So, what have we managed this month? An awesome 7 rides, 110 predominantly off-road miles and almost 15,000 feet of ascent. It’s fair to say things are looking up in North Yorkshire, the mud is diminishing, the flowers are budding and Captain Slow managed to put down the wife’s shopping bag and drag his bike out for a push around the bridleways. Still sticking with the older generation, The Pensioner turned out for almost every ride, meandering in his zig zag wanderer fashion to the detriment of anyone trying to overtake him. Barely any new ground was covered as we stuck to the familiar and favourite tracks, although an ascent of the Carllton Bank on tarmac occurred one day - a gruelling ascent of Carlton Bank which we managed with sweat, determination and a disproportionate amount of profanity.

The Darlo Boy almost picked up a bird (closest he’s came for a long time) when a pheasant he’d been feeding with his energy bar decided to stalk him up Barker’s Ridge running along beside him until it realised no more food would be forthcoming.

Highlight of the month was definitely our trip to Hamsterley Forest to ride trails old and new, including the magnificent Transmission Trail, so good we rode it twice, a veritable feast of berms, bomb holes and drop-offs. Finding the start of the trail proved more problematic than the actual trail despite having our own local to guide us, or perhaps it was because of our local, who kept promising us a “better way …” to get to the start. This seemed to involve riding endless fire roads through identical walls of conifers until we reached a junction, at which point our “guide” ( for want of a better word), would study the directional options, sniff the air and look for hidden signs in the style of a Kalahari bush tracker before assuring us the start was “just down here…” Needless to say, the whole charade was repeated at the next junction. All was forgiven when we reached the trail and sampled the quality riding. I don’t think anyone went home uninjured but no-one was disappointed until we found our usual café was closed.

Terra Trailblazers March 2011 riding from John Lavelle on Vimeo.

Loads of riding this month and the trails are drying up nicely