Sherwood Pines and NCB area Sun 12th Sep'21 (spaces left)

[The Hodge]

Crikey Steve Sordy ..you are no good luck charm..?
Get well soon Major ..

 

[steve_sordy]

Deffo no from me. On holiday on the coast in Somerset and had a fall, busting my left ankle. A&E this afternoon, currently on crutches. ?

You are not old enough to have had "a fall"!! You crashed, had an accident, were unavoidably deployed, had an involuntary dismount ..whatever. YOU DID NOT "HAVE A FALL"
Delete that phrase from your vocabulary, or it will come back to haunt you.

 

[steve_sordy]

Crikey Steve Sordy ..you are no good luck charm..?
Get well soon Major ..

I disagree. A mate of mine used to refer to me as his "Sun God" because whenever we rode together the sun was always shining (or at least it never rained).

To be fair, I don't think he ever looked at the local weather forecast when suggesting a date for a ride. We were always agreeing to a ride at the last minute, which helped of course.

 

[PhilG]

Hi Steve,

Seen you advertise your rides a couple of times but not been around on the days to join but I'm Intrigued about your route and free on the 12th so I'll pop along and meet you guys for this one! I'm a local - close enough to ride in from home

Cheers
Phil

 

[steve_sordy]

Welcome @PhilG Now we are ten riders again

@steve_sordy
@myapes
@j_s
@DaveDog
@Ripping g +4
@PhilG

 

[EezyRider]

I’m intrigued too, I could never understand why Pines was a red route other than to entice people to the area.
Saying that, I thought the same about Dalby until I took a work colleague, lost count of the amounts of off’s he had and he hasn’t been on his bike since!!
If it’s ok, I’ll tentatively say I’ll come for the ride, I have a lot on atm so won’t know for definitely until the day before

 

[The Hodge]

From the vids Ive watched the red route looks no more than a blue elsewhere ..but hats off to Steve for seeking out some off-piste to up the ante..hope it all works out and you get that Ranger on side to develop things further ..

 

[j_s]

@The Hodge I'd agree with the red is more of a blue elsewhere. There might be a couple of red-ish bits here and there on it.

 

[steve_sordy]

From the vids Ive watched the red route looks no more than a blue elsewhere ..but hats off to Steve for seeking out some off-piste to up the ante..hope it all works out and you get that Ranger on side to develop things further ..

I can't remember the last time I rode the red all the way around, but it would have been about a year ago. I do it occasionally just to make sure I'm not missing anything new. I use sections of the red, blue and green trails to move about the forest. And of course there are some bits of the red that it would be a shame to miss, so they are incorporated in the mostly off-piste routes that I do.
I used to have a variety of different off-piste routes, but the last lot of forest clearances pretty much cramped my style in that respect. That is why I started to spend much more time on NCB ground and last year the Vicar Water area (courtesy of @Ontherail). It takes time to find these features and to link them together into a something that flows well and doesn't feel like a collection of obstacles linked by forest roads.

The Ranger I mentioned is a really good guy, in charge of all the trails and all the prep for the music events, car rallies etc. He also hosts the Army once per year on NCB land. He is a keen biker himself, has several emtbs as well as mtbs and races in events like 'ard rock. He is really keen to develop Sherwood Pines and is only defeated by budget constraints. I don't need to work hard to "get him on side". He recognised several years ago that I was leading off-piste rides and decided to work with me instead of trying to stop me. He is properly trained in trail building and assessment and much more. He will defend that red rating of the trail at Pines. He acknowledges that it is not as tough as some, but that it fully deserves its rating. Sherwood Pines hosts regular national Cycling Championship races and even was chosen for the final qualifying race for the XC mtb race in the 2012 Olympics. (We will be doing elements of that especially created circuit, although much of it has disappeared and/or changed with time).

 

[steve_sordy]

I’m intrigued too, I could never understand why Pines was a red route other than to entice people to the area.
Saying that, I thought the same about Dalby until I took a work colleague, lost count of the amounts of off’s he had and he hasn’t been on his bike since!!
If it’s ok, I’ll tentatively say I’ll come for the ride, I have a lot on atm so won’t know for definitely until the day before

Welcome the rideout @EezyRider, looking forward to seeing you.

When I was on an MTB and using the MBR Forum (now defunct), there was a guy who's regular trail was Dalby Forest. He kept banging on about the lack of elevation at Pines and how crap it must be, didn't deserve a red rating etc. I've ridden Dalby red many times and it is good fun, but it wastes its elevation criminally. I invited him to Pines for his first ride. It was quiet a few years ago now and before I was doing much of the off-piste (some, but not a lot). He was blowing out of his arse within 15 mins and stayed knackered for the rest of the ride. God knows what he would have made of the route I do now. @myapes summed it up best: It is the relentless nature of the off-piste that makes it tough and why emtbs are so well suited.

 

[Davvee]

I’m well jealous ? hope you all have a great days riding and I’m sure I’ll be coming to one in the near future.

 

[steve_sordy]

Now we are potentially 11 riders!

@steve_sordy
@myapes
@j_s
@DaveDog
@Ripping g +4
@PhilG
@EezyRider (possible)

 

[Ontherail]

Hi Steve

Count me in for sunday looking forward to seeing the new sections.

 

[EezyRider]

We built some sanctioned North shore trails/features in Pines many years ago as a side project from what we were doing at Mkt Rasen. It was opened by Steve Peat. I think the pines group took it over.
My how the years have passed.

I agree with you about Dalby, the red is a drag with a lot of wasted elevation. I ride there often but only the off piste stuff which is short but sublime, just use a red climb to link things up.

I always thought the pines red a little dangerous, people go to other trail centres with red routes expecting the same only to be caught out and injured. Similarly, I thought the red at Dalby was only red because of the length of it.

