Well well, after buying myself a new skid lid (guess which one) to make up for the embarrassment of my old 80’s “purple helmet”, I ventured into the Peaks.

Now, as many of you will know, I managed to have a laugh going up and down a ‘psycho frequented’ canal basin. Well if I thought that was fun, I had obviously been worrying far far far too much about university and forgetting what fun really feels like.

Today I rode up a mountain and then fully bezzed it down to the bottom again. It was amazing. It has been too long since I last experienced true exhilaration, since the adrenaline was pumping, since I was in pain but knew the moment I gave into it, I would find myself in a whole lot more.

Flying down that mountain has made me realise that a good hobby is just what I need. All the time in the gym trying to get fit came to nothing today when I thought I was going to puke on the way up. It is impossible to compare doing 45 minutes on a ‘hill climb’ cycling machine with the real thing. I know this sounds really obvious when written down, but doing it for real is just so many more times demanding. I was embarrassed at my own wheezing and panting.

So tomorrow I’m going to yet again fix my bike. I now have the full use of my brothers tools and I intend to put them to good use.

Yes, my forearms got shaken to high heaven and back, yes I was a wreck of a man when I reached the top, but hold the headlines, I loved it.

The best bit about all this is that I am currently Rubbish at mountain biking. I worry when it comes to riding down the crazily steep bits, at high speed I have an aneurism every time I see a little rock in my way, and my health had been found wanting.

This means that there is so much more to come. When I’m confident enough to just go for the neck breakingly steep bits, when high speed is second nature and when my health is such that I don’t wheeze like a donkey after 10 minutes. Oh man, when this day comes, I’m gonna have to buy a new bike!