Can’t believe it’s been nearly a month since I last updated on here, the year is flying by. I remember doing a Wednesday night ride about 3 weeks ago and coming home covered in mud and a little despondent about the state of the trails and how long it will take them to dry out. By the following Saturday after just 3 days of no rain and a fair breeze dry lines were starting to form. By the following Wednesday, just one week after the seemingly impossible the trails were starting to feel dry and now another week and a half later the conditions are just spot on – it’s just amazing how quickly the trails dry out and hopefully now that’s it for the next 7 months or so.
Wednesday night rides have been getting ever more popular, maybe it’s the improvement in the weather that’s bring more people out or just that the ‘Cocks’ as a group is ever expanding. Two weeks ago there were 17 of us which is a large group to keep together and then this past week that number rose to 19, surely it won’t be long until we hit 20 on one ride and really will have to consider splitting into 2 groups.
Along with the better weather and trail conditions comes the opportunity to ride further and take in more of the challenging trails. Recently this has meant many of our rides starting out by climbing up onto the North Downs around Ranmore then exploring along the ridgeline towards Guildford before making our way over the bigger sandy hills of the Greensand ridge covering up to about 30 miles or so.
Only yesterday having ridden to work I arranged to meet up with Simon for a bit of company on the way home. We set off out of Redhill and up onto Reigate hill via the climb through Gatton Park, as mentioned above the trails were all dry and my single speed made quick work of the climb. A quick spin along to Colly Hill then over the M25 through some woods and would you believe it we came out right by the Sportsman at Mogador. 2 good an opportunity to miss so we stopped for a pint or 2 of refreshing real ale.
Now this pub is a recent find for me and one I am keen to include on our list of Wednesday Night refreshment stops so having had my beer I was keen to see just how long it would take to get back to Westcott. Simon headed straight back to Redhill and I set off across the Golf Course back over the M25 and up to Headley Heath. Secret Singletrack was running really nicely and with that dispatched I soon found myself on Mickleham Down. Spoilt for choice from hear I opted to try Wizards Sleeve which proved a good choice as I smashed my PR down there and enjoyed all its twists and turns. A short section of tarmac and I was back to Rykers in just under 30 minutes.
If it wasn’t for the slow puncture I then picked up going through Denbies which caused me to stop several times to pump air into the tyres then Westcott was certainly in reach within 45 mins from the Sportsman so maybe just on the limited of what’s acceptable to ride back from on a Wednesday night – marvellous.
