Bikes and Beer. Mmmmm….
Top ride last night, although given that as I left work it started raining *again* I was less than optimistic that the weather would hold out. I was quite pleased to be proved wrong though and when we pulled up in Hayfield it was nice to find that there was just a haze in the air, enough to take off the heat. Still a bit humid though.
Martyn had phoned to cry off citing work (again), so it was a pleasant surprise to see that Dave 360 had decided to come out and play in his place. Campervan arrived a tad late in his souped up boy racer car, almost knocking over one of the local chavs as he pulled into the car park. I was concerned that the large massing of local youths might decide to show their displeasure at this act while we were out, but my lack of faith in human nature is apparently misplaced, the cars were fine.
Nice ride up the road and back down Elle Bank - made it over the bridge onto the new singletrack but dabbed when my front wheel hit a big stone and stopped dead. Campervan hit one of the huge waterbars just a little too fast and punctured the back wheel - nice double snakebite, and of course he’d left his spare inner tubes in the car. The first one out of my bag proved to be also in need of repair, but the second one held. By the time we got moving again I appeared to have been the main course for half the insect population of the area. My legs are a tad colourful this morning, shall we say.
Up to Kinder reservoir, Dave cleaned the cobbles (I think, anyway, I was pushing as I was on the SS so I never saw him!) but the climb round the corner defeated all of us. Quick circular tour of William clough and back up to the shooting cabins then back to the cars on road. Campervan kindly agreed to drop me off on the way home, so Jane went back for a shower while we went to the pub. My first pint of Wadworth 6X barely touched the sides and the others had plenty left, so I had a second while we chatted about things and stuff. My “rhetorical” question “well, we’ve all finished, shall we go or shall we get another one in” brought the surprising reply that we should get another one. Gulp. 3 pints in one night? That’s pushing it, especially after a ride. Still, it was very tasty and I managed to walk to the car without falling over. I even feel quite good today 