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I should have guesed that on the 13th it would be third time unlucky. That's the third time on the trot that we met at the Youth Hostel and after a really warm dry Saturday the rain is leaking from a misty sky today as we set off down the steep gulley and around the rear of Holmbury Hill aiming for a rendezvous with Nick at the misty mountain top that is Holmbury Hill.

A quick spin down 'Dock of the Radar Station' or 'Petits Filous' and we are waiting at the top when I check my messages only to find that Nick has a better offer.

Nevermind as Kurt Cobain once said and we head off down Surfer Rosa only to find Nick and Drew joining onto the back of our group. The drizzle is falling more heavily now although it's still a quite pleasant ride and there is talk of how similar the conditions may be to riding in Vancouver (except for the lack of rocks, North Shore and general altitude).

Onto a recently discovered trail and I am towards the front of the group and decide to jump off to catch a picture. I pull off the side of the trail, snap a few shots and then back onto the bike just as I have done so thousands of time over the last 14 years.

But my eye catches something trailing from the front forks, it's just a long piece of dead fern but as I am watching that I take my eyes off the trail and somehow steer my front wheel into a treee stump.

I'm totally unprepared for this in terms of body and weight positioning and head over the bars and into some soft bracken on the other side of the trail.

No harm done I think and am back onto the bike and rolling down the trail. However something's not quite right and I discover that my right hand shifter is fooked and so I am stuck in the highest gear on the cassette.

Given that we are so close to the car-park I decide to head back after leading the group back down the same trail again one more time as it's so much fun (and I can ride it in the stuck gear).

Right lads, this is where I leave you. I'm turning right and you need to go left to get back to the top of Holmbury Hill: okay? I say as I turn to leave the group. There's no response and a number of blank faces staring back at me as noone seems keen to pick up the mantle.

Come on, we've already ridden this way this morning I say and there's a mumble about perhaps being able to find their way around.

And that's it, a short roll back to the car park for me but who knows if the others made it around. Perhaps they are still out there?

There was just time for me to get confused as I was changing my shoes in the car. Some bloke dressed a bit like a tramp comes up to the car door and says 'Hello mate' and shakes my hand. Cue a blank look from me until I suddenly realise it's an old school friend who also mountain bikes (yes, I have seen him a few times since the early 80's including once on Barry knows Best when I also struggled to recognise him).

Hi Iain!

 

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Don't you get bored of riding the same place every week people often ask me. Well no not really is the answer when we can ride circa 80% of totally different trails today than we rode last week and all within a radius of seven or 8 miles from last week's ride.

So it's a start at Car Park 2 at Peaslake and a smallish group of six riders which is unusual given the good weather which sees me in short sleeves for the first ride this year. But thanks to Tim some riders are taking advantage of his recent regular Saturday rides plus we are one man down as Rich Lonegroover has had his bikes nicked this week.

I spent an hour last night replacing the right hand (rear) Shimano XT shifter that I broke last week and had bought a replacement at a very good price (thanks Lee!) and so I was back in the game and ready for this morning's ride.

After a delay waiting for Drew to get his shit together we head off up towards the view point at Pitch Hill before diving into the various singletrack on offer. There's a great new trail that is so fresh that if Nick hadn't ridden it on Wednesday evening I would have sworn had just been created this morning. Steep and loamy with a nice steep roll-in at the end it's a lovely trail that sees a few riders from another group scabbling in the dirt on one of the steep corners.

After waving at the man from Haven distribution who has chosen one of the most remote spots possible to set up for a demo day we head off towards some of the more remote singletrack in these parts guided by Nick and following Drew we wander all over the place before finding ourselves back at the top of Pitch Hill where we take a few minutes out for some food and to catch up with Pete on his personalised Specialized frame.

Then it's down trail 1.5 and the rarely ridden (by us anyway) 'Death Star' to dump us out at the bottom of Barry Knows Best.

A swift climb up Holmbury Hill and we head off to ride another new trail known as 'Reggae Reggae Sauce' only to find it has been trashed by the diggers/logging activity. Trashed so well in fact that we could find no trace of it even though we knew exactly where it started and in which direction it goes.

But life goes on and new trails will appear to take it's place. That's why we rode it so many times over the last few weeks, I knew it wouldn't last long.

There's just time to take in a fast descent down Barry's chasing and overtaking a bunch of kids before Nick got all grumpy grown up on their arses and told the one not wearing a helmet that perhaps he should reconsider his health insurance cover which is apparently very big on the early teen's agenda for 2011.

 

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As I mentioned on Saturday it's now B.S.T. and I enjoyed the first 'warm' commute of the year today. I was kitted out in my new summer outfit. A set of Endura summer bib-shorts and a cheap but bright top that I bought from Decathlon on a day trip to France in the middle of February (a bargain I thought at just 10 Euros).

I was still wearing my Endura jacket on the ride into work this morning as it was a slightly cooler 5 degrees as with the hour going forward it was only just light as I left home at 6-50 a.m.

However with the weather a much more agreeable 11 degrees this evening I went 'topless' on the ride home (just the luminous top and shorts with the jacket rolled up in the bag) and felt much better for it. A bit chilly to start but that just meant I had to push a bit harder to warm up quicker and I soon had perspiration rolling down the side of my face and the middle of my shoulderblades.

I still need to strip the mudguards off the Bianchi for that full-on race look but I think I will wait until after the April showers have passed before I do that.

So the new shorts. It's always a big moment around this time of the year deciding when to switch from three-quarter length to above the knee shorts. It's not just the cold but it's the thought of exposing all that flesh, bleached snow-white from being hidden away since late October. And at 6' 2" there's a lot of leg. But I decided to bite the bullet and went for it early this year. And it's just like that new bike feeling. You think that everyone is looking at you but in reality no-one is at all, they are just getting on with their own lives.

For the past few months I have been commuting 'double-bagged' i.e. with a cheaper set of cycling shorts underneath the bib-shorts. No, not for warmth but to protect my sore and aching butt-cheeks which have been a bit chafed with all the miles that I have been putting in. I use a saddle cream a few times a week but this doesn't seem to make any difference.

So I was double-bagged again today but I found that because the Endura shorts were brand new I was sliding around all over the saddle as though I was sitting on a bar of soap. A few weeks of riding 220km per week should soon sort that out and give me a bit more grip where it counts.

This is where I start to really rack up the miles and put myself ahead of Cas in the ticker stakes.

 

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