We turned around and fetched the wheel meaning it was a bit of a rush to make the ride start time. We arrived with 5 minutes to spare but still weren't the last to arrive! So this Saturday's ride saw ten riders roll out of the car park a few minutes later than planned. Conditions were perfect: around freezing with the trails bone dry. Attempting to cross the railway line on the way up to Calverton Woods Nick went down on what was to be the first of several crashes on this ride! Once in the woods we started on some of the usual singletrack which was riding well.

Next up Baz lead us into a new steep roll. I rode in blind and discovered the tricky part was the front wheel stopping hollow / hidden log combination at the bottom. I cleaned it and whipped the camera out to get Big E who was following. He took a tumble at the bottom but unfortunately I was a bit premature with the camera to get the full over the bars! Them twenty niner wheels don't roll over everything easier then ;)

 

So 20 minutes or so into the ride we had had two comedy crashes with no-one hurt :) We proceeded via a short bit of road to Blidworth Woods where we took in some of our favourite singletrack to reach the car park at Blidworth Bottoms. On the way Sid became the first person to clear a fallen tree which we had piled a few logs up against months ago. It had always been very slippy which combined with a wonky run up had stopped most people tying it before. This time it was less slippy but still tricky. Nice one Sid :)

At the car park we noticed that one of the large rocks that has been there ages (to stop cars entering the forest) had now formed a natural ramp. It was too good an opportunity to miss so Phil & I had a quick play jumping off it. The only hazard was the line of short posts in the landing zone that would be pretty painful if it all went wrong. Aiming for the gap in them made it ok. A nice little jump it's just a shame the rock isn't half way down a nice trail in the woods!

 

After that we continued on to Haywood Oaks where Nick had a bit more serious crash. At the bottom of a short fire road descent is a pile of gravel left by the forestry guys. It has compacted down over time and makes quite a nice tabletop now. Nick hit it way too fast and landed heavy on the front wheelbefore endoing onto his head! Luckily he wasn't hurt properly and we all headed back to the pub via the golf course with a long sprint finish.