14th October 2010 - Winster

6 turned out for a dry ride, George, Jamie, Charlie, Ian, Paul and CT, (Grant said he kept away 'cause of man flu, well done the other chaps did not want to catch it! Joel did not show as he figured Jim had eaten all the cake as not having an email from Charlie about sustenance matters!). After some adjusting of headlights, 50% of the group were with additional headlights and the others all had 'Alpkit' back ups within their MULEs or on helmets; so it seems the fact that you can see around corners and therefore into the future, shows headlamps to be goooood (as I have said all along, Ed!!) So we set off down the hill and took the first left hander, the ground was dry, albeit with plenty of leaf cover, quite ridable over the first section and up the hill to meet the cows in their usual field, down the field track and onto the lane, up to the road and a little discussion on radio quiz's and what you learn sometimes on homework sucks! Onward...down the lane first left again and onto rocky track, here it is worth having a mate ride ahead and test out the puddles, Paul went round the first one and then though the second, but this was the deep one! Enjoy the descent, but not too much...Jamie had a tyre issue with his 29er tubeless set-up, i.e. he just nicked a rock and lost the air seal, new inner tube required, someone joked that if you have Charlies extra narrow Panorama 1.4 inch tyres you would have missed the said rock!! Continue on track cross over road, meet main road, turn left and head back past cars and onto the Winster ford, on one rode across! now steady climb up tarmac lane, re-group at the top..banana time.. now enjoy the next section, mostly downhill, a couple of gates and a little race along the field track to the last gate, just remember to sharpen your elbows if you hear a freight train coming!! (just joking), now one last lane track section and look out for the boy racers, back to the cars, no rain and a good ride. Next ride is from Lowick, near Red Lion.