SkipRatt mountain bike blog

It's been quite a while since I went out riding with my riding/drinking buddy as he is more focused on his music. On Saturday I went for a training ride on my lonesome and got on o.k. On the Sunday I felt quite fresh and decided to call on my buddy for a leisurely ride. At first he was quite reluctant and was very close to saying no, but as luck would have it I mentioned the word "beer". This was more than enough to entice my buddy out.

It was not the best of days to be out riding as the weather was rather cold and windy, but it was a bright day. I said to my bud that I intended to take some photo's of the area in which we ride for my blog. I think this made him feel a little better in the knowing that we would be stopping for a breather, poor baby!

I have to admit he really did need those regular breathers because he is so out of shape. That made the ride very cushy indeed, for me anyway! The photo taking didn't go to plan because the local trails are so bogged down and water logged. Walking through it was bad enough, let alone riding through it!

After a couple of shots we decided to head back, I think we had only done around 4.5 miles :-/ but anyway I was paranoid about the thorns everywhere as I was riding my full suspension bike without puncture proof tires like on my other mountain bike.
As we were on our way towards the pub, en-route as I promised my bud. I heard this rubbing/muffled sound coming from my front end. "Would you sodding believe it" My front tyre has gone down! As I said earlier, it was cold and windy so I didn't fancy sitting on the corner of a main road fixing a puncture, and continued riding nice and steady to the pub, as enough air was left in the tyre to get me pretty much closer to the pub. Unsurprisingly my bud was about 100-200 yards ahead of me all the way, about the only time he ever is!

We get the beers in. No get it right, I get the beers in! and then set about fixing my puncture, complaining all the time about the bloody thorns doing it. By the time I got finished and we supped our beers, a blanket of darkness awaited us.
I had no lights but my bud had a rear one only. Due to my crap night vision I was forced to hang back and follow the red light!

As we head south, the wind really got in our faces and my lead could not keep a pace. So reluctantly I took the lead and told him to stay on my back wheel, exclaiming that I would tow him along. His reply was that we needed a rope, so I said that we needed a tank to tow that great big ass along! Thankfully he saw the funny side of my remark, and we both laughed out loud. Although I could hear the distress in his voice caused by the lack of fitness and head wind, I think!

Since that day I have failed to encourage my buddy out for a weekend thrash, I cannot say that I am surprised really. He was in a little pain after the previous weekends tug of war. It's all good, weekend warriors catching up and all that. But things like this need to be done on a regular basis to keep the riding legs strong and keep the old lungs in good stead!