Ranmore to Redlands

Attendance was very thin for saturday's ride - perhaps the last one in the fast and dry conditions afforded by a dry September. Andy had issued a long and boring "dog ate my homework" excusemail on friday, Tom had the usual technical/awaiting replacement part issue with Trigger's Broom and Mark cancelled at 0800 on saturday due to illness. So as the overnight drizzle subsided just David and I set off for Ranmore. We climbed the Pilgrim's Way and onto White Down via one of the footpaths - luckily our encounters with dog walkers were all non-hostile. From there we took the singletrack featuring 4 ft log pile which I cleared and Dave made a good stab at but just got caught on the top and toppled off, slo-mo comedy style. Next up were Numbskull, Abba Zabba and Blind Terror 1 & 2. Dave made a good job of tackling all of these, keeping his wheels rolling through each section - very impressive for a first timer on these runs.
From the bottom we cut through the Deerleap woods across to Westcott and took the Rookery climb up to Wolverns Lane. The Rookery is riding very easy right now due to the lack of rain and must be the easiest way up Leith Hill. We hit the first section of Summer Lightning and then the Downhill jumps, where Dave had a bit of an off on the rooty section.
We followed this with a long climb back up to the cricket pitch and my legs were starting to burn - I was looking forward to sustenance at the Tower but Dave seemed to accelerate as the climb wore on leaving me a long way back. Via our usual route we arrived at the bottom of the Tower climb - It's a long time since I "dabbed" on this climb (the dry conditions have more to do with it than my riding ability) and I made it again, as did Dave. Tea and Eccles cake at the top, just beating the rush as about three groups of riders turned up behind us.
Refuelled we took Chocolate Jesus across to the top of Donnie Darko and then turned left to Windy Willows. We stopped halfway down to session the cracking jump in the trail, hitting it about 5 times each. Then onto the end where I rolled the big fallen tree for the first time. After that we followed the road down and then up to Bossanova, via the big bombhole which we first tried last thursday on our night ride. This time we took the harder option (it was dark last time after all!) - all I can say is you need to commit, hang on and steer straight!
Fillings duly shaken we climbed back to the Tower for a quick blast down Personal Hygene (both hitting the jump line) and back towards the cricket pitch via the unnamed trail which is running brilliantly at the moment. Through the bombholes to Deliverance which Dave has never ridden. He still had a bit of a block on it but I tried to build his confidence by pointing out that he had already ridden more difficult stuff today. It seemed to do the trick as he piled down, not the most elegant descent but he got to the bottom without major incident!
We then took the road through Coldharbour across to Redlands and down Sweet Sweet Bulbs. Dave hit the two jumps either side of the bridleway shaming a number of our regular riders (you know who you are!) who haven't yet ridden these jumps. We then climbed up and took a trail I'd spotted a couple of weeks back but haven't ridden. It starts pretty gnarly and then opens out into a pretty boring run through bracken in an open field - I recognised it from some of the Nirvana vids as Foot and Mouth. A final exhausting climb back towards the covered resevoir followed and a final blast down "Tom's" trail. No wonder I was knackered and top marks to Dave for sticking with it through the difficult techy stuff and some tough jumps - the gauntlet has been thrown down!