Re:
Hi folks,
Finally got to the computer! :roll: AND with photos!
But no vids. Yet
So, after a jaunt into deepest Gloustershire on Saturday, I turned up at THM's pad far earlier than he was probably hoping for, and to add insult to injury, without agreed
PIE! . Wimperings about Cheltenhams one way system seemed to get me off the hook, but I was still summoned to '
THE SHED !, and was trapped inside by some manky old Kona, until I agreed to buy summat from him. Adding to the ordeal, I actually had to take said parts from the bike that was wearing them. Which was the hardest one to get to! :facepalm:
Long, story short, I left there with a pleasantly full tum, thanks to Mrs Hm's homemade curry - not sure what was in it, but there appeared to be one dog less on my departure. Hmmm! :shock: - along with bike parts, some retro mobile phones and chargers, plus a road map of Belgium. :roll: Yes, really!
Arrived at the b&b, to sort stuff out quickly before I had a kip.
Was hoping to wear my newly acquired jersey,
But owing to the weather on the Saturday, heavy rain, brief Sun, hail :shock: and more rain, it stayed in the dry. Along with the Ritchey that I'd wanted to ride
So to ride day! Opened the curtains to a bright sunny day, excellent!
Met up with Retro Spud in the car park, taking a quick piccy of our steeds before signing on.
Seemed to recognise one of our own, doing the same
Who was that again?
Then the off! Yippee!
Oh, soddit, we're at the back! :facepalm:
Well, it started really well. For maybe a mile. When RS could feel his left crank loosening. That's ok thought I, I have an 8mm a/k even if he doesn't.
WRONG! This very purple - sorry RS - magenta
crank had a cover over it, maybe 5 or 6mm a/k, which unscrewed to reveal a 14mm SRP ti or alloy bolt. Ah, fcuk! :facepalm: No tool for that. :roll:
So I had a plan. Race back to THM's place, and raid his tool shed! Thankfully, Mrs THM was in, maybe cooking another dog?
, and let us in, where we found the said tool for the job. Nipped it up. And off we trotted DFL! It didn't take long for us to catch other folk though. Taking it with us proved to be a good plan too, as the fcuker kept getting loose.
Must be alloy, right?
It was a lovely day though
Some of the trails were unbelievably hard to ride through though, such was the wet, deep mud. We were all reduced to walking in parts.
RS was loving it so much, that he insisted on taking some of it home with him!
Much to the amusement of those around him! Along with THM as it happened :facepalm: He just seemed to stop, and fall straight over!
Then he started to walk, when others were getting back on again
:roll:
At which point, I gave up with the camera,
dead battery and decided to just enjoy the ride instead.
We met up with Coleman, on his really retro Salsa
and rode for a bit with him . I did get some video footage of this, along with some other bits, but need to work out how to upload them.
Also, he mentioned the guv'nor was there, I did wonder who that was on the cx bike. But was on bike guard duties, so couldn't go and say 'ello.
We left Coleman at the 50km/100km split, and I got a dirty look from RS as we went straight on along the longer ride, instead of turning off. It wasn't to be the last time!
At around 64km , as RS did his crank up again, I was cleaning some of the goo from my gears. But as we started to ride on again, I noticed I had a flat tyre! :facepalm: My wheel couldn't have been any muddier. :facepalm: Soddit!
Eventually got the thorn out of the tyre, another tube in, somehow, the mud made it a lot easier to get it back on, than it was to get off! :evil: Only for it to go back down again!
Tyre back off - I'm getting this down to a fine art now - and tyre checked for other thorns. Thankfully, it turned out to be a spare that was still punctured. So in with the second one, and we're rolling again ! :roll:
At around 70km, there was another checkpoint, which proved to be our last, as we were outside the limit to do 10km loop that was part of the 100km ride.
So on we carried, the wind starting to pick up noticeably now, and finally back into Winchcombe, behind some other riders.
Now I didn't see any signs back into the start finish area, but I'd gathered the riders in front, had. Fcuking triathletes! Should have known better than to follow them!
Thankfully, I know this place so well now, that I knew where to go, to get back to the finish. And so we did.
A good days' riding, followed by a quick bike wash, and a ride to the b&b to clean up !
Lovely
Thanks for your company, RS
Hope you enjoyed it buddy
THE END
can I have my tea, now?
Mike
