Gwyn and bear it

The route planning had waited to see what the weather was going to do, and in the end it was kind! The ground was far drier than you could expect for this time of year, so we made a bee line for some twisty singletrack. Walton on the Hill, Headley, Stane Street, a quick visit to Tactical Nuclear Penguin then a brief stop (where we were found by a running-very-late Phil) on Mickleham Downs and we were heading down to mole valley level.

Gilly's absence with a cold meant I took the Westhumble climb which, nicely coated in leaves and conkers, had a fair few off and pushing. It was a short stay at the top before dropping down Golden Nugget, which was 'nicely' slidey in places, anticipating its 'lethally' slidey character over the coming winter. Then it was over the hill and up to Polesden for tea, sausage rolls and cake and a surprise meet with Fran and co.  A nice chat over, we headed off to View to A Kill.

This was where things came unstuck- on taking the steep bank at the bottom, with a sharp turn to the right and no grip to boot, Gwyn suffered a front wheel slide, and rather than scratch his bike decided to do the slowing down with his face. Yours truly was taking photos and got stuck in a moment of indecison between catching the moment and catching the rider, which is why the picture is blurred....

Naturally, Gwyn bounced back up, seemingly immune to the not-inconsiderable amount of red his face was leaking, and after some brief patching up we trundled on down to Rykas. Here we made another check over, found some crazes and a hole in the leg you could stick your finger in, but Gwyn was keen to carry on, even turning down the offer of a lift back. They clearly breed the Williams tough!

After that, a perfunctory trundle back to a cup of coffee and some bike fixing at Reigate Hill, thanks all for coming!

Mat

(Website photo upload doesn't seem to be working at present, please see here- https://flic.kr/p/yQfmMT