It was a rather sunny day and there were 7 of us who started at the shop: Hoops, Martin, Tim, Uncle Phil, Jimbo, JCB and me – Tommo. After a quick snack grab from the shop we headed up towards Clapham Woods. Dust aplenty, we blasted through the woods at full tilt loving every second of it. Super fast and very grippy. On the last twisty section before the church, Uncle Phil’s XTR rear mech snapped clean in two. Nobody knows how for sure, but he did fall onto that side of the bike whilst stood waiting for me to drain my vein. It was here that Uncle Phil left us. 1 down, 6 to go.

A gate!

Tim.

From the church we went down onto the road and up the steep climb through stinging nettle alley, which was still clear fortunately. Up dog sh1t alley to the top gate where the singletrack loop in APE begins. Concerns about moisture weren’t necessary as it was mostly dusty and the trails were fast, albeit some bits super bumpy. The bluebells were just starting to make an appearance, give it a week and it should be a sea of blue. Eventually we worked our way round to the dover car park and along the bridleway towards the new section in the pine tree plantation, past the old fiesta and along the path towards Warningcamp. Up the hill towards The Valley and into Burpham after some cheeky snap shots. It was here that Tim toddled off with some threats of violence unless he was back home to straighten a shelf and mow the lawn. I reckon he needed to get home to epilate. Again.

Tim

JCB.

It was nice to see JCB, not seen him for ages. After we dropped Tim, we headed out past Peppering Farm and along the bridleway towards Amberley which goes through the flood plain. It was still very moist in places but not unrideable. At the top JCB announced he was off over to Shoreham!!

JCB

Jimbo.

After a quick tang stop we blasted down the singletrack to Amberley and a quick water stop at the tap by the pub. Up onto the SDW climb towards Whiteways which was hot, Jim decided to head off home. At this point I did want to go too but with Scotland coming up I know I need to get the miles in so continued to chase Hoops and Martin.

Jimbo

Tommo.

Up at the to by the field, Hoops got the chest cam out and we blasted through the singletrack, then up to the denture. By this time my legs were crying and I bonked quite badly. A quick banana and down the denture as fast as I could go in front. Its amazing how you can ride when you are on film! All the way along to the bomb hole was fast as fook! Endorphined up we headed back towards the café and over the road up the singletrack and down towards the trout farm via all that lovely singletrack. Sweeeeet! Then we had to tramp it back along the road due to time constraints. It was at Hammerpot that I left Martin n Hoops. Who knows what they got up to after that, they could still be riding for all I know! I had a BBQ to attend so had a quick shower and we were off for a meat feast mmm.

Martin & Hoops

Martin

Hoops (apologies if you're eating!)

Until next time my fellows.

Tommo

Although it was cold there was a good turn out down at Quest and the women’s ride was on the same day. As there was only the two of them this time they decided they’d tag along with us too.

Keen group

After a bit of indecision I decided to take the route up past Hill Barn golf course and the long bridleway up to Cissbury ring. Conditions were pretty good, the path had obviously been used a bit and there was a nice crusty line down the middle which allowed us to make good progress…..

Chilly!

….Until we got to the big climb in the middle! Amazingly the grip was actually pretty good up here. But about a third of the way up there had been an obvious thaw then a refreeze and there were a couple of tyre tracks that were un avoidable. These had pretty much everyone off and walking. A little further though and we were able to remount for the slog to the top.

Push time

A little bit of playing around occured further up. There were a couple of good drifts and a bundle developed! Then I stopped to take some pictures, only to have my bike buried when my back was turned! We continued through the top gate with the intention of doing the diagonal downhill to the right, but the snow was more than hub deep and it proved impossible to get any momentum at all so we gave up on that idea.

More pushing!

I decided that the lower singletracks were probably the best bet and we crossed Cissbury and dropped down the side into Findon valley. Once out the wind we realised that we were actually having a lot of fun and decided to continue for a bit longer. We crossed the A24 and climbed up Church Lane, which proved to be grippier than when there is no snow! We had to push through a couple of deep drifts at the top and then we headed back towards Salvington eager for cake!

