Thetford Chase, 15th November 2008

[Jacqueslemac]

Responding to an invitation from Anton88 I decided to break my offroad duck with what I was reliably promised would be an easy day out along gentle tracks around Thetford.

I met Anton88 close to Mildenhall. There were also a few Land Rovers meeting up with a similar plan in mind:





After we'd had something to drink and Anton had smoked his customary half-dozen fags we set off. Anton took the lead as he'd done some of the tracks a couple of weekends before.

The very first track caught me out. It was muddy and slippery with plenty of deep puddles. I was in the lead, with Anton (video on board) following. No idea whether he captured my wobble and fall. I managed to land just to one side of the deep puddle.

Much of the terrain was dry fire roads, so not too technical:



But there were puddles around:





Some of the tracks were across fields, some with sand. It wasn't deep, but it was scary. We managed to get a fair way away from the traffic:








We came to a fairly deep puddle and found the 4x4 boys playing. "Mud, mud, glorious mud":



I asked Anton if we were going to show them how to do it, but we decided that discretion was the better part of valour:



Or, as Anton said "I'll wait until there's a crowd to watch me". Sounds like a challenge to me!



We found some smaller ones to play in:






Later on, we found some lovely twisty, bumpy tracks with plenty of water. By this time my long-forgotten MTB experience was seeping back and I really enjoyed the track.

We finished at High Lodge with a cup of something warm to cool us down.




I had a really great time, so a big "thank you" to Anton88 for leading me round my first offroad day. We'll be doing it again sometime next month, so watch for the announcement.

[digitalcaptive]

Looks like you've had a fantastic day and are making the most of the latest addition to your stable (have to admit I'm looking forward to Antons videos)

[anton88]

James - bloody brilliant day (ive only just got back, following a small detour to Clacton ).

Brilliant pics mate - THANKS for coming along for the ride + as i said i think your previous mountain bike experience paid off - your riding was great erm apart from the little off - but at least the bikes been well and truly christened by you

Right, i'll start uploading and see whats on my camera/video.

Catch ya later

[Whealie]

Boo hiss I wanna come out and play.

[phil w]

Great looking stuff guys, I want a go

[Mudwiz]

Nice day!

Still jealous.

.

[anton88]

Well, after a bit of uploading, heres some pics from the trip first:


Walkers Cafe near Midenhall (Winter opening 7am to 5pm ) When i arrived, there were about 20 Landrovers getting ready for their off road fun - we'd see some of them on the trails. There were a couple of other bikes there too.




Pics from the ride:













A local loon in jeans and trainers hooning about on his mx bike (We passed him in the woods earlier, and James had spotted a fuel stash he'd hidden for topping up)


Now a series of various long and short vids to watch at your leisure (only a cheap camera, so forgive the sound/image quality):

James had his little get off at the end of this vid, but he went left into the puddle and i went right - his 'moment' was sadly just out of shot













My batteries were running out on this one:


















There was some nice muddy stuff for about half a mile towards the end, but my camera batteries died.

Hopefully see some more of you tagging along next time ? Its all fairly gentle stuff - nothing too technical, so novices very welcome and the Bavarian / Austrian contingent too

[boboneleg]

Great stuff guys, never ridden in that part of the country.

It looks as flat as they say it is.

[Jacqueslemac]

I'd just like to point out that the first thing I said after my "moment" was "I hope you got that on video"!

Bob - Thetford is in one of the flat parts of Norfolk. Unfortunately the hilly bits around the north Norfolk coast don't have many legal trails. Just try cycling in Norfolk and you'll realise it is far from flat all over.

[East Coast Adventurers]

Awesome, hopefully there are as many tracks open at the end of April.... see Regional XRV Camping Meet 2011 - Thetford Forest - 29th April - East Harling, Norfolk all welcome