Now as much as I don’t like the spare tyre that I carry I was very pleased to see Dave turn up with his.

There I was right on time heading for Bocketts farm even braving the slog up The Ridgeway for extra fitness and braving the ever increasing impatient car drivers when I experienced a bumpiness from my rear. I checked my suspension lock, that was fine but I continued to experience some rear bounce.

Determined not to stop whilst going up hill on I plodded until it occurred to me that I may have a flat tyre. Can you believe I have never had a flat tyre before and my pump and my spare inner tube were safely positioned on my other bike?

Got off the bike near the top of The Ridgeway and made it to Bocketts Farm where 4 femoles stood with a pump discussing the ways to find where the hole is.

This is why we are going to be having a bike maintenance day in August 😉

I rang Dave who had been hoping to join us on the ride this evening and within 20 minutes there he was speeding up the hill to rescue me with an inflated inner tube over his shoulder. He is clearly an expert and had my inner tube replaced and us on the road (track) in no time.

We had a great crowd tonight Jill, Catherine, Emily, Dave and myself and it was quite a fast paced ride especially as it was now 7.20 and we needed to be home before dark.

We started off up Admiral’s Track and I was just behind Dave all the way and as we reached the flatter part I dropped back and Jill and Emily tucked in behind Dave, we all enjoyed the downhill then back up the chalky climb, down again and caught up at the cottage at the top of the tarmac.

We discussed that we would go over to Box Hill, climb the front of Box Hill and down Juniper bottom, so we sped off down the tarmac to the Stepping Stones and then up to the front of Box Hill.

A slow grind, not so slow for some, I was glad of the wind and breeze as I have climbed that in heat and it can be hard work. With a nice breeze and the blue skies the time passed quite easily to the top and at the top I felt “comfortable”. Off through the woods to Juniper Bottom, it was quite nice because it was a little damp and so not overly loose at the top, it is amazing though how the same piece of trail can change from week to week depending on what the weather has been like.

So down to the A24, into the farm area and up the bridleway and more up to Norbury Park, then down a fun descent onto the tarmac up to the sawmill and then back to the carpark.

I felt we had covered a lot in an hour and a half (or so) and it was 9.30pm when Dave and I got home. At the carpark where we said our goodbyes and discussed Saturday’s ride I noticed we were all glowing from such a good fun, challenging ride and had enjoyed a sunny evening even though today had been quite dull.

I imagine I will feel quite tired tomorrow but it is a Friday and I can just have a smile on my face all day knowing that this week I rode Monday and Thursday and will do Saturday as well.

How lucky am I 😉

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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!