Costco isn't a name that you normally associate with mountain biking so I was surprised to see a small range of cycling gear in there as I accompanied the lovely Mrs S. around the Croydon outlet on Saturday morning (yup, living the dream).

I have been looking for a new hydration pack for a while and the Drench 9-litre pack they had on offer featured all the usual like loads of pockets and space, a waist strap plus a 2-litre slidelock reservoir, an insulated tube cover for the bladder and a tuck-away mesh sport flap to carry your lid on your back that was tucked away so well that it took me ten minutes to find it.

A bargain for just £17 so I treated myself to one.

After a month off commuting over the harsh winter when most of the UK was covered in snow my commuting efforts in 2010 are finally bearing fruit. After a couple of disastrous commutes home where my legs were heavy and unresponsive it all fell into place on Friday and I felt good plus my recovery time was good too and Saturday morning saw me with fresh legs and looking forward to Sunday's ride.

Onto Sunday morning and once again we met at Holmbury YHA for a visit to the fun spots of Holmbury and Pitch Hill. We were joined by Suren who has just started riding with the group plus Tim and Robin who I havent seen for a few months and Tim K who bought along Simon and John to complete the group.

Spring appeared to briefly be in the air and four and a half degrees feels warm and I only have a short sleeved layer on underneath my Endura Stealth jacket.

The trails were wet in places but generally firm. Where there was mud it was the type that washed off easily enough once I got the hosepipe out at home.

The only strange section was the slimy texture of the new entrance to Yoghurt Pots but even this overused trail is holding up to the winter use/abuse and the only disappointment was the total trashing of the "Gone in 60 seconds" due to logging activities.

After the bombhole trail we headed up to Judges Seat and John demonstrated the art of plopping off the various lines there, captured of course in the latest video "The Sound of the Suburbs" and a great picture courtesy of Robin.

Strangely enough that same afternoon I was tagged in a load of pictures posted on Facebook of the first time I visited Judges Seat and the now out of bounds "Caution Steep Slope" way back in April and May 2004.

There was just time to see a lesser spotted Mondraker Dune at the Peaslake bus stop (it's a truism that if you stay there long enough you really do see all the sights of the modern mountain bike world) before we climbed back up Holmbury Hill and then the final descent down Telegraph Road back to the car-park. I am pleased to say that I put my skills learned in our coaching session last week into practice and my descent down Telegraph felt much smoother, possibly quicker but certainly easier than normal.

Unfortunately snow is forecast for this week and my Monday evening commute tonight was through a heavy snowfall but it wasn't settling and it was much more pleasant than rain. Roll on the Sping!