Its not too often we get the chance to ride with really top riders but this past Wednesday, 21st August we were lucky enough to do just that.

Not only was Steph out with us which is always a pleasure but we had My Polish friend Iwona (She who seems to win pretty much every race she enters) along with her friend Ant White (he who wins the Vet Category at endurance races at places like MM and Brighton Big Dog etc)

So gathering on the Green opposite Nirvana we were joined also by Joe, Simon, Mark, Duncan, George & Mike making a decent size group of 10. We opted for a Leith Hill single-track extravaganza with me leading the way.

We set off heading out towards Abinger Roughs but then turned off to go past Wootton Church, cross the A25 then cut over to Wolvens Lane. We followed this with a few added twists and turns up to the top of Summer Lightning and then onto the bomb holes above deliverance.

We pressed on to the Cricket Pitch then had a fab run down Chicken Skin Review. At the end George was having bike problems so whilst he and Mike tried to sort it out the rest of us went around again. On our return George decided he needed more time to sort his bike out and was along with Mike were going to head to the Plough. Joe had already gone his own way having found the pace a bit too much.

The remaining 7 of us headed on our way but were very soon at a halt again as Steph took a very nasty fall having ridden straight into a wooden bollard. As the riders ahead of her had split at the last moment to avoid it poor Steph didn’t notice and hit it hard with the bike endoing and dumping her over the bars and straight down on her stomach. Thank goodness her moans of pain quickly turned to laughs as she realised she was ok and how funny it must have looked – a short break ensued giving her time to recover before we headed off again.

Up past the tower and then onto the main single-track fest taking in loads of stuff including Chocolate Jesus, Pint Glass, Worth the Mither  and heaps of other trails I just don’t know the names of. At the end of Worth the Mither Duncan and Simon headed off back to the Plough leaving 5 of us to press on. The original plan had been to go to the Kings Head so we next headed over to then down Wildwood which brought us out at Friday Street.

A short climb up the road then off left into the woods again for some more single-track and eventually we popped out at Abinger Common. A short conference followed which established that Iwona, Ant and Steph were still up for a short pub stop so with the other 4 all having headed to the Plough we changed our plan and decided to go there too.

So off we went back up Leith Hill, passing 3 other riders at the tower we quickly negotiated our way to the Plough taking in a little more single-track on the way.

Thankfully we found George, Mike, Simon and Duncan ensconced in the public bar and it was nice to see Kirsty back serving the drinks (having left for a short while). We stored all the bikes as usual around the back of the pub and whilst Mark and myself paired up for our usual beers we left Ant, Iwona and Steph at the bar. I’m still unsure of the drink that Ant ordered – a Guinness Shandy – I’d never heard of such a concoction although Kirsty seemed quite unfazed by the order. Is this Ant’s big secret performance enhancer I wonder?

Well, we all sat around and chatted as normal, it was great to catch up with Iwona and Steph having not really seen much of them for a while and it goes without saying they seemed to cope easily with all the fast swoopy trails we had ridden as well as a whole host of roll ins and drop offs. Ant was very relaxed and easy to talk to which was great and I think all had a good time.

Steph, Ant and Iwona were the 1st to leave, they needed to get back a little earlier than us and Steph volunteered to act as leader for them on the route back to Westcott. The rest of us stayed for that extra ½ or was it pint and then as we were leaving George announced he still hadn’t sorted his bike out. We left him and Mike too it as Myself, Mark, Duncan and Simon had a very fast blast back to Westcott via Summer Lightning etc.

An all round top ride I just hope the girls and Ant enjoyed it which I am reliably informed they did.