BIKES

Kona Rove
“Finding karma
on the commute”
MILES THIS MONTH: 263
DONE THIS: Terrorised the local fauna
SPENT THAT: Nothing this month
ACHIEVEMENT: A blissed out mindset
EMAIL: jason_hardy@ipcmedia.com
In no rush to get home after working late, I took the longer, quieter
route out of the office home. As you can imagine, travelling south
out of Croydon is never the most relaxing of rides, but with a bit of
thought you can avoid the hubbub of traffic heading down to the M25,
and escape to the country...
From almost the halfway point of my 12.5-mile commute I can turn
off the busy A-road route and slip up onto downland. When I say slip,
it’s actually a bit of a long drag up, but once there you’re on a hardly
used narrow road, on the open saddle of the hill with cattle grazing to
the side of the tarmac.
Just this simple diversion completely changes the attitude of my
commute. From the constant battle to assert yourself in the face of
tired and bad-tempered drivers, you’re suddenly all on your own,
with the middle section of the tree-lined route exposing you to less
than a dozen cars at most. I immediately become more relaxed,
the main thing to concentrate on being my pace and avoiding
swallowing insects.
Now that summer is in full swing I know I can chance the off-road
route I’ve been planning for a while without the risk of resembling a
Glastonbury festival goer by the end of it. It’s probably only a little
more than a mile that cuts a corner off this extended route, a turning
taking you down a low-tree-enveloped bridlepath, and suddenly the
relaxed nature of the ride subtly changes, as I’m continually scanning
the surface for anything that’ll catch me out.
You then turn off and cut across a field down the side of the hill,
a wide but bumpy track giving you speed that you’re not entirely
pleased to gain! If I’d been on my MBR full-suspension Longtermer
then I would simply have blasted down this path without a second
thought, but on a rigid steel bike I found myself constantly scrubbing
off speed to keep control. A tad less air in the tyres would probably
have made this much easier. But this was all still entirely enjoyable,
and eternally preferable to the cut-and-thrust of riding on the A-road.
The real delight for me as I swooped down the hill was surprising two
fox cubs sat in the middle of the path. By the time I got down to where
they had been they’d sensibly scarpered, maybe observing my bike
handling skills and thinking better of it. But I could still hear them
scampering through the tall crop as I rattled by.
A dark concrete tunnel (complete with pithy graffiti), takes you
under the M23, and then I chased a startled rabbit along the
remaining singletrack before I returned to the tarmac to complete the
rest of my commute.
Through all this the Rove didn’t miss a beat; the disc brakes
proving reassuring off-road, the tyres coping admirably with all the
mixed surfaces on offer. As long as time and the weather is still on my
side, I think this little rural escape will become a regular treat on my
ride home.
THIS
MONTH
10/10
Wise words from
the local vandals
Photos: Roo Fowler, Jason Hardy
SEPTEMBER 2014 CYCLING ACTIVE 83