words by Eric, Pics by Pete & Butty
Crew; El Pres, Butty, Slim, Stunt, TJ, PTD, Dr S, Luc, Eric
Pub; Dunc
Route; BL, New Buxton Road to the Cat, Danebower, Quarry, 3 Shires, field, Cumberland Brook, Standing Stone, routes various to Sutton Hall.
Conditions; Summer – with wind, lots of wind.
Stats; El Pres, Odd noise; Stunt, chain entanglement.
Offs; Non admitted to
Good to see Luc on a flying visit “home” and riding the very swanky ex works BMC carbon something, now under the care of Slim at Austin racing and also Dr Simon back in the fold and all armoured up for some serious rocky action.
PtD had declared an end to the outbreak of roadie rowdyism and planned a route which took in every rocky descent in the area – no one complained. That is to say no one complained until we turned out of BL and into a nasty headwind which seemed unrelenting as we slogged up towards the Cat. El Pres was delayed by one of those mystery rattles which sound as though they ought to be serious but which you can’t find – by half way up he’d worked out that it was nothing more than a faulty break and sped off towards the top.
During the summit regroup Butty demonstrated his rear facing Hero Pro Cameramagig, all set up backwards in the hope of getting some shots of the faces of the pursuing peloton as he sped down in the lead. It is fair to say that there was some little scepticism in the ranks as we set off but the final results are proof positive that the idea works; very well.
With all the tracks bone dry it was expected that Danebower might be a bit of a white knuckle ride but the wind put paid to that as despite pedaling as hard as possible; flat out remained unobtainable.
Down then, into the quarry where flat out is undesirable, and PtD was showing that despite being in rehab he hadn’t lost his touch in the difficult stuff. The dry tracks then made the drop to 3 Shires extra special. It’s not clear why the traditional summer swim didn’t take place this year, where is Big Events when you need leadership?
On the climb out Stunt suffered chain entanglement but of more concern was the suspicion that another case of stuck Maxle was breaking out. There is now a plan to replace the snifter stop on a future ride with a compulsory greasing session – details to be announced.
Everyone safely negotiated Cumberland Brook and made it to the car park at Standing Stone, much to the disappointment of the guy in the red golf seen hurriedly re-trousering. Time for a taste of Sean’s not whisky, and for not whisky it tasted like rather fine whisky. The lad seems to have found his vocation and long may the supply continue. Suitably fortified and with food orders in jeopardy it was everyone for themselves to Sutton Hall with the LHS proving a fine final choice from PtD.
If this was rehab PtD, then we look forward to the “fully fit now” route – well most of us will look forward to it, all except Butty who will now be forever looking backward to it!
“Maybe I just have everything backwards. Maybe it’s a problem of perspective. In this Post-Modern Age perhaps it is the digital experiences we ought to cheer as “genuine” and not those troublesome and inconvenient analog ones. Looking at it all f£cking backwards.”
Author: Caitlín R. Kiernan
