Todays TickerTape was ace!
With so much rain fall over the past few days every root shone; first testing our reactions then our nerve as it became increasingly harder not to tense up on almost every corner, anticipating the dreaded and oh so sudden loss of grip.
Moron was particularly tricky with only Dave White looking pinned (thanks to some cheeky tyres) while the rest of us struggled on the roots. Those bloody roots! We all tried hard though, and Bart certainly showed the most determination; crashing on the last corner into a stagnant puddle then flailing like a slightly drunk seal with a freelap watch on and a point to prove.
Other highlights included finding out how Stace and Jim's life long pissing contest started - hitting themselves with a metal bar to see who could take the most pain. Brilliant. God knows what will happen when they get bored of mountain biking.
Nige also showed his self harming tendencies as he flipped over the bars on the half way double. Only in WWE Smackdown have I ever seen such an elaborate flip-to-back-slam manoeuvre. Not good. It was particularly selfish as it definitely changed the tone; leaving almost everyone keen to sit down and eat rather than run the risk of such an unfortunate end to the day. I blame his leg armour and matching shoes.
The new top line on spoons used Spork into the race line and it worked really really well. I don't think anybody rode it bang on all day, which is testimony to how good a section that is. In fact due to the conditions nobody seemed to manage a whole clean run, so there's certainly room for improvement all round.
Friend of the club Keith from Transition Bikes Co popped by to say hello, show off yet another lovely new Transition bike and hand out some awesome prizes. Sweet. I should say at this point that we (I) didn't keep our 'Cake' side of the bargain as I've decided that with lush trails to ride and prizes to be won cake is in fact completely unnecessary. We'll be serving more cake at dig days instead (we'll also be giving out some Transition prizes too.....stay tuned for more info).
As for the times, well check the board out. Loads of mini battles again, some resulting in massive air punches and the odd smug "yessssssssssss!". Others in frantic tyre changing and excuse finding.
Despite a few absent faces we had a great turn out, a few spectators and some who just fancied playing about on the other trails. Robin (recently hooked up by Transition Bikes) showed everyone that you don't need a front brakes or tyre tread to have fun. Just a lush Transition bike, and balls out commitment into every corner. Sorry for laughing Rob, but it was pretty funny!
Special thanks to all those who turned up early to rake and prep the course and all those who stayed late to pack away.
Word on the hill is that OneFourThree (with a couple of tweaks) would make a great one off TickerTape course. What do you think?
143 for tickertape!!!!