סיפור 'קצר' על רכיבה באזור לונדון
למי שיש כח לקרוא באנגלית - מילה במילה כפי שנכתב לקבוצת רכסים: HI Rechasim, As I am still on your mailing list, and enjoy reading about your rides – I thought I’d tell you a little about my rides, specifically the today ride (I hope you enjoy): It started yesterday, when Micha Schick called me(the cycling veterans will remember him – he wrote the first mountain biking book, before Eli Set and the others. It was sold to about 10 people. He lives in London these days, and we ride together sometimes) In London, you always have to check the weather before you plan anything, as it can change in minutes. Yesterday – the weather forecast said it will be around 5 degrees (Cold), however the sun will shine and no rain. To make sure this is true – I checked the BBC weather, Yahoo weather and CNN – they all predicted more or less the same. We set out this morning to ride outside of London in the Mecca for mountain bikers around London – Dorking. We scheduled to meet in Waterloo station where we take a 45 minutes train to Dorking. I dressed up to suit the weather. This is something I would never dream of wearing in Israel, not even the coldest days of the winter. I put two layers of pants, 2 pairs of socks plus overshoes (ערדליים). I had 3 layers of shirts, plus a vest, and a full jacket in case it gets cold, and to keep myself warm on the train trip back. I took a pair of good thick gloves, a fleece hat under the helmet, and set off. After riding through the main attractions of London, I got to Waterloo station, where I met Micha. We went on the train and got to Dorking. We got off the train – there was no sun as the weather forecast has mentioned – but actually clouds, and very cold. We rode out of Dorking into the שטח. The terrain is somewhat smooth, lots of fallen leaves, no hard and long uphill or downhill (some hills, but not serious ones) The only traction the wheel losses is because of the leaves on the floor. We rode through the woods and fields, and thought to ourselves – where is the promised sun? what about this cold? We passed next to many groups of riders, hikers with or without dogs, saying good morning to everybody (it’s common here to greet the people you meet on the way with words like “nice day today” thank you for letting me pass through, thanks mate, Cheers, and all sorts of non-understandable words in local English) When we got a middle point in the route – it’s an old building (reminds a little the KKL towers, but made out of stone), at the bottom there is a small shop selling Tea, coffee and cakes. We hurried to drink a warm cup of tea, and then another one (you can hardly drink any water as they become so cold in your camelback…). We hurried to put another layer on so we don’t get cold. Looking around us – we could see it was snowing. Not only that the weather forecast was wrong – it was dead wrong. A quick look on the Thermometer – 1 degree!!! And this is not considering the wind factor, which can reduce the temperature around 5 degrees more - We just couldn’t believe it. We stayed on with the additional layer, and set off again. At a certain stage we understood that these conditions are getting worse, temperature drops, more snow and rain, the mud on the ground is unbelievable (the whole bike is completely covered with mud). I tested my rear disc brake before the ride – it was in a reasonable condition. Following one of the descents I could use it no more. The combination of the mud with the wet works like sand paper, and it can remove the whole brake pad in one go (micha told me about a decent that once finished not only his Vbrake pads, but also his rim). We decided to shorten our trip, as the cold was becoming unbearable, so we headed back to the train in Dorking. We stopped at a petrol station to wash the mud off the bike (we have to take it on the train, with people around – we could not take it full of mud). Just as we approached the water hose, I got a flat, which I fixed later on the train on the way with frozen hands (not a pleasant task, I can tell you) We hoped the train would be heated, but apparently no heating, so we sat in 6 degrees on the train, freezing, all the way back to London. We could hardly start riding again (I have a 40 minutes ride back home) as we were so cold. I can tell you that cycling clothes are amazing in keeping your body temperature, even if they are wet. My feet however were freezing and hurting, but worse were my hands. My gloves were completely wet and can hardly put them on. By the time I got home – my hands were so cold, I could hardly operate the keys to get into the house. I came in, removed all the layers and went into the shower, where I just stood under the hot water, trying to defrost myself. My toes were hurting like mad, and my fingers were numb for a while, but after a good shower I was good as new. This was just another winter ride (a little on the more extreme side) – which we enjoyed suffering. As David always says – רכבתי (סבלתי) ונהנתי. Hope you had the patience to read all the way through DASH to everybody. J