it on his bike already and thought it could be useful if we went to a pub. Obviously never used it though.

Camelbacks are awesome. I had a bigger bag than I planned because my riding bag bit the dust. Took bottles in the bag and it was a bit of a pain. Drinking through a big straw is definitely the way forward when it's hot - best way of making sure you drink enough.

http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum - there's a fair few similarities to here, and there's a retro road forum...