A big turnout on Saturday including, Kaff, Fiona, Madge, Sarah, Wendy, Pat, Omar, Ron, Steve, Ollie, Rob, Neil, Alan, Martin H, James, Keith, Michael, Roy, Dave, Kregg, Callum, new rider Andy (youth policy) and Me (think I’m missing a few people still).
We started up Pole Hill and along the golf course and the usual trails up to The Hump where we had a bit of a play on the log ride. From there Rob took us up Andy’s and around the Church Trails to High Beach where we picked up Simon and James was forced to leave us with hub issues.
After a quick stop and a bit of frame fettling we moved off towards the Double Logs, restoring it to two again before we left and out to Wake Valley Ponds to cross ENR and ride to the W, Stream Logs and V. From the Sandy Path we did the fairly new trail down to Lost Pond and then up to Clay Ride for a fast shoot down Omi’s Race Track to Baldwin’s Pond, with the berm and table top taking a few by surprise.
The climb up to Goldings Hill was next and then the fast and rooty downhill to the bottom of Indian Summer where Madge called a timeout for a "snack stop".
Following the climb up to The Ridges we made it through the puddles to Jacks Hill car park where we were joined by Dangerous and then rode the great trail back to Goldings Hill car park that Matt showed us on Wednesday night.
It’s such a good trail with loads of nice features including the angled log ride where Kregg took a big tumble. After a regroup in the car park we headed for lunch at Bradley’s via The Boggy Valley and a bit of cross country around the back of Wake Valley car park.
We arrived at Bradley’s after a bit of a road race just in time for the sky’s to darken and the rain to start. Some nifty erection work on the gazebo saw us get some shelter from the storm that looked set to stay with us all afternoon so lunch over we decided to make a dash for home and an early debrief just as a drenched looking Dave and The Mods rode past.
Unprepared as most of us were for the rain it was quite a laugh riding back to base through the puddles getting filthy dirty. Already wet, we made the most of it by nipping off the bridleway and doing a few trails for the last ten minutes and typically as we arrived back in the car park the sun came out.
Up until the great storm it had been a great ride with a great group so it was a shame that the ride was cut short as the whole group had stayed together pretty well with no technicals and despite the rain of Thursday making loads of puddles, the trails were all in pretty good nick.
A fairly big group gathered at the early debrief. Must mention the nice variety at the SH this week with some orange added to the beige on the cheesy chips which went down very well. All we now need is some green and we could be in super foods territory.
It’s Torq 12 next weekend so I’m not sure who will be around on Saturday although there will still definitely be a ride so keep an eye out on the forum.
RADS