Make the Countryside Your Playground

On a weekend where British Colombia advertised the fun you can have without a car with a vending machine that dispensed bikes, amongst other things, I went and had my own car-free fun. Well, car-free once I’d driven for an hour to get there at least.

This took the form of trashing round the slightly damp bridleways around Henley on Thames, exploring new options that led off from the routes I know and then going back to do part of it backwards the next day.

Again, this is the sort of riding I love for the fun of spotting a bridleway on a map and linking it up with a load of others to make a loop. Remembering the best bits and the hard climbs and slotting them gradually together as you learn the area. To be perfectly honest it’s something I miss living in London, where the chance to go riding makes the sure-thing of a trail centre destination appealing over time invested exploring areas which might seem unlikely.

While I love hammering a trail centre and the thrill of knowing you’ll be riding great features all afternoon with no sudden meetings with horses, dogs or children walking, it can be less satisfying than knowing you put something together, discovered a hidden, forgotten trail and created your own links. The climbs might be harder, and sometimes unridable, especially if you pick an area where chalk and mud combine in a slippery mess that you can’t grip on, and the downhills aren’t as guaranteed, but that makes a fun section all the more fun, and clearing a hill even better.

With no pressure to smash round it’s also a way to relax and enjoy the riding. You’ll know it’s a good ride as you nail that downhill not caring that one side of it is a garden fence, but loving the rooty drops that noone’s created for you with an eye on health and safety, but are just a natural challenge. All this can happen within easy reach of any number of pub and shops and riding through the local towns covered in mud will make you feel like a little bit of a rebel and a carefree kid.

Then, why not pop out again the next day, and turn left where you’ve always gone right. Find another way round or go the opposite way and fit it all back together ticking off the good bits and discarding the bad. Make the countryside your playground with no-one telling you where to go.





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