Last weekends Dirty Sunday event was a pretty special day out. It marked the longest and hardest ride I’ve managed since injuring myself, and was a great chance to ride with friends old and new. Some days everything just comes together, and this was one of those days.

I’ve known DRK since its beginning what feels like a lifetime ago, but have somehow always been too busy elsewhere to make it to one of the Dirty Sunday events. Seventh time lucky and with the encouragement of a few friends (Goodbye John and Kat!) I paid up and entered. On arriving at Forever Pedalling I was struck by how many riders had turned out. Large groups of people have never exactly been my favourite thing, and with the last few years putting group rides to a halt it felt like a long time since I’d been in this situation.

There were tons of faces old and new, people I knew from the Bristol fixed gear glory days, track bikes and tri-spokes swapped out for gravel bikes and olive coloured kit (sorry Gabe), people I’d raced with on the road, or seen on the internet and never met(weird that, isnt it?), and a broad spectrum of bikes from pure cyclocross racers with 32mm tyres to full suspension trail bikes. I did have a moment of madness the week before where I decided to ride my single speed cyclocross bike, but was talked around into taking the Chameleon. This was a good move. The ‘gravel bike vs mountain bike’ conversation has been done to death but as far as I’m concerned if you live in Bristol a hardtail will open you up to tons more fun.

After ten minutes of chatting and contemplating the ride, Tim gave his customary ‘have fun and don’t be a dick’ speech, and we set off across town, 80 or so riders hyped up and smiling. The vibe was awesome and I was doing my very best to resist skidding about like an idiot. That sort of happens when I’m excited.

The route was a total dream, stringing together some of the best natural singletrack and bridleways with just enough sections of road thrown in to make it feel like progress was good. It only took about half an hour and one cheeky extra Bourton Combe trail lap to be certain the hardtail was the right choice. Sam had come down for the ride, which means bonus singletrack can’t be avoided even on a 100km day out, and we are fortunate enough to have one heck of a lot of it to choose from around here.

From Bourton Combe we skirted around the airport, before taking on a steep climb up to Beacon Batch. I’d never climbed up this way before but really enjoyed it, it was the kind of climbing where you need to push the pedals hard to avoid losing balance and dabbing a foot, and steep enough to be hard to get going again. I absolutely love that stuff, it focuses your mind in a way that’s super fun. I can’t put words to how stoked I was to be out there pushing the pedals in the sun after a frankly pretty miserable few months of barely riding. It was like flipping a ‘happiness switch’ and I bloody loved it.

Once over the top of the Mendips a group of us made the call to head down the Pump Track trail at Rowberrow rather than sticking to the planned route, assuming this would intersect the route and shouldn’t add much time. Naturally it ended up joining the shorter of the two loops when we had planned to ride the longer, so this added another climb back up, but it was worth it, Adeline broke a spoke and I punctured, but I’d frame that as a sign of a good time. The next descent was down from Mendip Raceway towards Cheddar Reservoir. This was fast and wild, straight, strewn with rocks and sticks, and covered in that sort of dappled sunlight that makes it really hard to tell what your hammering your wheels into. Hold on, go fast, and hope for the best. I found myself really feeling for the ‘small tyre people’. That’s the thing with gravel bikes… They give you total beating whenever you get to the super fun bits. I joked that if I had ridden the single speed CX I would be getting on a bus at this point.

We skirted around Cheddar reservoir resisting the urge to have a dip, and on to Axbridge for a co-op meal deal lunch. Meg, Sam, and co had waited for us in Axbridge after our little Rowberrow detour, and we carried on together up and over Crook Peak. Meg and I are a bad combination on rides like this, she half-wheels me all over the place on the flat, and I try with mixed success to get my own back on the climbs. We both end up knackered. The singletrack along the edge of Crook peak is really beautiful. You can see right out over the reservoir, and its worth every second of the challenging climb up.

Now we were on the home stretch. The trail from Wrington back towards Brockley Combe is one of my all time favourites, and things got a bit spicy as Sam and I raced down the bridleway. Adeline called us ‘competitive lunatics’ but I’m pretty sure she started it. I don’t remember the last ride where my legs felt so good, and I was loving it. On setting off on this ride I was half expecting to be cutting it short or jumping on a train at Yatton, so to be hammering down dry trails 50 miles into the ride was incredible.

From Brockley Combe we headed over towards Tyntesfeild, and down through Ashton Court. This final section of the route was supposed to head down the fire road, but once again we couldn’t resist a little extra singletrack. This time my excitement got the better of me, and I managed about 4 corners (LOL!) before washing out big style and slapping the floor like a total sack of shit. I was trying to chase Sam and the competitive corner of the brain got the better of me. The fact that this didn’t dampen spirits really sums up the day. I was having way too much fun for a bloody chin and a few bruises to get in the way.

The group went our separate ways before regrouping at Berthas Pizza for an all you can eat pizza party (which as far as I’m concerned is the best possible way to end a ride.) Stories were told and moments relived over food and drinks. Writing about this ride feels quite difficult… its hard to coherently put to words just how good it was and really sum it up without just rambling on. But long story short it was a kick ass day out and I’m incredibly glad to be back on the bike!

Big thanks to Tim of Forever Pedalling for the organisation, Wayne of Freewheeling images for allowing me to use his pictures as I was having too much fun to take my own, Berthas for filling me with tasty pizza, and all the friends old and new who I rode with along the way for bringing the good vibes in abundance.