After what seemed like an eternity Rich arrived, and for the first time, Rich and Jim met... face to face, and not just via email exchanges. Rich pointed out that he was happy to have finally met Jim and to confirm that I hadn't just invented another friend to make me seem more popular. I have to say though, that he'll never meet Bob, Pete, Kev and Bill!!
We set off in sunshine and headed up Leith Hill, showing Jim some of our usual haunts. We rode the first section of summer lightning, which was nice and dry after all the sun we've had, and flowed well. Rich stonking off on his new bike.
En route to the Coldharbour cricket pitch we gave Jim his first view of the now legendary run that is deliverance!! We left it alone until later and headed off towards the tower via Coldharbour cricket pitch and taking in what I call the rollercoaster... I think we should name it that – boys? The last down arrived in a soggy bombhole which we couldn't help but hit and cover ourselves in mud (much to Rich's disgust... his new bike getting dirty!!). This was Jim's first attempt and he made a pretty good attempt – didn't quite make it up the other side, but didn't fall off, and managed to shuffle the few steps to the crown.
Arriving at the bottom of the steep climb to the tower, we explained to Jim the challenge, but we let him off the normal penalty of “he who steps down first buys the teas”, which is just aswell as no sooner had we embarked on the climb, than Jim's foot went down.. D'Oh!! Rich and I made it up in one piece with no feet, and Rich pointed out that was a 100% for him on his new bike.. 3 out of 3... he was very proud. As we were at the tower we stopped for an early tea (well it would be rude not to!), and to show Jim the sights of Leith Hill!!
Quick tea down and off to Mark's jump (remember that one of a few weeks ago? The one that means Mark hasn't been out with us since?). Rich cleared, and Jim was next. He had some good speed but braked at the base and then decided to stop dead just on the lip of the jump, teetering on the edge...somehow he managed to stay on the bike and back down.... our first refusal of the day! Me?... well.... my rear brake was not working and my front brake was working too well... my confidence was therefore low for the whole ride and the bike just wasn't sitting comfortably for me – or maybe I wasn't sitting comfortably on it. I made the decision that discretion was the better part of valour today, and kept my riding firmly on the ground.
On to the quarry, which to our surprise had been bulldozed and so all the challenging drop offs (which we were all building ourselves up to over the last few months), were inaccessible or gone! We therefore skipped through the quarry and onto High Ashes Farm, and the link to Holmbury St Mary. The route was nice, but had some remarkably deep muddy patches which proved a little difficult to avoid! We arrived in one piece in Holmbury St Mary and quickly made our way through the village and onto Holmbury Hill. On our way up we passed a group having some tuition on essential map reading skills!!! Skipping the summit, we went straight over to join Radnor road and down to the reservoir at the start of Barry Knows Best. A quick diversion into the large open area next to the reservoir ensued, to check out the log playground... which unfortunately was all tidied up... except for a particularly large pile of logs. Rich took the decision to see how far up the logs he could get and made a decent attempt... before goading me to do the same. At some speed I hit the lop pile and made a fair attempt, but not quite as high as Rich. Being easily spurred on, and being the competitive kind of bloke I am, I had to attempt it a second time... this time I got a tyre tread higher than Rich.... I'm sure I did...honestly!!
After our little jaunt we made for a smooth run down Barry Knows Best, which was particularly dry and delivered a smooth ride. We arrived at Peaslake and obviously had to partake in tea and flapjack and show Jim what this mountain biking lark was all about. Given time constraints, we had no time to visit Pitch today, so we headed off for the steady climb up Radnor Road. Across Holmbury Rich found a little rooty route (alliteration!!!) which led us to the clearing in which we'd earlier spotted the map reading group – long since gone, and probably lost!!
Through Holmbury and then taking the bridleway back up to Leith. A bit of a slog, but easier in the dry – provided we could avoid the muddy bombholes... which I couldn't, and proceeded to get covered – worse than a winter's ride!! Onto Leith and back up to the tower – no tea this time, but headed back down to a favourite play area, persuading Jim to come with us, even though his legs had expired (I know that feeling!!). A little play, and a test of the video on my new camera, followed by a little game of “hunt the sunglasses”, we headed back to the summit. Over the top and down personal hygiene, we headed back towards Coldharbour cricket pitch, and then taking in the sights, arrived at deliverance. Rich caned it in style, Jim and I opted for the slightly easier route down – but I have to say, still a little bit of a challenge – especially with no rear brake!!
Heading through the woods, I lost sight of Rich. Arriving at cut through I looked down to see Rich on the floor with his new bike next to him!! Front wheel hit a particularly wet root and he'd lost it. First witness of Rich's first fall on his new bike – I feel privileged!! We arrived back at the cars at precisely 1230 – bang on time!
Check out more photos on our flickr link and more videos on our youtube link.
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