Mark's Macclesfield ride still has a 100% record for torrential rain! We waited until the heavens opened and then set off. A surprisingly large number turned out despite the weather, and we all soon warmed up on the first climb up through Macclesfield Forest.
Charity Lane was the first walled rocky descent. Edwin had a puncture, but other than that it was safely co-ordinated by all 13 of us. A loose deeply gravelled descent followed, where riders carved elegantly through the snow-like gravel and others lost it completely and crashed into spikey bushes (mine and Molly's preferred approach!) We then found some board walk sections, where we slid, walked and rode bits, and Tim demonstrated he was an expert at falling left and then right whilst clipped in, generally sliding down a steep bank for good measure, and Owen learnt how to use his new chain tool, by repeatedly snapping his chain.
As the rains eased off, and the sun began to set, the forest
mist could be seen relaxing back up to the skies, as we made
our final descent: A long, wide, fast sweeping forestry track. Rob in particular had wanted a fast descent, and he found one.. crashing into a drainage ditch before rolling sideways 5 times down the rocky track with his bike.
Dazed, grazed and with a suspected broken collar bone, we spent the next few hours in A & E.
He is fine, no breaks, but lots of pain, and has a few regrets about getting his line wrong!
UPDATE: Stepping Hill got it wrong - they now realise that he's broken his collar bone... 4-6 weeks to recover.
John
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