MAN VERSUS MOUNTAIN

ONE IMPOSSIBLE CHALLENGE. ONE WEEK TO TRAIN. GO

AFTER A YEAR working under the guise of a Men’s Health adventurist, I’ve learned quite a lot about myself, but nothing more prevalent than the fact I’m really bad at saying no to ridiculous challenges. I know no boundaries when it comes to my own good, which is why every month I end up in a precarious situation, with my mother and wife feeling the need to message me to say, “Be careful”.

This month’s assignment is no exception. I agree to take on part of the Red Bull Hardline downhill mountain bike course with no prior experience or knowledge of what it is. Nevertheless, the plan is to head to Wales and go for a spin with Mr Hardline himself, Gee Atherton, of bona fide mountain biking royalty, the Atherton brothers.

That is until, doing a bit of cursory research, I read this on Atherton’s Instagram feed: “Completely buried myself this week with an absolute pearler of a crash! With a broken femur, broken ribs, fractured eye socket, broken nose, broken