Big "Thanks" to Tracy who persuaded me to do the AQR Ladies day at Sherwood Pines. I was worried that my level of beginner was quite unlike anybody else’s and that I would be out of my depth. I would not have done it without Tracys persistence and with hind sight that would have been a real shame because it was great fun and I learnt some good stuff that I now need to get out and put into practice. Organized by Kate Potter and Ian Potter the day was broken down into riding and skills in the morning and some basic maintenance and bike set up in the afternoon. Everybody went on a short ride together and then split us into smaller groups according to ability, you could choose which level to go with and nobody had to do anything that they didn’t feel comfortable with.
I went with the beginner’s group there were 8 of us and it was fab, everyone was very lovely and very supportive. We covered the basics of ascending and descending and the best position to be in on the bike. Kate wanted us to form a relationship with our bikes and I definitely bonded with mine when in the best ascending position. My bike is very definitely mine now. It was great to see Joolze and Carol (Armstrong, once the champion of women’s MTB at Specialized) who both made knowing noises and winced when discussing the ascending position, they didn’t think to tell me about it a year ago when trying to get me on the bike though - did they!
Back tomorrow to finish AQR piece.......