Words by Eric, Pics by El Pres !!!
Crew; Stunt, Butty, TJ, El Pres, PtD, Eric, Three sheds, Dr S
In the pub; Just us.?
Lame excuses; Slim, altitude training in Majorca
Route; BL, OBR, zig but no zag, Teggs either side, Leathers, bridleway to Charity, snicket, Standing Stone, back of Back of the Moon, front of Back of the Moon, track to Nessitt, central descent, Bob’s, Sutton Hall.
Conditions; No showers on us boys !
Stats; Stunt, 1 x puncture, 1x brake caliper fright
Offs; None
Butty the birthday boy had come prepared with everything for a celebration evening; except a route, but everyone seemed happy to head for the forest for what seemed like the first time in a while.
Sides of Teggs were chosen with both being as slippy as each other judging by the tales of daring do in the car park. Whilst Stunt removed his rear Maxle, recently restored using local bike shop heavy engineering, to change a puncture, Butty suggested we had the first birthday snifter of the evening. After about 2 miles it seemed a little early but why not – the chosen birthday spirit was to be flaming Zambuka with a coffee bean in it, accompanied by savoury sausage rolls. Unfortunately our resident pyromanic was unable to get the aforementioned libation alight but what the heck it tasted good with the sausage rolls. Suitably fortified we headed across the dam and up the bridleway climb to Charity Lane.
At the bottom of Charity, as everyone head off for the snicket Stunt investigated a worrying rattle from his rear end and found that the brake caliper was more than a little loose – local bike shops for you !
The clockwise orbit of the moon was a nice variation on a theme with everyone enjoying some slippy singletrack before climbing to the Nessitt viewpoint for “seconds of sausage rolls and sniftah’s”
With Dan’s ashes now scattered close by there was also a second toast, to Dan; Always with us.
There was a nip in the air and lights were useful for the descent, reminding us that whilst the A word is still officially forbidden at this time of year, it is no longer mid-summer.
We all arrived safely at Sutton Hall just before the forecast deluge arrived, all except TJ who seemed to have got lost again and arrived solo.
With the usual range of beers on offer some chose Bass – “reminds me of drinking 30 years ago”. Yes but 30 years ago most beer was c**p.