Someone mentions cake to Uncle Phil

A quick cheeky descent and we were back into the valley and riding along the gallops trying to dodge the sledgers. It was great to get into Parklife and have a hot Mars Bar milkshake and a toasted cheese sarnie to warm up!

The rest of the photos are here.

Some pics on Martin’s photostream here.

Hummerlicious

Ride route

Winding our way up by the golf course we all chatted whilst getting warmed up, the chalk at the top proving very green and slippery required a steady cadence to avoid any sideways slips. Up the top Charlie decided to test the depth of the largest puddle with his arm before we took off up the permissive route across Cissbury ring and then re-grouped for the first descent.

Gaggle of riders

Turning right through the gate we headed down the first singletrack descent of the day, very slippy, the usual flat out approach had to be tempered slightly to avoid sliding into the bushes at the bends in the middle. All got down safely though and we headed along the bridleway and back up in the direction of the Nepcote Lane car park.

Steyning singletrack

Just how much water had fallen out the sky recently became apparent as we made our way north towards the South Downs Way as we part rode, part snorkelled through the first section of submerged bridleway. Onto the SDW and we turned right and made our way into the Steyning singletrack. This proved very slippery and there were a few offs and one example of ‘extreme jeyness’ from BigSi.

It was so slippy I decided the best option was to go back up the bridleway and rejoin the singletrack at the top. Back onto the SDW and we did something we haven’t done for ages, actually rode some of it! We stayed on the national trail all the way down to the river and crossed onto the far bank. From here we took the downs link down to Shoreham. I mistakenly thought it would be well drained but in fact it was mostly underwater all the way to Shoreham.

Over the old toll bridge and we headed up past Lancing College and up the bridleway to go over Lancing ring, the first part of the climb being yet another slippery chalk section where a smooth cadence was the only way of avoiding a lie down. Bikes and bodies were beginning to feel the strain by now from the bad conditions and we were glad it would be the “one last climb” – not that it was of course, but I like to keep people happy

Cake time

Down to the Sompting road and over the other side we took the bridleway back to Lyon’s Farm, one last sting in the tail. By now most were looking considerably browner than when they left and after a quick pit stop at Quest we headed down to Parklife. It must have been a good workout as I had a cheese toastie, raspberry cheesecake chocoate brownie and a hot mars bar milk shake and they didn’t really touch the sides. Lush!!

Hummerlicious

The weather has been so good recently, for mountainbiking it really has been one of the best summers in many years. The trails have managed to remain dry and dusty, even after rain showers and I reckon they are pretty much perfect at the moment.

We’ve managed to get a whole load of rides in over the summer in a variety of places too. This last week has been absolutely amazing:

I started off last Saturday with something I’ve not done for a very long time. A ride on my own! As the (dis)organiser for Sussex-MTB it’s very rare I ride on my own, in fact it’s probably been a couple of years. I like riding with people, the social aspect of what we do makes it a lot of fun as well as the act of riding too. So it was nice to have no agenda, I had a generous amount of time to get to Stanmer to meet the others. So I sat on the tops of the hills, ate chocolate, admired the scenery, chatted to passers by. It made a nice change to have no one to please but myself.

Up the downs

Stanmer singletrack

This way up

I met the boyz at Stanmer Tea Rooms and after a quick refuel we headed out onto the singletrack. We ignored a lot of the usual Big Dog stuff and did a load of the lesser known, more technical trails. BigSi managed to go over the handlebars and hit his shoulder. Fortunately these days he’s reinforced with titanium so it made no difference! Deadly also did a fairly spectacular faceplant on a log pile too, but although rather dazed, was unhurt.

South downs ride gallery

Wednesday night we met up at Whiteways, Dobby astride his new, very shiny, Hummer. No jealousy to see here, move along please. We spent a very enjoyable couple of hours doing all of the fine, flowy singletrack. The trails were dusty and dry once again, it was a joy to be out riding!

Round and round

Whiteways gallery

Friday morning I got out of bed at silly o’clock to do a quick pre-work loop with my colleagues. The sun ride was great and it feels good to get a few miles in before work, even if you do end up starving hungry for the rest of the day!

