For a couple of reasons, 2024 hasn’t had the most auspicious start which has served to curtail my riding somewhat, keeping myself ticking over with only a ride or two each week. Still better than the alternative, I suppose, which would be no rides whatsoever. Anyway, please enjoy this brief look at the first three weeks of 2024.

That's The First One Over.

Let’s start the year as we mean to go on. A grand day at Hamsterley, me and Miles doing most of the Hamsterley Hotlap, giving Oddsox a miss in favour of the improved Skills Loop. The well-made, gravelled tracks of Hamsterley are a welcome change from the mud and filth of the North York Moors. Miles made short shrift of the inclines with some help from his new friend, Mr. Bosch, while I stuck with the unconventional legs and lungs method. It has to be said, us analog guys are the minority nowadays, especially around trail centre type places. On the Skills Loop the infamous circle has returned, albeit now made from hard wearing stone rather than wood. There are further improvements towards the end with a trio of multiple choice drop offs in mammy bear, baby bear and daddy bear heights. We can boast proudly our Terra Trailblazers’ skills were adequate even for daddy bear air-time. Predominantly because the drop is measured in inches not feet.

Cruisin' On The Coal Road.

Second ride of the year and first ride without a companion, hard to believe on a grand day like this. Even Dr. Who can manage a companion every week and he’s a fictional character. Perhaps that is the idea, I’ll fabricate myself a fictional companion to ride with. He can be called Chad, an exiled Califonian who wears a plaid shirt to ride in and says things like rad and gnarly despite being in his fifties, he came to the UK to ride the trails of North Yorkshire after seeing them in a Terra Trailblazers’ video and never went back to the West Coast sunshine. When he’s not out on the moors with his riding hero (me, naturally) he’ll be in Spoons, drinking cheap Bud Light and regaling the regulars with tales from his time in Nam, despite him only being a toddler when that particular war finished or busking his way through The Eagles greatest hits in shop doorways for loose change. But he wasn’t out today, not owing to a prior engagement, more because I hadn’t invented him. I took myself to Clay Bank and had a pedal over Urra Moor to the Incline Top, continuing on to the Old Coal Road for a pleasant downhill cruise in the sunshine. At Turkey Nab, cloud below me was being shredded gently by a light wind, I could have done the downhill to Bank Foot Farm and made my back through the plantation to Clay Bank but an unaccustomed blast of enthusiasm carried me back uphill to Urra Moor and Round Hill prior to getting a bit of payback from the gravity bank on Carr Ridge steps. What a grand day, cold and clear, a few puddles but mainly an excellent few hours.

Grinding Through The Grime.

The only similarity with the previous ride was the cold, the sky wasn’t clear and the ground wasn’t firm, views were limited to grey cloud and every pedal turn was a grind through cloying mud. Not ideal for Chad’s first ride in England, it came as a shock after Californian loam. The ride was a pretty standard Great Ayton start, up through the farms and around Guisborough Woods stopping only to take pictures of my bike leaning against things. The few trails attempted were not in a good state, so the ride was mainly a spin around the fire roads to keep the legs ticking over. After the ride, Chad was introduced to the delights of a British butchers shop, trying a pork pie for the first time. He enjoyed it despite the lack of added bacon and cheese as is de rigueur in authentic American cuisine.

Not Squelchy Just Crunchy.

Managed a companion today who was not a hallucination, although hallucinations are generally in the country longer than The Breadlad, who only had a very small window of time before heading off for the Bulgarian pistes. Chad knows he is not allowed out with real people, so he spent the day pretending to be a missionary from the Church Of The Latter Day Saints, annoying people at bus stops by talking about Jesus. Me and The Breadlad met at a very cold Hutton Village and embarked on a splendid but brief ride around Guisborough Woods. Frozen mud was a joy to ride on, puddles were hard ice and introduced an element of will it: won’t it break trepidation to the ride. All the trails were firm under our tyres and it was so good we even missed a cafe stop to squeeze in a few extra trails before The Breadlad had to head for his VIP Lounge in Manchester Airport.

Terra Blanca

Just me and Chad again today, the cold weather is continuing and there has been a bit of snow higher up, all the tracks were white, something of a novelty to my Californian companion. Another Great Ayton start, making an anti-clockwise loop around Newton Moor, Percy Cross Rigg, Sleddale and through Guisborough Woods, enjoying the occasional frozen trail. Descents were tempered by the amount of ice under the snow, Chad’s travel insurance has lapsed, so he can’t afford to have an accident. The deforestation of Guisborough Woods is still taking place, a worrying access road is being bulldozed through the trees adjacent to ChevronZ and Stripes, which doesn’t look promising for their future. This ride was to have been called Terra Firma until the temperature rose and the firma became sloppa as a sudden thaw set in. My bike was pristine when I reached the gate on Roseberry Common, after riding the track to Aireyholme Farm, great clods of mud were hanging off the frame and I looked like I’d been pebbledashed. Chad learned some particular English vernacular today, clarts and clemmies. He is turning into a decent riding companion and more interesting than, say, The Ginger One was, mainly because he is unaware of the existence of Darlington, let alone considering it the centre of the known universe. As a special treat, I took him for some locally made ice cream in Suggits, he was quite surprised by the portion size and lack of choice in flavours, they don’t serve buckets of ice cream as they do in the States and the choices are vanilla or vanilla with monkey blood.