I'll tell you, the odds seemed against a session at Combe bowl yesterday, people dropped out, the weather was looking doubtful, my ribs were still giving me shit but, alas, the hardcore got to caress those luscious Combe curves once again.
I picked up Sboy's bike as he was in Oxford & we arranged to meet in the village. The car trip was one of anticipation, cloud watching & finger crossing that the rain would hold off & soon enough I was parking up at the cricket pitch. Bikes unloaded & a short wait for S & we were walking the field, feeling that 'Combe vibe'. No one else riding but plenty of people around, enjoying a Sunday afternoon in the park, chilling out & watching the men in white & their little red ball. We made camp & started with a few runs from the top of the keyhole :-)
After a short time spots of rain began & it continued to deteriorate into a shower so we took refuge under the trees & spent some time discussing the trials & tribulations of life & pretty soon the rain had stopped & the sun was making something of an effort to get us riding again. Some dumb kids turned up for a game of football in the bowl & after some blatant ignorance, on our part, they gave up the 'can you do a blah blah blah' banter & went on their way. With the bowl drying out nicely we sessioned again, S made some nice hip jumps, fast plants & carved the bowl fast & with style. I think I made some nose picks (surprise) & even a pretty good 540 variant. When we had had enough & the sky was looking like more rain was imminent, we called it a day & walked back up the field to the cars.
I'd love to know who actually built the bowl, just so that I could say thank you to them for the effort taken to do so & for the good times that I've had there as I'm sure, anyone who's ridden there over the years, has had too...
Splendid.
I picked up Sboy's bike as he was in Oxford & we arranged to meet in the village. The car trip was one of anticipation, cloud watching & finger crossing that the rain would hold off & soon enough I was parking up at the cricket pitch. Bikes unloaded & a short wait for S & we were walking the field, feeling that 'Combe vibe'. No one else riding but plenty of people around, enjoying a Sunday afternoon in the park, chilling out & watching the men in white & their little red ball. We made camp & started with a few runs from the top of the keyhole :-)
After a short time spots of rain began & it continued to deteriorate into a shower so we took refuge under the trees & spent some time discussing the trials & tribulations of life & pretty soon the rain had stopped & the sun was making something of an effort to get us riding again. Some dumb kids turned up for a game of football in the bowl & after some blatant ignorance, on our part, they gave up the 'can you do a blah blah blah' banter & went on their way. With the bowl drying out nicely we sessioned again, S made some nice hip jumps, fast plants & carved the bowl fast & with style. I think I made some nose picks (surprise) & even a pretty good 540 variant. When we had had enough & the sky was looking like more rain was imminent, we called it a day & walked back up the field to the cars.
I'd love to know who actually built the bowl, just so that I could say thank you to them for the effort taken to do so & for the good times that I've had there as I'm sure, anyone who's ridden there over the years, has had too...
Splendid.
Nice one Ian. I love combe and how it has always been there as a reminder of fun times on a bike in our part of the world. I hope it stays there for a long time and the chances are that it will, due to the good people that live there and look after it.
ReplyDeleteWhat-and with all that nostalgia-someone forgot to do any piccies....Cmon !!
ReplyDeleteYou could of stayed in the car and ate bk's for all we know.
such reminiscence -
Yeah yeah, well I did remove the camera from my bag & it complained of flat batteries the moment I turned it on...
ReplyDelete& it's Combe man! there has to be a certain amount of nostalgia involved? I seem to remember you learnt rocket X-ups there on your Bully - circa 1992?
When did he learn them!?
Doublewhoppercheesemealspritenoice?