Big trailie ride november 2012

Big Trailie ride

I once had an idea, but did nothing about it. But now I try to make that step. Someone once said to me, “in life there are two types of people, talkers and doers, only you can decide which of these you are.”

I like my lane riding, and I like to go out at least once a week. I hadn’t been out for a while so decided to plan a ride out. But instead of putting the ride onto my normal forum or texting my usual riding buddies, clad with their enduro style bikes I decided to throw something new up.

One of the things that got me into riding was watching a programme called “The long way round” then followed by “The long way down”. However in my short 3 years of off road riding, I can only once recall one rider using a big trailie adventurer type of bike.

So my idea was to put this ride out onto a normal bike forum offering all those with that type of bike a chance to take theirs off the tarmac and onto the dirt. The lanes I had chosen were easy lanes that had in the recent past been graded.

In the beginning there was a lot of interest but as the time came only one decided to pick up the gauntlet. I didn’t mind this for a couple of reason, the first being that it would be easier to judge the pace and secondly we wouldn’t lose anyone.

The morning of the ride arrived and to say it was cold was an understatement. The frost was heavy and the white lacy blanket covered everything. It had been quite mild and wet up until a few days before so the cold was a little unexpected.

 

Once kitted up I set off, but I wasn’t even half way to the start point and my hands where frozen, the cold wind came through my visor cutting into my cheeks and face, my eyes crying. I couldn’t pull the visor right down because as I breathed out it would fog up. I thought to myself, I must be mad. I arrived at the start point frozen, my hands had no feeling my companion for the day was already waiting. I fuelled up paid then spent a while introducing myself while trying to warm my hands on the exhaust.

Road riding always makes me cold, as you just sit there, once on the lanes I knew I’d be fine. With some feeling now returned to my fingers we set off. Luckily the first lane was only a short ride away. Gavin took the lead on the first lane so I could assess the pace and his riding ability. At the end of the lane I gave him a little advice on what I considered he needed to do to help and improve his riding. However the thing about advice is you can only do it if you feel comfortable, I’ve been given advice and I will try to adhere to it but as soon as I’m out of my comfort zone I resort back to what I consider safe. The ride continued, I would lead the road ride to the next lane then Gavin would take the lead on the lanes. Only on the lanes with multiple junctions where it would be easy to get lost did I lead.

 

We had set a nice steady pace and the lanes had kept off the chill, we had now travelled about a third of what I had planned for the day. We’d had a few wobbles but no offs so I decided to take a quick stop for fuel and a hot drink and a bite to eat. As we ate and chatted Gavin was pleased with the ride which was good to hear. That would be another problem with a large group ride keeping everyone happy.

 

Once we were all fuelled up and rested we set off, there was a bit of road work to start with then we came to the first lane for the second part trip this was a slight climb nothing serious and I’ve done it a lot of times, but I had underestimated how wet and slippery things had gotten.

Looking back on the ride so far the under wheel conditions had been very varied, in the open the ground was frosted hard, like set concrete, the bike would get cross rutted or tram along the ruts, once into the woods where the tree’s had kept the frost away the ground was wet and slippery.

 

As I lead the way up the hill I started slipping and sliding the front wheel mounted the lanes bank and I thought I was going to get high sided off the bike, but I managed to get it under control and finished the assent to the end of the lane. At the top I waited then waited a little longer. After a short while and with no sign of Gavin I decided to carefully make my way back down to check everything was ok. As I rounded the top corner Gavin appeared signalling everything was ok. However it soon became apparent he’d had an off as the whole of his right hand side was covered in mud. I checked he was ok we had a chuckle then carried on our way.

 

The next problem we encountered was a fallen tree. The way was blocked not only by the tree but by the farmer’s vehicle. The farmer came out a little disgruntled saying we could not pass and that we’d have to find another way around and moaned about people driving in his field. We had a chat then he kindly allowed us to pass using his field as a detour. It was just after this I lost Gavin. How I don’t really know. I had gotten to a staggered four way junction and taken the right turn. I waited where I believed I could be seen. After a while I tracked back to the junction and could see Gavin had gone straight ahead. I followed the tracks and found him at the end of a very rutted section manhandling his bike. Once again reunited we continued on our way.

 

 

We were now about two thirds around my planned route and I waited at the end of the lane. Gavin pulled up confessed he had had enough and although he had really enjoyed the ride he was now physically exhausted. I said that it was a shame as I had planned a river crossing, but that I would now take him to the nearest route home. The river crossing seem to spark something inside off him, we agreed that I would take him the quickest way to the ford which involved one further lane then take him to the motorway so he could make his way home.

With the last lane dispensed of we arrived at the ford. I gave Gavin some tips and then showed him how to cross, he set off but hadn’t given the bike enough gas and came to a stop mid river, I had to chuckle. He set off again and completed the crossing. This particular ford is a double crossing one is the original river the other runs to the mill. We went to the second crossing I again showed him the way to go and this time he crossed perfectly. Now to get him home, the only thing was we had to re-cross the rivers. He again made the crossing without incident. I then got him to the motorway we shock hands and went our separate ways.

 

 

Gavin later got in touch with me, thanking me for a great day’s ride and to inform me his gore-tex boots worked perfectly as they lost none of the river water they’d taken in, all the way home.