As I turned the penultimate corner before Leigh, I saw 3 cars and 2 riders and thought “Hmmm. Quiet ride today, must be because of Big Dog!”. Then I reached the village green and the count rose to 21 – ok, perhaps not so quiet.
I apologised to all about the first mile being all on road and got the expected groans as we set off. The weather was great though and we soon hit some nice trails thru Hammond’s and Reffolds Copses. As we approached Holmwood I warned everybody to take care as we crossed a busy stretch of A24 dual carriageway. Off the main road we paused to re-group and approximately 20 people pointed out the underpass which I’d failed to spot! My revenge came sweet with the steep climb up Moorhouse Lane. Soon we reached Coldharbour and on to Summer Lightning. The trails were fast and dry as we took some less familiar trails up to Leith Hill for the tea stop.
We were well on target for a 1:00 finish until the hiccups came – 3 of them. First we stopped to help an unknown puncture victim who had set out sans pump (sloppy kit prep), then Cheryl broke her chain and rear mech. The outstanding support team managed to get her working as a single speed. The trails thru Abinger Forest were good but would’ve been better if the Forest Wrecking crew had cleared up their trail of broken branches from the bridleways, almost causing my first navigational error of the day. Most of us made it down the drop-off at the end, just before the customary attack of the 2 big black Labradors. 10 minutes later, thru Holmwood Common, Terry broke his chain (unforgiveably sloppy bike maintenance for a guy who has as much time on his hands as I do!)
We arrived back at 1:30. The sight of the pub as we rode the last 100 metres proved irresistible for about a dozen of us, which was a great end to a very nice ride (if I say so myself).

Graham