16/8 Bewl Water Beginners

It had been spitting rain all day but despite this the trail was nice and dry. Joining us for the first time were Steve B and Nigel. Steve was on a terrible old rockhopper he had borrowed from work, it had one of those beam racks on the back and a plastic tube with a piece of string and a handle on the end. We were puzzled what this was for but in the end decided it must be for pulling someone along! Nigel's bike was much better it having been built up by Nigel himself over the last year, it was however let down by the heaviest wheels I have ever picked up. Also good to see Ivan back at Bewl again. On getting my bike out the back of the car I was horrified to realise I had left my shoes behind (just like Steve D did the other week), Nigel came to my rescue as he had brought some flat pedals with him which only took a few minutes to put on.As the newbies didn't know the route we all stuck together. On my nice modern 29er I had a big advantage over the newbies ,especially Steve whose gears were jumping badly and for once I actually found myself having to slow down a bit for other riders.It felt good fun not being clipped in and despite the occasional slowing down, I actually got my best PB of the season which shows how little I pull up on the pedals, perhaps I should switch to flatties for all my off road riding? When we reached the end, Steve was pretty shaken up, it was a lot bumpier than he expected. On closer inspection of the forks I realised that he

First Timers At Bewl!

had inadvertently had the forks on full lock out so there had not been any movement at all, LOL.