Canny Day For It...

apart from the puddles.

First ride of the new month and actually managed a companion, new kid on the block Miles, who recently moved to the area and can only find a fat, slow, bloke on the verge of middle-age to show him around the moors. He’s pretty nifty and will fit in well with Rod, SuperBri and Howard; I suspect the remainder of us will see a lot of the back of his head. It was a grand day for it, the whole blue sky, sunshine, light wind, perfect day sort of thing - except for the puddles which have proliferated in quantity and depth since five days ago, when me and The Breadlad rode these tracks. Despite having a mudguard, soggy bottom syndrome soon afflicted the nether regions, as opposed to saggy bottom syndrome which, of course, will never strike any Terra Trailblazer, being regular cyclists with glutes like a statue carved from marble by a renaissance sculptor. We did a circuit around Scaling Dam; up The Slagbag, Oakley Walls, Clitherbecks, Robin Hoods Butt, Sis Cross, Lord’s Turnpike, Pannierman’s Causeway, up to Danby Beacon, finishing with Roxby Moor. Grand it was too. Luxurious even without headwinds or lashing rain. Roxby Moor was the highlight, the stoney track harboured the least puddles and was predominantly still in summer condition, other than some claggy bits at the start. A quick blast back across the reservoir and we were done.

Slip, Slap, Slop.

Reverting to the more usual Lone Wolf riding today, companions being thinner on the ground than a reunion of the Jimmy Savile fan club, I left Great Ayton on a sunny but rather cool morning. After Fletcher’s Farm, I turned right and plodded up the Dykes Lane roots and continued climbing through Ayton Banks Wood, looking for some of the old tracks we used to ride years ago, steep and scary mostly, now even rootier - the ones I could find anyway. Emerging onto Easby Moor, the wind was bitterly cold, I soon headed down, away from the monument and made my way to the far end of Gribdale and cycled up Nab End just to get warm again. From the top I went along Percy Cross Rigg and into Guisborough Woods, where I searched in vain for any tracks which were not like riding through Shrek’s swamp. Not that many, other than fire roads. After an hour or so slipping about on wet roots and fallen leaves, the inevitable lure of the butchers dragged me toward Great Ayton and filled pastry comestibles.

One Of Us Has To Keep The Wheels Of Industry Turning.

A sudden flurry of last minute WhatsAppery and I went from Lone Wolf to fat kid at the back, (not for much longer though, I’ve just started on the Adam Ant diet, don’t chew ever, don’t chew ever) It’s a good job that I don't suffer from enochlophobia (that’s The Breadlad straight on Google), the shock of having three other riders might have pushed me over the edge. Keith ventured down from the northern wastes of Sunderland for a before work quickie and we were happy to accommodate him, that is myself, Simon T. and Miles, even starting half an hour earlier at ten am. If these rides get any earlier I’ll have to camp out on the green to be there on time. A day not unlike yesterday, Great Ayton start, sunny but with a cold wind sneaking in through the gaps in the clouds. Pretty standard plod up through the farms to Roseberry Common, then up the steps to Newton Moor for a slide about some of Guisborough Wood’s finest. Definitely a grumpy walker day, as some of those we passed looked as though they had lost a tenner and found it again sticking out of the arse of a rabid rottweiler, if walking makes you that miserable, find another hobby. Turning onto Codhill Heights, Keith demonstrated the flexibility of a young Rudolf Nureyev, or maybe a young Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer, with a spectacular dismount, performing the sort of manoeuvre which once left me with a torn medial cruciate ligament, obviously they’re made from stronger stuff up north, unlike us southern jessies and no damage was done. Open moorland was a bit easier to ride than off-piste in the woods, drying up somewhat in the weak sunshine. We stopped for a quick play on Fingerbender Bank, Simon T. and Keith demonstrating their airtime skills before Keith checked the time and realised he ought to be back on his way up north to keep the wheels of the car industry turning. A visual summary of the ride can be found in Miles’ video if you click here.