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A bright but brisk May morning with a definite chill in the breeze. But as I've been in short sleeves for months now I'm loathe to change back and so suffer cold arms for the first five miles to the meeting point at Ashtead.

Six of us head off on the normal route of Stane Street collecting Rob at the top of Alsation and then onto Mickleham Down and a nice descent via the Alpine trail. It's then straight back up the stiff climb past High Ashurst Outdoor Centre which proves too much for Keith's 32:16 gearing on his Cotic Simple as he resorts to pushing.

I was planning on heading straight over Boxhill Road but Rob persuades me to take a detour to take in the new trail he showed us a few weeks back which is the subject of my latest video 'Best Viewed with Sound' and is apparently known as 'And then there were three' by the Muddymoles (although not by the trail-builder as it later turns out).

So we turn right along Boxhill Road and then onto China Pig. I push ahead to take some pictures and am waiting at a good spot when the train of riders flashes by. I'm surprised at the speed they are all moving but this is now part of Terry, Keith and Davebus's regular Tuesday evening rides and there's been lots of talk about how they have ridden this trail twice already this week.

But pride always comes before a fall and Terry looks out of shape as he hits the corner I am waiting at before a steep descent and then whilst attempting to take the sharp right his front wheel washes out and he hits the tree on the corner before being fully laid out on the deck. He's either taking part in the latest 'planking' craze or he's really hurt.

'Stay down!' I warn him and he wisely does before checking himself over and slowly rising. He's okay although pretty shaken up and has bashed his ribs either on the tree or on the rock-hard trail. We give him plenty of time to recover before continuing the descent to the end where the rest of the group are wondering what has been going on.

A left turn and up Juniper Hill but Felix realise his GPS has parted company with his handlebars and turns back to search for it leaving six of us

Another left to take in Little Switzerland and the King William IV pub steps where Terry realises that the bumping of the descent is indicating that he's probably hurt worse than he thinks and he heads off home along the A24. And then there were five.

Rob is also under time pressure and heads off home too leaving us with four riders who push on across the A24 and then along the whole length of Druid's Grove and I do mean the whole length, starting at the radio tower and taking in some twisting singletrack, steep climbs and descents and a bit of pushing too before reaching the road at the far end where we turn right and climb up to the single house and then into the woods to cut across to Ranmore taking in the long steep climb past the Youth Hostel.

A break for refreshments and whilst we are sitting around a lone rider on a downhill bike and full face turns up. We have a quick chat with him and it turns out that he is the builder of the trail we are just about the ride. "What's it called" I ask eagerly (or is it eagerly ask? I'm never good on these split infinitives). "Doesn't have a name" is the disappointing answer so like most other trails on the North Downs and Surrey Hills it will continue with three or four totally different and confusing names.

We head off and there are a few nervous moments as we hit the kickers that have been added to the trail since I last rode it two weeks ago and Niall does his impression of a Stuka as he noses down to the trail but happily manages to ride out of it.

Across the A24 at Ryka's Cafe and we stop to call Felix (remember him? He went looking for his GPS). He's at the foot of Box Hill, less than 30 metres away around the next bend in the road having found his GPS way back at the top of China Pig.

We decide against the flinty climb challenge especially as Felix has managed to do it in 6 minutes 40 something seconds whilst he was waiting for us and so head up Juniper Hill for the second time when all of a sudden my legs just go.

I'm still riding and climbing up the hill okay but I'm unable to keep up with the others who are disappearing over the horizon. There's nothing for it but to dig in and grit my teeth as I grind up the hill. Back onto Stane Street where Keith and Felix head off towards Epsom Downs to take them back to their respective homes as Rob, Niall and I complete the final section into Ashtead being chased by a friendly dog to complete a 35km ride.

Not as far as I had expected and no idea why I blew up although we had set a blinding pace earlier on in the ride. It's also good to get in another great ride in the dry to take me to 3,344km for the year which is only 265km behind target (see my deficit denier on the top right of this week's page). The smallest deficit I've had since January.