MR SLUSHEE

"I know nothing stays the same

But if you're willing to play the game

It will be coming around again" *

Ventured back out today on the Commencal Super ( dooper) 4.

My back's not been good , I dont like to mention it , but .....

Not been out for a good few weeks.This that and the other.You know,saving the planet ....

http://stealbikes.blogspot.com/2008/12/pain-relief.html

Anyway , I was climbing the walls . Stir crazy . I tested it out( my back that is) yesterday with a quick spin on the stupid fixie. No twinges ,so I thought I'd ease in gently with a local spin up to Haigh hall.
As I've said before , a really good ride starts the night before . Prepping .Body ,mind ,bike ,equipment .All need to be in total planetary harmony .Or as close as poss.I like to start the night before with an ayurvedic infusion followed by a good shiatsu,to cleanse the system of toxins.
This week ,however ,it being a local one ,and not needing a pre-dawn alarm call ,I left it all until the morning. An extra half hour in bed quickly becomes an hour ,you know how it is ,so in the end it was all a bit of a mad rush. The bike was OK from last time ,cleaned and polished ,the ayurvedic infusion was hastily swapped for a long black coffee and as I grabbed a handful of suitably fleecey kit ,in between stirring porridge I waggled a toe out of the door and honestly thought I'd need to put everything on . The whole wardrobe. It was proper cold. I fully expected Jeff to turn up wearing full geordie winter gear . 2 tee shirts.

The first few miles were tortuous.Proper masochistic. There's this long downhill about 3 minutes from our house.My jaw was so cold at the bottom I nearly had to stop talking.
As it levelled out heading through the fields to the canal it eased off a bit.It wasnt any warmer ,it was just that we werent going as fast so the windchill wasnt as bad.Still dead dead cold though.
Some fun to be had too . Long frozen puddles ,maybe 4" deep. I hit one at speed ,balancing ,you know ,like a squirrel,the ice just creaking under my wheels with that distinctive sound it makes,but holding,just,closely followed by Jeff ,breaking right through and nearly decking it.

IT MUST BE COLD. JEFF'S WRAPPED UP LIKE A SLICED LOAF.

Before long,we arrive on the edge of Haigh Plantation . The ''plants'' as it is known hereabouts. I have done loads and loads of riding in here over the years . I love it . On the face of it it appears to be a relatively tame country park type setup. Wide paths ,up ,down ,across. It can be taken at a sedate pace and is a great venue for leisure riding with the kids and that,some long fairly challenging ups ,and some nice wide fast downs . However ,venture off the main paths and there's a cornucopia of great little riding spots.Depending on the time of year you could easily spend a half day in there and not get bored and then come back the following day and do something different. I say time of year though because it can get very wet and slippy in places ruling out some of the more vert techy stuff.Of which there is plenty. Unless you're a masochistic pain freak bikeycyclist. It's all do-able ,it's just that when it does go wrong youre not guaranteed a soft landing.I look round at some of the drops we used to nail every week.

I can still predict the weather with my left shoulder. Some mornings I think I've had a stroke . It's my whole left side.
We were kids once.

So , I could tell you where we went but there's no point. First we went down a path that was frozen mud. Later , a similar path was thawing mud . Then , a notoriously muddy path was completely thawed . I.E , muddy mud. Albeit very cold muddy mud. I know , I fell off.
It was ace.

Then we went home.
In between all that we had toast.

Come . It's good.

Oh yea. That bike's dead good . Buy one.

* Carly Simon. "Coming around again." It was a good year .

STOP PRESS : Bad back update. Twanged it a bit at work today. Couldve been worse . Couldve done it before I went riding and not gone riding.