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  • As previously mentioned in this thread: https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/270374/

    I'm a reasonably long time lurker on the forum and a more recent poster and have been perusing the threads about organised offroad rides in place such as Epping Forest but could not see any on the Surrey Hills. So in the interests of contributing to the forum and meeting some of its denizens I'd like to propose a guided ride for those that are interested. I know the trails well enough to guide through some of the best the area has to offer (though some secret gems shall have to stay shaded...).
    The plan would be to go for Saturday 18th of July.
    We can arrange to meet at Gomshall train station at around 10am and ride to Peaslake (this is the best station to alight due to its proximity to the best riding in the hills), head up to Pitch Hill, then over to Holmbury Hill, over onto Leith Hill with an obligatory tea and cake stop at the tower, and finally back to Dorking to catch the train (they are far more regular from Dorking main station than Gomshall). To get to Gomshall from wherever you are coming from if you can get to Norwood Junction or East Croydon, get a connecting train to Redhill, then from Redhill to Gomshall. Looking at National Rail Enquiries it would be the Horsham train you will want to Redhill from East Croydon, then the Reading train from Redhill to Gomshall. One thing to account for - and doing it here via the event posting thread will make things easier via confirmation of attendance - is the possible problem of getting a large number of bikes on the train from Redhill to Gomshall. Considering its only four carriages usually we would be lucky to get 8 - 10 bikes on so if more numbers than that confirm we shall have to hope for low passenger numbers and lenient train staff....

    This route will take between 4 - 5 hours on a good day but if there are many not used to the riding and the trails we can allow for up to 8, at a more leisurely pace.
    The route will take in the usual suspects of Proper Beau, Curly Wurly, Graveyard Run, Supernova, Barry Knows Best, Yoghurt Pots, Reservoir Dogs, the Quarry, and more, then finally onto the only waymarked official MTB trail, Summer Lightning.

    I would suggest a halfway decent MTB and a desire for digging in on punchy, steepish climbs on the connecting fire roads between trails. Also, do bring a helmet. Even if you ride without on the road or offroad elsewhere I strongly urge a helmet here. I have seen the odd cross bike on the trails though I generally wouldn't advise it for the ones we might do.
    This is a social ride so I will account for different ability levels and adjust trail choice accordingly. I want to make sure this is a fun event and not a reason for people grimacing at the memory.

    So please register your interest here if you wanna go.

  • In!

  • Anyone Willing to offer a place to crash?

  • Nice one LHL. DFP, I PMed you.

  • Funny, I've just recently been thinking about trying out Surrey Hills, I've heard good things. I'll be coming from North Camp so I shouldn't be adding to the bikes on train problem. Nice one, I'll let some of the polo guys know as well.

  • Nice one, SteadyCam. Some of the guys I ride with used to go over to Caesar's Camp to ride when they were working at Farnborough. That's pretty close to you isn't it?

  • Yeah, I ride there most weeks. Bit of bother with the army coming home though, permanently closing sections claiming heavy metals are present. Been riding it for 20 odd years though and still love it, probably my favourite place to ride.

  • Tidy. I'd like to go down there to ride sometime. And there are still so many other places I haven't ridden...

  • Just got back from a ride on Leith Hill and Redlands, conditions are primo, if only a little bit loose and dusty on certain corners...
    Riding down there this week has been absolutely fucking fantastic.

  • wanted to do something like this for ages!

  • Nice one.

    For everyone here's a halfway decent edit featuring many of the trails we'll ride. If you don't like the gap jumps seen in some portions this vid (and I'm not big on jumps either) all the trails we'll ride will have chicken runs if they have jumps and you can simply go around them. Many of the trails we will do have no gaps at all. Also, I'll warn everyone present before going down certain trails with such features and walk it if necessary first.
    But if you like jumps then it's fair game for you.

    https://youtu.be/iJMzw8T5W48

  • Keen for this too. Will only know nearer the time and will likely drive out from Kingston if I do come along. Been riding these hills for years but would be good to see if I've missed anything and meet some people.

  • Ha, looking at that video- I'll be on an xc hardtail, to this could be 'interesting'.

  • ^ Agreed, I'll be running with fully rigid!

  • Fully rigid and hardtail is fine. I'm on a hardtail. Riding fully rigid will just mean using more of the longest travel suspension units out there, your arms and legs...

  • Cool. Hope you can make it.

  • Looks rad, definitely a little step up from what I usually ride. Hopefully I can make it along. Will probably be full rigid SS unless I can sort out the other thing in time.

  • No probs. Hope you can make it, I'm really looking forward to showing people what sort of riding is over there.

  • We have six confirmed so far, a good number especially when it comes to getting on the train... :-)

  • Sad days, found out that the trail Recovery Kit on Leith Hill has been destroyed. Wotton Estate, who own the land, deemed it too dangerous and had the gap jump and step down removed.

  • And I now have a working mtb. Ayyyyy! Getting excited now.

  • Tidy. I'm looking forward to this too. Just hoping for reasonable weather, we've been quite spoiled lately..

  • Forecast for Saturday looks reasonable right now. Lets keep our fingers crossed...

  • One day to go...

    Another vid here, with any luck we'll have better conditions than this:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBGQU2nSqnk

  • can you do more of these? Sadly am busy tomorrow but would be keen to join in another time.

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Surrey Hills MTB guided social ride - Pitch Hill/Holmbury Hill/Leith Hill

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