Date: 10th October 2010
Riders: Richard, Davebus, Rob, Rob M, Paul and Steve
Leith Hill
Weather: 18°C

After last week's washout the weather was glorious today and although there were a few puddles today they only added to the fun as we dodged or splashed through them according to taste.

We rode the usual trails with a few minor diversions thrown in and I spottted three other guys at Leith Hill Tower wearing the same Trailaddiction top as me. Oh well, we are all a bit sad aren't we.

A smallish group and all riding at a similar pace although I started slow but was okay once I warmed up whilst Steve started fast but ran out of steam later on.

Steve got his comeuppance earlier than that though. We had passed some bloke and his decent looking lady friend on the trail and then paused for breath before the next trail section.

Steve made some comment about the bloke's bike not being much but his bird was top notch only to turn around and find that said couple were two feet behind him havnig decided to ride the same way as us. Head down and ride on lads...

Next up was summer Lightning and time for one of Davebus's legendary stick in the mud drawing's of the proposed route. I tell you, the Paleolithic cavemen of Lascaux have nothing on him.

We rode the trails in a pretty quick time and were all done inside 3 hours and back to the cars for 12-30pm even allowing for a lengthy tea-break at the Tower which was very enjoyable lying on the grass in the warm sun.

For those that were interested (Cas) the answer to last week's mini-quiz was that all the pictures were grabbed from footage of a commute back in March this year as evidenced by the lack of the Cycle Superhighway appearing anywhere. I also edited and posted another video from Les Arcs; this time it's the steep sided trails of Le Mont Jovet; don't look left, I said don't look left!

Date: 24th October 2010
Riders: Richard, Rob, Nick, Paul and Matt
Holmbury Hill
Weather: 4.5°C

A crisp Autumn morning as we meet at the Starveall Car Park for 9-45 a.m. and what a week this turns out to be.

After not riding last weekend due to visiting my eldest down at Portsmouth University and visiting the sights at Gunwharf Quays including the Spinnaker Tower with it's glass floor I was back on the daily commute to work and passed the magic 7,000 kilometres for the year barrier on the way home Friday evening.

But back to Sunday morning and I surprised all of the group by choosing to ignore Leith Hill despite meeting at the Starveall car park and instead we crossed the road and headed down the descent passing High Ashes Farm and onto the Greensand Way. This normally fast and furious descent was made more taxing by the deluge that had flooded the area mid week and a deep water channel has been cut down the trail making it very hairy as you tried to avoid getting the front wheel caught in the channel and bucking you off the bike.

Rob was on his latest acquisition, a Ragley frame (not sure if it's a Blue pig or an Mmm Bop). The obligatory car-park test left me feeling that the massive head tube makes the front really heavy but Rob seems to enjoy riding it. Oh and it has the craziest cable routing for the rear brake you have ever seen.

We all reached the bottom of the Greenand Way okay and from here turned left down the road towards Holmbury and climbed up the zig zag bridleway to the cricket pitch. Cutting across here is a nice technical descent that takes you down to Holmbury Village Hall before climbing up past the back of that and circling round to the final sections of Telegraph Road.

We headed down here and it was all great fun so far with plenty of descending taking place. But as I was coming down some of the small step-downs on Telegraph Road I felt a bit of an ache in my lower back. I thought nothing ore of it and we reached the bottom turning left towards the YHA car-park and left again to begin the drag up to the top of Holmbury. Most of you will know this trail, it's the one with the interesting and challenging rooty step-up that catches many a rider out. And that was me today. I have ridden this hundred's of times, usually cleaning it with ease. But with a back feeling slightly tender and a slip of the rear wheel at a crucial time I splipped down and banged my arse on the saddle.

This immediately sent an excruciating pain up my spine and into my lower back and I was forced to stop and clamber gingerly off my bike. My back had locked in position and I was bent double. This led to some laughs as Rob led me by the hand up the small bank and off the trail into the woods as I needed to take a leak.

With the ablutions finished Nick offered me a couple of Ibuprofen and I took these whilst trying to relax my back. Matt is new to the group having tagged along with Paul and had some first aid experience. He asked whether the pain was going down into my legs (which it wasn't) but beyond that he could only promise to resuscitate me if required. Which was nice.

After ten minutes rest I wasn't exactly spritely but I felt that I could carry on and we headed uphill taking in the extended Surfer Rosa trail before climbing to the top of Holmbury. I had planned on taking on Widowmaker but the others didn't seem keen and in my condition I wasn't about to tackle on of the ultra-steep trails in the area so we took the normal Parklife and then Brickbats descent followed by the two streams descent to bring us out at Uplands Farm for the long climb back to Starveall Car park. I was trailing off the back of the pack here, which isn't unusual on the climbs but I'm normally at the front on the descents but I was struggling big-time as my back was complaining all the way.

I had planned on tackling some of the Leith Hill trails at this point but decided that discretion was the better part of valour and headed back home in the car whilst the other four extended the ride by heading towards the tower and perhaps they will let me know at some stage where they actually rode.

So it's now Tuesday evening. I haven't been able to sit at my computer desk long enough to write this any earlier this week. I have just got back from the Doctor's surgery having spent the last two days 'working from home' which mainly consisted of a number of phone conferences plus reacting to any e-mails that arrive in my inbox.

The diagnosis is a back sprain and all the muscles in my back are tensed rock hard. The Doc has given me a mixture of codeine (cocaine) based painkillers (Solpadol) plus Diclofenac which is a is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug as well as Diazepam which is a form of Valium also known as 'Mother's little helper' for general relaxation. Yes, she warned I may feel light headed after that little concoction.

So why did my back sprain like that? After thinking about it I realised that I had been digging out some conifer roots from my back garden the day before (Saturday) and whilst I didn't feel anything that day it must have weakened my back leaving it prone to the jarring effect from cycling on Sunday.

So that's me stuck on 7,000 km for at least a couple of weeks; let's see if the drugs dont work (or will they just make it worse...).