A picture, they say, is worth a thousand words.

In which case, clearly there’s a story to tell concerning poor D’Andy here who assumed the mantle of crash test dummy for our evening ride on Ranmore.

Meeting at the garage earlier we were faced with an altogether more composed D’Andy wearing what can only be described as a sartorial statement in purple plaid. Either D’Andy is subtly passing comment on the transitory nature of youth, or he’s simply regressed to the point where he’s finally dressing himself in clothes his mother prevented him from wearing in his childhood. Either way, I’m not sure La Dandina knows what he’s donned shortly before setting off for an MTB ride or if she does, she’s past caring!

Our purple leprechaun was joined by JamesH, Lloyd, JohnR and myself with a simple plan to make sure we didn’t lose James this time and to make sure we didn’t exert ourselves overly on the night’s ride. We headed up to Wiggly Wood and soon found the perfect conditions for an evening ride, cool but windless and with firm, semi dry trails.

After that we headed down toward Polesden but were brought up short by the large fallen tree which has been blocking the path for several weeks. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, D’Andy soon set about attempting to construct a ramp over it. It was one the larger side of what I fancied and as D’Andy proved, there just wasn’t enough run in from a standing start to get over it but he gamely gave it a go while we watched his antics to no avail.

Then we were back riding, through the estate (shame ‘they’ have stepped the bank on the other side of the Dorking Road) and then climbing up to Ranmore.

I was on the singlespeed once more and feeling quite sprightly so soon settled into a steady rhythm up the steeper first section, unconcerned as JohnR steamed past me with an imaginary thought bubble above him which said ‘Strava’ in big letters). It turned out I managed a PB up to the Ranmore Road (it’s called Tanned Hides), setting a time of 4:52 which I’m very happy with seeing as I was on a mono-cog.

Once the others caught up we pressed on to Badger Run and Collarbone. The idea was a trip to Abba Zabba and then along the Abinger Roughs and up the nasty climb to the Drovers Road. Collarbone proved an arduous slog as the ground, while drying, is at that in-between glue-like stage that happens with clay. Throw in damp roots and while I enjoyed myself immensely at little more than walking pace, it was hard work.

Despite the idea of a more relaxed pace, we weren’t wasting too much time stopping so the flow was beginning to come. It helps knowing everyone is familiar with the trails and know what they are doing although Lloyd was starting to have problems with a front brake that wouldn’t bite. I upped the pace a little through Trouble in Paradise, then we pressed on toward Abba Zabba.

I lead our cluster of MTBers round the chicken run, intent on keeping the flow going all the way through the complex. Round the chicken run, over the low log, up the bowl on the otherside and then down the next short bank before coming out by the oak and heading straight down Blind Terror 2 before I had second thoughts. Perfect!

As we rolled to a halt next to the White Down road, Lloyd pulled up with a lose cleat, thinking with a dodgy brake and now the cleat his ride was over. That was without the contribution of James though who remarkably was able to produce a spare cleat bolt from his bag to keep him rolling. I’ve never seen anyone do that before!

So, underway again we crossed the road with D’Andy bringing up the rear while Lloyd headed down on the tarmac in view of his brake problems. He was in for a bit of a wait. As we headed into Numbskull the group split to the left and right to take on less technical options while D’Andy made the unlucky choice of rolling straight into the steep sided bowl. There’s a nasty step a third of the way down and momentarily distracted by the thought of riders coming in from the side, D’Andy stacked it hard.

The result was a copious amount of blood from a severe nosebleed, a thickened lip and a hefty bruise to the cheekbone. When your face is your fortune this could have been problematic, but since this is D’Andy we are talking about it added extra ‘edge’ to his already gnarly outfit. In fact he was quite concerned about how his shirt had stood up to the abuse!

Seriously though, it looked very painful and was very bloody. It’s not till you stand for any length of time on some of the slopes we ride that you realise how steep they are, how close the trees are and how much momentum is involved.

Undeterred, D’Andy was game enough to continue once he’d cleaned himself up a little. Reunited with Lloyd, we headed onto the Abinger Roughs, taking the meandering singletrack through which we normally do on the Newlands ride. I love these woods and really hammered the short downhill bits but soon it was time to take on the climb back up to the Ranmore ridge from New Barn Farm.

