No.4 the year 2014 - my first full suspension mountain bike

I was hooked, mountain biking became a part of my life. I had made new friends and said goodbye to my old life. The business was picking up, i was paying the bills, i wasnt drinking anymore, my son loved spending weekends with me, life was finally starting to look good, i could see a way to go, i had a goal. And after riding a friends full suspension bike, that goal was to get one ! 

I had been accepted for finance for the 1st time in my life and i brought a brand new kona tannuki in green. 

I was made up, my first full suspension mountain bike. Trips to degla became a fortnightly thing and even started to find new places like Gisburn. I had started to get confident and soon followed some broken bones. I had had a couple offs involving broken ribs and broken fingers as i tried to ride as fast as others and hit some jumps. Mountain biking was my thing ! It was great i loved it.

And i soon pushed that love onto my now 5 year old and i got him a Spezialized hotrock 20” for his birthday in may. 

Helmet ready, bag packed with sweets ready, bike ready ....... and i took my 5 year old son to degla ! 

I was not prepared for the amount of moaning i was to endure on this day 😞 i had finally started to gain some fitness and was pedalling up the climb myself at degla now at a slow pace. On this day i had to walk 2 bikes up 🙈😆 i think i knew from this point that my skinny tall full of energy son would not be an xc rider just like his dad, we walked. But as soon as it started to point downhill (on the blue) he was terrified ....... but he loved it and wanted to go back. Phew ! And daddy can still ride his bike on Daddy / Son weekends now 😁👍 Bonus ! 

After a great summer i started to get brave and tried to hit some big jumps, back at our local track Bickerstaff there is a 18ft table top, its on a slight angle not straight and prob not the best jump to learn on but it was the only one near us that was a step up from what i was doing, turns out it was too much of a step up for my skill set. Nov 2014 i was hitting the jump and landing on top like normal when someone said just pedal and let go of the fear and hit it, so i did. Not sure how i let go of my fears but this one run towards the jump i felt this was it, im getting over this sucker now. 

I didnt, i went faster and higher than i had ever been but i clipped the landing with my front wheel sideways and got thrown over the bars at an alarming speed towards the floor, 10ft to the floor onto my head and shoulder. 

I woke up with people stood over me and i knew straight away something was badly wrong, i could not move my right arm, at all. It wouldn’t even flinch a couple mm there was no signal from my brain going to my arm or fingers. yes the bike was ok haha but a trip to A&E confirmed i was not, i had a concusion which we knew but i had broken my shoulder twice and broke 3 ribs. The flowing few months involved no bike riding for me 😩 

But i was not deterred away from mountain biking, by this time it was part of me i was hooked and looked forward to the moment i could ride again, November and December was a real struggle for me, running a business that required driving vans and living alone proved to be one of the hardest things to do both physically and mentally. 

That concludes 2014, lets move on to the recovery. What will 2015 bring my way ? 

No.3 Bikes !

So the obsession shall we call it started with a Btwin - rock rider, yep i know haha, hey we all started somewhere before the bug bit us. It had v brakes and non existent front suspension that didnt do much at all. Now this bike was purely so I could ride down the canals and get a bit fitter, i had a 3 year old to keep up with ! At this time i didnt even know trial centres existed or there was people doing races or even a world cup, i had no idea who Steve Peat was and the last time i rode a bike i was 15 years old. 

I was always into watching Xtreme sports when i was a kid and i loved watching x games, i did grow up in Cornwall so skateboarding and surfing i knew there was a scene and knew there was a bmx scene but no idea about mountain bikes. I had one when they first came out when i was young but i since found drink drugs clubs and forgot all about the xtreme sports love i once had. 

I did a few rides down the canal and enjoyed the freedom it gave me the times i did not have my son, gave me something to do and got me out. Then a Facebook friend commented on a page about a mountain bike trail near me being built, i was intrigued as to what i would find and pedalled down for a visit. Now its only a small place, little 5 min loop and 2 short jump lines. But i was hooked, i was scared Haha. I knew straight away i needed a better bike ! At least i needed disc brakes as i had never dealt with gravity along the canal. 

The rock rider went and luck would have it that the business was picking up through the week and i could just about afford a giant trance hardtail, it was great, the brakes worked and the suspension actually moved a little. But i thought it was too big in medium for me, i am 5,7. I sold it and got a small frame which felt better for me at that time, more control and more fun. The adventures started from there as on this little local trail i met “proper mountain bikers” they were on full sus bikes and they could go much faster than me, some of them could even jump the 18ft table top jump (funny story to come later about this jump) and these people told me about these places called trail centres. What was this ? A place like this but bigger ? That sounds like fun. 

