Just Keep Pedalling...

Just keep pedalling is the advice I wish I had known when we hired mountain bikes today and went to Bedgebury Pinetum.  On the first section of the track, I went through a HUGE puddle, got freaked out by how much deeper it was that I was expecting, stopped pedalling, lost my balance and fell sideways into the cold water.  I really wish I had it on video.



I have wanted to try mountain biking for a while but never got round to doing it, so was pretty happy when Sepha agreed to come with me, and even happier when Ben and Jaime also tagged along as I haven't seen them in AGES.

We convened at mine, piled into the car and headed down to Kent for the day.



The parking in the pinetum is pretty extortionate at £9.50, but the money does go back into the maintenance of the area (which is very well kept).  We hired bikes for 2 hours from Quench cycles who were really friendly and gave us a free map and a group discount, making it £17 each rather than £20.

We started off on the family trail but it wasn't long before we decided we were pro enough to try the single track, labelled 'difficult'...the red single track is a big loop of the park, encompassing different sections so you can choose to do all of it, or come off it at certain points.  We decided to do all of it which I am pretty sure my butt and lady parts are going to hate me for tomorrow.



yeah....not for us


"which pose looks rad....this one?"


The single track consists of mainly narrow trackway winding through the woods, it's mostly mud but there are some gravelly bits and some rocky sections too.  There are also some jumps/humps and windy sections, tough uphill bits which we ended up getting off and walking up, and some fast downhill sections.  It's a very beautiful track and each section is named to give it an inkling of what's to come, for example the bit with a ridiculously steep hill is names 'Cardiac'.  I think my favourite section is 'Gloomy Woods' which ends with blind twists and turns in the woods.





these were fun


Ben's bike was a bit dodgy and the chain kept locking, and then eventually snapped at the furthest point away from the bike hut - annoying!  Luckily they'd given us their number in case of any issues, so we gave them a bell and within 15 minutes they'd driven a Landrover up the mud track with a new bike for Ben and carted the old one off. Great service!


so much mud!!



stuck!









Around 3/4 of the way through we started to get very tired and cold and the last few tracks were a hard slog, but I am so proud of us that we completed all 14km of the track (admittedly in about 3 hours, lots of people kept overtaking us!).  IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!!!! It's so nice to get out of London for the day but even better to actually do something with your day.




We headed back to London and rewarded ourselves with a Roast Dinner at the EDT, before heading back to our respective houses to collapse on the sofa.

We've decided to do "Adventure Sundays" where once a month we'll go out and do something a bit different, any ideas on what to do next?

In other news:

I am doing dry January - so far I have gone to Swingers (indoor crazy golf in Shoreditch - fun but probably much more fun if you're drunk, and the course is SUPER hard and only 9 holes so you go round quite quick), had 2 dates and sat in a pub several times without having a drink - I am pretty impressed with myself (this makes me sound like an alcoholic and that I need alcohol to function - this isn't the case I swear...hmmm) Meant to be going to a Ceilidh this Friday though - not sure I will be able to handle that sober!  I have, however, noticed how cheap it makes your life if you don't drink - plus it turns out that the EDT does soda and lime for FREEEEEEE! I can't believe I have lived here 5 years and never known about this.   Do other pubs do this too?  Is it normal?





I have started learning Spanish.  I've signed up to a 5 week intensive course and I am really enjoying it, feels like being back at school.  It's pretty hardcore though - 2 hours on a Tuesday and Thursday, and on Wednesday I am doing the swimming training again, so I am pretty busy during the week.  You get given homework too, which reminds me I need to do mine for Tuesday, better get on that really....pero estoy muy cansado! Hasta luego!


Comments

  1. Tut you have a short memory, 'keep pedalling' was the advice we gave you when you first learnt to ride without your stabilisers! ;)

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