This is one of the hardest climbs round here, much worse than the White Down climb. It starts on deeply rutted, energy sapping doubletrack, then kicks up viciously as you meet the tree line before flattening a little, rounding a hairpin and then settling into a consistently steep gradient to the top. John disappeared up the hill but I was forced to stop and get off and walk for 50 yards or so on the steep bit before the hairpin.

Lloyd passed me at that point but eventually I caught and re-passed him near the top. In fact I was a bit disappointed to have walked as I reckon I must have dropped a minute of time. But my HR (on a leisurely ride remember) topped 182 up that climb!

Having taken a few minutes to regroup and recover we made our way to the North Downs Way and on to the Drovers Road to head toward Horsley. As we passed the old Cart Lodge near Crocknorth Road John spotted a rubber chicken lying in the bushes, a sight too tempting for our maverick D’Andy.

It was duly collected and tucked into his belt, squaking occasionally as D’Andy did something to it for the rest of the ride. It even fell off on the descent to Horsley and had to the re-collected. This fast descent has ridden far better, it was hugely draggy in teh top third but finally gave up some pace as we got lower down the hill. I was certainly shaken and stirred on the hardtail that’s for sure!

Into Horsley, we picked up Dirtham Lane and tracked through the woods to Orestan Lane and then back at a fast spin on the tarmac to Bookham. By way of reward we settled down outside the Anchor pub for a pint of Cornish Knocker which was a fine way to end the evening.

I got home, feeling a touch inebriated, with 15 miles on the clock. But what an eventful 15 miles they had been!

More photos of our night ride are on Flickr!

Unfortunately, Sunday’s ride wasn’t without incident, as we shall see…

The weekend started rather well, with Kev and myself getting out for a road ride out to Newdigate on Saturday morning. Recovering from a head cold and with those weeks of relative inactivity behind me I found it quite an effort to hold Kev’s wheel for 32 steady miles, not helped by a headwind which seemed to be the same no matter which direction of the compass we were riding in.

By Saturday afternoon I was exhausted rfom my efforts but still determined to get out Sunday. We had arranged a long-ish ride over to Reigate via Walton as with the expectation of a bit of mud I’d plumped for my regular 32:18 geared Inbred 26er. I wasn’t sure I was up to pushing any higher gear in any case.

I wasn’t alone in welcoming the sun like a druid at the summer solstice. The car park at Bocketts was rammed with an eventual 15 riders, including DaveC, JohnR, DaveS, BigAl, KevS, AK, Karl, Steve, Garry, a lesser-spotted Lee, PaulM, MarkW, DannyP and Jez and we set off in high spirits.

Within half a mile our fastest ever mechanical apeared thanks to DaveC’s dodgy rear skewer which was quickly persuaded back into place. Back on the bikes, and it was soon clear that those trees are sucking up the moisture at a rapid rate as the trails were – in the main – pretty firm and dry.

We blasted down to Leatherhead and then climbed up Alsation. It was quite steady, not too fast and I felt I could go a fair bit faster apart from a niggling sense that my stamina wouldn’t hold out. Kev and I were both glad of Saturday’s warm-up I’m sure as our sore legs gradually loosened up.

At the top we kept the stop as short as was fair on Steve who was to carry the lantern rouge for the day before progressing via Life on Mars, climbing it for the first time in a month or so. It was pretty slippy in places and I was concentrating so hard turning the singlespeed’s wheels (out of the saddle and grinding) that I caught a solid tree-branch with my crash helmet at little over walking pace.

It was enough to make me see a few stars as my head was snapped back, given me a nice whip-lash effect that produced an intense headache that afternoon and evening. I didn’t even see the bloody thing!

Past Headley we pushed on toward Walton, under the M25 in a big whooping pack of riders. Really we must have seemed a bit intimidating (in a gnarly middle class, middle aged kind of way!) to anybody who met us today.

By now I was starting to find the peddling easier going, mainly because with a group this big there’s always a fair few slower than you and often they are ahead of you! So I could just relax into the pack a bit which suited me after my low mileage recently.

At Walton Mark showed us a few new back alleys (yikes!) and paths that got us across the Heath nicely, including a fun little jump and bombhole area. We had a good play around but sensibly left just before the testosterone kicked in heavily and then skirted the Golf Club perimeter.

