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Sunday 13th November. And then there were Three. This time Andy, Jason and Terry made the trek on a fabulously clear and sunny but bitterly cold morning - 2 degrees most of the way and 3 when we got out of the car around 10.45am! There was a healthy covering of frost most of the way over but we didn't take long to warm up. We took advantage of Andy's offer to be chauffeur on the outbound leg. As you can see from this piccy    it was a fabulous morning, and the sky stayed like that all day with no wind at all. It wasn't long into the ride before the sweat started to drip, and the very warm sunshine forced a few layers to be removed. It was noticeably cooler in the trees. There were quite a few fellow riders about today, and the Downhill car park was full of trucks, cars and Big Bikes when we drove past. Most were still there when we left, but half an hour later it would've been dark in the trees.

There's one thing I hadn't paid much attention to on previous visits to Ae. This may well be the longest entry ride, if I can call it that, to the start of the downward-facing stuff. Actually about 3.5 miles after you start, from a full ride distance of roughly 12 miles, but that's a bit of a guess. The reason it was noticed this time can be put down to Andy's fabulous new bike - the Kona Stinky. Why? Because it was the Stinky that was causing him to walk up all the fireroads, and doing so much of that with him (coz I'm a Gentleman) made me think about just how much "up" there was! Today, Jason was back to his old self and led up every climb easily, having time to get out his camera quite a bit. Unfortunately, Andy and I were pushing our bikes on every shot. Here's the loneliest, saddest tree in the Forest of Ae, testament to the sense of humour of Forestry Commission workmen who had massacred everything else for miles around -   The trail was pretty wet after recent heavy rain and, as you'll see from the Omega Man video it is in need of some attention right now. This gets you half way along Granny Green Luv to where it starts to plummet down towards The Face. The thrills don't start until you approach this section but today there was plenty of scary stuff along the way from there on.  See a clip of the descent from the first stage of the Omega Man run below - if it wasn't for the 200 metres of fireroad climb between its two sections this might well equal the final descent at Machynlleth in North Wales for the longest in the UK.

After The Face you are climbing to the start of Bran Burn Bash, which is a level-to-upward rising singletrack with little berms, jumps and step-downs where the tight turns restrict ultimate speed a little, but it's still good fun. After it starts to point down to let you speed up a little, it sets you at the foot of a long fireroad haul up again along the side of Branrigg then down a seemingly wasted opportunity of a mile or more of fireroad drop - as fast as you like, but why? You are then presented with The Edge. This is named exactly right - you traverse a thin lip between tree stumps - one false move and you are 200 feet lower, and probably needing plasma. False moves are easy when it's wet and slippery. You may hear the Gollum squeal on the vid! There are a couple of highish but tight berms on the way down from The Edge and if you're not careful you can easily hit the tops, as did Andy and Jason in the videos at the foot of this page! (and so did I when I remounted to catch them). Jay swears he had a phone... Hello Mum... and Superman DOES wear his underpants on the outside!

After crossing the bridge over the Water of Ae at the foot of The Edge you encounter a very steep hairpinned climb back out the other side, hilariously named Nil Desperandum, then gently up along the side of the hill to another fireroad drag. This is where we can ditch the word "drag", however, as what you have left is Omega Man from marker point 22.  This is almost a full hillside's worth of fast, swooping, swerving, jumping, berming and hanging-on downhill singletrack. Be a bit less than careful and you can almost overtake yourself as Jason discovered a few rides ago. The first section is good. The second is what you went for, making a choice on the way between the Black stuff (left) or staying on the Red (right) which is still frantic. You don't get much time to make your mind up either and it can cause upsets. David fell on his last visit here by slowing to see over a blind trail end on the Red bit. This time Jason and Terry both came off the pedals on fast summits but survived. If you get down OK and as fast as you can this generates a great deal of satisfaction when you finally dismount the North Shore planked rail at the bottom which plonks you right at your car.

It was so good that this time we backtracked a quarter mile and pushed the bikes up a 1-in-3 gap between the trees  just to have another go at the last kilometre.  Superb. I've never jumped so high and so far in my life. For an Oldie like me it's an orgasmic experience to clear some of these tabletops and doubles, landing them properly. Even lifting before the drops!   Scared witless but ready for the next time.  And more than once I saw Andy's wheels off the deck on the Stinky. Jason, as usual, was flying everywhere.

It doesn't seem right to go home without an incident (adding another blood "stain" to our collection of Stanes), and this time it was Andy who was chucked over the bars, by his own admission through yarking too hard on the Stinky's front brake. The Stinky also suffered its first breakage - the left hand changer biting the dust! Terry had a moment right at the end but somehow avoided damage, the front of the bike ending up in a stream off the side of the trail after the penultimate tabletop. According to his Heart Rate Monitor he got through 3,400 calories and spent most of the ride above his safe limit of HR! "I've still got a pulse, have you?" Tara...

Yet another fantastic ride in unbelievably good weather, bring on the next one!

VIDZ:     Jason & Andy on final Black section 4MB    Jason on The Face 17MB  

Andy on The Edge 5MB    Jason on The Edge 5MB    Omega Man Mudbath 13MB

Long, boring snippet of The Edge from the start 22MB     Terry & Andy on Omega Man 1MB

Walkies! 2MB

I can only apologise again to non-Broadband users, but my MidAirMen want to see where they've been in glorious moving GollyColour™ and video files aint petite.