Offroad night ride with Hursley Cycle club

Last night I joined the Hursley cycle club for their regular Wednesday evening rides. We set off into the low sun towards Ampfield woods and from there I had completely no idea where we were or where we were going.

The ride was fantastic. A nicely chosen route gave some good downhill bits, including one rather interesting downhill stretch of Clarendon way which really made good use of my suspension (forks only, rear would have been nice) and was rather interesting to go down. I am very glad it was down and not up, as that path would have been very hard work.

You can see the route on the map – It really was quite an interesting collection of tracks and shortcuts, it must have taken a long time to learn about all these!

sportstracklive.com

The club meets most Wednesdays at 7pm and normally rides 10-12 miles until about 9 or 9:30. Last night was a slightly longer route, and was made slower by a puncture taking a few goes to pump the tire up as the pump kept pulling out the valve!

The route had a lot of dirt roads and farmers tracks, but there were some fantastic bits through forests which ranged from wide paths to narrow tracks. As the rides are into the dark lights were essential, and frankly my little Smart lunar 25lux light really wasn’t up to the job. I think I will be looking for some new lights for the next ride.