…it was a bit nippy today.
Headed out to Friston forest for the first “grown up” ride of 2011 with the thermometer hovering around 1 degree above freezing. In truth it didn’t feel that cold. With three jerseys, running tights and two pairs of socks on it didn’t, anyway. My toes were still cold though.
There’s been no rain for about a week so I kidded myself it might not be that slippery. Ha. To be fair, it was nowhere near as muddy as Bedgebury, however the chalk is way more slippery. At some points I was going sideways like Jeremy Clarkson test-driving an Aston Martin. Quite fun in a way, but not when there’s a tree looming at your shoulder.
View of the Downs including muddy, squeaky bike
We started from Jevington, parking near the Eight Bells pub and riding up to Friston Forest on the steep, rutted, chalky bridleway that leads almost straight to the start of the singletrack. The climb was hard, but a good warm up, at the top we headed down the long trail which leads all the way down to East Dean. This trail reminds me a little of some of the better blue route’s I’ve ridden in Scotland. It flows and flows but there’s nothing particularly hairy or gnarly, it just gets more challenging the faster you ride it. Because of the mud and the fact that I’m fat, I wasn’t going that fast but it was still fun.
Like a muddy, sweaty salmon
Then it was a slog back up to the top again to take in some of the slightly more technical terrain. We found some dry trails which could be ridden fairly quickly, but some of the trails were ludicrously slippery where the chalk is close to the surface. Lots of bum-clenching sideways drift and a chance for me to properly hurt my back preventing myself from wiping out. Shifting my weight quickly to catch my balance I got a sharp twang in my back and that sort of knocked a bit of the fun out of the rest of the day for me. Still, give it about 3 months and these trails will be dry and by then I should have shed half a stone and got a bit fitter…
Heading for home
Last descent of the day was a reverse of the first climb. If the trails in the forest were slippery then you’d need to invent a new word for this one. Climbing up it in the granny ring is all very well but trying to hold the bike under 20mph coming down it was terrifying. With my tyres completely clagged with slippery mud and the surface feeling like ice underneath me I took it very gently indeed…
My back is now stiff as a board but I’m glad to have been out in the fresh air on a lovely winters day. The downs are just stunning, all year round.
Beer O’Clock I think…
