There was a big turnout too; about 18 of us set off down the bridleway to the railway crossing. Once upon a time crossing the railway cutting involved a slow, steep descent to the track followed by a push out the other side. (Motocross) erosion now means the lines are covered by sand and if you go fast enough down you can ride up the steep exposed rocks on the other side. It's not straight forward though and I reckon there was about a 50% success rate from the posse on Saturday? Needless to say, with so many present, there was plenty of heckling and p*ss taking for all the attempts. Davo delighted everyone with a proper over the bars too!

Once we were across and into The Pines Victorian Dad led us down the nearby fast section of the blue route before we picked up the red. The trails are currently dry and grippy and the pace reflected this. As Saturday rides go it was a fast one. Steve being a bit out of practice was suffering at the back all afternoon and obviously got no rest as each time he caught up we were immediately off again. However the more flowing sections of trail were particularly fun when taken at speed.

We pretty much did a flat out lap of The Kitchener Trail and didn't really do any other singletrack. However we did have a stop for more entertainment at "The Folly". This tricky rooty step has been a favourite challenge of ours for years. Once it was just hidden away in the woods but now the red trail actually goes right past it. This hasn't made it any easier though! I think Pike was the only one to clean it first time and The Fun Hoover managed after a few goes? Everyone else that had a go failed! I was one of the failures but wasn't surprised by that as I think I've only ever cleaned it once!

Even with the stops we had completed our loop in about an hour and a half. We did a bit of off-piste to drag it out slightly but were still back at our vehicles before 4pm. To be honest the pace meant most riders didn't want to be out any longer anyway. A quick change and we headed off down The Bridge for the post ride beers and talk up.