Many years ago we had a good group of Offroad riders but gradually they moved- gave up riding- died or just disappeared. One of those riders- Barry- moved away about 10 years ago but this weekend he came back for a visit. In deference to his lack of fitness we decided to give him a gentle ride.
Got away late as Martyn was working early so at 9:30 am we collected him from work and down for Pie and coffee.
Coconut and raspb&.jpg Martyn..jpg Barry..jpg
Coconut and Raspberry Pie and it was not as good as it looked. Martyn had the Apple as usual but Barry looked dead already.
All done on road to this stage and it was obvious that the gentle ride was going to be the right choice. But we still had to get up on the hills. Only 800ft to climb but in one hit over the space of 1 mile.
Hill road..jpg Wheelie..jpg just resting..jpg
This is the first pic I have that shows some of the severity of this road- but this is not the steep bit. Didn't put Barry off and I must admit that Barry has been missed since he left. No matter how much you punish him- he always comes back and surprises you. His trick used to be to pass you up the steep hills doing a wheelie. He didn't pass anyone today- but he can still do a wheelie- even if it did take his final reserves away.
Now I do have plenty of Offroad pics but they are all the same- Green(Or rather Brown this year) Rolling hills and the Trail of the South Downs Way. However a couple put in to show that I did actually get offroad but it does not show the fast downhill- or the tricky broken trail in places or the speed (Or lack of it) that I was doing to keep a rider back with Barry.
Pushing..jpg Ground shot..jpg Walking again..jpg Walking..jpg
However it does show how tired Barry was. He had to walk the gentle 8% slopes by the end. This ride does have a couple of Abandon points to it so after about 10miles offroad- we took to the road to get Barry back in one piece. Wasn't long before he recovered but we kept his speed down. Good job we did as juat as we got home he decided his legs had gone- his shoulders and arms fell apart and he did not want to sit on a saddle again ----EVER.
Don't worry- He'll be back