Let's offroad / mountain bike / mtb / ride dirt

Yup, definitely a good day out.

my arse over tit stack onto my head and shoulder was equally foolish, huge bruising to shoulder and mild concussion, thankfully it happened at the end of the day.

Apologies to the forum for breaking James. I think I need to change my advice about that route to - if you touch the brakes at all coming down the slope then don't do the drop off 'cos you won't make it!

johns knowledge of the terrain meant we spent a lot more time on singletrack than fire roads this time
Yeah, I might know a few bits but we still got somewhat lost upon occasion. Not least just trying to escape suburban hell and find the forest in the first place!

Re drop handlebar mountain bikes. They have indeed been around for a while. I'm sure I saw someone doing one of the Gorrick races on one a couple of years back.

It all looks far too scary to me though. Going head first down a bouncy, rocky track sounds positively suicidal! I'm also not sure what the purpose is? Is it purely a comfortable position thing? Are drop bars really more comfortable than sit-up-and-beg? Certainly, a fast aero crouch is not going to make a blind bit of difference to your single track or downhill run speed. Picking a better line and avoiding large obstacles / keeping it smooth and flowing is going to make you a lot faster than any aerodynamics can.