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Mountain Bike Tour 26th - 29th September 2002
On a Thursday night in late September a gang of hardy White Oak members
and
their partners packed up their mountain bikes and as much warm cycle kit
as
they could fit in their cars and headed for Snowdonia in North Wales.
The
beautiful area we were heading for was home to the 2001 and 2002 Half
Ironman UK race and this year's event was staged (in horrible weather)
just
three weeks before we got there. We got luckier with the weather.
We arrived late in the evening at Snowdon Lodge in Tremadog, a large
hostel,
which was perfect for us. Cheap with big dorms (think Big Brother meets
boarding school) and hearty food, not forgetting the toasty TV room with
open fire. There was a bar in the hostel which served pretty much whenever
you wanted. Dom was excited. Gary had done all the research on places
to
stay and ride and had booked up for us but was really unlucky in coming
down
with appendicitis a week before we were due to come.
We got up bright and early on the Friday morning, headed down for breakfast
and packed our bike stuff up for the drive over to the Coed y Brenin area,
where there was a great choice of singletrack riding AND a great cafe.
Matt
and Colette drove up that morning and met us there. The whole area has
been
set up with mountain bikers in mind and it is as tough and as technical
as
you could want. After a quick loop of the Red Bull loop as a group (we
had
some fallers 100 yds from the start, deep into brambles), we had some
tea
and cake and split into two groups, one taking on the MBR trail and the
other group (biting off more than we could comfortably chew) heading out
on
the 38km (doesn't sound too far but it's a long way off road) Karrimor
loop.
I was with the latter group. Alex powered up the first climb so powerfully
that he snapped the rear mech. off his frame and had to limp back in search
of a bike hire shop. We soldiered on, with Matt (living up to hi surname)
Swift and Steve (Pantani on a MTB) Taylor fighting it out for the lead
through the woods. Dom soon lost all the tools out of his pockets as we
bounced over the tree roots and Steve Blackmore had a contender for Crash
Of
the Day and Quote of the Year while trying to avoid me, stuck fast on
tree
roots. He sailed over the handlebars of his beautiful colour co-ordinated
bike, hit the deck with a sickening thump and jumped up, inspecting the
paintwork immediately for scratches, shouting out "I landed right
on my
f*&%ing Swede". Poor fella. Steve Taylor had an end-over-end
incident on a
damp patch of downhill soon after. It was getting silly. I fell off at
least six times. Ray had blood pouring from his knee.
Anyway, as the afternoon drew on, we spotted a cafe in the middle of
the
woods and couldn't resist. A vote was taken as to whether we should finish
the loop and only Matt had the legs or the heart to carry on. So most
of
us headed cross country and onto roads back to the car park while Matt
went
head banging. A cup of tea later and he was back. The other group had
had
a great time on the MBR trail. Back to the hostel we headed.
Eating at the hostel, most of us were pretty tired after our busy Friday
and
there were a few early nighters. A few low key beers for the rest. Matt
was a bit under the weather at dinner and did not get better as the night
went on. I told him he was OK and that he had overdone it, Colette told
him
to stop whingeing and go to sleep. By the morning he was packed off to
hospital by a called-out doctor to have his appendix out. Who would be
next? Alex had hired a new bike and was ready for action.
To be continued.
Written by
Guy Little
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