St. Patricks Day Shenanigans
He's finally done it - Andy, our resident roadie has finally completed
his first tour of the Helly-Hansen 'V' Run at Glentress - and didn't
he do well!
I can see for miles! It's all change at Tress since our last visit - at least as far as the trails are concerned. The bloody weather however, is just as un-predictable as ever. Not 10 minutes from the Hub had us all moaning about the heat and removing some of the layers, but it wasn't to last.
From the heat and sunshine at the Hub it was another
story at the Helly-Hansen shelter at the top of Caresman Hill. Lordy
it was cold.
By the time we reached the mast thing were just getting silly. The
snow - yes snow was knee deep (at least up to The Phoneys' knees!)
and then just to cap it off - Phils forks collapsed again (PACE -
You suck), I got a puncture, Andy's saddle came loose and then it started
to toss it down! But who cares.
Phil & Andy D looking cool!From
then on, it was a scream. The 'Trail Fairies' have been hard at work
and as always, they didn't disappoint.
Missing out 'Deliverance' :-( and then 'Redemption' :-) left enough
in our legs to visit the 'Ewok Village' and see what all the fuss was
about. And now that we've been - I can safely say that all that wobbling
around on an plank, 2ft off the ground is, for me at least, not funny.
Once we rode around all that 'North Shore' playground stuff and got back onto a proper trail we got to sample the worst, or is it the best?, that the trails can throw at you. The new trails are to be blunt, F&%@ing great. Confidence over-took ability at least twice on the very steep and very rocky descents but what a buzz.
Glad to get out of the wind!Despite all our good pre-ride intentions to climb back up to the Red run, our aching legs and my sore arse (no jokes please) told us to take the escape route back to the ever welcoming Hub and a bite to eat.
It was in short, a great day out.
Its SNOW JOKE! - I know sorry! My new bike finally got the work-out it needed and I had a much needed confidence boosting exercise for my forks - which passed with flying colours.
Andy finally lost his 'Black-run Cherry', and what a baptism of fire. All respect to the guy because as he openly admits, belting down a mountain over 'rocks and shit' goes against everything he has programmed his brain to do whilst riding on the road, yet he still rode sections that some people would find it difficult to walk down.
And Phil, he finally defeated his nemesis - the stone staircase on the 'Goat track' which has caused much puzzlement and on occasion pain over the last 5 years of visits.
