Words by Eric, Pics by Pete
Crew;
A Team; El Pres, PtD, Dunc, Slim, Coley, Butty, Eric.
B Team; Gee
Route; BL, OBR, Zag, Charity, Standing Stone, Slabs, 2 sided valley, Wildboarclough green lane, Standing Stone, Nessit, LHS downhill, central ascent, descent to Greenbarn, slippy st, Sutton Hall.
Conditions; Still shorts – nothing more needs saying !
Stats; None declared
Offs; Slim – 2 sided valley, Eric – LHS downhill.
Never start with an apology but very many apologies to Gee. It was a bit like in Lord of the Flies when a group of nice folks get together and en mass do bad things. So it was suggested to the late arriving Gee that if he were to go to the Cat we’d see him there. That bit sounded OK. The group then flapped about leaderless and at Teggs a huge debate ensued about going down one last time before climbing to meet Gee. The discussion lasted so long that we had no time to get to the Cat and the plan changed so many times that we set off for the 2 sided valley. That bit sounded OK to the impatient mob. Gee will catch us at the bottom of Cumberland Brook. That bit didn’t sound OK to Gee ! – sorry.
So the team assembled with bikes ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous – Butty on his new super lightweight full suspension racer and Dunc with solid everything. We set of with every intention of a rendezvous with Gee but “Team Shambles” fell apart within the first mile or so whilst consideration was given to spin down from Tegg’s –“seeing as we are here now, it would be a shame not to”. There are times when Mr T’s follow me leadership style is sadly missed, so much for all this MBA consultative nonsense.
After all that we decided against a Teggs descent and headed to Charity (was the light in the distance Gee?) before a sneaky bit of singletrack and the climb up the slabs and into the two sided valley. Despite PTD’s advice Slim managed to plunge into the depths of the valley sustaining nothing more than a few grazes which doesn’t trump Eric’s double fracture the last time through. Onwards along the green lane which is truly a forgotten gem in our world. The climb back to Standing Stone will never ever be a gem by any stretch of the imagination. Back up towards the summit of Nessit, you can see the pub from here – but there is more to be done tonight men! So whilst some took the route grande direct to the beer others braved the LHS of the downhill. Slipperier than well ….. ? Big respect to Dunc who charged down on his suspensionless bike like a pro downhiller, and sniggers to Eric who fell off again on this section but in a different place to last time – I guess that’s progress.
We climbed back up the central forest track to catch the final descent towards the reservoir and a last bit of slippy sneaky.
Back at Sutton Hall we counted our chaps in – no Gee, oops.
The conversation turned to Christmas festivities, but we’re still wearing shorts! and the usual nonsense banter. An after the bell round or two courtesy of our Italian connection ensured an appropriately late departure.
