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Am about to head over after work...
Yes, pretty consistently for past 90 minutes or so. Light but annoying rain! Not sure whether to go out myself!
it was a complete mudfest yesterday
it's been very hard for the last two hours about 20 miles south.
Was out there Tuesday - trails in transmission / pad destruction mode then. It's rained ever since, so expect wet with added wetness and a bit of even wetter thrown in for good measure. Great if you like your brake pads short lived, your chain graunchy and a bit of "hey look! A tree root. Wow. Sideways baby!" action.
Oh and some of the puddles smell stagnant.
Enjoy yourself.....
It was nice this morning. Rained non-stop since half past three though 🙁
...not forgetting yesterday afternoon's deluge of rain/hail etc. First time our garage has ever got flooded
This summer sucks 🙁
I've pretty much just swam back home from work, passing through there
Yesterday around 4pm the rain was biblical. The A25 was about 1 foot deep in Gomshall with huge amounts coming down off the North Downs. Aside from whether it rained today yesterdays water must still be around.
raining in Dorking right now, several huge squalls yesterday
& yesterday we all got caught out on a huge root step near Westcott, that's dropped 6 inches as all the topsoil has been washed away. It claimed 2 victims who have ridden it hundreds of times. Check your assumptions up there!
oh and I was in the hail storm (about 8PM) at the cricket pitch, I was glad to be wearing a helmet!
Love the optimism ..
Raining...
Yep.
This was near Brockham yesterday:
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And this is near the top car park of Pitch Hill currently
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Is that the climb from the Peaslake car park to the upper car park? That's mental.
It is. It's obviously been a lot worse by the logging that's going on at the moment.
trying to place the Brockham pic ...
a bunch of us, with several decades of winter MTB night riding between us, were sat in the Pluff last night and seriously considering a road ride ...
Same thought myself matt! But then road tires on wet descents might be too much fun at the moment. So glad I held off buying a new bike!! Picture of top CP is amazing, I hadn't realised it was that bad. Supernova must be like a log flume!
But how far would you get on the road Mattjg? Redhill last night was gridlocked due to the floods, and several roads have suffered upheaval with the tarmac being trashed. Slightly ironic that the council dweebs spent all last summer "improving" the trails around here, laying hardcore, only for the past few weeks worth of rain [well Sunday and Wednesday really] going and scouring them all out again. Lots of gulleys re-appearing. Going to make the climbs interesting again at the very least.
Wife and I took the dog for a walk from Peaslake to top of Pitch yesterday morning along the main path where the logging has been taking place as per geetee1972's photo...it was great fun, mud almost up to the top of wellies, took us about an hour. There's mud that looks quite innocuous then you'd step on it and your foot would disappear and you have to get help to get out. Highly recommended...going to take the kids up there
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Beats riding 😀
This depresses me, I'd planned a 30 miler tomorrow over there. I'm planning a visit to the gym now :(.
I had to stop driving between Gatwick and Horsham yesterday in one downpour. Roads were very dangerous.
Wife is off to Epsom tonight to watch Will Young. First outside gig, bless. She 'phoned them up just before leaving and in her best Surrey accent pointed out that it was raining and will they please provide gazebos..... Some people eh?
you're right - I'm going to embrace the muck and get a singlespeed, & I'm going long on SS frame prices.
- isn't that wife porn from Fifty shades of grey?and your foot would disappear and you have to get help to get out
oh and those puddles on Wolvern's Lane, some of them are BB deep. I know I measured.
In the spirit of the 'where to live in devon or somerset' thread where the answers are 'clevedon/portishead'..
Its raining in Devon.
Hope this helps. 🙂
Thanks for your replies. As I got closer (on my way home from work) I decided to give it a miss (having read some of the above). Went food shopping instead. 😥
This weather is really pants. Local trails are carved up and QE2 is not really a wet weather venue.
Maybe I will crack out the scrabble.
nuke did your dog make it back?
Yeah but if there's anyone up there, please help my wife out...she's probably getting hungry by now 😉
Yeah but if there's anyone up there, please help my wife out...she's probably getting hungry by now
Really? I've got a large sausage she can have 😯
this is really depressing! im was so looking forward to the summer, especially June and July being the last months of freedom before our first child arrives. now really depressed about the lack of riding but looking forward to the new arrival
😯
Bloody hell!
@mashie it's just a blip, many more summers to come and you'll have lots of fun with the littl'un too
still raining
doesn't look like it will be drying out any time soon either 🙁
still raining....this summer I suspect is over ➡
[i]this summer I suspect is over[/i]
It is depressing when two dry weeks in March turn out to be Summer for the year 🙁
hang on there were 3 dry days at the end of May!
[i]3 dry days at the end of May! [/i]
Indian Summer, they were 😉
August is going to be good I hear.
