I haven't looked back at last year's winter rides but I would be surprised if they were as popular as they are now. We had a mini-heatwave out of the blue for this one, Thursday 13th November 2008, and it brought hundreds out for another mud fest. Well, a dozen anyway, and the stout gathering included Alex, Andy, Arthur, Stian, Ian A, Matt, Mick, Richy, Wayne, Jon, Terry H and Terry K. With Stian added to our little group we are now truly international, including riders from England, Scotland, Ireland, Taiwan, Lithuania (Ainis, not here tonight) and now Norway with Stian! We've also had enquiries to ride from two Spaniards, a Swede and an American! And there are a few Geordies in there somewhere.
Good to see Terry H's knee problem has healed up, and before I forget, congratulations to his old riding pal Dave who's just retired from the Merchant Navy and can now get out riding every day (lucky b@st@rd!).
After hovering past start time for about ten minutes, just in case there was a latecomer or two(like Alex, who literally zoomed up past ASDA to get here almost on time) we set off for Holystone Farm. We'd gone about ten metres (I kid you not, we'd only crossed the road!) when Arthur decided he'd like a puncture under Gollum's lovely, eco-friendly street lamp rather than in a field later. A record! That was fixed double-quick and we got away around 7:20.
Great - mechanicals out of the way for one night and we sped through the 100 millimetres of black glue which was the bridleway up to Killingworth Highfield. Except. Poor Wayne was jumping up and down on his handlebars like a man off, and when we went over to see why, his forks had seized. Two mechanicals in a mile! What's coming next??? Anyway, he wasn't prepared to suffer a flat, hard front end (is anyone?) and decided to turn for home down through Killy Village. Shortest NMBC ride in history.
We hit the singletrack alongside Cramlington Waggonway and weaved through the trees to the first clearing. Gollum, out front, was getting no grip at all after helpful Mick had blown his tyres up for him (Mick runs his at about 60psi!) so cut across the corner straight onto the gravel bridle. The others followed Speedy into the second clump of trees. Some time later, Golly saw the train of bright LEDs almost reach his position then mysteriously turn back and retrace their steps! Seems they hit a dead end, and for once it wasn't a Gollum leading them into nowhere.
Regrouped, we moved up to Hillheads Farm and over the road into the field beyond. Very muddy again, extremely slippery and, as Arthur found out, including a very dodgy right hander that floored him and the Decathlon. No damage reported, however, so we continued down to the crossroads and right through the Rabbit Run to Backworth. Following our regular run from the Seghill road, we steamed along to the bridleway with a firm wind at our backs before plunging down behind the village. Strangely, half the group or more, and as usual the ones with the darkest clothing, insisted on riding along this dodgy little road instead of the bike path the Gollum always takes on the right hand side - intriguing. There are always problems with cars having to slow down rapidly or stop but we seem to keep flaunting danger here and I don't know why. Maybe we're just stupid.
After turning east, Golly took the front for the field crossing, and this proved very tricky with its deep groove and muddy sides pulling the bikes sideways but we all made it under the railway bridge and all was well until Golly stopped when something heavy hit his right foot. He thought he'd dropped something but couldn't figure what it was. Couldn't have been a wallet. May have been a tentacle but didn't have time to do an inspection. After searching the sides of the grassy track by headlamp, and letting the others past, he called it quits and rode on. Speedian, remaining at the back, discovered the probable culprit - a nice big pebble! Nah, the Gollum carries some crap with him, but not ballast rocks. Yet.
Mick led from the next gate down a surprisingly dry(ish) section to Seghill Tip, and made sure he was at the front of the queue for the excellent singletrack blast over to Hollywell. However, Ian had other ideas and turned the opposite way! Sorry, gents, but we'll do it next time. Our next target was the Whoop-de-doos off the top of the hill at East Cramlington. To get there we shifted out of the top of Seghill towards Seaton Delaval and onto another bridleway to the Church and Stables. Terry H took over the lead as we headed out of Delaval at the side of the church and down into the trees behind it. Once Terry hit this trail he was off like a scalded cat with Golly and Stian chasing. Plenty of puffing and panting going on along this long, fast, skinny section and at the end of it we once more regrouped for a much needed breather. Terry stayed in front out onto the road and left at the edge of Delaval on the East Cramlington road. Just around the next bend Gollum led as we dived into the trees again.
Most of the trails had been very soggy up to now, but here "soggy" took on a whole new meaning - impassable! But we did, with a struggle, as we sought the entrance to our route up to the top of the hill. This easy-to-miss (especially in total darkness!) skinny, tree-woven singletrack had a few inches (is 8 a few?) of mud over its surface and was exactly the wrong consistency for mountain bike tyre grip, no matter which tyres you happened to be wearing. It was a real struggle getting up there, mainly rubber-down but with a bit of pushing or straddling aswell for most. We waited for the stragglers to catch up and catch a breath, then Terry led Golly, Andy, Stian and the others along the flattening top, bouncing off a few pruned, invisible tree branches along the way and sinking into a few deep mud puddles, all creating fits of laughter. Finally we were all together again and stopped at the head of the whoops for a short rest.
Someone suggested we send the young un's down first, hoping to see some real shenanigans on the way down behind them. Unfortunately, it didn't happen and apart from a few scares, we all got down without cartwheeling or ditching. After a short discussion on routes, the vote went to Ian and off we went along Mummy's Mal - to see the Mummy! Once we'd all seen that, some for the first time, we dropped into the field and headed back over towards Delaval again. On to Double Row and Stian got out front as we looked for the next bridleway which starts our favourite run all the way up the Tree Line to Newsham, Blyth. This turned into a set of rapid blasts, one after t'other. Golly led the first section before running out of steam, then Mick and Terry grabbed the lead to the finish at the A1061. Just before we arrived there, the Gollum took an almighty dive off the Trek into a mud swamp, but luckily was between lead and lag bunches at the time so didn't hear any giggles. Just inside the trees at the roadside we decided to make this our feed station, and that's when pain started to hit the Wizened One.
From here, the original plan had been to shoot down onto the dunes at South Beach and finish the ride on the coastal path. However, he who knows nowt decreed the wind to be too strong so we took another track into the fields through Lysdon and Seaton Red House Farms, popping onto the New hartley road up to Delaval Hall. Back onto the bridleways again, the Two Terrys managed to pull well ahead of the chasing pack and had time for a brew and a chew before they caught up again at the head of Holywell Dene. That's where Terry H left us for home in Cullercoats, and Richy, I think, decided to head for - Wallsend(?) by road. The remainder charged down onto our much loved racetrack through the Dene, although this isn't the best direction to take it in for thrills. Apart from the ever-present difficulty presented by the short, sharp almost vertical climb over the bridge near the finish, no-one suffered any damage and we grouped once more under the road bridge at Holywell Village.
Whilst Speedy was ready to take the "easy" route, straight up the bridleway towards Earsdon Pit, the Gollum once again was at pains to point out his wind avoidance plan, so after a short fist fight, he got his way and we scooted up the road, through the village and dropped insanely into the Dene, starting at those hard-to-climb stone steps (but they're easy going down, although someone almost came a cropper trying to ride them!). After the sprint through to the little stone bridge over Briardene Burn. We emerged on the south side and Ian took over to guide us over to the new Shiremoor bypass, and we stayed on the tarmac all the way back as it was quite late now.
One or two hung around to use Gollum's bike wash and we finally evaporated completely at about 10:40pm after covering about 22 miles or so.
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