The weather for the first Saturday in August was not promising - heavy rain on Friday followed by a downpour overnight. Roadies pulled the duvet over their heads but, to quote Ade Webb's newletter that week, "MTB riders ride in everything!"
Julian was the designated ride leader. He arrived early at the Holmbury car park and sat in his car watching torrential rain, hoping that nobody else would turn up, so he could go home and stay dry. Drat .. 6 certifiable riders turned up. Andrew had, as he often does, even parked a few miles away and cycled along main roads with axle-depth puddles.
So off we went, up Holmbury Hill and then eventually over to Peaslake for coffee. Lee was obviously relishing the conditions as he posed out in the rain. The rest of us cowered under the bus shelter!
After a while, the rain stopped and the sun even came out. The trails were still one continuous puddle. I have personally never seen so much standing water on these sandy, well-draining trails.
Lee then decided to see how fast he could ride through one particularly deep puddle on the berms of John the Baptist, with Andrew on photographer duties. He came into the turn fast, leaning hard to take the corner at speed, but the water took its revenge, grabbing his wheels and pulling him down.
Nice to see he took it well ...