THE MUDDY BUMS (aka "the Clarty Ars#ses") MOUNTAIN BIKING IN NORTHUMBERLAND AND BEYOND

Where - The Dales Mountain biking Centre, Grinton in the Yorkshire Dales.
1 Hr 20min from Newcastle

How many and who - 14,
 Ian A, Arthur, Izzy, Terry, Steve G , Julie, Willie, Suzanne, Dave, Kev, Graham, Tom, Chris and Kevin

How Far - 22 miles

Time
Departed at 10.20am and returned to cars at 15.15pm
4 hrs 55 mins

Weather - Perfect. Dry cool sunny and still

Route

• Grinton – Fremmington Edge-Langthwaite – Hind Gill-Surrender Ground-Level House Bridge-Gunnerside Gill-Winterings Edge-Gunnerside-Dubbing Garth lane-Grinton
Ins and outs

• This was a ride missed by a few last October and as often happens it apparently was one of the best rides ever, so Ian A decided to invite a couple of mates to sample the delights, Kevin a work colleague and Chris a Thursday night rider

• A very early start for many with pre ride bacon sandwiches tea and coffee at the bike centre, a great way to start a ride and a good chance for introductions. another advantage of starting at a bike shop was the rapid replacement of Arthur’s broken rear mech preventing him from having to take a really early bath

• Away for about twenty past ten, heading for the much discussed climb up to Fremmington edge

• In a nutshell testing climbs and high speed butt clenching descents with plenty of room for overtaking, the opportunity to tackle all the challenges and thrills that mountain biking can offer in one delicious serving. With a large dollop of good banter as the icing on the cake.

• Just one snakebite all day and a couple of minor falls failed to wipe the smiles off everyone’s faces, each descent had you as knackered as the climbs,

• A lovely relaxing finish to the ride running parallel to the river Swale and back to Grinton for (Non refillable) coffee and cake.

Stupendous, Cheers Willie for leading