Broke Back Saddle - Paul Gibbons

Fancied a bit more Rotherfield today and no surprises, Simon did too. Set off just after eight o’clock, discovering that I still feel like a bucket of lard, although 15-20 psi in your tyres is never going to feel fast on the road! We made reasonable time to the woods, via a mix of on and offroad and as we got there, the sun rolled out. First bit of downhill went well, if a little wet and we began to get into the swing of things. I decided to show Simon the new bit of singletrack I found the other day, which was definitely a bit trickier today-lots of off camber stuff above a cold looking river.

 With the new tracks done, we headed back up through the woods, with CC’s drivetrain complaining quite a lot! Despite his frustration, we agreed on a final fling from top to bottom, before heading for home. As we were nearing the end, I heard a loud crack followed by more cursing. I assumed CC had just got it all a bit wrong on entering the final gully and come off, but it was his seat pin which had sheared a bolt, leaving a rather forlorn looking saddle hanging off the back.

 All sorts of things went into a rather serious amount of bodging to get the saddle back on-a piece of wire first, then some good old baler twine, followed by a discarded inner tube and finally some duct tape, job done.

Simon was fairly fed up by now, so we started out for home, although still trying to stay offroad as much as possible. We passed the village stores in Town Row and started the climb up to Argos Hill, which is when I felt the need for food-we kept going. It always seems like a tough ride home even though Rotherfield is only about five or six miles in a straight line from my place. At least CC was struggling too, but blaming his broken bike.

The final climb up to Heathfield saw an almost unseen occurrence-me leading out in front of Simon by quite a distance and staying there till the top! His bike was slowly giving up the ghost, breaking a spoke now and feeding the fire of despair. We rolled into my place for a welcome cuppa at 12:30 with a hard earned 44kms on the clock-it felt like a lot more, CC a finished man!