Gone Camping
A couple of weekends ago about 8 of us left the big smoke to go camp and go riding at Penshurst Off Road Cycling Trail Centre or PORC for short. We joined another 8 people there, so we had a good group for laughs and shredz.
We wrapped up work at 6pm and hopped on the train from London to Tonbridge. By the time we got there it was pitch black. We had no idea where we were going and most of us had less than adequate lights for the unknown surroundings. We were relying on Marks Garmin to lead the way. Needless to say it took us the most “friendly” route… Which just so happened to be a 5 Mile cross country ramble “cycle route” through boggy trails and fields littered with cows and dung in the pitch black, hoisting our bikes over numerous styles and farm gates… It was great fun none the less… Made even more hilarious by Peter (Dear Susan Bicycles) playing film soundtracks at full volume through a minirig speaker he’d rigged up on his Surly Krampus…
Imagine the scene: Eight out of place city dwellers on Mountain Bikes riding through farms with Star Wars Death March blasting out…
We eventually arrived after a ton of ridiculous, broken english phone calls regarding directions to the campsite from the Polish and Spanish friends we were trying to meet there… They already had a roaring fire going and were ready to cook up a storm. Peter had braised up a spit for a whole leg of lamb that morning and we had loads of veg to roast… Ales were drank, food was eaten… We dined like kings…
The trail centre is an ever evolving landscape of twists and turns on the side of a large hill owned by a guy called ‘Mike’. He has a general love for cycling of all kinds and creating a haven where he can host events and races on a regular basis as well as keep the trails open for anyone to use all year round… The camp site isn’t an official pay per night place. He just asks that if you camp or use the trails you donate a fiver to help cover the parks upkeep…
The dirt jumps there are insane and range from small table tops to huge kickers and step ups that’ll throw you over 10 feet in the air with ease… I think we’ll need a bit more practice before getting rad on those… The highlight of the day was seeing Matt bust over a step up on the least suitable bike in the whole park, his Surly Cross Check!
We smashed around a few trails and realised we’d lost Petor at some point. We later found out that he’d hit a jump wrong and bashed his head open and broken 2 ribs. Bummer. It knocked some sense in to the rest of us that were’t wearing helmets and we decided to call it a day… Heal up soon mate…
Here’s to many more shredz with solid dudes!
Thanks to Dear Susan Bicycles for the pics and Stuart, owner of Bike Fix for organising the trip and cooking up an absolute feast… We owe you one…
