Date: Tuesday 19th June 2012
Route: WP, Yennadon, Lowery Cross, Railway, Swell Tor, B3357, Yellowmead, Short Cut, Railway, HQ.
Riders: Keith, James, Paul, Alun, Dan, Greg & Sam.
(Road: Colin, Gidon, Fraser & Alex)
Depart WP: 19:40
Arrive HQ: 10:00
Distance: 16 miles
Weather: Perfect

GOWCC 11 v England 1

With this summer's weather being far from summery and tonight's forecast as good as it gets, the counter attraction of watching England playing football had no impact on tonight's attendance. As it turned out, my prediction of waiting until Sunday to watch England in the quarter finals was spot on.

Sam had been itching to ascend Great Mis Tor again after last year's memorable trip, so with good weather and as much daylight as we would be getting this summer, off we headed, waving to the four Classic riders who were doing their last bit of training before the big day.

Up over Yennadon we headed before picking up the old railway which we followed for quite a few miles. Both Greg and myself had this strange vision of Sam chasing after some sheep for a few hundred yards, but thankfully the sheep escaped!! We regrouped at the shortcut and after all that boring railway stretch, we sought and found a bit of excitement.

Before we got to Kings Tor, Alun took us back along the old tramway and towards Swell Tor Quarry. After a stiff climb to the top the views were pretty stunning, and the drop into the old mine workings pretty scary!! We made the short tough ride across the saddle to Kings Tor then dropped all the way down to the stream.

It all started to go horribly wrong for me from here. Having not taken my bike in for it's usual spring service after a winter of abuse, my bike refused to go any further! I did manage to coax it to the car park below the Great Mis Tor track where chief mechanics Greg and James did some emergency repairs for me. This left me with no rear brake, but freely turning wheels. I was happy just to head home on my own, but the decision was made by all to abort the ascent at base camp! (Paddy would have been appalled)!!

My problem now was that I couldn't touch the rear break lever as the pads had been taken out. This meant that I had to multitask for the trip home, cycle and not break with my left hand! This sort of task would be easy for a woman, so my only hope now was to try and get in touch with my effeminate side! As I descended like a woman I went from last to first as Greg stopped for a mechanical, then Alun stopped for a broken chain!

These delays meant that I got to HQ first, so I quickly got out of my feminine side by walking to the bar and ordering seven pints of beer!! Three of the roadies were already sat around the committee table and the other six gents arrived in dribs and drabs. It was disappointing not have got to the Great Mis Tor summit, it will have to wait for another day. Cetini here I come!!

Reporter: Keith