Toby Monks

So where to begin...

Eeerm... I'm 21 years old, soon to be 22, originating from between Cheltenham and Worcester. I'm currently studying Geography at Aberystwyth University... way out on the West coast of Wales. Why Aberystwyth? Bikes (and of course the quality of education I am supposed to be getting, which I think I am getting anyway).

Along with interests in photography, music, culture and extreme sports, bikes are potentially the biggest thing in my life. Infact, bikes are the the biggest things in my life, its probably what I'm known for. That's cool with me though, there are plenty worse things that you can be known for, right?

Yeah, so this love of bikes is what has driven me to get involved in Project Wrex/ FitMTB. I'm always ribbed for apparently taking inch perfect lines and overthinking what I'm doing on my bike, my buddies in Aber' call me 'Textbook'. I think thats a compliment... But I can see a million and one holes in my riding - all the time. I think every rider can see this too, I'm constantly analysing how I am riding, where my body is on the bikes, how I approach obstacles on a trail. But one of biggest bug bears is fitness. I can attack the first four corners (maybe a few more, but for the sake of illustration...) of a trail at 100%, but then I tire. As soon as you tire, your riding drops. Fitness is key.

I am your average rider. Not super quick, not a machine and certainly no athlete. I'm excited to get the ball rolling, get onboard with programmes and blog to keep people up to date with my progress, with the aim of inspiring readers to get on board too. If it makes a difference to my riding, its definitely going to help yours! Along with this my job is to keep the content fresh and up to date. So let's see what I can do...

Hope you enjoy what we all have to offer!