I’ve just got back from the biggest mission ever, I’m sure the army dont do training like this. I don’t know why I didnt think of the snow being a problem but it was, I couldn’t bear to not ride dirt for any longer and if this snow isnt going to stop I guess you just have to get on with it. I went riding today with my bro Alex to llandegla in north Wales which is about an hour away and takes about an hour to get round the black run. Its usually a nice little loop, dead smooth and perfect for the hardtail with not to much climbing, 2 laps of the 21 km black route should be in order for some good training. Today however the snow was unreal, about 8 or 10 inches thick standard and deeper in those bits you didnt need it to be, the trails have been closed recently which made it worse with the snow not being compacted down anywhere but you’ve still got to give it a go right?

Wrong, I cant believe we didnt turn back, the first climb which is probably about 20 minutes usually took atleast an hour and then the downhills well frankly it was about as hard, fast and tiring to go downhill as it was to go uphill. After getting to the bottom of the biggest dh section and pushing up the hill i was definately about 1cm away from “hitting the wall”. It ended up being quite funny once we eventually made it back to the car after about 3 hours and definately an experience, good to get out on the bike and try and ride in a straight line, I thought i had straight lines mastered! Back to step one i guess.