Normally from here we’d head toward Margery Wood but it’s not much fun riding up it so we instead struck out with a loose plan to get to the loop we were shown by PIJ which brings you into the back end of Gatton Park on the otherside of Reigate. The problem was we were a bit further across than usual so as we breached the A217 we needed to make a few route adjustments.

While we scratched our heads, Mick McManus (or possibly Michelle McManus) cycled past dressed as a roadie. Lycra has many qualities, most of which had been expended by the rider inside this outfit. Maybe it was all that sunshine but he was far from alone today, in fact while we camped at Headley later on some of the biggest riders I’ve ever witnessed appeared in skintight lycra to engage in a major ‘carbo-loading’ session.

Still, at least they were out with their bikes which is more than I’ve managed recently.

Our route deliberations involved perhaps riding north or perhaps riding south, a matter settled when Danny said we should head to the M25 and turn left toward Fanny Farm Shop(pe). This short tarmac stretch brought us back onto the fast descent to Gatton back under the M25.

I really enjoyed myself down there, watching Danny disappear in front of me while I went as fast as I dared. The outcome was a pinch flat for Danny and a heavy landing for me which burped a bit of air our of the tubeless set up I’m running.

Steve, myself and Danny were left to cool down at the bottom of the long (and now featureless Gatton climb) while Danny sorted himself out, with DaveC bent on holding the masses back from tea and cake at the Reigate tea room. Our plans meant a few more miles before food.

We headed on to the top of Reigate hill where I half expected us to recross the M25 for Margery Wood but instead we headed back to Headley more directly (obviously cake was high on people’s minds!).

This section of trail is one which trends nicely downhill and as the pace picked up I could resist hopping off the odd lip or bank as we sped along. This very nearly ended in trouble as we skirted the large open field. To do so requires the trail to head directly downhill, the a 90° right and along the bottom edge before another 90° right points you back up the other side.

Coming into the first downhill section I was a touch too exhuberant, jumping off a step only to find myself catching Steve very rapidly. And you can’t stop the bike when it’s in the air! A flinching Steve managed to pull aside just in time!

After hauling up some sharp inclines and negotiating the closest thing to the Somme on this part of the North Downs (that’s Green Lanes for you), we finally dragged ourselves into Headly car park where karl was kind enough to buy me a hot Eccles cake. This is a culinary delight that I highly recommend if you ever get the chance; microwaving is no good as it just goes soggy, it has has to be heated in an oven for the full effect mind.

Back on the bike after our own ‘carbo loading’ session and Secret Singletrack beckoned. I followed Karl until he disappeared in the process of setting a pretty quick time down there. I was briefly hampered slowing for a walker and lacked the gears to really push but no question Karl was a good 9 or ten seconds quicker than me today.

The fun continued with Life on Mars which I really like but this time I had to slow up with traffic in front of me. That’s the way it goes really.

All of us pushed on to the Alsation descent and had a fast blast all the way down which was when disaster struck. The half of us who reached the bottom were all buzzing from our efforts when Steve arived and said Dave had stacked it and had broken his collarbone.

A significantly slower ascent followed (compared to the one at the start of the ride) to find DaveS (not DaveC as we all supposed), nursing a painful shoulder from having the misfortune of stacking his bike just before the tarmac crossing. Fortunately there had been riders behind to help him but he was in no condition to ride.

The initial thought from Dave was it was his rotator cuff (which may still prove to be the case) but an afternoon X-ray revealed a broken collarbone, his second in as many years. Really bad luck and I hope you recover quickly Dave.

JohnR phoned Dave’s better half and the two of them made their way to the road while the rest of us – in a more subdued manner – headed the short distance home. It goes to show how quickly things can change from euphoria to disaster.

By the time we arrived back the ride was showing around 22/23 miles which had proved to be largely huge fun.

All the best to Dave and thanks to everyone for providing what assistance they could.

We started off with 14 riders. These included, but are not restricted to (and if JR asks me to list them he can…) Pascal, who started and finished with us, Ray, who I managed not to leave in the car park but wished several times that I had, and Kev who I think made some comment about acceleration owing to increased mass.

