West Midlands Present 4th of Feb Haugh Woods (Hereford)

last pics

What a marvellous day from start to finish

Despite feeling like a washed up turd I am so glad I made the effort to venture over and attend a fantastic west midlands turn out, Dont know where to start hospitality from the Ededwards household the very best as usual loads of highlights

The weather was pretty awesome giving it a "what the hell we doing feel"

I still cannot believe my fellow riders watched in silence as I approached my doom with yells of joy when I hit the deck ....Gits

Great turnout of Bikes , Fat Chance, Klein, IF , Orange prestige, Stumpy & Roberts ...not bad really hey?

We had lots of winners with the Yo Eddy claiming the lightest bike of the ride , The Klein taking bike of the ride and Matt for furthest travelled in a van (though I do believe Ed stole his prize? )

To me today is what being part of Retrobike is all about

west mids

super ride today,and nice to meet some new faces,was not as cold as i expected and would love to have a go around there in the summer .highlight,s include ed,s super tasty food,dave falling off, abd the classic line off "i can taste the sausage allready "


thanks for a great ride ,and a quick flick through the calender say,s i can make the next one at the begining off march and it was roasting in the van on the way home , was down to my t shirt by the time i got to birmingham

Can only echo the above - a really pleasant day out and great that so many made the effort to attend despite sub zero temperatures and the promise of heavy snow in the afternoon (it never materialised although setting off during a decent flurry didn't bode well).

Frozen ground that had been churned up by horses hooves made for some interesting riding (as an aside - why are mountain bikes often held to be damaging to the environment/trails but horses aren't?) and, even though it was distinctly chilly, the conditions were generally pretty good.

Some highlights:
- getting two punctures before the ride started (one in the shed - how does that happen? - and one on the pre-ride). Actually, this was a lowlight.

- the company, especially given the distances people travelled.

- Dave generously providing prizes and covering the costs of the food (so any credit for the sausage has to be with him).

- Dave 'taking one for the team' by falling off on some very obvious ice at below walking speed. I almost felt guilty for sniggering. Almost.

- splendid turnout of bikes with Adrian's dolomite Attitude and James' grello Yo really standing out amongst the snow.

- stealing Matt's prize

Putting on another ride in Haugh Woods in spring/summer is definitely possible as there's plenty more to explore.

Well, it looks like you all had a cracking time! Got out on the hill behind my house with my son in the snow so I didn't miss out completely! He especially loved it when it sarted coming down heavy on the last downhill (and was even smiling despite the frozen toes a little too!).

Look forward to the next one.

Stuart