Sherwood Pines Sun 14th Nov'21

[steve_sordy]

I had just agreed to ride with a mate at Pines and I thought to put the word out to anyone that fancies an off-piste ride (well, mostly off-piste).

Meet near the cafe, to the right as you look down the big field used for the concerts. All day parking is £8, use NG21 9JL, but once on site follow the signs for the car park. Ready to ride at 10:30am.

The ride will include the trenches, the fishbowl, the "emtb" area and maybe the desert downhill also. There will be some new stuff too. Expect 16-20 miles, maybe more depending upon what people want to do on the day.

See previous rideouts to Pines for more general info. Weather forecast here:

10-day weather forecast for Mansfield, England - The Weather Channel | weather.com

Be prepared with the most accurate 10-day forecast for Mansfield, England with highs, lows, chance of precipitation from The Weather Channel and Weather.com

weather.com

 

[Major Stare]

Oh bl@@dy hell, if i wasnt getting my new glasses fitted tomorrow, i would be there.
Have a good ride and dont forget pics.

 

[steve_sordy]

No pics, sorry @Major Stare. We were having too much fun to stop and take pics. After a grey start, the weather turned out great; sunny but just cool enough to stop us getting too warm.
We did just over 20 miles and I ended up in the red with 4 miles left in Trail. @myapes was similar.
I failed at my nemesis climb again (although I succeeded last week), I looped out backwards and sideways. The bike went clean over my head and missed me! I was a bit winded but the bike was fine. @myapes came off later. He was pedalling along a ridge (narrow, winding, undulating with lots of roots and overhanging branches) and caught his pedal in a root. He ended up down the slope with his bike on top of him. Like me winded, but otherwise man and machine were OK, despite not being in perfect harmony.

It continues to astonish us both that the trails are so dry, everywhere. By "dry" I mean grippy without puddles. By "everywhere" I mean Pines, the NCB area where the emtb trails are, and the desert. We have extended the emtb trails that we have shown some of you and there is some scary stuff to see (ie we haven't even attempted them yet). We pressed on to the downhill section at the end of the desert. The trail was dry apart from two unavoidable mud wallows (unavoidable if like me, you can't jump while changing direction as well).

Highlight of the day (not) was picking up some dog shit on my rear tyre. I didn't want it to be flung off onto me, so I scraped most of it off with a stick, but the smell followed me for miles. It wasn't until we got to the desert that the deep sand finally got rid of it. Only then did @myapes reassume his customary position right on my rear wheel.

 

[Major Stare]

Great write up @steve_sordy

After picking up my new eye prescription, the good lady indoors gave me a late morning pass out and i managed a couple of runs out at SP.
This early on in the Red Run.

 

[steve_sordy]

I know exactly where that is.
How sad is that?

 

[Drewboy59]

Hi Steve, I live in Nottingham and have ridden the Mighty Pines loads of times but have no idea where the other areas are. Do you have any mapping showing where they are so I can check them out?

 

[steve_sordy]

Hi Steve, I live in Nottingham and have ridden the Mighty Pines loads of times but have no idea where the other areas are. Do you have any mapping showing where they are so I can check them out?

I don't, it's all in my head. I have never used a mapping device so I'm not too sure how accurate they are. Some of the turn points are difficult to identify. Double that when the bracken is high!
Other riders have posted their tracks produced by their mapping devices, but some have told me that they can't find the trails again. Well not first time anyway.
Keep your eye out for planned rides at Pines.
Also, I ride there quite often so send me a private message with your contact details and I'll let you know next time a few of us are going.