Just been up to Dalby Forest with the family to visit Jonathan, Judith and Saul and do some riding. On Saturday we had a ride all together with the little ones on their “no pedal” Isla Bikes. On Sunday, after a play on the jumps at Dixon’s Hollow, Nial, Jonathan and me headed off to the Dalby Downhill track. Bit of a whiskey hangover for Jonathan and me after our tasting session on Saturday night with his bottle of cask strength single malt.

The DH track is short in distance but with it’s mainly smooth surface, tight lines and drop offs it’s great fun. We managed to scare ourselves and feel good about our riding – I love the way that there is always another level to progress to in your riding, with stages of fear and elation to keep the buzz going. Anyway it’s worth a visit if you’re riding at Dalby and like that sort of thing. You’ll find it off the red route dropping away through a couple of marked posts! Sorry I can’t be clearer, but I was just following Jonathan.

Nial managed to break the travel adjust on his forks and had to ride the track with them set at their lowest setting of 95mm. Even though he was hitting his bash ring on some of the drops, it didn’t seem to slow him down much. Blooming 11 year olds – I was riding the Cannondale Moto, a Singletrack test bike, which helped me keep up with him….just!

Jonathan is one of the organisers of Single Speed UK 2009 and from what I heard it’s going to be a great event with a cool course.

Today Greta (4 years) has just ridden her Isla Bikes Cnoc 14 – no stabilizers – for the first time unassisted. That makes me a proud dad all round.

Off to Gisburn Forest tomorrow with TimK and Benji for more downhill progression.