A fine mid-May evening so t-shirt, shorts and sunglasses were in order.

Perfect attire as we started out under heavy clouds, gusty wind and the rain began. But quickly under the cover of the trees around the red run from Green Gate the weather was nolonger a problem. The creche immediately vanished into the forest and we didn't see them again until we passed the pub on the way home. So I guess they just headed straight there once we were out of sight? (Clearly faster and SMARTER than us.)

I think there were 10 of us in the social group, and Pete Blood led the way. As a bit of a change we stopped at some of the trickier sections and finetuned our techniques for handling them. Pete showed us how simple they were; but faced a sea of doubtful looks in return. Then we had a few goes at each one until we were happy we'd conquered 'em. Just shows how much of MTBing is in the head - seemingly suicidal moves are completely uneventful if you approach 'em right. We all even managed “the impossible turn” at the top of one of the descents without taking the more usual short-cut straight over the edge!

MUD-BLOOD? Well Pete explains the BLOOD part - the MUD? Surely not possible to find after so many dry weeks. WRONG! Pete, Ann and I did a final little loop at the end just for the hell of it and found some REALLY gloopy stuff. So it's out there still if you're missing it from the winter! Now where did I leave the bike cleaning stuff again?

Great to spend a bit of time improving technique and thinking about the riding, thanks to Pete for the encouragement!