For the second day of Northumberfest II riding, half of us went to check out the downhill course built by the Cheviot Hill Riders.

The weather was fantastic again, nice and sunny. And the course is sweet - there are two big jumps on it, one which emerges from the wooded section and another which is a rickety door nailed to a fence! Classy!

The top section is the best - it feels really fast thanks to being so close to the trees, and there are some nice flat drops to fly, a couple of small ramps and even a mini double at the end. All good confidence-inspiring stuff to break back into jumping after a winter of not doing anything technical.

After several attempts I eventually accepted that landing my rear wheel on the (tiny) second part of the double was the best I was going to get. I'd had a sketchy run, getting my shoe stuck under the chainstay (!) so I was quitting before I stuffed it into a tree.

Cheers to Lee for taking us up there, and showing us the 4X track which is currently being built. Looks like it'll be a winner - it's a monster!

Pictures

Just when I thought Tom was going to do the jump... Image (640x480) - 130 kB

Lee flies off the door jump. Look, I'm such a great photographer. Image (400x300) - 22 kB

Not content with drastic overexposure and blur, I excel myself by cropping Jon's head out of the picture. Sorry mate. Image (300x400) - 21 kB