Early riders

Friday Gallery

Saturday was Quest ride day for September. We had a good turn out of 17, a nice big group, but not un manageable. Dougal came all the way from Bristol, but he was trumped by our old buddy Dave ‘Bushlove‘ who had managed to slip over for the ride from New Zealand. I think that’s probably a record that won’t be broken!

I had a route in mind that I’d been planning for a few days. The long dry spell meant we could do the bridleway that runs to the North of the downs from Storrington to Washington, a bit of a rarity as when it’s wet it’s unrideable really. So I’d planned a decent length loop, but when it was time to head back we all agreed that we should stay out for longer as the conditions were so perfect. So it ended up being the longest Quest ride yet at around 26 miles. Everyone hung in there and we had a great ride.

Bushlove - still a tart after all these years! (edit: I just got some stick for not pointing out the roadie that somehow sneaked into the right hand side of this photo! - Jimbo)

Good times

Quest ride gallery

Sunday dawned all too quickly and I’d agreed for a group of us to marshal the ‘Petworth 10K race for life’. Mike and Tom were static marshals at a check point, Andy and I were lead riders for the front of the race. I reckon 36 minutes for an off road 10K run is pretty good, the eventual winner certainly pushed us up one of the hills when we struggled to stay in front! We didn’t see him on the downhill the other side though It’s a worthy cause though, so if you get a chance make a donation to cancer research……

Dodgy geezers

Race done we hopped in the car and headed to Leith Hill for an afternoon of singletrack and jumping. Tom once again showing the rest of us how it should be done, even clearing a few steep climbs this time for the first time too.

Mike

Tom

Andy

Sunday gallery

So as you can gather from all the above, the weather is great, the trails are dry, switch off your PC and get out there now!………

Hummerlicious

We used the ‘under construction’ path being specially widened for Jimbo’s new bars, only to find construction vehicles etc baring the way, oh well, a quick hop over the barrier sorted that with some friendly banter from a local about taking our lives into our own hands with falling barriers killing us. And so on to that lovely little climb up Truleigh, I waited for the painful little kick part way up, but for some reason it didn’t come, I must of borrowed someone else’s legs…. SO time for a re-group and chat at the gate, at which point Pike declared that he was struggling, feeling rather unwell and looking a little green to be honest, he trundled back, whilst the rest of us continued onwards and upwards. When Jimbo stopped to remove some layers as he was about to explode the conversation returned to Dave’s thumb and by extension to comments on the forum about sewing arms back on, well one thing leads to another and it wasn’t long before we had the opening scene to a horror film featuring a double arm transplantee (Check out the recent news) written, with the arms coming from a homicidal maniac – of course it had a typical Bobster twist to it

