F&M Acrobats

Great ride today in the best sunshine to date (have I said that before?)- but honestly today was a lovely day!

We shot up to Countdown to Ecstasy that has really taken shape thanks to Jonathan's hard work and vision on Friday, we added a post jump trail clear up too. Then we took Sweet sweet bulbs which has bedded in so well and is really flowing now. Up to F&M and the tough bits at the start were so dry everyone made those without issue but on the Singletrack exit John decided to play up to the camera and try some acrobatics- watch the video.

Then we flew over heads roll which was really running well and from Coldharbour down the Summer Lighhtning DH and then up to and down Lust for Life and up to Leith Tower in hope of cake. Starvation changed to frustration that after last week's promise the tower kiosk was not open and no cake and tea were on hand to resuscitate us.

Energy bars and water were a poor substitute before we headed on to ride the winding challenge of Worth the Mither and a great run down Windy Willows that is enjoying the dry conditions and really flowing well right now- I love that trail!

The finishing flourish down Bossanova (Skids is for ids John) and then GSW to Rookery are as always a grin factor at the end of the ride.

Counting down to Ecstasy

Started out with some trail maintenance on Countdown to Ecstasy- this has promise and more will come on this in future posts no doubt. Some of the guys had a go at riding the gap on it, so first efforts can be seen on the video. Much to do still though.

Then we headed over to Summer Lightning DH and went over to walk up and find the trailhead to trails coming off Moonlight in Vermont that we had not ridden before. It was a fast direct DH to a pretty flat landing kicker jump- yuk! But a good option off Windy Willows.

Up to Leith Hill for tea and cake- open on a Wednesday! What a treat. It was sunny out but pretty chilly at the Tower so we ranged from those in short sleeved T-shirts to me in waterproof and thermals!

We wound round the Leith Hill singletrack to the quarry for some jumps, where Ken showed off his flying abilities on his new Specialized Enduro bargain 2nd hand acquisition! We finally got him on a Full Sus and he is making the most of it. Meanwhile Gary graduated to the big jump- gradually!

We singletracked it back to the shop through fast and twisty dry trails and a great run down the Greensand way to Rookery- as always.

Sun shines on the right Trails

As quick as the mud came it disappeared. Wow the last few days have been glorious sunshine and today was the best of the lot. So sorry to all you guys stuck in the office!

9 of us started and finished today. Although after the 1st climb we lost Gary to 2 punctures. While he returned to the shop for first aid we rode Grievous Angel. Scott from Oz had come down from Essex to ride and was in at the deepend with a bad landing, good attempted recovery and then a comedy crash off the first log. (see video) Gilles was back on form although he did have a refusal on the 2nd.

Chris had a laying down moment on the 3rd, right in front of me but fortunately I did not land on him.

We lunched on the green outside the shop while Gary got tubed up again and rejoined the ride.

Sweet sweet bulbs ws calling and we sessioned that which is really in great condition now, then down F&M. Climbing up to Coldharbour we rode the Summer Lightning DH trail then over to Valorian to find Ken's shades (apparently he went OTB last night and left them there).

At that point having mentioned everyone elses crashes and mishaps I dropped into the Valorian bombhole, and trying to go fast to make it up the other side I sank my front wheel in the mud, went OTB and shoulder checked the other bank. Ow! 1st crash in ages and no armour- that hurt and I went quiet. (Shoulder and knee are now rather swollen and black and blue already! Watch out there may be photos later!)

I was not alone in questionable technique as everyone after me had an off moment trying to get out the climb and some tree hugging was attempted.

Descending damn fast down Bassanova (is there any other way?) we finished down to Rookery so fast and dry- fun! Another great ride in the bag!

Riders: Simon, Roger, Scott, John, Chris, Gary, Matt, Gilles, Claire

Dorking Holiday Destination

Officially the quietest ride I've ever known! Simon had to man the shop, so Claire led the ride but only John Chef turned up from our "regulars" and a newbie- Tim who was on holiday in Dorking for the 3rd year running!



