Here's an extra blog entry for you - what a bargain!

A couple of weeks back, on the Arun Crossings Ride, Anton had suggested that he needed to acquire a bit more off-road experience. So a few days ago he phoned me up and suggested a trip to Deers Leap Bike Park.

We met up in the car park half an hour later than arranged as I was running late - you'd be amazed how busy life gets when you're retired! Anton had already booked us in and handed me the map as we gave our bikes a quick checkout before starting the ride.

It was the first time either of us had visited Deers Leap and the map suggested the riding would just be following a number of farm tracks around a farm. However, as we followed the track around the fields we spotted that each patch of woodland had tracks going through it. These were graded blue(easy), yellow(medium) or red(hard). We dived into the first one, singletrack amongst the trees with lots of roots to negotiate. This highlighted two of the most important features of off-road riding - correct gear selection and body position. We've both obviously been riding too much on the road as we were each using too long a gear but soon found middle at the front and second or third at the back to be ideal. Body position is important on-road but crucial off-road. When you're away from the tarmac you've got to move away from the saddle - backwards, forwards, side-to-side, up and down! It's important to keep your centre of gravity in exactly the right position otherwise you can spin out on the climbs, go over the handlebars on the descents or just plain lose it at any moment.  Anton had a couple of minor offs as he grappled with this more active "cockpit" style and I failed a couple of simple root-crossed climbs as my lack of recent off-roading took it's toll. 

Having traversed a couple of the woodland tracks we were now at a high point of the route and had good views all round. More importantly, Anton had a big grin on his face - he was enjoying the joys of the rough stuff! A hundred yards of slightly downhill, tooth-rattling farmtrack brought us to a junction of several tracks. Which way to turn? I decided we'd work our way through each of the location markers in sequence, so we now headed back up the hill on a different track. Here I could demonstrate the basic principles of finding the smooth line, dealing with ruts and how energy sapping it is riding through longish grass. Another rattly glide took us to a junction and an interesting looking bit of singletrack disappearing into the trees over a choice of two small wooden bridgelets. As we were about to do this we heard the whoops and shouting of a group of other riders, the first ones we'd seen in the park. There were about half a dozen 20 to 40 year olds on hired bikes and having fun. They climbed on up the main track and we set off into the woods. After the bridgelets and some rooty singletrack the path opened out and became a muddy track. We tried to pick the firm line at the edges but had to walk for a couple of yards where the undergrowth made the firm line impossible to use. Once again the path narrowed to singletrack and made its rooty way up through the woods before emerging at a field. We travelled up and around the edge of the field and then around the edge of another. This second field was a hive of activity as a rather large temporary hall was being constructed. As a couple of security guards waved us on, we had to duck under a surveying line and saw a young lady spraying paint on a large sculpture of a rider on a prancing horse. All this activity seemed to be in preparation for a major Scientology event. East Grinstead=hotbed of crackpot religions.

We found more singletrack and enjoyed a pootle through some woods which featured a red graded rooty, steep descent. I shifted my bum backwards off the saddle and ran down it with a modicum of front and rear brake - no problemo. From here a short technical rooty climb and the track brought us out at the head of a grassy valley. Consulting the map, we had a choice: either a gentle glide through the grassy valley bottom or another woodland way along the valley side. We opted for the latter and negotiated more rooty singletrack followed by a narrow grassy path through an expanse of bracken. Skirting the opposite edge of the field we'd recently travelled, we entered a largish area of young woodland and followed the track as it twisted and turned and use a couple of rickety wooden bridgelets over small streams. Then I spotted a north shore type raised boardwalk feature - about two foot wide, it undulated about 3 or 4 feet above the ground for 20 yards or so and included a couple of switch backs and three 18 inch drops. Dunnit! The exit was a bit worn and made it hard to move off a line that led straight to a tree, but it was easy enough. Now we dropped through the woods and reached a curving boardwalk that took us about 8 feet high over a stream, then had a very short flip up at the end and out of the woods, into the sunlight. We turned right here and travelled along a broad firebreak between the woodland on our right and what looked like a crop of willow (biofuel?) on our left. Next a small opening took us back into the woods and over another boardwalk, this time about 10 feet above the stream below. Some singletrack on the left beckoned to me but Anton decided to pass on it and travelled in a parallel direction on a broader track we'd used earlier. Once we'd met up again, we found a new track that headed north and then east around a 15 year old plantation of trees. As we climbed along it I noticed three small jumps constructed for bikes going in the opposite direction. Now we decided it was time for a break so swept down a broad path, found ourselves at the curving boardwalk, crossed it and turned left to travel the few hundred yards back to the park centre.

Here we had a cup of tea and a chocolate bar each, whilst chatting with a fellow rider and then the bike mechanic working in the centre.

Refreshed, we repeated the first part of the circuit, this time much quicker and smoother than earlier - I didn't even do a single foot-dab, let alone get off! We investigated a feature called The Green Lane but decided it would be too messy and then headed back onto the singletrack that started with the narrow bridgelet. After this was the muddy track and I decided that, rather than try to stick to the firm line at the edge, I'd test my tyre grip by ploughing right through the middle.  It was a bit up and down, but six inches below the gloop it was firm enough and by keeping the power on throughout the pedal rotation i was able to drive right through it and out the other side. No problem. then we headed up through the wood on a little used track - mistake! it was so underused that it was covered in leaf and twig debris and by the time I reached the top, the combination of mud, leaves and twigs had added about 20lbs to the weight of my bike! Still, there were plenty of twigs to scrape the gloop off with and whilst we were doing this, we met up with that group of cyclists we'd seen earlier. A couple of them were moaning, but generally they seemed to be enjoying themselves. They asked if we'd seen any jumps and so I pointed out where I'd seen some. Continuing, what swam into view next? Yup, that raised boardwalk again. As I swept onto it I realised that mud covered tyres weren't going to help grip the slightly damp wood - I'd better be accurate and not do anything stupid up there. Up down, up down, drop drop drop and ride off. No problem again.

We pottered around through this patch of woodland a little while longer and then decided to head for home but with a little loop along a couple of the firebreak type paths. As Anton led us along the first one I noticed a deer in the trees just 10 yards ahead of Anton - he didn't spot it as he was so focussed on getting his line right through a small gully. Finally we climbed back to the park centre and made full use of their bike wash facility before packing our bikes away and heading home.

Deers Leap bike park is definitely not a full on bike park for hardcore mountain bikers but was certainly plenty of fun for us amateurs. At a mere £2.50 for a day there, it's quite cheap and certainly gave Anton and I a chance to work on our offroad skills.