6^th. First ride of the year, three of us managed to slough off the post-holiday lethargy and make some attempt to rebuild our under-utilised cycling muscles. Grey skies over Guisborough as me, Bob and Simon convened in Pinchinthorpe car park, a dank and dismal start to 2011. Plodding upwards on the fire roads, legs burning and lungs protesting at the unaccustomed activity, we made our way onto Roseberry Common and up the steps onto Newton Moor, the same steps which were under a metre of snow four weeks previously. From the gate on Newton Moor a nice blast through the top of Guisborough Woods brought us to the top of The Unsuitables and out onto Percy Cross Rigg, where we found not all the snow had thawed - most of it being concentrated on the track we were trying to ascend. A bit of lateral thinking and a lot of pushing eventually got us through it, not without a spectacular over the bars from me as the snow gave way to a hidden puddle and a bit of dancing from Simon as he repeatedly stepped through the crust into a water-filled trench. Simon’s juvenile tendencies once more came to the fore with a lump of wood and an ice-covered puddle at Gribdale. A detour to Suggits for refreshments before we began the climb back to Roseberry Common via Aireyholme Farm. On Roseberry Common a gentle blizzard reminded us that winter is still far from behind us, Simon rearranged his Buff’s, adopting the gay bandit look e seems so fond of and we made our way back to the car park with much more speed than our outgoing journey.

14^th. Second ride of the year , so we’ve already doubled last December’s total, a record five Terra Trailblazers found ourselves shivering in the curious Square Corner micro-climate which makes it 10 degrees colder than the rest of the North East, indulging in the usual faffing which is de rigour prior to a bike ride. Finally ready, we made our way towards Swainby Shooting House, the virtually level track feeling like an uphill struggle as the cloying mud sucked at our tyres - members of the older generation were reduced to pedestrianism at some points. The Shooting House came and went, soon we were heading in a more favourable direction, down the bridleway in Clain Woods, pausing to regroup at the bottom, Bob decided he’d test the efficiency of his suspect back brake by touching the disc with his finger - cue sizzling flesh and even hotter language. Continuing through the woods we headed for Heathwaite Green and then upward into Live Moor and Faceby plantations. Muddy through the woods but easier on tarmac through Faceby and then some serious mud between Whorl Hill Farm and Whorlton. At least we had the café at Swainby to look forward to. Leaving the café, we steeled ourselves for the long ascent up the Clain Wood steps, a fiver being offered to the first person to ride every inch of the way, needless to say, the fiver was pretty safe, most capitulating well before the half way point. On the road toward Sheepwash, Simon suddenly found himself being burned off by a pensioner, as Bob found an unexpected burst of speed and overtake the startled youth. Darlington’s finest made a valiant attempt to catch up but was forced to admit defeat from a bloke twice his age. At a still-frozen Cod Beck reservoir, Simon indulged in his favourite ice breaking games, almost tempting a small dog onto the ice in the process - causing a certain amount of panic to the elderly lady owner. We removed Simon before he could cause more trouble - you know how it is, you can take the boy out of Darlington but you can’t take Darlington out of the boy. A steady plod up through the woods and along High Lane and we were back at the car park somewhat warmer and more muddy than when we left.

20^th. Now here’s a novelty, Captain Slow turning out for two rides in a row, perhaps he has visions of himself as a honed athlete, striding manfully through the doddering geriatrics on his next cruise. A bright and cold morning, five of us again faffing about in a car park, this time Pinchinthorpe. Our ‘usual’ start on fire roads, then up onto Roseberry Common went quite easily because the normally muddy stretches were frozen solid, soon we were shouldering the bikes for the plod up the steps to Newton Moor and remounting to reach the top of The Unsuitables. Percy Cross Rigg has finally lost it’s covering of snow, rideable all the way ( for most of us). For a change we took the Right Of Way at the western end of Lonsdale Plantation - once know as Helmet-Breaker Hill following an unfortunate accident early in my mountain biking career. A bit of tarmac then took us steeply up to Pale End Plantation and Coate Moor, where we promptly dropped down again to Gribdale via one of the hidden tracks. From Gribdale the icy road nearly saw off a few Terra Trailblazers but we made it to Great Ayton unscathed and were soon dripping mud onto the café floor. Fed and watered, we pedalled along the road back toward Dikes Lane, then began ascending back to Roseberry Common, mud still nicely frozen and finished with a last bit of singletrack before blasting back down the fire roads to the car park.

28^th. Another five person peleton and The Captain’s third ride out in the same month. We’re expecting comets, rains of frogs and porcine aviators to accompany us today. Our first ride from Kildale since it disappeared under a metre and a half of snow, we left the freezing station car park and took the road warm up option to Percy Cross Rigg - soon we were warmed up nicely ( or panting and sweating, to put it another way) heading toward Guisborough Wood and bit of serendipity. Searching vainly for what used to be the top section of the downhill know as Les’s, we found it has moved and been completely revamped to look like a regular trail centre track, with berms and drop offs but more than it’s fair share of mud as Simon found out as he slid entertainingly (entertainingly for the spectators that is) down the first berm. The Captain descended unscathed using his special technique of walking all the way down beside his bike. The middle section of Les’s contains a small drop which proved beyond a few of our team, despite sessioning (as the young folk say). No names mentioned: watch the video. Continuing in a predominantly downward direction around Roseberry Topping we eventually made our way to Great Ayton, then Little Ayton before climbing up a horrendously steep track toward the Red Run area for a little play on the old spoil tips. The two senior members declined the play area and it wasn’t long before we were once again mud-plugging across the lower slope of Easby Moor to Mill Bank Wood, then a mud-splattered descent to Kildale for some welcome soup at Glebe Cottage.

Terra Trailblazers January 2011 from John Lavelle on Vimeo.

More mud, water and falling off from some old blokes who should know better.