A somewhat hectic day for Gollums started on the slightly damp but pleasantly warm morning of Sunday 23rd September 2007. Hectic just trying to figure out who was gonna turn out for another attack on Kielder. First of all the Old One whizzed down to Durham to collect Ian F, because the tw*ts who run the buses refused to let him carry his bike up to Newcastle on one. First train wouldn't get in til 10.00 but we needed to be away before that.  So far, so good. Back to the Gollum's lair to load the trailer and see who had turned up at rendezvous two. Then after consuming his porridge in the front garden and seeing Derek, Craig, Andy and Jason all arrive in their vehicles, he realised he had 25 seconds to travel the couple of miles to Walkerville to pick up Kevin, a visitor from Wakefield who was up for the day with his Santa Cruz Blur. Kevin just wanted to see if the MidAirCrisis rumours were true. Now he knows.

Back again to collect the trailer fully loaded before heading along the road shortly after 9.00am to find Paul C, Keith and potential new member Alan, another Triathlete like our Andy waiting for the off. We must have left in our four vehicles around 9.25, so at least some advantage had been gained over the debacle that was last Sunday.

You'll have noticed reading through these hallowed pages, if you could be arsed, that I have had the occasional go at Jason K for making us late. Well, credit where it's due - today he was early! Of course, he then proceeded to delay us by an hour faffing around trying to protect the carbon back end of his effeminate, baby-soft, super-fragile  Whyte E5. Whyte claim that a very big man can stand on these carbon swingarms no problem. But put one anywhere near something harder than human flesh and watch it crumble. I advise you to stick to aluminium. Not as if they're expensive.

After what those in the second car, following Gollum pulling the trailer, described as an "entertaining drive" and "a psychological roller-coaster" (can't think why) we arrived safe and sound at Kielder Castle and unloaded the gear to start the ride around 11.00am after what started out as a leisurely drive. The rain descended as we approached Bellingham but stopped again just before we reached the trail head, below.

After the photo stop, Gollum suggested a quick lap of the skills loop, just to warm everyone's muscles. So we did that, and guess who went at it too hard and spent all his energy. Stupid rock dweller. Anyway, up we went, following the Red Route uphill away from Kielder Castle until we arrived at the first singletrack excursion. The Old Fool took off down the first set of berms, hops and skips, and promptly spread himself all over the landscape after misjudging how wet the turns were. He re-mounted quickly enough, but then found Jason at his side pulling off a demon overtake. The pair clashed handlebars and were lucky to stay on, but the contact was enough to give a distinctive, and oh-so familiar dislocated look to Golly's left thumb. And this inside the first 5 minutes!

The rest of the crew got round OK and we continued down the slope to the start of the second one. Very fast, swooping berms and lift-offs again with a few near misses but no more casualties, the careful ones taking their  time to get accustomed to the wet rocks - very sensible. It was now time to start the first climb. Half way up the straight approach we stopped at the gate to gather, and there was a lot of clothing removal going on as the temperature and effort levels rose. Walkies time for the Gollum, but the front group just headed on up there, no trouble. Craig, Keith, Terry and amazingly, Derek (eh?) were the ones feeling their weight up here. Can't explain Derek's plight - although maybe the glazed look has something to do with him helping his brother install a few windows lately!

Soon after, the fireroad turned into the singletrack 3 Dog Climb, where again the majority ate it up leaving Paul and Terry to drag themselves to the top riding the flatter sections and walking the rest. This starts off a bit like Kirroughtree, making you think you're descending on singletrack, when in fact you are doing the opposite. Quite subtle. Then you meet the 3 Dogs and you know you're going skyward. The hill fog was rolling over us here through the trees, quite damp. We rode on to the bottom point of the Deadwater Fell loop - to be avoided at all costs, incidentally - and as the clock struck Magnetic North, Gollum suggested a lunch stop in the relative shelter of nearby trees as the rain switch was turned on. We had 20 minutes or so here, being entertained by stories of long distance and 24-hour ride adventures from Alan, Andy, Keith, Kevin and Jason who between them have tackled just about everything possible, apart from Moon rides.

Then it was time to attack what we came for - downhill singletrack bliss. This first chunk saw Derek down first followed by the Gollum. Once he reached the bottom he attempted to grab some movie action. Attempted!