2-Headed Dave

Following Thursday nights' successful Leith/Redlands jaunt with Dave2, Mark, Andy & Tom (taking in Milton Gore, Bombholes, Ghurka, Windy Willows, Bossanova, Personal Hygene, No Cycles, Regurgitator, Foot and Mouth and finally Firebeater) Saturday brought a smaller crew of three riders.

Heading over to Peaslake at 0800 by car & van Mark2, Dave and I popped into Pedal and Spoke for some final directions to a trail on Winterfold and then headed up to the summit of Pitch. From there we dropped down to the quarry car park and climbed up to the Windmill. We tried a drop I had discovered last week (and filmed it for posterity) and then carried on to "2-headed dog" (another feature I had located last week). Having left instructions about the severity of the 2nd section and the need to kill your speed I rolled down and set up the camera to film Dave's first attempt. Dave hit the first drop quickly and didn't appear to brake at all before the second, flying over it and crossing up the handlebars, whilst dropping several feet and landing dramatically on his head and shoulder.

He scraped loads of skin off his shoulder, ripping his sub gear armoured top in the process and complained of a sore head and wobbly vision! Mark and I administered some first aid on his shoulder which was gleaming white with adipose tissue!

As Dave was now showing all the symptoms of concussion we decided to head back to the cars. However as we passed the trail head for "Orange Clawhammer / Christmas Pudding" Dave felt well enough to have a look. It's a cracking bit of singletrack and I look forward to riding it in anger soon. We headed back to the car park via some nice flowing trails and had a cup of tea and some food at Peaslake. Dave went to the Doctors later and was confirmed as concussed.

On sunday I went for a ride with Rog from Head for the Hills. He led up onto Ranmore via the Pilgrims Way and took me to a completely new area on the Denbies side. A corking trail split into 3 sections christened RWR (Red, White & Rose) it will be a welcome addition to our thursday evening repetoire. We then took on the horrid Box Hill climb to ride China Pig - very fast at the moment and then ascended again onto the back side of Box Hill. From here we rode over heathland to the old water tower which is the start of one of the gnarliest descents I've ever ridden! Rooty, skinny and off-camber to start with it drops into a huge bermed bowl which is so steep I basically hung off the back and locked up both wheels all the way down - it's like Numbskull, Blind Terror and Abba Zabba turned up to 11!

It spits you out (literally) to the old lime pits in Brockham and we took the rode back to Dorking from there. Gnarly dude!