I rode au-natural the other day. Casting off the shackles of my normal riding conventions I set off unburdened and free into the unknown. It was a challenge, it was painful and exhilarating in equal measure and it felt good.
Don’t worry I did have lycra on. It wasn’t that sort of ‘au-natruale’. I’m talking about natural trails. Mountain biking as it first evolved. Mountain biking at its most pure and elemental. Man and machine alone battling against the tracks and trails that have been carved out by nature and sometimes mans necessity in simpler times before the anyone and envisaged Trail Centres and the job title of ‘Trail Builder’ had yet to be invented.
There was no Trail Centre cafe or way-markers. No trail grading signage to warn me I was about to get out of the my depth or that a jump I probably shouldn’t attempt was just around the corner. The rocky gulley I cannoned down before gently falling off into a clump of bracken hadn’t been designed by somebody to test the limits of the modern trail bike then test ridden by better riders than me. It had been carved into the hillside by prior generations of unknown sheep farmers to move their livestock between the dry-stone wall enclosed fields that surrounded me, then constantly modified and changed by the erosion of the Peak Districts wind and rain (and believe me theres a lot of wind and rain in the Peak District in the UK.)
Theres something very different about riding natural trails, something I cant quite put my finger on, and thats even more of a struggle to convey via a keyboard and the internet. Natural trails are well……. natural. Their challenges are not man-made. Nobody has artfully placed that rock slab to make the perfect take off for the skilful, and no gang of trail builders have compacted the dirt in the turns to make a berm you know will support your tyres as you carve gracefully round it. The rocky steep sided trail I’d gracelessly ping-ponged down from near disaster to actual slow speed crash was unlike anything you’d find in most trail centres. Defying grading it had started as a wideish mellow track across the top of the moors bisecting two fields and in short order had turned into a narrowing and steepening gorge festooned with fist sized loose rocks which had me hanging desperately off the back of the bike trying and failing to look far enough ahead to pick a line which would lead to salvation or even just the gate at the bottom of the track. When I finally succumbed to the inevitable tumble due to lack of balance and skill at least there was a soft landing to be had in a nice convent clump of heather, which is again something you don’t tend to find lining the descents at most UK trail centres.
So what are the main advantages of this ‘au-natruale’ trail riding? Well the views are quite often spectaular. Now don’t get me wrong. The average trail centre isnt usually in the middle of suburbia, but they are often in or around areas of working forrest or old quarries etc, and by their very nature they bear the footprint of manmade interference. The Peak District clump of heather I found myself lying in was surrounded by the typical upland hill farming vista that hasn’t changed much for hundreds of years. Yes of course man has helped shape this ladscape also, but your unlikely to find hazard tape across the trail warning you not to get squahed by a logging machine.
You also see far fewer fellow riders, and this I think can change your riding habits for the better. There’s little temptation to follow the established line worn into the singletrack because there usually isn’t one. You don’t feel pressured to attempt stuff that every other rider seems to manage because it feels almost as if you’re the first person to be attempting that section of trail, and because these trails are shared with walkers, horse riders and sometimes possibly off road vehicles it should make you a bit more circumspect and cautious in your riding. (hopefully)
The disadvantages? well being on your own and possibly in quite a remote and rarely populated place does lend is own challenges. If you have an off and hurt yourself or a mechanical you cant fix you might be in trouble if your caught unprepared. Always, always let somebody know where you are going and roughly what time you should be back. Think about your kit, and be prepared to carry more than usual even if it means you might be a bit slower up a climb. I take a good old fashioned paper map and compass because your Garmin battery might go flat or you might find yourself with little or no mobile phone signal (shock horror!)
I also always have a whistle and foil survival blanket along with a small first aid kit in the bottom of my pack just incase. Lastly, I’d always advise checking the weather forcast before setting off and packing appropriate clothing incase the weather gods decide to let rip when your miles from anywhere at the top of a hill, again better safe than very sorry later.
This is all common sense stuff and may seem over cautious and certainly is if all your planning is a few laps of your local woods, but if your venturing out in the Peak District or the over some of the Lake District passes its best to be over prepared. The extra weight will make you fitter anyway.
So will I be doing more natural riding in the future? hell yes!, but I’ll still be enjoying my favorite trail centres as well for the convience and post ride food if nothing else. Variety as they say is the spice of life…….