Mt. Biking - Black Mountains

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Forces-of-Nature » Personal Diaries » Mt. Biking - Black Mountains

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Session Description

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Owner: MartinF
Member

Worst Wipeout Award 2003

Member#: 72
Location:
Registered: 28-10-2002
Diary Entries: 184

Mood: needing time out

12th November 2006
Mt. Biking: Black Mountains
Wind Direction: All
Wind Stength: strong up top
Surf / Sea State:
Air Temperature:
Sea Temperature:
Weather: Wet, & misty
Max Speed: 29.9km/hr (knots - unless stated otherwise)
Distance Covered: 17.2km (Nautical Miles - unless stated otherwise)

MUD and lots of it - from the very start. I have a pathological aversion to mud. And where it wasn't muddy, it was either very steeply rutted, wet & slimy firm mud, or very broken, wet & gnarly rocky stuff. Oh - or grass. And mud.

Being advised at the start that the trail was neither technical nor muddy, I opted to go for SPDs. Big mistake. And lies.

About 15 mins into the trail, my front wheel slid off the side of a rut, I capsized into the adjacent rut (as in 4x4 ruts) which was about 2 feet lower than my rut, putting my back out over the central hump, and smacking my left shoulder into a rock significantly harder than my shoulder. And just for good measure, I managed to deadleg myself at the same time. Oh - and my GPS batteries died, despite having been on charge all night.

By this time, my two alleged colleagues - both young whippets - had disappeared into the distance leaving me with the additional disadvantage of not knowing the trail. Getting lost followed swiftly thereafter. Oh, BTW, it was now pissing it down with rain. Bliss.

Fortunately, we did meet up again after they discovered my non-presence in their wake, though by now, I was pretty freaked out by the mud and the rocks, not to mention pain, so - quite naturally - I fell off several more times. Those SPDs are going. I'll never use them again. Flatties only from now on.

Being told that the rest of the climb was gentle, I staggered up an almost 2 mile long, practically vertical incline, swearing never to believe anything anyone ever tells me again. It was one of those climbs where you achieve what you believe to be the summit, only to see another climb stretching off into the distance mist, with an even more impossibly steep incline than the section just completed. And several bogs thrown in for good (actually - bad) measure.

Whilst at the bottom of the valley there was doleful stillness & drizzle, at the top of the ridge, it blew its tits off. The only saving grace was that the rain had stopped and that the temperature was above freezing - though we were definitely in the clouds.

Clattery, rocky descents leading into bogs, leading into more steep-sided muddy ruts took us (slowly, in my case) back to where we'd parked in the pub car park. Earlier plans for a leisurely medicinal pint or two and bite to eat were dashed by the need of colleague #1 to make rapid appearance or face wifely wrath.

After he dropped me off back in Oldbury to pick my car up, I discovered my shoulder was damaged in such a way as to prevent me using the gears. With my left hand. Ever tried driving a right-hand drive car and changing gears with the right hand? I can recommend it as a fun way to finish off the day. Or your life.

I managed to survive today only through judicious overdosing on Ibuprofen.

Go on... Ask me if I'd recommend this particular trail.

In terms of stats, we covered 17.2km & I got covered in mud. It took us 3hrs 14 mins with 2 hrs 13 mins actually moving (not including writhing), expending a total of some 2200 calories in the process.

Toys Used: