Wow, that was a really great weekend's worth of biking, BBQing and beer quaffing. Well, for three of us it was - not so much for mate #4, who managed to collapse his front wheel just a couple of miles into the ride. Closer inspection revealed ridiculously loose spokes, so was an accident waiting to happen and could easily have been a lot worse. I did offer to give his bike a quick maintenance check when he arrived (he does triathlons, so doesn't use his MTB that much) but he was far more interested in a mug of tea and a bacon sandwich than getting his bike off the roof. Live and learn. So while the rest of us headed off for a great day in the woods, he had a long walk of shame back to the house and a day spent eating my biscuits and trying to work out how to work my TV.
Us three that were left used to MTB together a lot twenty-odd years ago and it didn't take long for the usual good-natured ribbing and 'encouragement' to kick in, meaning that we all pushed ourselves pretty hard. One mate rows for a club five days a week and the other is a gym junkie who runs six miles a day but, as we all know, bike fitness is a whole different beast altogether, so I was very happy (and quite relieved) to be leaving them both in my dust on the long climbs.
Today's post-beer, post-BBQ session was a little bit tamer as you'd expect, but once again the sun was shining and the biking was good. All in all, an excellent weekend.
Even saw the dog. 
