Crew: El Pres, Puncture Pete, 3 Sheds, Troll, Dunc, Croxy, Lee, Butty, Stunt
Route: Bottom of Zag, Zag, Cat, Danebower hollow, A54, Wildboarclough, Standing stone, Sutton Hall.
Conditions: Cold & Still, wet trails.
Notes:
After the very wet December, and half a months rain in the first few days of Jan, it has finally stopped raining! Cold and dry is on the cards.
Tonight El Pres decrees that we revisit the classic Cat/Chumby/Forest loop to kick off our 2024 season.
A decent crew assemble, and with a couple to catch us up, set off for the off road start, before hitting the long tarmac climb. With Croxy on the eGravel machine in the lead, there were drafting opportunities – if you could keep up!!
A mini top gear challenge at the tea rooms – Stunt goes up the off road, Dunc stays on the road.
At the crest Dunc is clearly in front, but the downhill momentum gets the off road route a winning finish as that extra speed converts to a road overtake on the last straight!
Waiting in the lee of the Cat n Fiddle like the four riders of the apocalypse as mist swirls over the top of us, we look back to count the lights still on their way.
Lee and Butty have caught and passed our stragglers, with our slim salad dodger coming in last muttering about his front tyre squirting fluid!
Detailed inspection determines a nail – but it has now sealed with the tubeless juice. Pressure is a bit low so out comes (a very shiny sleek lezyme pump) and after fitting the wrong end of the hose he gets to work.
Only as he removes the hose does the trouble really start…the core has come out with it…it won’t screw back it? ahah! the top section of the valve casing has snapped off!! removing it from the core – he discovers that there is not enough thread left in the remaining stump.
Does he have a spare valve? no he (or we) do not..(Note chaps pack a spare tubless valve in your box of trail bits).
El Pres does have an inner tube – so whilst Butty helpfully finds audio of Pete mutterings about tubeless tyres from an old Croxy tubelss faff many moons ago, the tyre is removed, the inner face checked for sharp bits (amongst the slime and snot) and the tube fitted.
Inflated it’s firm, but then juice is seen escaping…meaning that air is leaking…slowly any chance of riding on is fading. One last shot – the CO2 cannister is deployed (hilariously – as he’s managed to set if off before being attached to the valve!) it’s all to no avail, it won’t be hard enough to negotiate the fast decent to the forest, let alone over standing stone.
Lee offers a rescue plan – and head off home to get the car, El Pres stays with Pete as they walk to the Tea rooms, and the rest head over the road to a now shortened ride.
Danebower has a big hole in the bridge on the right hand side (as we had been warned by Bern beforehand) but after the gate even this trail is wet and horrible over the top, having been standing around in temps not much above freezing at the Cat our extremities are now complaining! Cold and stiff fingers are starting to affect riding on the rocky fast section to the main road.
We need to ride hard to generate warmth, and opt for the road into Wildboarclough in order to speed our way to the pub.
Glancing down at the farm we see 5 sets of lights making their way up the field from 3 shires..they must be having a sloppy time of it down there!!!
With the comforting sound of crunchy salty under our tyres down the fast tarmac, we are more cautious turning into the ungritted minor road into Wildboarclough, no frost or ice tonight thankfully. Mostly now able to at least feel fingers and toes by the time we top out at Standing stone, we are still in need of warmth, and carry straight on down to the Pub.
Six bikes and only two locks – but somehow one long , and one average one goes a long way 🙂
As we sup our first beer, comms are established with the recovery group, their food orders taken, and we get to settle down in the back corner and thaw out.
slightly amusing that they have put us there – as there are only 3 other tables occupied in the whole place – the January drought in evidence!
El Pres is soon with us, whilst Lee and Pete arrive half an hour later having dropped the car back at Lees, and ridden up on Lees bikes (Pete swapping his 5 for Lees clockwork orange).
“Last years snow” and the ever popular Titanic plum porter keep us refreshed, the food has definitely suffered from shrinkflation – the baguette might be better described as a slightly larger than average bread roll, and Dunc gets glares from the other pie eaters when his comes with chips as well as mash by happy accident. Butty get’s it right with double starters!
Not the best customer service attitude from our table server when presenting us with the bill, and tippage was reduced to a minimum as a result.
Unlocking the bikes can you guess what Pete discovered – a flat tyre!! earning him a new nickname!
Tbf this one was not his fault, more that the bike he had been loaned had not been ridden for a while, and needed some more sealant to sort out a rim leak.
All were home without too much jepoardy reported on the three rings roundup.