Things learnt from mountain biking

1. If you're going to crash, aim for a small tree or bush. Big trees will hurt you worse, or kill you.
2. If you and a small tree are being inexorably drawn together by the charisma of your careening bike, put your head down and let your helmet take the brunt of it (learnt from experience).
3. When riding through a sandy, twisty trail lined with thorny bushes and/or whippy plants, lean forward and keep pedalling to prevent the bike from swerving.
4. In the kilometer 30 under the unmerciful blaze of the afternoon sun and with lunch another 15 km away, use your damn gears and keep pedalling.
5. Visualize that cool drink and keep going.
6. A warning shout to the stray dog(s) napping in the middle of the road is always good.
7. When keeping clear of a larger, faster vehicle, it's better to just ride through the muddy puddle than steer along the extreme edge of the track. Dirt washes off (a very good mantra for everything); broken bones don't.
8. Use rear brakes more than front brakes to avoid flying over the handlebars.

Aw-koon (thank you), Cambodia!