December 2nd, 2005
Top And Tail Rides: Tail
Over to Calderdale tonight for a spot of night riding. Wet and windy so a lot of people cried off, leaving only Me, ‘eck, and Ben.
Did I mention it was wet?
I was actually on time to the rendevous (Blazing Saddles) too. Blimey.
Ben went to the trouble of showing me some new trails. Nothing like riding a fine new cheeky trail in the dark and wet to make sure that a) you enjoy it, and b) you can never find it again.
As ‘eck disappeared up the first climb Ben gallantly hung back with me. “You don’t have to hold back on my account,” I said. To which he replied “Oh, this is as fast as I get,” before promptly disappearing after ‘ecks distance fading taillight. No longer was I hypnotised by the strobing effect of the holograms on his spanky new Shimano wheels.
Ben managed a series of nice gentle but above all l o n g climbs and then showed us some prime slippy and curvaceous Calderdale cheek. For the record we covered such grandly named trails as Fuck Yeah!, Chipps B’day X Finale, Midget’s Pit X, Callis Wood, and Fishing Is Amazing.
I can’t wait to go back and try Fuck Yeah! in the daylight on a dry summers evening. It was twist-tastic and I hope my laughing and giggling didn’t put ‘eck off. A firmer layer of mud formed the base for that particularly slick mud that offers no grip even when standing on it in studded shoes and here we were trying to ride down it. Even the slippery leaves at the side of the trail offered more grip. By the time I reached the bottom my brakes were boiling. I had to back the adjusters right off - and can now understand the enthusiasm with which Calderdale riders have greeted larger rotors.
Even Ben admits that “I was in control of my bike for about 10% of it :)”
Which is about twice as much as I was.
I leave the last two words of this post to Ben too:
FOOKIN’ ACE
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