I often drive past Swinley on the way to and from work. I took the bike out of the back of the car (unused from yesterday), only to see lovely sunshine coming out today. 🙄
Probably raining later though...
Im gonna hit the road tomo for a Surrey Hills loop
Mashie, that's what I did yesterday. I couldn't face a 'quick' two hour mountain bike ride over lunch. Took the 'cross bike and had a good time. There's lots of debris on the roads at the moment, too.
it's not rained today. yet.
Rained last night, though, if the state of our garden and patio this morning is anything to go by.
Was on the road over the downs this morning, there is so much gravel on the minor roads it's crazy. The worst was the corner by the church in Coldharbour where there is a bridleway running off the corner up the hill - the bridleway looked like a river and the road was, no exaggeration, covered in massive rocks. Mental.
Rain forecast now pushed back to between 16:00 and 19:00. Wet tomorrow morning again. Might try a spin near Punchbowl instead. Less mud, hopefully!
Gentle rain just started in Dorkers.
Nevermind.
Did 2:30hrs up and around punchbowl. Surprisingly OK as were Thursley and Hankley. Sand more compact due to the wet and hardly any mud. Climb up the Punchbowl was a little slower than normal but found some great deer tracks to follow down the sides. Great fun little rides as the heather was so deep you couldn't quite see where you bike was going! And they were dry.
Bridleways lower down were bog fests and miserable though. Been rainy most of the evening though so expect SH to be v muddy tomorrow. As the song said, "Go west....."
It rained hard for some of last night.
Tried to ride at Peaslake today - shocking really the mixture of rain/forest works has make most of the area I know unridable and very disapointing. I wont be heading back sadly, atleast for a good few months/good reveiws up there. Did try another hill but the ground is so saturated, very unpleasant!
Joe
Tried to look for different places for quick evening ride today, so did section of NDW and St Martha's. Not as bad a feared except for NDW between Watts Gallery and Law Courts - soft sand AND gloop (especially after b'way comes up from the Withies). Chantries muddy but at least the sand section was easier than normal and not bad at all to the bottom of St Martha's. Climb as normal but cheeky bits off the other side have quite a bit of damage (mini berm by mini tabletop near the top is quite eroded today). Found Jambalaya's cheeky stuff on the return - much better than the normal return route and potential for some off-piste fun off to the RHS in the trees. 😉
I think P'lake is an AVOID for some time now sadly.
Any reports if Leith is in better condition?
It didn't rain yesterday, during daylight hours.
Some rain last night, more this morning.
Light drizzle by me since leaving pool at 08:00. Forcast is poor all week with exception of tomorrow (Tues). Funnily enough I have got used to it now - get up, its raining, OK same as yesterday - at least the bike gets cleaned more thoroughly than normal.
Premium on the rockier areas at the moment - might head off to the military areas for a change of scene?
yup, wet is the new dry. Accept it or give up biking it seems.
These are good: [url= http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/British-Army-Surplus-GORETEX-Trousers-DPM-Camo-/160837500616?pt=UK_Collectables_Militaria_LE&var=&hash=item6b1f51d4ae#ht_500wt_922 ]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/British-Army-Surplus-GORETEX-Trousers-DPM-Camo-/160837500616?pt=UK_Collectables_Militaria_LE&var=&hash=item6b1f51d4ae#ht_500wt_922[/url]
Just bought some of those for my backpacking trip to the Lakes at the w/e. If I survive I'll probably cut them down for riding in. My Endura waterproofs are wearing out from over-use.
They work well full length too for riding when it's actually raining, rather than wet under-tyre. They don't constrict at the thigh (buy a size too big compared to jeans) and the length neatly stops just past the top of my rain SPD boots.
Actually they're so cheap, I have > 1 pair, I'll keep at least 1 full length and maybe cut another.
Just wait it out...do some trail work etc
High pressure from next week, will recover super quick. probably dusty by week this saturday 😛
Rode Leith Hill and around on Sunday and mostly OK, some deep patches here and there but nothing too bad, a few spills on the pink roots but what's new...
What is it like at Swinley Forrest? I am there Saturday.
Wow, walked the dog round Pitch yesterday - what a mess! lots of trails gone
I know its a working forest etc etc - still even for non bikers its basically a no go for the moment. Wonder if they are going to regrade the main tracks?
I rode Swinley last weekend and it was surprisingly good. I'd imagine it will be reasonable this weekend and dry out quick.
FRN - none of the tracks are official on Pitch so I guess it will be done to us to restore them sensitively!! But for the moment, a bit of a no-go area in these conditions I guess.
Its been dry for most of the night and today but a few grey clouds building.
I don't even mean the bike tracks
more the footpaths and bridleways - can they leave in such poor condition?
No doubt the pixies will go out and fix up the trails.