Swinley Forest Options

[DrBike]

I've entered into negotiations with SWMBO for a pass to Swinley for Saturday afternoon (17th). I've been very good this weekend and sorted out the garden so I should be OK for this but who know's what might happen between then and now.

Saturday afternoon is looking to be the best slot at the moment. Meet in the car park at the Lookout (or perhaps across the road at the Coral Reef if the Lookout car park is full).

Anyone interested?

I've also heard that there's a new piece of trail recently opened up near the labyrinth, called IT.

[bobosola]

Anyone interested?

I'm in Andy. Can do lifts from Southampton area for anyone else interested

[SinfulHedgehog]

I'd love to but I've got my finals this month, and have to learn how to speak Chinese in about two weeks, so I'll be buried in my books. Still I'll be back around home in six to eight weeks so a post-graduation ride would be most welcome...

[that_was_scary]

Im temped but I won't know if I have to work on Saturday til later on in the week.

[bhosty]

Thats good for me Andy - do you know what time about?

[marcliam]

I won't be able to make it on this one, probably just be snatching a quick local evening ride on Sunday this weekend (boo-hoo)

Checking Metcheck looks like you guys will get some dry but cooler weather so probably ideal.... Enjoy!

[DrBike]

What time is good for folks? I've managed to negotiate the afternoon off so any time from (more or less) 13:00 onwards should be OK.

As usual the route will be decided at the very last moment (in fact it may well be determined by the mental toss of a coin at each junction - just to mix it up a bit), but I have a feeling that Babymaker, the Labyrinth and Tank Trap will feature on the ride.

[bhosty]

Any time in the afternoon really - I'm picking up a new (ebay) bike at 10:00 in High Wycombe so its only a short drive from there - 13:00 would be fine with me (i'll be there early and have a play on the new ride)

[bobosola]

13:00 is good for me.

[marcliam]

Did you guys make it to Swinley yesterday? How was it, trails drying out?

[DrBike]

We went, we rode, we conquered!!!!!

There were a few small bits of mud left and one or two puddles still lingering but on the whole it's was a vast improvement on the last time we were there. I just updated my blog with the details, but we rode Babymaker, the Labyrinth and some other bits of trail in that general area. The only dampener (literally) was that it started raining - not too much but enough to make us a bit damp.

[bhosty]

Thanks to Andy again for another ride and some more new trails.

I've put the route up on my website, and I've also added a Memory Map .mmo file which I've started to fill out with some named sections of trail and points of interest... we can build on this in future and add more stuff as we come across it

http://hosty.org/Brian%20and%20Charlotte/ql41

[SinfulHedgehog]

Is the mud dry enough to dare taking my mud-guards off yet?

[DrBike]

Is the mud dry enough to dare taking my mud-guards off yet?

I saw that Bob still had his rear mudguard on, I always have a front one on - just in case.

It's more or less safe to venture out, I got a bit of mud on my legs but not much to worry about.

[bobosola]

Thanks to Andy again for another ride and some more new trails.

Ditto. Andy's ability to keep this stuff in his head without getting lost continues to amaze me (and I speak as an ex professional navigator, albeit marine rather than forest!). Those runs down the Babymaker/Labrynth area made the day for me. I'm slowly getting more confident in "just go for it" mode and the trails in that area get more fun the faster you go.

I've put the route up on my website, and I've also added a Memory Map .mmo file which I've started to fill out with some named sections of trail and points of interest... we can build on this in future and add more stuff as we come across it

No Memory Map here :-( but I'd love to see your named sections thing to get my head around navigating this place. Any possibility you could screen dump / print to PDF or similar, please Brian?

[bobosola]

I saw that Bob still had his rear mudguard on, I always have a front one on - just in case.

I leave both on all year now since getting unexpectedly covered in mud last July. Having a gravity dropper means that I can move my seat height without affecting the wheel/mudguard height. The front guard (I only have the back half fitted) helps keep debris out of my face. I'm well past the age of caring about how it all looks, plus I don't ever want to go back to having a huge streak of sh*t up my back and all over the Camelbak after every ride!

[bhosty]

No Memory Map here :-( but I'd love to see your named sections thing to get my head around navigating this place. Any possibility you could screen dump / print to PDF or similar, please Brian?

Bob, I've attached a gpx with the tracks and waypoints, and also attached a screen grab from Memory Map with some crude labels plonked near the tracks (memory map doesnt have a nice way of adding labels)

Attached File(s)

 Swinley_Forest_20080518.gpx ( 67.56k ) Number of downloads: 120
 SwinleyForest20080518.jpg ( 1.34mb ) Number of downloads: 158

 

[DrBike]

Andy's ability to keep this stuff in his head without getting lost continues to amaze me ...

Yeah - but I didn't do too well on Saturday did I ? Maybe the increased leaf cover is interfering with my automated guidance system.

[StuYard]

Hi all,

I'm new to MTBBritain but was searching for info on Swinley Forest and found this thread...

Are there any rides planned next week? I'm visiting family in Hampshire and will have a bike with me so would be great to go exploring, and even better to do it with some biking bods!

Cheers
Stu

[StuYard]

Got my weeks mixed up

I'm looking for some riding action from 31st May to 7th June, and Swinley Forest still looks cool for a visit...hope there's something on and you guys don't mind me tagging along?