8/6 Butts Brow Bash

It was great to get back to some off road riding on the south Downs, starting with the Butt's Brow bash. As the name suggests this ride starts at Butt's brow car park but to avoid paying for parking we parked near the bottom of Butt's lane and so had to endure the seriously steep climb with cold legs before meeting up with Dave HH and Tom at the top. From Butt's brow the terrain drops off in all directions so it was easy riding down to Friston forest. Dave wanted to do some single track through the forest and thought he could meet up with us at the main fire trail. Josef was also up for this as he wanted to see what his new 29er carbon hard tail Willier could do. Unfortunately Dave had misjudged how fast the rest of us were and so we passed through the forest with no sign of them and so decided to ring them from Alfrison. What we hadn't considered is that being in a valley there was no mobile signal, so after a short rest we continued up the steep chalky Kings Drive on the south Downs way. There was some sort of cross country marathon running race on and so we had to dodge the endless stream of friendly runners as we struggled up towards Bopeep. Meanwhile Dave and Josef had successfully been tracking us by asking runners if they had seen a rider on a pink bike and yellow helmet (what is it about that shade of pink?) , so that by the time we rung them they were on route to meet us. Having finally all met up at Firle beacon car park it was fast grassy downhill through Black cap farm and down into Bishopstone.

The Red Team!

We have unsuccessfully navigated our way through this area many times and Malcolm held back expecting the inevitable back tracking but for the first time ever, I actually got it right and before long we were on my favourite part of the whole ride which is the loooong drag up to Bopeep. I love this ascent as its smooth, non technical and the view opens up before you as you climb.Fast riding on the SDW took us back to Alfriston where we had a leisurely stop for tea and sandwiches. To get back to Butt's brow from here involves two very large climbs. From Alfriston we headed up the SDW towards the 'long Man'. I really dislike this bit of tack as its steep, and full of large stones and tree roots. Being a heavy rider on a large bike every time I hit one of the obstructions my front wheel threatened to go go vertical and on two occasions I fell off, so in the end had no choice but to walk the steepest sections. Fortunately for me, Dave was struggling a bit so I did not hold up the others too much. The climb up the Long Man itself is steep but reasonably smooth. The sun was seriously strong today and the reflections from the pure white chalk on this section made us feel like were were being baked from top and underneath at the same time. After one more fully ridable steep climb from Jevington to Butt's brow and the ride was finished. A fitting end to our ffirst mtb forray of the season.

Finally At The Top Of The 'Long Man'