Date: Wednesday, 1st April 2015

Where: Glentress 

Conditions: sun, showers and strong winds… all at the same time!

After returning home from what may well be my last snowboarding trip of the season, in the pretty spring-like Alps, the only consolation was the prospect of getting out for some spring shredding on the mountain bike. Imagine then, the irony of my first opportunity being thwarted by a blizzard that put down more snow in an hour than we had all week in the Alps! I’ve lived in Scotland long enough to not be surprised by anything the weather gods throw at us, but that just seemed cruel.

On checking the weather forecast the next morning, it looked like it was going to be marginally better so we decided to take our chances and head to Glentress.

This time we were in luck and despite a few light showers and strong winds, the weather was infinitely better than the previous day, and we even had some prolonged spells of sunshine.

It had been around three weeks since I’d managed to get out on the bike, which is quite a bit of time off for me, so I expected my fitness and skills to have suffered a little, but other than feeling it in the lungs a little more than usual, I was fine. In fact, I was actually riding pretty well and managed to nail a few things I’d been struggling with prior to the break. I managed both of the challenging step-ups sections that had become my nemesis, a tricky skinny set up that I invariably come off at some point, and felt like I was flying over the jumps. I also got a couple of personal records on Strava. It made me think that maybe having a bit of time out every now and again is no bad thing.

Having said that, I’m planning to get out on the bike as much as possible over the coming weeks, starting with trips to Gisburn and possibly North Wales next week. I just hope the weather starts to improve soon. Surely spring must be just around the corner now?!