Anyway hats off to you for seeking out new thrills, hopefully I’ll be able to make it.

 

[The Hodge]

I had to re-read that a couple of times before I got what you meant ..by dangerous you meant that its grading was less than red ..

 

[j_s]

That's how I read it @The Hodge

 

[steve_sordy]

Now we are 11, potentially 12 riders!

@steve_sordy
@myapes
@j_s
@DaveDog
@Ripping g +4
@PhilG
@Ontherail
@EezyRider (possible)

 

[steve_sordy]

We built some sanctioned North shore trails/features in Pines many years ago as a side project from what we were doing at Mkt Rasen. It was opened by Steve Peat. I think the pines group took it over.
My how the years have passed.
...................

I remember those! They were at the start of the downhill section of the Bike Park. After the launching ramp (still there), you climbed up a ramp to a 6' high section of boardwalk before dropping down onto a sloping rock. That propelled you towards a wall ride, first left then right. Then more boardwalk winding through the trees that was up and down and left - right. You emerged from the trees onto a flat trail that took you onto more boardwalk. The boardwalk rode gently, and the terrain fell away. By the time the boardwalk ended, the vertical height to the ground was about 8'. There was a steep boarded slope down to the ground, which fell away even more steeply. No jumping was required but the down-ramp was about 20' long. Because of the way the terrain fell away, when you were on top of that boardwalk, you could see over all the treetops. It felt very high and exposed, but the furthest you could fall was about 8'. It reminded me of those ski jumps where the skier flies through the air for absolutely ages, but he is never more than 6-10' above ground at any time because his flightpath is matched by the terrain.

I could see that ski jump as I made my way up the blue trail and it thrilled and scared me at the same time. "Would I ever be able to do that?" That was in 2008 as a complete newbie on my 100mm hardtail 26er. Before they took it all away I did it all. I never saw an authoritative reason as to why they removed all that, but the rumour was that the nearby Center Parks complained that too many of their customers were getting injured. For example one guy rode to the top of the first boardwalk, saw the drop, panicked, failed to unclip and fell sideways to the ground. His head would have fallen 11-12' . He had to be helicoptered away, no idea what the outcome was. I myself was injured jumping into a deep hole. Unfortunately I tried to avoid a glass bottle on the approach and took the wrong line. I hit the side of the hole and that was game over for me for about four weeks.

Before the change, the DH section was hardly used. But after they had ripped out all the boardwalk and blocked off all the big holes and drops, then replaced them with seven gravity assisted trails with rollable rock steps .....then it became very popular! The month it opened it was swarming with schoolkids. It hasn't changed much since then, not as busy but still popular.

 

[EezyRider]

That's how I read it @The Hodge

that’s how I meant it. Over graded (without meaning to be derogatory).

That sounds like the stuff Steve, everything had to be rollable but with speed you could get a good bit of air. It was fairly tame to the other stuff we built.

My balls have shrunk some since those days!!

 

[steve_sordy]

..................

My balls have shrunk some since those days!!

I'm sure I read up somewhere that if you pay enough you can get them blown back up again. Not on the NHS, obviously.

 

[j_s]

I'm sure I read up somewhere that if you pay enough you can get them blown back up again. Not on the NHS, obviously.

There are particular areas of Nottingham you can go for those services

 

[Davvee]

Hope you all had fun, you certainly had the weather for it.

 

[Blokie]

Hope you all had fun, you certainly had the weather for it.

12th, not 5th!!

@steve_sordy - only just seen this thread. I'm a 70% maybe for Sunday - won't know for sure until Saturday.

 

[Davvee]

Ahh my bad lol.

 

[steve_sordy]

Ahh my bad lol.

Never mind, @myapes and I were out on Sun for a final run through to firm up the route, remove any trail blockages etc. We re-routed one small part of the trail because the sides of the gulley were so dry and steep that it was like climbing up a mound of brown flour. I discovered this when my rear wheel slewed sideways and took over the steering. I was heading towards a brick wall and a jumble of rocks! So I did the decent thing and let my backpack take the hit and not the bike. We do this so you don't have to!

 

[steve_sordy]

Now we are 11, potentially 13 riders!

@steve_sordy
@myapes
@j_s
@DaveDog
@Ripping g +4
@PhilG
@Ontherail
@EezyRider (possible)
@Blokie ( depends upon recovery from injury).

 

[Rahr85]

If it doesn't end up with too many people i'd like to tag along this time. bike park wales and wharncliffe didn't kill me off yet.

 

[steve_sordy]

Sorry guys, but entries are now closed!

We (@myapes and @steve_sordy) were hoping that the cast list would stop before it got past 12. It is nothing to do with unlucky 13, but the practical difficulties of moving a large group of riders around a tightly wound course with a lot of hidden or totally unobvious turns. In addition there are loops where a stretched out train of riders would overlap each other, with the those at the front wanting to cross the path of those at the rear.

We will need to keep stopping to allow those at the back to catch up. Several reasons for that. It is nice to take the opportunity to chat and shoot the shit, but mainly it is to ensure that we have not lost anyone. The places we stop are usually at important turn points that may not be obvious to late arrivals. At each stop point we will do a headcount.

Thirteen riders and bikes take up a lot of room and there are not that many places where we would comfortably fit, this is an unmanaged forest, not the Peak District!

 

[steve_sordy]

If it doesn't end up with too many people i'd like to tag along this time. bike park wales and wharncliffe didn't kill me off yet.

@myapes and I are at Pines regularly, you can tag along any time. Sorry, but you have missed this one.

 

[Ripping g]

I’m down to me n 2/3 others at mo 1 man down ??‍ @Rahr85 was in warni Sunday regular ride for me as well as peak not been to warni for a will fgot how much fun it is ??