Aug
16
Wed
We will be at Croft on Wednesday as usual, doing some laps of the trail and practice on the features along the way.
Meet in the car park at 5.45pm
You will need a helmet, but not lights.
Aug
23
Wed
We will be at Croft on Wednesday as usual, doing some laps of the trail and practice on the features along the way.
This week we will have another feature on corners – hopefully how to go round them quicker!
Meet in the car park at 5.45pm
You will need a helmet, but not lights.
Sep
6
Wed
We will be at Croft on Wednesday as usual, doing some laps of the trail and practice on the features along the way.
This week we will have another feature on corners – hopefully how to go round them quicker!
Meet in the car park at 5.45pm
You will need a helmet, but not lights (not this week anyway, but not sure about next week unfortunately!)
Sep
30
Sat
This is our first Ladies Ridegway Ride! I’m so excited to introduce our ride leader for the day, one of our regular riders, Lindsay!
She will begin the ride at Croft cycle trail, though if any ladies are from the West Swindon area she is riding from home, so you can always join her along the way!
We will then ride up to Barbury via Ladder Lane (riding up is possible, but optional – walking up will be fine!!)
The ride then takes us down Smeathe’s Ridge, via the Three Trees Cafe, where we will stop for refreshments (all important tea, coffee and cake!!) We will then head back to Croft via Chiseldon, and Coate Water.
If the weather is on our side and we all feel like an extra few miles, then we can add in an additional loop from Ogbourne St George, taking a detour up the Earthline Hill, along the ridge and then back down onto the railway path again.
This ride is approximately 20 miles with the extra detour loop.
It is not a technical ride, however it does have a few hills and will require a little bit of stamina!
Please note, it is only suitable for mountain bikes.
Jun
9
Sat
This is a warm up for those coming for the weekend, and will have a choice of gentle or mental!
We will be starting from our base at the Sparkhayes Campsite in the centre of Porlock and making our way to Porlock Weir, the port to the west, where there is an excellent pub, refreshments and the sea!
The choice will be:
A gentle pootle out, relatively flat, just taking in the scenery to the pub essentially.
Or the mental option – making our way part way up Porlock Hill (which has the steepest A road in the country!) and making our way down through the technical bridleways in the woods to the weir.
The choice is yours 🙂
Sep
26
Wed
This a very relaxed ride, at an easy pace, with lots of opportunities to develop and practice skills. Everyone is welcome and this is a great introductory ride if you’re just starting or coming back to mountain biking.
This week we’re going to do some skills demonstrations and practice, using the features of the trail. We’ll cover the basics you’ll need for tackling technical terrain – front wheel lifts, unweighting the back well, climbing and descending safely.
You must bring a helmet, but you don’t need lights, yet.
Also thoroughly recommend insect repellent!
Meet in the Croft car park at 5.30pm for a 5.45pm start
Oct
10
Wed
This a very relaxed ride, at an easy pace, with lots of opportunities to develop and practice skills. Everyone is welcome and this is a great introductory ride if you’re just starting or coming back to mountain biking.
We will do some skills demonstrations and practice, using the features of the trail. We’ll cover the basics you’ll need for tackling technical terrain – front wheel lifts, unweighting the back wheel, climbing and descending safely.
We may also venture up Ladder Lane for a bit of root and faster descending practice.
You must bring a helmet, but you don’t need lights, just yet.
Meet in the Croft car park for a 5.45pm start.
Nov
11
Sun
This is steady XC ride taking in some of the cracking scenery on the Ridgeway.
Starting at the 3 Trees cafe, we will head along the Ridgeway, up the side of Barbury Castle (the gentlest side!), continuing along the Ridgeway past Hackpen Hill, before the descent across Rockley Downs to Ogbourne St Andrew.
From there we will take the old Railway line back to the 3 Trees cafe.
So uphill first (gets most of it out the way!), a nice down and steady return for coffee and cake.
This will be 24km in length and 275m of climbing – rather like the short route Tuesday night rides, but at the weekend.
We will be taking it at a relaxed pace, so this is suitable for those looking for a starter ride on the Ridgeway.
You must wear a helmet and a suitable coat is advised (showers are currently forecast).
Meet in the 3 Trees car park for a 10.30am set off.
We will also be stopping briefly at 11am to observe 2 minutes silence for Remembrance Sunday.
Jan
6
Sun
The first of my scenic rides for 2019 will be a round trip along the Ridgeway to the Uffington White Horse and back.
Along the way we’ll take in the stunning descent through the Hinton Parva coombes, a beautiful climb (honest!) from Bishopstone to the Ridgeway and the delights of Weathercock Hill.
We’ll be taking it easy to appreciate the scenery, covering about 27km in distance and 400m of climbing.
Meet at the Foxhill car park, just past The Ruji Restaurant.
You must bring a helmet and appropriate clothing, as well as snacks/food for the duration, as we will be out past lunchtime.
May
23
Sat
Our annual May Bank holiday trip will be to the fabulous Exmoor in 2020.
We have 3 days riding planned and you can do all or just some of them.
Day 1 – the big day out. Starting from Porlock we will do a 28km loop of some of the best hills and scenery Exmoor has to offer, including Wootton Courtenay, Ranscombe and Horner. There will be amazing views of the hills, sea and Wales, epic descents and glorious woodland. There will be options on the route as well, including a cut off near the end to remove 300m of climbing, to enable more people to have a go at the route. For the “adventurous” there will also be a chance to take in one of the tracks from the Southern Enduro champs along the way (that is optional and the alternative is still a great descent, just firewood instead).
Day 2 – lazy Sunday. Well sort of! We will start with a considerably shorter ride (9km) to the top of Bossington Hill, for the epic view, on our way to Horner. After a lunch at the excellent tea rooms we will then do 3 uplifted descents. First we will take in a long run from the top of Dunkery Beacon, followed by an epic singletrack run from the top of Porlock Hill. Finally we will return to Porlock Hill and take a super fast fireroad route down to Porlock Weir for a pint by the sea. Up to you if you do all 3 descents or 2 or 1, but the final one is suitable for all and takes us home, so if you’re only going to do 1, it should be that 1!
Day 3 – Big trees. To finish off on Monday we will decamp to the outskirts of Minehead (about 15 minute drive) to Dunster Castle. Here we will ride a nice woodland route out to England’s tallest tree and back.
Accommodation is DIY, but I would strongly recommend Sparkhayes campsite (which I will be at). It has excellent facilities, and lovely relaxed atmosphere and great views of the hills and sea. It’s also on a few minutes walk from the pubs and shops.
There are many B&Bs in the town if you would prefer a solid roof though.
Outside of your accommodation and food, the only cost will be the uplift, which will be around £10 per person in total. Exact price will be confirmed nearer the time.
All routes will be led by qualified ride leaders, who are also first aid trained.
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