Well for awhile now, I've been advocating to two friends, Jo & Richard, that laning is the way forward... improves your bike skills and is just bloody good fun...
So today Richard decided to try it out, so out came the trusty Yamaha Serow that lives in their little bike stable and some very shiny kit that didn't look quite so shiny after the ride and practice session... oops, sorry Richard!
As it was such a beautiful & warm day, I asked our local farmer if we could use some of his waste land that he has, we often get to go play on this, it's always muddy and has some easy little banks and woodland to play in... bonus... I thought this would be ideal for Richard to spend a little time on those skills needed before I threw him into the joys of river crossings, mud and ruts...
First session was all about weighting the pegs, leaning into the turn and having the relaxed body position, a few figure 8's then a tight-ish tyre square saw Richard getting the hang of things pretty swiftly, so next up was riding up and down slopes using the clutch in, back brake methods and of course getting stuck into some deep mud puddles!
Once Richard seemed happy, off we set for some of the local lanes to us, the river crossing and the old Jurassic Park were steady away, the water levels low, but for a new rider, intimidating as its a drop into the river bed and steep pull out into the rest of the lane. The local farmer in that area has cut down all the wild growth under the railway bridge which kinda made that lane good fun... hey ho, he also fixed the gates though so they open easily now, bonus! Thankyou...
We managed about an hour of riding before the heat and the physicality of the riding got the better of Richard, so we headed back home for some tea and biscuits...
Another big grin on somebodies face who have just experienced the pleasure of riding on lanes not covered in tarmac!
Happy days, where next??
So today Richard decided to try it out, so out came the trusty Yamaha Serow that lives in their little bike stable and some very shiny kit that didn't look quite so shiny after the ride and practice session... oops, sorry Richard!
As it was such a beautiful & warm day, I asked our local farmer if we could use some of his waste land that he has, we often get to go play on this, it's always muddy and has some easy little banks and woodland to play in... bonus... I thought this would be ideal for Richard to spend a little time on those skills needed before I threw him into the joys of river crossings, mud and ruts...
First session was all about weighting the pegs, leaning into the turn and having the relaxed body position, a few figure 8's then a tight-ish tyre square saw Richard getting the hang of things pretty swiftly, so next up was riding up and down slopes using the clutch in, back brake methods and of course getting stuck into some deep mud puddles!
Once Richard seemed happy, off we set for some of the local lanes to us, the river crossing and the old Jurassic Park were steady away, the water levels low, but for a new rider, intimidating as its a drop into the river bed and steep pull out into the rest of the lane. The local farmer in that area has cut down all the wild growth under the railway bridge which kinda made that lane good fun... hey ho, he also fixed the gates though so they open easily now, bonus! Thankyou...
We managed about an hour of riding before the heat and the physicality of the riding got the better of Richard, so we headed back home for some tea and biscuits...
Another big grin on somebodies face who have just experienced the pleasure of riding on lanes not covered in tarmac!
Happy days, where next??
