2015 Ride 3;
Crew; A ride; El Pres, 3 Sheds, Butty, Stunt, Slim, Gee, Mr I, Eric
B ride; Dunc
Pub; PtD and El Pud
Route; OBR, zig, Teggs, Leathers, concessionary climb, Charity and extension, Standing Stone, LHS descent, road to The Park Tavern
Conditions; Windy, very; but dry, quite.
Stats; Punctures for Stunt, El Pres and Dunc, lighting faff, Slim, gear cable failure Mr I.
The same crew as last week assembled with the addition of a fully restored Mr I and his faithful Marin. Another Thursday of forecasted high winds lead to some debate about suitable routes, and with an advertised burger night at the Park Tavern a decision was made – short spin in the shelter of the forest and then burgers at a new venue!
The first faff of the night saw Stunt begging spare tubes in Barracks Lane before a slight tail wind pushed us up OBR and across the zig. Back on OBR Slim realized that he had charged the wrong battery and chose a spot in the teeth of a freshening gale to carry out his faff.
Up and down Teggs which was spectacularly slippery, with everyone except “3 sheds the brave” taking the RHS option. As we climbed up past the welcoming glow of the lights of the Leathers there was some talk of “stuff the burgers let’s stop here” but we bravely cranked on. At the witches cottage the group split, some heading for the top whilst others climbed through Narnia.
It wasn’t quite Fort William in June, but charging down Charity to chants of “allez, allez” from a small crowd gathered at the end of Narnia was surreal. Despite all the new bits on the revitalized Marin, Mr I snapped the gear cable – something about horseshoe nails; but time was marching on and the time to get to the park was a bit of an unknown. Another split, some went to Standing Stone with a LHS descent others followed Mr I down the decent grande direct.
It was hoodies on and lights off for a bit of urban through town and up to the very welcoming Park Tavern. There is no rear entrance so it was bikes through the hallway, past the kitchen and out the back.
Sadly for the second week on the run El Pres was left behind, lost in the woods or the streets or somewhere. Once is unfortunate, twice careless, three times possibly signs of a coup in the offing.
As the sister ship to the Vale all the familiar beers from the Happy Valley were present along with a selection of gourmet burgers which weren’t. Failing to fully heed PtD’s warnings the burger order went in a little late which left our seven hungry chums with the remaining six meaty burgers and one veggie; sorry Dunc. Now Mr I has provided table chips from all over the world for TNR but tonight he failed – “sorry no chips we don’t have an extractions system” came the reply. The toilet based attempt at humour which constituted the repost is not worthy of these pages.
The conversation started at a remarkably high level with concerns over the removal of the cap on the Swiss franc and how it affected our offshore investments but soon returned to normal with the arrival of the mythical El Pud, and then hit rock bottom (sorry) with Dunc’s description of the Picolax thread.
A normal finish to a slightly different ride