The starting point is the same parking lot on the southwest end of Talybont reservoir. Tony assures me there won't be any grueling ascents involved.

I neglected to ask about the descents.

It's a short ride down a wet, rocky hill. It quickly becomes evident that this descent is a killer.

We all stop at the middle section, surveying a plunge that's punctuated with fallen trees and bolders. The roar of waterfalls fills my ears as I notice that this stretch turns into a sheer drop on either side. One wrong move and you're going to be airborne.

Tony decides we should use spotters to make sure no one goes hurtling over the ledge. Somehow we decide I should go first.

I look down at Tony, standing in front of a drop to my right, and Jason, guarding the drop on my left, and begin to pick a path through the debris.

I make it a few feet, trying to carve a switchback into the hill so I don't gain too much speed, when my front tire hits a tree limb, sending me into a muddy endo that somehow ends with me on my feet and trying to stop before I crash into Tony.

I stop, pick up my bike and carry it down this stretch, taking up Jason's spotting station for his ride down.

Jason has almost no front brakes, and he gives up when he's unable to control his speed coming down the hill. Then it's Tony's turn.

Again, his skill on a bike leaves me in awe. He fails on his first few attempts, but he refuses to be beaten. Ultimately, he picks a path through the bric-brac, knifing back and forth, sliding on soggy pine needles until he reaches the bottom of this stretch.

When Jason and I, carrying our bikes, catch up to Tony, I'm amazed to see a second waterfall, one that was hidden from view as we descended.

The water roars past us on either side of the trail as we pause to marvel at it. The end of this ride is a fast, awesome, soaking-wet descent through piney singletrack.

We return to The Held where we have dinner and consider going in to town again. In the end, though, we stay in, talking for hours as if we were old friends.

I'm amazed at how quickly I've fallen in with these three mad-nutters from Southhampton.