Katy Curd, World 4X Champion and downhill athlete, joined us for the event, as well as rising stars of the downhill scene, Maddy Brown and Aston Tutt, who both raced at the FoD Winter Mini Downhill Series earlier this month.

Forgoing the easy uplift option, we climbed the single tracks and fire roads to the top of the mountain. However, this was no easy feat. The relentless rain had carved trenches into the trails, and the clay terrain felt like pushing up in quick sand. Definitely a day for tying those shoe laces extra tight!

What goes up, must come down! And down we did, descending the blue trails in the morning, and reds and blacks in the afternoon. Both Manon and Katy were super encouraging and supportive to everyone in the group, and ensured we were all comfortable with the riding ahead… even though you couldn’t see more than 6ft in front of you!

From Strongher’s social media pages, it looks that all 28 Christmas rides were a brilliant success across the globe, and that’s what we love to see, more women riding and enjoying themselves.

Strongher is a brilliant platform for female cyclists of all ages, skill and discipline of riding. The World Wide Christmas Ride will no doubt be the first of many efforts the initiative will go to for women’s riding.

Follow Strongher on social media for updates and events near you.