A tale of two weekends, of new spots & different groups

Weekend 1

"Cool, in there like swimwear."

Most riding plans and hook-ups these days have changed from posting on forums to batting a few texts back and forth. I guess The Rem Collective is lucky to have a pretty big crew of woodland shredders which are guaranteed to be out & about riding somewhere most weekends. Back to the story...
"So, we're gonna check out Bradenham this Sunday (31st Jan). Meet at the car park on the hill (it's on the ride guide) off the A4010 between Wyc and Rizla at 11-ish"

For me, I wasn't sure if I was going to make it having been out getting cultured in London Town the day before, followed by the evening drinking and catching up with old friends. Still, it was Roger's mission and Wilz, Clive and Spud were going along, as well as some of the MEBA boys. So, arriving late, knowing the road to the place where everyone was meeting was here somewhere... This is one of the slight problems when riding new spots- exactly where to go. "Ah there it is!" turn left and then start heading out into the hills up a single-track country lane. GPS is obviously pretty darn helpful in hunting out new spots, but without it the next best thing is to have a good look at google maps, satelite view, before setting off. You know, looking for markers: buildings, single trees in fields, coppice's etc. I had, so knew there would be a car park along here somewhere! And there it was, full of cars which clearly belonged to mountainboaders: stickers on windows, covered in mud, random pads & sweet wrappers inside! (or in Roger's case, diet coke cans & a range of alternate wheelieboards ;)

Uumm, car park & woods set on tasty-looking hill, I wonder where they are? They're up there somewhere, but where? Better phone nominated leader & guide-for-the-day Roger.

"Yeah we are a long way over the other side of the hill, I will come and get you, by the time you're padded up I should be down"

Clive & Spud appear, having also arrived late, and we get ourselves ready to roll, with bemused-looking dog walkers arriving and wandering off up the path. Not long after Roger makes it into the car park (just as it's beginning to snow) and we trek off into the woods. Turns out the boys had already been sessioning for an hour or so, trying one run which was too slow for this time of year and heading over the far side via a long, flowy track- perfect for warming up.

Up & along we go and down the forest road, which was a good way to start the day's riding- it also had some speed bumps every 30ft or so to ollie over, good fun, and we arrive at the spot where Rog had left Wilz, Horse, James and Andy Cooper, but they were nowhere to be seen. We find ourselves at the end of the woods in the bottom of a valley with a couple of paths and loads of potential lines through the trees- given a bit of inspiration and the odd bit of clearing.

Not knowing where to head, we hike up a promising chalky path to our right. About half-way there's some shouting, some rustling of branches & leaves. Have we disturbed an angry Badger? Are we about to prove ourselves in the only way an Englishman can by wrestling it to the ground, thus proving we fear nothing by conquering this elusive black & white woodland mammal? No, it's alright, it's Wilz. It turns out after spending some time riding the main paths, the need to 'ride your own line' had taken over the boys and the Eastern side of the valley had seemed the best place to start.
So us late arrivees finished what we started by trekking up to the very top of this snaking narrow-ish gravel/chalk path, before charging down it, one after the other, feeling the ride- scrubbing where need be, hopping roots and a rain gulley, flying to the bottom and spraying ourselves in mud. That got the juices flowing and dealt with Spuds hangover!

Once in the trees proper, it was obvious James, Andy, Wilz and Horse had been busy shifting bits of wood and creating a pretty tech'ey line winding down through trees from a bank at the top. Another set of introductions and we all enjoy the back-country descents. Clive spotted some board-slide potential in the fallen log at the top that peeps had been jumping over. With the addition of another log and some of the best woodland bodgery (it's nice that traditional crafts have been brought to mountainboarding) and the woodland rail was ready. It slid well but wheel-clearance proved tricky for 50/50-ing. Clive nailed the boardslide though! Some more jibbing, a few photos, a couple of tree bonk's and people were getting hungry. Plus, the cold was working it's way through hoodies in the way January winter damp does! So it was decided to head back to the cars slowly, hitting several paths on the way.

Scoping different lines and trying them proved good fun, which is another great thing about being somewhere new; you may as well hit it as you may not be back there for a while. It also breaks up a long walk, and inspires your co-riders to try this 'n' that, getting more bang for your buck. Short sharp descents, drifts through leaves, skitching on the flat bits, finishing with a nice fast fun run that ended up in the mud back at the car park. Sweet.

With the whole crew back at the motors and refuelled, some were feeling like they had enough and some felt like their appetite had just been wetted. Well really all those who were on time and had been in the woods longest were feeling like it was time to lose the soggy pads, which was fair enough! So where next for all those hungry for more riding, in the last couple of hours daylight?

In the Chilterns, there is never a shortage of options from fast to mellow, straight gravel tracks to technical woodland descents. You also find some of the best grassland carving in England and this was option we went for. Wilz wanted to get some shots from 'The Golden Ball' above West Wycombe (looking for that sweet cover shot) and for me it had been a place I'd been meaning to ride for a while. So a small convoy of evilC, Spud, Roger, Wilz and I headed east in the fading light.

