Due to family commitments we hadn’t planned a ride for the bank holiday weekend but at on Saturday a note arrived and a day of fun linking up some new singletrack that a couple of the gang have been busy with was on the agenda.

A fine day out with plenty 0f fun, spills and punctures.

It’s pointless trying to describe the route instead a couple of highlights spring to mind.

The first incident was when Alec and myself ducked for cover thinking someone was firing a shotgun at us, no worry it was just Alex’s tubeless tire having the first of 4 blowouts. A quick tube change and we were off into singletrack. The pace for the first hour was far too quick for a couple of us so we contented ourselves with whinging at the back and plodding along as trying to keep up was too much hassle. While waiting for Aaron, Sam and Pete to arrive we headed for a lovely bit of trail with some great flowy jumps. As we faffed and played the others found us and after a couple of runs at the jumps we headed off for more fun.

Turning off a fireroad Alex warned us a of a ‘big’ jump,and said he was going to  go for it. Straight down the trail and onto a very big kicker that fired him yards into the air and 5 yards down the trail, as he landed his front wheel ‘burped’ and he was off. A bit shaken he busied himself with putting a tube into the tubeless system while we chatted and Sam chased after 3 females cycling along the fireroad while using the excuse of checking out what seemed like a trail! Into conifer trees for a very twisty section that ended with a steep stream crossing. Neil went at it shot over the bars and landed face down in the stream with his feet on one bank and his head on the other, we pondered whether he had formed a human bridge for the rest of us to ride across but decided against it as he struggled to his feet dripping with water.

Plenty of logs and fallen trees to ride across and combined with awesome flowy singletrack we were really enjoying it, the only trouble was that each flowy bit ended in a steep climb that most of us couldn’t be bothered with and so walked up. A steep descent into another stream crossing, this time Pete miss-timed lifting the front wheel and ended up wraped around his bike frame with the handlebar stuck into his delicate regions! This was followed the best singletrack section of the day, narrow off camber with plenty of rooty treestumps to cross. The final descent included a large fallen tree that Pete and Alex jumped off while the rest of us made our down across the roots. More ups and downs led to yet another stream crossing. Neil stepped up to the mark, what was he thinking, expecting a different outcome from the same technique. Neil adopted the human bridge position in the stream but this time his frame prevented him climbing out, Sam and Pete picked him up and yet again he was drenched.

Fatigue was starting to set in as we headed back – climbing the singletrack that we had previously come down. Twenty miles of singletrack, plenty of punishing climbs and loads of technical bits to challange us. A great ride.

We rode straight to the pub for grub and drinks where Rich suprised us by ordering the same drink that my wife has, will he forget this, I think not.