First Ride 2014

First ride 2014,

This was never going to be a full on ride, I had just returned from a long holiday from Australia. My plan was, if I lead a ride it would keep me awake, giving me a reason to get up and keep me occupied so I didn’t doze throughout the day. However my plan very nearly back fire.    I had planned to sleep on the last 13 hours of our flight home, but it never happened. We landed at 5.30am on the Saturday morning, not wanting to suffer from jetlag I kept myself awake until 9pm. This lead to a 50 hour stint with no sleep.

Sunday morning arrived all too soon. I hauled my sleepy carcass out of bed and started to prepare for the day ahead. Time this morning seemed to be travelling faster than my body and I found myself leaving the house with no time to spare.  I had covered about a third of the distance to the start point when I thought, my knees are cold.   It was then I realised that I’d forgotten to put my knee braces on.  Bugger!  I span the bike round and travelled home.  I got kitted up and once again made my way to the start point.

I was really hoping that there wasn’t going to be a big turnout, the thought of a lot of people depending on me for a good day’s ride was a little daunting. But I needn’t have worried. The weather had been awful the past few weeks and I think this put most people off. I arrived at the petrol station about 5 minutes late, I fuelled up and paid, Dave was waiting for me when I came out and we talked about going to the Isle of Man TT. He had a spare place as someone had dropped out. I really wanted to go, but unfortunately had already booked the dates up, to go on a European tour. As we talked Woods an old mate I hadn’t seen for a very long time turned up and we chatted for a while, just catching up on what had happened in the last year or so.

The time now was nearly 10am and it was quite clear no one else was going to turn up so we fired up the bikes and headed off. The first lane was to prove a tester of what the rest of the day was going to bring, and I was unprepared as to just how difficult the ride was going to be and glad our group was small. Weeks of solid rain had turn the lane into a slurry trap, my lack of riding lately saw me sliding everywhere, the nerves kicked in and my riding pace slowed to a crawl. I wobbled, slipped and skidded to the end of the lane, where I stopped abruptly puffing like an old steam train, with my heart beating through my chest. Five weeks of doing nothing had clearly taken its toll. I was knackered and could have quite easily packed up then and there, and gone home.

The next lane involved two river crossings, but as I approached I saw the rivers had swollen with the weeks of torrential rain. With my lack of ability clearly highlighted on the first lane, I decided that to tackle the fast flowing deep river was best avoided and so we took the bridge instead. Later in the day I was  to find out I had made the right choice, as I recall a friend of mine who I 4X4 with had told me he had driven through it the evening before in his 110 Land Rover, and the water had come over his bonnet.  

The next few lanes saw my confidence grow a little my technique return and my speed slowly but surely increase. After tackling a lane I love, because of its length and just because of the way it is, we stopped for a break. It was then I noticed Woods’ front sprocket, well let’s just say it was more of a washer now than a sprocket. After a chat we decided it was best to change the planned route, to one that would see us heading back toward his house.

The ride was going well, Woods sprocket was holding, we were covering all types of terrain, broad gravel fire roads, muddy rutted trails, slippery clay lanes and steep gnarly root covered hills. By late lunch we had made the pub where we would split and make our own separate ways. Woods was now only a few miles road ride away from home. I would back track and make my own way home. But before that, we had a drink some food and took the chance to catch up a little more.

The time came to Part Company and head our separate ways.  We agreed to contact each other once we’d gotten home just to make sure we were ok. Woods headed off down the road and I must admit the noise of the slipping sprocket didn’t sound good or bode well. I headed off back down the lanes. I made good steady progress home, my riding continually improving. On my journey I passed a group of eight or so riders. The weather was good with broken cloud and sunshine, the lane were mostly empty, probably to the fact that it had rained constantly for the last three weeks and the general condition of the lanes.

I arrived home safely around mid-afternoon. I was happy with the day’s ride. I put the bike away, had a shower and then text Woods. He replied saying he’d got home eventually; he’d apparently got within a mile or so of home when his sprocket had given up and he had also got pulled by the old bill for having a small number plate. He had luckily managed to get in contact with a friend who then collected him and his bike.  All in all it was a good ride to start the year.