As a local and regular I never think of Dorking/North Downs as a holiday destination but when Tim got us talking about it, it makes a lot of sense. They hired a cottage in Broadmoor which was very cheap, had a whole gang of them staying there. They can walk and mountain bike the seemingly endless trails locally from their door. They don't even need to know the trails - just come riding with the Nirvana shop rides and its easy. It's only the weather that's a gamble and it seems that gamble payed off this week.

Plus down the A24 for the kids there's Bocketts farm and for the adults Denbies wine tasting tours! I'm sure the tourist info has lots more you can do but I never put myself in the shoes of a tourist here before.



Anyway we rode and rode and hardly stopped today lots of mileage. Over to Holmbury where I managed to lose John briefly (yes I know there were only 3 of us how did I lose one!) We whizzed down sweet sweet Golden Birdies to Peaslake to regroup with him. Then we climbed up Pitch, initiated Tim on 2 headed dog (see vids) and got ourselves lost on the Perimeter trail in Winterfold.

Muddling our way back on track to take in the bombholes, switchback trail and Orange Clawhammer whilst fixing Tim's 2 punctures delayed us a little but the weather was soooo good we stopped and had tea and cake at Peaslake before winding our way back to the shop by the usual tracks.

Such a great weather day and trails were so so dry and fast. Where were you all my usual Wed crowd? You missed out!

Riders: John C, Tim, Claire (Capt from the back!)

Something a little different!

7.5 riders today heading out from the shop. The half was Gilles who returning from his knee injury (read down a few blog entries) managed to ride half of the first half and half of the 2nd half of the ride!

We rode something a little different today as from the shop we turned right along the road turning left into Unum and climbing up to Ranmore on a very steep climb. Descending down through Denbies and up through Mickleham to a trail called "Pete's Path" a very off camber narrow singletrack with exposure on your right meaning you need to stay on the trail and not slip off, plus a few diagonal roots along the way just for a further challenge. Finishing with a chicane steeply descending around a fallen tree. Thankfully it was dry even after all last night's rain or there may have been a few casualties.

Climbing up via High Ashgrove Scout camp, and right towards the viewpoint at BoxHill- Jonathon and I got chatting and spinning along we realised Simon souped up on all his energy drink had disappeared with the pack and we were dropped. We descended a hairy wet chalky rutty descent which threw both of us off our bikes before we came out on the A25- not quite where we needed to be! A bit of road riding got us back to Rykas to meet the gang just in time to get over to Gilles house to take tea and cake in the Garden- fabulous!

Full of cake - we climbed up the Denbies fire road, Simon having an energy crash again - (yup he had chocloate cake!) then we dropped into Grievous Angel and tried the three jumps currently rideable through this barely used track that is covered in leaves. The first was a diagonal jump over a fallen tree and a sudden right turn after the landing. Simon demo'ed it, Richard flew over it at speed and landed nicely then bounced off his bike into the foliage beyond but was fairly unscathed. I punched over it and landed a little to the left hitting every possible root on the landing, Jonathon popped off it with a nice controlled manual and John then did a half-pop to land on his front wheel a little squirly but not hitting any trees this week.

On the 2nd jump a little bigger onto an off camber loose landing, you really have to punch out as you cannot get speed. Simon gave us another perfect demo, new Richard full of bottle went for it and completly nose dived off it but survived. (He needs to cut his seat post and lower that saddle- weight back!). Jonathon again made it look sooo easy popping his front wheel up and hanging in the air. Then John went for it and punched out with such gusto that he was still way off the back of his bike as he landed rear wheel first and took another adrenalin shot as he decorated his shorts with mud.  After such demos I wanted to duck out of it but as John said the landing was soft I went for it and was full of my adrenalin filled self talk "ready and - punch out!" and ooh it was a very smooth landing- nice jump!

