It sure is a topsy-turvy old world, isn't it? A few rides ago, on a glorious Sunday morning, it was only Chris K and Golly who had the pleasure of the Tyneside Tour with the rest staying in bed. Tonight, Thursday 7th August 2008 there were TWELVE out on a dismal night which gradually got worse as darkness approached!

We welcomed Alex for his first ride out with us, and didn't he pick a pig to start with? The others were Arthur, Ian A, Ian B, Tim, Derek, Terry H, Keith, Chris D, Chris K and who's this other stranger then? Well I never - it's our Mick H, back from an extended tour of the hot lands somewhere near the Arabian Sea. Bit cooler for him tonight!

Notable observations - Keith could hardly breath after tackling a tree in Chopwell on Monday night, and he's now got his big front disc on the Whyte but it didn't stop him hitting the tree - Chris D has finally treat the Mongoose to some new chainrings and derailleurs, poor thing (the bike, not Chris) - new man Alex is riding a ... Specialized Stumpy! - Chris K has finally gone tubeless on the Trek (if YOU haven't yet, why not?) - Tim has been polishing THOSE shoes and doesn't need lights any more AND he's got rid of the homemade power plant and spaghetti that used to adorn his Mongoose's handlebars.

Because of the limited light at 7:00pm and the prospect of more rain, Speedy and Golly decided to hit the woods first, so we shuffled back along the Great Lime Road and up alongside the Church at Clousden Hill. Then it became a Speedian Mystery Tour as he led us across the fields to Killingworth Lakes and a quick pic stop. Only light drizzle at this point as we headed over to Camperdown and along to Gosforth Park crossing the railway line and taking the field route again, bit of a slog in the damp grass.

We hit the Park around 7:30 and it wasn't long before Ian had us dizzy with a couple of laps of regular stuff and a bit of undiscovered thrown in for entertainment. Alex had looked supremely confident in here, being a sweet young thing and still able to throw his bike around like most of us Elders couldn't even contemplate. However, the Hex of NMBC was upon him and he eventually bit the dust, or clarts, to keep our fine tradition intact for first-time-rider falls.

While we were skating around in there we heard a lot of heavy rainfall hitting the tree canopy above us, so it was just as well Speedy kept us lingering in the bushes for quite a while. I lost count of the number of loud cracks my helmet produced as it hit overhanging branches, and I wasn't the only one, oh no! We also moved a couple of felled trees out of the way to make our next ride through twice as fast! As usual it produced plenty of giggles as the domino effect caught us out repeatedly. And several times the front runners lost their tails with bodies scattered everywhere. Following eye-level LEDs doesn't do your tracking abilities much good in half light! By now we'd become the Dirty Dozen. Welcome Home Mick!

a picture

Once we'd snapped every twig in the place and created a few more recognisable paths through the jungle, we headed for the Hotel and freedom. This just after one of Ian's diversions could have proved catastrophic, with a barely visible barbed wire stretched over his prospective route about five foot six from the ground. We retreated, leaving the Gollum to drape the thing with branches in an attempt to stop anyone else trying that path. It's part of an old wire netting fence, by the way, and not some wicked Rambler's trap as the quick-to-guess Gollum had wrongly  surmised. We left the tree cover in the now lightly falling drizzle.

some more pictures - that evil barbed wire -

 

some more -  ohhh, Pammy...

more pictures

Time to start losing bodies now. First to drop off was Derek, who had no lights on his silly singlespeeder and so left us at Gosforth park Hotel. Next was Ian B before we hit Bluebell Woods. That's where Gollum almost fell in the river when he, Mick and Speedy tried to move yet another tree out of the way, with the smaller branches snapping under the strain and almost catapulting the Daft One into the water. This off-camber trail provided exactly the interest Terry H had envisaged, it's lethal in the wet. But no-one was killed or maimed. Then it was the turn of Arthur to leave us after he got totally submerged by a passing car under the bridge at South Gosforth and was simply too wet to continue. Must have been a horrible ride home to Forest Hall for him.

here he is moments before with that famous grin

Still plenty of time for a dive into the Dene as the rain had eased off a bit again. Ian A had some more treats for us in here, with a tricky little diversion just after the first drop from Freeman Road. However, only himself and the two Terrys bothered to tackle it, and Ian came down the final chute alongside his bike, holding his posterior and screaming quietly! Always the Showman! Meantime, Chris K had trolled off ahead so we stopped laughing at Speedy and caught him up. We took our food halt near the waterfall at the old mill, where the sight of a rat kept everyone standing! I think it was attracted by Tim's shoes.

Time was moving on and it was a pretty dreary old night, so we dropped to the drive and emerged on Armstrong Bridge, not a million millimetres from Chris K's home. Game over, time to go home now. Touring along the Coast Road footpaths (how dare we!) we dropped Alex off at the bottom of Chillingham Road as he lives in Heaton. And at Wills' Factory it was Terry H's turn as he pressed on straight down the Coast Road to his Cullercoats abode.

The rest of us headed out behind it onto the bridleways up to Whitley Road where Keith and the Speedian departed for Forest Hall. That left Tim, Mick, a pair of Chris' and a Gollum to head for the hosepipe back at the Cave, at the amazingly early time of 9:30pm! And one final observation - how on earth did Mick get away with running 60psi on his old bike tonight when everyone else was skating about on much lower pressures?

Apologies to Alex and Evan as I got them screwed up first time around - corrected thanks to Ian A, my right hand brain

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