Words by Alex, Photos by Pete
Crew: El Pres, Slim, Troll, G, Stunt
Pub: Dunc, Ruth
Route: Bottom of Zag, Zag, Teggs, Leathers, Witches cottage, Hacked way lane, Chazza, Forest Chapel, Leathers.
Conditions: Cold, damp, miserable.
Even the most stiff upper lipped chap might now be getting mildy annoyed at the persistent rain, cold and general grimness of what is allegedly “Spring” with winter like conditions for yet another Thursday night.
Despite this a core of riders assembled at Backeddisbury lane for a forestish loop where the trails are generally well drained, and with even Teggs covered by low cloud – the route options are quite limited.
G arrives on time shocker! and what is this, the e machine is different, shiny Whyte and new. Lighter and more MTB like than the previous “Moto” style iteration, it is indeed a nice looking bike (and not that much heavier than some of our acoustic sussers – so very liftable over stiles!).
It’s the inaugural ride for the new steed, at the other end of the spectrum Pete is discussing replacement rear shock bolt(bush?) after a decade of service on the JPS special orange five, and Stunt shows the tie wrap around his main pivot bolt – which is badly worn but does not seem to be available as a replacement part (much threadlock used to hold it in).
Bike geekery over, it’s time to ride (too cold & wet to faff about), and we opt to to the Zag and head into Teggs on the main path given that there are not likely to be many dog walkers about in this weather.
On that score we only saw two hardy ladies who gave us a friendly welcome as fellow nutters out in the grim weather.
The Teggs descent was best tackled taking lines on the rocky bits – as anything remotely green was soft and slimy!
The Shrubberies is coming along nicely it seems – Doors and windows in evidence! 🙂
We drop into the Leathers and order food for later, then back out to do our Forest loop.
Some tree felling on the RHS of the track up to Witches cottage, not wholesale clearance, more some thinning (so far).
Some lung busting effort needed on Hacked Way lane (or some e assist!) before tackling Charity.
Regrouping at the top of Chazza, G asks how many are tubeless with Troll admitting that even with his new rear tyre he still has a tube, El Pres glances at his own rear tyre and curses loudly – he was thinking what is that big slug doing on my wheel…when it dawns on him that it is a black inner tube hernia of impressive proportions!
The tyre has come away from the bead (yet again) – No BANG this time, but a third identical failure from three new tyres is suggesting a root cause. However we need to get him to the pub, a short discussion opts for the simplest and quickest solution (it’s not a night to be faffing in the cold and wet). A plastic patch on the outside of the tyre held in place by two tie wraps.
With off road both ways, we opt for the main chazza descent (El Pres to walk the chunky bits) then road back from Forest chapel.
It survives charity, but the plastic is moving a bit, so a third tie wrap and some tyre pressure adjustment is made.
He makes the pub in gentle freewheel mode!! A classic tie wrap win (and it turns out these are holding in the hernia without the need for the plastic (which came out anyway).
Warm fires, complementary hot arancini (deep fried risotto balls), and some dry layers and all is good.
Chortling as “cashlow” Kershaw has a cold and dead phone – which = no apple pay, the tech changes but the moniker sticks!
It’s an Adnams IPL (we never work out what the L stands for) ale, artisan style food, and plenty of banter and gentlemens Philsophical discussions. Suspicions that Troll reads up on wikipedia on wednesdays in order to quote niche facts!
Northumbrian bagpipes are heard from the far side, and a vast improvement on the Rainow ukeleies! A win for Langley 😉
Dunc arrives to join the table, and Ruth not long after.
G manages to coax the i device back into life long enough to pay his main bill, but is tempted into a further pint not long after, and we will delight in having to cover his bill for him 😉
Definitely a night for a stiff whisky before venturing back out into the wet for a cold ride home (with extra glass in the tesco underpass for the Tythy boys).
El Pres has a spare tyre (courtesy of Ruth) which he opts to carry and venture home on the three tie wrap fix. Three rings later he confirms he got home on them!
Time for some strongly worded comms with Shwalbe marketing dept methinks!