Record Attempt in Boltby Forest

My ride around Boltby Forest on the 10th. September, took place a year almost to the day since Alastair's famous Blakey Ridge ride when every man and his dog turned up. It's a good job no dogs turned up for this ride, with all the trees we would never have got round. There were sixteen cyclists out that day, a record which still stands. I was determined to beat it with my Boltby ride. I advertised the event on mountain biking web sites and in local newspapers. I reminded members with e-mails (3 times). I put notes through letterboxes etc. By Saturday evening thirteen had been in touch and with the extra ones that would turn up on the day, I thought Alastair's record might well be broken at last.

Although the weather forecast was good, on Saturday evening it started raining. When I got up the next morning it was still raining, not ideal conditions for a record attempt. Before setting off I'd had three phone calls with cancellations, I was now down to ten. I thought I better set off before the phone rings again.

The start was where the road through Kepwick Quarry meets the Cleveland Way. There waiting was Justin who had come along for his first ride as a result of me contacting him through one of the web sites. Another new face was Kevin who heard about our rides whilst meeting some of the climbers at Aycliffe. Alastair rather sportingly turned up to help try and beat his own record. Regulars Barbara, James, Geoff and Nigel were there. Two extras on the day were John and Len who kindly arrived in convoy so I only had to open the gate once. The total should now have risen to twelve but unfortunately another two must have been put off by the weather. As 10.30am approached I still had hopes of beating the record, as another two mountain bikers arrived. When approached they denied all knowledge of the S.O.C. and didn't seem keen on joining us, can't think why not. Ah well with the weather like it was, ten was a very good turnout, I suppose.

We headed south along the Cleveland Way for a short distance before heading into the forest along Windygill Ridge. The rain started to clear with just the odd bit of drizzle but it had already done its damage with mud being our main problem for the day. Some of the single tracks were particularly slippery. I think it's fair to say just about everyone took a tumble at some stage so I'll only mention the spectacular ones.

After stopping while I fixed my broken chain, we were soon on a well surfaced track that took us downhill past the reservoir. Luckily our mud encased brakes still brought us to a halt at the T junction with Sneck Yate Bank. We now faced the only climb of the ride and it was on tarmac, mind you it was a bit steep. Apart from a lot of wheezing, all I could hear was James whinging, "but Dave wrote in his e-mail that the starting point was chosen to save having to climb up onto the Cleveland Hills, so I assumed there would be no hills to climb". Now come on James you've been on enough of my rides to know better than that. By the time we'd all cycled, walked or crawled up the bank it was getting close to lunchtime so we took the road route to the cafe at the top of Sutton Bank. We chained our bikes to the cycle stands, heavens knows why, nobody was going to nick them. All of us now had matching bikes and clothing i.e. a muddy brown colour. All that is except Barbara `Superwoman' Gravenor, who disappeared for sixty seconds only to reappear dressed in clean clothes. Barbara and James went in the cafe while the rest of us stayed outside and bought food from the takeaway counter. James was still covered in mud but after pushing up Sneck Yate Bank, he didn't care.

Now, fully refuelled we were ready to tackle some more mud and we weren't disappointed. We cycled the short distance back along the road to Dialstone Farm where we turned left along the muddy track to arrive at the top of Whitestone Cliff over looking Lake Gormire. From here we all headed north along the cliff top. All, that is, apart from Nigel who, not content with white water mounting biking on one of my previous rides, now decided to try a spot of abseiling but with a mountain bike rather than a rope. He keeps us amused does Nigel.

Further along the track we came across a ramshackled farmhouse where, on a previous visit, Len had found evidence of Black Magic. Len went in for another look but I didn't bother as I'm not too keen on plain chocolates.

When I said there was only one hill on this ride I forgot to mention that we had to climb it twice. It wasn't so bad the second time around, a) because the bridleway brings you out close to the top, and b) after the practice from earlier in the day, everyone now found it much easier pushing their bikes up the hill. All that remained now was an easy cycle along the old Drover's Road back to the cars.

Thanks to everyone who made the effort to attend, particularly first timers Justin and Kevin. At the start of the ride everyone was looking a little unsure but by the end I think all were glad they had come along, that is until arriving home to face the chore of washing a rather muddy bike. Although Alastair's record wasn't broken, ten is a good turnout considering the weather. I've yet to fathom out why but our rides are better attended during the winter months, so hopefully the regulars from last winter will return and with the new faces we're continuing to attract who knows the record may not last much longer.

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	Swaledale Outdoor Club

Record Attempt in Boltby Forest

Dave Neesam