Dalby forest red route again? Abandon hope all ye who are fat..

[Paul the 6th]

(nick the greek pretending to point at something in the scenery)

Just wondered if any of the red route rats from last year fancy doing dalby again soon? April time maybe? Should give us all enough time to address fitness issues and prep bikes. Last years attendee's were:

• Mr. Health 2011 Mike 'luckypants' davies
• Matthew 'this hire bike is shiite' owenski
• Roberrrt 'I'm just gonna get on with this'
• Nick 'I'm taking my downhill bike uphill' the greek
• Nick the greeks brother 'I've got a vw t5 - paul the 6th only has a t4 ha.ha.'
  
• Tom 'I am truly great' the great
• Yorkie 'I'm gonna facking fix this derailer in a minute' Chris
  
• And me, Paul 'jesus christ this is so hard I am literally going to die' the 6th

Anyone else who's interested - you're more than welcome to come along, preferrably if you're tubby like me then we can hang out at the back with the maltesers and the biscuits. If people are interested enough then someone could arrange camping maybe? As long as I'm not working away til late on friday night and then away on sunday evening, then I'll be happy to camp this time

As for the red route, it's worth going just for the diverse scenery of the place. I don't know how it knows to change but there are points where it feels like you could be in acompletely different country.. There were only about 3 sections of downhill where I basically walked it down, the rest were fairly hardcore but manageable even for me (never done a proper trail before in my life). I fell off twice and got up laughing each time..

What I'd do differently this time: Camp over for starters, arrive there on time (not at half 12!) so we can get a full days riding without a big rush and take more than just a box of flapjacks with me - oh and also have a proper dedicated lunch stop at some point.. Oh and also take more water than what was in my camelbak bladder - I ran out at 15 miles and started to panic a little - would take another 2 litres bottled in my rucksack.

[yorkie_chris]

You think I can address these fitness issues by April

[Paul the 6th]

Early may? Fatty.

[yorkie_chris]

Hehe, I'd be up for it whenever, got the van now so if local people are needing gear transport up there no probs.

Sounds guuuurd, good bit of training for my Tough Mudder pipedream ...... http://toughmudder.co.uk/

Depends on timing for me - uni gets pretty mental that time of year up until late may so maybe a bit later?

Best bit (no offence Paul) was the camping sheenanigans - sheltering from the pashing rain under the tail hatch on YC's vito whilst consuming copious amounts of beer was fantastic!

[Paul the 6th]

Bastids.. I know I really wanted to camp but had been away from home all week and then was called away on sunday evening, so wouldn't have seen the missus at all for like 8 days.

Was the campsite ok? I went through all the hassle of finding somewhere which was:
- within 10 miles of dalby
- had showers
- accepted groups of lads

Found several places which were closer and had a pub nearby but had no showers or didn't want lads on site. I'll be bringing drambue and a single malt for rusty nails this time

[Drew Carey]

Pencil me down Paulino date pending of course. Easter is a deffo no no for us as off to Iceland.

[Paul the 6th]

no worries man, owenski and roberrrt are both at uni along side work and as posted means they will be in the throws of essay fever.. Could maybe organise one sooner for those who want a gentle day out then one late may time? I dunno, I just really fancy going again but wanna strip a bit of ballast away before I go

It'll be June before I've got a prayer of coming along.
Your stag do paul is the first weekend AFTER i finsih uni, I plan to get very drunk and fall in love with some strippers.
The weekend after that I'd like to spend with my wife and boy,
then the weekend after that is June 9th plan it for then and you're pushing it, but plan it not to far after that and Im there.

Originally Posted by Owenski

It'll be June before I've got a prayer of coming along.
Your stag do paul is the first weekend AFTER i finsih uni, I plan to get very drunk and fall in love with some strippers.
The weekend after that I'd like to spend with my wife and boy,
then the weekend after that is June 9th plan it for then and you're pushing it, but plan it not to far after that and Im there.

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