Tuesday with no lights
by Andy on May.03, 2011, under Bike Rides, Tuesday Evening Rides
Rubber meets Sussex
Tonight’s riders were: Clydiee, Eeyore, Mike and Sicknote
Very pleasant evening for a ride tonight – just as well as I’d forgotten to charge my light! Anyway, we shot up the top rode down past the golf course and though the gate I recently spammed before heading back down the Lion trail.
We bumped into Sussex MTB at the start of Lion Trail and stopped for a while to poke fun at Mike – fun! There were too many riders on the way down to really get a lick on (plus I had no light!) but it was enjoyable to be part of the larger group for a while.
The only downside to an otherwise excellent ride was Clydiees zero-speed sideways off right in front of *everyone* shortly……unfortunately he managed to catch the handlebars right in the sternum and was making that funny “I’ve been winded” noise for a minute or so………..bummer.
Hope its not as painful as it looked mate?!
Leith Hill Loop
by Andy on Apr.26, 2011, under Bike Rides, Tuesday Evening Rides
Mummy?
Over to Holmbury again tonight – cant get enough of the Surrey Hills in the dry! We rode a similar loop to that which we did this time last week – with a nice little diversion which the guys found when they were there last.
Still a little bit shocked at how the managed logging has devastated Summer Lightening – but hey, they’ve planted new trees in the lower section so I guess that’ll all grow up again soon?!
Weather is forcast to break on Friday – gutted. 
Tonight’s riders were: Sicknote, Mac & Clydiee
Local ride
by Andy on Apr.21, 2011, under Bike Rides, Random Rides
Just Sarah and I for a quick ride this afternoon. We went up through Sullington then over to Amberly and back again. Weather was beautiful and the trails were dry……tons of dog crap though.
The guys went out this evening and I heard through the grapevine that Clydiee went OTB and broke a spoke and a couple more chainring bolts. Bummer!
Bedgebury blast
by Andy on Apr.20, 2011, under Bike Rides, Random Rides
"Camp. Pour Homo."
Today’s riders were: Kieran, Mac & Andy
Over to Bedgebury for the 1st time today – I’ve heard a lot about it and I was keen to see what the place was really like. We set off nice and early and after a drive of about 70 minutes we arrived at the trail center at about 9am – just in time to pay two lots of £8.50 parking *gulp*. Still, we had the place mostly to ourselves and it was a dead cert that the weather would bring others!!
We followed the Red trail route most of the way round, diverting only to have a couple of blasts on the the Black run and Dirt Jumps area, both of which were short, but good fun. There’s miles of singletrack at Bedgebury, all of it well maintained and signposted in lush woodland……..my only complaint would be that it feel like most of the trails run uphill! I got the feeling we were riding the wrong way round the loop!!
Anyway, we had a really nice ride and towards the end Mac and I discovered a really nice section of fast, flowing (but bumpy!) trail- what better way to end the ride…….well, other than the 99 Flake that Kieran treated me to! 
By the time we left at lunchtime the carpark was *packed*. At £8.50 a car these guys must be raking it in!!!
Whether still holding………trails are lusher and dustier than ever!!
Holmbury/Leith loop
by Andy on Apr.19, 2011, under Bike Rides, Tuesday Evening Rides
Breast looking rider at Leith!
Tonight’s riders were: Clydiee, Mac, Eeyore, Gavlar, Mike, Sarah and Sicknote.
Went over to Holmbury tonight for blat and took Mrs. Sicknote too – a baptism of fire for only her 6th MTB ride ever and 1st ever night ride!! She was initially a little worried about keeping up but in the end she did bloody well and more importantly, managed to stay the right way up!
We started off from the Scout hut at Holmbury and rode over to Leith via the tower downhill then over to Summer Lightening and our other favorite trails, eventually, after a couple of hours riding, back where we started. I seem to have lost my GPS so I cant share the route with you. Arse it.
Anyway, all in all an excellent evenings entertainment.
