So on to todays superb ride.
The lad that I met up with last week, had come down from Yorkshire and had never been riding on the South Downs, and as I was going there today anyway, I suggested that he tagged along.
Being conscious of the fact that he was on a pedal mtb, for the first time ever, I opted to park at the top of the Downs, at Ditchling Beacon. Normally I would have started at the bottom and ridden up. This proved to be a very wise move today, as it enabled the ride to be split into two halves.
As SRS will confirm, the South Downs can be pretty much a no go area at this time of year, as today was to prove.
Jeez was it a sticky and tough ride! One section in particular had been made really severe and chewed up, due to a shoot that was going on, and the use of 4x4 vehicles.
The grip offered was outstanding, but what wasn't so good, was the 75mm of slop on the top, that had been mixed up with 20mm size pebbles of flint. It was a major recipe for drive train problems, and not only did we both understandably suffer from chain suck, the stones were wedging into everywhere possible and just halting the bikes. As much as love hub drives, I was glad to be on this bike today, as the front mech would have been ruined.
I thought of William Tell with his much heavier Haibike and the extra jockey wheel, and knew that had he been with us, he would have been suffering badly over my bike without the extra jockey wheel, and it made me quite glad not to have it.
Stones and mud were continuinly locking the jockey wheels on the rear mech of each bike completely solid. Forward progress was often impossible, and both of us spent a hell of a lot of time getting our hands dirty trying to clear and clean off, each others bikes.
The mudguards on both bikes caused major issues, and clogged up with the stones and mud, and so added to the wheels locking up. In the end the lad that I was with, ripped his mudguards off and binned them. He then went on to put his bike into a cattle trough to try to clean it, and make it rideable. I wasn't going to chance that, and so just stuck with trying to clean things off, the best that I could.
My wider than OE tyres didn't help matters either, and the chain stay paintwork has taken a hammering. It was at this point, that the mud forced its way behind the Bosch plastic cover behind the front sprocket, which then allowed it to be cut in two when pedalling. You could possibly say that the cover should not have come off, but a stone must have just peeled back like a tin opener, so certainly not the fault of Bosch.
As an example of how muddy that it was, on one particular hill, I clocked 31.6mph descending it last year in the summer. Today I was trying to push the bike down it, with both wheels skidding. I rode through every puddle that I could find, to try to keep things free and moving.
For some reason though today, I left very impressed with the bike, and the way that it took the punishment. I couldn't fault the way that it performed in any way, and it attracted a fair amount of positive comments from walkers.
Okay it took us the best part of the day to complete 20 miles, but it was still 20 miles of pure quality time and fun, and wouldn't have changed any of it. It was one of those rides that made you feel great to be alive, and enjoying just being out in the open. The South Downs are a very special place, and I wouldn't have wanted to have been on any other bike. A big up to KTM.
