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Sunday 5th November 2006 had at last a full set of MidAirCrisis thrill seekers in Andy, Jason, John and Terry turning up late as usual for the start of another lark with ten of the the Reivers in the "best ride in England" according to one MTB magazine recently. Not sure if we'd agree with that, as there is little continuity in the trails at Durham's biking hotspot.

We started the ride at 10.20am following Ride Leader Tom into the trees in search of the Black Route. This first section really gets the lungs flapping and it wasn't long before the Gollum was reduced to pushing the ReCoil up the last drag to the first summit. We were pretty lucky to get some singletrack as quickly as we did, sometimes we see very little of it. It was short-lived, however, as the first rooty drop through the trees drops you back onto fireroad again for another long uphill haul. However, the end of the first stint placed us at the Descent Hamsterley club hut, of which Jason, John and I are current members. Rather than dive onto the Four Cross or Downhill tracks, however, we suggested that we head for the new Skills Loop where we could play for a few minutes and have lunch under cover and on proper seats.

Lunch was duly consumed at the picnic tables, albeit a little too quickly again, then we had a single blast around the Loop, great to finally get both wheels off the deck and take a risk or two in relative safety, and Jason, John and I managed the usual race down this bit with Andy also enjoying his first ride out on the superlight Carbon framed Scott RC20. At the end of the ride he felt very pleased with it and was happy with the layout and Shimano's Dual Control brake/shifter layout. It has one massive advantage for me - the car didn't know it was carrying an extra mountain bike!

With plenty of time left on the clock but routes difficult to fathom, Andy took over the Ride Leadership from here and led us out via more smooth singletrack on the Green Route onto his "practice loop" around the edge of the forest, actually making us climb the fastest fireroad downhill section as we toured it "the wrong way round". The climbs  were very hard work and there was more than just the old Gollum dismounting for some of them. However, we did get a couple of pleasant singletrack descents to enjoy along the way. On the first of these, I ended up sandwiched in front of Jason but behind Suzanne. He was yelling at me to "Move over!" but I couldn't, and Suzanne was fairly ripping it up in front of me, a fact that Jason recognised on the way home, as we ended up going just about fast enough for him eventually. In fact I was sure it was Derek just ahead of my front tyre. No offence to either! And well done Suzanne for not being bullied by us mobsters and for buzzing long at such a fair old lick!

Andy points "up"

Andy and new Scotty watches the Golly grimacing

this is where he was pointing! Andy's "last climb"

Look at the Reiver Truck being held up by a Camelbak!!!

At the end of the ride John's computer had clocked up 21.14 miles/3hrs 1m/36.5mph max. This may well be his last outing on Terry's Barracuda, his new Kona Kikapu Deluxe expected any day now after he decided something lighter but sturdier than his old Saracen Awol would suit most of his intended riding.

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 Keep watching and if you fancy a ride out with us, drop us a line here: bailout@midaircrisis.org.uk