This week Michael turns 13. It doesn’t seem like 13 years ago that he was a newborn, but there you go. To celebrate we went over to Llandegla and rode the red and the black routes. The black’s relatively new.  There’s plenty of berms and fast downhill singletrack, plus the corking views of the Clwyds.

BUT.

Am I the only one that gets irritated by man-made trails covered in jumps? I like riding rock gardens, roots, drop offs, etc as much as the next man but why would I want to continually launch myself over a double or a bloody tabletop? They just mean you’ve got to slow down and roll over them.

I’m not the only one either. Loads of people riding lovely singletrack SPOILED by stupid mounds of earth that are there to earn you a ride in a helicopter.

Perhaps I should just learn how to jump and get a pair of jeans that hang down off my arse.