The weather has reverted to cold greyness, with a smattering of ice for our first ride of the month, not an inspiring start for our ammonia plant colleagues, Les and Jordan who joined us for their first foray away from the tameness of tarmac. Setting off from Gribdale, some steady climbing took us to Guisborough Woods, where we made our way to the Lovers Ledge/Lovers Lane area and some nice, through the trees, singletrack which tested the handling skills of our new starters. Most of us ate dirt at some point, excepting the The Captain of course, whose feet steadfastly remain earthbound at any sign of difficulty and Neil who appears to have fallen victim to Captain’s Disease (symptoms: inability to ride up or down hill or any faster than walking pace). The real trauma of the ride happened at the café (No 5 Coffee House, Great Ayton, if you must know) which was so full we sat outside, snow falling lightly into our coffees, luckily we were plenty warm from our exertions.

Another ride around Guisborough Woods, we all raided the kids’ moneyboxes to pay for the parking, except Oz who shamelessly hung around the ticket machine until he could guilt some returning dog walkers into recycling their parking ticket. Les has became an ex-Terra Trailblazer after just one ride, his tumble on the previous outing apparently having a detrimental effect on his golf swing. Some lengthy sections of sheet ice kept us all under control today, all the downhill tracks were ridden cautiously. On the plus side, The Purple Mountain Café was open and it must be said their sandwiches are second only to the mighty doorsteps from Glebe Cottage.

With some lengthy rides planned for later in the year, including two Coast To Coast pedals, thoughts have turned toward more efficient machines for the relative smoothness of Sustrans routes. To this end The Pensioner and me found ourselves, one wet afternoon in Biketracks in Great Ayton cocking our legs over various bikes. Following some negotiation we were pushing a brace of shiny, new Giant TCX 3’s down the street, cyclocross bikes, like road bikes but capable of a bit of rough stuff when need be unlike road bikes which appear to be constructed from polystyrene with wheels which can take less hits than a helium party balloon.

A decent length ride today, on mountain bikes, from Birk Brow and we’ve had another ammonia plant drop out, Neil has now decided he’s better suited to the predictable dangers of road riding rather than the uncontrolled insanity of muddy slopes and rocky landings. We found plenty of mud, rocks and water today, making our way across The Quakers Causeway, then Robin Hoods Butts to Danby Beacon. From the beacon we took the rough track to Lealholm Rigg, made even rougher today by having to ride through the smoke from some heather burning, before dropping down to the road at Oakley Walls and following this to Danby’s eagerly anticipated Stonehouse Bakery. Replete with calorific goodness, we followed the bridleway along the valley to Commondale, then turned left up the steep road to back to Three Howes Rigg, where we retraced our steps across The Quakers Causeway.

Managed a Billy No Mates ride on the new cross bike today and it’s definitely not like riding a mountain bike, obviously much lighter but very skittish, needing a firm hand to stop it wandering all over the road - not unlike The Pensioner. Faster of course but the bent over position, weird gear shifters and brakes take some getting used to. The brakes are not worthy of the name, being merely devices which serve to scrub a bit of speed off; actual stopping distances being similar to those recorded by express trains or super-tankers. All things taken into account I gave it a good test, on all sorts of surfaces from tarmac to gravel walkways, a few rocky sections, some grassy fields and more puddles than puddle land. It was fine, speedy compared to the mountain bike but more than capable on the rough stuff.

Back on the mountain bike today, for a ride with Oz and Andy The Breadman, The Pensioner has deserted us to strap planks to his feet and frighten random Eastern Europeans as he swears his way down the Bulgarian pistes. We had a pedal around the Kildale area, cold, wet muddy and windy but on the plus side the trail known as Pipeline has reopened.

The proper test of the cross bike today, a biggy in mind, over thirty miles and in excess of 3,000 feet of ascent on a mixture of roads and off-road tracks, setting off from Kildale. The gear ratios proved inadequate to ascend Ingleby Incline - or perhaps it was my legs which proved less than worthy. Anyway, I stopped to inspect a large adder which was slinking across the track and never managed to start again. What was an adder was doing wandering about in the middle of February? Apart from stopping me having some sort of cardiac episode trying to ride up The Incline. Remounting at the top, a pleasant and speedy blast took me to Bloworth Crossing and the Rosedale Railway track was equally speedy to Blakey Ridge. Passing The Lion Inn (passing?) on tarmac, I continued to Rosedale Head, taking a right turn, then a left to Seavey Hill on the road which leads to Danby via Fryupdale. Cruising along in the biggest gear gave an insight to the sort of speeds it’s easy to reach without fat tyres, oversized frames and suspension, slightly downhill, wind behind I was reaching low 30’s in the mph department without any excessive exertion. Until the road goes steeply down at New Way, then there was plenty of excessive exertion - on the brake levers, the situation not helped by sudden side gusts of wind which threatened to push the bike across the road. Crossley Side was flatter and calmer to Danby Castle, where another steep road took me over Duck Bridge and into the valley bottom. Once past The Moors Centre, the fun was over, it was time utilise what passes for a granny ring on cross bikes and slog up the road to Danby Beacon. Pausing briefly for a photo or two I realised the remainder of my route was against the wind. The increasingly strong wind. Turning onto Robin Hoods Butts, the full force and fury met me head on, soon I was pedalling at the velocity of a particularly indolent sloth, barely able to generate enough momentum to keep upright. This relentless blast continued all the way back to Kildale with me cursing my stupidity for picking a route which finished into the wind, although the forecast wind speed had been fairly amenable, checking on the internet later I found I had been battling into 42 mph gusts. Needless to say I was a bit tired when I reached Kildale.

The day following the cross bike epic, we found ourselves at Sheepwash assembling mountain bikes in the sunshine, ready for a route taking in Arnesgill Ridge, Barkers Ridge, a very muddy Scugdale and Swainby café. No dramas ensued, everyone reached their cars unbruised and no mechanical failures. Result. Last ride of the month, seven rides and 123 miles in the legs and the weather wasn’t really that bad a few grey days but some blue sky days too.