History: Done a bit of biking. I started on what we called a "boneshaker" which was a 10 inch framed beastie with steel wheels and NO TYRES. Sounded great on the corrugated concrete road where I spent my childhood. I learned to slide a bike pretty early because steel does that on concrete with no help at all. The neighbours hated me for it and I was only six!

I also hereby lay claim to being one of the earliest "Mountain Bikers". I was now 8 and had an 18 inch Royal Enfield "Junior Champion" Tourer with straight handlebars and single speed (of course). We used to scramble like the motorbikes (long before it was renamed MotoCross) in the woods on Coach Lane where Church Green estate  (Benton) is now and regularly staged "matches" against Longbenton. Our highest mountain was about four feet high but we were only 3 feet so it was massive. The Cowfield had the old 18th tee from the benton Golf Course and we'd jump off it's foot-high edges.

After that I got involved in Cycle Speedway with the Newcastle club in 1967. Still got the bike I ended my CS career on, last ride in UK Veterans Championship 2005 at Wednesfield in the Midlands.

Started this new-fangled MTB malarkey around 1998 with the purchase of a Univega Flyte 730 hardtail (yep, me on a hardtail!) to do a Coast to Coast with my old mate Colin. We did about 7 of them and loads of Charity rides. Ended up organising them. Got the bug.

I kicked off the MidAirCrisis web site as a laugh in late 2002/early 2003 or thereabouts as it seemed a good idea to log some of our rides and give vent to my journalistic incapabilities. It developed into a monster and now a fourth major tidy-up is underway. Amazingly the site picked up between fifteen and twenty thousand hits a month in it's first year and this year ranges from 51,000 to 77,000, so still doing a roaring trade (197,000 page requests in February 2009 and quarter of a million in October). I created newcastlemtb.org in May 2007 after having a dream, and following a natter with Derek and John on 10th June at Dalby Forest, launched it as the front end to Newcastle's first MTB club with the aim of encouraging more riders out onto the trails. Success.
 

Since then we've had thousands of enquiries and about 400 different riders appearing at least once. Currently the regular squad we have is the best bunch of riding mates you could wish for so I'm pretty happy with the way things have turned out. Just got to make sure someone keeps it going when I finally headbutt that tree with my name on it!

Favourite trails: All the Scotties bar Newcastleton - waste of a good drive. My Number One may well be Laggan Wolftrax now, since our Highland Fling. I think I like ragged technical (i.e. dangerous) stuff more than most. There are some nice rock gardens in the Lakes, Yorkshire and my beloved Northumberland that I quite enjoy. Last Welsh trip was fantastic though - every trail we did.

Bike Hates: Keith must have read my mind here - almost word for word I agree with him -Thieves (house burglars and bike thieves), mutt marchers, horse riders, motorised vehicles when I'm cycling, pedestrians, equestrians, canine-ians, most other homo sapiens and ordinary Ians. (just kidding lads).

Personal Hates: Bullies, Anyone who thinks Julia Roberts (The Gob) is a pretty woman, Smoking. Alcohol. Garlic breath. Holly Willoughby's voice. (lurv the visual aspects though). Big Brother voiceover git. Big Brother, TV Soaps.

Personal Achievements: Surviving until now after 6 decades of being a speed freak. Finding the perfect wife second time around. Having three fantastic daughters (1 + 2) and two superb granddaughters. Being the only MAC man to crash on The Slab, and the only one to crash on Dalbeattie's Slab, Terrible Twins and Qualifier rocks (all on separate visits, mind you). Being the first MAC man to ride EVERY Seven Stanes Trail (all EIGHT of them).

Lottery Win?: I'd buy a little island with a big hill and an uplift for my ex-Greg Minaar Honda Gearbox MTB. Oh, and a Lamborghini Miura with a six foot Swedish Lady Chauffeuse who is good with her hands (for maintaining the Honda, of course). YES Gents - the island would have a BRIDGE linking it to the Mainland! ANCIENT Terry page here

 

feel Good - Maim a bike thief today!