RIDE

'Why move when you can cut' Joe said this morning deep in the woods. Max, Joe and I had encountered a fallen tree on our ride that lay across the trail, barring our path. Joe rummaged in his bag and when he turned back he was brandishing a foot-long, fold-away saw.

Having been a mechanic before, Joe knows a lot about bikes. It was great to hit the trails with him because, in his own words, he is only too keen to 'micro-manage', giving us heads-ups on the nasty bits, teaching us how to get going again once you've stopped on a Steep hill and how to walk the bike on narrow, un-ride-able parts, with the handlebar at your chest and the front wheel in front of your head.

I think I'm, what's the expression, down with the lingo now too. If it's steep then you don't brake with your front brake: you feather it. The first climb was a hellacious hill and on the down you've got to get your ass off the seat if you don't want to endo. Come to think of it, maybe it's just the way Joe speaks rather than mountain bike lingo, but it's great.

A while ago Sean took me on the same trails on my virgin ride, without a helmet. I wasn't exactly prepared for what I was getting myself into. Sean would brief me a little, mostly of the, 'Ah, I think you'll be fine' variety rather than Joe's technical equivalent. But in a strange way, I think I learnt just as much on that first ride, finding out for myself about cartwheels and the aero-gymnastics you're capable of when you brake and don't feather and end over the bars, into the moss and bracken again.