I’d just like to say thank you for your patience. I took a group of beginner Scouts for their first foray into mountain biking on what was a perfect riding evening.
Managed a blue run in one hour 25 min, so about 3x my normal pace. Not one Strava warrior barged past, nobody made any rude comments, just polite acceptance of an obvious total novice. And we stopped where possible to allow following riders to enjoy the more technical sections, particularly in 17.
And the best bit; Joe who rode in front of me all the way, went from “this is awful, heeeelp, I don’t’ want to do this…” On the first third, to “I’m not sure I like this” on the second, to “I can do this! I’m enjoying it on the last section” – and we re-rode 1-2 and 17-18 as a finale.
So thanks again, and it was I barking “pedals level, out of the saddle, bend your knees, out of the saddle!!!!” All evening.