For the past week I’ve been riding my bike on cycle paths and on the road but last night I joined the local cycle club on their weekly mountain bike ride for the first time. This week’s ride was in Dundonald and there were around 20 people turned out for it!
I wasn’t expecting it to be crazy, maybe just some paths through the woods, steep downhills and a bit of climbing but I was totally wrong. It was some pretty serious off-road stuff, the woods were full or big rocks, roots, mega climbs, mud, steep drops and crazy fast downhill sections with rock gardens galore!
Some of the best bits were the downhill sections with rocks, roots and bumps/jumps coming at you from all angles, scary as hell but exciting at the same time. When you come out of them safe on the other side (a rare occurence for me last night) you just could not believe you made it. At one point my bike fell down a bit of a hole and I went head first over the bar and landed in a big bush!
Everyone there was real nice and supportive and no-one gets left behind. I kept to the back of the pack but kept up easily with everyone and I got extra muddy. I wish I had taken some pictures, but by the time we managed to find our way out of the woods (at one point we got very lost) it was getting dark.
I’ll definetely be going next week as it was the most fun I’ve had on a bike for a long time and its good exercise too. The course we took was only about 8.5 miles but it was very challenging and technical but extemely enjoyable. I would recommend it to anyone whos looking to get out and see the outdoors and get a bit of exercise or just have a bit of adventure!