Christmas Ride

After the wet but mild weather we had been used to, it was a bit of a shock to the system to wake up on the day of our Christmas Ride to temperatures below freezing, time to search out the full winter gear. We were to eat at The Lion Inn, Rosedale but we had to first earn our meal so we were to meet at Kildale for the start of the ride. As Liz and I arrived Gary was zipping up and down the road trying desperately to keep warm (or should that be to get warm). Nice to see Ernie and James Cooper had made the trek (as in `journey' not `superb bike manufacturer') from Tyneside, as had Barbara and James of course who had kindly organised the ride. As 10.30 approached we were surprised that Kev hadn't arrived as he's normally the first so Billy Gullible here was sent down to the Railway Station to see if he was waiting there. I thought if he's coming by train there's not much chance of him arriving at all but I went and had a look just in case. By the time I had climbed the massive hill back to the cars, Kev of course had arrived. As had Vicky for her second ride with us, unfortunately without Alex who had to work. Nigel started to worry that if we didn't get a move on our soup would be cold, so off we went.

A dozen cyclists headed south down the Cleveland Way to Bloworth Crossing to take the old railway line to The Lion Inn. No incidents to report, not even a derailment. The good wide tracks were ideal for the occasion as we could all have a nice social chat as we ambled along but unfortunately they leave me with nothing to write about. Safety restrictions imposed by Railtrack forced us to keep our speed below 20 mph., even so we made good progress, halted only by Geoff and his camera.

After thirteen miles we arrived at our "Lunch Stop", it was good to see Peter Ballard and Geoff Kensett had made the journey over to join in the festivities. I don't know what's happening to the Mountain Biking Section but as we entered the pub certain members headed straight past the bar to warm up in front of the fire! Much to the disgust of the waitress, Liz took control of meal ordering. Liz will be receiving a severe reprimand from the National Union of Waitresses. Soup followed by steak and mushroom pie was more than enough for me but others reached for the pudding menu. James decided on the bread and butter pudding, on being told there was none left he got stroppy and retorted with "do you have a spotted dick", which is a new insult on me, it must be a quaint old Northumberland expression. Anyway, it seems no offence was taken as a few minutes later he was served with a suet pudding full of currants, or were they dead flies?

Those with e-mail will be aware of my competition to see who could make the best job of printing off my advertising posters. Faced with very little competition Len Pope won easily, printing his on some very nice coloured card. Hopefully you've all been out over the Christmas break distributing yours.

Well all good meals must come to an end, so we climbed back onto our bikes and made our way back to Kildale. Again no incidents to report and we managed to arrive back just as the light was fading. In true mountain biking tradition, on arrival at Kildale we headed straight past the cars to call in at the cafe. An advance party had been sent to ensure the cafe stayed open which, on hearing a dozen cyclists would be soon arriving, they were only too pleased to do. As we arrived they were still dusting all their cakes in readiness. Their faces dropped as we ordered twelve cups of tea only, we were still full from the lunch! Ah well they've made a bob or two out of us on previous rides.

The only strange incident to report was Nigel rushing out of the loo exclaiming he couldn't find it. Some gave him the benefit of the doubt and blamed the cold weather, Nigel claimed he was referring to the light switch.

Thanks very much to Barbara for organising our Christmas Ride. Although the frosty weather caught some of us out, Kev still using fingerless gloves for one, it did give a Christmassy feel to the ride and as the mud was still frozen we kept clean and respectable for our Christmas Lunch, well clean anyway. We had a good turnout, an enjoyable ride, a smashing lunch stop with lots of good humour which continued in the cafe at the end, very similar to all our other rides really.

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	Swaledale Outdoor Club

Christmas Ride

Dave Neesam