Day At Swinley Forest

Despite the cold weather I decided to take stumpys estranged cousin out well it was not that cold :), I had recently fitted new camera mounts for my ContourHD and I wanted to see how well they would manage.

Having recently been climbing for 2 hours after a 6 month recovery therefore not riding or climbing my arms were hurting before I left the house and I was having issues lifting the 16KG Session 8 but I was not going to let that stop me.

Off I set for Swinley forest, AKA The Lookout, I had not been here for a while but I knew they were looking into new trails so could be good. Swinley is known as one of the best trail areas in the south and there are plenty of reviews on the range it has to offer. Living 24 Mins on a train away it is ideal and there are always people from all over the south traveling in for it. You get to meet a range of fellow mountain bikers and before you know it little groups start to form.

I started at the Jump Gully and spent some time there, although there was a guy teaching a class it was not too bad although I thought basic bike handling would be before jumping but that is just my opinion.

Camera mounted just behind the front wheel:

Rear shock is squeaky and the Elixir 7s have always squeeked, on the upgrade list for sure. The shot does highlight how much shock the body goes through even with suspension, you do not really notice when on the bike.

Off I set up to Baby Maker, when I first ran this years ago it cost me a heavily bruised shoulder, back and ribs and a cracked bottom bracket. Do not know how I did the bottom bracket the bike landed on me. Still I got up and did it again, and again, and again although now there is an increasing trend of suing the park as its apparently the parks fault the riders have a lack of skill. That is probably an entirely new article...

From the top

At this point my arms and legs were out to get me so I thought I would try the new one!

Was a smooth flowing trail although one of the first burm was quite tight do not know how many could hit that at speed. After the first burm or two it seems to just go into Deer chaser so I am not too sure how much of a new trail it is.

Although rumour has it that the cycle permit scheme is due to finish in April and that these new trails are all that will be allowed and the trails built by riders will be blocked off and closed. This seems a little odd that what made the park great were the trails built and maintained by riders, some think it is due to the amount of law cases being brought against the park due to injury, others still do not know if the main trails will survive. A quick check on Gorrick found this statement though:

http://www.gorrick.com/swinley/index.php

I will post anything new I hear about this but all in all 5 hours riding and I must admit feel alot better despite the aches, I missed my bikes.....