Chris Jones' aMTB videos
I am an ex-soldier, disabled in service, and looking to stay as active
outdoors as I can. I've tried kayak surfing, adaptive skiing and sea
kayaking, but they are either highly weather dependent and/or ludicrously
expensive! Living on the edge of Dartmoor I have a whole expanse of
countryside to explore, and what better way to do it than by going mountain
biking?!? I've always liked my sports extreme, and this is no exception, so
I've started taking myself down some World class downhill mountain bike
trails run by the Woodland Riders, near Tavistock. As well as going fast
down steep, wooded slopes, I like to get out and enjoy some other local
trails with my family; mountain biking is an activity we can all enjoy
together.
Getting air
This is one of the Woodland Riders trails, called the Open
Track. It has a whole load of different features, and is built on an old
mine working near Tavistock, but my favourite bit by far is this jump over
and old dam! It's difficult to see in this video, but there is a small jump
at the top of the slope, maybe 1.5-2ft high, then I miss the middle jump,
which is about 3ft, and then you come into the bottom of the dip before
speeding up the dam face, around 12ft high, and launching over the top,
landing on the downward slope on the other side and whizzing off into the
trees!!! As adrenaline rushes go, it is quite a good one!
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HSD
This is a another downhill mountain bike race track, built and maintained by the Woodland Riders. It is on private land, and so you have to be a member to use the facilities, but these guys have been super-encouraging of my desire to go downhill fast! I have only taken part in one race day so far, but as the only adaptive rider I guess I won my category(!), and I got extra cudos when one of the team riders had a go on my bike and crashed NINE times on his way down!!! By the way, HSD stands for High Speed Descent!!!
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Challenge Trail Helmet Cam
This is one of the trails at Haldon Forest, and
some filming I did with a camera attached to my helmet and to the bike
frame...
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Haldon with Max
My family and I headed up to Haldon Forest, near Exeter,
where there is a range of off road trails built specifically for mountain
biking. Several of these are suitable for my adaptive bike, and challenging
enough for my Wife, my 13 year old Son and I to get some great fresh air and
exercise. This is a series of clips from a day's filming for the BBC's Life
In A Day project...
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