Today was a good day. It involved, tea, bikes, friends and adventure. You can’t really ask for more than that on a Saturday, can you?

The Mr and I took a trip over the bridge to the Forest of Dean for a much anticipated ride – my first one with Sara from the Bristol Bikellas since our infamous trip to Cwmcarn three months ago! To make it even more exciting, I finally got to meet Ruth from the super new clothing company, Trail 42, who I’ve been talking to a lot on Twitter recently.

We started with a nice cup of tea at the Pedalabikeaway cafe, before heading off for a trip around the Verderers Trail. It was so good to be back out on the bike with Sara and to be joined by Ruth too. The trail was pretty busy today, with people trying to make the most of the last few weekends before winter. I prefer it when it’s quieter, but it does make me happy to see so many people out and about on bikes, keeping active and having fun.

After a stop for lunch and a goodbye to Ruth, the rest of us decided to try the downhill routes. The Mr’s done these on a number of occasions, but for Sara and me it was new terrain. We decided to save the £2 it would have cost to take the minibus to the top and pedaled/pushed our bikes up instead. And then the fun really began!

We headed off down the Corkscrew run, and really enjoyed the rush of adrenalin as we sped over the table tops and along the swooping singletrack descent. We did this section a couple of times, to build confidence and have a play. I was nervous about falling on my thumb, but it didn’t happen and I ended up really enjoying this section.

Then came the scarier bit – we joined the Sheepskull run back down to the bike centre. This a pretty rooty section, which had me worried. I enjoyed bits, but freaked in a couple of places too. I want to go back though, to give it another go now that I know which lines work better. I think I’d enjoy it much more a second, third or fourth time round!

All in all, it was a great day with good friend. And I’m feeling proud of myself for trying my first proper downhill stuff. Problem is, I want to go back tomorrow!