With so many commitments taking Moles away from normal duties I thought it appropriate to combine a few events into one post.

Saturday 18th December

I coaxed Jem out for a gentle ride. Jem seems to have a recurrence of a viral infection from earlier in the year. GP is now also talking about a possibility of Glandular fever and also an hiatus hernia. Nasty.

We managed a ride in some virgin snow and more importantly to get his new Kinesis XC120 frame wet and dirty. Job done.

I think I speak for all Moles when I wish him a speedy and full recovery.

Flickr photoset here

Sunday 19th December

The big day had arrived. The first ever Muddymoles Christmas Dinner! Brave Moles met in the car park of the Cock Inn in Headley and headed out to Reigate for a pre-dinner ride. The rest of us joined them at the appointed hour and 24 Moles in total ate, drank and were merry. A massive thanks to JR for the initial proposal and an even bigger round of applause to Jem for doing all the donkey work.

As I said to some at he table, I did plan to make some spoof awards but realised they would have all been for Dandini so gave up!!

Looking forward to the mid year dinner.

Photos on Flickr here

Thursday 23rd December

Keith, JR and myself headed out for a snowy, slushy, slippery ride to make up for the non-event of the Wednesday ride. Keith took my On-One 29er SS out to see if he could get on with the concept of one gear.

Conditions were a real mix out there with grip in places there didn’t look as though there should be and none in other places. Going was slow and effort seemed high. However, it turned into a good ride and a simple loop around Ranmore and towards the vineyard put us at Rykas for coffee so we didn’t subject Keith to the climb up Box Hill on a SS. Actually I had a rather nice toasted Tea Cake in Rykas, with jam, so an excellent choice in my book although in fairness it is what it is, a fast food motorwayesque cafe. Nothing wrong with that but nothing like the homemade cake atop the hill.

The homeward leg went well until about a mile from Bocketts farm. The road to the woodmill had been well used and compacted into sheet ice. I came off twice in less that 200m taking a heavy tumble the second time. No lasting damage done but ironic to have covered 13 odd miles to fall at the last stage.

Keith seemed to enjoy the SS experience and seemed to like the simplicity and lightness of the bike. Looks like another convert.

Photos on Flickr here

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Finally on behalf of Matt, Mark and Myself I’d like to thank all our readers and contributors over the past 12 months and wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

About the author

Dave's been riding seriously since about 1997 and is one of the founding Molefathers — along with Matt and Mark — that came up with the idea of a MTB website for Mole Valley riders.

He's had several different bikes but it's now mainly 29ers in Dave's stable, apart from an Orange 5.

Current Bikes: Orange 5, Salsa Spearfish and Kona Big Unit