Westgate ..Upper Weardale ,Tuesday 15.12.20

[The Hodge]

EMF and myself are more than likely to be in this vicinty purely by chance at the same time to meet up at 9.30 am ..
If any of you by chance happen to be in the same area at the same time it would be amazing..and we could perhaps ride with a 2m gap ..
The start of the ride is a bastard ..even though its on a road if you have one bring an oxygen tank ..however there is payback with some excellent off road riding and what goes up has to come down !
Bring a long wig a stick on tash round John Lennon style glasses and practice saying " far out man " ...in case the rozzers turn up and remember we all live together in an old hippy commune ..
Hope some of you can make it ..
Peace & Love brothers ..?
This is the meeting point ..at the car park in Westgate

Post below if you happen to think you will be in the same place at the same time

 

[Beezerk]

Bastards and your midweek rides ?

 

[The Hodge]

Unfortunately..midweek is the only time I get to ride as I work weekends ..it just suits the family lifestyle ..?
Never say never though ...

 

[The Hodge]

Well ..that was eventful!
Back early from the ride as it would appear that I forgot to tell EMF ( Wayne ) ..that todays outing was not scheduled to be a ride / swim / ride ?
I don't exactly know why ..given that the water temperature was closer to freezing than the tropical end of the scale he decided to take the bike into a mini lake..submerge the bike to over forks height then dive in head first and start swimming front crawl for all his might..as impressive as it was I sure as shit wasn't going to follow his lead !..I can only think that he had overheated on the lung busting climb out of Westgate initially on the road and then on the first section of offroad ..???
Anyway here are a few pics
The first off road climb..

The mini lake where Wayne had his swim ..these pics are after the event

Joking apart..hats off to you mate ..you were drenched & cold but gamely carried on for quite a while afterwards.
This one to be re- visited when there is slightly less water standing ..
The drop down off Race Head to Cowshill..

Still 13 miles covered before the cold finally forced us to abandon ..but what we did cover was excellent ..
Hope your phone is OK.. cheers for your company & craic
These bikes are something else...

 

[The EMF]

Great ride out today Neil........the cold got to me a bit on that last road section when we stopped.
Impressive climbs and great descents can’t wait to hit them trails in the semi-dry.
The bikes still continue to impress, 1700 ft of climbing in 13 miles and still had 4 bars of lecky left in the tank.
Good pics mate, didn’t quite catch the drama of the moment haha.......phone at the shop now, will find out the morn if it’s salvageable..
Take care and stay vertical

 

[richysgc]

room for a mackem next time @The Hodge? Mid weeks are best time for me Aswel. I say next time however i dont get my kenevo until feb ???

 

[The Hodge]

I will keep posting the rides ..join us when you can ..
My daughter was born in Sunderland General Hospital ..so I'm not totally against Mackems ??

 

[Zimmerframe]

Is it just me, or after @The EMF 's realisation that he wasn't Moses or Jesus, did he fall into character as Yoda instead ?

 

[The EMF]

Nahh just contemplating on where I could get a set of flat pedals big enough to accommodate a medium sized flipper ?

 

[richysgc]

I will keep posting the rides ..join us when you can ..
My daughter was born in Sunderland General Hospital ..so I'm not totally against Mackems ??

?? spot on mate, ill keep an eye out,