Whitley Chapel 5.2.22

[The Hodge]

Late shout for anyone interested ..but just this minute arranged .
Meeting at 10.00am at the village hall..
A nice mix of moorland singletrack & the rock fest that is Broadway near the end ..

 

[Richywalker64]

We would love to come along if you have room for two more

 

[The Hodge]

We would love to come along if you have room for two more

Hi Richy..my apologies as I've just seen your reply ( early to bed ..early to rise )..
Of course it's OK..look forward to seeing you later if my reply reaches you in time ..

 

[The Hodge]

Well it wasn't to be in terms of meeting up with Richy and his mate ..another day for sure.
In a way that is quite fortunate on their part as we had to abandon the planned route about half way around ..leaving the technical riding over Fell View & The Broadway for a better day ..
Having left Whitley Chapel on what once was exquisite singletrack ..but is now nothing more than a rough shooters track it immediately became apparent that we would be riding into a Gale Force wind and stinging rain ..the forecast last night said that there would be passing showers but they got this totally wrong as the rain never let up and neither did the wind ..
Having got as far as the road at Sinderhope ..Jaco questioned our sanity in terms of continuing..as he was really suffering with the cold and it didn't take much persuading for myself and Wayne to agree to turning back the way we had come and take advantage of a wind assisted blast back ..
In terms of what we were wearing ..we each had on what we assumed to be full technical waterproof clothing fully layered up but such was the severity of the conditions everything was soaked through on our return ..my sealskin socks on their second outing had me pouring about a half pint of water out from the inside!
I can quite safely say that in 25 years of mountain biking that this was the coldest I have ever been and nearly hypothermic at the end as I was blue and shaking ..
On days like today you have just got to concede defeat ..but we gave it a good try ..
Cheers boys ..

 

[Richywalker64]

The forecast did look horrendous this morning and I was surprised you guys were still going out
Got to take my hat off to you for giving it a go tho

It wasn't a great day for us at Dalby either, I had covered about 6 miles when the bike threw a fault code e010 which is not uncommon on the Shimano system but then started giving a w013 which I believe is the torque sensor
I'll take a look tomorrow as I'm too tired after peddling back to the car from Dixons hollow with no assistance

 

[The EMF]

That was some ride this morning…..
(Good to see Neil and Jaco)
Howling gale, horizontal rain that stung ya face, and after all that, even having to abandon the techy stuff it was still character building, never been so cold and wet 🌬

 

[The Hodge]

Take 2 ..unfinished business!
So after being defeated last month ..let's see what the route can throw at us on Saturday 12.3.22..
The EMF , Jaco & myself so far ..anyone else ?

 

[Richywalker64]

I can't make it unfortunately as I'm stuck offshore and don't have a motor in my bike yet

 

[The Hodge]

I can't make it unfortunately as I'm stuck offshore and don't have a motor in my bike yet

Shame ..but I'm sure we will tackle it again Richy

 

[The EMF]

I can't make it unfortunately as I'm stuck offshore and don't have a motor in my bike yet

How long have you been waiting for a new motor?……seems like a long time

 

[Richywalker64]

How long have you been waiting for a new motor?……seems like a long time

It doesn't seem too long, maybe 6 weeks or so in total
But I work offshore for 3 weeks at a time so its only been 1 full field break of 3 weeks that I've been without a bike
I got a phone call yesterday to say its ready
The bike is almost 3 and a half years old but Start cycles got in touch with Shimano who have sent me a new motor free of charge
There's only a £40 labour charge to pay so I'm well chuffed

 

[The EMF]

That’s brilliant…..is that Start Cycles in the Toon ?

 

[Richywalker64]

Yeah it is, they've been really good

 

[The EMF]

Yeah it is, they've been really good

I bought a Santa Cruz Bronson there about 3-4 years ago. It’s a bit of a sod to park there, that’s one of the reasons I went to Team Cycles for my Whyte E150….always had good service from a guy named Brad who was my main contact.

 

[Richywalker64]

Yeah it is difficult to park, I'm travelling home from Aberdeen a week today and plan to pick it up on the way home in the van but wondering where to park
I parked on the pavement last time with my hazards on but its a sure way to get a ticket, I noticed there's a loading bay over the road which I'll probably use

 

[The Hodge]

The forecast looks a lot more favourable than it was on our previous attempt !
Described as a " Light Shower Day " ...waterproofs still needed then ..

 

[Tonybro]

I can't make this.

Family commitments for this and following weekend.

 

[The Hodge]

Thanks for letting us know Tony..apart from anything else it's a difficult location for you to get to at that hour of the day ..(10.00am)
I'm sure we will get together on a ride in the not too distant future..

 

[philmedomsley]

Forecast improving. No rain with sunny spells. Guaranteed.

 

[The Hodge]

Forecast improving. No rain with sunny spells. Guaranteed.

I will take your forecast with a pinch of salt and have a suggestion for the really boggy bit after Pikeley Rigg ..a couple of supermarket carrier bags to tie around your shoes..it still may not keep your feet dry depending on the depth ..but we can live in hope