Well nine of us were just about to set off, 7 social and two fast. The fast were Ali and little Hopper. To Ali's relief Hackness Mike turned up and he wasn't going to be left to Steve's tender mercies, it wasn't to be tho as Mike's bad back became a problem and he left the terrible twosome too it! Ali could still talk when back at the car park so he survived! 

Us magnificent 7 were, me, Houghing Jax, Mad Lizzie, Elec-Rick, Purple Lee, The Mayor of sawdon, slumming it with us socials as he was full of cold and bringing up the front Father Ted. With that crew there was plenty of banter. Jax and i had roughed out a route, up Silpho windings and then the downhill to Whisperdales. The climb was mud free but as soon as we turned onto the singletrack we struck mud glorious mud. I soon found it hard to turn the pedals. Give me a 29er with fat tyres and some mud and i will give you a large bike shaped lump of mud. All the bikes suffered to some extent but the 29er really was a problem! Some skinnier tyres will hopefully  sort it and with the popularity of 29ers there is plenty of choice out there. I struggled on dragging my muddy bicycle shaped object along and eventually the wheels turned! Elec-Rick had a moment looking at his bike and wondering just what was going on but he overcame and Houghing jax recovered from a slow start to blast across and up Whisperdales, Mud, bring it on!! 

We then split for a short section, the boys doing the bridge that isn't there and us girls doing a small section of my challenge route. We all paused for a moment to remember the night Martin hung suspended by his rapidly falling down shorts over the bridge that isn't there. Ah… sweet memories! 

We regrouped just fine, i was somewhat surprised, usually manage to loose one or two when we split but tonight we held it together. Off for a quick blast on my challenge route. Jax and i explained where we planned to go next, UP Bakers Wharren. 'UP' !!!!! said Father ted, 'you lost your minds? The Mayor of Sawdon (not sure if we quite understand the meaning of nick names in this club!) simply asked why. The rest of the guys who i think were pretty unsure where we meant still looked pretty keen NOT  to go that way so Jax and i had a few moments of discussion in bike route short hand. We had a plan, the boys didn't look to certain we hadn't something even worse than up the Wharren, ( tell me again Jax, Why did we think it good idea to ride up there?) but clung onto the word downhill we had thrown into the discussion! We headed off into a very strong headwind , picking up a piece of wonderful singletrack which soon became very muddy,  caused a few 'offs' which  cheered everyone up! Nothing does the soul good as much as seeing a close friend hitting the deck and lying face down in the mud! I had a moment when i thought we were riding the wrong way , but only Jax realized so i got away with it! The boys were desperate to get out of the wind and hopefully looked at every escape route. Jax and i were having none of it and forced them on. We finally took a fast and mud free piece of track, note to forest management, please can you ensure you remove the mud and make it all like that?! 

Then i suggested we split again. We could ride a section of firebreak or the elephant dropping(very muddy) track to the top of the downhill. The boys were having none of us wimping out and insisted we join them. It was a good job us girls did as the elephants clearly go south for winter, the track being in  better condition than iv ever ridden it, and it meant i was there to stop the boys taking the wrong turning! 

The downhill was simply fab, all of us loving it ,when we came across a fallen tree, totally spoiling the fun. As we lifted the bikes over in a chain gang sort of way a plan was hatched. The mayor has a saw, as you do. He quickly set to and was making good progress. Elec-rick has a better plan, he climbed the tree and as it was not actually attached to anything began to drag it out of the way. At this point i must make clear that though it was rotten it was a big tree with lots of branches! Well the boys were in their element. A whole tree to remove! Lizzie, Jax and i stood by admiring our 'hero men' as they chopped, ripped, dragged and like the lumberjacks they clearly imagined there were cleared the track. Then a miracle happened, they created a berm! What joy, and nothing for it but to push back up the downhill to ride it!. Us girls set off downhill, Jax not quite making the bottom before Father Ted came blasting down. No problem, he simply crashed into her and fell up the bank! A truly great fun ride. yes there was mud but oh boy so much more fun than slogging away in a gym!

See you out there folks!!!