The cast of Tron reunited

Watching from the office as the first snow in a decade to settle in London was falling, the email frenzy started – virgin snow on MTB wheels just had to be tasted!

So a North Downs night ride was in order. Batteries were rapidly charged, acquired and strapped on to bikes. Layers of warm clothes were piled on for the -2 degrees temperature.

Hard work

From the base of Box Hill three riders took off into the darkness up the North Downs Way – me, Pete L and Pete D. By the time we reached the top the warm layers had to come off. It’s hard work cycling uphill through snow!

The snow varied from soft, skiddy, fluffy stuff to hard crispy crunchy icing. Our halogen lights reflected strongly off the bright whiteness everywhere.

Inner tubes go brittle in the cold. Maybe

How do you get a puncture in snow? I still don’t know but I managed it and we cooled down rapidly as I struggled to unfreeze my inner tube and keep my fingers from freezing too.

We wiggled through singletrack, lost our sense of direction, skipped over snow laden logs, disappeared into boggy puddles hidden under this white blanket.

Sketchy

We managed 3 hours burn time and got back about 11pm, very reluctant to leave the Downs behind. Who knows when we’ll get the opportunity to do that again?

I’ll be watching the forecast and keeping those lights charged for the next “Snowriders scramble!” alert on email.