4th December 2014

Mountain bike ride

Oz, The Bread Man, The Ginger One.

4th December 2014 route

Just as cold as yesterday without the saving grace of sunshine and blue skies, another grey, filthy day as we met up in the grey, filthy, pothole ridden car park at Sheepwash. Another no show from The Pensioner, we'll need a note from his mam when he next appears. From the first pedal stroke our trajectory was upward, culminating in four breathless men at the summit of the Mad Mile, some four miles later. And that was the majority of the day's climbing over with - depending on your definition of climbing of course. A pleasant few miles along the Hambleton Drove Road followed until we gained our objective, the quaintly named Noddle End, a slippery downhill on mud and limestone which rewards a positive approach. The complete opposite of  Oz's mincing, brake squeezing, slither which left him some way behind. A bit of a drag upward, the exact route redacted for legal reasons and we were retracing our tyre tracks back along the Drove Road and getting our revenge on the Mad Mile by plummeting down at speeds unwise for a man on the verge of middle age. The rocky descent to the ford at sheepwash sorted the men from the boys, leaving three process operators approaching puberty as a bread man despatched the route dabless. Floundering on the rock steps, a route was eventually picked out, depositing us at the stream with only borderline casualties. Back at the car, soaking wet for the third day in a row, covered in mud and water, we drove to Osmotherley, where both cafes were closed. Thanks for that Osmotherley.