The Plan Was Set

The plan was set. The date and time loosely arranged. Reg was going to pick up Frank from Chagford, then come into Exeter and get me and Dave. Together we would go to Haldon forest and have a mountain bike ride. Simple right? Except my idea was to do this before work. Purely because we never actually go for a ride after work because we feel too tired. A simple plan that actually came off really well.

I got the first message from Frank at 4.58am, which just said that Reg was on his way to Chagford already. We were all slightly surprised by this as he is normally quite useless with this kind of thing. Shortly after I received that message my alarm went off. Good timing I guess. I got out of bed and after the usual morning things started to don my riding gear. By this time it is 5.35am, I text Frank to see what time they will be arriving with me. I have 20 minutes. I grabbed some breakfast and put my pre-packed Camelbak on before going to the garage to get my bike out. Within minutes the car pulls up and I see Reg, Frank, and Dave already inside, looking like it is too early to be awake. There are two bikes on the back and one in the boot. We are actually going riding!

The short road trip to the forest goes quickly while listening to early morning radio. As we pull up Frank finds his key to the forest car park and we go in. After quickly unloading in the dark we do a short spin round the car park to make sure everything works, and then hit the trails. It is still dark, and mist is in the air. It feels like it could rain at any point. It already had rained over night. The new trail is fast in the dry, and is supposed to be weatherproof. We shall soon see. As we round a corner we come across an amazing view of the city below us, its twinkling lights enshrouded by darkness.

We start the first descent, the trail made of clay that has been turned slick by the night’s heavy rain. I fight for grip, while Reg and Frank get to grips with the new trail. Dave seems the only one to be riding easily at this point. Dave and I hung back for a while, giving Reg and Frank time to get ahead so we could go a little faster trying to catch them up. The light levels kept changing as we zipped through the trees. The whole trail is cut into the side of the hill, so the rain water flows across the trail and on down the hill. In places the trail has had little rock-gardens designed to allow the water to flow down the hill without damaging the trail. These little rock-gardens make the trail interesting. As we were flying down the trail we would suddenly come on them and splash through the quickly running water. It was hard to say which was moving faster, us or the water. The splashes soaked our legs and dripped into our shoes. It felt freezing cold, and great.

Dave and I had been riding recently and had even ridden this trail in the last couple of weeks so we had no trouble with it. Reg and Frank however were a different story. Frank hadn’t been on a bike in a while and for whatever reason had decided to ride a single speed bike, so was struggling to keep up in places. Reg was managing admirably well, seemingly just from the boundless energies of youth. But both of them were complaining about the trail, and how it didn’t have flow. To be fair, there were rocks on either side of the trail put in place to slow riders and keep them on the trail. But Reg and Frank were looking at these obstacles with regards to them being in the way, not that they are making you flow a different way. Dave and I seem to be slightly more adaptable, we are hitting the trail fast. Maybe it’s because we are both riding tight handling cross country bikes where Frank and Reg are on more laid back all-mountain bikes. They are still keeping up on the open stretches but in the tight turns and the narrow switchbacks Dave and I are shooting ahead. We all seem to be spurred on as the light starts to creep between the trees burning away the early mist.

We make a brief stop to allow everyone to catch up and the heart rate to slow, but just slightly. As soon as we have touched our feet down, and our breathing has slowed enough to ask “Ready..?” we are off again. This time forcing the bikes uphill, the trail still dropping away on one side to reveal a whole lot of steep drop. On the other side it is mostly steep climb, both up and down scattered with trees. This whole environment is exceptionally exciting for me, even before the addition of a bike and high speeds. The climb isn’t long. No more than a single kilometre. After we have made the climb we cross a fire road and begin a blast along a flat piece of trail, where we mostly seem to be getting faster and faster. It begins to undulate and then crosses a fire road before hitting three switch backs on loose ground. On the second one of these I lost my front wheel. But a quick dab with an SPD garbed toe and I’m speeding away again, hot on Dave’s heels.

At this point the trail begins to descend in earnest. We are accelerating two fold now thanks to the furious pedalling and the gravitational bonus. Hitting each obstacle faster than the last. The braking bumps are coming quicker and quicker and I don’t think any of us were anywhere near our brakes. I was shifting up through the gears at this point trying to catch Dave before the trail kicked us out on the fire road for the climb back up. I find that the back of the bike starts to skip around as I am pedalling as much as I can and leaning forward for the photo-finish. Then just as suddenly we hit the fire road and all have to brake hard to prevent punching into one another.

At this point no-one wanted to waste too much time before the climb, so after checking that everything is still attached, we have a quick drink combined with the nervous laughter of someone who has just done something very silly in the company of other people also doing that silly thing and where almost all of them had come pretty close to the edge of their abilities. (Only people who participate in dangerous sports or activities such as “Living” will appreciate the last sentence.) So without much time or adrenalin wasted we start on the longish slog back up the hill on the wide fire road. By this time we can pretty much switch our lights off. I did. Then I fell in a big puddle so I switched it back on. The climb up the fire road is one that I am used to. Probably slightly under one kilometre but a lot steeper than the last one. It always has a beautiful view available to those fit enough to look to the left while pedalling uphill... Thankfully on this day I was one of those. The mist between the hill and the city is slowly disappearing as the morning light burns it away. This simply serves to make the view of the city better as you can see the whole thing start to move. Like a cat stretching after a nap the city begins to move. Cars start to roll along the major roads, just like blood pumping along the veins when the animal starts moving. All I can think of is how many people these days never see anything like this. This is the stuff that makes life more. (And I left out an adjective there as there didn’t seem to be one that fitted better than simply “more”.) As Dave and I reach the top of the climb we have plenty of time to enjoy the view and its changing appearance as Reg and Frank continue the slog up to us. It is just as breath-taking stood still.

As Frank and Reg approach us we are playing silly people by seeing how far we can wheelie without falling over. Not very far apparently. But also seeing how tight and fast we can do figure 8’s without falling over. Much more difficult. We continue to be silly to give the other two a chance to catch their breath. Then we are back on the trail, Dave reminiscing about when we rode this part the last time with Parviz in the dark and my light battery had run out. Then I had Parv in front of me and Dave in behind, so I am trying to remember where Parv was on the trail so I can be there too, but then I have got Dave screaming in my ear about me almost destroying myself on a root or a rock or “THE MASSIVE LOG YOU SOMEHOW JUST RODE OVER WITHOUT DYING!”. This was brilliant fun. But on this ride we have all switched our lights off and there is still plenty to see by. It is a short climb back to the main road where we cross over.

On the other side the first thing that happens is the trail goes left and down then right and up in a big sweeping motion. All around this there is a drop on the right hand side that varies in height all the way around. Frank is leading, pushing hard on his single speed to make the most of momentum up the tight slope. He makes it clear. Dave was too close to his back wheel though and has had to slow down too much. His tyres weave left to right trying to keep him upright. At one point I get an amazing view of from the other side of the pit, Dave’s front wheel gets so close to the edge of the drop that it sends a little shower of dirt and gravel over the side. It’s a daunting reminder that we are still close to the edge, even at this slow speed. We weave through the trees and over manmade jumps till we get to the gate and the road behind it. We rush across the road and onto the last stretch of trail before the car park. It is only short but ALL I can see is peat flavoured puddles. We decide as one that the only way to deal with this is to go flat out and hope for the best. They weren’t too bad. Except the one that came up over my axels. That wasn’t much fun.

Before we know we are back to the car and the bikes loaded. We shoot back to town and into the shop for a shower and to start work. All still buzzing like crazy people.