Date: 2nd November 2009
Riders: Richard

No cycling for me this week apart from being back on the commute again this morning (Monday 2nd November).

I was on holiday last week up in the North East of England. Despite being very close to Hamsterley Forest I didn't take my bike as I had intended. Following my SMIDSY incident on the Thursday, my right shoulder was very sore and although I commuted again on the Friday I didn't feel up to the different stresses that a mountain bike would put on my shoulder so left it at home.

That reminds me, on Friday's commute I saw a bunch of chavs on their Halfords bikes and as I was flying along shouted 'C'mon lads, can't you go any faster?' as I flew past. Unfortunately a traffic light stop (I'm no RLJ'er) meant they caught up and they made me laugh when the most feral looking one in the ubiquitous hoodie sneered 'betcha can't even wheelie'.

That's probably correct my dear fellow but at least I can construct a sentence properly.

As part of the North East trip we visited Beamish Open Air museum and I spotted a few cycle related opportunities and took a few photos which are added onto the end of the selection of photos below.

Finally, I was planning an MTB ride on Sunday but the weather was shocking, the kind that would have had Noah putting his boots back in the cupboard and thinking to himself it's a bit wet out there so I reluctantly called off the ride. Sorry Ted, I know you were already on the train. I had at least got up and ready and was in my garage preparing the bike when the weather got even worse and a quick phone call with Terry decided the matter. Oh well, there's always the commuting miles and next weekend to think about.

Date: 8th November 2009
Riders: Richard, Davebus, Felix, Lee, Neill, Simon and Ted
Holmbury Hill and Pitch Hill
Weather: 8°C

Although it wasn't actually raining today, this week was the first really wet ride since, well I don't know when. After a monsoon last weekend and some heavy rainfall during the week the trails were really wet and cut up on Pitch Hill and the roots were treacherous on the rooty descent near the quarry.

But we still had a good turnout including Felix on his new Genesis Altitude 30 in eye-watering lime green with matching Oakley Jawbone glasses. Unfortunately Evans Kingston's handiwork required a little fettling necessitating 3 maintenance stops for Felix to tighten various bolts on the way round.

After the disappointment of last week when Ted was en route only to get the phone call that the ride was cancelled it was good to see him again and this time got to ride the soon to be augmented Barry Knows Best for the first time ever.

However he has also stopped cycle commuting and this showed as he struggled on what was a pretty short ride in distance terms with just a few stinging climbs thrown in.

Talking about BKB for a moment, whilst the extension of the trail is great news it will be a shame to lose the 'recovery' area at the bottom of the existing final descent as it's a great place to meet people. In September one of my old school-mates caught up with me there and this week the group was recognised again with "aren't you Diary of a Mountain Biker?" from a rider who turned out to be from County Cork and enjoyed my video report on Irish trail centres back in May. Hi Darren, the offer still stands to show you around the Leith Hill trails; just give me a shout.

It was also good to see Simon again (he's from Sheffield don't you know) who is becoming a bit of a regular and he was also on a new ride, which he only just finished building in the early hours of the morning: a lovely looking Titanium On One Lynskey 456 which he used to full effect as he attacked the aforementioned rooty descent and surprised a number of young dudes hanging around expecting to see their full-face clad mate appear only to see a lycra clad Simon pin it in record time.

I am still struggling following my SMIDSY incident and am undergoing physiotherapy for my shoulder and that was giving me gip thoughout the ride. You just don't get those kind of stresses to your arms and shoulders when commuting on the road bike.

In other commuting news this week Huey was roughed up by a Volvo who pulled out on him in the Worcester Park area requiring a lengthy trip to A&E followed up by reconstructive surgery on his teeth: here he is in his Volvo sponsored team jersey: oh! the irony. Get well soon son.

And finally, whilst riding through Canary Wharf on Monday morning I saw a young lady walking into the front of one of the numerous Banks in the area in high heels, a winter coat and a reflective jacket: obviously some form of extreme pedestrianism of which I am not aware. It takes all sorts I suppose.

Date: 15th November 2009
Riders: Richard and Cas
Road ride: Surrey Lanes
Weather: 14°C

We’ve had an unbelievable amount of rain in the south of England this week and Saturday saw 100mph winds and driving rain which to my mind meant that the chances of the trails being rideable on Sunday were slim to nothing or to put it in the terms of an old joke there were two chances of me riding off-road: no chance and fat chance.

