First venture off-road!

After riding around on the road for a couple of weeks - I feel pretty comfortable with my bike set-up and the gear changes are starting to come a little more naturally for me. I felt today was a good time to venture off-road onto a local fire trail.

Our suburb borders with the Blue Mountains National Park - and I noticed during my street rides a fire trail which continues on from one of the dead end streets. The sign indicates it is a 1.5km trail - so nice and short for a first ride, although my intention was to just ride as far as I felt comfortable with and test the bike and my skills on a fire trail.

The first 500m of the track were all downhill, and there were some 'drainage humps/contours' about every 50m (I am almost 100% sure there is more appropriate MTB lingo for these drains, which I am sure I will learn in the near future). My many years of experience dirt biking in rugged mountain terrain immediately came back to me, and I easily flew along this trail with confidence and I even attempted a couple of little jumps over the drains (never got the back wheel off the ground though). It was very clear to me that this was going to be a sport I would love, and getting off the roads was where the real thrill was to be found.

Of course - given it was the evening and not long until dark, and my fitness, while improving, was still not great - I decided not to venture too far downhill to leave myself an uphill slog home. I was relatively surprised that I was able to ride back up the track without stopping. Improving my use of the gears, staying in the saddle and having the seat position correct have made uphill riding much easier, and I feel as if my fitness is on the improve.

Once back at the start of the track - I felt as if I could do it again... so I did! It was great - and really motivates me to get fitter and lose weight so I can go further and faster. I know I only rode about 2km off road, which is a tiny distance. But it is a start! And I was very happy with it. I will be returning to this little trail which is right at my front door and riding it to the end in the next few days for sure!