My last ride of 2013

Last ride of 2013

After the Christmas ride with the GLC, I decided that I wanted to get the riding going again. So that evening I posted a ride out on the GLC forum, for the next weekend. I also rang a couple of friends to invite them along too. So times and dates where all set and there would be at least four of us attending.

I had the route set, in my head, which I wanted to follow, but the problem I had was that when I sent my Satmap back for repair I had accidently deleted  all my routes, and not having ridden for a while my memory of some of the further away loops were vague. So I set about re-mapping and plotting.

With it already being  Saturday and the middle part of the route still vague in my head, I decided to ask Dave if he didn’t mind leading this part of the ride. As a backup I also asked Josh if he didn’t mind, but it was then he decided to tell me that he couldn’t make it due to being ill.

Sunday was now looking like a three man ride as I had no replies on the forum, although this didn’t bother me and Josh had now pulled out. The forum is a funny thing, you find people will say they are coming then not turn up, or no one will confirm that they are coming and a few will arrive last minute.

Sunday morning had arrived and it wasn’t as forecast. The forecast was for a nice day but at this point it was overcast with dizzily rain. I made the short ride to the fuel station and filled up; I brought some new batteries for my GPS and waited for anyone to arrive. I was due to leave the petrol station at nine and meet Dave at the John Bunyan pub at around nine thirty. By nine fifteen no one had arrived so I decided to make my way to meet Dave.   

Lane one is only a few hundred yards from the petrol station. It’s only a short lane but one of my favourites. It hasn’t been graded and it remains a natural lane. The grass lay across the lane doing its best to hide the ruts and making the surface unpredictably slippery. There is a sharp corner about half way along that is rutted, not deeply, but enough to make me a little wary so on the approach I drop down from the standing position, sat as far forward on the tank leg out trying to use the rut as a berm to help me round. Once round I was back up on the pegs for the rest of the lane, this part of the lane is enclosed by trees, the ground is leaf covered mud that’s slightly loose under the wheel. Dead fallen trees lined the edge of the lane from the recent high winds.

I rode the road down to the fords that were now running high due to the recent rain, the water wasn’t its usual crystal clearness, and was a murky brown, hiding the gravel bottom.  I could have taken a detour over the bridge but decided to tackle the river, although deeper than usual the current wasn’t too strong and the crossing wasn’t too bad.  Fords now dispatched there was just one more lane to tackle before I met up with Dave.

 

 

I arrived safely at the end of the lane, but Dave was not to be seen so I decided to chill for a while. The sky was now blue dotted with large white clouds. The trees and hedgerows were brown and here and there, dark green ivy climbed up through the hedge and tree trunks. The fields lay baron and brown whilst the grass banks were a rich green. The lane was wet and rutted with an ivy covered small tree blocking its entrance.

 

 

 

A short time passed and I heard the distant rumble of an engine heading toward me. Dave arrived soon after, with the warning that the lane was slippery and treacherous.  The lane for the most part is bank either side, these banks where covered in golden brown leaves, fallen trees had been pulled to the sides to make the way clear and here and there along its length braking the winter brown of the landscape were green holly trees. Just before the end of the lane a large, long and deep puddle covered the trail.  Once through the puddle we ascended up a short root stepped bank which led us up to the road.  We then caught the road to the next lane which in part is tarmac and the other graded so we made quick work of it.

 

At the end of this lane my intentions were to turn left, but Dave suggested we go right. It meant cutting a chunk out of the ride, but it also meant we had more time to explore. I had asked Dave to show me a short lane which he uses to link up a small section of the loop he rides and this was our next lane, after we had done some extensive road work. I have ridden this lane many times before. It is only a short lane most of which has been graded and flat. But it was a lane that was going to catch me out big time. Now I knew where it was and how to find it I set off at a fair pace.  I had travelled along about half the length of the lane when I rounded a corner. On the line which I was taking the heavy rain from the last few weeks had washed away a section of the path exposing a large root. I have in the past coped easily with bigger step ups than this, but as the front wheel hit the root it slid violently to the right causing me to steer to the left. Then in a split second I had hit an overhanging tree which knocked me backwards and sent the bike spinning through the air. I looked up to see the bike at ninety degrees to the lane with its handle bars buried into the bank. I jumped up full of adrenalin checked myself over then went to check on the bike. The bike was fine the handle bars were a little out of line, but nothing serious and the hand guard had been knocked up, which was soon put right by a short sharp tap.

