Lea Valley & Epping Forest
14 August 2005
Here is the story of my completely ludicrous actions on Sunday...how do I get myself into these things? (discuss)
Sunday, 14th August - Easy RIDE: Epping Forest
Up the Lea Valley and beautiful beechwood 40 mile ride, cafe's and pub stop, stations on route too for early returns. Meet on top of the Green Bridge, Mile End Park at 10.00am.
Sounds like fun and they did say EASY!!!
There were only three of us altogether thank goodness...less people to witness my muddiness!
It started off with cycling along narrow canal paths (I can't swim); wormy blackberries, fishermen, hills!!!, rain, mud, etc...
Steve (the guy from the Wheelers leading the ride) kept talking about Walthamstow and when I showed him my map he realised he meant Waltham Abbey which is twice the distance away! We actually cycled OFF the A-Z. On our bikes! Cycling. Get it!?!
Fab moment at the canal where we couldn't get through the path and had to do a hijackers style climbing over and crawling under a wire metal barrier. Not at all illegal. Honest.
The really exciting bit came after the pub stop when it was raining as we cycled into Epping Forest. I've never seen so much mud in my life. NB. did you know that Rachel's bike (that I was riding) doesn't have mud guards? You do now. And so does my black skirt (mud brown), blue jumper (mud brown), white trainers (mud brown).
I felt like a real boy racer (as much as I ever could). Up and down loads of bumpy trails. I had to push the bike up most of the hills and was as wheezy as a 40 a day smoker. It must be the london pollution in my lungs.
So...Up and down muddy trails, what happens but my bike gets stuck in a mud-puddle and I don't...I go flying over the handle bars and land splat in 4 inches of mud. Somewhere in Epping Forest there is a print of my body in the mud! And guess what...I didn't cry! I might have, but there were two strange men there who might have run a mile if I'd started blubbing. Luckily I saw the funny side of it. I was plastered in what my mother described as a mud mask but on all my body not just my face. Total comedy. I'm not sure that I can still be a lady when I'm covered in mud, but at least I was wearing a skirt! I know this image is hard to believe...check out the photos below!
This is probably where my sense of humour took the most battering. At least as much as my helmet that cracked on the outside and my body that is covered in scratches and bruises. Amazingly no real aches apart from where I landed heavily on my arm. And I even managed to ride to Old Street the next day and do an aerobics class the next evening! I must remember to take a good look in the mirror to see if 'idiot' is printed on my forehead.
Thank God we took a train home. Otherwise I would have had to set up camp in Epping Forest and you would all have had to visit me there from now on. Nausea set in on the train. Dehydration mixed with delayed shock of my fall and train sickness no doubt.
This great guy at Bubbles Hand Car wash on Cambridge Heath Road gave my bike a jet wash otherwise I could never have taken it into my building. I had a good mind to have them jet wash me. I was so dirty and tired that I took my clothes and trainers into the shower with me and had to sit under the water as I couldn't stand by that point!
Amazingly, once I'd rinsed off the worst of the mud, I put my clothers and trainers in the washing machine and they came out like new! V cool.
There was a hairy scarey time between 6pm and 8pm where my overworked chest hurt so much I thought I was having a heart attack. But don't panic, I'm okay.
To those of you who think that any of this story is exaggerated, wait til my mother's finished with it. By the weekend, I'll have done a double somersault before landing straight on my head, cracked my skull, given myself surgery using wool and knitting needles and still be on my feet in time to cycle to Cirencester to see her by the next weekend! Gotta love her!
If you are not asleep with this rambling story, have a look at the photos ...PROOF!!!
And don't worry about laughing at me, I was awake half the night chuckling over what a sight I must have been! I do amuse myself.
Huge thanks to Steve (Tower Hamlets Wheelers) and Kerry (nice by name nice by nature) without who this would never have been possible. They were so patient and proper gentlemen. Did not laugh or make me feel silly. They must have iron wills! I couldn't have kept a straight face in their place.
Until the next ride...
Aneeta
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