A Dark, Cold, Wet, Muddy Night in the Hills
Autumn is definitely here and for the first time in ages we had a proper Ystwyth-MTB night ride. I haven’t been out on my Mountain Bike much lately because I cracked the frame and then had to rebuild it and then just haven’t had the chance. Dave has been out quite a bit on his own but I joined him last night as did Dan (who hadn’t been out as he’s been on his road bike all summer) and John.
We met at the top of the hill towards Angler’s Retreat which as usual was a few degrees colder than everywhere else, was a little windy and had the look of rain in the air. After saying our hello’s and checking out the new bits and pieces on each other’s bikes we headed off up towards Angler’s Retreat and then down over the MX trails. My bike feels completely new with its new frame, but as I hit the muddy rutted bits I suddenly realised that my brakes weren’t quite as good as I was expecting. I had a bit of a moment baut managed to stay upright so took it steady from there on. Time to bleed my brakes I think.
We then headed off across the trails where things started to get a little wet, through the river and off up through the gulleys towards the Chute. It was now dark and raining but we were still having fun. It was all at a relaxed pace with plenty of stops to chat and talk about races we’d done over the summer etc.
We then dropped down into the forest where Dan had a brake pad issue – An issue in as much as there was no pad left! So, rather than head down into Artists Valley we decided to just head back to the cars from there with Dan using only his front brake. I don’t think anyone minded as it was a good excuse to keep the ride short and get out of the cold, wind and rain, home and warmed up.
It definitely felt like a typical night out in the Welsh hills and time to sort myself out some winter boots and maybe some overshoes and check all my waterproofs are still functional.
I’m not sure why my heart rate peaked at 212bpm though – I don’t think it did really as the point at which it did was as we ducked under a piece of tape across the trail. I think my HRM strap must have got a little crushed and went a little haywire.
