I know this may sound like kids’ stuff to some of you seasoned offroaders out
there, but yesterday I nervously ventured out on my first ride off-road… and
it was awesome!!!
I found a quiet section of trail in a local wood, eventually freemounted (I’m
only hitting about one out of 2 on the flat so it’s about one in 5 offroad), and
I was straight into it in no time.
The trail was pretty flat, with just a few lump & bumps, small tree branches,
large pine cones etc. and I managed to negotiate it reasonably well… until I
hit my first “big” tree root (about 2 inches, but it looked enormous to me at
the time). After dusting myself down, I got back on and after about 3 more
attempts made it over the offending root.
Apart from a few other minor spills, the rest, as they say, is history.
I was only out for less than an hour and probably did less than a mile in
distance, but the sense of achievement and sheer enjoyment was amazing. Even in
that short time, I found that I was learning to adjust pretty quickly to correct
minor wobbles etc.
So the bottom line is : if you’ve never tried off-road then go for it!
P.S. I’ve only got a 20 inch wheel, so I guess I would have struggled on mure
bumpy terrain, but I guess the small wheel did make it easier to do quick
adjustments.