Ian A (the Speedian) summarises:

Terry K
Ian A
Chris D
Jon
Justin
Ian M
Jeff
Steven G
Arthur
Ainis
Richy

No punctures tonight just 16 to 20 miles of non stop entertainment. The mud snow and ice couldn't put a damper on a classic night, with Richy being the star performer. He demonstrated how  to cross a mud filled ditch at speed and with flair.

Cheers for the great company.

And for once, the Gollum has recollections! ->

Great News!

We got through this ride without any punctures!

Yes, Thursday night, 17th December 2009, final Thursday Nighter of the Year proved to be a great relief to all after a recent spate of flats and/or mechanicals.

And the elements were indeed to rule, but as ever, a cunningly devised route plotted by Ian and Golly conspired to trick Ma Nature into huffing and puffing the wrong way most of the time. She did manage to lower the temperature in the hours following lunch time, and this was enough to freeze the extremities of most of the membership during the first half hour or even less.

The Gollum led out away from the newly, and splendidly marked Cave:

Finally MidAirCrisis gets the recognition it deserves as a Master Pavement Blocker.

That very tricky Holystone roundabout caught a few out as we attempted to reach the far side of it, eventually succeeding for the troupe to follow Golly south into the top of the Siemens Trail before he took a totally unexpected left diversion off it, leaving a few of the quick lads up front stranded. We singletracked (oh yes we did) into the back of West Allotment before wiggling through the Waggonways to the edge of Siemens' Field and onto the Silverlink Trails. Golly tried to search out the least-used of these to get us down to Middle Engine Lane and pausing there for a regroup after the stomp through the tree lined alleys.

Next up was an impossible, impassable looking low canopy of beech, elderberry and bramble, which Ainis took it upon himself to enter. He got about fifty metres and turned back, finding it difficult to fit his substantial mass through the gap which was only a metre high at best! The Gollum squeezed past him and proceeded to charge straight at the greenery, with Richy leading the bravest through behind him. There were eyeballs dangling from every prickly branch by the time we got to the logical exit pont, by which time the sensible half of the crew had made their escape over the barbed wire border fence, unseen by the guards.

We regrouped again and set off north back up into Cobalt as Golly led higgledy-piggledy through the trails to Sundial Hill. That was approached the hard way, by the back door, and necessitated a push up the muddy grass bank. We took the opportunity to rest at the top as we studied the multitude of unnecessary office lighting in the Cobalt buildings spread out below us and pondered Earth's future.

Once the heart rates had calmed, Speedy jumped off the hilltop down the North Face we'd just climbed, and we heard a few shrieks behind as the slippery surface caught a few out on the way down. After Golly had sent Ian the wrong way towards a green and soggy end, he took the lead again as we crossed the main Silverlink Waggonway to jump out at the Ford garage on New York Road, crossing it before someone realised we were three or four short. We waited as the stragglers caught up, having turned the wrong way when they lost sight of the last red LED up ahead.

So far we hadn't travelled more than a mile from the Cave but had been hard at it for almost an hour, and nearly all off-road. Ian took the helm once more down behind the houses as we pointed ourselves at Backworth up the old railway line. When we reached the railway crossing we crossed the tracks with Ainis out front looking for the track side singletrack, not knowing if it still existed after the new Waggonways around the back of Shiremoor and Earsdon had been completed.

Ainis didn't spot it, but Golly did and moved past him, hitting the trail alongside the fence as hard as he could. Normally he would have stopped after half a mile or less, but tonight he had the maniacal Ian M on his tail, pushing like the clappers to reclaim lost fitness, so although his speed dropped off dramatically, there was no way for Ian to get past so he just shoved the Gollum harder until we emerged at the level crossing. B@st@rd. Puff, pant.

The SpeedIan was out front again as we rode by the scrapyard and into the fields before he turned us west to Seghill Tip and the tricky singletrack around its perimeter. That caught a few out including Ian who lost the lead and was forced to the back as Arthur and Golly caught up. Another excellent test for the Gollum's Panaracer TrailRakers in the sludge, and more flying colours collected. They just seem to be doing what it says on the tin.

