MTB ride this Sunday 7th March

[higg]

Sylv wrote :

Planned MTB ride this Sunday 7th March - meet @ 10am at the taxi ranks outside East Croydon station
Pace moderate to fast
25 miles / 2.5-3h

I haven't talked to Sylv yet but it sounds like this will be a training pace ride.



Aodan.

[Sylv]

not quite a training ride but neither a sight-seeing one - if you can talk marco you're going too slow : )

[Rob C]

Hi Marco, I'd be up for a more chilled ride if you're still looking for company?

[Hal]

Planning on being there. Depends on how much beer consumed the eve before and if I get home or stay at my mates. If I am there I may have to peel off to head down to Reigate to collect my car.

Ta

Hal

[higg]

That sounds like a plan then.

Meet East Croydon at 10am and then split into two groups. easy pace or semi-training pace.



Aodan.

[kieran]

I plan to turn up - aiming for the fastish one

[Hal]

Still not sure what my plans are.

- If I'm there .... then I'm there.
- If I'm not there by 10:01 .... then I'm not there.

Thats quiet easy isn't it

H

[Sylv]

Don't worry about the pace too much - i struggled to complete the CR today

[Andrew G]

I was meant to be doing a Sporting TT this morning some of which is around the CR lanes. I got there, the car said -2 so I drove through the lanes and saw 3 patches of ice before I decided not to ride as I want to concentrate on racing when I'm racing not keeping an eye out for ice .

The up side to this was that I could get home have a cup of tea and hoof off to Croydon on the MTB .

I set off with Sylv leading Aodan, Keiran and myself on the faster ride. A completely new set of trails to me and I really enjoyed it, and the quicker pace. I was dropping back a bit on the longer drags as Sylv and Aodan took them in their stride, but Keiran and I soon got hooked back on. The toughest bit was when my wheels slipped sideways on slimy mud at the base of a long drag and I had to jump off the bike. No problem except that the chain had shipped so by the time I'd got it back on the others were way up the trail so i had a to put the hammer down for a while to catch them.

At about noon and by Ledger's Wood I had to turn off to get home which was a shame to miss the rest of it but a good ride and certainly cheered me up after another false start to the racing as I like the course and had been looking forward to it.

[Rob C]

Whooee, been a long time since I've been out on the bike. Fine weather and very good company in the slow group thanks to Marco and Ben, thoroughly enjoyable.

A couple of grainy photos for you...

[img]http://i45.tinypic.com/kby7ut.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i50.tinypic.com/25q63om.jpg[/img]

Aodan has some much less flattering ones somewhere...

[kieran]

A good ride, I surprised myself by being the first at East Croydon and then rewarded with a wait in the cold! At least it was sunny. Eventually we headed off in 2 groups. I went with Sylv who set a fast pace with no breaks except for him waiting at the top of each hill, there seemed to be a fair few of them as well. They were certainly good exercise and I was over 180bpm in the granny gear on one or two of them, but didn't have to dismount. Not sure which is worse, trying to follow Sylv on the road or off road, maybe off-road as his bike handling skills gives him an extra edge. The ground was mainly dry and most mud was pretty firm due to the low temperature. A few scary bits for a novice mtber like me but no accidents, although I did do a hasty dismount going down one very steep bit. Maybe some day I will do the WOD (does my insurance cover this type of stunt?). Home around 3pm so a bit later than expected but my wife had guessed as all the MTB rides end later than planned! Thanks for pointing me in the right direction home, Marco.

Got home, got my lunch, did the weeks shopping, cooked dinner, washed up and then showered!

[higg]

Well done Slyv for getting this going. And well done to Marco for being the only person to go down the wall of death and even climb back out again carrying his bike.

Good sunny weather even if it never really warmed up. Thankfully most of the ride was sheltered by trees which kept the worst of the wind away.


[img]http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs465.snc3/25550_344811241867_565591867_3647973_3630867_n.jpg[/img]


[img]http://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs465.ash1/25550_344811261867_565591867_3647975_3422088_n.jpg[/img]


[img]http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs465.ash1/25550_344811276867_565591867_3647977_6996308_n.jpg[/img]


Marco "doing" the wall of death the really hard way
[img]http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs465.snc3/25550_344811296867_565591867_3647979_1950824_n.jpg[/img]

[img]http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs465.snc3/25550_344811326867_565591867_3647982_4631693_n.jpg[/img]

[img]http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs465.snc3/25550_344811341867_565591867_3647983_4070143_n.jpg[/img]

[img]http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs445.snc3/25550_344811346867_565591867_3647984_6911731_n.jpg[/img]

[img]http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs465.snc3/25550_344811366867_565591867_3647986_5482447_n.jpg[/img]

[kieran]

Good pics, only the hills don't look as steep as they really were!

[Rob C]

Does anyone fancy doing something similar this Sunday, the 14th?

[Wal]

I'd love to join in but can't do Sundays as I have to take my daughter to swimming lessons. Any chance of a Saturday MTB ride? Ever?