14th August 2008 - Hawkshead for the North Face Trail

I think it was 7 or 8 who met up in Hawkshead car park, it was not too damp and so the North Face trail it was, head up the bridleway out of the village and meet up with the trail, this route means we start with the downhill to the visitors centre. A great start, although we had a puncture on the way down and so Ian negotiated to borrow one of Charlies 'only 5 patch inners' to help him along (as he did not have a spare inner tube to fit his wheel), while waiting CT also had a slow puncture but blew his up just to get down to the centre. Along the way Ian's chain was damaged (due to a mis-aligned rear derailleur) and needed joining with a quick link, again he negotiated with Charlie for a loan on a gold set, this evening was becoming quite expensive for Ian! At the centre, Chris changed his inner tube while Ian decided to head home as his chain would not take a whole ride. The rest of us headed up the climb from the visitors centre, then continued with the usual north face ride, although we had to keep going 'cause it was getting dark and Ian was the one who had lights. No real dramas, just John and Neil getting slightly confused on the 'back 9' as the leaders raced home in good light. The real test was the last tricky descent through the trees into Hawkshead, which was basically ridden by braile! A few of us headed for the pub, them home. Next ride is Tebay.