A select Midair Magnificent Seven turned out for what could be the daytime curtain call for NMBC's 2009 season on a fairly cool morning this Sunday 20th December 2009 at 0900. Too idle to stay indoors and polish their bikes today were Steven Wa, Jon, Steve B, rare but very welcome Sunday guest Ian A, Ian B, Matt and the Gollum.

Plan B, in lieu of not being able to travel up to Glentress as planned, was to do a fairly extensive local loop to the north of Newcastle with some new stuff thrown in for good measure. But after we'd held a committee meeting to discuss the prevailing conditions, we reverted to Plan C.

That was to follow whoever took the lead. Golly was the Chosen One and he very gingerly eased his way up the crinkly ice covering the brand new MidAirCrisis Cycleway and into Benton Square. With his goggles steamed up immediately he missed the fact that the others were lagging behind somewhat, but was very quickly brought up to speed by them as they related how they'd all hung back deliberately and he'd missed something with an impossibly short skirt hopping into a taxi behind him. As if he cared!

(sob) [but I'll be damn sure to be watching next Sunday, same time]

Anyway, his goggles would have just steamed up faster.

The Speedian led us through Stonebrook Field mashing the couple of inches of fresh snow for the rest of us, a good warm-up to get us going. We went off-route immediately and instead of heading west were now travelling south east into Silverlink, with only the one mishap when Steve B broke the ice with his foot only to discover something distinctly cold and wet beneath the surface. We took the bridleway down to the Coast Road past the hooting Christmas Train then joined the cycle path on the Coast Road.

We all knew what was coming next as Jon led us through the Battle Hill underpass to Wallsend Dene. Then it was Golly's turn up front again as he led into the Right Bank and that supremely tricky skinny groove, made trickier by being hidden under snow. Somehow everyone stayed upright and we regrouped on the bridleway before continuing steadily downhill to the Burn.

The Park beckoned next as it was easier than trying to ride up Crow Bank. We crawled along the edge of the pond which was covering the path and was itself covered in a layer of ice. Again we got by without incident and enjoyed the rural forestry until we popped out near Station Road.

click for big

We kept to the path alongside the allotments to reach West Street, then into Wallsend Golf Course bridleway. That got us to Benfield Road before searching out a few severely underused tree roots up Rothbury Terrace. Crossing Chillingham Road we then had Matt on home territory and he vanished into the bowels of Heaton Park for a very entertaining rock garden drop past a Displaced Person's Tent, henceforth known as Matt's Displaced Person's Descent.

We then took the riverside snowfield up to Armstrong Bridge and stopped for a much needed bout of refreshments. And it was Matt again who plummeted his Trek off the top down a vague 100metre singletrack as pedestrian onlookers looked on in amazement. Then they looked off.

Rather than prolong the agony, we turned right and straight back up to Armstrong Bridge as both Speedy and Steve B had deadlines to meet. We kept it simple along the Coast Road with Matt and Jon dropping off along the way and the remainder ducking up behind the Powder Monkey to get back to the Cave for 11:30 am. Just enough of a ride to keep the old bones from locking up and still holding a laugh or three. There weren't any falls but plenty of opportunity for them, just a shame we hadn't been able to get away.

Thanks a lot for your company gentlemen, hope it extends throughout 2010 aswell.