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| From TNR 20-03-2014 All the Presidents Men |
Crew: El Pres, G, PTD, Mr I, Stunt, Butty, Andy S.
Pub “b”‘s Slim, Dunc
Route: BL, full Zig zags, Walker Barn, Chazza, Narnia, Smithy
Conditions: Suprisingly mild and dry, Wet for Duncan, cold later
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| From TNR 20-03-2014 All the Presidents Men |
Stats: 1 chain faff (G), 1 off El Pres
Notes:
Always a good start to a ride when the actual weather is better than forecast, and with the Spring Equinox only a day away, the light is still dusky.
This weeks fad appears to be MudHuggers for those of the Orange persuasion (no not a TOWIE joke!)
As usual its a Paul Plan for the route, with a chazza start and talk of the two sided valley, also familiar is the rapid route alternations suggested by G….whilst they are debate options the rest of us set off up the road after a quick comms to the newly back on the bike Slim 🙂
The change in the season prompts some de-layering at the top of the zig zags, before rapid cooling down to walker barn.
El Pres is uncharateristically up the tarmac to chazza like a rocket and when we catch him he tells tales of big beasts in the trees. We think he has smelt beer (or did he have a swift half stashed up there!?)
Chazza is damped down from last weeks dryness, but not slippery, however G manages to slip his chain on the roloff, and Stunt’s lock shakes loose. Regrouping (but leaving G to catch us up) at Narnia it’s a speedy descent, alternative lines to steps are flowy (if slippy) but the bottom gravel section is dry fast and loose….
A gravel off has a swooshy kind of sound that turns heads – red light on the ground, bike down, quick mental count – it’s El Pres!
He speaks up but isn’t getting straight up, so it’s clearly been more than a dab.
TNR CSI quickly establish that a) handlebars are now out of kilter, b) rear light is detached from bike (but working) c) the back of his helmet is badly cracked!Andy S does triage , whilst we check & straighten bike. Nothing of any immediate concern us but protective of our pres we decide to escort him to the pub to monitor him for an hour or two.
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| From TNR 20-03-2014 All the Presidents Men |
The homely fire in the smithy, plus the wonderfully understanding Carol make it the right decision. Still protesting that he’s fine he talks up a soft drink to a shandy ;-). We settle with table whitebait (no prizes for guessing who ordered that!) when Carol spots flashing lights on yonder hill – which turns out to be Slim attempting to signal G-A-M-M-O-N in “more sauce” code.
Rabbit pie also highly recommended, XPA flowing nicely, and a warm spot by the fire for a rather bedragged Dunc when he arrives.
Talk of an early bath (literally) for El Pres -who by now has worked out that he must have landed sort of upside down on his elbow, hip and shoulder having gone over the bars..and hence the back of his head then hitting the ground last, is nursing some aches and pains (road rash and brusing foreacast) Butty helpfully suggests the comic book remedy of raw meat on the afflicted area (politely declined ;-)).
The early bath spurned we finally prise ourselves out into a cold night, and El Pres is safely delivered home before the witching hour.
Winter officially over! and only one more ride starting with lights before the clocks change…so that will be snow next week then 😉