No rest at all for some, at least not for those who'd done Speedian's Glentress trip the day before. So this Thursday night, 25th October 2007, those braving the elements were Brian 2, Craig, Stu, Ian A, Keith and the Gollum. Except there weren't any elements to brave! On a beautiful night we just trolled along sunbathing. In the dark, of course.

Our trolling took us over some familiar territory, but also some new stuff for the more recent members of the NMBC Club. Golly led north past Killingworth Lakes to Camperdown, on the road into Burradon then left to Dudley. By the time we got to Dudley centre there was unrest in the ranks, who wanted to know why we were "hurrying". Sure enough, we'd kept up a pretty hot pace, especially with the little cretin out front who's normally a full calendar month behind everybody else on the flat or up stretches. Tonight, however, he did have a small reason for getting a move on, and that was Speedy's Dearly Beloved, who he'd been taking the Mick out of lately with late returns from our rides. Not wishing to fall any fouler, Gollum decided to stroke this one along a bit and get Ian home before he turned into a pumpkin.

So the pace was maintained all the way into Cramlington past the High School, where we jumped down onto the cycle path network near John's place, and promptly got led up yet another blind alley by the twit. So much for saving time. Eventually we wormed our way out of the funny little dead end streets and got to the railway bridge. Four of us got over it, but Speedy and Stu didn't appear. That's when the call went up - "aaarghhh!" No, not an injury, but a snapped chain on giant Stu's giant Giant. Dear me, reader, that's the third chain to go like this in a couple of months! Unheard of, really. Anyway, Ian and Golly surrounded Stu's bike and started scrabbling amongst their tools and spares for a fix, which of course they both carry. But hey, what's this then? Stu holding his hand out with a SRAM Powerlink in it. Wow! Not only has he had his bike's wheels sorted and fitted some gnashing winter treads, but he carries sensible spares aswell. So seconds later, job done and we were off again.

North past the Garden Centre and then down to Plessey Woods, still moving along swiftly behind Keith now. We stopped at the bridge and collected the whole crew before literally streaming through the ford. Golly was through first and ripping out his camera, certain that someone would bite the water in the dark. But no, they all got through unscathed, mainly due to the fact that there was hardly any water in it.

After a short halt for bush watering it was time to give our lights their first proper test. Gollum led again alongside the river, turning down to the banks when the path spit. Now in the daylight this is a perilous stretch of barely rideable singletrack, designed for, dare I say it, walking boots. Well, we weren't wearing any, so we just ducked down and hit the thing. Still pretty slithery along here but the darkness made it potentially suicidal. As the trail narrowed, rose and fell there were shrieks and cries galore as shoes and helmets were pulled off by roots and branches. Still don't know how Stu ever got along it, but I'll bet there are a few less overhanging branches in there now, making it much safer for our walking brethren.

The trail just seemed to go on and on forever, and every few minutes someone would ask the inevitable. No, not "are we there yet?" but "has the old tosser got us lost again?". Fortunately he hadn't, but tonight, obviously because of the darkness, this stretch seemed to keep on stretching. Even when the sound of traffic from the A1 ahead at Stannington became audible, there was still a lot of careful skidding and sliding left to complete. Finally we emerged from the jungle, much to Stu's relief as he was last out with the nasties on his tail.

We had a few choices here. 1 - reverse and enjoy the blackness again. 2 - cross the A1 and ride out behind Stannington then down towards Ponteland then home. 3 - cross the road and ride home. As it was well after 9.00pm now, number 3 got the vote. So we travelled south down the west side of the A1, back to the 7 Mile Bridge then Gollum took the party right towards Brenkley. Unfortunately he was "in error" here as there is no way through except to turn north again and come back south into Dinnington. Oops! By the time we hit the Village, Stu had vanished off the back having used up the remnants of his energy staying the right way up through Plessey Woods, so he continued through to Kingston Park, while the others scooted out the back on Route 10 pretty swiftly as Ian was looking at his watch again. We managed to get back to Craig and Brian's vehicle by 10.06, exactly 3 hours after leaving it.

As far as I recall, Ian was showing 22 miles on his bike PC, so this time Gollum had the longest trek, about 24 miles all in, and back to the Cave by 10.15. Puff, pant, quite a rapid ride. The next one will be a bit calmer. for sure. Even too fast for pictures, this ride.

 

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