At the top of Truleigh we were presented with the amusement of a reversing ambulance trying to get some of us, a quick flurry of activity on the descent and subesquent climb getting us across to the next hill, where we stopped for an extended chat and rummage through Dobby’s leftovers whilst Deadly repaired a puncture(?). Eventually we all regrouped and carried on along the SDW to Devil’s Dyke where Jimbo found his tyres covered in dog egg, a quick clean up and then time for fun as we blasted down the trail at the edge of the road, it was dry fast and grippy – absolutely fantastic, and I knew there was better to come, a highspirited dash along the ‘motorway’ path before I scared a driver sensless at the Saddlescomb Road crossing with a last minute decision that I didn’t really have enough time to get acdross the road. Along to the carpark for a re-group. We found a woman faffing about in her X5 figuring out how to 3 point turn it, we got past only to witness her ram the sidings and almost get it wedged. The step-up out of the car-park looked rideable, but only Tony managed it. Along to the roll down to the Devil’s Dyke Road roundabout, and over the A27 bridge to take us left towards the Mill Hill windmill. Once through the gap onto the field it was a quick descent into the right hander, only to have to haul on the brakes for a dog walker, we paused and re-gathered before blasting along the path and off the steps. Time to stop and try and find the jumpy trail that crosses the usual Nature Trail route, the leaves all over the ground were making it difficult to find the trail, and whilst we picked up some of it, we also missed large chunks reverting to the normal trail instead – god it was fast! Down through the green and across London Road before stopping for Jimbo to attack the cash-point and Deadly to fettle Si’s bike, I spotted Brompton Close, a perfect address for Slim, whilst there was some playing off kerbs and trackstanding whilst we waited. Then on the usual route up Ladies’ Mile Road where a little race ensued, with the quick descent and climb again to get across Winfield Av, before turning left into Ladies’ Mile Close and popping right to climb up the field, then dive into the trees to blast the singletrack. The rooty sharp climb of death proved too mcuh for most as usual, with Pete the man to conquer it, as we dived on into the singletrack Captainff’s chain exploded so we stopped for some trailside repair. It was obviously a local hang out with all the beer cans surrounding us! We soon realised that we weren’t all there, and a long debate ensued about how many people were actually out, how many had parted ways and how many there should be, and ultimately who we were missing. Somehow we did just about manage to get the right answer, and a quick call from the guys ahead confirmed it just as we were ready to roll again, so on up the hill before stoping for a little play on some small dirt jumps before the BMX track. Yes they were very small, but a perfect opportunity for learning, Jimbo seemed to have the hang of it, and Chris had a few rolls, I decided to call it a day when I cased a jump, hooking up the rear wheel on the landing, so we carried on and met the rest of the guys at the exit before the roundabout.

So back across the A27 and hop off the roundabout onto the climb up through the field to Ditchling Road, and on to singletrack heaven. We made our way up the trail before diving off into the trees for some LUSH singletrack which was flowing really nicely in the conditions, the dry leaves were excellent for drifting the back end round some corners, great fun. I bet Dave was having fun on his ’skinny’ tyres, bouncing off the trees. After the excellent twisty singeltrack descent we were getting nearer to Stanmer park, and whilst we paused to regroup we could smell the cake – there was mention of the Tea Room closing at 5 and a quick time check showed that was 5 minutes away, sod it – hammer down we were off! Through the field, hard left and jumping for some over the banking, then a road sprint ensued to the Tea Room, where we just made it and stripped the shelves of what they had left. I’m not sure what we all looked like sat in a row along the wall, but we happily stuffed ourselves with cake and tea/coffee.

It wasn’t long before the chill started to set in so we all started to add layers and think about moving, so up the hill, at which point many of us removed layers we had only just put on! Along the falling wall and over a fallen tree, then more up the hill to get us to the Ditchling Road singletrack, at first this was going to be an opportunity for some to wait and rest whilst the rest did the singletrack loop, but we soon persuaded everyone it was worth it and cracked on. As we made our way along the path past what would be the last section of singletrack we noticed some campers with a fire in the trees – were they on the racing line? Oh well we’d soon find out on the way back down…. We dived off for the left and right into the singletrack, again the trail was really grippy and I took it fairly easy now knowing it would be more fun going back down. Out the end we re-grouped and a quick edge into the trail squeezed me ahead of Jimbo to send it down the singletrack, wide on one corner I took an alternative route only to let Tony up my inside on the normal path, some elbows and he was through – cheeky but fair, we barrelled on and scared the campers as one sleeping bag was pulled away from the debris we were scattering, we emerged giggling at the other end. Through the wall and then the troublesome Coldean Lane crossing, fairly painless today to set us up for the road slog along Dithcling Road ready to hit EP for the descent to Wild Park. It was a reasonably casual bimble along the path before checking everyone was there for the descent, as I checked what option we were taking at the bottom Jimbo took a cheeky opportunity to ‘Snooze you lose’ and was off, I quickly gave pursuit and was on his tail as we went the wrong way! Arrgghh, I ended up amongst some pits and trenches and could see the others coming but just managed to pick my way through to rejoin the trail ahead of everyone, although it was a close run thing – righto then – brakes off and lets fly. I was really concentraing on not slowing down unless I really had to, getting my weigh over the front to dig the front in on corners – I doubt this trail will be like this again this year as the weather will soon change, so lets make the most of it. Even the rooty sections had loads of grip. I forgot about the quick climb part way down and was badly geared in the big ring, but stomped up it, allowing Tony to get on my rear wheel, but I wasn’t letting anyone past today, so hammered on and let go of the brakes for the hump, just floating over it. Down the final section, squeeze through the gap alongside the steps, and then down the steps, I didn’t feel up to trying to launch the big sets of steps, so it was just roll those, but straight off the 2nd 2 sets, felt really good. Tony and I sat and watched as the rest came down, egging some on to launch rather than roll, it wasn’t long before most of us were pushing back up to redo the steps.

