Well it has been a while since on my trusty steel trail monster, but after a couple of rides I am still loving it, which is good to know! Must admit it is still taking a bit of adjusting to the traveling forwards and not standing sideways but I suppose that comes with the winter season territory. 

So far I have ridden; Drumlanrigg, Mabie, and a couple of Lake district routes which I can’t remember the names…see photo above! Anyway, on my second ride back, riding with some of my best riding buddies, we decided to do the ever fateful “One more run”, which resulted in Grave going down on the first corner. “You ok?” I asked, to which he followed, “Not sure”, picking up the bike and riding off still on top form. Now this might not seem that odd to most people but for us to hear him say that meant that there was probably something wrong as he normally just bounces and grins, but like I say he carried on riding seemingly unhindered. Eventually Proudy got past me at one of the gates, filming with the GoPro he followed Grave and struggled to keep up with Grave’s pace down the Laterigg decent. Getting to the bottom and then realising that he was hurt more than he first assumed! Most people would have reconsidered things back up at the top! This is where “Passion Beyond Reason” come from with the Jackrabbitt crew. We took him to A&E only for them to tell him/us what we already expected, a broken clavicle. Congratulations you are now a true mountain biker!

We made 3 fatal mistakes that day. 1) I told everyone that they aren’t true mountain bikers until they have broken their collarbone, 2) Never say “One Last/More Run” and 3) Never say “I prefer the loose stuff”
Lessons learned once again!