Proper write up now I can open my eyes for more than 5 minutes at at time.
Excellent days riding, we all met in the car park at BCP as arranged, myself, Jango, CK, Average Mark, Drapoon, and Neil__J plus a couple of his mates (one of whom was riding a very nice Klein Attitude c.1992) from his local MTB club. Heading straight to the cafe for pre-ride fuel is a ritual on these rides and this was day no exception. We started on the Brandon side of the forest and almost immediately hit fast twisty singletrack, the pace was fast from the outset, dust being thrown up from our wheels it was tricky if you followed the rider too closely infront. This is where we had a Klein / tree interface moment, not sure which came off worse but no lasting damage was caused. Big smiles all-round at the first breather stop
Searching out new singletrack is difficult this side of the woods as it is well hidden and not used as much as the High Lodge side. We found ourselves at the fireroad that leads to Mayday Farm, turning off the road into the trees we scored a sweet section that has fast sweeping bermed corners which we hit at speed, the dust was flying (watch the video linked above taken on this section). This section of singletrack leads to the sweetest fast singletrack, which I will christen The Mini-Beast, it runs parallel to The Beast on the other side of the road. Average Mark managed to frighten the life out of a random women standing by the track. At the bottom of the valley we crossed over the road to the High Lodge side.
We headed to the Red Route which has recently had re-surfacing of the muddiest bits, the track has already started to deteriorate since we last rode it a month ago. Lunch followed, coffee and cake, yummy.
After lunch we stayed on the BCP side again heading for the sweet singletrack we found earlier which again brought us to the bottom of The Beast. We headed up the hill to the Porkpie Trail which was brilliant, the end of the PP trail brings you onto the Black Route. Someone
had an idea of following the Black Route all the way round to The Beast. This turned out to be a really bad decision. The Black Route is a mess, really bumpy and worn out, it is very tiring to ride. Riders chose either The Beast and MX Trail to end the ride which brings you out on a variety of options at the end of the runs. The days riding ended with a dash back to the car park to bring to an end a fantastic days riding.
........I don't recall that happening last year :roll: 
