Discussion
Ever have one of those rides that just doesnt go well?
I got my bike back from the shop, new rear mech, dropout, chain, rear tyre and cassete. Suitably chastised by my darling wife, I got the dogs and decided to head into the purbecs for a ride. I was determined to get up the hill where I did the damage (Pauls hill).
2 weeks without a decent ride and I was grumpy, hard to live with and told to get out and dont come back until I had a ride.
Bank holiday bournemouth is hell - full of grockles (tourists) who have no idea where they are going, not knowing what to look at, the scenery, the map (too cheap for sat nav), the road or the screaming kids in the back. Even at 6pm there were a fair few piss heads so getting out of bomo was a pig and tore at the last shred of patientce I had. I decided to cross the ferry, most of the traffic would be going the other way and it would half the travel time. Nope some dozy, halfwit had tried to drive on or off the ferry at the wrong point so it was closed. Long way round. More tourists. The worst kind. The idiots in the outside lane doing 40 mph in renault scenic's. What usually takes 40 mins took 80 mins. FRUSTRATION
Finally made it got the bike out and started riding. Felt great, there was no one here, I had the place to myself apart from two older guys who I flew past on a decent and shouted a cheery "hello".
Nothing seemed to flow right, The sun was low and in my eyes, it was hard to see the trails. My coise of trail was poor, I had chosen the most technical path in the purbecs compounded by lack of practice. The low sun obscured the deep ruts that are the trails, tricky at the best of times. Every few pedal strokes I would clip the side of the rut and nock my foot out of the clipless, the rain and summer sun ment the brambles had grown out of control, I hit one and it slashed my calf and every subsequent bramble tore at this scrape untill it felt there was no flesh on my leg (minor scratch, just being a wimp).
I got to Pauls hill, determined to make the ascent, first rock garden I chose the wrong line and I was off and bleeding. Scraped my left arm as I tumbled down what little hill I hd managed to climb. Swearing and cursing I had to push the rest of the hill, my watch strap filling with blood.
I struggled up the remaining hills, no more blood but a stunning display of a lack of skill. just shameful. The decents were worse. Sun was really low and mud on my sunglasses was making it impossible to see. Frustrating. Bleeding bruised and my pride hurt, 2 hours later I was back at the wagon with a huge smile on my face.
The route took me through the golf club which was deserted (shame I could have used a GP to laugh at my wounds) The decent is in 3-4 stages with a small flat and a small rise before the next decent. At the bottom of the decent there is a clering of wel kept lawn for the golf course. As I stumbled into each clearing, it ws full of deer. Who did the deer thing and bolted. They were so close, I could smell them. Manly stags, beautiful does and cute fawns, leaping across my path. The next clearing was bigger and there were more. The third clearing is followed by a route through the woods. A number of the deer felt the best escape was through the woods so I rode behind the fast mooving deer my dogs getting more and more excited. I wasnt worried the the only one of the pack with any inclination to hunt is Daisy and she cant catch a cold so I was happy to let the dogs have thier 2 seconds of glory, as it turns out they were not interested.
From the top of the hill the sunset was breath taking, reds and golds reflected in the water and the purples of the heather. I have to get a compact camera for this type of thing, the SLR doesnt "bike" very well. We saw the wild horses with some new fowls. Pheasants, partridge and fields of rabbit, none of which Daisy got close to. Went through a field with a herd of cows, mooing thier "good nights", the sun had set and just the deep red glow across the bay as I got to the car. The air was damp and full of the smells of heather, the shore was muddy and had that "salty" evening smell, I felt wonderful.
That was the best evening in weeks.
I got my bike back from the shop, new rear mech, dropout, chain, rear tyre and cassete. Suitably chastised by my darling wife, I got the dogs and decided to head into the purbecs for a ride. I was determined to get up the hill where I did the damage (Pauls hill).
2 weeks without a decent ride and I was grumpy, hard to live with and told to get out and dont come back until I had a ride.
Bank holiday bournemouth is hell - full of grockles (tourists) who have no idea where they are going, not knowing what to look at, the scenery, the map (too cheap for sat nav), the road or the screaming kids in the back. Even at 6pm there were a fair few piss heads so getting out of bomo was a pig and tore at the last shred of patientce I had. I decided to cross the ferry, most of the traffic would be going the other way and it would half the travel time. Nope some dozy, halfwit had tried to drive on or off the ferry at the wrong point so it was closed. Long way round. More tourists. The worst kind. The idiots in the outside lane doing 40 mph in renault scenic's. What usually takes 40 mins took 80 mins. FRUSTRATION
Finally made it got the bike out and started riding. Felt great, there was no one here, I had the place to myself apart from two older guys who I flew past on a decent and shouted a cheery "hello".
