Last weekend we made the trip down to Blessingbourne again for a day of guided trail riding and pump track action for National Trails Day.

The event is managed by CAAN and was a way for people to either experience mountain biking for the first time or to home their skills for a better riding experience.  SummitMountainBiking teamed up with the folks at Blessingbourne knowing that we would have some excellent trail riding to demonstrate on and some excellent facilities provided by Colleen and Nick.

On the day we had a full range of eager participants from youngsters as young as 6 to those in their 30's getting back onto a bike for the first time in ages.  With a mixture of guided trail riding and some skills tuition on the mtb trails and pump track everyone was ready for refreshments available at the newly opened cafe/"tuck shop" and come the afternoon were riding the trails liked seasoned pros!

As 6 year old John from Clogher Valley  said "this is the best day of my life EVER!"  Lets hope he has many more!

Last weekend saw us travel down to Fivemiletown in Tyrone to check out the newly constructed MTB trails at Blessingbourne Estate for an End of Summer MTB Blast of coaching and fun and games for the Cycling Ulster Youth commission.

A total 20 yound mtb'ers from the ages of 6 upwards came from all over Northern Ireland, the morning starting with a session on our MTB skills course which was doubled up for the day to hold a dual slalom race, starting with knock out heats down to the final two riders who would duke it out for the title of fastest on the course.

After lunch we headed out on the MTB trails which consist of a 6km easy woodland route which meanders its way through a natural woodland forest with slightly harder sections running off it in loops containing berms, jumps, rock gardens and rock drops.  Many of the riders got to practice the skills learnt on the skills course earlier in the day, learning to rail the berms and pump the doubles and tackle the scary high rock drops.

Last up was a spin around the pump track with a competition to see who could develop their riding skills and balance to produce enough momentum to get around the track without pedalling as demonstrated by track owner Nick Lowry who rode around on a bike with no chain!  Top spot was taken by Nick's son Rory who effortlessly went round and round till he ran out of steam, although he does the an unfair advantage of being able to practice every single day!!

Everyone fully enjoyed the day thanks to our great hosts Colleen & Nick Lowry who provided refreshments and bike hire on the day.

SummitMountainBiking teamed up with Belfast City Council's Bike Club officer Time Edgar for some fun and games for National Bike Week and Pedal in the Park.  Run over the last two weekends at Ormeau Park, Musgrave Park, Victoria Park and The Waterworks we set up our trusty bike skills course for all new budding mtb'ers, young and old to have a crack at getting under the limbo bar, over the ramps and through the snake section with a chance at beating the course time trial of under 30 seconds.

A great turn out of little kids and big kids from ages 3 to 33 tested their bike handling skills with lots of competition between the girls and the boys for title of best all round mountain biker with many of the younger bikers showing the adults how its done!  Prize for the best ride of the weekend goes to our 3 year old participant who managed all sections of the course on his balance bike - star of the future!