Despite this, Sunday morning dawned bright, mild and sunny although the roads were still wet from another downpour overnight and even though I knew that Davebus had volunteered to take out a good sized group on an MTB ride I really didn’t fancy the thought of slogging through all that mud. So I gave Cas a call to see if he was interested in a road ride as he is always up for a spin on the skinny-tubes.

We decided to follow the London to Brighton route from Woodmansterne southwards for a while but we had barely covered eight miles when climbing up Hows Lane I felt my brake rubbing on the tyre. I glanced down and it looked like my rim was bent which seemed strange but then I quickly realised that it was the inner tube bulging out from the tyre wall.

I had topped up the pressure at Cas’s using his track pump as mine is is struggling to cope with high pressures (it forces the valve off the tyre).

So I quickly let air out to deflate the tyre to prevent the tube bursting and then took a closer look at things. It turned out that the tyre had ripped away from the wire bead leaving an inch long gap through which the inner tube was being forced. However it must have been like this for a while as for the past few weeks on my commute the handling has felt strange. It felt as though the bike was ‘pulling’ to the left and despite having a close look at the front end last week I hadn't removed the tyre.

Faced with calling out the lovely lady wife, turning back and nursing the bike home or just pumping uit up again to a safe but lesser pressure I chose the latter and we carried on.

I was gutted actually as I had been kicking Cas's arse up that climb and we were almost at the top.

So on we rode and covered almost 40 miles although at many places we were just pootling along trying to stay upright on roads that were covered in debris and wet leaf litter making cornering treacherous.
In fact we spotted another roadie take a tumble on the cycle path opposite Burford Bridge. He was with a mate and we left him to it.

On up Box Hill and again I felt good and strong and was leading Cas until just prior to the last hairpin when he said "right, out of the saddle and full power to the top". I went for it but soon had to sit down again as he powered away. I feel certain that I owuld have beaten my PB for the climb but I hadn't timed any of it so we’ll never know.

Here’s hoping for some dry weather this week so that we can get back out on the trails.

Date: 21st November 2009
Riders: Richard and Cas
Rob's Rabbit Route and Reigate Hill
Weather: 14°C

That's it, I've run out of idioms to describe the amount if rain we are still getting, week after week after week. Two month's rainfall in one day, bridges washed out and trainlines closed. Suffice to say it's really pissing me off now and I want it to stop.

With that off my chest Saturday morning turned out mild and dry and given that I had an appointment with a nephew and a vicar on Sunday was going to be my only chance to get out this weekend.

I had a great excuse too, I have been having physio since being slam-dunked by a car door a few weeks back and my physio told me to get out on the MTB this weekend to test it out. How great is that!

Once again Cas proved that if you want to get out on the bike at short notice be it road or MTB then he's the man who is up for it and we set off from Belmont at a leisurely 11-30 aiming to cover Rob's Rabbit Route (it looks like a rabbit okay?).

The sun was warm and I only had my helly hansen base layer underneath the endura stealth jacket that has served me well since purchasing it at the start of this year. Full length altura altitude trousers completed the outfit but only for mud-prevention duties as it was definitely mild enough for shorts.

Onto Banstead Downs and although there was some surface mud the ground was firm beneath. Across Sutton Lane and down the side of the prison then across to wards Oaks Park and all was good. Even the dog walkers were pleasant, moving aside and responding to our hello's.

Up through Woodcote and Woodmansterne and then through Great Solom's Wood descending towards Chipstead there were some great off-camber corners where the trails were firm but very slippery and Cas and I both got inot a front and rear wheel slide on one particularly vicious corner. It's great feeling that moment when your tyres grip again and off you go again in the right direction.

Across the railway line at Chipstead and up another 'Mars Bar climb' through the golf club (it's a testing climb like the one on Pitch Hill; a Mars Bar to anyone who cleans it. Neither of us did.)

Turning right onto Hogscross Lane and then White Lane we reach the long road section that links up the Rabbit Route with the big 8 and asthe weather turned grimmer here's where the wheels started to come off.

Cas was setting a decent pace and I was fine drafting him for a mile or so until I started to suddenly go backwards. It's because I've got a bashring not a big ring I thought and battled onto the farm where we turn left and take the fast descent under the M25 to bring us to the bottom of Reigate Hill.

