Christmas Eve - once the presents were wrapped it was out on the bike at Newlands Corner with Lee leading the ride. This should be fun.
Thirteen of us set off on trails that seemed a little damp but amazingly good for this far through December.
We dropped down to the A248 then started to make our way up to Blackheath, at which point we were fourteen as RCC’S mountain rescue in the guise of Matt Swan arrived having miscalculated his morning alarm call. It was at about this time that Kaye told me she had recently had her pacemaker turned to sport mode – I’m not sure if this makes her come under the category of E biking.
We continued over to Peaselake with some pretty decent climbing to be had on the way, and dropped in to a few of the familiar Winterfold trails on the way over to Supernova. At this point Aled showed us how the jumps should be ridden, with minimal effort and flow.
Then on to tea where we found Steve on a cross bike. Only a quick, cold snack (even Trudy shuts the shop early for Christmas so no hot food) and a much needed drink. Kaye and Rick then headed of the quick way back to the car as they were running out of time while the rest of us (including Steve) headed of in the other direction. We were soon to lose Steve to a puncture, on his now very cross bike, and pushed on with the promise of meeting in the pub later.
This is where it all went wrong for Colin.
We dropped down a bridle way at a reasonable pace and on reaching the farmyard at the bottom, five of us gathered for a regrouping that didn’t happen. After a couple of minutes, I started back up the trail, only to be met by someone saying Colin’s come off and hurt his finger. Colin himself was not far behind, marching down the hill grinning, saying at least it’s not his collar this time!
Within minutes, and after little hesitation, Connor had him in a sling, while the fourth emergency service, Mr Swan and Miss Brown, sprang in to action with a plan. Matt shot off to get a van while Gilly set of to the rendezvous point, with Colin following close behind. The rest of us headed back to the cars via Juniper Hill Climb, on to the Downs Link, and along to the carpark finish. Gilly was there to meet us in the van with the casualty.
Colin had unfortunately broken the finger, but later reported it was a way of getting out of peeling the potatoes for Christmas dinner!! Peeling spuds is one thing but I’m sure it won’t keep him off a bike for too long.
All in all a good ride and particularly nice to see a group of riders looking after each other with such calm and composed actions.
Well done all,
Jim