S
Simon
Guest
Well curiosity got the better of me and I signed up to the MBUK mountain bike forum. Introduced
myself and awaited the, seemingly, obligatory "pounce on the newbie" type responses. I carried on
waiting .............and waiting..........and waiting.....but all I got was politeness and a feeling
of real cosiness. Four days passed ...............I was still a newbie, yet there was speak of a
local meet. One right here in Nottingham. With over 3000 active members there were bound to be some
people near myself..........and sure enough there was.
Well Tuesday came fast and the meeting point was 12pm by the stone lions in the centre of
town.......for a relaxed street / social session. I turned up fashionably late by 15 mins and was
greeted by the most relaxed and least pretentious people I have ever met. There was no bike
snobbery. No awkwardness. No clash of personality's. No competitiveness. Everyone was just simply
out to meet new people and have a damn nice day.
We played around in the towns precinct for a while. Those gifted individuals with trials skills
hopped this way and that whilst others took photos, chatted and tried to learn new skills. We then
slowly ambled along to Nottingham castle....playing in the traffic, hopping curbs, dodging
pedestrian lemmings and basking in the unusual warmth that is gracing the UK.
Over the course of the day we moved on to various locations......always courteous to pedestrians and
always taking litter etc. with us. We did not ride marathon distances, we did not launch huge jumps
we did not drop from the largest of walls........................but we all had a damn good day.
Its a pity not all things in life are this pleasant
myself and awaited the, seemingly, obligatory "pounce on the newbie" type responses. I carried on
waiting .............and waiting..........and waiting.....but all I got was politeness and a feeling
of real cosiness. Four days passed ...............I was still a newbie, yet there was speak of a
local meet. One right here in Nottingham. With over 3000 active members there were bound to be some
people near myself..........and sure enough there was.
Well Tuesday came fast and the meeting point was 12pm by the stone lions in the centre of
town.......for a relaxed street / social session. I turned up fashionably late by 15 mins and was
greeted by the most relaxed and least pretentious people I have ever met. There was no bike
snobbery. No awkwardness. No clash of personality's. No competitiveness. Everyone was just simply
out to meet new people and have a damn nice day.
We played around in the towns precinct for a while. Those gifted individuals with trials skills
hopped this way and that whilst others took photos, chatted and tried to learn new skills. We then
slowly ambled along to Nottingham castle....playing in the traffic, hopping curbs, dodging
pedestrian lemmings and basking in the unusual warmth that is gracing the UK.
Over the course of the day we moved on to various locations......always courteous to pedestrians and
always taking litter etc. with us. We did not ride marathon distances, we did not launch huge jumps
we did not drop from the largest of walls........................but we all had a damn good day.
Its a pity not all things in life are this pleasant