A couple Sunday’s later i didnt have Luca so off i went on my first trip to Llandegla (degla) i was advised to do the blue as i had never rode anything like this before. Now if you have been reading the previous 2 posts you will know that i am not fit at all, i am overweight and spent 15 years drinking doing no kind of exercise at all. Well the climb ............ i pretty much walked 😩 but then the blue is mostly downhill back to the centre. I frigging loved it ! Being battered about on my hardtail, going to quick on a corner, being bucked off the bike on a roller (i had no idea about riding positioning or anything) wow what an adrenaline rush this was. before i knew it i was back at the car park and gutted the ride was over, it was 12:30pm so decided i would have my butties and give the red a go. Why not the blue was pretty easy and fun and i had been told about a fire road back to the top.

Dinner eaten and up the fire road i went (walking again its just as steep) now the red was a little more bumpy but i was loving it, between puffing for some kind air in my lungs and wishing the aches and pains would go away. It seemed to go on forever, surely i was near the end now ? How long is this trail ? I hit Julias trail, those who have been will know the climb that awaits, yes its a climb pretty much back to the trail centre. I was dead ! I walked pretty much all off this uphill section and asked myself why did i do 2 runs 🙄 lesson learnt but finished the day with a very strange feeling, i was absolulty knackered, could barley get my dripping wet clothes off to get changed, struggled to get the bike back in the car and felt like i had been run over by a train. But ....... but i also felt good, felt like i had achieved something, remebered the adrenalin pumping as i went downhill faster than i had ever been on a bike, well fast for me at the time. I was hooked ! That was it, i had found my hobby, what i thought was a hobby anyway, a year or so on i found out this was an obsession, an expensive one at that 🙈😆 

No.2 Introduction part 2

Welcome back guys n gals, today i am adding the next chapter to my introduction and a little more about how i got to where i am today. This is a little insight into my beginnings and how i ended up biting the mtb and adventure bug.

So where were we ? Ive told you about how i wasted 15 years of my life being out drinking and clubbing for over 15 years, well lets fast forward to age 35 where it all started to change for me.

I was working for a transport company on nights, 12hr shifts where we did nearly all the work in the first 2/3 hrs and spent the rest of the night playing games and being on facebook while waiting for drivers to come in for de brief. One night i got chatting to a girl i had copped off with on a night out Dj,ing, turned out she was pregnant and bored (she was also the night owl clubbing type) and we got chatting most nights. We met up for a coffee and things just kind of went from there. We were in a relationship, she was 6 months pregnant and not in contact with the farther (he was an idiot and didnt want contact) now i never thought i would ever want anything to do with children, the idea was horrifying and always said it wasnt for me. But here i was in a relationship with a nice girl who was 6 months pregnant, it just felt kind of right ! Which scared me as well as it wasnt me. 

I became very attached to the idea of this little baby and just fell into the role with ease, 3 months later i was daddy to a little baby boy. A lot of my friends and even some of my family thought this was a bad idea and asked what was i getting myself into, but it felt right, i don’t know why it just did. Now for the following year i was still part in the scene of clubbing and Dj ing which caused problems obviously. I guess i was scared to let go of my old life and it was routine for me so found it hard to make such a drastic change in such a short amount of time. 

:One from just after Luca was born, his mum is in the background. Rare night out together as my Nan came to stay with us. 

:Here is a little Luca and myself watching our friend Sean play a few beats to a mixed crowd in a pub garden in the summer. 

I finally decided that the old me had to change and this little boy needed a dad he could rely on, i walked away from my old life, m old friends (most were not really friends more just party associates. Now dont get me wrong i had some fantastic dj experiences in the Uk and abroad but i never had any will power to leave the drink and drugs alone. So with that it was time to remember the good times and start a new chapter, i gave my half of the record label to my partner and from there it all died off. 

