With more confidence than strictly wise (having only been out on my new mountain bike about four times previously), I put an offer out there for my roadie chums to join me on an off-road spin to keep the legs working. I did not advertise in advance that I had a route on the garmin but did not know if it would work, nor did I advertise that I need to given a fair amount of space on the mountain bike as I have a penchant for coming off, often without warning!!

The thermo said -5 degrees on Saturday morning, and I was frankly surprised when three other fools/heroes were there to join me at the top of Reigate Hill - Geoff, Clive and off-roader Rob who had unfortunately come to Reigate Hill instead of Ryka's and was no doubt expecting a more testing ride! Unfortunately due to the temperature we didn't wait around too long, which meant we missed the Chairman by only a few minutes. I would have said he could have caught us up, but in truth that was unlikely, because we set off like a quartet of cats who had just landed on a hot tin roof, mainly to get some warmth into our limbs!

The route was not a spectacular one for the regular off-road crowd I expect, but for us roadies it was just the ticket - packed hard frozen trails meant no slippery mud to slow our progress, and we were soon heading north-west through Walton on the Hill and across towards Epsom Downs. At some point we turned south to make our way towards Box Hill, and were treated to some delightful views across the frozen downs before we hit Stane St, a well known trail. We stopped for our photo just before dropping down into the back of Juniper Hall…bit of a knotty descent that one too…what Sir Alex would call 'squeaky bum time' haha.

We may have cooled down a little as we came off the downs to Juniper Hall, but we were soon warming up with the trail climb up past Little Switzerland - a good climb this for novices (even better descent), because the path is fairly wide and for the most part easy to negotiate. Not entirely straightforward though, as I found out when the bike slipped from under me just near the summit!! Must remember not to get out of the saddle and keep the weight over the back wheel! Ggrr!!

From the top of Boxhill our progress was again swift, hampered only by a puncture for Clive (on the road believe it or not) and some horses up on Headley Heath (or somewhere near there!). Still, before we knew it we were on the main trail along the top ridge of Reigate Hill, meeting plenty of dog walkers out enjoying the crisp winter morning having got a good 20 miles in by the time we got back to the car park. Thanks to the chaps for making it a very enjoyable ride, in particular Rob who did his best to point out various warnings along the way!!

See you all next week? Haha.

Martin