From here Dave took the lead as I wasn’t quite sure of the best way to go. The next two lanes where known to me, but again as I rounded a corner the rear wheel stepped out scaring me a little. This proved to me that you need to practice to stay on top of things. A small amount of road work saw on some familiar lanes once again.  It was here that we met up with a couple of quad bikers and a motorcyclist. We passed them and headed toward the end of the lane. We were on the last section when I made the silliest mistake of the day. The end of the lane had several deep puddles along its length. I decided to take the right hand bank to avoid the puddles. But it had recently been cleared and had several trees lying along it. I thought I would be clever and pop the front wheel over these trunks and avoid the puddles. No, what happened was  I didn’t pop the front wheel enough going over the first log, as it was wet the front wheel then tracked along the log causing me to fall off toward the puddle I had been trying to avoid. The next thing I knew my hand to elbow is submerged in water.  I’ve managed to avoid a soaking, but on retrieving my bike I notice that the hand guard was now catching the clutch, so at the end of the lane we stopped so I could make some minor repairs.

 

 

Whilst making the repairs to my bike, the quads and other trails ride turned up. I tinkered away and Dave got reacquainted with the trails rider; apparently back in the day they used to ride at the TBEC together. Introductions were made and it was agreed that we would join forces and ride as a group. So we headed back up the lane we had just ridden. At the end of the lane we waited then waited some more. The sun had now come out and the weather was good. The trail rider said he would go and check where the quads had gone. We waited some more, on his return he informed us that they had taken the wrong route, but where close behind and would soon be with us. We then waited a bit longer then some more. Eventually it was agreed that Dave and I should carry on and let the rider go back and find his friends. Hopefully we might meet at another point during the day.

 

Dave and I now set off again. Dave has a wealth of knowledge of the lanes around this area and now started to show me a mixture of lanes that I had already ridden and some I didn’t know of.  There was also a nice mixture of fire road and graded lanes and untouched muddy, slippery lanes.  Slowly we covered lanes making our way back toward home and soon I once again knew where I was. However Dave still surprised me with some lanes I didn’t know off.  Although riding now for several years I still need to learn some essential skills such as the wheelie. Wheelies aren’t for showboating but play an important part of riding, for coming off of banks or getting over logs etc. I would also like to be able to spin the bike on its axis. But  today’s lesson was on how to roost your mate.  A useless piece of knowledge unless of course you want to cover the person behind you in mud.  It was now past lunch and I was once again on familiar ground, so we decided to make our way to the garage to refuel both ourselves and the bikes.

 

We sat for a while and had a chuckle about the morning’s ride and activities. However the day was getting on, and we had to make a decision on what we were going to do for the rest of it. One thing was for sure and that was we were going to tackle Fox’s Lane. This lane always has an amount of water running along and we wanted to see just how deep it had gotten. Soon it was time for the off, we made our way to the lane. We had just started when we rounded the corner to meet two four by fours blocking the way. They hadn’t broken down or anything like that, they were in fact just ferreting and although one walked out to see what was coming, they made no effort to move. I quickly weighed up the situation and made my way around the inconsiderate ferreters. Dave joined me shortly afterward; we now tackled the wet lane I was thinking ahead trying to map the best route available to me, which is hard when all you can see is a nice flat level surface of water. We were doing well, the line I had guessed was most of the time round hub deep. Then suddenly, but I can’t say unexpectedly, the front wheel was suddenly engulfed. The engine stopped dead and I must admit I thought the engine had sucked in water through the air box. I quickly pushed the start button and luckily she started straight away. I continued relieved but with slightly wet feet. Once through and in what I considered to be a safe place I turned round to see how Dave was getting on. We both made it through safely, even if we did paddle a little, and then headed off to the next lane.   

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We covered a few more lanes and ended up at a point where we were both about the same distances away from our homes. Whichever way we went now one of us would be travelling away from home. The days are short at this time of year and when the sun goes down it gets cold very quickly. So after a quick chat we both decided that today had been a good day and that it was now time to quit while the going was good and make our way home.