Pic by Pete, Words by Eric
Crew;
A Team; Butty, Dunc, Doug, El Pres, Coley, 3 Sheds, Eric.
Pub; Big Nick & Slim
Route; BL, Black Road, Gunco Lane, Langley, Leathers, reverse Nessit, Standing Stone, boards, PTD’s nemesis water bars, Sutton Hall.
Conditions; As wet and slippery as can be imagined.
Stats; None of interest
Offs; Eric x2, one at the start line of the BMX track and one whilst walking.
Following the first Sunday of the month soaking there was some reluctance to set out yet again in torrential rain. The forecast was improving and so a delay of one hour was posted. Much to everyone’s surprise and completely out of character it was 3 Sheds who ventured out alone at the normal time. His declaration that it had stopped raining at the top of the forest was met with some suspicion.
A low level route seemed preferable to braving the elements high up so we started with a couple of laps of the Black Road pump track. The generation brought up on BMX were in their element whilst others struggled to cope with the whole thing; your correspondent stepping backwards off the steep part of the start ramp followed closely by an Orange 5. With the madness of youth firmly worked out of our system we headed to the forest determined that the evening would be more than a token gesture and into the pub.
The rain gave up on us as we climbed Nessit the wrong way but the un-seasonally mild weather started to give way to a bit of a winter chill. We arrived at Standing Stone to find that 3 Sheds really had set off as our vanguard and that it really wasn’t raining but that it was starting to get really cold. A rapid descent and beer seemed to be the best plan – so we headed for the boards. They are not the grippiest in good conditions and tonight they were like greased tripe to stand on. Whilst everyone made it safely over, the guy at the back slipped off the edge whilst walking gingerly – it felt like those horror films where everyone is there one minute and then the one at the back isn’t.
With the warmth of Sutton Hall beckoning it was everyone for themselves – or so it felt like from where I was sitting, down the dental nemesis track, past Bob’s and down the increasingly chilly descent. Lights out, locks on, beer, warmth and the usual mirth restored the spirits. Tonight was never going to be a classic and it fully met expectations.