Just because you live a fair journey away from your ‘local’ trails, it doesn’t mean you have to go out your way to get a ride in.
The urban jungle is just as fine a place as any to get a fix on your bike- but to make the most of it, venture out whilst others are drawing their curtains and are tucking up for the night…
With the streets as your playground and not a sole in sight you’re free to hop off curbs, blast across parks and hammer through alleyways like you own the place. Use curbs as catch berms, parked cars as slalom poles and leave braking until the very last minute.
Mark out a downhill run from the top of your hood and snake through car parks, chase the alley-cats and slink around backstreets like a stealthy Fox round the back of the Chinese takeaway. Carve your way through the town centre jumping speed bumps and clattering down flights of stairs- and enjoy screaming across the park where day light could only offer a slalom field of picnickers, crying kids and dogs cocking their legs…
Riding at night can be peaceful too- you can hear your bike cutting through the air and the sound of your freewheel whirring as you buzz down the road.
Take five to absorb it all- find a high point in town, scanning the skyline for more options- or glance up at the stars and get nostalgic before diving back through town, pulling cutties round 90degree turns and enjoying flat-out tyre squealing slides on those nice stretches of pavement you can only chance under the cover of darkness…
