Hopton Woods, Ludlow
Having met at about 10am, and arriving in Ludlow just after lunch, the small band of riders who went to Hopton were surprised to find that it wasn't raining. It didn't really feel like a proper club trip without the rain. Still, we carried on regardless, and followed Ben, ChrisR and Mike down the championship DH course.
We needn't have worried about the rain, because most of us ended up wet through anyway on account of the frequency with which we seemed to be crashing. We made the most of the good weather, although the trails were made very technical by the still damp surface and shiny roots traversing the courses. We very nearly had the place to ourselves, and spotted only two downhillers and a lone XC rider all day. The first run was a cautious one, for the XC riders especially. At the end of the run, we amused ourselves by trying to ride back up the final vert at the bottom of the course. Andy came the closest, with PhilR snapping a chain half way up and tumbling back to the bottom. At least he avoided the nettle bush, unlike me after a half-hearted effort which ended in pain and distress, much to the amusement of the rest of the guys. And if this wasn't funny enough, PhilG then T-boned me after releasing his bumpjumper (c) from the top of the vert. Hilarious. :)
More riding ensued after a strenuous journey to the top of the runs, with some of us opting to find some cross-country orientated riding. This was soon abanded and we returned to the pack with the help of a pack of kindly lesbians (allegedly). They were strange. But intriguing.
We ended the day with watching Ben try to clear a huge step down. We told him he cleared it so we could go home.
Then we went home and got back really late and decided to meet up for a ride in Sherwood the next day, the DH guys conceding that it was just too much effort to drive anywhere decent for a second day in a row. So then we met up at 2 on Sunday, but it was raining. We watched big briother and ate chocolate bourbons at PhilR's house. Then we disbanded, conceding to the fact that actually it is much more fun to ride when it isn't raining.