Words & Photos by Pete
Crew : Bern, 3Sheds, Pete , El Pres, Lee & Smiffy Steve , Alex
Pub: Butty & Dunc, El Pud
Route : Bull Hill Top – Tea Rooms – Cat – Danebower – Chumby – St Stone tarmac descent with Bobs bench loop add-in – St Dunstans
Conditions : Cold , no rain but very damp descending chumby
Notes :
The first ever TNR (in TNR history) when the leap day actually falls on a Thursday !
A route designed by Alex to fit in with our St Dunstans finish (well organised by El Pres) , but alas he didn’t get past the McDonalds roundabout before discovering a squirming rear suspension !
It was just four of us who gathered at the top of Bull Hill ..eagerly awaiting the arrival of our “guest rider” Smiffy Steve .
After five or ten minutes we all set off , minus Lee who was awaiting our guest from Broken Cross. Rumours of a regular e-biker having returned to riding the acoustic trance .
At the Tearooms it was time for another layer as I was definitely a bit too cold . It was bleak and uneventful going over Danebower to the A54 …in the winter , and the dark it always feels wild and miles from anywhere on this stretch – but it is still worthwhile. Especially when picking the right line on the last 200m or so.
Cumberland Clough (Chumby) is getting more and more seriously eroded – it is getting harder to pick the right line (unless your name is 3sheds). The section before the waterfall now has an over a metre deep V-sectioned groove in it on the sweeping right hand bend before you reach the “rocks like baby’s heads’ (an El Pud phrase from yesteryear) .
It is still fun …but that hint of a sense of masochism when riding this descent has been turned up just a little bit.
After the waterfall Chumby is definitely a semi-river and the rocks have definitely been put on a course of steroids.
Lee & Smiffy appear on the slow climb to Standing Stone – they had done Danebower but taken a faster tarmac route down Wildboarclough to catch us up.
The clock is ticking so its a tarmac descent to Langley with the obligatory addition of the Bob’s bench loop – it would be rude (and bad form) not to !
Alex is waiting for us at the St Dunstans. It was a bit of a mission, but he managed to get his Boardman 29er rolling .
The Dunny delivers in spades ! Phil (previously the barman at Sutton Hall) is single-handedly delivering good beer and fine nosh . The pub is doing a good trade , is warm , and “just the right size” to feel like the right answer after that classic MTB loop .
We are welcomed by Phil like long last friends. The beer of choice is Red Willow’s Reckless .
Dunc arrives with Butty sporting his nose tube , and looking a lot better than a week ago chez Austin
Then Andy T turns up to turn the Ribaldry Volume Dial up to 11 !!
Lee suggests a brandy for the AOE – it has to be Courvoisier .
A fine formula . It is good to be back.