Time was getting on and it was starting to get dark, so time to head towards the station, we rode back alongside the road, before slipping onto the road further into Town, we parted company at the Level as most headed up to the Station, whilst Tony, Damo and I carried on. A rather uncomforatble ride back ensued into the wind, with Damo taking the rear as he was the only one with a rear light, not a pleasant position as both Tony and I were ejecting snot frequently, I’ll admit it was a pleasant site as we rolled into Shoreham. Damo sorted Tony out with a rear light whilst he popped his front light on, and I escorted him up to Shoreham Toll Bridge, and gave him instructions for the route back to the shop, before making my way home and opening a welcome can.

Great ’stolen’ ride, great company – Good Times.

Bobster

There are a series of checkpoints and electronic timing chips on all riders. We help the guys from Quest Adventure run the checkpoint each year and have a little party at the same time. The last two times global warming has ensured decent weather and the riders have been treated to unusually calm evenings.

We set up at 20:00 and the first few riders started coming through about 21:30 ish, with Rob Lee setting a blistering pace, man he’s quick! It was good to see Charlie “Blue steel” Eustace (where did he get that nickname from?) doing well too.

Here’s a few pictures from the night…….

Usually here at Sussx-MTB we’re so hung up on searching the most lush technical singletrack and riding we can kind of forget to open our eyes from time to time and have a good look around! I’ll admit most of the time bridleways are viewed as just links for getting from A to B and onto the next singletrack stretch. Indeed these days when we do a long ride there’s often moaning if there isn’t too much of the twisty stuff.

We went out over to Stanmer Park this weekend and did our usual singletrack jaunt over, very nice it was too, Stanmer singletrack is ace

Afterwards though I had to carry on over to Seaford, I’d planned my route but got totally lost and ended up in the middle of nowhere! The sun was shining though and the sky was blue just for a change. I took a moment to sit back and enjoy the view.

Anyway in the not too distant future there will be a ‘map ride’ over in that vague direction to discover what else is on offer. Who knows we may even find more singletrack

Keen to take advantage of that the turnout was high, despite the promise of a long slog in the saddle, albeit with cake and ice cream at the end

We started out from the shop and met Jo at Cissbury Ring before heading up the the top of the Steyning singletrack to meet Bobster. It seems autumn has started early and all the leaves have decided to start jumping off the trees causing a few to miss the turning on the way down! Back tracking we all went down the usual run, finding to our surprise the local ‘trailbuilders’ had added a drop off on one of the really steep sections! Amazingly I got the correct run out for once, did the smaller jump at the bottom and then followed off down a new line which has a drop off at the bottom back on to the main track. I messed it up the first time, but went up and did it again and got it sorted.

After that we headed along the South Downs Way to Ditchling Beacon. At Devil’s Dyke the Downs music festival was on and they’d handily decided to use the SDW field as the car park!!

After that we did the lush singletrack down the right hand side of the dyke.

We eventually made our way to the top of Ditchling Beacon where most opted for the double 99 and two flakes! Then we made our way down through the university using their sweet singletrack round the edge of the campus.

Once into Stanmer Park it was time to stop for a proper re-fuelling!

Most were feeling a little jaded by now and with a large feed and lying in the sun after there was no sense of urgency to get riding again! However we had to sample some of Stanmer’s sweet trails, which we did albeit with reduced gusto!

A Quick spin down to the station and we were off home.

A good ride, cheers everyone

A few more photos here.

Jimbo