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| From TNR 17-01-2013 Snow Chains |
Crew: PTD, EL Pres, Slim, Stunt, Butty, TJ, Mr Incredible, Bernard
Route: BL, Langley, Reservoir paths, lower dentists descent, forest bridleway ascent, nessit hill, s bends, main path & lower path, reservoir, Church House.
Conditions: -1 to -3 with light snow, windy higher up
Stats: Off to Bernard, double faff to Butty, single faff to Mr Incredible
Notes:
Shock as Slim is on time at BL and a rare Thursday night appearance from Bernard thanks to frozen footie pitches.
Lightly falling snow triggers intense route discussion of how to find any rideable routes.
Gritted roads remain snow free on the way up to the Smithy, then we find just enough fresh snow to make the icy trails rideable with care.
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| From TNR 17-01-2013 Snow Chains |
First faff of the night at the bottom of nessit as Butty discovers a distinctly bent magic link, and discovers that 10 speed ones don’t come off, eventually resigned to losing bottom two gears (well all that single speeding was good training then :-))
Minutes later Mr Incredible snaps his 9 speed chain as Blightly continues its shakedown of his Californian ride. Team work gets him back on the trail.
We wonder if warning descending passing riders about the slippy lower trail is actually a help or hin drance (but none of them actually crash within earshot)
Fully frozen dentist singletrack has been visited by the trail faries who have added jumps and berms.
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| From TNR 17-01-2013 Snow Chains |
Butty then has an epic failure of his new rear hub and as we get increasingly cold mutterings of dissent begin, although Slim & Stunt reminisce about Stunts first ride with triple faff on a snowy night 🙂
Butty retires to the Church House early, and we gratefully warm up on the steep climb to Nessit, clip in pedals useless, snow deepening, ice randomly close to the surface and wind rising.
Another first as Stunt gets furthest up the middle bridleway before pushing!!?
We huddle behind trees out of the wind as TJ gets the in ride refreshment in, never has cooking whisky tasted so good (add snow to taste).
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| From TNR 17-01-2013 Snow Chains |
Wind is so strong its pedal downhill time to the S bends, then the trails are perfect all the way down until on the lower path the noise of tyre on snow suddenly goes very crunchy and its don’t touch the brake time!
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| From TNR 17-01-2013 Snow Chains |
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All too soon it’s back on the road and into the relative furnace of the Church House.
Gammon or Ale Pie, Sir Phillip or Headless, much discussion about impending skiing, cheeky snifter before layering up for the ride home.