Salar
A fish out of water
- Location
- Gorllewin Cymru
There was nothing much on the TV last night, so I did a search on Amazon Prime and up popped Mountain Biking - The Untold British Story.
It's a fascinating story of how it all began over here, particularly for those of a certain age who were there when it started . If you can, watch it, or get the DVD you won't be disappointed.
Starting with Geoff Apps and his "Range Riders" looking like big 29ers with contributions from Gary Fisher, items on Muddy Fox , the professional invasion from Peugeot etc., it certainly brought some memories back to me when I got seriously involved in mountain biking in the 80's.
No suspension or sloping top tubes in them days, we'd spend hours going over OS maps finding new routes and bridleways to ride.
I remember what must have been one of my first ventures, on a disused railway track which ran parallel to a minor road, it was rough and overgrown.
A police car pulled up and a young female officer got out, she looked at the track, then the road, then the track again and just shook her head, wondering why I wasn't on the road.
I might be wrong, but it seems to be all downhill now with bikes costing thousands, the grass roots of the pastime now long gone.
Anyway enough rambling and reminiscing, watching that makes me want to get back out in the forests, remembering how fit I was, way back then, the slicks are coming off and the knobblies are going back on.
So if you see an oldie off road in Wales on a fully rigid blue Kona, give me a push please.
It's a fascinating story of how it all began over here, particularly for those of a certain age who were there when it started . If you can, watch it, or get the DVD you won't be disappointed.
Starting with Geoff Apps and his "Range Riders" looking like big 29ers with contributions from Gary Fisher, items on Muddy Fox , the professional invasion from Peugeot etc., it certainly brought some memories back to me when I got seriously involved in mountain biking in the 80's.
No suspension or sloping top tubes in them days, we'd spend hours going over OS maps finding new routes and bridleways to ride.
I remember what must have been one of my first ventures, on a disused railway track which ran parallel to a minor road, it was rough and overgrown.
A police car pulled up and a young female officer got out, she looked at the track, then the road, then the track again and just shook her head, wondering why I wasn't on the road.
I might be wrong, but it seems to be all downhill now with bikes costing thousands, the grass roots of the pastime now long gone.
Anyway enough rambling and reminiscing, watching that makes me want to get back out in the forests, remembering how fit I was, way back then, the slicks are coming off and the knobblies are going back on.
So if you see an oldie off road in Wales on a fully rigid blue Kona, give me a push please.
