It was close.

I very nearly followed in the footsteps of Colin and Tony!

So, a small crew of moles set out from the car park on Sunday. Myself, Jem, DaveW and Ian made up the list of riders. Without JohnR we decided that we could still do the Newlands Corner run with a slight twist. Up Yew Trees towards Ranmore, followed by an uneventful (remember East to West is SAFE) trip along Badger Run and Collar Bone. We then turned left and headed for White Down but turned right after the gate and headed towards……

Confusion reigned. DaveW calls what we call Numbskull (but originally called Rooty Woods) Blind Terror. Dave reckons that what I’ve been calling Blind Terror is Numbskull and as they are two different sides of the road he was well confused!! So….no idea what is what now! Might go back to Rooty Woods, which is quite apt and also a great run.

From there it was the usual run over Abinger Roughs, up behind Gomshall and Shere, before heading down into Albury. At this point while climbing on an innocuous stretch of sand I suddenly found myself on the floor. Front wheel went away from me and bang, I was down. Nothing broken other than my pride but I still landed quite heavily on my left hand and shoulder so I took it easy after that while climbing up to the Cafe.

After refreshment we headed back along the ridge, managing to avoid being splashed and run over by Green Laners and eventually coming back to Collar Bone. This time it was West to East though, i.e. not good. The pace was fast, the ground was reasonably hard and offered plenty of traction. The roots the clipped my pedal was unyielding.

So, Bike=stopped, rider = airborne, sailing over the handlebars. Well I’m told that’s what happened because I remember the impact of the root and next thing I recall is being sat at the side of the trail looking down into the trees. I was lucky, not sure how but I guess having no tree in the way saved me, I just grazed my elbow and strained my right hand again. The bike suffered a very small waver on the front wheel. Phew!

After that and uneventful final leg home and out with the scrubbing brush and saline solution. Nice!