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

Who

Ian A,Willie,Julie,Arthur,Tom,Gavin,Sue,Ian S,Anthony,Kev,Andy,John Cowan,Steve G,Tony,Izzy,Jeff,Rosie and Steve

Saturday October 2nd saw the biggest gathering of members for a very long time for the 2nd annual BBQ this one being not only earlier in the year but also an earlier start time so as to aid with navigation, surely no one could get lost going round a reservoir.

A clear and bright day saw the majority arriving at 3.30, Rosie and Steve were even earlier and had decided to have a more leisurely ride. At 3. 58pm precisely Arthur found that somehow in his haste to pack his old bike in the car the nut off his QR skewer had gone missing, twenty minutes later a fix was made using a bit of Willies bike carrier and the sixteen headed off in a anti clockwise direction. The pace was a bit brisk at first but no one was left alone at the rear and the front runners stopped to regroup frequently. The views over the dead calm lake were excellent with good banter all the way round.

By the time we arrived at Bull Crag the darkness was beginning to envelop the group, time for lights in many guises deal extreme specials appearing to be the most favoured.
The last man cleared the Dam and arrived back at the cars for 19.30 that’s 3hrs 10min constant riding covering 25miles.

Many hands made light work of getting the food on the go, special thanks must go to both Willie and Julie for providing the majority of the equipment and collecting most of the food .

The food was delicious and was cooked meticulously by Graham and Stanners, other notable contributors were Sue and Rosie for sweet stuff, Arthur for veggie kebabs apparently you can eat them, Graham reckons they have nothing to do with BBQs.Other delights included chicken, proper burgers ,spicy bangers, home made cake, fruit pies ,garlic bread and dips with snacks.Stanners managed to add some of his own home grown dressing to several of the meats until he borrowed a tissue and sorted his nose out.

Time for home at about 8 .40 with another team effort to pack the equipment away.

A cracking time was had by all with many people meeting for the first time some being either solely Thursday or Sunday riders or even long term absentees .Kev won the raffle predicting when Stanners would have his first puncture which he had none tonight.
No falls or mechanicals.
Can’t wait for the next one.

Thanks to everyone who came along it was a special night

Ian A