Words by Eric
Crew; Butty, Eric, Three sheds, Mr I, Slim
In the pub; Millions of WNBs.?
Lame excuses; Stunt, already ridden today!
?Route; Rainbow Bridge, Middlewood Way, Sugar Lane, Styperson, Normans Hall, Birchencliff up, Bridleway diversion towards Dale Top, Blakestonedale Moor, Pott Shrigley, Birchencliff down, Styperson again, Canal to Bollington, Ingersley Vale, snicket, Poachers
Conditions; The weatherman was wrong, glorious evening with hints of the Autumn to come.
Stats; Eric seatpost recalcitrance
Offs; Butty and Eric
Is this a first, or could it be a last, a TNR organized wholly on smart appy thingies without the use of computers and forums. This inevitable march of progress gathered the famous five at the Rainbow Bridge for a northerly jaunt.
Three sheds was bemoaning the fact that it has taken 8 weeks to source a bit for his broken seat post and Slim turned up sans 5 to prevent further delays with jammed chains.
After a slight misunderstanding we were all soon tackling the tricky technical climb up through the woods. There hardly seems to be a yard of ground without jumps bumps and berms in there these days but it makes for interesting choices on the climb. Butty chose to attack a near vertical mud bank with his usual gusto; after some delicate counting we were able to continue! Eric’s seatpost let him down, literally but the contact with the ground was less spectacular than last week.
The climb up Birchencliff has been beautifully resurfaced but remains as steep as ever, then onwards and upwards across the crossroads all the way up to Dale Top. – It felt like this might be an evening with no descent at all. After a short sit on Butty’s favourite rock we enjoyed the bumpy descent – speed but not too much is your friend here. The planned second ascent of Blakestonedale was abandoned in favour of reaching the pub for food so it was back down Birchencliff and through the woods in the gathering darkness.
A bit of a sprint along the canal, urban route finding (or lack of it) in Bollington and a last climb up the snicket for a welcome return to a revitalized Poachers. The on screen picture quiz was particularly absorbing.
The march of progress saw 4 Peronis and a lone proper beer as the opening gambit but some were soon working through strong Belgian stuff in urine bottles before moving onto Brandy – progress?