Here i am a new man (well thought i was, it was the start anyway) and it was time to get my shit together, i started a business as was miserable in the job i was in and it was not long before the relationship fell apart. Dilemma time !!! What do i do now ? I have gave up my old life to be this boys dad and the relationship with his mum is gone (reasons i shall not go into on here but we were both to blame ! Not what i said at the time but split ups are never your fault are they :( haha) So i was lost, hurt heart broken and lost in the world with what to do next, i carried on with the business the best i could and found myself a new home and started from scratch again. Now things were hard, new business ment hardly any money coming in, and everytime i spoke with his mother all hell broke loose and we argued. It was the worst year of my life but even though everyone told me to walk away i just couldnt, we even got back together for a couple months but it wasnt working. 

WHY WHY WHY ??? Is all i could ask, why would god (if there is one) let this happen, a man who is stuck in a rut of drink and drugs gives it all up to be a dad for it to all fall apart ? But i stuck by, i stuck with the plan of being his dad. I grew up without mine and didnt have a great relationship with my step dad so I wasnt going to be the one who walked away, no chance this is it i am making the decision to dedicate my life to his. 

Well, good news. After roughly 12 months or so me and his mum finally started to get along, she had met a guy who was nice and we all got along. These days we get along great, like one big family. But it was that moment that i truelly started to become a proper dad, he came to stay every weekend and he was out of nappies and able to wipe his own bum, he could run and kick a ball and we started to enjoy the outdoor life. Going the woods was a weekend thing, wellies some mud and a big stick and he was happy ! And so was i, for the first time in my life it had a purpose it had a future and it had an unconditional love. Everytime he called me daddy my healt melted a bit. 

And that brings us to mounting biking ! Now i didnt really know what mountain biking was but i was soon to find out !!! :) ...... ive just had goosebumps writing that sentence and i am going to jump straight into writing the next chapter ..... Bikes ! 

No.1 Welcome to my blog

Well hello

1st time blogger so let me give you a little introduction to my story so far .....

I was born 1975 .... skip forward 16 years and i left school pretty much as a nobody, an overweight short nobody with no idea on what i was going to do with this life i had in front of me. I lacked confidence, skills, abilities, and was useless at most things i tried to do. (Dont worry the happy parts come later in the story)

I had a strange relationship with my parents and mainly grew up at my grandparents house so when i left school it was not long before i found myself out in the big wide world on my own. I was currently in the North West after growing up in Cornwall and when i left for the big wide world I ended up at my uncles in Bournemouth and started working in a kitchen as a pot wash but soon became a chef, not great for someone who was already overweight and loves food :) ha.
A year later i was back in Cornwall at my Nan’s trying my hand as hairdresser this time, why i dont know i guess i was just going with the flow at whatever came my way, after some time i ended back in the North West again as a chef and i guess this is where i felt life went in the wrong direction.

I got into clubbing and drinking as you do at the age of 18 and decided i wanted to be a Dj (when dj’s were geeks and carried vinyl records around, long before it became the Kool thing to do) and i was doing the whole get drunk, off my face, pretend life is great then complain on Monday morning i had to go to work ! A lot of times I didn’t and it was at this stage of life i had many many jobs, mainly because my weekend antics stopped me from being any good at anything during the week. Its funny because i see people do the same thing and they dont seem to see it, its them, its not life thats kicking them in the arse giving them the bum deal all the time it is all down to them. It is only now i can look back at my life and see i was that idiot that believed life hated me and why was i always ill blah blah blah.
I should also note i became type 1 diabetic when i was 20 so this kind of weekend behaviour was pretty bloody stupid for someone like me but i did it anyway, looking back i am lucky to be alive to be fair. I was a 1st class tool ! Didnt listen to anyone didn’t listen to the doctors and didnt listen to my body.

This style of life carried on for 15 years, yes i had some amazing times Dj’ing and i did pretty well but not money wise. The money was always gone by end of the weekend and it was back to work to pay the rent. This was my life, my routine, 15 years of the same thing on repeat - weekend started on a Friday, Dj fri night sat night with after parties sometimes lasting all day until i had to go back out again the following evening, Monday complain life is shit. Tuesday the same, Wednesday say im never doing this again, Thursday start to feel normal and hey ho we are back at Friday and do it all again .......... for 15 years !

So i am going to leave this post here and continue another day with the next chapter of my life - the start of something great !

Yes we will eventually get some to some mtb stories soon ;) i have lots to share, pictures, videos and some proper blogs that are not just a page of me blabbing on ha. But for know i will say chow and leave with a smile on my face as i look forward to a more possitive post for the next chapter and paint the picture of how we got to today.

Thanks for reading
Rene