Trail Blazin` !!

Hey folks :-)

This week has been fairly pivotal for a number of reasons. The first few days were amongst the worst i've had since I arrived, the last probably the best.

After a wonderful weekend last week, Emily went home on Tuesday. Was really tough seeing her leave and I reached a real low point on Wednesday, feeling homesick, fed up, lonely and ready to pack up & head back to Birmingham.

Being Easter weekend though, my mind was ocupied by a totally mad few days at work followed by a much needed day off....

After almost 2 months, I finally got out on a ride in the Glentress forest trails where I work. Nic had 5 friends up for the Easter weekend and they'd planned a ride for today - a day off for Nic I - which i'd been ordered to join.

Now although I ride quite a lot, this was going to be a PROPER off road ride with 5 very experienced guys and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a bit daunted at the prospect :-/

Anyway, the day started with glorious sunshine so it was a good start, and we all made sure to eat a hearty breakfast before heading out. We bundled the bikes into the van and set off to the forest car park, which was totally packed out being a holiday Monday. Still feeling a tad nervous, I kitted up and zipped around the car park to warm up while the others got ready. Then the journey began.

The guys had decided we were to do the Red Route (the routes are graded like ski runs - green, blue, red and black in order of difficulty), which eased my mind a bit as they'd been talking about doing the Black over dinner the night before!
We headed out of the car park and bagan the ascent, initially via the road that leads to the car park higher up the mountain. I was feeling good, the sun was shining and I was comfortably keeping pace with the other guys. Pretty soon we came off the road and onto the start of the Red route which begins with a steady climb through the forest on singletrack (basically a narrow dirt/rock/tree root path). I was still feeling good and had tucked in behind one of the guys, Ian, to climb the singletrack through the forest. In fact, I was concentating so much on keeping tabs on him that I did'nt realise we'd pulled ahead of the other guys behind us.

On reaching the first singletrack / road junction, Ian and I stopped to wait for the others and take in the view, which although we were only about a third of the way to the top, was still mightily impressive. After a quick breather, we continued the climb as a group and pretty soon found ourselves at the highest point of the trail where Nic took a pic for me :




















Pretty nice eh? And yes, it IS as high as it looks :-) As I mentioned last time, if you click on the pictures you'll see a bigger version.

So, the climb to the top done, now came the testing part - going downhill through the forest on twisty, narrow, steep singletrack. FAST!! Now I can't emphasise what this feels like, only to ask you to imagine being on a rollercoaster that also goes over jumps and that YOU'RE in control of ! Oh, and there's no harness either.
In equal measure it's fast, testing, technically & physically demanding, thrilling and heart-in-mouth shit scary, but MY GOD WHAT A RUSH!! :-)

I came to the end of the first downhill section with a mile wide grin. Not only had it been a massive buzz, but I was only a few seconds behind the other guys and had'nt fallen off! Nic just laughed when he saw the grin on my face. "Good isn't it?" he said. Oh yes!
THIS is why I moved here. After everything that had gone before, all my down days, questioning if i'd made the right decision to come, I realised at this very moment how incredibly lucky I am to be doing what I am, where I am.

On a high from the first section, we hit the second. Feeling more confident, I tried to push my speed and lay off the brakes a little more. I was getting to understand the handling of my bike more and taking more risks and although this section was maybe not as tough as the first, it was still enormous fun. Nic had taken my camera and gone ahaead to get a few pics of me as I followed :

Here I come...

Getting closer...


























...there I go!


Unfortunately, these pics don't really do the trails justice and look fairly tame. Believe me, they're not. I'm hoping to get some more dramatic shots in future but at least you get the idea for now :-)

Anyway, up until now i'd taken the last position in the group on each section, meaning I could try to keep pace with whoever was in front but not have to worry about being in the way of someone behind me.Feeling the confidence grow further, I followed Mark in second place on the 3rd downhill section. First mistake of the day.

As I mentioned, I had yet to be in the position of having anyone behind me. Now, I had 4 of the 5 other guys tearing down the trail following me and immediately felt the pressure. Rather than concentrating on the trail in front, I was now paranoid that I was either slowing the other guys down or being scrutinised. As a result, I was pushing harder than I had all day. The increased speed made every judgement even more crucial and I paid the price on a particularly nasty switchback (sharp corner that doubles back on itself), overshooting as I came out too fast and planting my head/shoulder into a tree! There's a reason we wear helmets.

My abrubt halt saw the others fly past shouting concerns as to my well being as they went by. Thankfully, it was only my pride that was slighlty dented and we continued to the end of the Red route without further incident. At this point some of the guys decided to do the whole thing over. The rest of us decided we'd punished ourselves enough and freewheeled the long road back down to the Hub reflecting on the day and rewarding ourselves with tea, coffee & cake :-) The others eventually joined us for post ride fodder before heading home after a great day and a personal milestone for me.

On the car journey home, I asked Nic how he thought I'd done. "You're certainly no slouch" he smiled. He then went on to tell me how he'd been riding the same trail last year with a couple of World Champion downhill riders, one of whom stacked into the very same tree I had, writing off the bike he was on in the process. It was a fairly notorious blackspot by all accounts and that made me feel a little less clumsy and a little more proud :-)

I'm now typing this feeling pretty pleased with myself and a lot more positive than I did just a few days ago. Much as I miss the people I love, today I realised the only destiny I control is my own. Everyone has their own life to live and I'm hoping that I can finally appreciate the opportunity I have here and move on with mine.

Til next time,

Big Love,

Dean

;-)