First Ride of 2007: Pitch Hill & Holmbury Hill

As a perfect start to 2007 a couple of us headed up to Pitch Hill in the North Downs for a wizz around some of our favourite trails.

Pitch Hill was very muddy, the peaty soil was holding water like a sponge making the trails pretty hard going in many places. The trails above Ewhurst were not too bad but the one with the split tree was tough going as was the subsequent dash through the pine trees. It seemed to us as if some of the trails had been deliberately blocked with fallen trees and branches, this didn't spoil the fun but someone had gone to a degree of trouble.

The sandstone of Holmbury Hill always drains well and despite all the recent rain the trails were fantastic, just damp enough to give loads of grip but not too dry to coat the moving parts with the usual abrasive paste. The reservoir trail is a favourite especially if you stay on it to the steep downhill at the end. From here it was up to the viewpoint above Holmbury St Mary to drop down via the trail on the right with all the bombholes and then straight into the Telegraph trail to the carpark. The climb back to reservoir included a couple of little gems that were very tough. A descent into Peaslake via the Golden Birdies trail was followed by the climb across Pitch hill to the carpark. We covered about 20 miles but it felt much more due mainly to the chewy mud on Pitch Hill.

All in all a fantastic day, my buddy had the first 'off' of 2007, the out the rain held back and it was not too cold or windy. If the rest of the riding in 2007 is as rewarding as today we are looking forward to a great year.