- A muddy hill and some muddy people and muddy bikes somewhere in mudland.
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Chris B and I were signed up for the 2nd ever run by the new N Hereford group and were busy loading bikes into my van in the dark at 0630! The actual run started 0900 at Shobdon airfield near Leominster, 8 others were there including run leader Gray. The run meandered over the area to the N and W and included lunch in Bishop's Castle filling station followed by a poo stop in their amazing public toilet which features the kind of technology you just don't expect to find in the depths of the Marches! The day before had featured lots of drizzle so everything was completely sodden but the river crossings were all still low enough to be doable. I'd gone with trials tyres and that was completely wrong for the area and conditions - bike ruts down the middle were absolutely horrible! The lane into New Radnor features Strata Florida like water filled ruts at the best of times and on this occasion they were even deeper than usual. Someone had trimmed the hedge back and left a ledge to get around the biggest one but it wasn't quite wide enough and my bars hit a stout branch in the hedge and I was left with no option but to flick the kill switch and jump off into the 2' deep puddle that was another 1' below the ledge height, luckily getting far enough into it to avoid the falling bike which ended up in it behind me and upside down! I got out pretty quickly but was well soaked and forced to admit at the lunch stop that MX gear wasn't really right, even given the warm dry weather, and resorted to the goretex. I'm normally very good at not falling off but think I equalled all the previous falls this year put together on this one run, while still having nowhere near the most falls - it was very, very slippery!
- A rare bit of grass that's dry enough to stand on without sinking in!
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It is not an area that many people from outside the area seem to ride so often. There are a fair number of lanes but spread over a largish area so a bit more road work than some areas. Despite being the foothills of Wales there is very little rock and lots of rutted grass lanes but it still offers a good mix through the day, a massive variety of potential routes and a few exceptionally long routes with virtually no blacktop. It was my second ride in the area this year and I only recognised 3-4 lanes in the entire day so if you've never thought to go there give it a go, I don't think you'll be disappointed!
- Looking N - Weather on the say was ideal, no rain, dry, good viz.
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