OMG! Of all the things I've done so far - abseiling, indoor skydiving, the firewalk - walking barefoot over hot coals, going on the fastest zipwire in the world, cooking (!), quadbiking was without doubt, THE single most challenging and scary thing I have done, EVER! I don't even think the wingwalk is going to come close. Did I think I could die - HELL yes! I was the only one of the group to basically crash on the practice run!!!!
The 'excitement' actually started before we started - confusing? Well, basically, because of the amount of rain we've had and the fact that the centre don't have proper parking - they're rough and ready and that's why I like them - when Stewart tried to park, we kind of got stuck. We were told to stay put and they would get the youngsters from Frome Rugby Club who happened to have spent an entire day there doing activities, to come and push the car to safety. And that's what happened. After I waited and got carried away watching all the wee baby lambs!

Finally, after a bit of hilarity/stroke HUGE amount of embarrassment, we were ready to go and sign in for quadbiking. We'd only made the others who wanted to quadbike wait 30 minutes, we did apologise though....
I don't have many photos of the actual quadbiking as once you got going you got going and quite frankly I was always way behind everybody else with only my 'babysitter' Dewi - see selfie at top of page - to keep me company. Anyway, first things first, you had to sign your life away and then we were kitted out with waterproofs and helmet. I got a bit of scared with this form as they do point that accidents HAVE happened and that this IS a dangerous activity.
Good look? I haven't all of sudden sprouted a bushy beard, promise, it was cold so I was wearing a jacket with a faux fur collar. Once we were all kitted out we attended the safety and training briefing. This is where my problems started. You see, I've never had a driving lesson in my life, don't cycle, cry at the thought of horseriding so basically, I have very very rarely been in sole charge of any form of transport in my entire life bar one go on a Segway and a couple of times on the backs of animals which always leaves Stewart worrying that I will self implode and spew my guts I get so scared. But then again, this entire year is supposed to be about 'challenges', without doubt this was my biggest. I tried my utmost to listen to instructions but the instructor lost me the minute he started talking about ignition, throttle, accelarators, gears and brakes - HEEEEEELP!!!!
But, I did get my butt on to the bike. When we were all ready to set off, I couldn't remember even how to start the bloody thing. I did though - with a bit of help. And then we went to the practice place. I would have been happy (?) to stay here on my own for the rest of the afternoon. As I mentioned above, I actually managed to crash on one of my first 'goes' and had to be rescued by Dewi who then spent the entire time babysitting, being my bodyguard and sticking with me like glue. VERY much appreciated and I needed him. Eventually after a bit of emergency makeshift engineering he did something which would keep me in the right gear for the rest of my time there - Stewart had told him I needed an automatic and that's essentially what he managed to do. So we then set off on the real trail through the farm and fields. I was at the back, always. There were loads of muddy rain filled potholes and lots of uneven track and loads of boulders and stones on the ground. I innocently didn't realise that apparently this is part of the thrill of quadbiking and the aim should be to go straight through these. I spent a lot of time feeling happy with my ability to gingerly drive my way around the potholes and miss all obstacles! Stewart, when he found out later that this was what I had been doing found this hilarious. I did kind of enjoy it, but I was also petrified, even though I felt as if I was travelling at the fastest speed known to man, I was constantly so far behind everybody else, the others must be calling me all sorts as every so often they'd have to wait for me to catch up. If I could drive, I'd be the equivalent of the 100 year old Sunday driver who never goes above 10 miles an hour.
But, I spent an hour on the quadbike, I didn't kill myself or any other living thing, miraculously and I have with this activity actually challenged myself to do something I found horrifically out of my comfort zone, and I'm glad I did this. I've been blasé about so many of things I've done this last year and that wasn't entirely the point of this challenge. I'm proud that every now and again I do test my comfort zone and I'm proud that I survived, I didn't wet myself and I didn't cry. And I have ONE cool photo of me looking in control.
Oh, and by the way, with this blog post I have also managed to tick off one other challenge too - to start a blog and write 50 posts - so double joy today :):):)
Thanks for listening friends. Hope you're not ashamed to find out my limitations and weaknesses!!! Next 'task' in a few days time. See you soon.
Lesley
xxx
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