Ten of us arrived in a wet and muddy Roosthole carpark for Lee's ride over to Tilgate, first obstacle over no one lost a bike to the dreaded height restriction.Heading on to Hammer Pond Lane we climed to the turf farm and took a trail which was going to be the flavour of the day - thick slippery mud! Dropping by the mx track and in to the forest we climbed our way up over to Grouse Road. At this point we all agreed that we had probably pedalled twice as far as the Garmins said thanks to the constant wheel spin. Once we made our way across the m23 across, the bridge by Bridges, we headed in to Tilgate Forest which is always claggy at this time of year but seem to be getting worse due to the forestry work that has been taken place recently. Round the lake and on to alfresco tea in the nature reserve where we sat in the tea rooms garden in the mildly warm sun. Sausage rolls ,cakes and coffee finished just enough time for me to get a quick snap from the maze and we were off again. Taking various trails we made our way back over to the Colgate side of Roosthole, on to Mick Miles Race, where we dropped onto a cracking trail all the way down to the start point. Mud and water aside it turned out to be a great paced XC ride - well done Lee!