Early call from Howard to bring extra inner tubes as he, John and Paul had been out for a warm up ride and had got five punctures between them. It seems someone has been sabotaging the trails by knocking nails into logs (this particular log was about eight feet long) and leaving them on the edges of the ditches! Luckily only punctures, I can’t imagine the damage these 2-inch long nails would do to a horse, dog, child or a rider who fell on them.
If anyone encounters this in the future please report it to the Rangers who will come and collect the logs as evidence. If you could take photos before moving the logs first this will also help.
A very large number of riders who assembled in the car park on a slightly chilly morning! The list of those present at the start, Claire, Helen, Jane, Kat, Mary, Minna, Sonia, Tracy, Adam, Andy, Cathal, Gentle John, Graham, Howard, Ian, Jim, John Mc, Neil, Pat, Paul P, Slim, Tony and myself.
We lost Graham early on to a jumping rear derailleur, not happy after last week’s troubles!
Over Butlers for a few circuits, and Ching crossings before heading back over Rangers to meet Glen and Michael. Trails and bridleways to cross the very quiet ENR at the ridges for the sprint to lunch. ENR was closed as there had been a hit and run and police were looking for evidence.
We lost Claire, who called to say she couldn’t get through the police tape and was heading home, on the run to the cheesy grin fest but gained Greg and Richie who jumped ship from the Rads as we crossed paths. During lunch a little light shower but not enough to wipe off the cheesy grins!
Claire arrived for lunch just as we were leaving and Tony headed off for the short route back.
Greg locked up his cassette and left us at Indian Summer and the rest of us wended our way to the swing bomb hole for climbing lessons and stump riding tips from Gentle John who scored a 4.9 this week for an amazing recovery that looked like he meant to do it.
Over Golding’s Hill for more meandering round the deer trail and nearly the rooty climb!
Back over ENR and on to HB then Dave’s decent and back to no name where we picked up Wendy, on to the car park and on to the SH, where the Rads and beige were already in place and the bike rack was full to overflowing. Arrivals from Tammy with the beautiful Ania-Itzel, Dawn and Ted, Ann and daughter all added to the numbers as we settled for another longish debrief after a longish ride of more than 20 miles.
Great group again this week with some great banter, great trails, great weather, great fun, just great!
Dave
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