5th. A mediocre start to a mediocre month, we left Lordstones under a leaden sky which shed a steady drizzle. Me, Neil and Simon T. (the Simon who is able to peel himself from the settee more frequently than Simon Granny-Ring Robson), toiled along the front of a muddy Cringle Moor and up onto Cold Moor, where the sun decided to shine on the righteous and give us a rest from the rain. It seemed only right and proper that we did the decent thing and enjoy the two mile descent into Chop Gate. We plodded back up the Raisdale Road to Harry Wath Wood and onto the downhill course for a little play about before retiring to the café for the remainder of the afternoon.

10^{th. The highlight of the Terra Trailblazer’s year – the xmas dinner ride. It’s probably no coincidence we also had our best turn out for months – a whole 6 riders. Yet again Lordstones car park was hosting some decidedly inclement weather, we tried the old “wait in the café and drink coffee till it stops” trick but it didn’t really work and we needed to work up an appetite for dinner. Basically we did the usual Xmas dinner ride in reverse, the rain turned to snow as we gained height, the ice on the puddles wasn’t thick enough to support our weight, my waterproof socks evidently decided to withdraw their labour and become water-filled socks. Definitely one for the retrospective enjoyment category. It was a mud-spattered, drenched, frozen and probably borderline hypothermic sextet who returned to the café sometime later, insisting on hot coffee and cold lager in that order. The meal was, as usual, well worth a tenner of anyone’s hard-earned cash – not that any of us would be familiar with the concept of hard-earned cash.}

12th Complete contrast to the Xmas dinner ride of two days ago, cold but bright, hoare frost and solid ice rather than rain and snow. Howard had new bike fever, desperate to get out on his most recent purchase – a carbon fibre Scott Scale – and prove how losing five pounds from his bike could compensate for a month without riding. It did too, we made our way along the Drove Road to the escarpement and Sutton Bank visitor centre and back again at a cracking pace – clocking up a 9.3mph average.

20th. Back to the more normal grimness for the last ride of the year, low cloud and drizzle, Clay Bank car park, the borderline between land and sky. All alone too, something to do with xmas rapidly approaching – perhaps they all wanted to go and sit on Santa’s knee and request new lungs or massive thighs. Rode through Greenhow Plantation to Bank Foot, up Ingleby Bank, over the top to Round Hill, down to Tripsdale, back to Clay Bank via Medd Crag. Never saw a soul, in fact didn’t see much of anything on the tops the mist was so thick – still, no matter how grim it turned out it was preferable to being amongst the legions of desperate last-minute shoppers clogging the shopping malls.