Cycling trip to Redhill

Matt

Mart stopping before yet more sticky deep mud (as it transpired to deep to cycle through)

Matt managed to bring the most 80s jacket with him...which scarily matched his helmet...

Matt demonstrated how muddy we had got after only about 5 miles

Muddy bikes at the cafe where the lure of fried egg baps proved too much

No ride is complete without an amusingly named pub

This was, in retrospect a great ride and some top MTB off road training, marred only by the heavy rain the night before which ensured everything was 4" deep in sticky mud and standing water. This made for a hard, wet and tiring ride whihc ended up at the 26 mile mark. What also didn't help is after some climbing we had a great stony, gravelly downhill section which I belted down first and was holding it fine until the bottom... when I hit some more sticky mud going quite quickly after my brakes were'nt performing that well in the conditions (partly due, as I found out later, to severely work brake pads that for some reason must have developed during the ride as I had checked them just before I left Swansea and they were fine!). So having hit the mud at about 28MPH and stopped much more quickly than I wanted, I was catapaulted into a bramble bush, smacking my knee on something hard and ending up in a tangled heap with my bike. Luckily, aside from the bruised knee, no serious hard was done. Another 20 or so miles of some climbs and some cool downhills (taken a little more steadily) followed, but with my knee getting worse we were forced to turn for home. Yet again I managed to get stuck in several bogs and puddles and my bike was incredibly full of mud necessitating another clean down, but otherwise it performed well and now has new brake pads.