24 Jan 2010 - Club MTB Ride

It was perfect weather conditions for our club MTB ride, sunny and crisp and not a hint of wind.  We gathered at the school at St. Day; there seemed to be quite a few more bodies than I recognised, which I soon found out to be members of Phil K's brother's MTB club.  No pressure then.  But I was determined not to fall off, having had a through drenching in a rather deep lake of a puddle on a previous ride.

Off we set round some back lanes and tracks to Carharrack, a pretty gentle start for what was to come.  But soon we had a steep climb but well worth it as a crazy, boulder strewn descent awaited us the other side.  

So far so good.  I'd like to give you a precise description of the route, but after that I completely lost track of where we were, but we eventually surfaced on the Bissoe trail around Scorrier.  But we took a slightly less gentle route to rejoin the trail on the outskirts of Portreath, where we made towards the beach cafe.   An angel (or was it Karen) had been baking the day before, so we had a shed load of cakes to trough our way through (well, tea is a bit wet on its own).   

Just before we left, Jan and Dave turned up, pure coincidence, out for a stroll.  What are the chances? 

Round 2 took is back down the trail but from there if you want a proper route ask Phil.  All I know is there was  a lot of mud, water, boulders, etc.  Most of the mud by this point had plastered itself all over me.  Towards the end of the ride, we were in the 'moonscape' area between Bissoe and Unity Woods - great load of bomb holes etc, and a very steep finish on one section - the sort where you just chuck yourself over and hope for the best. 

Then it was back to St Day for a good ole' hose down (and the bikes) and a steaming cuppa.  A great day out, cheers to Phil & Karen. 

[OK yes I did come a-cropper, twice actually, once out of control up a muddy ramp into a hedge (witnessed gleefully by Dave M), and the other didn't have quite enough pump up a steep slope, so fell back into a gorse bush, ouch!]