Adventure Girl samples an Adrenalin Day Out Near Brighton, East Sussex, Part 1

First time for everything - Part 1?

There’s a knack to axe throwing. Forget about aiming, think of an ex and then throw with intent, chances are that you’ll hit the target, if not the bull’s eye, four out of five times. I know this, not because I’m an ex-Hell’s Angel but because I went along with a mixed group of colleagues on a totally enjoyable day out.

My experience day began with Rage Buggy speed trials….

For the uninitiated think cages on wheels that look as though they’re built from Meccano – the aim of which is to get round the large and bendy track in the fastest time possible. It’s not the controls (right foot control for brake and accelerator) or the unfamiliarity of wearing a crash helmet (I feel like a lollypop!!) that fazed me, oh, no, it was trying to naviagate my way round a large and rather bendy track that is marked out by tyres. It’s no surprise then, that at one point, I leave the designated track entirely and launch out cross-country style, cutting a huge corner and send rubber flying all over the place. However, I find my way back and once I get used to the configuration, come in at a respectable time

Later, back at mission control, when relating navigational issues to Husband, he retorts he’s not surprised, as on several occasions I have been known to drive on the wrong side of the cones during motorway road works.

Anyhow, this aside, once I’ve been round the course once, I get to grips with the configuration now what’s on my mind is speed. I don’t want to be last, I don’t want to stall (you know who you are!), I want to kick up some dust. By the time I’m on lap three, I am feeling pretty sexy, this feels good and my handling is pretty fluent. MY inner Stig is released, I could go on for a while, but am flagged down. My time, you’ll be pleased to know is pretty respectable, and not half bad for a woman who buys thermal vests from M&S.

My verdict: I really enjoyed it and can see how it could work well with groups of friends and corporates, especially if you have heats and trophies. Also, I drove in the heat and dust, but you know what rain and mud would be really good too as the driving experience as well as visibility would be much more difficult. Must remember to rebook for an autumn visit and try it out – wearing a thermal vest naturally.

Then it’s on to the Quad Bikes. They’re chunky, heavy and wide too, a motorbike on steroids body set on four wheels. Just sitting on a Quad is an entirely different experience to the Rage, no cage, no seat belts, no confinement, just me, the beast of the bike and the great outdoors.

Instruction, rules, warnings given, helmet on – so far so good. Then practicing of going forwards and reversing using the brakes and accelerator that are of course attached to the handle bars, jerky, very jerky, but hey its early days. First half of the team go off in a row. They practice in the so-called nursery field before being allowed to get serious and try out the steep peaks, troughs and bends of the deeply rutted wooded Safari track.

Everyone in our group loved the Quads and all were judged to be competent enough to take the vehicles into the wooded safari – everyone that is except me. I was a jibbering mess. I couldn’t steer or control the bike at all. Sitting down I was gripping the seat so hard with my inside legs that my back was screaming in pain. Trying to drive standing up made me so tense and rigid I thought I was going to snap in half. I felt so exposed, everytime we went over a bump (all the time) I thought I was going to fall off and get squashed by it. I nearly shot into a post, into a ditch, into a bush, nearly washing-lined myself as I came dangerously close to a fence at high speed. One minute I was sweating, the next I felt really cold. I forgot where the brake was, I forgot where the accelerator was. I was a disaster, and I was on relatively flat ground. Imagine steep inclines, slopes and mud. While, I felt inwardly hysterical both in mind and body afterwards, everyone else without exception loved the Quads and found them really exhilarating especially on the Safari track. I have now scratched off the ‘travelling through Arizona on a motorbike experience’ on my 100 Things To Do Before I Die List.

My verdict: Hell, thy name is a Quad Bike. Everyone else’s verdict: Better than a Rage, bring on the mud. Can we do it again!!!

First time for everything -Part 2