As we pedalled towards He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's house my phone started ringing in my Camelbak. I ignored it, assuming it was He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named angling for a tilt due to the rain. I was right! He was stood in his garage considering his exercise bike instead. Steve and I talked him round and we headed out into the quickly stopping rain.

Leaving the drive we stopped for a passing car and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named couldn't unclip from his pedal. Down he went before we had even started! That was his mojo knackered for the ride...

We started off heading through Asfordby Hill doing a few of the little drop offs etc before reversing the route Steve and I did on June 16th. The rain hadn't had too much effect on the ground but we did get muddier than we have done for a long while on a local ride. The permissive bridleway from Saxelbye gave us wet feet from the long grass but generally the surfaces were fine despite the dampness and summer tyres combination.

We did veer off onto a cheeky trail at Holwell Mouth which was a nice bit of singletrack despite the encroaching brambles needing some attention and a stubborn young bullock blocking the trail. Even the ruts on the track from the top of Pasture Lane to Landyke Lane weren't too damp. The main problems on that trail were the long grass hiding the ruts and some overhanging tree branches. Steve and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named stopped to remove some of the offending branches.

The old railway from Scalford back to Melton added to our nettle sting and bramble scratch collections before leading us into the final fun bit of singletrack in the Country Park. Having completed this we raced the black clouds above us to the pub where they failed to deliver much of the rain they looked to contain.