Anyway, MarkyMark, he was there also, wanted to head over to Newlands having missed it two weeks previously and take in the delights of Black Heath. With no better idea and having made my reservations on the forum we headed off in that direction. Progress was steady up to Ranmore and it was on Badger Run and Collarbone that we really found the gloop. I’ve ridden Collarbone when it’s been worse but not often.

We picked our way to AZ, Dandy opted not to test the 506 over the log roll and I think Karl had a go at AZ jugding by the mud on his arse but I had ridden on, not wanting to engage in voyeuristic pursuits. Traction was limited, roots were slippery, some Moles took the road down to the bottom of White Down, other took BT and I skirted round the edge.

We took the usual route over towards the back of Shere and 4 Moles peeled off at the Cricket pitch to take on Black Heath while the rest of us headed the normal way towards Water Lane. Taking my newly ratio-ed SS up was no more difficult than I had imagined it would be and an errant piece of tree caused me to spin out half way up the steep section before the left hander. “Most” of the rest I managed but I won’t be troubling Matt’s time (with the same ratio).

Replenished we decided we’d push off home before the break-away Moles appeared. The usual return leg presented itself and we managed a couple of laps of the bowl even though it was more slippery than I would have liked. More puddle dodging and we stayed on the main byway rather than heading into the woods. We stretched out as we headed along Ranmore and any chance of a quick run into Polesden had no chance with walkers making the most of the “dry” weather. We returned homewards at a steady pace and everyone agreed it had been an enjoyable ride regardless of the conditions.

On Admirals track we found Karl, holding his left crank arm…

Not enthusiastic mind; just determined.

I’d managed a ride on Monday night, solo, shamed into getting out by Tony and MarkyMark’s efforts to ride in Sunday’s deluge. I was expecting it to be a swamp but it wasn’t really too bad, which gave me higher hopes than otherwise for Wednesday.

In the event, there was just a troika of riders out, DannyP, MarkyMark and myself. I couldn’t blame anyone for not being out as the rain started again just as we set off from the garage. It wasn’t heavy, just a misting really but it hung about all ride.

Up to Wiggly Wood and immediately I found myself struggling to keep pace with Danny who disappeared up ahead. I was riding the Inbred and really think it might be time to think about raising the gearing – 32:18 just feels too low to keep a comfortable pace up on level or slightly descending terrain. Of course, if I do up the gearing I will struggle uphill but riding a 32:17 equivalent on the 29er has given me hope!

But even so, last night I felt I had no power at all. I could grind away alright but the punch was lacking. Perhaps I was feeling the effects of sporadic riding in April followed by three nights on the trot this week (we managed a road ride on Tuesday night as well as my Monday effort).

Our route picked up on Lloyd’s suggestion on the forum, through Wiggly Wood, across to Polesden (and disappointment at seeing the bank now featuring a set of cut steps where you enter the estate), then the grind up from Tanners. I was, as expected, hard work as the trails are now sticky with mud; the kind that drags and saps at you all the way.

I was keen to keep the ride rolling so we had only a minimal stop at the top before continuing toward Badger Run and LandRover. Badger Run was pretty squirmy but fun and I rolled straight on down LandRover, again without pause. It was a case of showing it considered respect without mincing and everything felt nicely controlled. I quite like riding this sort of stuff on the hardtail as it ‘reconnects’ me to the trail. I know the Reba is going to track true and then it’s just a case of the back end following, in theory at least. Any thoughts of reconnecting with the trail by coming off and hitting it, hard, can go away though please!

At the bottom of LandRover the mad started to make itself apparant – not as vast puddles or the stuff, but in the fact the top surface was getting increasingly slippery, much more so than Monday night. It was easy to lose first the front end, then the back end is slow slides as we headed down to the railway. We crossed, then a short loop saw us heading back to climb up High Mediterranean.

At the point, Danny took off while I laboured away on the singlespeed with Mark stopping to chat on the long climb. Really, one day I’m going to take out my Muirwoods and see what it’s like to ride with the luxury of gears on a hardtail again!

After cresting the top of Ranmore we turned toward ATTW3 which promised to be a handful after our earlier experiences in the mud. And so it proved to be; after a mince at the top I have to say I rode it pretty badly all the way down. Clay, roots, Nobby Nics and this rider proving to be a sub-optimal combination.

