Riding at this time of year is both encouraging and frustrating in equal measure. Off road riding at this time of year is both bonkers and a lot of fun! Mother nature is teasing us with Spring. The snowdrops are out, lambs are in the fields and the light is improving. However bitter winds, snow flurries and intense mud are also a strong feature.
Today, Marcus, Andy P and I met for just one of those rides. Incredibly kindly Andy planned a route which lent itself to my personal schedule of needing to be back for lunch at 12.30. More on that later. That route was one of Andy Brown's creations and that may well have been our first error. Sorry, no, THAT was our first error. Mr Brown is not at fault here. Not even one jot at fault. The culprit is in fact Garmin, with our lack of local knowledge playing a major supporting role.
Very early into this ride we were lost! We left Kettering and tried to pick our route around the so far undeveloped Cransley Park and frankly it was a shambles. Andy P was doing a sterling job trying to make sense of his Garmin and Marcus and I were clueless in our ability to help! We traversed down a bank onto what felt like the route. Then from a perfectly good trail we liked the look of a gate in front of what most certainly was a disused railway line. We soldiered on through that impassable trail to a bridge that only a complete fool would cross before common sense got the better of us and we dropped back down the embankment to inadvertently rediscover the route! In the process we invented the new sport of bike-a-teering.
Now if you think that was bad take a look at the magnificent picture at the top of the page. We did not ride for very long across this field. In fact the mud clogged us up so much we couldn't even walk our bikes. We had to carry them! The field directly followed the bridge.
This is the dodgy bridge. The bridleway goes under it. Traversing down the side of the bridge is optional!
Why is Marcus pushing his bike?? Well it's because the mud on some of the bridleways is just flipping impossible! To get here was at times really nice. We made our way from Cransley, over to Mawsley, and then via Mill Lane to the abandoned village of Faxton (history here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faxton, Marcus you were right, it was a plague village!)
That looks rideable doesn't it? Nope, nope it wasn't. Andy P had the most joy but this was a boggy surface which chucked up cloggy mud into our wheels. At times we questioned our sanity and then decided we knew what we were getting into. Despite the suffering we all considered the mud bashing to be fun!
We crossed more muddy fields into that bitter head wind before finally popping out onto road at Lamport. It was some relief. After an hour of riding we had covered 7 miles! In this company I have easily travelled three times as far in the same time. From there we made our way down to the Brampton Valley Way. I have never been so pleased to see that familiar old track with it's hard packed surface. A couple of miles down the track we could see the black rubber of our tyres again as the mud flew off in all directions
As we approached the Kelmarsh Tunnel I decided it would be wise to peel off and head up to Harrington via the bridleway that goes over the tunnel. It wasn't wise. It was in fact quite foolish. On a day when I thought it couldn't get more muddy...IT GOT MORE MUDDY!!! I wish I had stayed with Andy and Marcus, both for the company and the better riding surface!
Once back on tarmac I made my way to Harrington via as many road puddles as possible in a futile attempt to clear the mud. The village was quite beautiful with snowdrops, views across the valley and picture postcard features.
I arrived home with 40 minutes to spare before our family lunch date. Lee took her traditional Sunday picture of filth. She thought the mud on my legs camouflaged me against the paving slabs. This is the third week running I have arrived home in this state and frankly it points to a failure to learn! I'm also convinced that given the chance I will jump at the chance to do it again next Sunday!
First order of the day was to hose the bike down and I did my shoes and legs at the same time. I prefer to ride in shorts but at this time of the year I may review that option. The scratches on my legs are the result of trying to ride on the last dry bits of bridleway as close to the hedge as possible!
My reward for all this effort was lunch at the best restaurant I know, the Thai Garden in Rothwell. We were spending the money we were given by Lee's cousin for looking after their dog for four weeks. So not only was it a great meal we also felt like we were dining for free! The diet may have been wrecked today but who cares? Back to clean eating tomorrow!!!
So that's today...what else has gone on this week? Well SuperSam and I continue to train before work/school as many mornings as possible. I'm really proud of his efforts. He drags himself out of bed and struggles to get going and then he really really goes for it.
Work has got in the way of some of my training this week. On Wednesday I had a workshop attend in Reading. On Friday I was interviewed live on Radio Northampton about Children's Mental Health as part of Northamptonshire Mental Health Day. It was a very worthy day with the main campaign coming from the Talk Out Loud project http://www.talkoutloud.info/
I'm lucky enough to have the half term week off. For now it's time to relax in front of the fire! I suspect there will be many more cycling adventures over the next few days!
Happy Pedalling
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