Here's the promised photos and some waffle - for once the poor photos, while taken with my camera, are not all my own work.
It started so promisingly - mild weather, bright sunshine and so much hope.
So much hope that we forgave Adrian turning up for a gun fight with some baling twine. Which part of "it's a cyclocross ride with linking road sections" was misunderstood is still not clear but at least he upped the pressure in the tyres to a solid 12 psi.
The trails were very wet but things were going reasonably well, indeed we'd lost no one and suffered no mishaps. Until a small stick wedged between the cages of the rear mech and two became one (apologies for slipping a bit of festive Spice Girls in but the reality of a snapped cage is a bit prosaic.
The photo tells all - Kean offering solace, JV tweeting and Adrian clearly accusing a shocked James of something heinous.
Anyway, the M951 mech was no more and a jerry rigged SS approach with a single jockey wheel was effected. Little did I know that I'd actually be on foot for most of the last 5 miles.
Thankfully The Guvnor's tube replacement masterclass gave me a much earned breather although for the record i have to note that I passed two people on a slithery downhill. Two.
And that was it really apart from a tasty pub lunch, a couple of pints of foaming ale and the novel experience of riding an aluminium disc braked bike back home (it also had STis) which was everything that I hoped and feared it would be.
A repeat on drier trails is in the pipeline but in the meantime what a cracking way to round off another year of top, top rides in the West Midlands.