It's always nice to go on a mountain bike ride around Wharncliffe Woods, especially with friends like Steve Peat. He knows the place like the back of his hand and took us around a challenging ride which included some nice muddy and rooty single track. It started off with a shot of rum to warm us up and once the large group of riders had congregated off we went. It gave me a chance to try out my new bike, a big yellow Santacuz Tallboy LTc, 29er wheels long travel, mud and a bit of downhill, just what I needed to get into it. As you can imagine, there were lots of Santacruz bikes about and my big 29er got a bit of interest, I hadn't tried it in as testing an environment until now and the more I rode it the more I realized how good it was and there were only a few things I wanted the tweek. The rims were hard to get going due to their weight and the suspension wants setting up for my liking but worse than that the tot of rum from before we set off was showing signs of rearing it's ugly head again. After a while I got into it and we all stopped at the bomb hole to have a group photo, about 70 of us in total someone said. It was also nice to ride with some mates I hadn't seen for a while, Berg, ebay Dave, Paddy and Farmer Jack among'st others, but also good to ride with James Dabill (well renowned trials rider) who had a Tallboy too, comparing notes and generally shooting the breeze. I found wheelie mode once or twice on the ride and to say it has a lot more travel than a standard Tallboy it was easily as good at it, once we all got back I shook hands with them all and left them opening beers and swapping tales about a very memorable ride, a ride with a very nice group of people with a lot in common, who I feel lucky to know. Look forward to the next time out, Wharncliffe and Tallboy LTc.
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