Contrast.
Summer has arrived in the Kingdom and, thanks to an incident on Saturday involving a white van, a murder attempt, a punch and a high-speed chase round the streets of town, I needed the soul-cleansing power of an MTB ride on Sunday.
Off I set, out the back of town (with one eye watching for a charming man in a white van) and I hit the path. All around, things are brown, except for a white strip corresponding to the path, a pattern that continues for the next two miles. Its hard going, I have to ride on the verges as the trail itself is sheet ice. Trail etiquette is abandoned in favour of personal safety and after a bit of a slog, I reach the top of the hill, a pile of dogshit and the opportunity for a breather. I flick the lockout on the forks off and head down, again hanging to one side to avoid the ice and I’m spat out at the back of the high school. I decide to risk the man-made loch trail and regret it – more sheet ice where there’s supposed to be a trail. Thing can only get better, and they do…..
I hit the Hill of Beath and climb to the first singletrack descent. Last week, it was calf-deep snow (see the pic on the last post for this….), today it’s grippy dirt. The difference in seven days is amazing. I hit the descent and its filthy. Pure, unadulterated filth of the good kind. I slip, slide, drift and hammer down and across the contours….
I exit the trees, swerve to avoid ice on the last steep bit, take the alternative line, clench, descend and release…..
A short road stretch then part two begins. I hammer round the singletrack at Crossgates then head up the hill to the farm. Before I know it, I seem to have changed ecosystem. It’s not just sheet ice, there are still snowdrifts and everywhere is white…
After a cake stop, I pick my way back westwards, sometimes at speed, sometimes at a painstakingly slow pace, wondering which wheel will slip sideways next and simultaniously hit the edge of the snow and the edge of town. Down the high street and home. More smiles in the ride bank.
January 19th, 2010 at 9:25 am
White van man? please explain
Looks an ace ride though
January 19th, 2010 at 12:42 pm
Okay then….
I’m riding along the road and there are parked cars in the right hand lane. When I’m over 3/4 of the way along, WVM comes round the corner, pauses behind the last of the parked cars then pulls out and heads towards me. When I say ‘pulls out and heads towards me’, I mean ‘he floors it towards me’ It’s 9:30am, slightly gloomy and I’m in the orange high vis jacket. It’s not like I’m invisible.
He heads right for me, most of his van in my lane (it doesn’t have to be) and I have to edge left, closer and closer to the kerb, drains etc. I’m rapidly running out of room and gesture to him to move across (there’s a bit of room on his side). His response is to swerve towards me and fill up the rest of the room and just misses hitting me – the side of the van is literally a centimetre from the end of the drops. I’m in the gutter, can’t pedal as the pedals will hit the kerb so I swing at the van, smack it (hopig he might get the hint and move the hell away) and head round the corner. I hear the screech of brakes and the van reversing in a hurry.
Joy.
By this point I’m well away but he proceeds to try and catch me up, pulls a dodgy manoeuvre round a traffic island in the process and, one roundabout later catches up and starts shouting through his closed passenger window. I politely inform him that he needs to give people more room (not that he’ll hear me either) and he accelerates off. Round the corner and he’s parked in the bus stop, window down, shouting more. Again, ‘you need to give people room’ and I ride off. He doesn’t reappear.
Someone asked if I went to the cops. No point, I have zero faith in them and they’ll probably just say I brought it on myself or something.
January 19th, 2010 at 7:45 pm
hmmmmmmm.
lifes little joyful moments eh?
January 19th, 2010 at 8:13 pm
Aye, makes it all worthwhile….