Once again we were embarking on our favorite ride, again! The weather was perfect - clear but cool. We had a new recruit on this ride, Mike on his dogs Cannondale Jekyl (ELO) I must admit he did look the part. Anyway as always the first ascent past the Upton Inn was a killer and we all arrived at our own speed. Quick chat and on we went the descent over the far side of lansdown valley was great and they seem to have cleared the track, nice now but would have been better two years ago. One topic of discussion on the ride was "doing the Wales thing" later this year and my mind wandered dreaming of endless miles of custom built single track!
The ride was nice and it's good having such a classic within riding distance from home. We continued and just before a technical downhill ending in a brook Mike discovered his back disk brake was spongy and losing fluid, Grahame and myself immediately offered for him to go first so we could see him fall off but the offer was declined!! Instead I was just waiting for Mike to come flying past me at warp speed wailing "NO BRAKES"!!!!. Much to our dissapointment and Mikes relief the brake lasted and seemed to get a bit better after the downhill section. The next stint was through the country lanes, then for a change we crossed the fields and finished the ride on the cycle track.
Mike came back to mine for a post-ride cup of tea and a chat, I think I can safely say a goog time was had by all.