Posted: Sunday, January 26, 2014 - 10:21

 


 

So, finally we managed to hold the 6th MTB session outstanding from 2013.

We had just 6 riders brave enough to face the elements and trails at Bedgebury, but the weather was kind to us and whilst the ground was wet and muddy, the rain kept off.

 

We started off on a fantastic trail after a fairly long slog to the top of the hill and the highest point.  Revelations.  This trail takes in just about all the features we had been coaching on in previous sessions, with berms, step-ups, step-downs, rock gardens, jumps, etc... over the ~1km broadly down-hill course.  All riders down successfully (although somewhat tentatively in places) saw us climb back to the top and move on to Genesis.  This is a muddy train down through the woods, with some significant descents and ascents - a very rooty and reasonably tricky red-run.  Again, success albeit it with some leg work up the very muddy and technical ascent.  From there it was on to Dad's Army - a fast trail with more berms and basically down hill and fast all the way.  Next up was [can't remember the name] which was basically some great cross country single track - fairly fast and ultimately up-hill - climbing toward the Black Run...  

I lead the way on the Black to ensure the trail was suitable, and on reaching the bottom the Raiders were to follow...  The Black Run is again down hill, and has some significant drop-offs (or jumps if you are fast enough), and does need to be approached with some caution.  Having waited at the bottom for a few minutes, and fearing the worst I start back up the trail on foot.  I soon found the first Raider, and basically the delay was really down to familiarity and fear !  

With everyone safely down, and the 'familiarity of the trails' issue in my head we took the decision to slog back to the start and repeat all of the above.  Second time round everything was much faster, with the Raiders all broadly aware of what was coming at them next - even the Black Run.

 

Once at the bottom of the Black again, we were faced with a minor dilemma - we had about 15 minutes to get back to the cars and out before the place shut.  So it was a focused drive back on the fire trails from there, arriving about five minutes late but thankfully not locked in.

 

A great afternoons riding from everyone, which from memory was about 15km with about 300m of ascent in the mix.

The pledge next time is to arrive earlier and see if we can make it round all the trails - the likes of Cardiac Arrest and Rollercoaster.

 

Sadly, failure to remember my camera meant we were left with the lousy attempts of an iPhone, so apologies for that.