It started in New Zealand. I had been saving up since I left university to go to Tibet. Then Tiananmen Square happened, and visiting China didn't seem such a good idea. Back in the early 90s my passion was skiing. So I plumped instead for travel in Asia sandwiched with work as a ski leader in Europe and I snuck in a ski season in New Zealand in the middle. In New Zealand I sat on a mountain bike for the first time . The snow had melted and we rented bikes and rode down the ri

People with mental ill health made genuine progress in their personal resilience, self-efficacy, social skills and confidence thanks to a six week pilot project offering mountain biking as part of a therapeutic recovery programme. The programme, run in the Scottish Borders last year, took place at the Glentress trail Centre near Peebles. Feeback from participants was very positive. Comments included: “It’s just the feeling of the wind in your hair.” “I woke up this morning fe

It's the season for holiday planning, so what better time to share some of the photos from our holiday last year. We rode the Fife Coast Path. For those of you who don't know where that is, it's the bit that bulges out just north of Edinburgh, between the River Forth and River Tay. The Fife Coast Path is a way-marked walking route, but as Scotland has different access laws to England and Wales it's ok to cycle it - although it's probably best to avoid busy weekends in summer.

Since I qualified as a mountain bike leader, I've spoken to many more people about mountain biking and I've been keen to find out why so few women are mountain bikers. One big surprise is the number of women I speak to who are regular roadies, but think that mountain biking is too dangerous. I do both. Mountain biking is my first love, but I also commuted to work by bike for years, first in London, and then in rural Devon. More recently I also bought a proper road bike and fi

Isn't it a bit sexist to have women only rides I hear you ask. Surely we're all equal now and we don't need any of that nonsense? Well I disagree. As someone who's been mountain biking for over 20 years I've spent plenty of time in the minority. Last year my husband and I went on a mountain biking holiday in Spain. There were 24 riders there during the week we stayed - and I was the only woman. I used to do Polaris Challenge endurance events. It's the only place I've ever bee