Riders :- Seamus, Paul, Skippy, Neil S, Neil K, Matt and Foxdale……..and Coops
From the Highwayman Peel we set off for the coastal path through Ballawattleworth keeping the noise down as this was bandit country. The coastal path was very greasy causing a few problems for all of us. A short road ride through the farm brought us to the bottom of Lhergy Colvine, we had hoped that the nails planted on this track would have made Coops change the route, but the new club rule will come into play again, ‘once the route is chosen we have to stick to it’. By the time we got to the top of the climb we were sweating like glass blowers arses, luckily the next section had lots of water to cool us down, one puddle coming up to the top of the forks, Skippy went through first, tempted by the chance of fish. (Good job Stevio or Ned weren’t out, it would have been up to their shoulders).
Another short road ride onto the Vaaish; at the top we stopped for a while to try and stop Neil K’s computer from beeping, Seamus suggesting a hammer as it was now starting to annoy us, as time was getting on we decided we would fix it when we get back, (mainly due to Neil looking like he was going to take his glove off which would have delayed the ride further with his history). This was the first time we had ridden the Vaaish in this direction quite fast and you have to remember the sharp hairpin. At the bottom it was straight into a steep climb to get back up, which begs the question “why the feck did we descend in the first place? ”. Seamus had done brilliantly mastering opening the gates, with his confidence brimming he went for carrying his bike over his head at the Laurel Bank kissing gate…needless to say he failed in spectacular fashion getting stuck with the gate slamming shut.
Once at the top on the Staarvey green lane we took advantage of the clear night to do a bit of stargazing till Coops showed his ignorance, he thought Ursula Minor was someone caught up in the Jimmy Saville scandal. At the bottom of the Staarvey we waved goodbye to Skippy and Paul and we set off to Slieau Whallian…….O joy!
Silence descended on the remaining group as we slowly climbed/walked/slipped our way up, apart from the two Neils who made it look far to easy, Seamus asked if I had the same 29er wheels on as Neil as his seemed to go round better than mine and I seemed to be dispelling the claim that 29ers climb better. Down the babies heads next which had a few big holes in it, then onto the eye watering descent of Barnell, at the bottom I headed back to Foxdale as it was my turn to turn the cats eyes on, the rest headed back to the Highwayman, where I’m sure questions were put to Coops about the route.
As Neil K messaged to head of Loaghtan Loaded Catering (aka Coops Missus)……”punch that prick of a husband of yours please, bloody Slieau Whallian on a school night!!”
Rule 27.1.b Route cannot be altered once the ride has started needs looking into.