Riding to the pub..

My other main passion in life apart from beer is riding my mountain bike. Traditionally this is done every Tuesday night with a group of extended friends but I also try my best to sneak in rides around family duties. Most of the time this is the odd hour or two at weekends, but at this time of year when the evenings are longer I often go out on my own to do a loop of the local villages and woods. Part of the reason for this is the excercise and making sure I'm fit enough to 'keep up' on a Tuesday, but a big part of it is that its also a great excuse to get out for a pint...

Ive concocted what I think is the perfect "quick blast" route. To save boring you too much I'll try and condense the route. It starts with a very steep quarter mile drag up tarmac to gain some height. After leveling out I can catch my breath I then head into some woods which skirt the crest of a hill for a brilliant half mile of flowing singletrack path before emerging at a small village.

Another mile or so on road brings me to a large pine plantation cris crossed with bike routes, full of rooty pine needle scattered singletrack, with bumps, lumps, berms and an optional (if I'm feeling brave) full on downhill course. After this I pass through another small village before climbing up through another set of woods on the return loop. Another couple of miles of wooded track, a train track and river crossing, a couple of walls to negotiate and I'm on to the home straight. I'm about 8 miles into the ride now and a steady pull up a quiet country lane brings me to a major point of the excercise ... The Rose & Crown at Thurstonland.

Now this isn't a perfect pub by any means (the food could be better IMO) but its a great rural village pub, perfectly placed for my little route lying as it does at the top of a big hill which my house is at the bottom of. The pub has certainly improved in recent years though, It now being a sort of a brewery tap as the landlord is a partner in Brass Monkey Brewery. The bar features seven hand pulls which usually (although not always) feature 3 or 4 Brass Monkey offerings and 3 or 4 guests. They've also recently filled their fridges with a number of good imports: Orval, Flying Dog, Liefmans etc...

This part of my solo rides is usually spent sat at the bar or outside if the weather is nice. Sometimes chatting to the locals, sometimes trying to warm up, and sometimes contemplating the nettle stings and bramble scratches on my legs. More often than not I'm lost in thought, completely relaxed basking in the contentment of a well earned beer and, really enjoying my pint in that post excercise glow that seems to heighten flavours and experience.

A couple (or 3) drinks is usually enough and then Its time to strap on a light, put a jacket on (as its usually dark and cold by now) and brave the kamikaze chute which takes me down a steep rocky and dark path between farmers walls and hedgerows for a quarter mile roller coaster ride before depositing me, laughing and often more scratched/stung at the bottom of the path almost within spitting distance of my front door.

Tonight was the perfect evening for this ride, I didn't even decide to go until 7.30PM but I'm so glad I did. The weather, the ground conditions, how I rode, the peace and quiet, the beautiful countryside, the promise of beer all conspired to make it a very uplifting couple of hours. Unfortunateley the cask selection wasn't very inspiring tonight but a couple of Flying Dog Pale Ales more than made up for it.

Right time for another beer...