After a few hundred yards on the A24 we turned up to climb Crabtree Lane and then pick up Jem’s Favourite into Norbury Park. By now I could feel the need for a snack coming on which added to my feeling of weariness. Jem’s Favourite was really nice though, the bikes fishtailing in turn as they hit patches of greasy mud as we progressed down the trail with a bit of gravity on our side.

Once in Norbury Park we headed up to the sawmill, then following the tarmac along to pick up the top of Crabtree Lane again along to the cottage. There’s a big tree down as the tarmac morphs into dirt which needed a bit of a climb to get over so watch out for that.

At the cottage pressed on, tyres and wheels bogged in cloying mud and startling an owl from its perch on the way. The singletrack path was slow going as wheels spun effort away breaking traction on each rise of the trail. At the end, we turned up toward Wiggly Wood again but first had to negotiate mud of unwarranted stickiness. It was the last thing I needed and it’s safe to say that although I was leading, I didn’t shake off Mark or Dan one little bit!

The reward was a slither through Wiggly Wood which I’m starting to enjoy in the ‘reverse’ direction. You couldn’t push because the track was if anything more slippery than when we started the ride but it’s a good skills boost to get used to losing and collecting each end of the bike in turn. I really enjoyed that.

I also really enjoyed getting home! It was a relatively short ride, and a relatively early finish as a result but I was glad to have got out. My Orange has been fettled in the gearage department recently (which was why I didn’t want to get it dirty last night) but having the ridden the Inbred it feels in need of a bit of tweaking too in terms of saddle and forks. So the revolving door of bike maintenance looks set to continue for a while yet.

This week both Bikeradar and Bikemagic have reported that K-Edge products have signed a distribution deal with Madison to sell their Go Big camera mounts in the UK. Given a number of our riders like to shoot video they might be worth a look.

I haven’t heard of K-Edge before – or at least I didn’t think I had although I recognise some of the Chain Catchers on their website. The camera mounts are designed to fit the GoPro waterproof case and allow you to mount the camera to your handlebars or, via a different mount, the rear of your saddle. What caught my eye is they are made from machined aluminium and anodised in red, black or gunmetal and as such are a step above the plethora of alternative mounts available on the market which are generally made from plastic of one kind or another. These cheaper mounts tend to wobble or just plain break which tends to miss the point of a decent mount in the first place.

Ah yes, cheap mounts. Here’s the catch – the K-Edge mounts are not cheap (at around £35 each as far as I can tell). That’s a lot of dosh but they do come with a lifetime guarantee which helps sugar the pill somewhat. And you shuld be able to expect some rock solid footage from the bling looking mounts.

As with all these things, you pays your money and you takes your choice. Riders with the Contour HD should also keep a look out on K-Edge’s website as they have plans for some Contour specific mounts too.

Looking out the curtains this morning it certainly wasn’t a pretty picture. Horizontal driving rain sort of sums it up. However quite a few riders had said that they were coming out no matter what the weather (you know how you are Karl and Danny!) so I headed out and as usual the first foot out of the door was the hardest…

Spinning up to Bocketts (unusually a lovely tailwind) it looked like the other riders had already gone but as I got closer I realised that lurking in his Vdub was MarkyMark. As I knocked on the window I’m not sure whether he was pleased to see me or not! He was was about to give it a miss and go home.

As we headed out the rain wasn’t coming down too hard and out of the wind it felt quite warm, but in the NE wind it felt raw. Definitely not a day for mechnicals – so fingers crossed no stops!

We spun up to Admirals trackway and it became instantly obvious that we wouldn’t be setting any Strava KOM (even if we could) times. Although the ground was still reasonably hard, the top inch or two was pure gloop, with all roots being slippery as….. and some of the largest puddles that either of us had ever seen on the Admirals trackway.

Given the size of the puddles on the trackway we headed into wiggly woods, which was far slower than normals, then as Mark suggested, we headed to Polesden and up to Tanners hatch, then Ranmore. The bottom at Tanners, was ultra muddy and sketchy but the road from Tanners to Ranmore was great with a tailwind.

