Page 38 - The Wish Stream Year of 2021 (Crest)

Exercise DRAGONS DRIVE
OCdt Collins
When I told the OCdts on my expedition that we would be returning to South Wales, their faces filled with the dread and the cold bitter memories of Allenby’s came flooding back. Ex DRAGONS DRIVE was initially meant to be a tour of four great mountain biking trail centres in South Wales: Forest of Dean, Bike Park Wales, Afan and Cwmcarn. When drafting the expedition, we realised it would be easier to simply stay in Merthyr Tydfil and commute each day to the different trail hubs. This would ensure each day the OCdts were met with a dif- ferent trail and a different challenge. The ultimate aim of AT is to put OCdts out of their comfort zones, thereby developing a variety of physical and mental skills that will improve operational effectiveness. What better way to do this than Mountain Biking in the capital of Mountain Bik- ing, South Wales?
Days 3 and 4 saw us heading to Afan and Cwm- carn respectively. Here the focus switched to addressing individual areas that we were strug- gling with, before then honing these skills at Bike Park Wales on the final day. Confidence was high here, (perhaps a bit too high in my case where I tried to ride through a rock garden that was too technical for my skill level and I was sent over the handlebars) and we finished these two days with muddy faces, grins, and aching muscles with the excitement that tomorrow we’d be back at the best trail centre, Bike Park Wales.
Our final day saw our skills develop the most. It became apparent when we were flying down technical red graded trails and landing decent size jumps how much difference the 5 days had made. We were unrecognisable to the virgin
mountain bikers that were struggling to roll over step-downs 4 days prior. The day was finished off with the trail where it all started, Popty Ping. We were left at the bottom of the trail with the usual grinning muddy face, but it was almost bittersweet, know- ing that the exped was coming to an end and that was (as our instructor told us never to say) our last run of the day. Having cleaned the kit, we then started the 3-hour journey back to Sandhurst.
Overall, the expedition was a massive success. Everyone had taken something away from the experience. Each of us had pushed ourselves and learnt a lot about ourselves. We left the expedition feeling a lot more confident. It had given us an opportunity to release some steam from Sandhurst but also taught us a lot of les- sons in leadership and mental resilience. Each of us left Sandhurst that day feeling a few inches taller though with some aching muscles and was ready for a well-deserved leave.
Our 5-day expedition began in
Forest of Dean; myself and the
three other OCdts involved, spent
the morning on the fast and flowy
blue-graded trails before then
moving onto the bike park in the
afternoon. This is where the learn-
ing fully took effect. The instructor
took each of us aside and helped
us to overcome specific parts of
the trail that we found difficult.
This ranged from simply step-downs for some of the novices, to committing to and landing large road gap-jumps for some of the more experi- enced riders. By the end of the day, everyone had overcome their own challenge and felt con- fident for the week ahead.
Day 2 of the expedition saw us riding in the big- gest trail centre in the UK, Bike Park Wales. Here we got to use full-suspension bikes and the dif- ference in their capabilities was noticeable. It had been a dream of mine to visit Bike Park Wales. I had designed much of the expedition around it. It certainly lived up to expectation. The use of the uplift service meant we could get up to 8 trails done a day, leading to extremely lively days. One minute we could be riding fast and flowy blue grades before then focusing on the more tight and technical red graded trails.
I tried to ride through a rock garden that was too technical for my skill level and I was sent over the handlebars
36 SANDHURST