5 of us out last night, Penny, Leslie and myself were joined by two new faces - Claire and Kirsty.
It was a beautiful evening and we set off at a cracking pace, heading up through the university, up uni woods, and out of the hole in the wall.
With fewer than usual stops (or maybe I was just less fit than I thought) we headed over to mine woods to go and play
Claire and Leslie took the lead, while Kirsty, Penny and myself hung back to practice on the steep slopes in and around the bomb hole. Mindful of Jens acrobatics a few weeks ago we took it gently
Then we headed down to join the other two, Kirsty riding the rooty drop by the beech tree steps first time - good skills
It had been a very plesent evening, with lots of riding and a good share of banter, and we decided to head along Darn walk light to finish an excellent night off....
Heading along Darn walk in single file, we chated and relaxed, pausing at the steps for Claire and Leslie to join us, I heard a faint thud, scrape and clatter.
Moments latter Claire appeared, without bike, but amazingly with a smile.
'My bike's in the burn' she said, we laughed, faultered and then realised that she was serious. While Leslie jumped to check that Clare was ok, the rest of us headed to see if the bike was ok
.
Following the steps down to the burn, and then wading 50m upsteam into the gorge, Claires bike was laid on the bed rock of the stream, above it a 30ft sheer cliff upto the path. Amazingly the bike had suffered no damage apart from a broken front refector and twisted bars, which were soon straightened.
On examining the path there is a chunky root sticking out, which must have catapulted Claire over the bars. The bike then sumersaulted over her head and into freefall. Thankfully she wasn't clipped in a suffered just a few scrapes - and i guess a few bruises.
I hope you're not feeling too sore today Claire, and I really hope you'll be back to join us soon.
Thanks to you all for an excellent ride, and some good bike recovery skills.
See you next week?
