Scariest Moment of My Life!

I was out yesterday night on a local route by Captain Cooks Monument. Everything was nice, bike was feeling good, trails were dry, had some good music in my ears! Me and a Friend were riding down a motocross track towards 'Red Hill', a large natural hill which has it's name for obvious reasons. We blasted down it at a fair speed with me in front. At the bottom we discussed various routes to take us down to the car park. I decided to take a route which I've not ridden in a while. It's a flowing piece of single track with lots of steep downs and a few climbs. My Friend decided to take the wider straight path to the bottom. I usually take this path but I'm a bit bored of it just because it is straight, rocky and a bit dull. I was on my way along the trail, there was quite a lot of debris on the trail due to strong winds the night before. I was enjoying dodging all of the fallen branches but then I had something a bit more angry to dodge....

As I got to an uphill section I started to slow down and get into a climbing pace when out of nowhere, an owl tried to take me out! It flew so close to my head that the feathers wiped across my face. For anyone who wants to know what type of owl it was, I don't know. I didn't think it was an appropriate time to stop and do and do a spot of birdwatching. I was out of their like a shot! I guess I must have entered it's territory. I heard somewhere that they can get very protective over their area but I've got to be honest, I wasn't thinking of that at the time. What made it worse was that you know owls can turn their head all the way round? When it flew past it was giving me an evil stare even though it was flying in the opposite direction. I don't think I'll ever see owls in the same light again. I don't think I'll ever ride that trail again either. I'm just glad it didn't hit me and knock me unconscious then get it's friends round and feast on my body. That would have been disappointing.

To summarize.....

Beware when riding your bike at night, you could get taken down by an owl.

Holiday!

Recently we've booked a family holiday to Wales. We'll be staying in the Snowdonia area which should be good for mountain biking. I've been wanting to do some big mountain adventure cycling for a while now and hopefully I should be able to in Wales. I've been doing a bit of research regarding Mt Snowdon and how accessible it is to mountain bikers. I'd love to be able to ride up and down it. We'll also be near the Coed Y Brenin trail center, so I'll have to check that out as well.

First of all though I'll have to sort my bike out. The fork is due a service, the hubs a feeling slightly stiff and the bottom bracket needs to be replaced some time in the near future. I can't wait for this holiday, I just hope that the weather will be good and my bike in good working order!

Here's a video of some of the riding up Mount Snowdonia and other parts of wales, enjoy!



Happy Trails!

You Like This - MTB Movie

Another one of my favourites. "You Like This" is a 27 minute video displaying some of canada's finest riding. Enjoy!

So, I went for a run.....

Last night at around 8PM I decided to go for a run. I have done this a few times in the past but never very often. I don't really know why I went but I just had an urge to get out of the house as I'd been sat in all day doing bugger all. My plan was to take the main path up to Roseberry topping. I set off walking up until I was out of sight (I don't feel comfortable jogging or running in public, don't know why.)

As I approached the path leading to the shooting hut. I heard some chanting and slurred voices. I wasn't really listening that carefully because I had my earphones in but as I got closer it was louder and louder. I turned round the corner and saw a large group of townies. I don't mean to stereotype but when they've got bottles of cheep cider in their hands and they're chanting you can tell they're townies.

I took the scenic route and ran round the other side of Roseberry Topping to avoid the crowd. As I got nearer to the top I could see some people in front of me heading the same way, I couldn't see very clearly because it was getting darker. When I reached the top I stopped for a moment to catch my breath only to see a group of about four or five townies chanting and walking towards me. I was getting serious bad vibes so decided to sprint down the opposite side of the topping. I almost sprained both ankles running down the rocky stepped path. as I got nearer to the bottom and away from the townies I started to feel really tired so I slowed down my pace.

As I was running down the farm track and back into Great Ayton I was listening to some music and got a bit of a shock when I saw a ghostly figure riding a quad bike towards me. For a moment I felt quite scared but as he approached I realized it was the farmer who was going to round up the townies and clear them from his land. I reached the road. By this point I really was out of it. it was approaching 10PM. I carried on and after a about 10 minutes I was home. I swear I'll never go on a run again. It was so painful, boring and meaningless. I don't understand why people do regularly it when cycling and mountain biking is so much more fun!