Sunday 27th September

Another ride but with all the summit tracks and good downhills closed it was a road ride. It gave the 2 with injuries a chance to get out and test themselves and they did well as you will read. Geez, Tinkerbell, Bugs and Phatboy (good to see him on the bike again) arrived. Mellonfarmer was not riding (he had flu symptoms although I accused him of being Piss crook). We headed round to Hackthorne by reversing our normal homeward ride, out past St Martins, then Beckenham library. We picked up Silverfox and said farewell to Di whom we bumped into. Rung Sandals and arranged to meet her at the Takehe. Up Hackthorne we went at a steady clip, and then hooked up with Sandals. Her shoulder is slowly improving. We decided to go up the road and I let Phatboy set the pace. Stayed on his back wheel although I wanted to go past. He pushed hard cos all he could here was me breathing down his neck. We soon burnt off the others and arrived at the Kiwi ahead. Then Tinkerbell, Sandals and Silverfox followed by Bugs and Geez. Bugs has been fighting off his flu. We then headed up and around the summit road. I took the lead and then put on some pace and gave myself a good burn. Let the others catch up and then we flew down towards the top of Rapaki with the boys trying to use my slipstream to get past. Bugger that. A riding stop while we waited for the tailenders to catch up. Up to castle Rock and then another blast to the top of Bridal Path. While waiting for everyone I gave some tosser a hard time for riding the closed tracks. Up and around to the high point and then we were off and racing. Me leading all the way down to the top of Evans. From here it was a blast as we all took turns getting past each other but my weight won in the end. Fast blast and worth the whoops of joy at the bottom. Stopped for coffee and then the haul home. I led and then when we hit the causeway and just stomped into top gear and flew. Got to the other side and here was Bugs slip streaming me. Big grins. A steady ride home. Please with where I am and also the others are all heading in the right direction.