With Matt currently having one of his inuit* thingys, me being rather ambivalent and the rest of the Moles generally silent I thought I’d do a little round up of recent riding.

(*yeah, I know it should be ennui but it humored me!)

So, where to start? The last post was Wednesday 3oth May so from what i can remember Sunday 3rd was wet, miserable and generally lacking in any kind of enthusiasm. The few of us that turned up covered some 18 miles and stopped at Ali’s Cafe on Headley Heath, taking in the delights of hot bread pudding. Matt can keep his warm Eccles cake!

Wednesday evening was muddy in places but also surprising dry in others. We probably covered some 16 miles on this ride and I think there were 4 of us, PaulM, JonH, Lloyd and myself. We headed up Alsation, along the Roman Road and took in the delights of Alpine trail followed by a voluntary climb up to High Ashurst in order to try out my newly fitted 10 speed set up on the Kona. 11-36 with a 30t up front on a Middleburn CD spider. It worked flawlessly but the engine packed up on the left hand turn. We headed down into Brockham but found the bridlewy was still shut with very little useful warning. This forced us onto a footpath to rejoin the climb through Minefield. The ride ended with a slow and steady ride along China Pig although it was a lot less slippery than I had imagined.

And that brings us to today’s ride. It was billed as a Leith Hill classic ride but I think it might be one of the nouveau classics that have very little in common with the “real” classic. Anyway, with Mountain Mayhem 2012 looming a good long ride seemed in order (if for no other reason than to take my mind off the horrors in organisation that injuries and family duties cause 2 weeks before the said event).

A slightly bigger group of Karl, BigAl (leading), myself, Lloyd, Andrew, KevS, PaulM, Dandy and Jez headed up to Ranmore and then down Landrover. Wolverns Lane was soon dispatched and we headed down Simon’s Descent before doing a small loop with included what I knew as Deliverance 2 or Mini Deliverance. It bears no relation really but quite entertaining noises from those who had never ridden it. Singletrack lat between us and the tower and 2 falls for me on a revised Kona (lower forks as well, with lower pressure) had me scrabbling for the shock pump at the tower.

Wobbem arrrived while we were at the tower and we joined him on the way back for Personal Hygiene and Moonbase (chicken wings) followed by a highly unusual diversion down Reguritator. Summer lightning, route direction for lost DoE hikers and we were well on our way home.

So some typical rides, just not really had the inclination to post. Do sign up for the forum though and read that, Dandy’s fashion tips are always worth a laugh!

About the author

Dave's been riding seriously since about 1997 and is one of the founding Molefathers — along with Matt and Mark — that came up with the idea of a MTB website for Mole Valley riders.

He's had several different bikes but it's now mainly 29ers in Dave's stable, apart from an Orange 5.

Current Bikes: Orange 5, Salsa Spearfish and Kona Big Unit