This morning I fancied going out on a bike ride because I really
want to get into off-road riding. I used
to ride a lot as a kid and teenager but haven’t done much at all in the past
twenty years. In the past ten years, I think
I may have ridden probably five times, three of which have been this year
although they have all been very short and very easy – I rode a three mile blue
graded (easy peasy) loop of a forest park in Scotland in May and I have also
rode to the Jubilee race and back twice.
That’s it, hardly challenging.
Truth be told, I’m a nervous wreck on a bike. The slightest bit of rockiness and I’m
hopping off and walking. This is why I wanted
to go out with Duncan, in the hope that he can build my confidence and show me
how to do more technical riding.
We set off from home and went down dog poo alley, Duncan on
his all singing all dancing full suspension Titus El Guapo and me on my
incredibly retro Sunn Vertik with collapsed front suspension (and no rear
suspension).
My first obstacle came when we started going down the path
at the side of the llama field. To a
normal MTBer, this is absolutely nothing.
To me, it is terrifying! It’s
just so rocky. I bottled out of dropping
off the step and pressed my brakes a bit too harshly making the bike rear up at
the back so the back wheel was in line with my head. At least I managed to stay upright
though.
Onwards we went, dropping down to Liverpool Castle and then
following the reservoir along past Go Ape and out to the prep school (yes, I know
this isn’t all bridleway, blah blah blah).
We then turned in at the side of the bowling club and
followed the track all the way out to the road.
When we were climbing the track, Duncan did comment that, whilst I was a
crap MTBer, I was definitely fitter than him.
It’s funny because when I run up that hill, even though it isn’t steep, I
find it quite hard but on the MTB I found it really easy. I always thought that riding up hill was harder
than running up hill because you have the weight of the bike to get up there as
well as your own weight, but my legs didn’t feel any burn at all. I think it must be all the altitude spin
paying off.
We rode into Lead Mines Clough and then climbed the steep
hill on the left up towards Jepsons Gate.
This is where I had a complete gear change failure. Up until now (apologies for the lack of technical
speak now – I have no idea about bike gears) I had stayed in the middle ring
and had just been going up and down on that, but this hill was much steeper and
required me to go into the easy ring. Unfortunately,
I assume that the gears on each side of my handlebars worked the same, i.e. the
big lever made it easier and the little lever made it harder but that wasn’t
the case and so half way up the climb I made my gears harder not easier,
forcing me to stop but then I couldn’t get going again and so had to push the
rest of the way. Ah well, you learn by
your mistakes.
Once at Jepsons Gate, we rode down the road towards Watermans
Cottage. Even though this was a flat
road, I was still terrified because it was just so fast. My hands were starting to get sore from
gripping for dear life and constantly pressing the brakes. Duncan left me for dust because I was being
so pathetic. There were the odd potholes
as well which scared me but Duncan keeps telling me to just stand up and let
the bike to the work. I’m so scared of
hitting something and going flying off over the handlebars.
We carried on past Watermans Cottage and arrived at the end
of the bridleway through Healey Nab. We rode
all the way along the bridleway, Duncan again leaving me for dust when it goes
downhill.
Coming out at the Yew Tree and turning left, we then had a
choice of going the easy way down The Street, or carrying on and going up ‘the
cascade’ towards Yarrow Reservoir. I decided
to take the latter route as I decided that I really do need some practice so
there’s no point in wimping out and making life easier.
I actually did really well going up the cascade and climbed
with relative ease. I was pretty proud
of myself for that. When we started to
go down the hill back towards the bowling club though, I again started to get
scared of falling off. At this point,
Duncan insisted that we swapped bikes because he was concerned that my ‘bone
shaker’ would put me off riding and did nothing for my confidence.
His bike was absolutely brilliant in comparison. For a start, the handlebars are much wider so
I felt more in control and also it has full suspension where mine has only
front suspension which is collapsed so is neither use nor ornament. I also preferred the pedals on his bike. The only thing I preferred mine for was that
it seems better going uphill. This will
partly be due to the narrower tyres on mine and also the lack of all the suspension
(I think, no idea really!).
We rode back towards the school but this time on the other
side of the road, coming out behind the school.
Then it was time for the llama track again. This time I was going up it but I still had
to get off because it just looked too big a step for me to go up. Duncan made me stop when I got past the rocky
bit and told me that I had to practice going up and down it to gain some
confidence. He kept showing me how easy
it was but the thought of doing it myself was making me want to cry.
Eventually, I plucked up the guts and went down it and, like
he said, it was really easy, although I don’t think I could do it at the kind
of speed him and his mates do. I also
managed to get back up it just by riding into it like he said.
I do feel like a need some knee pads though as I have a
ridiculous fear of coming off and banging my bony knees. Have you ever banged your knee because it
REALLY hurts if you do it hard.
It’s funny that my MTBing is In total contrast to my fell
running. In fell running, I hate going
uphill but love going down hill but on the MTB it’s the other way round.
Anyway, I’m going to buy myself a decent bike now but I want
the best of both worlds. I want a bike
that’s got good suspension like Duncan’s but I want a bike that goes uphill
better like mine. Duncan has suggested I
get one with 29” wheels (his has 26”) and that I just go for front suspension
as to get a decent full suspension one is really expensive and it will probably
be overkill for what I need.
Total distance – 11.2 miles
