When I was a lad we weren't allowed to sit around in the School Holidays saying we were bored and needing ferrying from one expensive amenity to another in the 4x4 whilst we sat in the back texting and watching DVDs and eating Mars Bars. No. We biked off on our own to Shorne Woods.
Obviously Health and Safety, legal liability and vast armies of paedophiles would prevent such an option nowadays. Shorne Woods involved a 5 mile trip through lanes and woodland and featured an old bomb crater in the middle where we would go to meet Big Bertha. This was not, obviously a woman (we were very late developers in Gravesend) but a giant, almost vertical cycle track that led directly down into the crater. We would muster all our nerves and thunder down this slope with a view to hitting the hump in the centre of the crater at sufficient speed to get both wheels off the ground.
My Nottingham built Trent Tourist had an adult frame which was way too big for me and my Dad had fitted wooden blocks on the pedals so I could reach them. Negligence lawyers would have had a field day.
Anyway yesterday I headed off in the rain on my mountain bike to Brandon Woods near Thetford to see if I still had those techniques. Just watch out for the 360 degree flip at the end.
20 comments:
Really scarey Rog.
ps Just spoken to my brother, who finished walking the Coast to Coast yesterday. He does not recommend doing it on bikes - prohibited on parts of route anyway, and they have turned some footpaths into deeply-rutted bogs.
Disappointed not to spot any of the Paedophile legions in your otherwise highly entertaining video clip, Rog.
I suppose they're all off on their hols in Thailand...or is it Jamboree season?
;?
xxx
Mort
Well thank God the camcorder survived.
Watch out Bradley Wiggins.
Shorne Woods! Why, we used to go there occasionally on our bikes too, tho' it was always a bit of a haul up Strood Hill. You never got into a fight with lads from elsewhere, did you? It couldn't have been you that clouted a presentable, sensitive, musical little bloke over the head with a Double Diamond bottle, causing a permanent scar, and just because he wouldn't pass his pack of Woodies round to all and sundry?
Dave: Thanks for the tip. I'm not sure I want to be deeply rutted in a bog.
Morton: I always say "All that Golds is not Glitter". Everyone's gone to the moon.
Kaz: Next time I won't attemt it one handed holding a camcorder. And that goes for the bike ride as well.
Christopher: So it was YOU! Woodbine Willie, restricted in height due to over indulgence in Park Drive and Capstan Full Strength? I always used to say "A Double Diamond works wonders".
Yey! I could make a film of my skipping rope accidents! They also involved flipping at 360... where is the little nought button....?
Sx
Scarlet : Thanks for skipping by. You'll only find that button with a degree of difficulty.
There isn't a special degree button, is there?
Sx
Scarlet - No... and I was 'sent "e" grade'.
Altho if you hold the "alt" key and type "248" on the numeric keys you do get awarded a °
€€€
No...it's not working...
Sx
Scarlet- I think it only works on the numeric keypad on the right of the keyboard...not on the numbers at above the main qwerty area.
°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°
You are one mean offroading motherfunker, Rog.
Geoff: Yes! And I know how to do the little noughts!!!
I don't have a numeric side pad on this laptop.
I shall skip along now as I've gone off-topic!
Sx
Wot I said on FB
Alt 0186 for a º which is fractionally lower than your 248 ° - probably a bit cooler.
See: º°
Oh, and having pressed enetr, I see it's also a bit bigger and easier to see:
My 360º; your 360°.
Mine's so small you can't see it.
Sx
That's what all the girls tell me.
Yep, when I was a kid, during school hols your parents pretty much kicked you out in the morning (with pocket money for crisps) and told you to go and amuse yourself for the day and be back for teatime.
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