The good weather made my mind up about going out this Sunday. Heavy fog was forecast but the sun was up bright and early so I was looking forward to a good first ride out for 2008. I’d previously had a day out at enduroland but had not managed to get on to our normal riding area. Unfortunately Rotaxrob had to call in sick so I was alone for the day. Kiting up was a cool affair as the temp was reading -1c according to Vauxhalls hi tech (calibrated?!) dash temp gauge.
The frost was thick and covered the grass like snow in the shade, not only that but the puddles were covered by a thick coating of ice! Setting off up the hill from my normal parking spot I was nice and toasty, but my feet were getting cold due to my boots being constantly covered in ice cold water.  Taking the right turn before the first bridge on the Ridgeway, I caught up to three guys on dirt bikes, two guys on ktm250’s being lead by another on a Burg. Stopping for a quick chat I asked where they were going for the day. “Oh just up to the other side of the Rat Run, then looping back again” he said. I smiled to myself inside my helmet and wondered if he knew I was the one that gave that particular byway its name!
Joining them I stuck behind the ‘leader’ while we rode the concrete section but blasted ahead once we got to the lane crossing the field. Waiting at the lane leading up to the A34 underpass two bikes caught up, but they turned out to be another pair of riders and seeing as the other three guys were nowhere in site, I decided to follow the second group. I chased them up the lane, catching them just near the underpass but they went the wrong way so I carried on my own again.
I had a small problem though, there was a rave being held inside the underpass! I rode down to the people milling about and a few wasted guys walked up saying things like ‘cool suite’ (I take it he meant jacket?) and I asked if there was room to get though. A young guy took charge and waved me forward leading me down into the underpass, keeping to the right hand side. Inside the noise was extreme to say the least, and I had ear plugs in!
I had a nice clear ride up the Rat Run, stopping only to pick up and clear a large lump of wood that had been ripped out the ground (it could have had someone off). It’s nice being able to see where you go now in the rat run, as during the summer it had been a bit dodgy with all the new growth blocking your line of site. I decided to head straight down towards Cheively as I wanted to get over into Wiltshire to explore some lanes I’d marked up on the map the night before and I’d set some waypoints in the GPS. At the far end near the pub I got some dirty looks by several sets of walkers and that tends to wind me up a bit as I am on a road for f*ck sakes!
In the lane on the other side of the road I found a small tree had been laid across the track so I stopped to heave it into the hedge.

The offending small tree – how does that end up in the path I wonder! You know someone could be really hurt by something like that if the front wheel catches it at an angle, and it was on a bend!

I braved all but one of the tank traps, and made my way over to Lambourn turning left in town before turning right into the field where we had lunch with Mel during our TBM rideout. At the bottom of the hill there was a nasty surprise waiting for me. Now it often gets a bit boggy here but this time it was pure crap, in more than just one sense! The bike bogged down as it struggled to get though a foot and a half of cow shit – I kid you not! I ended up having to paddle as well gun the engine to get though and to stay upright. Roosting like hell, shit was up over my boots so I was glad to see the gate was open, my god it stank!
I made my way over the Gallops and now you can see the result the NERC have had on some of the byways. Once upon a time there wasn’t a mark on that bit of grass and I think I was the only one that ever used it, but now it’s so chewed up they’ve had to fence it off.

Previously unspoilt grass now fenced off due to excessive usage.

I made my way over to Baydon and then Albourne where I turned the wrong way up the B4192 so I re-jigged my route through Ramsbury and on towards Ogbourne St George. Feeling a bit hungry I dropped into a shop in Albourne and the stench of cow poo came into the shop with me! I munched on the crisps outside and a celebrity parked up just in front of me and picked up his Sunday papers. I know his face very well but cant for the life of me remember what I’ve seen him in. He didn’t look ‘mr hanky’ (poo man) in the eye, keeping his gaze firmly on the ground!
I carried on, leaving the locals to fumigate the shop and decided I’d better ride though every puddle I could find, to try and wash of the cow lube. It wasn’t long before I noticed I’d already done 55 miles, so I needed to fill up with petrol. I set the GPS to find the nearest station and cruised into Marborough, grabbing some launch at the same time.
Once back on the trails I picked a nice spot with a view, and made a little seat of straw which turned out to be exceptionally warm.

My bike the magnificent KTM450EXC!

View to the front.

And me in a good mooood

Heading north towards Banbury castle I found some guys trying to rescue a drowned bike. The funny thing is, it wasn’t even his bike! After a bit of larking about they invited me to join them, but in the mean time I headed up to the café near the Castle for a cup of coffee and a slice of chocolate cake, yum.

The team trying to get the drown bike going

There were loads of bikers taking a break there and an old guy pulled up with a female rider who turned out to be his daughter! I recognised him from a meeting last year so we had a bit of a chat to him and his daughter (who was only on her third dirt bike ride). He rides a crf250x and she was on an ajp, which she needed for the low seat height. We had a nice chat about bikes and stuff in general. And found out she calls Ktm’s Sainsbury’s bikes. Cheeky!

Coffee and cake time!

I thought I’d better start heading back towards the car so I made my excuses and headed back taking the lane near the café that goes east to Aldbourne. This is a great little lane with some jumps in that can launch you high and into a rut if you are not careful. I pretty much retraced my steps back towards Moulsford but the rave was still going on and I didn’t feel like squeezing through them again, as they’d be even more wasted by now. So I was forced to turn around and use a part of the Ridgeway to get back to the car.
A fantastic day was had by all (?) eerr me - over 110 miles in glorious sunshine.
Only one problem is I woke up the next morning with a cough and feel like death now, I wonder what sort of bugs are in cow poo other than ecoli? Mmm been off work for two days now!

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