After being bored to tears for years about mountain biking, I thought if you cant beat them; join them, so Sarah and I decided to give it a go.

We signed up for Tracy and Emma’s women’s beginners course, which took place on Saturday 27 March.

I was more than a little apprehensive when I met 9 other women who all looked like keen cyclists and had much more experience than Sarah and I but it was too late! There was no going back.

The 3-hour course was all about learning the proper technique and the skills involved. It was really informative and enjoyable.

Thank goodness we got a lift to the top of that hill! I don’t think I would have made it.

Anyway, 3 hours and a couple of sore bums later we survived and have now got the mountain biking bug, so watch out for a couple of wobbly and red faced new starts in the weeks to come.

Even if you are not into mountain biking, it’s worth the trip just for The Hub Café. It’s got the best and biggest cakes you’ll ever eat!

Janis

Like Jan I was fed up of hearing about mtbing all the time from the lads. When Jan decided to book for the beginners course I thought I would give it a shot and shut the lads up for a change.

When we got there and had a look around at the other "beginners" it got a bit worrying seeing as most of them were cyclists and had on all the right gear etc.... I looked at Jan and for a brief moment we thought about just skulking off and sitting in the cafe for the next 3 hours eating cake but being the brave girls that we are we decided to give it a go since we were about to get in the land rover and the mountain bikes were already on the back of the trailer.(my poor mountain bike hadn't seen daylight for 3 years so I thought I had better let it have a go on the trail).

Once settled in the land rover and realising that we all felt the same way - a bit scared!!! we soon felt that we could conquer Glentress, or at least a little bit of it.

All in all it was a great day out. The weather was brilliant and I now know the correct techniques for mtbing. Emma and Tracy were great tutors and us girls are ready to tackle the next mtb course, learning to JUMP - with your mountain bike of course.

For any other females out there thinking they would quite enjoy the beginners course keep logging on to this site and we will keep you updated with the course dates. The next beginners course is not due to take place until September 2004. Maybe see you there.

Sarah