Am going to Bedgebury with Kieran and the Mac Daddy tomorrow – cant wait to see what that’s like!
Super Sunday
by Andy on Apr.17, 2011, under Bike Rides, Sunday Morning Rides
What a lush view....
Today’s riders were: Clydiee, Captain, Rob the Dentist, Hamster and me!
Had a lovely ride out with the guys this morning – bright and early in the sunshine, what could be better!?
Clydiee took us on a tour de force of the climbs in our local area – for some reason he was in the mood for delivering a beasting!! But climbs mean downhills and there were a fair few of those on offer too! Of particular interest was Clydiees decent on the twisty singletrack down into Findon where, at the bottom, we discovered a car with a couple of sleepy campers in…………Presumably they’d been drinking and the last thing the needed was a rude awakening at 8am from Clydiee banging on the roof! Check out the video evidence here.
We spent a bit of time over at Hubbards Hollow too, you can enjoy some onboard and trail cam shorts from the various cameras we took – no one was injured during the filming. This time.
Hope this weather holds out for my week off work!
Southdowns On A Saturday
by Hamster on Apr.03, 2011, under Bike Rides
What with Mothers day just around the corner, we thought it best to not to push and opted for a Saturday ride instead. We all met up at Mark W’s, me (hammy), Mark W, Rob the doctor, Captain Mark, Eeyore and new boy Neil.
We headed around Ashington towards the the base of Chanctonbury and decided, rather than taking the nornal route up the hill, we headed right to pay homage to Hubbards Hollow and the Collar Bone Drop.
With due respect to Mr Hubbard most took the easy way down, however Rob decided that the day before his skiing holiday he would make the drop and without thinking disappeared over the lip. He chose the braking version of the exit and rounded the corner to applause, closely followed by Mark W and Captain Mark, the remote seat post really helping the latter.
We all plugged through the mud and puddles along the old track, I think Neil regretting his lack of an investment in Seal Skin waterproof socks, until we emerged out of the woods and headed back onto the South Downs Way at Washington.
The short climb up Glaseby Lane had The Captain & I digging deep as we both simoultaneously commented: “On the Max Exposure we should be about half way by now”; that will be a very tough ride.
A couple of Shotblocs and we spanked the next few miles to the top of Kithurst hill when we moved into new territory for me and located ‘Suicide Hill’, a quick press on the button and The Captain was a few inches lower and off the hill, with Eeyore in hot pursuit. We were warned about a tree, so Neil and I took our time, looking out for the pesky tree, half way down i gave Neil the shout to watch out for the tree, unfortunately I got the wrong tree. I turned around to find a mid sized sapling right in the middle of the track, just managed to avoid it, but given the screaming from behind me, I am not sure Neil was quite so lucky.
After crossing the Amberly road we made our way though the backwoods of West Chiltington, Storrington and Thakeham before finally crossing back over to Warminghurst Church.
Here is the track from the ride.
Another great ride exploring some nice new tracks. Cheers guys.
All Hail The Legend
by Andy on Mar.31, 2011, under Blog Stuff
So, generally speaking Rubberhatters are atheistic beings who believe in things they can see and feel. For example, stuff like;
- Hills
- Gravity
- Pain
- (See #2 above)
- Boobs*
*Sometimes see and feel
You get the idea. However, my glib response to a Facebook thread about Clydiee being our Deity seems to have gone down well and I’ve been asked to share it here. The Lords Prayer – RubberhatMTB.com version, recently re-discovered after a thousand years in what was Mesopotamia;
Our Clydiee, who art in Heaven, Legend be thy name.
Thy double come, thy tail whip be done, on trail as it is in Afan.
Give us this day our daily shred and forgive us our tubelessness as we forgive those who run tubes against us.
Lead us not into vegetation but deliver us to singletrack.
Thine is the chainset the power-link and the shifter.
For ever and ever – bar end.
I was considering replacing “bar end” with “F*ck Yeah!” but that’s not age appropriate and might upset Nasher. You can see the original thread here.
