Tuesday 1st September

The first day of spring 2009. It was wonderful with just a touch of wind. The ride, oh the ride was what I wanted. But first an update about Sundays incident. Phatboy has not broken his hand or wrist and after xrays and a couple of Dr's he is recovering well and hopefully riding in a week.

Now back to the first of spring. Silverfox and I pulled into the carpark at Bottlelake to find, Nelsy, Mellonfarmer, Tinkerbell, Bugs, Geez, Te Rex, Abba, The Goat and an Argentinian (and no I can not remember his name really). After a bit of mucking around, toilet stop and loading of The new Lights into the van we set off. Took the new track to the right. Tree roots and stumps everywhere but the pace was on. Chasing the quicker riders but the bunch did not separate much. Had a regroup at the hut on the hill and took my sleeves off my jacket with some help from a friend. We then blasted out towards the beach. Had some separation when Nelsy and MellonFarmer stopped to play together in the dark by a jump, but regrouped at the end of the access road by the pine plantation. (Opposite end of the beach really) Silverfox rides in with no light as he did not charge the battery on his new light. After some discussion, I rode the beach track with him (just cos my light is really bright) while the rest of the bodies rode single track. I pushed hard and we regrouped near the Spencer Park turnoff. After a chat we were off again. The fox and I rode a little single track and then onto the forestry roads. Pushing hard all the way to keep in front of the pack. You could see the lights blazing in the forest which just screamed to me, Pump harder get there first! We did it. We loaded the bikes in the van and were waiting for the others when Bugs came in with a fading light (he was on his old light ) after cutting onto the roads. The others arrived back and after a quick count I realised the group had grown. Chris had been pulled into the group somewhere along the way. A great ride and a good pump. Miss all those who did not make it.