the NW Alps Christmas ride

the NW Alps Christmas ride, a photo by rOcKeTdOgUk on Flickr.

i was worried, since last weekend when i suggested that the following Sunday (today) should be our Christmas ride day it has pretty much rained non stop. Throughout the UK there have been massive floods, the contents of most of the farmland has been deposited into road ways, people have been forced from their homes because of rising rivers, in short it's like the Mayan apocalypse went off on a tangent and changed it's mind about burning fire from the skies and turned the taps on instead. So, how relieved was I when i looked out the window this morning to see blue skies, white fluffy clouds and instead of the pitter patter/drumming of torrential rain i heard bird song! i pinched myself to make sure i wasn't dreaming and went to decorate the bike. It's the Christmas ride so my bike got a sprinkling of tinsel and my helmet grew Reindeer antlers especially for the occasion. i met Ian, Ben, New boy Dan, Andy, Tom and GTi and dropped into the woods to see if we could actually pedal through the filth. it was wet and muddy but with our local knowledge we kept away from the boggy areas, stopped for a coffee at the cafe and went to show Dan the delights of "Bono". the trail was very muddy and with the rear wheel stepping out i made the mistake of using the brake to correct it, predictably that didn't work and made it worse, right on the edge of the drop to the road (about 6ft down) I came to my senses and released the lever and managed to save it. the other guys had varying tales of how slippy it was, dodgy but fun!, just after this Tom's forks exploded and 3 of the guys had to bail the ride. the rest of us said our goodbyes and continued on via some silly skids and playing in the park and onto the wettest and muddiest part of the ride, the bridleway past Bittel lakes, Huge puddles greeted us but by this time we were already soaked so just ploughed through and enjoyed it. we made it to the Pub rendevous and were joined by The Puppy and his family, Dan's wife, son and a couple of friends. Many beers were drunk, mince pies and Banana cake scoffed and a good ride turned into one of the best. We made Ben wear his "kiss me" hat but he had no offers sadly. when, even after repeated visits into the pub to warm up it got too cold to stand out side we started for home. i got a slow puncture, but a bit of vigorous pumping inflated the tyre enough to get me home where we treated ourselves to a bacon sandwich whilst giving the bikes a good hose down.
I'd like to say Happy Christmas to everyone who takes the time to look at this blog, have a fab time, hope you get a bike from Santa and i'll see you on the next ride :-)
ride 180
13 miles
total 3269
commute 894