Despite my promises of two climbs of the North Downs and seven unsurfaced, off-road sections, 17 innocent, trusting souls joined my 'B' ride from Cobham. After a good recce I was really looking forward to doing this ride again as we set off across Bookham Common, and was buoyed when we avoided any concussion cases under the low bridge on the track to East Horsley! All was going just too well and disaster struck just after the summit of Green Dene, when I realised something was wrong with my drive train! Closer inspection revealed that my rear mech had failed, a rare but not totally unknown event (I think that was my third casualty in almost 300,000 miles ridden). At first the outlook did not seem promising - I could only get about three gears on the large chainring, and something was out of alignment causing a graunching, resistive ride as I turned the pedals. However, rational analysis told me I had to move on even to get to the nearest station, so spurred on by words of encouragement from the 'B's', I decided to press on as leader for the time being and perhaps divert to Guildford in due course. As it happened, at some point along the Drove Road/North Downs Way before Newlands Corner, the drive train freed up noticeably and I could pedal much better, although still with only three gears and no chain tension. So we continued on the track to White Lane and I decided to attempt the rather dodgy descent of Halfpenny Lane. Miraculously my chain stayed on on the downhill, so I knew I could lead at least as far as lunch at Wetherspoons, Godalming. What with my problems, and level crossings, temporary traffic lights etc we didn't actually get there until 1.30, but it could have been far worse!
After lunch I quixotically decided to have a stab at continuing to lead Ripley, our planned tea stop, although I knew the route would be a challenge for my limited gearing range. The rest of the group seemed to have forgotten that although I had promised two climbs of the North Downs but that we had so far tackled only one! We headed for Shalford by what I thought was rather a cunning quiet but flat route through Farncombe, which gave the group a false sense of security, but there were howls of execration when we started to climb increasingly steep and winding (in both senses) roads around the southern outskirts of Guildford My gears were just about sufficient if I rode out of the saddle, and my chain came off just once on the long climb. To everyone's relief Fort Road finally gave way to the grassy slopes (not exactly springy turf, though) of Pewley Down. We stopped for photos at the summit, then pushed on to briefly re-join tarmac at One Tree Hill Road before descending Merrow Downs, our last off road section.
From then it should have been an easy ride through Old Merrow to Burpham and the A3 cycle path, but it wasn't my lucky day as my front tyre reminded me by promptly puncturing! At my insistence the group pushed on to Ripley led by Tim C and Vic as it was getting towards 4.00 pm and I was worried they might miss their tea. I did make it home by about 5.00 pm and hope everyone else wasn't delayed too much. Many thanks to all for putting up with my mechanical issues, to Tony Hooker for back-marking, to Gill, Steph, Ray W, Peter T and all the other corner markers too numerous to name, and to Tim C and Vic, and I hope the ride was enjoyed by all!
2 comments:
Lovely to do Pewley and Merrow Downs and the track to East Horsley is worth revisiting...much improved from what I remember years ago. Thanks.
What was that you were saying about the Titanic David?
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