16 July 2009
A tale of two bikes
| What with the holiday season and a whole range of injured riders at the moment, it was no surprise that only 7 people turned up for the Wednesday night ride yesterday. Anthony was out for the 1st time since braking his wrist a few weeks ago along with Brian & Simon. Huw was present this week and Duncan put in his 1st appearance of July now that the in-laws have gone. | |||||
| John and myself made up the 7 but not for long. We didn't even get to the top of the Rookery climb before John headed back with severe gear problems, meanwhile I was pretty sure my free hub was about to go. The remaining 6 of us pressed on up Wolvens lane but within a mile and with a lot of noise my free hub went. End of ride for me then and having confirmed with Huw which pub they were going to head for I headed back to the car at Westcott. | |||||
| Once at the car I drove home to Capel unloaded my broken Kula into the shed, pulled out my spare bike (Kona Caldera) and set off from home to hopefully catch up with the others in the Kings Head. Luckily the spare bike was working well and despite feeling heavy and having a different, more relaxed riding position I was enjoying the ride. | |||||
| The route isn't at all technical but quite pleasant in places; I head over to Ockley via Vann Lake and Friday street. Then its straight across the village green, past the pond then on to a bridleway that comes out on Mole street. From here there is another bridleway over to Mays Green and then a road section to Forest Green. This leads to the main event on this route which is the off road climb up Leith Hill via the Rhododendron Woods. Eventually after a few turns here and there and the odd cheeky trail you come out at Starvel car park, from here its that fast and exhilarating blast down High Ashes to Holmbury and the pub. | |||||
| I arrived at about 8.50 and was relieved that the journey hadn't been in vein and that the others were there except Brian. Where was Brian ? well it turns out they had lost him somewhere up near Summer Lightning just before heading into the excellent trails in Redlands Wood. Anyway, we were happily sat having our beer when the lovely landlord brought us over a free big plate of chips - very decent of him I must say. Brian must have smelt them as he soon arrived too. With the chips gone, washed down nicely with a couple of pints it was time to head for home - despite the difficulties it turned out as another pleasant and eventful evening. | |||||
