8^th First ride of the month and my first ride as a 50 year old - or 18 year old with 32 years experience as the T shirt says - it ought to have been second ride of the month but we only made it from the car park to the café at Lordstones, a post-breakfast coffee while we waited for the rain to stop turned into glumly looking out of the window as the rain’s intensity increased before we finally decided on a collective capitulation and settled for some indoor climbing as a suitable alternative exercise. Today, however, the rain wasn’t forecast to arrive until 4pm, so alone yet again, I found myself at a wind-swept but almost warm Square Corner battling to stay upright as I rode perpendicular to the wind along the road to Hawnby, thankfully turning off onto the track which leads to Swainby Shooting House, where the side wind became a tail wind and I was propelled rapidly along the track. Crossing Whorlton Moor was a different matter, practically into the wind at some points, my average speed halved as exertion increased, all the way to Arnesgill Ridge, where the wind was briefly my friend again. It reverted to blustering bully boy for the next few miles, past Cock Howe, the Bilsdale mast, all the way to Low Thwaites, where I hung a right, heading down Hawnby Moor to Blow Gill and ultimately Snilesworth. The bridleway is less well defined than it ever has been, before long I was tramping through bracken and heather, eventually finding the overgrown which leads across the stream at Blow Gill and up through the fields to Snilesworth. An NYM employee working at the beck told me the bridlway was in the process of being way marked which ought to make matters easier. A short bit of tarmac, thankfully mainly downhill, then the Dale Head singletrack, getting a bit boggy in parts, I reached the car park as black clouds rolled in two and a half hours early, ready for the daily downpour.

11^th. Weather sunny and dry. Eh? Forecast and reality coinciding for once, it’s only a pity our ability and aspirations don’t do likewise. A steady run along The Fronts brought us to the Helmsley TT, passing some dour dog-walkers on the way, who seemed to resent our very existence to the extent it was impossible for them to return our cheery greetings. Shouldering the bikes up the steps of Carr Ridge was an exercise in perpendicular perspiration in the unaccustomed sunshine. Once again we took the righthand bridleway to skirt the rim of Urra Moor, getting a little muddy now - unless today’s weather improbably lasts for the remainder of the year, this particular track will have to be rested until next spring. The Medd Crag descent went speedily as some of us displayed a winning combination of pure fear and wet brakes, Simon briefly took the lead until a quagmire swallowed his front wheel and catapulted him into a bog. A little tarmac to Chop Gate and the Raisdale Road before the uphill grind back to the Fronts via Beak Hills seemed easy in the pleasant sunshine. Soon we were overlooking Swainby, ready for the café with only the Fronts to go, a little overenthusiastically in my case. A muddy puddle and a stray rock culminated in a smashed helmet and a face looking as though I’d been in a street fight. Just the job when you’re spending the remainder of the weekend in a 4 star hotel with the family.

16^th. Recovered from last week’s fall and the weekends excesses, I slipped a quicky in on my own, Clay Bank, Round Hill, Tripsdale, Medd Crag, Urra and back to Clay Bank on the road. Short but immensely satisfying. Almost managed a No Dabs on the ascent from Tripsdale but was thwarted again by the loose rock and sandy surface. Could be a little dampness is required to consolidate the surface?

21^st. Just me and Oz having a scrounge about Guisborough Woods and over to Kildale via some sweet singletrack. The weather is remaining dry although I seem to recall today was incredibly windy, just as well we were mostly in the shelter of the trees.

23^rd. Hamsterley Forest for a change and my chance to try out the recently opened Section 13 but not before we availed ourselves of some “off piste” sections courtesy of Simon who has been getting out with the Hamsterley Trailblazers now and again - mostly variations on the Black Route. Soon we were grimacing our was up the track to the downhill huts but the usual welcome respite was foregone in favour of continuing to the top and the start of Section 13. It was worth the effort. An outstanding piece of track which flows whatever your speed and skill level, berm, drop, berm, drop all the way to the fire road. Pure enjoyment, so good we rode it twice - despite the climb back to the start. Followed the remainder of the Black Route back to the valley bottom, some of the sections have been improved also, the bomb hole on Special K (or is it Brain Freeze?) being the highlight of this section. The practically mandatory visit to the Skills Loop followed - still don’t have any, skills that is. Still feeling a little energetic we did the start of the Red Route before retiring to the café for a snack.

25^th Another quicky, just Simon and me again. Pretty similar route to one I did last month. Parked up at Bank Foot, then through the woods to Clay Bank before shouldering the bikes for the climb onto Urra Moor. Crossed the moor via Round Hill basically following the Cleveland Way to Bloworth Crossing and across Ingleby Moor until a left turn halfway down the bridleway across Battersby Moor spat us out on Turkey Nab (or Ingleby Bank as the Ordnance Survey like to call it). Seconds later we were having our internal organs rearranged on the rocky downhill, until I pinch-flatted the front wheel,which kind of spoilt all the fun. Having a pump which suddenly decided it would squirt air from the handle rather than the more conventional end made inflating the tube a tiring job, 300 strokes and things were still somewhat flaccid - oo’er missus. Never mind, it’ll get me back to the car, the floppy steering giving a few heart-fluttering moments in the corners on the run down through the woods but I emerged unscathed at the farmyard.

30^th Last day of the month and last ride of the month, all alone again. Did a quick loop from Square Corner to Swainby Shooting House, east across Whorlton Moor to Arnesgill Ridge, continued to Barker’s Ridge and down into Scugdale on lovely dry tracks. A bit of tarmac bashing brought me to Clain Wood and a futile attempt to ride up the steps, fitness, stamina, tenacity and skill are required to conquer this beast, obviously I possess none of those attributes, so I was pushing before the steps had made double figures. A pleasant pedal past Sheepwash and Cod Beck Reservoir brought me to the final climb, on the permissive bridleway through the woods to High Lane, then a tarmac blast back to Square Corner.