The weather forecast turned out to be spot on but the pub car park was more puddle than tarmac when I got there. As I waited I wondered if anyone else was going to show up? I didn't fancy riding alone in the woods at night but it would be a waste of all the preparation, driving and an entire evening if I didn't.
As it happened Pooley soon turned up and then Hilly joined us just as we were readying for the off :-) It was just the three of us and so I was nominated "leader" as we headed off to see just how damp the trails were? For the first time this winter the ground under wheel was proper wet. It was a total contrast to the dry fast trails of last Saturday.
As I've mentioned before the sandy soils of the Nottinghamshire woods mean the trails are never unridable so we had a good ride round all the usual bits of our favourite singletrack.
Back at the pub, a couple of steady hours later, I broke out the mobile washer for the first time in ages. In the pub the free sandwiches went a lot further than usual as there were only the three of us to tackle them! :-)
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As I always have to be prepared for the weekly night ride in adavance and head there straight from work I'm generally going to be there whatever the weather. This week there were proper storms blasting against the office windows in the late afternoon so I had everything crossed that the BBC weather forecast was right: it said it would clear before the ride began at 7pm.