Next instead of going to Landrover or White Down we turned off at the top of the downs past the scout camp and tried to control our speed as we slithered down Scouting For Boys. A first for Mark since it’s one of the local trails that most of the other moles don’t seem to like. Some of the huge rain ruts seemed to have been levelled but it was still a question of controlling speed more than anything else.

The next part of the ride was a moles classic, as we tipsy toed across the railway line, headed through a massive puddle in Westcott, then up to the Rookery and Wolverns Lane. Along Wolvern Lane it was definitely a question of avoiding the lane itself since the 4×4 puddles looked bottomless.

Spinning along we turned off at Tiling Bourne, down the tricky descent under the trees and then turned left, up what was basically a stream, to the bottom of the Leigh Tower hill. The final climb to the tower looked impossible so we skirted round and popped out at the Tower.

The weather at the Tower was grim. Waves of rain pushing through on the strong winds and unsurprisingly there was no queue for cakes. In this weather the new double glazed window at the tower looked a good option for the cafe owners! As we paid for the cakes the lady obviously took pity on us and offered to let us into the tower to keep warm. It took us nanoseconds to say yes.

Once we’d dragged outselves out of the snug we rode around the tower and a gust almost blew me (not an inconsiderable feat given my mass!) off the bike. It was clear that we were heading back into a headwind, as we plodded off to Waggledance, Summer Lightening and Wolverns. The rain was really coming down but soaked shoes and flithly bikes/bodies could not deminish our enthusiasm as we maxed outselves out as the conditions allowed.

We crossed over to Westcott again and spun up High med, then retraced out steps to Ranmore, Tanners, Polesden, Wiggly wood and Admirals trackway.

As usual in days when the weather was grim, once you were out in it, it wasn’t too horrible. Goretex and mudguards (my lovely new MuckyNutz Fender Bender getting it’s first test) are great and as long as you aren’t cold, rides like this are extremely enjoyable. The Moles hidden under the duvet really missed out!

At one point today, as I looked out the window, it seemed that the rain was coming from several directions at once. Not just down, but horizontally in one direction and diagonally from another! Weird. But every cloud has a silver lining and the upshot of it being the wettest April in years is the chance to test some mudguards.

Well, Mucky Nutz Butt Fenders at least.

Butt Fenders are rear mudguards newly developed by Mucky Nutz. Shane sent me a couple for test recently but since they arrived during drought conditions it’s only recently I’ve had the chance to try them.

In truth they are not precisely mudguards, rather a kid of vestigial tail fixed to your saddle. The idea is they keep mud at bay in a ‘barely there’ way while presenting as little impediment as possible when hanging your back side off the saddle.

The barely there part is an easy tick, they really are pretty unobtrusive, particularly the black version that Dave was trying. This will come as no surprise to riders with the Mucky Nutz Fender Bender on the front of their bike which are well known for providing stealthy mud protection.

Similarly, the Butt Fender cause very little trouble in off the saddle moments as they simply flex downward and out of the way. They are quite flexy so even if you snagged your shorts on them they would just bend underneath you as you sat down.

The Butt Fenders fix under your saddle using some cleverly positioned holes in the plastic material they are made from, taking seconds to fit, even if you need a few moments of head scratching. They weigh just 19g if that sort of thing bothers you so would be an ideal race ‘guard.

What you’ll see from the photo of my (rather tidy) backside though, which was taken at the end of a 29 mile ride to Newlands and back, is that the Butt Fenders seem to follow Pareto’s Law. Or, in other words, the 80:20 rule whereby they keep 80% of the dirt off, leaving 20% to get through. Some might argue the other way round judging from the picture.

It would be wrong to jump to conclusions though, parts of Sunday’s ride was through large hub deep puddles filled with clay and water so quite a big test. I wouldn’t expect the small Butt Fender to keep me clean in these circumstances and while the trail looks dry in the photo, in truth there was plenty of mud about. My saddle remained completely free of mud and even if my lower back got a light coating of mud there was never enough to wet me.

Another factor to consider is how high my saddle is from the rear wheel, just my particular set up but one which will vary from rider to rider. A different rider with a saddle closer to the wheel can expect the Butt Fender to catch more of the dirt.