The next sections were pretty technical too espesh in the off camber leaves which really slide your bike from under you. Down the last drop in steep roll over a fallen tree trunk, new Richard decided to entertain us with one more fall- this time at speed towards a tree- and as we all heald our breath, fortunately he dumped the bike towards the tree and himself to a cushion of softer leaves. After all that we thought this might be his first and last ride but judging by his smile he's coming back for more.

So without my camera today the pics are from iphones and as they are not good for action photos you can enjoy the blurs! (No doubt some iPhone geek will be sending me an upgrade or some tips on how to get better photos on your iPhone).

Riders: Simon, Col, Gilles, Jonathon, John, Richard, Richard, Claire

April Fool's in the Saddle

Now today's Wednesday ride just happened to fall on April fool's day- setting out we all wondered which one of us would be playing the fool. Just 6 of us set out from a very busy shop- sprinting up Ranmore to ride over the tree roll and down into Abba Zabba, Blind Terror and Numb Skull.

Simon hit an energy crisis at Abba Zabba already and was refueled by some Power Gel and water both loaned out. (A busy shop keeper doesn't have time to prepare for his own ride!)  We blame the box of chocolate biscuits from John which was supposed to be a post-ride treat but became a pre-ride snack!

Testing out the new benches and bike stands at Peaslake and of course an excellent cup of tea and cake- Simon was banned from chocolate and pop and stuffed with bananas and energy drink- fully recovered we headed up Pitch at a good pace and played on the jumps at Proper Beau.

In an effort to improve take off technique we were rolling in without pedalling in order to compress and pop off the take off ramp to try and clear to the tranny. This was all going fine and then John mentioned how we should pick him up when he hits the tree. Now its a funny thing but when you pre-empt such things they often come about - so he promptly took off over the jump, landed it, squirled into the tree taking the full force of the impact in the saddle area (body and bike- ow!)

And so our fool of the day had indeed been found- yes the redesigned saddle is a picture that tells a thousand hurts!  And no these are not for sale at the shop in this design. 

John rode back with the saddle just resting on the rails and fastened Blue Peter style by me with some string from the Peaslake shop!

Great weather, good fun, plenty of miles and a few laughs at our fools expense.

Riders: Simon, Phil, Jo, John, Ken, Claire

Wednesday ride

We had a big crowd for Wednesday's ride despite the fact clouds were gathering and rain threatening- but there is some fear that the trails won't be dry for much longer.

Heading up to Sweet sweet bulbs for some trail maintenance we shot a couple of jump videos- Nick showing us how we should be styling it up over the jumps. Then over to Heads Roll where inspiration spread and Gilles was in form and loving his highs before a kick up off the new jump which led to a bad front wheel landing and an over the bars landing on his bad knee- and his ride was done. Pleasure and pain Gilles- hope you recovered well.

Next up the agony climb from the Plough to the cricket green, across Bop til you Drop and over the tower down to Donnie Darko where Nat was doing dog squashing sessions. A few drops were hit then we were pedalling again and  weaving through Worth the Myther, losing Nick who wacked his shoulder on a tree. It looked like the rain was on its way and we rode back via a speedy speedy Summer Lightning and into the shop for tea just in time for the rain to chuck it down.

Riders: Simon, Nick, Jo, Claire, Gilles, Chris, Gary, Gavin, John, Chris,

Old Blokes Ride Wed 18th March

The sun is shining on Surrey so there was a great turnout on Wednesday to ride some dry dry trails.

We headed up to Sweet sweet bulbs for some trail maintenance and after testing out the good work done by all there we rode via Heads Roll on up to Leith Tower, over to the quarry jumps for a few sessions and then back on Worth the Mither into Windy Willows finishing down the Rookery which has a new tarmac top to it recently.

John quiet as ever provides some good commentary as to everyone's skills or attitude - check the video footage.

The trails out there are so so dry- ride 'em while it lasts (oh long may it last p-lease!). A great chance to make use of those technical skills acquired all winter without fear of slipping in mud pools or slick roots for a change.

