I so wanted to cycle with Matt & John on Saturday (was thinking of cycling over to Matt’s (probably 12-15 miles), doing the 25 with him & John, then cycling back) but couldn’t as I had a meeting with Swindon’s new Community Cycling Development Officer.

Got to the Croft MTB Trail just after 11am to have a look round the trail before meeting Anna at 12. The conditions were minging, thick sticky mud everywhere. Managed to wear myself out before Anna got there and was wheezing away – I think I’ve some sort of lurgy trying to take hold and I’m trying not to let it and that forms part of my excuse for a poor performance .

Anyway, Anna turned up on time and I showed her round the trail, stopping occasionally to tell her bits about it (she’d not ridden it before) and catch my breath.

At the top of the “hill” we stopped and looked at our bikes. No wonder I was really struggling, my wheel was literally twice the size due to all the accumulated mud, it had been rubbing on the frame and looked like something a potter had just turned on a wheel. The rear mech was the size of a melon and the chain a black/brown sticky slimey worm.

I got a stick and tried to remove some of the clag. Probably removed 3 or 4 kilos of mud, which is about a third of what my MTB weighs normally!

We finished part of the trail and went to the car park to see if Phil was there. Anna took the opportunity to try and rid her brand new bike of some more mud whilst I thrust Jaffa Cakes on us both. With no sign of Phil yet we did the last km or so that we’d missed out.

After that we met up with Phil and discussed the trail, sought Anna’s thoughts on it (which are very positive!) and also had a bit more of a chat about the sort of training I’m going to be offering this summer.

Anna’s job is to get people that don’t currently ride or don’t actively ride to get into the sport, in whatever discipline. I have to say that she is obviously very passionate about her new role and really wants to see more people riding. I think the (non)cyclists of Swindon are going to benefit from having her and I wish her all the best.

With Anna’s role in mind, the MTB courses that I’m going to run for her are going to be intro days rather than skills or intermediate courses. So all I need do now is come up with a course content plan!

I’m thinking of starting with an introduction to a MTB, the difference between easy/hard gears (keeping it very simple) and making sure everyone’s bike is at least vaguely set up for them. We’ll then do bike safety checks and paperwork (both required for the purposes of my insurance).

Then a ride for 10 miles or so with tuition en route. I’d like to cover going downhill, uphill and maybe how to do small ups/downs (kerbsized). We’ll cover gears/brakes/position as we go as well as some tips about where you are legally allowed to ride in the countryside that surrounds us.

At the end we’ll have Q&A, I’ll show/explain some of the stuff I carry on the trail and (if no-one got one whilst out) I’ll show how easy it is to fix a puncture, even on the trail. Am convinced there are a lot of bikes left in sheds/garages as they’ve got a puncture and people think it’s hard to put right, or worse they think they need to take it to a shop. Might try and get myself an old 26″ wheel to demonstrate on.

Whole thing should take 3-4 hours.

Any training course needs a goal – and mine is to show people that we’ve some good trail riding right on our doorstep and to give them pointers on how to ride it in an enjoyable way.

Anyone any thoughts/suggestions?

MTB got a quick wash off when I got home. Being a complete spanner I forgot to take my super duper new portable pressure washer to the trail with me. Not sure Anna is going to forgive me for that as she was heading home on the train with an filthy bike.

Today was meant to be a ride of some description but I just didn’t feel up to it so went to look at a new car instead (Volvo C30 if anyone is interested).