Another regroup just outside of Seghill had us crossing the Delaval road and heading for the Church as we re-covered some of last week's route. However, this time the Gollum intervened and dragged everyone into a muddy field. Surprise! However, there was a trace of an edge to this one so we stuck at it, and after a short toilet halt Golly led Chris D around the semi-circular route of this really quite large chunk of farmland, and they finished it off with a flat-out race over the rough tracks (well, the Elder was flat out even if Chris wasn't!).

That popped us nicely onto the singletrack we would normally have hit, on the opposite side of the field to The Mummy, which we had seen shining in the distance courtesy of the Gollum's many-Lumened head torch. Back to the scene of one of last Thursday's puncture episodes at the top of Delaval where Speedy and Golly got their heads together to discuss the next waypoint.

With the front runners following Ian down towards East Cramlington, we had to shout them back up to the main road again at Smithy's Corner as we needed to be up the road a piece to get into our next woodland trail. We didn't bother resting before hitting this one, but minutes later we got a breather anyway, courtesy of young Richy who took it upon himself to test the submarining abilities of his allegedly waterproof clothing and his StumpJumper. I am disgusted to report that several of the party laughed raucously as Richy's head and shoulders vanished beneath the dark and muddy water of this tricky dyke crossing. Shame on you, Brethren. (tee, hee).

Back to the plot, all safely mounted, they followed the Gollum blindly into what sure didn't look like a "trail", but hey, not for the first time! It proved to be a little stop-start as we picked our way between the Christmas trees, and when Golly's path was finally blocked, Jeff took up the mantle and found a smashing blast through the twiggery as we zigzagged behind him and Ian M looking for the next exit.

Jeff then hit his own road block, while Ian M discovered a way out but only by crossing a metre-wide but scarily deep stream, gushing along between the trees and sounding like Niagara Falls in the darkness. We passed the bikes over one by one and made our scalp-spiking escape to the forest path we should have been on ten minutes ago. It was about 9:00pm when we had lifted the last bike over the fence to escape the Triffids.

Crossing the road into the woods on the south side, we were confronted by much wetter terrain, and took the opportunity to stop for a very hard-earned snack break. After ten minutes or so, Jon was the brave one who attacked the mud ahead on his singlespeed, or tried to but came to a halt in a rather damp spot. Golly blasted the Trek past him and managed to remain upright over the deep mud ridges as he headed for the start of that infamous climb up Thornhill, as we christened it last time after it caused about 23 punctures. Best way to overcome your fears, etc, etc...

It was excruciatingly hard work getting up this thing, with a 3 inch groove in the middle or barbs and spears close to your elbows either side, with even Chris worn out as he pulled up alongside Golly at the top to await the others. Amazingly, Jon was one of the first to arrive, and that must have been hard. Tonight would provide his singlespeed's best opportunity to maximise its only advantage over the other bikes - it had no gears to freeze up!

We rested again as the rear guard caught up, then Speedy led away avoiding the Whoop-de-Doos in favour of the singletrack descent through the young trees. That was super and another great way to test tyre grip in what were fairly adverse ground conditions as a blizzard blew up around us. Having reached this point though, almost everything remaining would be undercover or largely wind-assisted.

We headed off through the farm and around the trail edging the Spoon Field, where Golly took over again for the drop to the stream and the back road out to Dudley, Mill Lane, under the A19. Arriving at the underpass, however, he slammed the anchors on in another surprise move and hauled the Trek up onto the "wrong end" of Ian B's ol singletrack through to Main Street, and greedily devoured the next half mile although Chris got the better of him half way through when the old legs finally caved in.

It was a wee bit blowy as we regrouped again so we decided a tarmac finish would be the best bet. We cruised up the path to Dudley Roundabout then up past the Meat Factory and into the farm road at Burradon where we were forced to take the blizzard conditions full in the face for half a mile before being able to relax for the gentle climb up to Hillheads. Justin departed at the Factory and Arthur at Hillheads crossing while the rest of us enjoyed an easy dash down the fields to the Holystone pub and arrived at the Cave at 10:10. Except for poor Ian M, of course, who then had to turn straight into the Easterly blast and complete the extra couple of miles home! As far as we know, he made it. And of course Jon and Ainis had already battled against the wind just to get to the Cave for the start! 16.5 miles for most of us according to Jeff's GPS.