So, the weather continued to absolutely chuck it down.  This unfortunately lead to slightly diminished attendance for the Big Build Day.  Yes, that’s the same Big Build Day I said that you might need suncream for…

Numbers were lower, but spirits were high, with people enjoying the traditional British pastime of complaining about the weather.  The trees offered a bit of shelter, and the rain made easy (well, easier) work of digging.

It also made everything slimy, slippy and cold, but you can’t have everything.  We managed to knock out a fair bit of trail, and it’s coming together nicely.

Discaimer: I didn’t actually do that much work on this section, but it was the nicest bit of the trail built today, so you get a photo of it. 😛

Again, thanks go to Sharon and Dale for feeding the horde and providing hot drinks – Saints in waterproofs, I tell thee!

There are more Big Build Days scheduled for July and August, so hopefully the weather will be kinder then.  Even if it’s not though, you should still go along, or attend the regular build days on Sundays.  The trails won’t build (or maintain!) themselves!

It’s been a crap weekend weather-wise.  I rode the trail, but very slowly and cautiously – the Captains really don’t like mud.  I did make sure that I went through the centre of every puddle though – not only does it avoid unnecessary erosion and widening of the track, but it gets you properly covered in mud, and looking like a proper mountain biker!

As I said, I rode very cautiously and slowly, and, to be honest, I was a bit rubbish.  Bizarrely though, I ended up with much shorter laptime than usual.  The weather did had its upside – the trail was very, very quiet, so I wasn’t stopping for prolonged periods in-between sections waiting for groups of people to go on ahead, or having to pull over.  In fact, I overtook a couple of groups on the trail itself. :/

It felt very slow going, but it was still a lot of fun.  When you spend an entire working week sat in front of a computer screen, you have to get outside to save your sanity (or what’s left of it).  I think it’s good to ride in different conditions, and let’s face it, if you were put off biking everytime there was a bit of rain, you’d never get any done in this country.  “Right, biking, I think there might be a two week window in June….”

Got back to the car, all ready to go back to our nice warm house.  Unfortunately, Mr Toast locked the keys in the car, so instead we stood in our sopping wet muddy clothes for over an hour waiting for the AA to rescue us.   He compounded his crime by looking at my white face, blue lips and red eyes (my circulation is really bad, I don’t cope well with cold…) and saying, “Your lips are going blue, with that buff on you look like a cancer patient”.

Not the best end to a ride!
Ride: Cannock Chase

Trail: Follow the Dog

Highlights: Er…shortest laptime?

Bad bits:  Mr Toast locking the keys in the car -_-

Post ride food snaffled: Nowt at the cafe, made a roast chicken dinner when we got back though.  Mr Toast had to peel the spuds and parsnips as punishment.

Good dogs seen: A very sweet and very wet cocker spaniel