Leith Hill 22nd April 2014

Having messed up and booked my Easter holiday after the bank holiday weekend, when the wife and kids were back at work and college, I find myself with a bit of free time when the trails are empty (people seem to think I did this on purpose).

I've been looking forward to trying Summer Lightning 2 at Leith Hill, the link from the tower to the original Summer lightning, so I headed over there to have a ride and to see if I could find a better way back to the car park that doesn't just about kill all but the fittest.

The first run was quite gentle to get the lie of the land. The are some nice lumps and bumps to get some air and it does well to give a decent trail all the way from the tower to the original Summer Lightning trail.

The first video is pretty much an unedited run down the new sections.




140422 Leith Hill.mp4 from mark holttum on Vimeo.

The second video is an edited highlight of the ride, I did the new stuff twice, managing to come a cropper on a table top when I took off at an angle and ended up heading off trail towards a tree stump. I ended up head first into a puddle, the water remaining after the tidal wave I created on impact, being absorbed by the clothing I was wearing. Result a very wet rest of the ride, a trashed phone (old one used as a sat nav) and quite a few aches and pains. Oh well.




140422 Leith Hill edit.mp4 from mark holttum on Vimeo.

After the crash I passed Richard Kelly from All Biked Up who does mountain bike training

I've been meaning to book myself up for some tuition, particularly for jumps, I wonder if this was a sign.