Well i have no idea how many were out tonight but it was a lot! We split into the technical group, or the creche, ( it made sense at the time!) as they preferred to be called. In the rather fast social we were led by the Pickering 3, Richard was looking soo handsome in the moonlight and to prove he is not just a pretty face he offered to wait for Toby who arrived as we were ready to set off. Dave and Stu, the rest of the 3, set a great pace on the red.  Lizzie did really well on a ride that was a bit rough for a hardtail, what you need girl is a full suspension! Too Tall Tom would agree! I asked her how often she had done the bomb holes and she said first time tonight! Ahh, sorry should have warned her.  Lucy flew over the trails, a few sections she had found hard in the day light were so much better in the dark! We still had only a third of a tin of baked beans, tho Father Bean was really moving well. When we split into two groups i expected him to keep with us, where did you go John?! Father Ted and Houghing  Jax offered to look after the slower group and as Jax was riding better than me i let her! Ravenscar Chris and Matt the camera both keep getting faster and faster tho it could have been because Lorraine was sweeping them along! As i am in Mayhem training i got to have  Handsome Richard chase me along the trails, and you wonder why i do Mayhem! 

 Well, after a quiet day volunteering at our friendly local bike emporium and a persuasive phone call I decided to break the habit of what seems like months and ride with the club once more.
Arriving at the meeting point it was like a meeting of old friends. How I have missed you all.
 
A good turnout meant Debbie was trying to get two groups going. I and a few others were up for a gentle quiet ride (you know who you are), but Nigel had a glint in his eye visible from several yards in the dusk. It is not in my nature to disappoint and he had enthused a few other impressionable souls. That made myself, Nigel, Hackness Mike, Sandwich Chris, Keith (with a short sleeved jersey!), Russ on his sparkly Lapierre, and last, but not least, Brendan. This was the Play Group, or creche.

We set off at a good pace across the bombholes, just to cool down Keiths' exposed arms. The rocky section of trail following made me aware that I had neglected to arm myself with either suspension forks or substantial brakes. This resulted in a velocity exceeding that at which I was unable to see or reach the brake levers. Luckily the end was reached without incident, where we met Richard, who had been pedaling furiously to catch us. We had left him assembling his bike, but he was determined to ride with the creche, so determined to catch us.

The happy group of 8 continued on its' way, following Nigels interpretation of the old red route. This had its fair share of boggy patches and Russ was soon looking mournfully at his very muddy steed and poking off small pieces of mud.

Another thing which soon became obvious was that at least one member of the ride was suffering from quite severe flatulence. Being the responsible shop representative I was good enough to cover for the poor unfortunate and several times was heard to say ' have that one on me'. Lesson learnt, if an energy bar sell by date is  8 months previous, effects may be felt if one snacks upon it.

Moving on, most of the remainder of the ride was without incident, involving mud and the odd curse. I presume Hackness Mike took a bad line or two, but didn’t notice him go over the bars. We were out for more than 20 minutes, so probability dictates he must have done. The sparkling Lapierres got dirtier, and my brakes (cables on 160 discs with 29er wheels and an overweight rider) were not really sufficient to slow me after my initial enthusiasm on the downhill section to the Lake. I rather quickly caught Brendan, who thought I wanted a race and sped off. I merely reigned it in and progressed more sedately.

Brendan was showing his innate technical abilities by manual wheelying off large steps. No-one is impressed, Brendan. OK, we are.

Richards Joplin started slipping down his seat tube at regular intervals, slowing him down. Sandwich Chris gorilla’d it, but with little effect it seemed, so for the last part of the ride he was lagging. ‘Man it up and stand for the rest of the trail’ was ignored.

Back to the cars and a good ride was had by all. Not the gentle social fun I had anticipated, but a good mix of banter, technical and sweat. As ever.

Squeak. I was playing. Thats all. Just playing.

Dam good ride and there was fun……..after the bogs and strugles.

Mud as always is great but, I must say, for I did “taste” it……do not eat out of date energy bars. The results are bad, really bad.

Until next time

As Debs said

> … lightly dust down our bikes

I'd forgotten what that was like. Bikes ended the ride cleaner than they started it anyway, roll on summer! Had become very used to spending 1 hour cleaning for evey 2 hours riding. We'll probably get a reminder of that though after Debbies Challenge on Sunday.

Great to see so many people out recently and it's not even started warming up yet! Wonder how busy we'll be in a few months?

After the 'mayhemmers' pulled ahead of the true social group somewhere around House Dale we headed back up towards Green Gate where we split again! Making briefly 4 groups out in total. The briefest and smartest of the groups immediately headed home, leaving the rest of us to ride an open bit of the world cup section for a change - but I think most of it's (luckily) closed at the moment.

BTW: Was I the only one to think “wooooooaaaa!” when we first started out on the bombhole section? It's been SOOOOOOOO long since we've been out on the red, got soft and lazy with all that ice and mud over winter! Definitely got to get some single-track balance back!