The recent high winds and the heavy rain made good preparation for an adventurous ride. A poor weather forecast did not deter 21 riders including some new faces. James Hopkins was braving the Off Road ride as part of his New Year’s resolution (we’ll see how long it lasts!) Garry was trying out his new single speed bike whilst Dave Rickets had borrowed a rohloff geared bike.
After crossing the motorway, we found our first fallen tree. Slipping and sliding across Banstead Common we encountered our first mechanical failure, Jon’s chain broke. If only he had been paying attention at the Bike Maintenance evening last night, he would have brought along his ‘quick link’ to rejoin the chain. Instead he had to borrow one. Sue was having problems with her gear cable so set off with Barry to find a bike shop.
Descending down to No Home farm, Tony took a tumble and fortunately was OK. At the top of Stane Street, Alan punctured so we left him with some reputable colleagues to ride to Bocketts farm independently. Apparently he suffered four punctures in a very short space of time. We should have covered on the Bike Maintenance evening ‘How to fix a puncture’!
The high winds had brought down many trees across the bridleways and Stane Street was no exception. The relentless stop, start, as we scrambled round or over the fallen trees. It was impassable at one part so we climbed over a fence, along the side of a field then back over the fence. What a joy it is to have a light bike.
Reaching the crossroads at Stane Street, there was a decision to be made. This is something we find quite difficult. As time was marching on and we hadn’t reached the tea stop, I took a short cut to Bocketts farm. There was an option for others to do a longer loop if they were not pushed for time. Those doing the longer loop added in their own extra loop, which may not have been intentional. The rest of us to took a more direct route to Bocketts farm after repairing Christian’s puncture.
Somehow or other we all made it to Bocketts farm to enjoy their Mars Bar cake. Gareth found a rather tasty chocolate digestive cake that he had in addition to his Mars bar cake. Something to try next time.
The return route was much more direct and the idea was that people could set off when they were ready and ride at their own speed. I was with the last group to leave when Gareth punctured, then Mark arrived rather late at the tea stop. He had punctured on the long loop and took a while to fix it. The ride back for most of us was slow and muddy.
I lost count on the number of punctures after 10. I should have counted the fallen trees, but that would have been ‘sad’.
Richard Sterry
Event / Article Type
Reigate Hill to Bocketts farm