Drop 'em!

So H finally got his way.
After weeks of piss taking and showing off, Falloff Boy (me) and The Pie worked up the stones to tackle the Sheep Drap. But not only that, but the big rock step down at the berms, now nicknamed Fallout.

We took Route H up to the trig point, the easier cycle up the Greenside, rather than spewing up a lung on the way up the Humphrey road. Anyway, I always get lonely waiting up at the gate for H and The Pie to catch me up. It was too cold for any of that hanging about anyway.

We had a quick warm up at the Tap Drap and we're all hitting that drop with a lot more confidence now. Staying off the brakes and mincing over it less. Still convinced that The Pie is doing a wee pre jump on it though, his landings are sweet as though.
It's kind of like a qualifier for what comes next.

After showing those two a clean pair of heels on the next bit of singletrack, we reconvened for the obligatory hum and haw at the Sheep Drap. We were like three Plumbers standing round it, sucking our teeth, scratching our arses and going, "mmm, dunno mate..."
H is a veteran of that drop now, and had a couple of goes while The Pie and I sacked up.

Then, fuck me, if The Pie didn't just drop off the fucker! No faff, one run up, then he disappeared off it while I was pushing up. H confirmed he'd survived it intact while I picked my jaw up and attached it back to my face.

 Aye, ok, his commitment kind of evaporated right at the very edge, leaving him pivoting on his back wheel at the edge of the drop, but he got away with it.

Fuck.
My turn.
Fuck.
Shiting it, I took a run up for a look. Yep, still a reasonable sized rock drop, not shrank in the last 5 minutes. Still shiting it.
Fuck.
I took my run, committed to it and then it was over.
Fuck.
Still shiting it!

Check me, still doing my Mountain Bike Face.

We had a few more goes each, just to make sure it wasn't a fluke, and, as it happens, it wasn't. We went aff it 4 or 5 times each, shiting it each time, but it got done. Crackin!

H proceeded to freak everyone out by riding down the rock face a bit further down. Somehow managing to start right at the top, get on his bike, get his balance and ride down the near vertical, off camber slab without ending up in A&E. He then topped it off by dropping off the big drop onto the old walkers trail. This is a good twice the size of the Sheep Drap and I don't actually think he meant it.
It looked like he was intending to ride up to the edge, but once you are on that thing, you are committed, so he had to go for it or wind up on his face. Managed it though! No action shots of that, as he only did it once, but heres a picture of a very handsome man standing next to it.

It's now called the H Bomb!

Nailing the rock step down at the berms almost seemed an anticlimax after what had already happened, but aye, that happened too. All 3 of us!

Honestly, who does the hard bit, dropping off a 3 foot drop thats been freaking him out for weeks, only to go arse over tit trying to stop his bike?
That would be me. Hence the new nickname. Fallout Boy.

There is video of The Pie doing it, but YouTube is being, well, a pie and not letting me embed. I'll figure it out later. Obviously this means that he didn't officially do it, as no video, no proof. Sorry wee man!

So not a bad day. A couple of bigger drops, for us, done, but not conquered I don't think. The Pie and I are both not 100% confident on them, so we'll need to do some more sessions to let it sink it, I reckon. H and his big bike are off and running though. He'll be hitting those gaps in no time.