Ten minutes later, up past the 'Hell-fire Caves', we pulled into the car park at the top of West Wycombe hill and it was then just a case of strapping our boards on and riding your own line to the bottom. Here though, unlike parks where the council keep the grass mown, the hill is 'natural'- lumpy, tuft-ey with a scattering of mole hills in between the most-walked routes.

With the imposing Dashwood Mausoleum and Golden Ball (A church with a gold ball on top) looking on, we had that slope a dozen times and more. Fast and flowing.The leg-killing trudge was so worth it as we ripped down in the twilight. With great views over the Dashwood estate and Wye valley, it's an open grassy 'piste' to play on, though you still have use real freeride skills; reading the ground ahead, deciding what needs to be dodged, ollied over, or just shifting your weight back and forth to keep the board flowing.

As the sun disappeared, Clive & Spud did one (having further to drive home) leaving Rog, Wilz and I to enjoy the last magical rides. The floodlit Mausoleum, an ancient pagan 'Ley-line' site, added to the mystical feeling and we gathered our last energies to get the wicked shots used on February's rem cover. POW!

With our souls enriched by a full-on days riding, we bid each other farewell and head home, to finally put our feet up and reflect on the mountainboarding freeride radness of new spots, and also to look forward to the next weekends fun...

Weekend 2

Anyways, the first track from the car park was a pretty straight forward logging track leading to an area with a few drops on to a bank. It was good for a little sesh but was all pretty slow and soft. The sandy landing and the recent rain/sleet/snow we have been having this winter didn't help much: this time of year, something you can always guarantee is that the tracks and landings are going to be soft and muddy, leaving you & your board caked in what ever you having been riding through!

So moving on from here up back up and over the top of the hill and down the other side on another logging road. Of which the last 50 meters had some wicked banks just right for jibbing about on. A while spent clearing debris from the recent logging and you would have yourself a sweet little half pipe thingy; Still, there was a massive area of riding to find and it would be a shame to waste time clearing tracks.

On we go with our exploration mission. We were hitting other little tracks and jumping over the odd tree stump. One odd tree stump was at the top of a steep, beach tree-ed, deep leaf-littered slope with a scattering of little jumps on it. If you were out in some snowy back country you look at it like a perfect powder bowl. This is where it's always good to ride with different people who have different skills, styles and ways of looking at what's ride-able. Some look at tracks & paths made by walkers, others prefer to find their own way making up their own line, while some take an almost longboarding approach to their track selection. Rog and me are definitely in the riding your own line category but the other's weren't, so it was onwards and upwards to the top area run by Chase Trails and what an area it is! Adam tells us this area has produced some of our countries top downhill mountain bikers. Looking at the trails leading off from where we were standing you can see why, but is it any good for us mountainboarders? Well, from what we sampled it is, and in one day we only scratched the surface. There was any number of spots we passed through and hit where there was at least half a days shredding to be done...
The late afternoon was mostly spent riding round Stile Cop , riding in from (I think) about halfway down the New Line. If you going to follow us in on this route bear in mind that while the top looks pretty mellow (hey Roger! "It's fine just goes gently round the corner and down") the last 20 meters is steep single track leading to a set of rocks on the left, or little 'steep' on the right before taking wide step track to the bottom were there are a couple of tasty looking drops, plus more lines above and below the track. Time for some cookies and a drink, before spending the some time playing about on little log jump on Balboa. Roger got creative in the top of Wonderland seeing what drops he could link up and we all had a great laugh.

With the afternoon getting on it was time for Goofy Mark, Mutley and Ade to head back to respective families. Unlike us lazy boarding Joreno's they start early and finish early because of work & family commitments, which goes to show some boarders will find the time whatever commitments they have. What is the same for all boarders is that it's just good to get out and ride, taking time out from the world. Nice to meet you guys, let's hook up and ride together again sometime.

With the crew of mountainboard explorers down to three, we decided to carry on for a bit to see what we could find. After hitting the bikers return 'push up' road, which was very fast with the option of hitting a 25 foot table top at the bottom (you gotta love mountain bikers and their building skills), we crossed out the Stile Cop and over the road. Adam mentioned there used to be a road gap here till it was deemed too dangerous and demolished. I suppose the bikers just have to cross the road normally now as opposed to jumping it!
From the top of this next hill we had a couple of options: Head down a gravel path or see what we could find in the trees. What we found was the pure form and soul of freeriding. Woodland at a perfect 45 degrees where all the bracken had died and rotted away. So many lines and options, there was only one thing to do- start scouting for your own ways down.

Arriving at the bottom into a quiet and untouched secret valley was amazing, with only our own tracks stretching back to the top. You don't get better soul food than that, and all around there were more lines to ride. Frustratingly, it was getting late and our legs were feeling it, and it turned out we had a real trek back. So, we called it a day. After picking our way back to the road and trudging for what felt like miles we found ourselves back where we started, tired, muddy and suitably stoked on riding The Chase, vowing to be back!

Another awesome day in another new spot with another different group. Inspiring stuff. Freeriding is great, and it helps if you have a guide or have recce'd it before; the time spent actually riding will be so much greater.

But don't just read my ramblings, Ade put a post about the day's adventures on his blog, so check that out too.

So go somewhere you've never ridden before and ride with some new peeps, it really helps to challenge you and keeps it all fresh & fun. Thanks to all!

words by Smilie