Mike Dalton, BucksMTB Staff Ride Leader, led the ride and after doing the usual ride preparation we all set off. We hit the Warm-up lap first – it’s only a few hundred metres but great to iron out any niggles before setting off properly. It’s also great fun with some HUGE berms and a couple of little rollers along the way too.
For those who don’t know the FoD has two cross country trails a Blue grade (moderate) called the Verderers trail and Red grade (hard) The Freeminers Trail. We all set of on the Verderers’ Trail which is clearly marked & soon split into groups with the fit and enthusiastic (and cold) ones taking the lead with those newer to the sport at the rear taking it easy including myself with Mike acting as Tail End Charlie & set off on the first climb. We were we greeted with a spectacular view of the early morning mist just clearing in the valley below with the sun burning through –a great sight as it was certainly on the cold side that morning.
We progressed around the trail, enjoying the berms and rollers, chatting and gossiping and also trying out each other’s new and borrowed bikes including a Whyte 29er from Beeline bikes in Oxford & were soon lapped by the super fit David and soon after Andrew. This spurred us on to really go for it on the final descent - it’s guaranteed to put a smile on anyone’s face; not very technical but just full of rollers and berms and more rollers and just loads of fun!
As we got towards the end for the final most fun descent one of our guys suffered a minor off, resulting in a not so round wheel. With a big thanks to Dave C for doing his best to get back into a shape in which it was ride-able they made their own way back to the cafe along a fire road whilst we hit the last decent called the "Soup Dragon", which had everyone getting to the bottom with biggest smiles seen for a while. We all met back at the cafe to exchange stories and catch up with fellow Bucks MTB members Dan and Tim who were getting their adrenalin fix by throwing themselves down a hill on their bikes on race-day. Both had good times which can be found on roots and rain’s website along with a load of race pics!
After some lunch. We hit the trails again with some heading off to the more technical "Freeminers Trail" and others eager to the "Verderers Trail" again with the downhiller's going for their 2nd race run before all heading home after another successful Bucks MTB ride.
Many thanks to all who attended and we hope to see you all on the next one.
Best Wishes
Paul C, BucksMTB Club Member.