The mud was heavier here and as we started to climb I was in trouble again as my tyres clogged up with greasy mud as Cas left me for dead. My rear wheel was slipping and I found it a real slog to get up to the top but we paused for a cup of hot chocolate and shared a pack of jaffa cakes before setting of again onto the North Downs Way and then turning right to cross over the top of the M25 this time and down into Margery Wood heading for the fun singletrack alongside Walton Heath golf club although by now the rain was starting to fall.

Bang, that was it my legs had gone and whilst Cas hared off again I struggled the whole way home although he did wait for me at the end and nursed me back across Epsom Downs and then down via Nescot and the back alleys arriving home wet and muddy on the outside although my core was kept dry by my winter gear.

So why had my legs gone when I felt so strong last week? Sure, we completed a 28 mile ride in poor conditions but the commuting was the problem this week with a really tough commute on Thursday. 36 miles (18 each way) into a 30mph wind which was in my face the whole way home had taken much more out of me than I bargained for.

Whilst I'm on the subject of commuting, an episode earlier in the week left me with a smile on my face. Monday evening on the way home from Canary Wharf, along Cable Street and turn left to cross Tower Bridge thinking that the traffic was heavy.

Went past some slow moving cars until I realised that Tower Bridge was 'up' but I couldn't be bothered to cut back and along to London Bridge to beat the wait.

Waiting near the front of the gates I was totally amazed at how many riders there were. I did a rough headcount and there were at least 70 riders just waiting for those blue gates to open.

Open they did and away we went. I kept a decent pace but it was like wacky races with the inevitable slowest and least stable riders seeming to have made it to the front of the queue and wobbling all over the road. Mixed in with scooter riders and wreckless young 'uns flying past at totally unsuitable points but I held my position and worked my way safely past dozens of riders and all this in the 400 metres before the set of lights at the end of the bridge.

A fortuitous light change allowed me to maintain my speed and off I went, hit the hammer and I worked my way to the top ten riders and that was good enough for me, keeping the speed up and my position in the bunch all the way to New Kent Road.

Happy dayz.

Date: 28th November 2009
Riders: Richard, Sue, Davebus, Terry and Ronnie the Scot
Holmbury Hill and Pitch Hill
Weather: 8°C

A slightly drier week and the weather has definitely turned colder but at least the sun is out.

We plan a short ride around Holmbury Hill and Pitch Hill to take advantage of the slightly firmer better draining trails here. Plus there's the added attraction of the extension to Barry Knows Best, one of the best known trail in this area, finally being opened and ready to ride.

It's quite strange as Sue picks me up in the van without Huey who is still recovering from his own SMIDSY commuting incident but we rock up to the car park and meet the others leaving sharp at 9-30 am.

We are joined by Ronnie again this week. He first rode with the group last week and decided he liked it and is back for more. Ronnie describes himself as an unfit roadie but he certainly seemed to be doing okay as we passed him on the A25 making his way to the meeting point (we'll arrange to pick you up next time).

Up to the top of Holmbury and then down Reservoir Dogs and onto Barry Knows Best. Redlands trails have put a massive amount of work into this over the last couple of months with a mini-digger and Ian Warby, former Aston Hill trail builder who is currently working for the Cyclists Touring Club.

The work was all paid for after funding was obtained from the Sustainable Development Fund.

And what a great change to the trail it is. The extension adds about 300 metres to the original with a couple of monster berms in existence and sticks to the original flavour of BKB which is a smooth flowing descent traversing the contours of Holmbury Hill. In fact it's so much fun that we take the bridleway climb back up to the top of the new section to ride it again. Yup, it's even better fun the second time except for encountering a local walking two huskies UP the new section.

I just shouted 'two more behind' as I couldn't be bothered to stop but I'm sure if I had he would have claimed to have 'been walking this trail for years'.

Through Peaslake and onto Pitch Hill we head up to the trig point and after a short session around the various trails up there we head back via Trails 1 to 5 to Peaslake for a well earned break.

The final climb back up to Holmbury Hill, the Yoghurt Pots and Telegraph Road sees the end of a good ride. Not too far distance wise (12 miles) but there were plenty of technical trails and who wants to go too far in these soggy conditions?

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