Hindhead's lazy downhillers

[CJ]

Does anyone on here know how to get the word out to those guys?

Here's the situation. There's an impromptu downhill course in the woods above the north portal of the new A3 tunnel at Hindhead. Now the A3 is IN the tunnel, the byway over the top of the hill has been improved to minor road standard, for use by all the forms of transport that are banned from the tunnel, i.e. mainly horses and pedal cycles. But it's still a byway, so technically one can still drive on it. And this byway gives extremely convenient access to the DH course. Result: every Sunday this byway is littered with parked cars belonging to downhilling mountain-bikers, who are apparently too lazy to ride their bikes one measly mile from the National Trust's Hindhead car park and too mean to pay the £3.50 parking fee!

All the bodies and bikes milling about the parked cars are an obstacle for anyone trying to use this route for its intended purpose. And the cars, driving on and off the verges, are not only eroding the verges but also and transferring soil and stones onto the hard surface, which isn't all that hard really (since the NT, bless em, insisted on something with a "natural" appearance, so rather than hot-rolled asphalt we got a feeble substitute called fibre-deck) and has already broken up in other places.

I don't think NT will tolerate this illicit parking much longer. Maybe they'll get in a clamping firm. Or maybe they'll let the problem develop until it gives them a pretext to downgrade the byway to a bridleway, by which stage the surface will no doubt already be ruined and, once a bridleway, never repaired to a fit state for normal cycling. Or maybe they'll simply bulldoze the downhill track and drop a few trees over it.

Whatever: these downhillers need to realise they're spoiling other people's fun and voluntarily find a more considerate place to leave their cars - or else their own fun will surely be spoiled. Is anyone on here into that scene at all?

[Si]

You could try posting on http://www.southerndownhill.com

[Michael R]

Are those mountain bikers physically able to climb any hill on their bikes?

[Cunobelin]

We have a similar problem with Gosport's BMX club on Grange Road who regularly completely block the cycle track.

[Michael R]

I was once out on a ride on my old Super Galaxy and I noticed 3 twenty year olds PUSHING their mountain bikes up a i in 4 hill. So I turned off, flipped into granny and pedalled up , sitting of course. They tried to get on their bikes as they did not like being overtaken by someone in their late 40s. I went past them, sitting down , blew my nose and carried on to the top , then whizzed down

It still gives me a chuckle

[Si]

TBF, climbing on a full on DH bike is going to be as successful as you doing a proper DH course on your galaxy. Horses for courses and all that...I don't think that we should laugh too much at them for walking up, after all we are all cyclists. At my local DH course a lot of people on proper DH bikes, rather than All-Mountain, push back up, but having ridden with the same people when they are on XC bikes I can happily say that they are far from unfit.

On the other hand, I have to admit having a snigger at the ones that I pass sometimes who wear the full on body armour and then ride to the jump spot on the pavement - apparently terrified of using the road. Again it's horses for courses as I'm perfectly happy on the roads but was terrified when doing the jumps!

[Michael R]

These were on ordinary mountain bikes!

[jezer]

A few years ago we were cycle touring in Corsica. At the top of a climb we came across a full sized coach and bike trailer (not European Bike Express, but similar). It was offloading riders with mountain bikes so they could ride down the other side. When we reached the bottom, there was the coach again loading them all up. This was on proper roads not off road. At the next summit there they were again freewheeling down to be picked up. They had all the gear and appeared to be physically fit. From it's logo the coach came from a certain northern European country (not UK)

[Michael R]

A few years ago we were cycle touring in Corsica. At the top of a climb we came across a full sized coach and bike trailer (not European Bike Express, but similar). It was offloading riders with mountain bikes so they could ride down the other side. When we reached the bottom, there was the coach again loading them all up. This was on proper roads not off road. At the next summit there they were again freewheeling down to be picked up. They had all the gear and appeared to be physically fit. From it's logo the coach came from a certain northern European country (not UK)

Wimps

The freewheel down a pass is the reward for climbing it, except for the Wrynose and hardknott

[stewartpratt]

Freewheel down?

Wimp.

[cerniagigante]

As they say across the pond: money talks, <inappropriate term removed> walks (er, maybe comes tumbling down the hill is more appropriate in this case).

I've seen similar scenes in Crete, but I was climbing in the opposite direction and had spotted the bus-cum-trailer waiting for them at the end of my previous descent. They didn't look particularly happy people. Maybe the A/C was not working properly on the bus?

[Steve Kish]

Are those mountain bikers physically able to climb any hill on their bikes?

I'd guess not.

I belong to MTBE forum and most of the videos posted on there are downhillers pushing their bikes up 5% hills and then skating down them. They even have 'uplift' meetings where they are trailered to the top of a hill before they freewheel down again.

Does make me wonder why they actually have a chain on there!

Without wishing to sound like an elitist, I regard downhillers as 21st century saddle-and-bar skateboarders.

[Michael R]

Are those mountain bikers physically able to climb any hill on their bikes?

I'd guess not.

I belong to MTBE forum and most of the videos posted on there are downhillers pushing their bikes up 5% hills and then skating down them. They even have 'uplift' meetings where they are trailered to the top of a hill before they freewheel down again.

Does make me wonder why they actually have a chain on there!

Without wishing to sound like an elitist, I regard downhillers as 21st century saddle-and-bar skateboarders.

Are they all over 90 that they can't pedal up a 5% hill?

It just makes me snigger

It's like electric bikes for teenagers

[stewartpratt]

I've been out to the Alps a number of times to Morzine, Chamonix etc where you can ride the ski lifts to your heart's content. Uplifts allow you to get a lot of descents in, and a full day of downhilling can easily be just as tiring as a full day of col-bashing on the road bike. And once you reach a certain speed, the skills required to go much faster are considerable - whereas there's not much skill in just doing another climb or another 10 miles on the tarmac. There's no need to dismiss something as inferior just because you don't do it yourself.

[Fasgadh]

They have more bottle than me. I'm sticking to plodding uphill.