I’m 6ft and wear 33 inch leg trousers, I have a large AM9, it’s a big change from my last bike (2010 Gary fisher Roscoe).

I’m very happy with it, I wish I gone for a slightly bigger dropper post, the 125 is not quite enough.

You’ll be happy, what colour did you get?

I was able to buy my AM9 from Bird via Cyclescheme through work. That has helped bring the price down.

Loving the bike too.

Dinton Pastures is nice for a walk, coffee and playground depending on weather and kids age.

Also Reading climbing centre is good fun if weather is rubbish (depending on kids age)

Walking by the river between Caversham and Reading Bridges (On Caversham side) is good if weather nice.

Friends with kids always seemed to enjoy the Vyne.

https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/the-vyne/whats-on

I’ve styaed at lots of places in the Fort William area for kayaking over the last 15 years.

This place is inbetween Nevis range and Glencoe plus has good drying rooms and self catering plus bar / restuarant on site.

http://www.inchree.co.uk/chalets/

Was skiing at Nevis Range last Saturday. Hope you have fun.

Nice one. Singletrack.

I feel I can speak from my ample experience on this subject. Hope it helps.

Before I moved to Scotland, I was in a long distance relationship between Reading and Fort William. I have used every method of travel between the two; car, plane, train, sleeper train(Chair), coach and sleeper coach(bunk).

I also once drove to Glencoe & back to do the Rat race Coast to Coast in a long weekend.

My personal advice would be fly to Glasgow on Friday night, stay in the Holiday in opposite the airport and then hire and drive to Kinlochleven.

Do not get the sleeper train (chair) you will be in a rough state and have a terrible weekend.

Hope that helps.

Enter some small local races, they’re usually cheaper and more relaxed atmosphere.

Trail running is fun, less focus on mile splits and more focus on gettin out.

If you ride trail centres, many have walking loops that you can run. Allowing you to do both on a day out.

Coed y Brenin even has waymarked running loops.

http://runcoedybrenin.com/trails/

Don’t worry about distance to start with, try running your local mtb loops as well.

Have fun.

I’ve stayed at both these places and they have been great for smelly wet kayakers. Good drying rooms too.

10 mins South of Fort William http://www.inchree.co.uk/

North of Fort William in Roybridge (closer to Laggan and Nevis Range) http://www.thelittlehouses.co.uk/

I went in September 2010, I had a good time. If you’ve done the Malaga trip you’ll know the general vibe.

Transfer takes about 1.5 / 2 hours from Malaga.

Trails were dusty, rocky singletrack.

We had one day of total deluge rain but still rode.

Most days involved some van uplift and at least 30 minutes steep fireroads to start, so leave the full face at home.

Everything was spiky or rocky, pads were good to avoid the vegitation as much as crashes.

Have fun.

Having done a lot of kayaking in my 20’s(mostly white water) and taught a lot of people to paddle through a uni club. I wouldn’t worry about getting too fit, this will come in time.

Being fitter will help but if you’re already riding a bit then you should be ok.

As others have said I recommend a few planks and some light stretching.

Try and be disciplined to warm up before hand and stretch out in the evenings. The position of sitting in the boats can be uncomfortable when you start.

Have a great time, paddling is a great sport and combines great with mountain bikes. Too wet to ride, then paddle.

Practice a short run bike run, 2km run, 4km bike, 2km run will be enough to get the feeling.

As mentioned above the change from running to riding can be moreover painful than expected.

Have fun.

As a biker who came to running late and now seems to run more than bike, here are my tips.

Be kind to your body, if it hurts stop. Find out why and fix it.

Also try and do at least 10 body weight lunges and squats and some planks a couple of times a week. The extra flexibility and strength will help a lot.

You may find this quite painful initially as I found that I had strong quads (front of leg) and weak glutes (your behind) from cycling.

Best of luck and have fun. Also vasaline or sport lube for longer distances or if it’s raining will help.