I feel like a Proper Beau

Not a big turn out for today's ride, probably because of a forecast of slight rain, although that failed to emerge. Just 5 of us, Chris back for more after his baptism last week, Ken, Gilles, Simon and Claire the regulars.

So as I'm just one of the boys when it comes to riding, Simon decided I needed to become a "Proper Beau" master. So we sprinted on up to Peaslake and up Pitch and turned onto the "Warm-up" jumps on Proper Beau- the first is a slight downhill onto a small ramp and a tiny gap jump that if you don't clear it you won't get into trouble, the 2nd is a bigger ramp and a bigger gap to clear, the gap is filled with logs so its not too nasty if you land on them but its not that comfy either.

After a few fast and faster sessions over these playing with our speed and technique we were clearing them enough to be ready for the big gap jump no.3. Well all except Tree magnet Chris who despite never trying this stuff before was valiantly leaping off everything but frightening us with his wish to hug trees after each jump!

As we are still learning this stuff I've tried to show some freeze frames in the video to help everyone with their technique analysis.

Next Simon and Gilles demo'ed the bigger gap jump on Proper Beau - it's about an 8 foot gap but the ramp up looks huge as you roll in fast to it. However if you miss the landing tranny, again, you won't hurt too much but you'll get a jolt.

There were far too many trees around for Chris to attempt it and Ken was preserving life for his holiday but I gave it a go and landed pretty well on my first attempt, so next we rolled in as a 3 rider sequence and this time I was faster and flew of the ramp and landed perfectly on 2 wheels on the great tranny- it felt sweet!

We were just getting ready to move on when Ken went back to get his bike and after a long pause and thinking about it he rolled in fast and cleared it first time- I just got the video on him in time! Sweet!

We carried on down T2 to the car park and then watched Simon and Gilles drop off "New Values" - a DH roll in to a large drop over roots and a nice steep smooth transition. As usual they made it look easy.... so I rode up to it twice but decided to leave on a high note and save that adrenalin shot for another day. Watch this space....

Sounds like we only play but after that we got some fast miles in and fixed 2 punctures in a row for Chris. Fortunately he saw fit to invest in new tyres back at the shop, ready for his next tree seeking expedition!

What brings you here today?

OK so we all come for the marvellous mountain biking but inspired by the fact that 2 new riders joined us today because they found us on the blog I thought the theme for today would be what brought you to ride with Nirvana Cycles?

Today Chris joined us as he's on leave from the RAF having just got back from Afghanistan and being a northerner down south he doesn't know how to find the great local mountain bike trails that he has heard of via the grapevine. He chanced upon this blog and here he was riding with us and having a lot of fun just having a go at some of the jumps and singletrack we regularly ride. He'd have never found it without us and now armed with his maps from the shop he has a better chance of finding it again. But I'm sure he'll be back for more group rides.

Guy also found the blog and came along as he wants to train for his holiday tour riding across the highlands of Scotland this Summer. He's here to improve his fitness and had not ridden such technical trails before but hopefully he'll be back for more and will not only improve fitness but gain some more technical skills to beat his buddies on that ride.

Then again there are the long termers- Richard used to play Golf but wanting to lose some weight he started road riding until he bumped into an injured mountain biker in A&E and decided that looks like fun. So he came and joined the Nirvana rides. There was no turning back and I'd guess that his mountain biking love has surpassed his Golf nowadays. The bikes have also gradually upgraded from that £100 secondhand heavy weight clunker to a svelte plush 5" travel Turner 5.5 spot- and wow what a difference the bike makes eh?

John and Chris started out on a guided ride with Nirvana and borrowed some demo bikes, John loved his Lapierre Zesty so much he phoned the shop to reserve one before he even finished the ride, now he's a regular weekly rider. And as for Chris- well just look at him on the video and you just know he has the bug!

