Easy Dent Ride

Part of the deal with Dave (and rest assured this is really going to cost him) was that I would write up a report on my second experience with the MTBers - not that there were many takers this time - due I suspect in no small part to the appalling weather conditions that morning.

As it was, three walkers (Alan, Ian and Jan) turned up to brave a yomp from Dent, 5 MTBers (Andy, Nicky, Mark and Paul x2) turned up to do the hard ride, and Dave and I made a small but perfectly formed splinter group to do the easy ride (Readers please note that once I realised that Dave was passing up an opportunity to strut his stuff with the 'hardies' I offered to let him off the hook - but to no avail - what a conscientious chap we have as section leader).

Given my experiences the previous week I braced myself for whatever was to be thrown at me, and in the early stages it was. What had apparently been dry and navigable the week before when reccied had now turned into a quagmire - it got to be a recurring theme hearing Dave say 'well that stream/river/lake/sea wasn't there two weeks ago' and 'you'd have loved it if it had been dry'. However despite this I felt that (with a little persuasion) I was able to stay on my bike for longer periods than last week, which was encouraging.

In the end I was enjoying myself so much (honest) that I was quite disappointed when Dave suggested dropping down into Sedbergh for a caf‚ stop (double honest, really and truly and hope to die). But I felt he had earned it and anyway we were soaked through to the skin. We were lucky enough to find a caf‚ with a log fire and settled ourselves down to dry out. I am not sure the caf‚ owners felt as lucky, as when the condensation levels rose around us the numbers of customers in the caf‚ dropped and all too soon we had the place to ourselves. Is this a common phenomenon experienced by SOC MTBers ? By the time we left we had gifted rising damp to the place.

All too soon it was time to remount and head back to Dent via Millthrop. The weather had by this stage improved markedly although we came across a ford that Dave had ridden through on his reccy which now resembled something on which you could white water raft. All good things come to an end however and we were quickly on the main road back to Dent.

As the light was falling, we got ourselves into dry clothes and went in search of the walkers to join them over tea and scones to sustain us over the long journey back. We had hoped to find the 'hardies' and had been well impressed to think they had been and gone in less time than it took us to complete the easy ride (Dave later told me that they had been complete wusses and gone home as soon as they figured we were out of sight that morning).

My best memory of the day is of feeling pleasantly exhausted, dry at last and full of hot chocolate, sitting around a (second) log fire and giving thanks to a higher being that I had survived a second outing with the section.

Will there be a third - you'll just have to wait and see.

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	Swaledale Outdoor Club

Easy Dent Ride

Liz Smith