2010 - springtime?
Thursday 11th March 2010 - Ploughing.
Arthur
Tim
Ian M
Ian M2
Jeff
Jon
Jason
Ian A
Chris D
Chris K
Matt
Stian
Terry K
Alan
Pixie
Mick H
Speedy Ian A had a ride plan for this one so we pretty much followed that until later on when some old fool got us onto a ploughed field. Before that, however, the route went largely as Ian said above. Our initial concerns about the going being really wet proved totally unfounded, and aside from a couple of puddles it was comparatively firm everywhere after a couple of dry days. never been this clean at the end of a ride since last September, and with no back mudguard! Believe it or not Ian and I try to make adjustments for everything we may be able to control and take account of weather forecast, ground conditions, wind direction, who needs to be dropped off half way around etc before we leave the Cave.
Another very healthy turnout saw itself engaged in a fairly swift dart around North Tyneside with Ian doing a grand job of setting a steady pace out front. We started with a nice, quick singletrack warmup at the Stonebrook through the fields to join the Battle Hill bridleway before turning onto one of the heaviest tracks of the night towards the Rising Sun. Ian had the group up on the summit by the time Arthur, Mick, Stian and Terry spotted their lights from the Barking Dog. The gap came about because Terry was in heavy discussion with Stian about his new bike - he's gone full sus! Yep, our Norwegian hardtail expert has taken the plunge and tonight was on a spanking Lapierre Zesty 314 which he's had for a week and claims easily outperforms his trusty old boneshaker on the climbs and is just so much nicer to ride. Nice one, Stian.
footnote to Wife of Gollum - everyone should have a Lapierre.
Ian and Terry led the charge off the hill but were surprised that no-one had followed them down the fence line singletrack. They waited at the bottom to see the others emerge from a slightly different path claiming to have found a better skinny to descend on! And of course we "lost" one off the back, causing another thankfully short gollygander on foot which proved a waste of time. Next stop Kings Estate and then we crossed Station Road to St Bernadette's Church and through to the Powder Monkey. An easy but rapid crossing of the Benton bridleways got us over to the Ministry in double-quick time before Ian steered us down past Freeman Hospital into the top of Paddy's.
Out of there and over Castle Farm Road we plunged down into the trees again and because of the speed of descent of the front runners, we managed to get strung out enough to lose a few at the back who unfortunately turned left instead of right at the bottom of the drop. We waited at our usual spot on Freeman Road until they realised they weren't following anyone and turned back. Bluebell Woods was attacked next with Ian and Terry swapping roles, with Ian leading the dash.
The trail was in unexpectedly decent nick and we hit it hard, with the ensuing tail getting longer and longer until we stopped at the far end to regroup again. From here Terry took over at the front to do some unexpected ploughing before finding some nice singletrack between the previous mudbath and the next ploughed field ahead. That led us eventually back onto the bridleway behind Meldon Park, where we got joined up again and motored through the estate and out onto the Great North Road. We were just about to cross it and head up to the Great Park when one of the Brethren noticed an absence of Speedians! Oh, dear.
Ian had swapped again with Terry, a move they are both very familiar with, but something had obviously happened to our illustrious trail maker, so Terry began the mad dash back to find him. And he had to go all the way through the houses and back onto the edge of the parkland again before he found Ian with the Stumpy upside down and Ian wrestling with the tyre after fixing yet another puncture (a regular Thursday blowout strikes Speedy these days, it seems!).
They got that sorted and rode back out towards the road where Mick and Matt had also decided to head back to look for Ian. Arriving at the GNR, the others had continued and were well up Brunton Lane where they waited until we'd caught them again. Then it was time to tackle The Ridge, the builder's waste pile that now follows the A1 behind the new Great Park houses. This time they kept each other company up front as they carved a very rough and hardly ready route through totally uncharted and almost inaccessible scrub and bramble heading for the grassy slopes of the southern mound. The drop to the underpass was rewardingly rapid and we made that our bait stop.
After ten minutes rest and refreshment we were ready to go again, and with the two terribles still sticking together up front it was left to the others to fend for themselves as we crossed towards Hazlerigg in a somewhat random fashion over a very bumpy field. The grass quickly gave way to bulldozed earth and there were screams of agony and emissions of hatred filling the mild night air. Somehow we found our way off it to a decent track and were soon regrouped and heading north to our intended destination. At the road we thought it best to do a time check and decided to cut our losses and head straight east again for Gosy Park and the highlight of the night.
I think we lost a body or two at the Hotel as they turned for home so the rest of us got behind a new leader now in the shape of Mick, who now knows this part of the ride well enough to attack it, although Tim had sneaked away quietly to avoid embarrassing himself on "his" bridge! This turned into a three horse race up the slope between him, Mick and Terry with the others arriving soon after. Ian asked if there was still time to do the purely indulgent tree canopies and a resounding "yes" followed. From this point on past the Jockey Hostel it was almost flat out mayhem as Speedy shaved a few mill off every tree he weaved past with the others desperately trying to keep him in view, a task we all know is particularly difficult in here where he must have been brought up by the foxes and he also has the massive added advantage of bat radar.
No problems through the Park sections tonight but the accummulated time lost before that (not mentioned above as I've forgotten most of it now) meant a slightly late finish back at the Cave where those who had to return there arrived at around 10:25pm.