It's been a while since I managed to find time to post up on here. First we had a pretty amazing start to 2011 here on Tenerife, with lots of mountain bike riders coming to sample the DH trails here on the island.? We had a brilliant time and even managed to find some time to add a few new DH routes to the list along the way.? This winter I was ably assisted by Tine Filiplic, a young guy from Slovenia who had spent the last 18 months learning to ride DH with some great riders and on some great trails across in Whistler and in some of the parks and destinations in the USA. Tine brought with him bags and bags of enthusiasm to get out and ride and with his fun character was a great hit with me and the clients, although we won't talk about his musical tastes. Those who were here and sampled it will know what I'm talking about!

So it was a pretty lazy winter for me in comparison to previous seasons, spending a fair bit of time acting as minibus driver and not a lot of time getting on the bike.

Regular trips to the Bike Park helped to keep me sane and in practice (although maybe not in shape). It was here that I found myself, with some encouragement, starting to push my riding a little more again. Without realising I had started to become a little stale, getting used to riding the regular trails and developing my skills enough to get me down those trails quickly and safely, but nor really pushing things as I had in my earlier years. In fact, I found myself stopping at things that I would have just gone and ridden only a few years ago. Maybe that is something that happens to everyone in Mountain Biking at some time in their riding lives? But for me, it was probably a mixture of being comfortable on my trails and also having that little angel (or is it a devil?) on my shoulder, reminding me that I have commitments to not only myself and my family here, but also to the paying guests who rely on me to show them along and down the trails safely. I can't do that if I'm in a heap on the floor or for a couple of months after if I'm in a plaster cast!

But with my newly refreshed confidence I found myself taking on some of the obstacles in the bike park that I wouldn't have considered only a short time ago. Hitting these and reminding myself that actually "yes I can do that" brought a real refreshing feeling to my riding.

So that's it I'm all "stoked" and "pumped" about riding again. Thanks to all who came and visited this winter and thanks to Tine for his hard work on the trails.

Right I'm off to listen to some Mariah Carey.