Date: 7th January 2006
Race Type: Way Marked Mountain Bike Ride
Distance: short ride 16 miles / standard ride 23.5 miles
Riders: Steve, Roger, Darren, James
Location: Bramley, Surrey
www.trailbreak.co.uk/evans/
On a miserable, snowy, sleety Saturday morning I found myself driving along the A3 for my first Mountain Bike ride of the year - the Evans Trail Ride in Bramley. These are always an easy way to ride something different from our usual route, and today I was to be joined by Darren from work and his son James.
Myself and Keith had just persuaded Darren to join us as our swimmer for the London Triathlon, so he was in need of a bit of training, plus James had his shinny new Specialized Rockhopper that he wanted to get muddy. In the car park, we were surprised to be joined by Roger, another work colleague (and Mountain Biking regular). The plan was to all set off together, then, at the route divide, Darren and James would follow the short route (16 miles), Roger and myself the standard route (23.5 miles).
After ten minutes on the road, we entered our first proper bridleway section and soon found ourselves slipping around on trails churned up by dozens of previous riders. This turned out to be the theme for the day - mud so thick we had to walk downhill some sections!
On the following descent, James and Darren got to grips with some drop offs when disaster almost struck! Young James negotiated another drop off to find a log in the way. A quick dab of his disk brakes soon brought him to a halt. Unfortunately, his dad's brakes were more of a vintage style, which resulted in a mini pile up, which grew larger as a following rider used Darren as a giant cushion!
Soon after this, we reached the route divide where Roger and myself bade farewell to the Bigmores. We were soon glad to be rid of the levels of mud that covered the well ridden short route, and rode some great singletrack on the way to Peaslake. After Peaslake, we were starting to run low on energy, so we quickly polished off my last gel and were relieved to find the drinks station.
The final half hour felt like we'd never finish and I wasn't the only one to feel that way. I had just over taken a couple of riders (boy and girl), when they promptly surged ahead. I then passed them again on the last hill where the girl looked in some distress. When I later spoke to her at the finish she said that she had stopped for a cry because she felt so tired!
Five minutes later we were in the hall after the finish, scoffing the last bowl of Chilli that Roger had managed to grab! The Bigmores had finished 20 minutes earlier, where Darren was amazed to see his vegetable hating son quickly polish off his Vegetable Chilli. And so finished a muddy, but very enjoyable ride by the Trail Break gang.
Steve Butler