A new day of a New Year can lead to some reflection by many, but today while we were climbing up through Denbies vineyard there was a certain amount of reflection on the last decade!

This time 10 years ago I didn’t know a single mole or femole and the closest I came to the Surrey hills was shopping in Kingston, riding off road for me was quiet country lanes and my New Years Day wouldn’t have been getting dirty in the pouring rain wearing padded shorts 😉

Thankfully life can change and this morning saw us 3 fe-moles meeting up at the Bell at 10.30am for our Saturday ride, the first of the year, the first of the decade!

All 3 of us were feeling a bit “post Christmas” sluggish but glad to be out on our bikes and ready to sample some mud!

Jill was sporting her new hardtail which was very sparkly and clean for about 5 minutes.

We started off on an easy route at Bocketts Farm towards the Sawmill but bearing right and up crabtree lane, out at the tarmac, down the tarmac to the entrance to “The girl’s favourite” enjoying the fun swooping of the bends and coming out at the cow fields. From there we headed along the A24 and cycled up through the middle of Denbies (it really is much more fun in the opposite direction) and then climbed the stoney path with the green gates, at the top there it started raining quite heavily and we cycled along Ranmore and then took a right hand into the section that comes down past Yew Trees.

I was by now glad of my Christmas presents thermal socks and a buff, the buff is a very good protector from wind and rain on the face I just wish I had windscreen wipers for my glasses 😉

So down past Yew trees the stoney downhill wasn’t as slippery as I had anticipated but the climb up to the bridge was hard work especially if you have children running down while you are cycling up! Then past Polesden Lacey and back down into Bocketts via Admirals track.

Cold and wet we decided to head home, I hadn’t realised we had been out for 3 hours.

A lovely ride and a perfect way to spend New Years day morning and certainly a setting for the year to come!

With talk of us doing some other activities such as spinning classes to keep our fitness improving I have a feeling that 2011 is going to see us ladies having even more fun than 2010 as if that were possible 😉

Happy New Year to all and “Heres to lots of cycing in 2011”

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About the author

Cathie was introduced to mountain biking by Dave about 9 years ago but only really been riding regularly since May 2008 when she invested in a new hard tail (a white On-One classic Inbred), a wise investment as a result of being able to trial different bikes at Cycle Works demo day at Holmbury-St-Mary. She also rides a full suspension Giant Cypher which was this year's treat and saw many miles during the summer of 2010.

Cathie has attended skills days with Dirt Divas at Swinley Forest, she would like to improve her skills on bomb holes and her favourite trails are the ride over to Newlands corner loving "Whitedown" and a favourite trail through Denbies.

Cathie loves meeting other female riders of all fitness levels and experience and is hoping for less punctures in 2011 now that both bikes are wearing tubeless tyres!