The mountain bike won. With the leaves falling the singletrack verges on being enchanted. The road equivalent to singletrack is an alpine descent and there are not many of those around here. I made the most of the exceptional seasonal conditions as the trails are as good as they ever get. Road bike next week!

If you work at it the amount of climbing and singletrack immediately north of Worthing is quite remarkable. I rode the Lion Trail and had forgotten about the jumps, I usually get a bit psyched by them. Not so today, instead of imagining them to be kickers they all looked like gentle ramps. It shows how much of riding technique is all in the mind. My only problem was clearing them on the climb back up. I fell off on two! I know its a good descent but its also a great climb.

I tried to ride fast and did a lot of climbing as I want to take young Will to the Gorricks. There’s no way I’ll go to a race without being prepared. I also don’t want to be whipped by the youngster even though (or because) he called me Grandad.

The trails were really busy with riders, runners, walkers and those pesky pooing dog walkers. I must apologise to Pete who was out testing his new bike. I was on a mission and it never occurred to me to join up with him for a ride. Sorry Pete.

Route (short and fast) a big zig-zag from Cissbury to Chanctonbury:
Sheep track, Downhill from the Cissbury East Gate, Monarchs Way downhill to No Man’s Land ( did it all the way with no brakes!), climb back up, downhill singletrack to the Pest House, through the hidden valley up to SDW, Lion Trail, climb back up and home 14 miles, 2,100 ft climbing, approx 1:50 including photo and chatting stops