PENSHURST BIKE PARK, KENT
Until its closure in 2016, Penshurst Off-Road Cycling, aka PORC, was a staple of the South East MTB scene. Recently rebranded and reopened, we paid it a visit to celebrate its reincarnation
We check out the recently rebranded and re-opened Penshurst Bike Park in Kent, which, until its closure in 2016, was a South East staple
The site of Penshurst Bike Park is steeped in history. From the mid-19th Century up until the Second World War, it was the estate of Viscount Hardinge, the Governor-General of India. When the war came, the manor house was stripped of materials and declined into ruin, and the extensive gardens grew into a jungle. All remained that way until 1991, when Mike Westphal, an eccentric software developer from Brighton, bought the land and turned it into possibly the UK’s first bike park – Penshurst Off Road Cycling. “It all started because my daughter was hit by a car while cycling in Brighton,” Mike told us over a brew, after rocking up on his three-wheeled recumbent e-bike. “I couldn’t find anywhere safe to teach her to ride, so when I saw this wood was available, I grabbed the opportunity with both hands. I thought that mountain bikers would be stupid enough to throw themselves down the hill – and it turns out I was right! I also thought I was saving the planet by promoting cycling, but what a dumb mistake that was. Now people are strapping bikes to cars and driving all over the country as a direct result, and there are centres everywhere that are all competing with me – the bastards!”
From the ground up
Mike didn’t have a huge mountain to play with when he built PORC – in fact, the hill is tiny – but he created one of the classic venues of the ’90s. Regular national races were held here and it’s the place where Steve Peat and Rob Warner first met. Mike also recalls a time when Warner met very hard, headfirst, with a tree at one of the early races. As PORC grew in popularity, the hillside became filled with a maze of downhill tracks, jumps and berms. In typical Mike style, their creation and upkeep was sustained by unusual means – primarily the building and selling of timber-framed houses.
“We had a huge storm in 1987 that made the site worth nothing, unless you wanted to build timber houses,” he explains. “Well, I didn’t before, but that quickly changed! I’ve flogged several buildings, including this one [the cafe-cum-yoga hangout we’re outside] for £2 million!” All continued swimmingly until 2016, when a rider crashed hard at a national 4X race and sued Mike, as the landowner. PORC’s insurers refused to cover the club any more and the venue closed. For just over a year, the brambles were left to take over – but now the trails are being resurrected and, thanks to the tireless spade work of a dedicated band of locals, they’re running better than ever.
Mike Joseph is one of the main men to thank, and for today, he’s assembled a crew of new-school pinners to put their twist on this old-school venue. Harry Molloy and Riley Jenner may be proper Southerners, but there’s nothing soft about the speed at which they ride their downhill bikes. Daryl Brown is the showman of the group. He’s a dirt jumper at heart, but came into the spotlight last
year, surprising everyone in Les Gets by winning the Crankworx Speed and Style contest. Today, the sun is shining, the trees are a lush green and it feels like a perfect day to be riding in Kent. Right from the off, the boys set the standard, ‘warming up’ by slinging it sideways off the biggest of three hip jumps. Harry’s clicking textbook flat tables, while Riley’s hammering into the following corner so hard that his rear tyre is cutting loose and leaving scars of rubber on the baked-hard dirt.
DARYL IS FIRST UP AND HE BLAST S INTO VIEW, LEG HANGING OFF, BACK WHEEL SLIDING AND LOOKING FULLY ON THE EDGE OF CONTROL
Making fresh marks
Attention soon turns to the new freeride line – a series of beefy new jumps that are so fresh there’s barely a tyre mark on them. A cursory assessment and we all drop in – train formation, with me at the back, tucking for speed and praying I make the gaps! I yank on the bar over the first big double and just make the lander, so pump hard and follow suit on the next. What I can’t see past the blind lip is that this jump is a good few feet shorter than the last, and I huck deep into the downslope, landing with an unceremonious bottom-out. I’m shown up seconds later by Daryl, who cruises in, tips his bar sideways and throws out a whip, way past 90 degrees. Feeling suitably outdone, I suggest checking out the downhill tracks, where myriad lines snake their way through the dense rhododendrons. The gauntlet is soon thrown down for who can hold the fastest line around a flat, drifty right-hander. Daryl is first up and he blasts into view, leg hanging off, back wheel sliding and looking fully on the edge of control. Harry and Riley’s racer style is less flamboyant, but equally quick – feet up, clipped in and railing the edge of grip. On the next track, a rooty drop leads into a fast, rocky chute, and we’re even more impressed when Harry appears through a gap in the bushes, tips his bike into a textbook scrub and lands with pinpoint precision on the backside of the roots, all within the blink of an eye.
Not one to be outshone, Daryl suggests we hit up the quarry, where he can give his trick bag a
proper shake-out over the dirt jumps that he’s had a big hand in building. Our straight airs and turn-bars don’t really cut it, when a cruisey runthrough for him looks like something that could win a slopestyle comp – barspin to dumped 360, to backflip tuck no-hander, all done at ridiculous amplitude. We ask Mike if he’s ever swung a leg over and given them a go. “I want nothing to do with jumps!” he exclaims. “I’m sticking to building trails for fat old ladies on e-bikes these days, because they’re the only ones I can keep up with!”
Mike may say he’s just an old roadie, but it’s impossible to downplay the huge impact he’s had. Without his foresight, none of this would exist. “I’m proud of what I’ve done for downhilling,” he concedes. “I might not have done anything useful for the planet, but I’ve entertained a few kids!” Well, Penshurst Bike Park has certainly entertained us today, and we hope it’ll continue to do so for at least another 27 years.