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When Iself, the Gollum, woke up at 6.40am on Sunday 25th June 2006 and looked outside it was dark grey and gushing down. Or was that my reflection? Ah well, no change there then, last year's Great North Forest ride was held in much the same conditions. There is a good reason for the weather however, and that is Race Week (as it was traditionally called) brings with it The Hoppings to Newcastle's Town Moor. But it also (traditionally) brings the weather, so there. When Johnny arrived at the cave around 9.00am nothing had changed, and the pair got a little damp slinging the Awol and Barracuda on the back of Golly's car. They then headed down to Jason's where a text message was needed to dig the poor sleepy head out of his bunk, and all three headed over to Whickham Thorns Outdoor Activity Centre where the place was deserted - all gone, started without us (we were an hour late, you understand)!

On entering the car park we were waved down by the lime green safety jacket person, and when we stopped and opened the window he said "Whoa, slow down, slow down!" All I could do was look around the car at the other two in amazement at this crackpot insinuating that I'd overcooked my entry. There was a fat lady cyclist stopped next to him, and the bloke said she was concerned aswell. I asked her if she was nervous and drove off into the car park disgusted. I thought he wanted to direct me to a parking space, but no. What a pair of tossers to start the day with!

We got underway at 10.15 and the Gollum dragged the other two up the first strength-sapping 3 or 4 miles worth of climbs up Whickham to  Sunniside when the first stragglers appeared ahead. Gradually, more of the slower crews were caught but passing wasn't easy on the singletracks and the MidAirCrisis crew are gentlemen enough not to barge women and kids out of the way (deliberately!). We did, however, wind it up a bit later, largely due to the crappy weather, and started taking the odd risk to pass whatever was in the way.

Photo Album here

We were enjoying the catch-up so much that we didn't bother with our normal rest halt for nosh, and we weren't even tempted by the ice cream man parked there. We just continued to mop up the back markers and enjoy the spectacle of John's feet scraping very loudly down the road or track when the Saracens' cable discs failed to stop him in the wet, muddy conditions from about half way round the 20 mile loop. Only trouble was, at every slowing down point Jason and I were a bit concerned that we'd get a whole heap of incredibly heavy metal skating into our backs if we stopped too hard in front of John. Somehow we, and a host of innocent bystanders, were spared that fate but the air was filled with the sound of disappearing shoe leather as Johnny screeched to a halt like a steam engine doing an emergency stop.

We did finally stop for lunch at the start of the old railway track above Kibblesworth, still raining but nothing could spoil it now that we were on the home leg. Some of the back markers we'd burned off got past us here and once again we had to wait for suitable spots to do our fly-past. We arrived back at the car just before 12.15pm and didn't the rain stop then! We scraped the mud off our smilers, loaded up the bikes and headed for home after a good test of speed and stamina. The fast lads do it in an hour and a half! Got to get Jason fit for his Trans Wales thrash in August somehow.