Had a top day
Met Godders at Haywards Heath, and drove up to Holmbury to meet up with the others. The others being GRD, Karen, and Graham.
The sun was out, and the landscape was still looking resplendent in it's autumn colours. A true feast for the eyes
We started of riding a few choice pieces of single track, including a regular favourite, which is incredibly fast and twisty, resulting in streaming eyes, which makes the washed out section at the bottom a bit hairy!
No visit to Holmbury Hill would be complete without a trip down Barry Knows Best, so we headed over and did what needed to be done. I swear it gets faster every week! The trail conditions were excellent for the time of year, with only a few isolated pockets of gunk, which are actually a lot of fun to plough through.
Despite my feeble pleading for a tea stop, we headed up to the other side of the forest (the name of the hill escapes me). We had to tackle a STEEP climb to get to the trails, kudos to Graham for powering up. Even Godders didn't make it up and he climbs like a...errr.....god-ders
Once the rest of us had pushed to the top, we rode on some new to me trails, lovely twisty stuff, made even more fun with the autumn leaves covering the slippy roots.
We had a look at a trail called Fly-Tipper, which has a massive gap jump. Needless to say, we just "had a look", although graham had a go at the smaller of the jumps (which still looked big to me....
)
After a short road section we were back on the top of the hill, and back into some tasty singletrack. This are of the forest is much quieter, and our reward for going off the beaten path was the sight of two deer ambling through the trees. A truly awesome sight.
I was relieved to be informed we were heading back to the tea shop in Peaslake, and even better we would take a favourite trail to get there. This trail is awesome, for different reasons to the others, mainly because the forest floor is carpeted in golden pine needles, with numerous thin black trails snaking though the trees, so you end up riding side by side with the trees whizzing between you.
A final downhill section and we made it to Peaslake for much needed refreshments. Massive thanks for the guys being patient enough to let me have another cup of tea
After chat and sustenance, we headed up to the view point at the top of Holmbury Hill. Godders shot off in front, and when I got to the point we usually stop to regroup, he was nowhere to be seen. Well, the racer came out in me, and I shot off in hot pursuit, only to get to the viewpoint with Godders nowhere in sight. I had rode straight past him whilst he was (ahem) answering the call of nature
After we had has a short break to catch our breath, it was time for "dessert", with Yogurt Pots and Telegraphs on the menu. Since last week, some work had been carried out on the trail, and it was much drier, making it a real test of nerve as the fast sections were interlinked with puddles of gloop, and wet, slippy roots.
Then a short section of fireroad took us down to Telegraphs, which never fails to disappoint, just the right amount of wiggle and speed, with loads of roots to pop off all the way down. At the bottom we took a short detour to the right, along a really nice section of singletrack with some rather alarming ditches to negotiate, to finally take us back to the start point.
Whenever we arrive back at the car park, we are always full of adrenalin after the last few sections, so much so, that Godders and I rode back up to the top, and rode the Yogurt Pots and Telegraphs again
All in all, an absolutly brilliant ride, with excellent company. As always MASSIVE thanks to GRD for the excellent guiding, and to Godders for the lift
*NEXT RIDE IS PENCILLED IN ON 02/12/12 DUE TO THE URBAN RIDE NEXT WEEKEND*
