FoD Bonfire Bonanza Aftermath (with photos)

Here's the pics from today retrobike ride in the FOD, a wee bit moist under tyre but a great ride none the less! Thanks for letting me join you even though my tat isn't that old yet!
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by sheldonattwood, on Flickr

Thanks for today Sheldon and super shots!!

Nice photos except for the one of some dodgy bloke on a Kona.

Thanks for showing us the way today, some cracking trails.

Yep, top day , great pics, IT'S A FAT CHANCE not a pre Indy Fab ha ha ha

big thanks

Had a great day/morning.

Sorry i had to shoot off, I think i had kept my lift waiting long enough(nearly 2 hours).

Tbh i think he(John) has a cold or bug as usually he is reasonably fit.
He does loads of cycling, so i just think he was having a bad day.

Hope to see you on the next ride

Cheers

M.

Great day out as others have said and awesome to be wearing shorts and short sleeves in November in the UK. Having 5 people returning from the 2008 ride was top. Thanks for Sheldon for guiding (we were only 3 down by the pub stop) and Dave for suggesting and arranging.

The trails were surprisingly dry and we managed to avoid the masses by heading away from the trail centre where we could potter about without being bothered by middle managers, freed from their soulless corporate existence and trying to make their 5 inches count at the weekend.

Sitting in the pub at lunchtime, giving it all the lemon, life was sweet. We followed that with a quick scoot back along the family trail (oh, heaven!) to the trail centre as several had to get back for family related bonfire arrangements.

That left the hardcore riders (Dave, Mark, Del, myself natch) to head back out on another, exploratory route. Using a vaguely scientific method, Del and I got us up to Speech House, some on permissible trails, others a little cheeky. Crossing the road we headed into an area where there was no doubt about legality - we were definitely spreading the cheek although by the tyre tracks other riders had been that way before. This wouldn't be good enough if we were up before the beak but it was justification enough for us and we spotted a 4 inch wide brown ribbon heading off into a lush, mossy wood and swooped in. Initially it was fabulous, a narrow, twisting trail with a few slippery roots to keep us honest, surrounded by thick moss so verdant that it looked like it was something out of Avatar. This could be, would be legendary and I determined to name the trail Purest Green. Almost immediately it petered out and we were left hiking our bikes, old school style.

Finally hitting a main track - there was mummuring about The Blair Witch Project and Deliverance - we decided that we needed to get to the car as darkness was approaching and we didn't want to be human sacrifice in the FoD Bonfire Wicker Man celebration, mentioned earlier by Peter. There was just time enough to ride the mythical North Shore and I was flattered to reach the bottom first and unscathed (reality - I'm more handy on my feet than the other chaps. Plus they had a puncture).

Rolling back to the carpark we reflected on a grand day out. Leaving Mark and Dave, Del and I had time for just one more fireroad climb (yay) and one sweet singletrack descent (boo), arriving back at the car just as it started to get really dark. Magical.


A final thought - the mention of James' Pre Indy Fab made me think of Alan Partridge "Wings, they’re only the band the Beatles could have been". For those hard of thinking I mean that Indy Fab are Wings, only a fool would like them and only a complete twerp would own one, much less two (if you know of a two IF owner, shun them as nothing good will ever come of association).

Great summary as ever Ed , I guess my purple Fat will always be known as a pre Indy Fab now , but also as I look at your large orange IF , I won't help thinking its called Wings , like an orange eagle !

I can always reflect better the morning after !!

A grand day out was had in the forest yesterday, Considering the weather we have been pounded with all week I had been sweating on tyre selection too ...That was put to rest early on in the ride with comforting words from Ed " well done Dave you have managed to replace the shitest tyres possible with the 2nd shittest "

A good turn out again with what is becoming now regular faces best entrance has to go to Rupe strolling over cool as a cucumber at 10:05 for a 10:00 start (thinking it was the usual 10:30 start ).

Warriors for the day

-The Guide
-Del
-Ed
-Paul (tail end charlie Big thank you)
-Redchilli
-Weeman_mtb
-iwasgoodonce
- mass199 + friend
-rupeww
-daj

(Have I missed anyone I thought we had 12 :shock: )

A good morning selection of trails not actually straying that far from the centre but as usual places that meer-mortals dont seem tread we had a good 3 hours winding our way around the forest up to lunchtime

Dropping into Parkend for lunch for much needed ale and cheese sandwich (its true ...Dont climb on cheese :shock: ) , Much to Marks dispointment daisy duke hasnt aged to well in three years of living in the forest

The lunchtime stop also played host to the most important event of the day ... Bike of the ride!! Now after the revelations of previous voting scandals a certain rider had to have his vote revoked !! The newly imported fat won the day leaving its owner with a big grin.

After lunch back to the trail centre to find it rammed , Amazing really in three hours on the trails I dont remember coming across anyone? We said our goodbyes to eveyone who had to get back including our guide Sheldon who was still looking bemused as to why we ride old crap , I have to say it did amuse me having met Sheldon on various occasions to see other people faces with his witty onslaught of abuse to retro

The four of us headed back out again ...Del and Ed lead us up and back into the beyond of nowhere, I felt scared ...I could see the sweat on Marks brow... The talk of deliverance and unzipping bear suits with teeth was playing on our minds .... fireroad turned to trails... trails turned into vague treks ....then we had left human exsistance!!

Thankfully all was good apart from laughing at marks expense of coming off to go down hard myself (karma!!) we rode the infamous northshore area thats very hard to find then headed back to the centre again before darkness fell.

A great day , really enjoying this west Midlands resurrection

Looking forward to december 18th already but wouldnt say no to returning to the forest before then

Thanks to all everyone who attended and helped

daj":xzqj7uo5 said:

"well done Dave you have managed to replace the shitest tyres possible with the 2nd shittest"

Click to expand...

A Wildslipper for a Velocicraptor - what did you expect me to say? Tip for tyre choice - find out what Dave is planning to use and go for anything else

First thanks to the guides for a great ride. The Saracen performed well right up until the time the left crank fell off. Thanks to whoever it was (Weeman_mtb?) who supplied me with an 8mm Allen Key that was about half a metre long! I am struggling at the moment to get the damn thing off again so I can replace the crappy thing with a proper bolt. See? The retro way is best.

Ed has summed up the after lunch lunacy. Repairing Dave's puncture to the sound of a banjo focused the mind. The slippy wannabe cliff in the northshore (although I saw no beach) that made me fall twice, (once with bike and again without) and Dave once is one for next time.

The bike is clean and I am half way through replacing the brake blocks. Below is a summary of our route. I haven't managed to suss out how to display climbing data. does anyone know how?