Well the cold is back, but at the moment the ice is not much in evidence and no snow at all. I am trying to ring in the changes as to venues and routes. Due to little Hopper working late we met at Ayton which enabled him to make the ride. The group tonight consisted of myself, Too Tall Tom, Hackness Mike, Anvil Nick, Langdale Richard, Dave and brother Paul, (think that has the ring of a nick name) Matt riding Mike's, sorry i mean, Lapierre's demo Zesty 514 and bringing up the front, Little Hopper. We headed up to Wykham by old routes combined in a new combination, yes that means, up then down, then up again, then down, you get the picture. Hackness  Mike had complained of a noise from the demo bike, Matt sussed it, no rear pads! Brother Paul to the rescue and we were off again.Then Brother Paul punctured, we lost the lead group, who headed straight up instead of left as I HAD SAID! But they never listen, still as it was a dead end they eventually turned round and caught us up! Then the sad bit, we started on Mike's now world famous route only to discover that some nasty men with chain saws had been out chopping down trees and generally making a right old mess of our route. A very sad moment, we rode some sections fully, (wall of death Junior) aware that it might well be for the last time. We are on the look out for the replacements but with a heavy heart.. We finished on a down hill, one confusing moment when Little Hopper tried to ride a now diverted route, the dreadful destruction of some of our fav trails clearly weighing heavily on his mind. Black arm bands on Thursday please.