11 riders - 13 miles
Pre-ride sheningans
Apologies for absence:
This week Faff was mostly ill with no symptoms.
And TSJ lost his car or lost his keys or lost his car and keys.
Lots of faffing for Mr Meccano due to a light battery charging failure. Just use the force…..
The ride
The South Downs chalk promised to behave, but less supportive were to be the roots and ditches.
So on a chilly February evening 11 braves Shabis set off...up a hill. A few lanes and tracks led us down the flinty hill at some speed working our way towards Kingley Vale.
Some fun fast descending through Wildhams Wood – just like being in Star Wars.
Riding up the firetrack towards the aforementioned summit, MM was keen to point out site of ancient interest (or should that be ancient sites of interest) particularly the site of MM’s comedy off and air ambulance extravaganza of December 2021, but no-one was interested, quite rightly.
Time flies when you are having fun, so we turned back before reaching the top - and that was the start of the trouble. Both carrying injuries - the riders who should not fall off, fell, and those that should didn’t.
Smashie had a close encounter with a muddy root system and Slumpy defied logic and gravity (albeit very briefly) by adopting a crow flies strategy to ditch crossing. Which just goes to prove that we should not just, for safety purposes, rely on people looking where they are going.
Time to head back to the pub via the flooded valley road, avoiding the flood.
Warm hospitable pub, lovely food, But no-one had the Fish Pie.
Nature encountered:
Albino Taliban Badger:1
Owl: 1
Small mammal: 1
Mr Meccano
JC – no T
Bigring – no meal
Smashie – Fall
Slash
Genghis
Slumpy the Phoenix
Nurse Brown
Gary Numan – no T
Tonya
LBD
