ooooo and don’t forget the nuts!

Us Femoles of growing numbers now!

Normally on our evening rides are pretty serious about what we want to achieve before it is time to return home, but tonight we were out to partay a little after our ride and live it up a bit in the local for a swift half, we know how to live us femoles and when I was asked to remove my helmet I knew I was in a respectable establishment and then armed with 5 drinks Catherine and I along with Nobby’s nuts made our way outside to join the other femoles so we could make sure our bikes didn’t get pinched from under our noses.

We had made speedy progress up Crabtree lane (starting at my house) and then down the tarmac, along what used to be called Jem’s favourite but has been renamed “the girl’s favourite” spat out at the top by the farms we took the left and climbed up to Norbury park, down the rooty section, up the tarmac with us all neck and neck like horses at the Derby, blimey we are getting fit!

Up at the saw mill we took a sly left which Dave showed us last weekend and we “hugged” the trees instead of taking the gravel descent from the saw mill and after the trees a rather nippy little down hill and back onto the gravel.

I was “Leading” today, it was quite challanging as we are all improving and all have different skills and abilities as well as another lovely new rider out with us, we were all hot on each other’s tails.

I am not used to leading when there are more than 2 people so I found this new and pressurising in a very healthy way as it really pushed me to do my best and keep ahead, it was a good place to sit and a good role to encourage everyone to do for the experience.

We finished back up Admirals track and then down to the Anchor for refreshments where we enjoyed a nice drink and a chatter before darkness loomed at 9pm.

Very sad the nights are drawing in, it will be an encouragement for us to make the most of the time ahead and enjoy a few more swift halves and nobby’s nuts before the Autumn comes.

A nice chat with the bar man about where we had been and a lovely catch up without having to remember to gasp for air 😉

This summer we are experiencing some lovely rides especially the evenings which really do help blow away the cobwebs, so great meeting new people and building a network of people who enjoy meeting up and having fun in the woods.

I am back on the nutrition thing, I have been concentrating on boosting my carbs and have found the evening rides much easier especially the evening rides which I used to really suffer on.

I could have consumed more carbs if the flapjack hadn’t been consumed between this morning and this evening, but I guess I have to accept Goldilocks lives in my house, but to be fair those kind of foods have never been on my agenda before and my boosting my carbs is a very new thing.

My motto for August bring on the rides, the halves and the nuts and a mention that I am so pleased we have such a great female network of riders that make these evenings so pleasant and so much fun.

About the author

Cathie was introduced to mountain biking by Dave about 9 years ago but only really been riding regularly since May 2008 when she invested in a new hard tail (a white On-One classic Inbred), a wise investment as a result of being able to trial different bikes at Cycle Works demo day at Holmbury-St-Mary. She also rides a full suspension Giant Cypher which was this year's treat and saw many miles during the summer of 2010.

Cathie has attended skills days with Dirt Divas at Swinley Forest, she would like to improve her skills on bomb holes and her favourite trails are the ride over to Newlands corner loving "Whitedown" and a favourite trail through Denbies.

Cathie loves meeting other female riders of all fitness levels and experience and is hoping for less punctures in 2011 now that both bikes are wearing tubeless tyres!