Overall I’m quite happy with the Butt Fender and will use it in those in-between conditions where there’s lower mud levels to worry about, as it’s such a discrete device and so quick to fit. For extensive mud, well, you really need something a bit more comprehensive although in an emergency I’d use this as it’s certainly better than nothing. For less than £7 it’s something of a bargain.

April is the cruelest month. Well, it’s been pretty miserable so far anyway! Some readers looking out the window on Wednesday morning may be surprised to see that just a handful of days earlier we enjoyed a rare morning of fine Spring weather.

Our Sunday Mole outing consisted of DaveC, Tony, Rob, Lloyd, BigAl, JonH, Ray, JohnR, Andrew and Pascal. Ahhh, Pascal! Well, what can I say about Pascal? Errrm, we lost him, for the second time in the two rides he’s joined us!! That’s really bad isn’t it?

Really, we don’t make a habit of it but clearly there’s exceptions to the rule. After trundling along to Polesdon and then up Hogden Lane (who’s idea was that?), we lost Pascal on Collarbone, where the tree hangs down near the end where the log hop over used to be. At least that’s what I think happened. Making the elementary error of not counting how many riders started we were lucky not to have discarded riders all over the hills on Sunday.

My only excuse was I asked Tony if he was last as we left Collarbone and he said yes. Fortunately there’s no blame culture round here in any case but if anyone asks, it wasn’t me OK? Really sorry Pascal and glad to hear you got home safely.

At the time we were already behind schedule after a lengthy puncture stop for John way back on Hogden Lane (who’s ideas was that again?). John had slashed his tyre on one of the many flints to be found on that miserable climb and being tubeless had to resort to some old fashioned inner tube things after first exhausting the possibility he could fix it with his rubbery worm. Yikes.

Once we’d casually discarded Pascal on Collarbone, the dropped down to the Abinger Roughs via White Down which I was expecting to be quite greasy after out month of rain but it was OK really. Nothing too taxing so long as you weren’t trying to go flat out.

We settled into a nice pace and wended our way through the Abinger Woods, then through Abinger and on to Shere with the unusual sensation of sun on our backs. The plan was MarkyMark’s favoured route to Newland’s via St. Martha’s Hill which adds another four miles or so onto the ride but we wanted to make the most of the morning.

The hills were sprinkled with Duke of Edinburgh teenagers staggering here and there weighed down by over-sized packs. Some seemed to be enjoying it more than others but they should thank their lucky stars they weren’t out during the late afternoon when heavy rain swept in. At least, I hope they were all back at base by then!

A second puncture struck on Black Heath, with John’s newly tubed tyre picking up a puncture which was the point at which we realised Pascal was no longer with us… The stop lengthed when I think Andrew also discovered a puncture? I can’t remember now! Anyway, it was an age before we were moving again but once we were, we had St. Martha’s in our sights.

St. Martha’s is one of those nasty climbs that I would gladly forsake but without it there would have been no Eccles Cake for me at the cafe. It’s no overly long, shorter than Water Lane on the other side of the hill, but it’s steeper and trickier in places. I settled into a rhythm behind JohnR who shot off ahead, sniffing a Strava segment, his attempt at which collapsed as soon as we reached the first stretch of muddy track two thirds of the way up.

There was nothing for it but to pick a tortuously slow line through, dabbing here and there where traction disappeared entirely. It was, simply, a slog. Behind us, riders straggled up the climb but while we re-grouped at the top, there was another long wait for Dave, Ray and Rob. In fact a really long wait.

After John and gone back down the hill to investigate it turned out to be yet another puncture, this time for Dave who a deep cut on his rear tyre.

Underway again, we finally reached Newland’s with me tucked in behind JohnR who was in full scale sprint-to-the-finish mode. I had no idea why but thought there must be some reason so followed him slavishly, only to find he was hoping to get first dibs on any warmed Eccles Cakes that might be available. But John, they don’t do warm Eccles cakes here, that’s Ali’s cafe on Headley! Oh well, best to be safe than sorry.

After a decent pause in the sunshine looking at a frenzy of Vespa scooters, the group split, with some of those short of time pressing on. The rest of us stood around while Rob fixed a puncture that had manifested itself on departure! By this time I was quite resigned to the situation; in fact I don’t remember the last time we had so many punctures on the same ride.