As for me well I was a competitive netballer always trying to find time to play on my bike between matches (and not get injured!)- but eventually the netball commitment got beaten down by the freedom and thrill of riding my bike when and where and with whom I liked. I bumped into the Nirvana Group on holiday in Morzine in 2001 and was thrilled to find out they had singletrack trails in my backyard of the North Downs- wow!

Whatever your reason for riding- you're welcome on the ride as I'm sure we'll infect you with this bug and convert you to a regular or as a minimum show you some awesome local trails to ride.

Team Lapierre v Turner (& Orange Squash)

Team Lapierre Zesty

Wednesday's ride saw a rivalry between the Turner riders and the Lapierres, with a Cove Stiffee and a less than Zesty Orange thrown in.

Claire, Matt and John were riding for the Lapierre Zesty team with his and hers blue 514's and Matt's bling top of the range 914 in black. We slightly outnumbered the Turner 5 spots for a change who were down to 2- Gilles and Richard but just to throw in some mix Chris was squeezing his new Orange 5 in there and ex-singlespeed champ Jason was back with the full 27 speed Cove Stiffee.


Team Lapierre v Turner (oh and an Orange boy!)

After 2 days of rain and freezing temps the sun again shone on us and we ventured out into the blue skies and deep mud. Heading over to Holmbury, Pitch and Winterfold where going was pretty good versus the slop on the Leith Hill trails. Again we all took on the adrenalin shot of 2 headed dog and then further into the mud we ended up riding up a river (OK Gilles it was justa stream but its all your fault!).


It's always great to look at the different levels of skills and fitness of each rider. After all we have all been there at some stage. So often a newer rider comes along and feels concerned to be at the back or not able to ride some of the technical routes but are soon regaled with stories from the rest of us- we all started out there too, looking over precipice drops and saying "You ride down that?!" and yet now we just ride over it with hardly a qualm.

Plus we have all had our stint at the back of the group (some of us more than others)- always catching up and breathless as the rested front runner take off again when you get there. BUT we all stuck with it and kept on riding, kept pushing our skills limits and kept on improving so now we can ride with the pack or ride the technical stuff (which gets to be more and more fun).

So the moral of this story is "Stick with it", keep coming out riding with us and you too will see the improvements in your skills and fitness- and boy that sure feels good!

Snow Old Blokes Ride - 4th Feb 2009

It cannot have escaped anyone's notice that its been snowing lately! So the Wednesday's Old Blokes Ride from the shop was going to be a fun one. For those who haven't made it out to the North Downs while its been white here is a taste of what its like...

5 of us turned up, Simon, John, Ken, Brian and Claire and headed on up Rookery on some crunchy ice to start with - which (if you know the stepped bridleway climb) led to a lot of wheel spinning and eventually hike a bike!

Climbing up to Coldharbour called for some skilled pedaling- you have to keep your weight even on both wheels, pedal very smoothly and try not to turn the wheels too much or else you are fish tailing all over the place. The terrain quickly varies from slippery compacted ice to crunchy and very grippy snow. You can get speed up on the latter but beware because you can suddenly find your self back on the slippy stuff.

Once confident on the snow conditions Simon led us over some nice technical sections around Leith Tower, its amazing how different the trails look when covered in white stuff and it feels like riding new trails. Everyone had a go at playing over the technical drops and all stayed upright!

A quick coffee at the Plough in Coldharbour and warm up by the open fire and then we headed back out on the Summer Lightning downhill course which was a thrill then back via New soemthing Face trail (I must remember the trail names Simon tells me!) I was sweeping up the back while Simon and John were crashing and getting buried in the snow - it was like skittles watching them fall in front of me.

Well the trails are in excellent conditions to ride and the blue skies made it a perfect day, but beware the backroads on the way back- they are still compacted ice and it was like riding on an ice rink on the way back to the shop.

If you haven't been lucky enough to ride it yet, hope for more this weekend and come out and play!