As the title says, it was my last ride at Peaslake in Surrey Hills… I will move out of London, out of the UK… So despite the current conditions I try to make the most of it riding places I enjoy before moving. Let me tell you about my last MTB ride to Peaslake.
A tough and long beginning.
As usual I like to prepare all my stuff the day before: I can be sure that I will be all geared up for the D-Day and that there will be no unexpected maintenance to do on the bike, less I do more I sleep!
Saturday morning, I awake, brush my teeth, take my coffee and breakfast, get dressed for the journey and head toward London Bridge station. I am on time but the train is not: It is the second time it happened to me for the same trip, I found it a bit unusual, it took me 3 hours instead of 1 to get there (stay calm as they said). But here I am, after a change at Redhill, I arrived at Gomshall station. I have now to ride for 10 to 15 minutes to get to the Peaslake village at the edge of the forest.
From the starting point to the real starting point
I am at the front of the Peaslake village shop. It is, I assume, the starting point for any Londonners like me getting to the Surrey Hills, but also a stop for anybody who is having a break. The shop does serve delicious and affordable homemade sandwiches or pastry, you can also get hot beverages, well appreciated during winter. It is a lovely place, much better than having to stop by a Tesco. Around, there is also a restaurant where I have never been and a local bike shop which does rentals, mainly nice and cool Santa Cruz bikes (you can find out more on the Peaslake website).
You have different ways to climb up the hills of Peaslake, for me I decided to go behind the bike shop: there is a path going up with a church on the right. It rapidly becomes steep and I quickly change gears to keep the momentum, it is a good exercise for cardio. Once you reach the cemetery it becomes more flat and you can breath again (first time I rode there my lungs were not prepared). I keep on riding straight and I get to a certain point with a pile of rocks from where you can go straight or turn right (the forest is so big so you are quickly tempted to look into the Trailforks app if you have a short memory), I remembered from previous time to turn right and keep on going straight. I finally arrived at Pitch Hill where you have a stunning view of the south of England: I am really bad in geography but I remember from previous talks with other riders that you can see cities like Portsmouth or Brighton further away. I am taking a break before to ride the first trail.
Thick And Creamy
I decided to go for Thick n Creamy. I think it is one of the most favorite and popular trail to ride for people who comes up to Pitch Hill. First time I rode it I was horrified and screaming like a eight year old girl who watches horror movie; my mate Thibault who was already 200m ahead of me could witness it. I do now really enjoy it as I think it taught me a lot to improve my riding skills: especially on looking forward and not under the front wheel, the right usage of the brake and the body position on steep sections.
My favorite parts of the trails are definitely what I would call the ‘B line’ : the section on the right that takes you to really steep parts with rocks and roots, then the gap made from a dead three to jump in followed by another gap, the turn and then the hip to jump. Once I finished it. I decided to stay a bit just to do the gap one more time and also jump a table behind the end of Thick and Creamy. If you go fast enough you can clear a 12 feet jump. I try to do tricks on it but it is not that easy. I am now done with the trail so I decided to go to Northern Monkey, another popular trail in the Surrey Hills.
Lets go to the Northern Monkey
I asked other riders I met if they were planning to go there and they told me they will. I agreed with them that we will meet later. I have been there only once, more than a year ago, tried to use my memory as best following a route, I do a quick check up on Trailforks, I am not entirely sure, I did end up in a car park, I saw a group of riders behind me, asked them if they were going there, luckily yes so I followed them. I realised that it wasn’t that hard and far to get there. I started to ride the trail, didn’t remember the section with some roots and turns and I got then to the finale of the trail which are a series of different jumps. I never tried them… and I havent. I really wanted to but I was not feeling it, probably being surrounded by twenty riders and most of them being at ease was not making me comfortable to take my time and try it. I was disappointed in myself by not committing but I preferred not too as it could have ended up badly if I forced myself without confidence. I was instead observing others that were riding. Basically you’re going down and you do have a first kicker to clear that must be around 9 feet, then you start with a first jump with a landing I would say around 15 feet long and the next one which is 2 to 3 feet longer than the previous. There was one guy riding them with a small 20inch kid bike for ‘fun’. I was impressed by one kid, not sure his age, I would say no more than 14 years old, he was whipping the jumps with a lot of style, really nice to see. After observing various jumps more and less successful (few crashes that were not reassuring) I decided to move to the famous step up of Peaslake.
The big step up
After my unsuccessful stop at Northern Monkey, I decided to go to the famous big step up of Peaslake. I got lost again in a car park and the step up was not indicated on the map, I find a local rider and ask him the direction. He told me that he is passing by riding one trail, he told me to follow him and that he will shout once we get close to it, so I followed him, we started in a chill mode, once we started the trail he just attacked it and went faster and faster, so fast that I lost him… But I managed to find my way to the famous step up. I quickly felt intimidated and decided to not go for it either (today was not the day). I met again a kid that I saw earlier on the Thick and Creamy trail: he just went for it, he told me he was scared too but he dared to jump: I respect that, he was flying. When I see this step up I am always wondering how pros can send tricks on this ridiculously big jump? I was thinking about Sam Pilgrim sending a heavy backflip on a heavy ebike, just insane!
https://www.instagram.com/p/CL2hnNSBxAm/
I was not in a mood for sending it big today, the kid (his name was Fin) indicated me another trail with a much smaller step up, we go for it, I recognised it, I have rode it a while ago but never cleared it properly, it is definitely less scary to try and decided to add it to my achievement list, it took me few tries before getting it done. It is now time to go home.
A last one before getting home: Supernova
I am now riding back to the Peaslake village where I arrived to go to the Gomshall train station. I am passing by the Supernova trail which is the link between two car parks of the forest. I used to be also afraid by this trail (well any trail of Surrey Hills in fact) that I now enjoy, especially the transition from the road into the trail with the rolls then you start to turn with some roots and there the fun continues with few gaps and jumps, you end up with various turns taking you up and down and you finish to the car park close to Peaslake village. I am now riding to the train station and will wait for the train back to London.
My farewell
How cool it was to be an hour away by transport from an amazing environment like the Surrey hills… I remember the first time I went there I was so scared of this place that I even thought Mountain Biking would not be made for me, but it was at the end, one of the places where I improved the most my skills. I still found it sick to have it close to London, it was so good to go there and get a break away from the urban environment, even for a few hours. It really makes me appreciate England, and I am afraid that I will miss it once I will leave the UK. There are other trails or sections that I have not been able to ride this day that are in my favorites like El Capitan, St John the Baptist or even the Hip on top of the car park.
Peaslake it was such a treat! I definitely improved my skills there and I am looking forward to put them into action on new trails!
A cyclist amateur.