Changes to the Blog

We’ve decided to remove the ‘Next Ride’ page as it was simply duplicating the information that is in the Ride & Events/Google box on the right hand side. Grey text shows pencilled in rides, as soon as they are confirmed a post is started and we change the text to a blue link. This makes it easy to find the ride details even if the post has dropped down the page.

Cotic Hemlock Demo Ride: Freedom Bikes Brighton

Our good friends at Freedom Bikes in Brighton lent us their new Cotic Hemlock demo bike for a day out at Whiteways. It was our usual type of ride over natural terrain with a healthy dose of singletrack, off-piste sections and some gnarly stuff. We had a great day and the Hemlock was seriously good fun, in fact it fitted in so well we didn’t really notice it and had to stop and check it out every now and then.

Review: Dirtworker

Another winter comes round resulting in mud and grit covered bikes, I try to be conscientious and clean the bike a soon as I get home but we all know what is said about best laid plans….I had seen people with the Dirtworker in carparks and without exception everyone thought it was brilliant and couldn’t understand how they had previously survived without it.

Review: Camelbak Bottle

Rick and I got one last Christmas and I reckon they are the best way to make you drink more water. We love ‘em. Getting your 8 glasses of water a day is a drag and I always forget, but seeing this striking bottle on the worktop just makes you want to fill it up and gulp ! The beauty of them is you can even drink while lying down because they work on a syphon-type system. The tube goes to the bottom of the bottle and you suck like on a camelbak with no need to tip the bottle up to get the water. They don’t spill or leak and take 750ml. So, do 2 of these a day and you’re getting nearly 8 glasses of water without really noticing. At about £12 they are not cheap but I reckon they’re worth it ,oh and they look great ! Lisa

http://www.tauntonleisure.com/products/camelbak-bottle/525/?source=froogle&utm_source=product_feeds&utm_medium=google_products_froogle&utm_nooverride=1

Ride Report: North Downs Road Trip No. 2, 25 Nov 07

Don’t know about you, but I thought today was a beautiful day. The sun was out, people were happy (all 30 of us !), I was riding some proper stuff since my leg incident in the Lakes and the trails were reasonably dry, especially considering all the rain we’ve had lately.

So after a few navigational mishaps with people finding the car park we eventually grouped and headed off up Pitch Hill on the gentle climb to the other car park (oh yes there are loads of them round these parts!) sharp turn left and onward up the climb, it was boggy on the way up and across the top. Here we stopped for a bit of ‘drop in’ excitment, well if you didn’t mind re-doing the climb you’d just done that is. That didn’t put off quite a nice smattering and with whoops of joy and plenty of encouragement from those ‘resting’, the drop in was tackled in style. Onward and upward…a technical climb was just round the corner.

Short, sharp, rocky & rooty with a nasty steepening near the finish… definitely challenging. Now we’re on the plateau of singletrack that winds it way across the hill and spits you out at the view point. Today we could see to the South Downs with the sun sparkling off the trees. Beautiful !

Club Ride – 25 Nov, North Downs Road Trip No.2

Sunday we’re returning to North Downs for some cracking singletracking on Pitch and Holmbury Hill. This is my first proper ride back from injury so it won’t be too fast a pace (especially as I’m leading!) but it will be fun with plenty to keep you on your toes.

Xmas is Coming….

Look what I just found ….might make a nice stocking filler !  We’ve got some of their books for other areas of the UK and they are quite good.  You can get it on CD too (and it’s cheaper). Note to Rick – don’t buy me it

http://www.v-outdoor.co.uk/products/mountain_biking/south_east_mountain_biking_-_north_south_downs_.php

Lisa

Ashdown Forest Biking Petition

Ever taken a drive to the Ashdown Forest to find it is totally illegal to ride there and that the verbal from walkers just isn’t worth the hassle (from memory there isn’t even one single legal bridleway through it)?  Well now there’s a petition taking place to try and gain access for bikers.  It’s a lovely area, not too hilly but probably with loads of singletrack in it and I think it’s about time we had a piece of it too. 

The usual misconception is that bikers ruin the trails and cause loads of damage, are rude to other users and go hacking about at 90mph !  I don’t like that nametag and they obviously don’t know how knackering it is to pedal the damn things so we can only go as fast as our fitness will allow us.    

 If you feel the same, go to the petition link below and let them know.  

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/ashdown/signatures-2.html 

Lisa

Muddy@rse Night Riding goes Global !

We’ve been contacted by a US newletter who were doing a feature on night riding.  They liked us so much they featured our photos twice !

Here’s the link to have a google. 

http://freeflite.com/page.cfm?PageID=635

Cheers, Lisa

Review: Santa Cruz Blur LT

One of our gang rode one of the first generation Santa Cruz Blurs for 3.5 years and it was a capable trail bike. The original Blur had a steep head tube angle by today’s standards, a relatively short top tube and narrow chainstays. The narrowness of the chainstays caused many problems in muddy conditions, this was so bad that for the winter months the bike was almost unridable in the South Downs as the rear end and bottom bracket area were instantly clogged with mud. The LT looks similar to the original Blur but there are some significant differences.