When will I ever learn?

I must be a sucker for punishment.

I arranged to meet Dan (he of the Cut Gate debacle, see last post) on Saturday, for an all day ride in the Peak. He was coming down with a few of his friends from Leeds, and I foolishly invited a couple of my friends along.

Dan is a nightmare when it comes to looking afte bikes. I'm no angel, but he is in a different class entirely, I'm Vauxhall Conference compared to his Premier League. I asked him to make sure his bike was working for this ride...

I got to the car park to find him struggling with replacing his rear v-brake pads, as usual I end up doing it for him until I realise and back off. Then we wait 40 minutes for everyone else to get sorted, it's about 2 degrees C and I'm getting pretty cold. 15 riders set off up the hill. Chatting to Dan I find that he's put on a new Shimano chain, without using one of the special joining pins you need for these chains. The singlespeed bike I'm riding means I have to pull away up the hill, no sitting and spinning for me. I open the gate to a steady stream of riders, but no Dan. He is somewhere down the hill with a snapped chain. He gets to us eventually, with his chain about to go again. One of the group gives him a joining pin. Eventually we get going again.

The main part of the group explain that they are heading off up a footpath over Alport Castles way. I explain that I don't have any problems with footpath riding, but tend to avoid doing it on a sunny and busy Saturday in the Peak, with a group of 15. I got all the 'you'll be alright mate, never had a problem' stuff. They are a bunch of gnarly looking dudes, with the right sort of beards and long travel forks (the sort we chase down on descents, and outclimb on ups...) Me, Dan and a few other enlightened types head off on a bridleway, leaving them to it (making a mental note to try the route out one evening).

We have another extended stop whilst some other sucker sorts out Dan's gears. Oh, and then his back brake. At this point the gnarly dudes turn up. They met the farmer on their trail, so had to turn back. The mountain biker rating took a nose dive that day with the local landowners.

The rest of the day was pretty nice actually. I managed to ride for more than 5 minutes without having to stop and wait, result.

At the end of the ride, me and Dan visited the caff in Hope. I tried to explain how it was pretty shitty to turn up on a ride with a borked bike and make 14 other riders wait half the day whilst you (and your helpful fellow riders) sorted it out. His response was 'these things happen' along with a shrug of the shoulders.