Good job everyone didn't arrive in a car for this Thursday night ride, October 23rd 2008, or we would have needed Asda's car park to hold them all. There were sixteen of us gathered at Holystone for the off, and another two to collect along the way.
Alex |
Andy |
Arthur |
Chris D |
Chris K |
Craig |
Ian A |
Jon |
Katy |
Matt |
Mick |
Paul C |
Richard B |
Stewart J |
Terry H |
Terry K |
Tim |
Wayne |
This meant we couldn't tackle any of our usual under-tree stuff through the Rising Sun Country Park as we needed to leg it to get down to Wallsend where Katy and Alex were waiting. Last Thursday's ride wasn't enough to deter the two gentlemen who joined us, what's the new word for it - randomly - at Burradon on that night, and indeed Paul and Richard brought along another of their riding pals Wayne for his first trial by MidAirCrisis Moonlight.
Once we'd installed Katy's borrowed beams the Gollum showed the way back along the Coast Road cycle path, where the other two and a few more had just ridden from (!) into the back of the Powder Monkey trail. Or at least he tried to, but hit one of those dead ends he's famous for. It was, however, just a short diversion onto the railway bridge then we were off along the Coxlodge Waggonway all the way down to South Gosforth. For a change, the few doggie walkers we met moved aside and were quite sensible, or scared rigid, not like that twerp a few weeks ago who started shouting obscenities at the last man for having the nerve to ride on a bike path! Hope you die, sir.
By the time the last few - Katy, Tim and Golly, had reached Freeman Road, the others had vanished. That's because we stopped to give Katy her first lesson on descending steps (on her bike, fool) and she easily took it in her stride. She was quite surprised how well she managed it, so we'll find some steeper ones for her next ordeal. Speedy had waited around for our appearance and directed us up the road to Bluebell Woods which was again an antertaining jaunt. This time, however, no-one chose to take the Rachel Route, aka swimming lessons, on the tricky off-camber waterside path. And it seemed that tonight, with Ian and Mick up front, and Arthur and the two Terry's at the back, we were managing so far to keep everyone together, or in sight at least.
From the start of the tarmac bridleway, Terry H set a cracking pace (I know, a dead easy one for him!) to haul us all up to Meldon Park where we gathered again before moving up the High Street to the Hotel. Once assembled inside the grounds, the Gollum issued a friendly warning to the masses to be very careful on Tim's Bridge. And because the Man Himself was back out again for his first dark ride after that horrible crash a few months ago, he got a personal warning aswell! Fortunately, this time, Tim had his spectaculer home-made light set on and what a difference they make. In fact, I'm ready to saddle him with a new moniker - The Prof! (in case you didn'y know, Tim, Ian F and Stevie B all share the Mr No-Brakes tag). He's really done some thorough research on lighting systems, lamp and battery technology, and is also a dab hand at DIY stuff, resulting in a lighting setup that matches or maybe even exceeds the performance of commercial systems. Riding with him and his beam on maximum output, it really does light up everything you need to see to stay safe on dodgy ground.
After a good old buz around the trees in zig-zag formation behind the Speedian, and with twinkly lights spread all over the woods, we managed to continue the fairly efficient run of re-groupings to make sure we didn't lose anyone. After a widescale sweep of the Park we emerged from the trees alongside the golf course and unusually, Terry H suffered a rare puncture on the Marin. That hit hard as, like a few of us now, his Number One bike, the Floyd Fusion, is tubeless so punctures are not only rare but even more dreaded and unwelcome than before. The subsequent delay meant that Terry decided to head straight for the coast and home, while the remainder did just one more frantic tree trek behind Speedy.
Emerging again on Sandy Lane after crossing the wooden bridge THREE times there was only time for one last fling now, and for that, Golly directed Ian up to the Weetslade Hill. This is where Craig left us for his Kenton abode, being almost the closest point on this ride. The others followed Ian over probably the hardest section of the night, a plowed field. That meant firstly being out in the wind, really bashing in from the west, and also the heavens opened, as forecast by those sometimes-correct weathermen. Luckily, however, it didn't last very long. Once we'd got everyone gathered again at the top of this extremely blustery spot, the highest for miles, we had the chance to hurt someone on Ian's Rabbit Run. Somehow, I don't think it caught anyone out this time, and it was a wee bit dryer than of late. Shame!
All there was to do now was tour back home. By the time the last few riders reached the Dudley road north of Sandy Lane, Group One had vanished, and because there's a fork in the waggonways here, we didn't know which way! And to make matters worse, they were being led by Mick, who knows most of our stuff but had to pick a straw for this one. Unfortunately it was the wrong one! So while he and about 8 others were off via Burradon and Killingworth, the rest of us turned right to set Chris, Andy and Katy on the right path back to Heaton just around the corner. The Away Team suffered a puncture to Matt and the same fate befell the Gollum at Killingworth lakes. He decided to end his night with a nice walk in the now steady, blustery rain back along the Great Lime Road to Holystone rather than get a soaking trying to fix it. When he finally reached the Wheatsheaf around 10:25 he saw a group of half a dozen riders going over the roundabout headed for Asda! How come? The answer was waiting at the Cave in the shape of Chris D, Tim and Mick. They confirmed the route they'd taken after leaving us at Weetslade and that they'd suffered the group's second puncture of the night. A quick hose-down of the bikes and they were gone.
Next Thursday's ride is in Chopwell Woods. For those who don't know, it's up behind Ryton about half an hour from Holystone. So, the Master Plan is to LEAVE Holystone at 6:45pm and head for Chris D's abode at Hookergate or Highfield, can't remember which (or just go to the main car park in the Woods but parking in the dark may be dodgy). The choices are to either make your own way there (preferred if you can for transport reasons) or beg a lift at the Cave. If you don't use the Blog yet (button on left - dead easy), get stuck in and we'll see if we can sort out the transport by talking on that. The other alternative is Coronation Street.
Christmas Stopover - Innerleithen/Glentress OR Mabie/Dalbeattie/Ae - talk NOW!
DON'T FORGET to sign up for a NEW Wiggle Account BEFORE you use the link below to earn
us some pennies
www.wiggle.co.uk
