Return to Mud!

Ah well we have had a pretty good stretch of dry trails and after all we probably needed some April showers but isn't it amazing how mother nature knows that it's a British bank holiday! 

After 2 days of solid rain and clearly quite a few mountain bikers who desperate to ride had ridden anyway- the trails today were back to a layer of mud in most areas and plenty of evidence of mountain bike tyres. Nevertheless we were 8 riders - the BH trains delaying Jonathan and Richards start and a lost brake pad pin scuppering Simon's efforts to start with us (Tip: NEVER throw away your old brake pads and parts til you buy the new ones!)  

Anyway we rode up to Redlands and the Deja Vu trail- off camber in the mud is a wake up challenge! Then over to Summer Lightning and Richard (who is new to jumping) hit the first rooty jump on the DH trail and landed it a little wobbly before hitting the deck hard! He jumped back up but clearly this 4th crash of the week had taken its toll a bloody knee, elbow and a shiner meant that he was taking it easy for the rest of the ride- but he still managed to stick with it all the way. (Next stop is the Saturday skills ride for him!)  

It was foggy all day and sitting up at Leith Tower for tea and cake there were no views to be had in any direction! I just found a photo from last Easter up here and there was snow so just a typical Easter again! We rode a lot of twisty singletrack in the area to let Adrian get a proper test ride out of the Lapierre Zesty and the new skills he acquired by riding such a great bike.

Then Simon made us ride delieverance/roller coaster in the mud! Now I only ever just about ride it in the dry so this seemed like a dumb idea but after filming Jonathan and Andy making it down in good control I decided to go for it but as I went over the edge and the bike picked up speed I started to doubt the decision but it was too late I let go off the brakes as the tyres squirled around on the muddy off camber diagonal roots and picked up lots of speed then just about managed to stop before I hit the metal debris at the bottom- phew!  

Well we headed out doubting we could get such a great ride in such muddy conditions but ended up with big muddy smiles on our faces. In fact Adrian loved it so much he bought that Lapierre Zesty as soon as we got back to the shop- proof of a great ride!  

Riders: Simon, Adrian, Andy, Claire, Jonathan, Richard, Jason, Simon(DNS)