Well , what a day . Started well with the arrival of Mark (who I hear you cry) on his new 29HT , albeit shod with a pair of slicks ,Noel out for his second spin , Pamela who looked more than concerned when she realised she was the only lady , Seamus proud as punch with the news that he was a (very young) grandfather ! , Stephen chomping at the bit but a bit lonely without Cormac , Alex , Kenny just back from his amazing antipodean adventure , and just the COC left with herself gallophanting elsewhere.

Things went awry very soon . Mr Kinbotes chain started to play up and he had to go and play on the flat , Noels engine failed on the way to second right and some passing cyclists relayed a communication of abandonment.

Kenny had no doubt been smitten by some deadly down under virus and might well develop a tickly cough at any moment , we were all kept well appraised of his status throughout the day ;-). He finally succumbed when threatened with the tunnel climb .

Nice route , giants pad , second right , trails to view point , dropped down to top burma on carpet run , badgers claw , lower burma , sallys yard to a new route spotted by Kenny , taking us right early on and arriving at the post for knockshee eventually. Kenny by this stage was close to intensive care and pushed his bike most of the way . Pamela by this stage had had enough of male egos and lefy via Slieve Martin . Over to saddle of Knockshee and dropping down to Fallow , Onto the trails and home via yellow water . V nice .

Eddy and Mark are organising the usual xmas walk next Saturday from O’Hares Pub to Carlingford for refreshments . Bus leaving Glen at 9.30( I think)  £10

Following Saturday will be Carlingford at 9am for Thriller Lap .

In which Noel arrives an hour late , Michael gets on his bike occaisionally , Gary joins him and our very favourite cyclist / all round athlete recieves an award.

We have started at 9am every Saturday for  the last 10 years at least . Noel still running on BST and missed us by an hour , now with new steed will have no excuse for not keeping up. Led  by Mr Suffern really but we let Mr K THINK he was leading .Memories were still raw of his last navigational debacle and we didnt want a repeat . Mix of old and new trails , very pleasant I have to say , much smoother and more flowy than Rostrevor , but little in the way of climbs .

After a poor effort on the pump track off to Urban for a presentation ceremony . Mr Suffern had complained to Les so much about not getting a trophy for the MMM than Les had felt obliged to go out and buy him one! .

1st Vet , we werent sure whether than meant his was the first , Veterinarian , or the oldest to finish! Highly reccomend URBAN Cafe.

VIDEO HERE

GARMIN DETAILS HERE INCLUDING MY DIVERSION HOME

For this special day to celebrate Scottish John’s half century AND Mr Powers first NTSR anniversary ( whats the first anniversary ..Mud?) Mr Kinbote had suggested a voyage to Castle Bog , to make it more interesting we started off up the long mile to enter the trails at Red Bog , Mr’s Power and Kinbote as usual led the field by half a mile while chatting about the weight difference between a M781 and an M780. How this conversation could last for 15 minutes I do not know .  Over to the ford and dropping down to Ulster way .

John ( irish) , then cheated by going out onto the road and hence had a good headstart up the climb to Castle Bog , however you know who wrere having none of it and overhauled him in two shakes of a Kinbotes tail.

Some time later Mr Stewart arrived having armed himself with a good copy of Mr Dunbars tome of excuses .

John (Scottish) then produced a bottle of Champagne to Toast his 50th Birthday . There was no danger of any of us getting over the limit such was its volume. Much dissapointment when a cake was not also forthcoming , shame on you Sharon.

Turning right at the wall for a change and picking our way down to the fence , good crack . Then disaster struck the COC with rear mech explosion threatening to take out the back wheel as well , currently in intensive care at GREEN BIKES. Chain and rear mech had to come off and the long scoot down the newtown road 🙁

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