Our ride at Swinley Forest this month was planned to take in a few new sections of trail we haven’t used before and also a new section of trail (I’ve got no idea what’s it called though!) that is great fun.

A pre-ride ensured that all the sections we were hoping to use weren’t damaged by recent fires and the trails were running very well the week before. However, after a 6 week dry spell it was only typical that our ride would be a wet one!!!

Rain overnight ensured that the trails were wet and splashy. Route Plan-B meant that the worst of the boggy areas were avoided and we stuck to the main mountain bike routes and planned on taking in the swoopy Seagulls, fast Tank Traps and the dark & twisty Labyrinth to name a few.

This ride had a lot of interest, and unfortunately we had a few last minute drop outs but we still had a superb 13 strong team of super people that turned up for the ride even after all the heavy rain.

A seat-post malfunction around Seagulls meant that one rider and I skipped a section of the ride before lunch to head to a bike shop to fix it whilst our newest recruit, Polly, taking the rest of the group to the jump gully to have a play about.

Once we’d regrouped we had a quick ride from the jump gully to ride to the Labyrinth through one of the off-piste DH tracks which was one of the steepest sections of the day. After Labyrinth we headed back to the car park taking in a singletrack climb before lunch.

Sadly a few riders had to make a sharp exit because of family commitments after lunch but 2 more riders joined us after lunch for a bit of a blast. The sunshine had managed to dry out all but the deepest puddles by now so we were able to ride a bit faster than earlier in the afternoon session.

We started off on another slightly off-piste bit of downhill that wound it’s way down across a fire road then down again through a series of rollers and berms before we went to take in a newly built section of trail with some of the deepest berms I’ve ever ridden (5ft deep easily). Everybody in the group loved this section and a few locals were also riding it a few times over. The bracken surrounding this bit was low enough to see riders ahead on the trail ducking into corners and through small sections of rollers then disappearing again into another huge corner! This was a real grin-inducing section of trail and the majority of the group ride it again trying to hold better lines this time round. The last section of trail took in a double drop-off (video on facebook courtesy of Paul – thanks!) that we did last time. The drop looks pretty intimidating to start with but actually ride pretty easily so we had a bit of time to mess around here before making our way to the car park for more tea!

Many thanks to all who turned up for your time and for making the ride really enjoyable!!!!

Hope to see you next time,

BucksMTB Club:

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