Well what a ride that was. I had arranged to meet George and Steph at Nirvana for the usual 9.30am ride but the forecast wasn’t the best. Things went downhill before even leaving the house as George called to say he couldn’t make it, still, that still left Steph so off I headed to Nirvana.
 

On arriving at the shop in very dour overcast conditions I was greeted by John Livermore, I haven’t seen him out for ages but at least like me he was on his singlespeed. Next to arrive was Leo and shortly after Steph pulled up

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So, off we went, I had suggested heading over to Wisley  but was out voted so took the easy option of heading onto Leith Hill. As soon as we left the shop the rain began, not hard but enough to very quickly get us wet and the already saturated ground just that bit muckier.

We headed over the Green then out towards Abinger, up past Wotton Church and onto Wolven’s Lane, it was clear early on that most unusually Steph was struggling in the conditions. It was very hard going in places but we made our way up into the forest. We did some nice sections of singletrack on Coldharbour Common and saw where some official trail building is going on.

I won’t even attempt to describe the route but we dropped into the Dukes Warren, climbed out the over side and headed back up towards the top of the hill. Lots of singletrack followed, in out, up, down wiggling all over the place – all good fun but as the rain increased and we got wetter and colder the enjoyment was starting to wane.
Steph (being from Malta) was particularly struggling, it’s this British combination of very wet, damp and fairly cold that gets to you – I have been in far colder conditions in other countries and felt fine but the dampness just seems to effect joints a lot more and eats away at you and your core temperature.

We eventually dropped down to Holmbury with the original plan of heading over to Peaslake but after a little conference John was happy to head straight home to Guildford (he’d already cycled over in the morning so had done his share of miles) Steph was going to head home and Leo (also feeling the cold probably partly because he is also from warmer climes, in his case Brazil) and I opted to join her.

Still, we managed a decent ride of about 18 miles, was pleased to go out but did find my new waterproof cloves weren’t waterproof, the Stealth jacket seemed to work well and so did the waterproof baggies. My Shimano waterproof boots were great but nothing can stop the water entering down your legs and by the time I took them off at home I had to tip them up to pour the water out, I think perhaps wearing tights may help this problem but it’s just not cold enough for them yet.

Well, I was glad to have gone out, and very glad to have got home again. I did manage a quick hour’s ride on Sunday too in the beautiful sunshine, what a difference a day makes; it was a lovely loop of Ranmore a whole different experience. I must also just mention Nick Ff who spent his Sunday racing in the Gorrick. He opted to go 29er Rigid Singlespeed and came 3rd in the Grand Vets out of about 26 I think, cracking result, well done Nick, just a shame you were riding for Paragon and not the ‘Cocks’ 