I Am An All Terrain Vehicle

Yesterday I was lucky enough to go mountain biking in Sherwood Forest, at the insistence of Girlfriend. We hired a couple of swish looking cycles and headed off into the wild green yonder, after only a mildly wobbly start.

I should say now that I spent an impressive proportion of my formative years stuck firmly on a saddle. Me and my peers would think nothing of heading off for hours and hours at a time, exploring the highways and byways of Kent (my spawning ground) with nothing but a bag of crisps and a Twix for sustenance, and our severely misinformed sense of local geography to guide us. I was at home on a bike. Travelling extremely fast on two wheels was fun, and didn't seem dangerous in the slightest. A bumpy hill was a wonderful opportunity and not a threatening force of nature, presumably set with the explicit task of killing me.

As such, it came as some surprise to me that I was pretty shaky when we started out. I haven't ridden a bike in about 2 years, and haven't ridden on anything other than tarmac for about a decade. I soon got into it though, and had all manner of fun swooping down muddy gorges, hopping over exposed roots and splashing through filthy great puddles. Despite her earlier insistence at how fun it would be, Girlfriend unfortunately did not relish the experience quite as much as I had, and the look on her face as she struggled up yet another impassable slope of damp mud said only one word: Ordeal.

Nevertheless, we pressed on and finished the six mile route in a little over an hour, muddy and exhausted. I found it almost as fun as snowboarding, so I'm anxious to try it again soon. I may even get my own bike if the fancy takes me. I'm going to have to come up with a pretty slick argument if I'm going to have any company for the ride though.

PS - I swear that one of these days I will post some photos. They make blog digestion, or 'Blogestion' so much more pleasurable. Sadly my camera ran out of batteries on the first shot yesterday. Soon though, you shall see me at play in full technicolour.

Daily Tourettes - Fistula