MOUNTAIN biking has always been something I have avoided.

I’m a self-confessed adrenaline junkie and think nothing of jumping off a cliff on a snowboard or paddling out into 10ft waves on a surfboard.

For years, some friends have implored me to try mountain biking, assuring me it was a cheap, year-round sport with world-class facilities here in the UK.

I cycle around Southend and used to commute around bendy buses when I lived in London, but the thought of riding down a mountain on a bike has always filled me with dread.

Maybe it is because I have never been confident or particularly capable on a bike, or maybe it is just a rational reaction to the fact that mountains are made of rock, which is generally much harder than snow or water.

My knee still bears scars from when I fell off my bike on the completely flat Southend seafront cycle lane last summer.

But they do say the bigger the fear, the bigger the rush when confronting it, so I agreed to be one of the first to try the newly-opened Hadleigh Park mountain bike course.

To make matters worse, just before I went, I  found out one of our photographers, Al Underwood, had broken his shoulder riding the track that week.

He’s an experienced mountain biker – and he’s still off work.

Professional coach Luke Farey, a member of Hadleigh Mountain Bike Club, agreed to give me a lesson. First, he took me to a skills area, with a variety of steps, drops and rock obstacles on which beginners’ ability can be assessed.

Things didn’t start well. He taught me the “ready position” – standing up on level pedals – and asked me to demonstrate stopping the bike on the grit track.

It sounds easy, but the brakes on the high performance bike I was given were much, much more sensitive than those on my rusty, secondhand hybrid.

No sooner had I squeezed the brake lever than I found myself flying over the handlebars, much to our photographer’s delight.

I already knew if you fall off, it’s important to get back on straight away and the experience was an important lesson in moving my weight over the back wheel – something that would prove essential to most of the manoeuvres I would be taught.

Luke was very patient and following his clear instructions I was dropping off steps and riding over the “rock garden” of stones without much trouble, so we moved on to the former Olympic course.

The crushed sandstone track is immaculate, with Hadleligh Castle, Hadleigh Country Park, Canvey and the Thames Estuary as a stunning backdrop.

The course, which has been changed little since the 2012 Games, is, essentially, a 5km “red” (medium standard) track, with six “black” (difficult) obstacles – drops, jumps and undulating tracks. Some easier routes have been added for us riders who are not up to competition standard.

When we reached the first obstacle, known as Triple Trouble, we agreed I wasn’t ready for the A-route, which involves throwing oneself off a ledge on to a rocky slope, so I opted for the C-route – several steps on a downward slope.

Following Luke’s advice to “feather” the brakes and throw my weight back as I went over the steps, I successfully negotiated Triple Trouble on my first attempt and I felt amazing.

We went onto the next feature, Deanes Drop – named after the nearby Deanes School, which, appropriately, is a specialist sports college.

Again I wasn’t ready to navigate the narrow rocky channel of the A-route, so I faced a series of banked hairpin bends leading down the hillside to a mound, emblazoned with the Olympic rings. It might not have been the most challenging route, but the snaking switchbacks unfolding below me still seemed pretty petrifying.

The tight turns needed control, and proved much more daunting than rock drops, which seemed to require little more than ignoring your terror, moving your weight back and holding on.

Luke gave me all kinds of advice about keeping my inside pedal up around the banks and braking in between, but it hardly penetrated my sheer terror.

On my first attempt I braked most of the way and didn’t travel high enough up the banks to need to raise my inside pedal.

I’d been told to keep my limbs loose, but that didn’t happen either, as they locked solid.

Still, I skidded and shuffled my way down the dusty track without sliding across the sharp pebbles, as I’d feared.

Luke chuckled as he aped my death-mask of fear, but as I reached the bottom I was overcome with waves of relief.

It was one of the greatest hits of adrenaline I have ever experienced.

My heart was thundering and sweat was pouring down my face on a sunny early summer day.

I ran back up with my bike and had another go, this time managing to loosen up ever so slightly.

Time was getting tight, so we pushed on through a gate, where Luke turned to the right and round a wooden bank.

With no time to stop and ask what on earth I was supposed to do, I threw my bike around the obstacle, called North Shore, and followed Luke across the undulating decking track that followed.

The course had opened up with expansive views across Canvey to the London Gateway superport. I was able to relax for a couple of moments before we started a long, steady climb back up the opposite hillside. As we reached the top even Luke had to stop for a breather and the adrenaline rush from Deanes Drop, followed by a heavy, uphill pedal left me exhausted.

When we set off again my concentration had evaporated and the inevitable happened.

Riding off a simple step, no bigger than the ones in the practice area, I forgot to shift my weight back, panicked on landing, slammed on the brakes and went flying over the handlebars.

Seeing blood, Luke advised me to pause for breath, but, I jumped straight back on the bike and rashly headed for the second step, where I repeated my mistake, landing on the same painful wounds.

With blood seeping down my leg I skirted the remaining obstacles and rode back to the cafe – after all, the important thing was to make sure I got back in one piece to tell the tale.

I’m not sure I can say I conquered the Olympic mountain bike track – it was perhaps more of a score draw. But I overcame my fear enough to vow I would be back as soon as my scabs have healed.

  • For information about coaching from Luke Farey, visit getouttheremtb.com For details about Hadleigh Park visit hadleighmtbclub.co.uk