Rolling up at Hylands garage for a Weds evening Moles ride saw Yvette, Albert, Lee, Lloyd, myself and a sight rarer then hens teeth on a Weds pm ride … Muddy Dave, kitted up and ready to roll.

19c and glorious sunshine made it imperative that we got out for the regular Moles Weds evening ride after a spell of lean participation for lots of different reasons. The weather being one of them!

However, Muddy Dave arrived frowning and accompanied by a whole load of squeaky noises coming from his drive train so a quick inspection and chin scratching was necessary for all of 60 seconds before he decided that it would have to squeak until he got home.

A cunning route was offered by Lee to take in 3 of Surrey’s iconic trails that can usually only be ridden when its dry, so off we went up and over Fetcham Downs and on down to Bocketts Farm followed by the always lovely climb up Alsation.
The dog was dispatched in pretty quick time before turning right at the top onto Stane Street and rolling along towards Mickleham Downs to the top of the Alpine descent.

Alpine was running lovely and dry but Yvette and Albert were new to its delights and off camber rooty drops, so some care was required.
Dave and Lee set off followed by myself for a fun descent but there was a sting in the tail near the end by a fallen tree stump and rooty steps that offered plenty of opportunities for disaster!

Having survived Alpine we faced the notorious C1 climb up to the High Ashhurst outdoor centre and this was its usual brutal sufferfest challenge up and over the steep rooty steps that got me again, so a not very discreet dab was needed to keep forward momentum going.
I think Albert cleaned this and powered on up to the top where we regrouped before riding up to the Boxhill road.
As Dave had no lights and only wanted a quick ride he left us here and headed across to Headley and on home.

Bat out of Hell followed down the South side of Box Hill with a few tank slapper moments on my part followed by an unscheduled slide/lie down/dismount against a chalky bank! Ouch, but damage was a few scratches and bruised lower leg so not too bad.

From the Dorking road we began the long winching session back up to the Smith & Western pub before heading across to take on China Pig.
Lee led us off down the pig and I followed, but he soon disappeared into the night recording a PR on the way. Nice one Lee.
The pig was certainly getting quite overgrown in places and as we had lights on by now it made the trail look even more narrow in places. It must have been even worse for Lloyd as his eyes were streaming from hayfever as he negotiated his way down.

Time was getting on so we headed back down to Mickleham and over to Norbury Park and up the middle track to Norbury Park House where Yvette said goodbye and sent Albert on with us to collect their car from Hylands Garage. 🙂

A great evening to be out on dry dusty trails with 18 miles on the clock and a respectable 2,264 ft of climbing. Roll on Summer!

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