VINTAGE RIDE II

"Come play my game.
Inhale, inhale,
you're the victim.
Come play my game.
Exhale, exhale, exhale." *


FASTER THAN IT ACTUALLY LOOKS

STEEPER THAN IT ACTUALLY LOOKS

Not feeling too good the last week. Tight chest.Climatic.
Got up this morning ,hazy and humid.Perfect.Not.

Picked Danny up at his and we headed up to the usual spot.The road up to the top Rivi' barn.Met Tim,the other one,not me , I was already there.Bit of faffing (me ),and we set off. I'm on the Axis. Yay.
This is a 'replacement' for the one I bought 19 years ago ,that now looks like it's 19 yrs old ,unlike this one ,that does nt.I dont wish to bore you with the details ,but this was world famous super ex pro BMXer , Harry Leary's bike during his ,albeit brief ,sabattical from BMXing in the late 80s ,early 90s to race DH for DB.Factorytastic.
Unfortunately ,due to HL being somewhat vertically challenged I've had to jig it about a bit from standard.I've raised up the seat to the max and put on a longer stem with some ( not technically period) riser bars. This is its first proper outing.
I was gasping a bit early on,and the gears,all 7,were acting the goat.We were well below the treeline climbing up Wilderswood and it was muggy as hell.Well , I thought so.We stopped about halfway up ,to ,er ,breathe and then pressed on.Amazingly ,when we got to the top the mist had burned off and it was as clear as a bell where we were.As if by magic my chest started to work a bit better.Crazy. Like I said ,Climatic.
Fairly straightforward affair today.We went up the pike,but from the back ,Pike Cottage end ,and went 'off the back' as usual.Bone dry.Then we went over to the Pidgeon Tower ,and on the hottest day ever ,avoided the 'Ice Cream Run' ( ! )and headed down the washbord,past Catter Nab toward Sheep House Ln and Spitlers.
Here we met a few Bolton Lads that we'd seen earlier on the Pike and they stayed with us for a while as we dropped over the moors to Lead Mines Clough,chasing the stupid sheep.
Not a massive loop up to now,but with an option to stick on a bit more around Anglezarke . Or go to the caff.
Hmm.
At this point (Alance Bridge),the fittest ever mountainbike couple raced past on full carbon custom Colnago MTBs ,looking mega fit and lean ,filling us with inspiration as they shot off up lead mines in the big ring.......
Danny's shout. A cream fruit bun and a pot of Earl Grey . No Lemon!
Tim shot off early as he was 'under orders'.
Back to the car . Bish bosh.Another short(ish ) and sweet one.Just enough on a red hot day when you feel like there's an elephant sitting on your chest.
No casualties.Double good.Axis wobbling a bit at the end.Me ,tomorrow.Maybe Tuesday.

Diamond Back Axis."Handles like a fish",someone once said.Haigh Hall ,1989.
Tired now .Must sleep.

*Psycosomatic.Addict.Insane. That would be The Prodigy.
Breathe with me.

The things you take for granted ,eh ?