Last week I slotted in another ride on an old, old, FMFT favourite.
The singletrack trails around the top end of Bristol’s Ashton Court Estate were where I cut much of my mountain biking teeth back in the days when they were less official and an open secret amongst the riding population. We’d tear along them and race each other over our favourite sections with a clear idea of which way we liked to ride them. Today the trails have been formalised and extended as the Timberland Trail and are as good, if not better than I remember.
The conditions were perfect considering the recent weather. The top layer of the ground had generally thawed leaving grip not far below, but an awesome spraying and technical top layer. In other places there was still snow and the mix of conditions made it fun and muddy. I finished covered in mud, which was another reminder of trips out on the bike when I was a lot younger.
Had I left it a couple of days then the thaw might have made the mud less rideable, and a few days before it could have been too snowy to trust some of the tight off-camber corners, but as it was it showed everything that city centre singletrack can and should be. If anything makes me miss living somewhere outside London it's the chance to have riding like this almost literally on your doorstep.
In case I was missing London too much the ride even included that common London obstacle, a crime scene. Not really what you expect on a mountain bike trail, but unfortunately there due to the murder of Joanne Yates over the Christmas period.
A
No comments:
Post a Comment