Thursday 15th November and another trip out for the NMBC Night Riders. Again two sets met half way along the GLR just after 7.00pm, they being Speedy Ian A and Keith with Brain F, Craig and a pair of Terrys. Another beautiful night, maybe a bit cool. Didn't take long to warm up though.

It's becoming increasingly difficult to vary the routes much now, so Golly suggested a familiar start with a different ending. Off we went over the south side of Holystone into the Rising Sun Country Park. Ian took us on one of his guess-where-the-hole-through-the-trees-is forest treks with a few Camelbaks dismounted by low branches along the way. Then we were on the Bridleways to the north of The Hill where Craig blasted ahead up the mound on his borrowed Trek, as bits of his Rockhopper hardtail are now being transferred to his new Stumpjumper full susser. We are all looking forward to seeing that unleashed, and some of us hoping it'll slow him down a bit! Unfortunately for the Gollum, with Terry H now back in good health there were five very strong riders ahead of him - could be tough for little rock dwellers tonight!

After a wee discussion at the peak we charged down the west side of the old pit heap to the back of Hadrian Lodge and then over Station Road to Benton. We passed NUFC's training ground again to make sure old Sam was showing the lads how to kick straight, down to the Powder Monkey and through to Coach Lane. The old Tram Track to South Gosforth is about the only route through here without taking on automobile metal, so that's what we did all the way to Freeman Road.

Keith's turn to head up the front now as we dropped into the potentially life-threatening environment of Jesmond Dene to do an again familiar loop under tree cover. A couple of exciting bits here, first with Craig again mashing his banger on the Trek's frame, complaining it was 3 inches too big. No, the frame. Or maybe??? Shortly after on a perilous but short climb it was Gollum's turn for a fright, as his left foot wouldn't release from the SPD pedal and he keeled over gently into the prickly plant life. That made life interesting for the rest of this stretch.

Conscious of time constraints on every Thursday night ride now, we planned a reasonably short route, and kept up a decent tickover to make sure it didn't go belly up. Ian saw to that. Riding through Heaton Park it did go a little doolally when He Who Preaches Stan's No-Tubes managed to get a flat rear tyre on the now rarely-ridden Kona CoilAir. What an embarrassing thing to happen! The clot managed to limp to a nearby stone and sit on it in order to finally unhook his foot from the pedal by twisting the Golly leg in every direction. Then it was carry the bike up a few steps, puff-pant, and set about fixing the flatty. Sure enough, when the tyre was moved away from the rim there was absolutely no sign of the sticky white sealant that's supposed to be swimming about inside your tyres when you use this tubeless system. So in went a tube, shock horror, and after losing about 15 precious minutes we were off again.

Before we left, there were a couple of small visual treats for us. Unfortunately the ladies walking past us didn't appear on Golly's photo taker, so you'll have to make do with this - the biggest bike rack in the world on the smallest car!

We followed Speedian to the edge of the car park where he indicated we should ride down the steps back into the dark park. Golly took them first, the Coiler hardly noticing, to be followed by the others. Last one down was Keith, but he seemed to be taking a while. There was a reason for that however, and that was, in his own words "my back wheel overtook my front". Or, in my words, he performed the old Flying W over the bars, or similar, and landed on his buffer zone - and in his words again "luckily it's big".

Next stop was at the Ouse Burn, and last time Gollum rode this path, these steps and THAT bridge, he minced it. A bit more careful this time so as not to repeat the aeronautics of last time, then he spent a few minutes scanning the banks with his headlamp, hoping to see his dear old Karimore bike jacket lying down there awaiting rescue. But no, it be gone. We continued on our merry way through the darkness along the riverside, and got spooked by a couple of dark, pedestrian figures who brushed past the Gollum on their way to do something in the blackness. Craig was in no doubt as to what that might be, and again he and Brian swapped ideas on that particular subject. Strangely enough, every time we get near Armstrong Park there's always at least one weird bod lurking in the pitch black, not even carrying a torch, and without one you can't see anything down here. But on the other hand, they're probably doing it by feel. Urk...

By sheer luck it was Golly who popped out first back at Freeman Road, and another time check made route choice easy. No time to do Gosforth Park, so we retraced our previous path along the Tram Track (it was called this in the 40's and 50's by the way, which is Gollum Time, but is latterly known as the Coxlodge Waggonway or something.) Craig and Gollum were at the back as we approached Coach Lane for the second time, and again the discussion turned to Craig's new bike, the Stumpy. He's expecting a Hollowtech II LX chainset tomorrow which, with the bits from the Rocky, should make it almost a bike by this weekend. Unfortunately he can't get out then, so it'll likely make it's debut next Thursday night, and the following Sunday in daylight. Shame it's yet another Spesh.

We weaved our way through the bridleways, did a lap of the old Powder Monkey BMX track, or its remains, behind Gollum then cut through Kings Estate and onto the Rising Sun bridleway behind the Barking Dog. Pushing reasonably hard we cut through Battle Hill and Hadrian Park before turning north on the Silverlink Waggonway. Terry left us as we reached Cobalt Business Park to get back to his abode at Cullercoats, while Gollum took the remaining group onto the trail behind Proctor & Gamble, which spat us out at Holystone Roundabout on the A19. Job done. But not quite, as the old retard, who's lived here for the last three years, proceeded to lead everyone up not one, but two dead ends before eventually finding the end of his own street. Tired, you see. 10.00pm exactly.

Gollum's bike PC said 19.24 miles, 2hrs 9 mins rolling (eh?), 23.6mph max. Lovely night for biking. Hot on the move.

 

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