It started off with an innocent

"So where are you heading?"

"Dorking"

"Cool, that's where I'm heading. Do you know the area well?"

"Yeah ..."

... and suddenly I was following Ivan "The Lean Mean Cycling" Machine, who was pumping down the roads and then up the hills.

He'd obviously been cycling longer than me, a little taller, so he was steaming through like there's no tomorrow ... well, that's my excuse anyway.

But once I got warmed up, it was a little easier, though I was the reason for frequent breath taking breaks.

All of the painful uphill struggles were rewarded with some fantastic downhill rides with names such as Yoghurt Cups, Telegraph way and Summer Lightning trail (the best!).

Here are all the pics ...

Who would have thought it's that easy?

Take your bike, hop on a train and off you go!

With a little help from this fantastic book, I mixed and matched some routes that were close to train stations and 70km or so later I can't wait for more!

So more trails are in the planning at mo ...

South Downs Biking

The South Downs are a ridge along the south east coast around Brighton. The trails were dominated by endless green fields, biking through hordes of bored looking cows and some fun descents.

Being close to the coast it gets quite windy up there, so my little windstopper vest came to excellent use.

Here's a picture of the full trail:

I was able to record this with a nifty little GPS device that tracks where I went and helped me out when I was lost in the English wilderness.

See more pictures here ...

North Downs Biking

This is a totally different world from the South Downs.

Mainly rides through Robin Hood style woods, more mud and some very steep ascents. All of which rewarded by amazing views when you got to the top on a clearing.

Full trail here.

All the pics are here ...