Snow, What Snow????

A lot of moaning going on about the weather, but, 32 years ago, this type of weather bothered us less. It was I believe February 1978 when Mick Ayliffe, Nick "Dinky" Dunkley, Steve Edgar and yours truly set off on one of Mick's 24 hour training rides to Bognor Regis on snow covered roads. Yes, 120 miles in really bad conditions.

But we were hard men. No overpriced bits of polystyrene on our heads. No fancy overshoes or gortex gloves. We just used to get on with it. However, were cautious and rode down Givens Grove because of the icy conditions.

It was of course an epic ride. Nick riding ahead of us by 20 yards for no reason for parts of the ride and getting soaked in slush from a passing vehicle. Slogging up Bury Hill, arriving in Bognor for eats looking like coal miners who had just finished a shift.

On the way back my left hand crank came loose and thank God for those old dumbbell multi-spanners. Mick whacked the crank on with a brick and it was tightened back on and lasted until I got home. What a day it was, the sort of day that one remembers and when the weather turns bad thinks "I've been out in worse conditions than this!"

On another topic, Robert Douglas and I went on a ride to Hindhead in freezing conditions, a good 80 miles, and on reaching Milford on the way back I found that my bottle had frozen decending Hindhead!

Don't beleive the climate change scaremongers, it has been as bad as this before!

Snow more sitting at home

If you're anything like me, anything more than about 20 minutes from stepping off your bike after your last ride, you start getting withdrawal symptoms, paranoia about hard earned fitness ebbing away, and a maddening need to immediately check that all is well with your machine (you know, in case any annoying little ticks & noises have developed in the last five minutes of storage - the therapy still isn't working OK?!). So, after a week or more of snow and more importantly ice (always try & steer clear of the slippy stuff kids,) I was climbing the walls and kicking the cat. Which is slightly worrying, because I don't own a cat. Anyway, long story short, with the Hell of the Ashdown a couple of weeks away, I was determined to get a few rides in this week so long as the icy conditions abated a bit. The fresh snow, and Paul's previous post & pictures, at least gave me the inspiration and opportunity to climb on the MTB and get a few miles in. So, off to Epsom/Ashtead Common for a little exploration of the trails & some fun in the snow.

I had a great time & got some snaps in to boot - hope you enjoy. Conditions were OK, snow not too deep to hold up reasonable progress & fresh and grippy enough to inspire lots of confidence on the bike. The trails weren't too taxing, but it's good to get the blood pumping amidst such wonderful scenery. Strangely I seemed to be the only lunatic out there for some reason...

Anyway, my itch has been scratched (for at least the next 5 minutes) - an hour or two well spent. But, roll on the thaw eh?!

Happy trails,

Alex