Nothing seemed to flow right, The sun was low and in my eyes, it was hard to see the trails. My coise of trail was poor, I had chosen the most technical path in the purbecs compounded by lack of practice. The low sun obscured the deep ruts that are the trails, tricky at the best of times. Every few pedal strokes I would clip the side of the rut and nock my foot out of the clipless, the rain and summer sun ment the brambles had grown out of control, I hit one and it slashed my calf and every subsequent bramble tore at this scrape untill it felt there was no flesh on my leg (minor scratch, just being a wimp).
I got to Pauls hill, determined to make the ascent, first rock garden I chose the wrong line and I was off and bleeding. Scraped my left arm as I tumbled down what little hill I hd managed to climb. Swearing and cursing I had to push the rest of the hill, my watch strap filling with blood.
I struggled up the remaining hills, no more blood but a stunning display of a lack of skill. just shameful. The decents were worse. Sun was really low and mud on my sunglasses was making it impossible to see. Frustrating. Bleeding bruised and my pride hurt, 2 hours later I was back at the wagon with a huge smile on my face.
The route took me through the golf club which was deserted (shame I could have used a GP to laugh at my wounds) The decent is in 3-4 stages with a small flat and a small rise before the next decent. At the bottom of the decent there is a clering of wel kept lawn for the golf course. As I stumbled into each clearing, it ws full of deer. Who did the deer thing and bolted. They were so close, I could smell them. Manly stags, beautiful does and cute fawns, leaping across my path. The next clearing was bigger and there were more. The third clearing is followed by a route through the woods. A number of the deer felt the best escape was through the woods so I rode behind the fast mooving deer my dogs getting more and more excited. I wasnt worried the the only one of the pack with any inclination to hunt is Daisy and she cant catch a cold so I was happy to let the dogs have thier 2 seconds of glory, as it turns out they were not interested.
From the top of the hill the sunset was breath taking, reds and golds reflected in the water and the purples of the heather. I have to get a compact camera for this type of thing, the SLR doesnt "bike" very well. We saw the wild horses with some new fowls. Pheasants, partridge and fields of rabbit, none of which Daisy got close to. Went through a field with a herd of cows, mooing thier "good nights", the sun had set and just the deep red glow across the bay as I got to the car. The air was damp and full of the smells of heather, the shore was muddy and had that "salty" evening smell, I felt wonderful.
That was the best evening in weeks.
Had one this morning. Not quite as challenging a start as yours, though. Was supposed to travel about an hour up the road to a really good mtb singletrack circuit, but had people dropping out at the last minute and really didn't fancy it on my own. Went on a local ride instead.
It was howling a gale and spitting with rain from about 3.00 this morning, and looked as if it would p!ss down at any moment. Got on the bike at about 7.15 and started the slow, 20km tarmac trudge to the trails. It was cold, damp and miserable. Met a couple of friends, who were late.
Got a slow puncture which I just kept topped up, until one of the other riders got a proper, 'bang' flat. Farting around in the rain on a deserted trail with views across Ku Ring Gai National Park, just three of us with the whole trail to ourselves.
Mixture of punctures and bad weather meant a 70min ride took about 2 hours, but at the end we were all soaked and happy. The 20km ride home was a git though, straight into a strong southerly wind that felt like it had just landed off Antarctica. Coffee at the beach on the way home was a bonus.
It was howling a gale and spitting with rain from about 3.00 this morning, and looked as if it would p!ss down at any moment. Got on the bike at about 7.15 and started the slow, 20km tarmac trudge to the trails. It was cold, damp and miserable. Met a couple of friends, who were late.
Got a slow puncture which I just kept topped up, until one of the other riders got a proper, 'bang' flat. Farting around in the rain on a deserted trail with views across Ku Ring Gai National Park, just three of us with the whole trail to ourselves.
Mixture of punctures and bad weather meant a 70min ride took about 2 hours, but at the end we were all soaked and happy. The 20km ride home was a git though, straight into a strong southerly wind that felt like it had just landed off Antarctica. Coffee at the beach on the way home was a bonus.
My last ride about 3 weeks ago went the other way. White's Level at Afan, whupped the initial climb doing lots in the middle ring that last time was granny gear for me, had a first go at the black loop which went OK.
Then fell off the boardwalk which I'd cleared a month or so earlier...
Then it started to rain...
Then I got a front pinchflat...
Then I had a massive off on Darkside after telling the others I'd see them at the bottom after I fixed my puncture...
Then got the noise of breaking bone...(twas a very mashed collar bone)
...and a ride in an air ambulance.
And to top it all about £150 of cycling gear got scissored off me! Oh, and it was day 1 of my holiday and 2 weeks prior to my most important sailing regatta of the year...
Still in a sling now...
Then fell off the boardwalk which I'd cleared a month or so earlier...
Then it started to rain...
Then I got a front pinchflat...
Then I had a massive off on Darkside after telling the others I'd see them at the bottom after I fixed my puncture...
Then got the noise of breaking bone...(twas a very mashed collar bone)
...and a ride in an air ambulance.
And to top it all about £150 of cycling gear got scissored off me! Oh, and it was day 1 of my holiday and 2 weeks prior to my most important sailing regatta of the year...
Still in a sling now...
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