Chris's Adventure Rides

I hate doing the same ride twice. Well at least twice in the same week. As a result, I am constantly trying to find and plan new rides that I have never done. 

I have maps with me on my bike computer and I look for the most obscure way to get to places. My friends have called these rides 'Chris's adventure rides' and some are not so fond of them as, on the odd occasion, I get lost and end up going way further than planned. The adventure ends up being an ordeal. 

Having a mountain bike means that I can also plan some epic adventure rides. There are trails and tracks not far from the city centre that allow you to do endless hours off road in the middle of no where. 

The only problem with planning these MTB adventure rides, is that the maps are very limited and whilst they indicate that there is a trail, in real-life that trail may be over grown and straight up a vertical wall. 

Today, I experienced one such trail. We took a small 'shortcut' down a trail that was quite prominent on my maps but ended up being a 1km hike up a hill pushing the bikes in 40 degree heat. We just about needed a machete to carve our way through the trail. 

Despite this set back, the ride was an 'adventure' in every sense of the word. 120km in the dirt. Dehydration. Exhaustion. Navigation issues. Crashes. It had it all. As I tell my friends whenever they complain about 'Chris's adventure rides'... Attitude is the difference between an adventure and an ordeal!