Mountain Biking - Afan, South Wales.

A few months ago the decision was made that we, the Webtogs workforce, would be going to Afan in South Wales to participate in some mountain biking. Most of the guys and girls have had some experience in mountain biking but I of course have had none and was in for a bit of a shock.

We left work at just gone 4pm on Friday to drive to Wales. Five of us jumped aboard Mike's Bongo van while the other four went in Keiths Audi with all the gear and off we went. Keith decided to go via the 'nam' as in Chippen'nam' but we went through Bathampton and stole the lead as the traffic wasn't too bad. Soon nature called and the Audi over took us to arrive at the camp site long before. They kindly set up the tents at Glyncorrwg Ponds camp site while we waited at Afan Lodge where I kicked Mike's bum at pool several times.

What I've failed to mention so far is that on Friday morning the weather was okay. North Dorset had sunny spells but mainly cloudy, but once we arrived in Wales the weather rolled in and it did not stop raining until we arrived back in England on the Saturday afternoon. We love our weather but non stop rain in Wales, and the sun when we arrive home, is a little annoying!

So after rather a damp sleep and a few croissants Keith, myself, Mike and Lee went to hire some rather nice looking bikes to get us up Afan and off we went, eight Webtogs staff and one North Face rep, Jon Stock. Due to the persistent rain we were all dressed up in shorts and waterproof jackets. I had donned my brand new Marmot Mica Jacket over the top of an Under Armour Cold Gear long sleep Mock baselayer which together managed brilliantly but of course were covered in mud.

The ride was about 2 hours up hill and an hour and a half down hill. To start off with, getting your balance and technique right was a little tricky but we soon had wise words of wisdom from Keith to keep peddling but not put too much effort in. Keith would only put his foot down when he had stopped to re-group, so we all took this in and started shooting up the mountain.

With a few brilliant stacks along the way, me included as I became friendly with a tree at one point, we all arrived back at the camp site safely. We met Sue and Kuma who'd been on rather a wet walk and started to discuss our favourite sections and falls of the ascent and descent over a hot cup of tea and some hearty food to replenish our energy stores.

After some food and a warmish shower, we packed up and left for home. To make sure Mike didn't fall asleep at the wheel, there was a lot of singing in the bongo van mainly to Paul Simon as everyone loves 'You can call me Al'. The Greatest Hits album is a real winner if you like Paul Simon by the way. We all got a little excited when we were crossing the Severn Bridge because we saw the first bit of sunshine and it felt like a lifetime since last seeing it.

It was an absolutely amazing, eye opening weekend and I'd recommend it to anyone who likes adrenaline sports. For me I think it could be the start of a small mountain biking obsession, thank you Webtogs!

First steps

Hello, I'm Charlie and this is my first post in my first blog so be patient with me! This has come about due to a few circumstances that have all come together in order to give me a kick up the backside and get on and get outside.

I am working for a very successful e-commerce retailer of Outdoor Clothing, Equipment and Footwear called Webtogs.co.uk. I've been here for nearly 2 years and started off as a warehouse operative and have worked my way up to my current role as Website Manager. I love it and have a great time sifting through all the new gear for the coming seasons and salivating over which new jacket I'm going to buy but never actually get round to buying it and before too long we've sold out and I have to wait another year. The brands that we are very lucky to stock include The North Face, Marmot, Mountain Equipment, Rab and many more. Everyone who I work with swears by these brands and I'm looking forward to testing them out in the future myself.

This year, things have changed quite drastically and I've quit smoking, after 20 a day for 10 years, I've joined a gym and am still a member of my local hockey club, Gillingham HC. The club are much happier as I can now run around for a full match rather than half! Right back to the point. So now being healthy and more energetic than usual I have decided to get involved in hiking, camping and whatever outdoor activity springs to mind really. We're off to Port Talbot Mountain Biking next week with work so that'll be a great start.

Now there is some serious irony in my job and experience in the outdoors, it's quite embarrassing really so don't laugh.... Quite a large part of my job as website manager at Webtogs is to add all the coming seasons new products to our website and to make sure all the content is unique and interesting to those reading up on the new technologies and ideas added to the various products - this therefore makes me very geeky and I get my kicks out of explaining how things work and why. However I know how all these things work in theory but have never had the inclination to go and try them out first hand. Kind of like Nicolas Cage in 'The Rock' when he has to go and disable some rockets which he's never seen but read about, maybe that's a little extreme but you see my point.

I am not a complete recluse, as I've completed a couple of ski seasons and have lived under the Matterhorn for 6 months so I do know what it's like to get outside it's just a change from skiing down mountains to walking up them that's all.

The other day I was chatting to a friend of mine who teaches at the school I used to attend. We decided that as the school are paying for him to complete all his Mountain Leader courses he should take me with him whenever he goes off to the remote parts of our countryside. He agreed; and here starts my entrance into the outdoors.

Oh, and this friend from school wants to climb Mt Blanc next Summer and told me that he sees this next year as training. Oh dear, it looks like it's going to be a fairly steep learning curve for me but I'll update you more after I've had a chance to chat to him at hockey tonight.

Thanks for reading, C