Fourteen of us hit the trails for this ride which was a superb turn out - it was great to see so many people out on the trails with us as so many people go into hiding as soon as the mud comes out on show.... A great fun bunch joined us which was a mix of first timers to a group ride, returning visiting riders and club members.
We set off initially planning a ten mile or so loop to see what the weather had been doing to the trails. Generally the trails were riding quite well, Wendover Woods however did have some of the 'Chiltern famed' sticky mud that was proving a challenge for some of the guys mud clearance on the bikes.
A large loop of Wendover Woods done we dropped down into Wendover Woods to pick up some of the back trails up towards Dunsmore and Coombe Hill. A few climbs in the trails were still generally behaving with just isolated patchy mud. The odd climb saw most of us give up for a short push - mud and wet roots everywhere!
One at the top of Coombe time was pushing on so the pre-planned route was shortened slightly to take in some differnet single track back towards Coombe Hill Monument to pick up the BucksMTB favourite of the Ridgeway gully run down towards Wendover station. This was riding great, fast, covered in leaves, the usual jumps and pumps still riding well. We all made it down with some massive smiles on everyone's faces by the bottom, fantastic! Unfortunately Nick managed to loose the bike in a spectacular fashion near the bottom in the chalk gully and sadly cut and bruised his face (his clear glasses doing most of the damage). We hope Nick a speedy recovery and hope the bruising goes down quickly, and we hope your pupils don't ask too many questions on Monday....
Once down in Wendover again we snuck back up to Wendover Woods cafe via some different trails, taking in some climbs to warm up, and enjoying some of the views that now breaking weather gave us. Once at the Cafe it was tea and cake all-round before saying our good byes to head off to other halves, chores, stag does, uni reunions and Tesco visits!
Thanks to everyone who attended this ride and made it yet another success and I would like to say a special thank you to those new faces who have today joined the elite and joined BucksMTB Club as members!
Best Wishes
Scott, BucksMTB Club Chairman