So lagging behind, we needed to cut out too many deviations from the most direct route home. This meant a wander across the North Downs Way and Trouble in Paradise, swapping this instead for a wade through the wide and surprisingly deep puddles on the Drovers’ Road back to Ranmore.

By the time we’d got home it was getting close to a 1:00pm finish which is late even by my standards, with 29 miles on the clock from my front door (which includes 3.5 miles travelling to/from the Bockett’s car park). I really enjoyed the relaxed nature of the morning but my 10 day layoff this month due to rain, wind, hail, thunder and general can’t-be-arsed attitude made itself felt during the afternoon.

No a bad way to spend a Sunday really.

So. Unless you’ve been in a cave somewhere you’ll have heard of 29ers. Big wheels on mountain bikes which run out at roughly 29 inches when you take the wheel and tyre into consideration, versus the ‘traditional’ mountain bike wheel size of 26 inches.

Lots of people seem to like them, but some people don’t. Maybe an in-between size might give you the best of both worlds?

For a long time, there’s been a lot of talk of some kind of halfway house, based on the old French touring wheelsize of 650b. The logic is you might get something of the speed and stability of 29ers with the agility and strength of 26 inch wheels.

With 650b, the effective wheelsize works out at roughly 27.5 inches which sits nicely in between the two extremes. What no-one at this stage really knows outside the bike manufacturers is how these bikes will actually ride. A sublime mix of the best of both worlds, or some kind of neither-fish-nor-foul beast?

Now it looks as though we might get to find out as the idea has some just got some proper backing from Intense Cycles, according to Bikemagic.

And they won’t be the last, with a lot more manufacturers rumoured to be launching 650b bikes soon. The wheel size is suggested to be especially suitable for long travel trail bikes as the 29er size limits the amount of practical travel you can get from a frame.

Intense have announced two of their most popular bikes (the Carbine and the Tracer) are now available with 650b wheels and in the process have shown that both Rock Shox will be offering 650b forks, and that Kenda will also have 650b tyres in their product line up.

We already know Schwalbe will be doing suitable tyres and that Fox will be making 650b forks too, so if you haven’t spotted a bandwagon yet you have your eyes shut.

There’s a lot of marketing in this admittedly. Many manufacturers got caught out when the beardy-weirdy 29er wheel size went mainstream over the past few seasons and there’s no way they want to miss out this time.

But so far, what do we know?

No-one I know has ridden a 650b so this might be a paradigm shift in the industry which sees 26ers disappear, or it might be total rubbish. Everyone I’ve spoken to in a bike shop has scoffed at the idea (as they did with 29ers I remember), so we’ll have to see how things pan out.

Generally speaking, losing weight is good for you. Lighter is better, or so they say and this applies just as much to mountain bikes as it does to so-called celebrities ‘papped on a beach somewhere far from these rain-washed shores.

But what’s important is how you lose the weight.

Take rotating mass for example. This seems to be considered the best weight to lose since it takes more effort to keep a heavy weight moving than a light one. When it comes to mountain bikes, that means wheels are the obvious place to lose weight, and my experience with my Stans Crest wheelset seems to bear this out.

The benefits from a lighter wheelset (all other things being equal) are arguably more pronounced for 29er wheels, so it’s interesting to see Mavic’s latest 29er Crossmax wheelsets for 2013 being announced.

I’m not going to go into the details of what they’ve done to reduce weight (BikeRumor have a much more indepth article on the 2013 Crossmax 29ers) but suffice to say the new wheels are both very light and versatile in accommodating lots of different axle and hub standards.

The model which caught my eye as being particularly enticing is the Crossmax ST which comes in at 1710g in weight for the pair, which is a great weight for a 29er. I know the Crossmax SLR looks better and is even lighter at 1620g but it’s more race focussed than the All Mountain ST and it costs more too.

On the subject of price, current 2012 Crossmax ST wheels retail at £660 in the UK so these are not a cheapy-cheap option but they promise to be super strong and are fully tubeless compatible without the need for a rim strip so reliability is likely to be high.

Of course, there’s other options out there – Stans, as previously mentioned and Sun Ringle (who licence Stans profiles), plus WTB and Shimano all offer 29er wheels at decent weights and a variety of prices. But if you do plan to upgrade your bike, look to your wheels first.