Voodoo Hoodoo mountain bike
Price £495, Halfords
Frame 7005 aluminium
Forks Suntour XCR32-AIR LO
Gears Shimano Deore
Brakes Shimano M395 hydraulic disc
Wheels Maxxis Ardent
This is the time of mud. Great, globby, sticky swathes of it. There’s nothing quite so liberating as plunging down a twisting trail on a mountain bike and feeling it splatter across your face and up your back. It’s good, clean, dirty fun.
For my recent mud- wrestling bout I headed to the dedicated Bedgebury track in Kent, which follows 13km of exhilarating tracks around the 2,000 acre forest. You can hire bikes there, but I was riding the new Hoodoo by Voodoo – and not just because it’s a fun name to say. It’s an affordable all-rounder which performs like a much more expensive bike. The aluminium frame is lightweight and reliable, but the reason it rides so well are the outsize 27.5in wheels. Their extra cushioning flatters the frame and gives you a bit of comfort to cope with the bumps and jumps. The Suntour front forks then do their best to smooth out the descent. Stopping power comes courtesy of grippy hydraulic disc brakes.
But none of that matters, because mountain biking is all about you, the trail and a lot of mud. Just don’t forget your bin liner for your filthy kit on the trip home…
Cool kit
Heads win every time in this light helmet made from carbon in a Cornish factory. Cycling helmet, £180, dashel.cc
Email Martin at martin.love@observer.co.uk or follow him on Twitter @MartinLove166
