A couple of weeks ago I  signed up to the wonderful 30 days of biking, after being inspired by Lois over at Claud and I. I’ve pledged to ride my bike everyday in April 2013 and to share my stories about my rides online.

Today is the first day of April, so here I am!

I kicked off my 30 day challenge in style today. I’m staying with my husband in a little cottage in Penmachno in the Snowdonia National Park. We’ve spent the bank holiday weekend here, chilling out and messing about on our mountain bikes. I’m not sure what his bike is called, but mine is Star Girl, which is partly because of her beautiful handle bar grips and partly because I’m a closet McFly fan!

Having spent the last two days of March playing at Coed-y-Brenin, we decided to kick off 30 days of biking with a ride around the local Penmachno trail. We’d put this off for the first couple of days of our trip because Snowdonia has very much lived up to its name and been covered in snow, but we couldn’t leave here without having a play on the trail on our doorstep.

It was with some trepidation that I layered up this morning: merino base layer, the thickest jersey I own, windproof gilet, Buff, gloves, padded liner, leggings, baggies and, of course, leg warmers! But then I was ready to go:

And crikey it was cold! I’ve never ridden in snow before and I’m not sure it’s something that I’m keen to do again in a hurry! It was quite an experience trying to get enough traction to move forward and to stay on the singletrack. But, I have to admit, I enjoyed it. It was the most challenging and chilly 13km I’ve ever ridden (and pushed in the really deep stuff), but I did it! I even did some of it with a big grin on my face: