Wet Hamsters

Mountain Bike Ride

Rod, Tom

7th November route

A distinctly damp start to the day saw a mere three of us in Hamsterley’s WIndy Bank car park, sheltering from the unremitting rain under Stockton Cycling And Running’s gazebo, perusing the bikes on offer for their demo day. Could have ordered better weather. When we could respectably prevaricate no longer, bikes were dragged from cars and assembled under leaden skies. Me, Rod and his nephew Tom are today’s team, braving the elements to get a ride in, using our own bikes because we had not thought to book a test ride on one of the Stockton Cycling And Running test bikes, although the electric mountain bikes were looking very tempting.

The ride did not start well, Rod broke his chain before we had even left the car park, the Powerlink snapped clean in two; spare link employed and we were on our way, soon panting up the slopes to our first objective, Pike’s Teeth. Wet rocks, slippery roots and a painful bruise on my left thigh meant no records were broken on the descent of Pike’s Teeth (or any other tracks) today. Gaining the fire road, we headed through the forest toward Oddsox, with a couple of off-piste detours into the woods, which proved to be mostly a muddy waste of time and energy. Back on more consolidated ground, Oddsox, with it’s sweeping roller coaster turns was running well, even the second section, which goes through the woods was okay and it was not long before we returned to the valley bottom to begin the long trek up to the masts which signal the start of Transmission. En route we stopped to shed a layer of clothing because the sun- in defiance of the weather forecast - was forcing its beaming face through the clouds.

The triplet of Transmission, Accelerator and Nitrous was as enjoyable as ever, the trails standing up to weather and usage very well, only the odd puddle evidence of wear and tear. We all emerged at the valley bottom again, muddy but unscathed and under a blue sky. The climb up to Section 13 was an unwelcome necessity but we plodded upward, pausing at the old huts to wait for a snack, marvelling at the dichotomy of bright sunshine and rain, as we sheltered under the overhangs. Section 13 is starting to show it’s age now, the puddles are getting bigger and some of the drop off seem to be higher, are maybe I’m becoming more craven. Rod showed us an alternative to the next section, Boneshaker, which was quite pleasant until it rejoined Boneshaker’s new, improved (?), uphill (?) finish.

We rode the next two sections of track without resorting to secret, nudge nudge, wink wink, diversions, Special K and Brainfreeze, the platform jump at the end of Brainfreeze mocking our pusillanimity as we swerved around it again. A quick spin around the Skills Loop finished the ride for us and we returned to the car park where Stockton Cycling And Running’s demo day had picked up pace, muddy bikes were being returned by even muddier riders, free food and drink was partaken while prices and specs were discussed. Rod had a spin around the car park on an electric bike, reporting it to have quite a boost as the motor kicks in, perhaps something to consider for the future when the inevitable fitness decline appears as we enter our nineties, and the technology will have improved in the next 35 years.