New Rider (battery provided)

Welcome Gareth - good luck - you’re gonna have a great time. Nice write up.

I ride all kinds of acoustic road/TT/Gravel/MTB bikes currently; but I’ll have no qualms about adding a motor when my rugby knees finally start to creak a bit too much for it to be fun.

Welcome Gareth, Look into some coaching if you haven't already.

Sup Gareth.
Have fun 👊

Great stuff. I'm sure you're going to have a lot of fun whilst getting fitter.

I'm always happy to help people find new routes, fettle bikes, etc. (based in Stockport area)

Nice article! A new starter to MRBing isn't a perspective we read about often on here.

That's a great write up and based on the fact you want to get out and enjoy the view you'll fit in perfectly. The rest is just noise.
Looking forward to hearing about your adventures.

See you on the trails.

Welcome and good luck. At 125 kg post 12 months of injury and illness I applaud your use of a motor - more fun for the same effort. Hope to see you out there, I'll be wheezing along at the back with a note from Matron doing my best to whittle down to a racy 105kg......

Welcome to the dark side. Just get out there and enjoy it, battery and all, as it’s all about the experience of mud/dirt/slop and even dust. Oh, and get a little bit of coaching, you’d be surprised what you’ll learn in just a few hours and how much more you enjoy it all. All the best with it.

Welcome. Embrace the dirt!

Don't worry about the e-bike thing, no one really cares, and they're heaps of fun anyway. There's something meditative about MTB that I've never really got on a road bike, maybe it's the lack of close passes and traffic fumes?

A nicely written piece Gareth, and welcome to the sport. I started on fat tyres in the '90's, went to road for a few years, and now enjoy my MTB again. I still ride my road bike sometimes, but unless the roads are quiet it's no fun.

I'll second what @leegee and @neilupnorth have said about getting some coaching on core skills. Whilst mountain biking is definitely safer from a motorised traffic standpoint, you will appreciate that the countryside is less predictable when it comes to surfacing. Being able to brake and corner safely on loose or slippery ground will go a long way towards keeping you upright. Being able to unweight and lift the front end of the bike confidently will add to the safety and fun factor too, enabling you to get up or down modest sized steps and obstacles, even if encountered unexpectedly.

Good luck and enjoy.

Just wanted to say, I loved the write-up!

Have an amazing Summer of adventures.

Interesting to hear what it was you've blown the cash on. Make, model etc.

I don't think it can be classed as 'advertising' as theres a fair old few disciplines in the Ebiking world from lighter XC to full fat.

It's a lot of cash isn't it 😆