Ice Ice Baby! (From Bournemouth Echo)

Ice Ice Baby!

10:42am Monday 11th January 2010 in

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AS I sit here typing, I have a rather large bruise making its presence felt on my right buttock!

I'm actually quite surprised by how often it comes into contact with something and reminds me that it's there.

It's quite high up so sitting down doesn't cause any discomfort, but turning over in bed and even just leaning against something ensures that I don't forget my Saturday afternoon in a hurry.

We had decided to go for a fairly short ride on the mountain bikes and go and have a play in the snow and the ice. Firstly it was bitterly cold, so layering up was the order of the day, but even then any exposed skin felt the full force of the subzero wind-chill.

The first and biggest real challenge of the ride was getting from home to the beginning of our off-road excursion without falling off on the ice. Driving a car in the ice requires care to avoid sliding and potentially colliding with another vehicle or a solid object; however cycling on tarmac covered in sheet ice is requires much more skill and care.

Once your wheels roll onto the ice even the simple act of breathing needs to be undertaken with care, the slightest twitch can send your front wheel out from under you and before you know it you are lying next to the bike both of you continuing to slide gracefully.

My bruise was collected following a nice speedy downhill on what it normally sand, but was covered in surprisingly grippy snow; this then turned into crunchy ice followed by about two inches of sheet ice as far as the eye could see. I was in the middle of the three of us and my mistake was probably to start laughing when I saw the first person hit the ground in spectacular style. I then followed and shortly after heard laughing from behind which was quickly followed by a thud! The rest of the ride was fun but care was taken to ensure that we didn't have a repeat performance.

Whilst I like the cold, can we please have less ice? Snow is ok, but the ice is now starting to wear thin...literally!

As a last note for this week, I know I promised not to mention it again but I am going to...lights! There I've said it! Just this morning within one mile of my house I saw two cyclists merrily pootling along in the dark with no lights on at all. It's not big, it's not clever and it's only a matter of time before you end up getting hit.