LFGSS Women And Mountain Bikes And Tea Society

One of my favourite mad female cyclists, Jacquie Phelan, set up the original WOMBATS: Women and Mountain Biking and Tea Society.

http://www.wombats.org/

Do we have enough off-road appetite to do an LFGSS version?

I really want to do more off-road this year - I only ever do any at my parents' place in Devon, and even then it's pretty shambolic as I don't ride enough to know what I'm doing so generally just fall off a lot. I'd like to do more rides around London though I'm very bad at being aware of what's happening. I know Bare Necessities has just posted about some Epping Forest ones so they look good, and the Mule Bar Girls have posted very occasionally about led rides somewhere near Croydon, but apart from that I'm a bit clueless.

If I can get to know Epping/Surrey etc trails I fully intend to start doing some night off-road rides as MTB afterworkers. Hurrah!

Oh, and here's my wonky wheeled bike:

Yes, I'd be up for some off-road riding. But would have to be quite tame as the best I can do right now in terms bike is 32c cross tyres on a single speed =)

tentative interest from me. I've never done any hilly (or even bumpy) off-road, only mud and more mud in the fens.

If I might step into the Ladies forum for a moment to restate that the guided rides I'm planning will definitely have a beginner friendly basis. I don't like to assume that woman = novice as that'll make me sound like a patronising git, but off roading has in my experience had trouble attracting many women, unless they're particularly thick skinned and can put up with all the usual teenage nonsense that accompanies a group of willy waving testosterone charged blokes.

If there's enough interest from you come May, then I'm perfectly happy to lead a women only ride ( novice or not ), but if you're not keen on me leading you then it would be great if a few of you could make it to the mixed rides, so that you might learn your way around the forest and organize your own thing later.

I feel it's worth mentioning that I believe riding off road is actually better for less confident riders, as any mistakes or off the bike moments aren't punishable by hard tarmac or colliding with several tons of automobile. Also, one of my favourite aspects is that unlike the riding on the road, any wildlife that you see is up & about, rather than squashed in the road.

Not sure if it's of any use, but there should be plenty of female specific stuff over on mtbr http://forums.mtbr.com/womens-lounge/

Hope to see some of you out there in the spring :-)

Pete

With you TricityBendix. Love to get off road more this year, it's been on my mind for a while now, miss it so much since moving to London.

My knowledge of London borders riding is pretty much nil though, just a few trips out to Leith Hill area. Which IMO is too far to ride out to, especially if you're planning afterworkers in the summer.

Ideally I'd love to find some trails that are ride-able to instead of faffing with trains. Do they exist, will start researching :)

Incase anyone fancies going further afield, I discovered last year that you can get to the Peak District in roughly 3hrs by train from London. If you're organised and book in advance then you can get a £1 megatrain ticket to Sheffield.

BareNecessities: Planning on joining you at Epping Forest in May.

PS I'm more of a coffee drinker :)

I'd like to improve my offroad bike handling skills for next year's 'cross season, so I'm up for doing some beginner runs. Like blowfish I don't have a mountain bike, but I might be able to steal Howard's if he's not using it on a day we go for a ride.

Epping Forest rides now have a time frame to work within if any are interested.

http://www.lfgss.com/post3460564-152.html

Spamming your thread again bendix :-)

http://www.lfgss.com/thread99489-5.html

All good. I am currently sans mtb, it's in storage while I'm sans house (ie cluttering up other people's houses with enough bikes already). Hopefully will be reunited in June and able to make it along.

TB, does your condor have room for CX tyres?

Not ones that I'd actually want to go off road on. And I don't really fancy xc or cx on 48x17.

I do have access to the beast upthread, it's just not really worth the logistical hassle at the moment.

TB, does your condor have room for CX tyres?

Are you trying to sell some of your bulk tyre purchase from Planet X ;-)

I don't really fancy xc or cx on 48x17.

Ouch!