3 out of 3. It's becoming known as "The Cotic Snow Ride"! Friday saw the staff beat a hasty retreat from our Peak District office due to worsening road conditions. Luckily the gritters were out and everyone could meet up safely at The Travellers Rest on Saturday morning.

Our ride took us up the back of Win Hill, up to Hope Cross, and the most techy traverse along to the top of The Beast. As soon as you rode up into the snowline the terrain changed from a sloppy mess into a winter wonderland. It wasn't even that cold! Perfect.

The Beast is always a real hoot. Rough, unrelenting, slippery and today it was full of 30 super keen cyclists, all trying to keep it upright. Camus, Wes & Philpott headed down a different track to get some photos and we all met up for the winch up past Rowlee Farm, across the Snake road.

Paul held the gate open for the descent down Hagg Farm. What he didn't let anyone know was that he'd stockpiled a cache of snowballs. No-one was exempt from a pasting as they clattered past. Wes & myself obviously missed the Megavalance too much so we set off at the back and tried to catch as many riders as we could. We even hummed the "Alarma" song at the top to get us in the mood!

After a final struggle up the "Sh*t B*stard" climb on Win hill we rolled back to The Travellers Rest for a pint and a feed, covered in muck but not a single frown on anyones face. We reckon that's a success for a ride called "beat the blues". Richard