Chipps’ Link – Antony’s Confessional
My favourite story of the week, has to be Antony’s embarrassing top ten – where he listed many of the embarrassing things that have befallen him while on or near a bike. Along a similarly painful vein, there was a cracking forum thread this week about ‘Things you only do once’ that probably needs a read if you’re try to try and keep any form of self-respect going this next week. And finally, we’ve been running some stories about the run up to TweedLove, which is now upon us! Although the EWS is still a couple of weeks away, the Tweedlove festival is already under way.
Mark’s Link.
I’m going to agree with Chipps here and vouch for Antony’s Tales of Shame. It reminds me of the time in Verbier, getting out of the mid station gondola. There was a group of teenagers gathered by the exit looking at our test bikes and whispering to each other. Something possessed me to try and mount my bike CX style while I passed them inside the station rather than when I’d actually got outside. I clipped my left foot in the pedal, swung my right leg over the back wheel while the bike set off – something I’ve done before and since hundreds of times perfectly smoothly. But not this day. On this day, in front of a watching crowd of teenagers, the crotch of my shorts snagged on the back of the saddle as I was in mid mount. My shorts came down around my thighs and the moon rose full. The bike was in now in full forward motion with my left foot clipped in and my right leg now flailing around in the air trying to arrest my swerving forward momentum while my downed shorts prevented me from actually being able to sit on the saddle. I ended up exiting the station via the down ramp with my stomach on the saddle and my bare arse in the air to a roaring crescendo of laughter from the watching crowd. Ah yes! Good times indeed!
Jenn’s Link – Affy Does The Dyfi
Like anyone that’s ever raced XC (and I mean ‘raced’ as in trying as hard as you possibly can, even if that means you come last-but-one instead of last, rather than just strolling to the start with a beer in your hand and then riding a lap before stopping for tea), I know it’s not as easy as it looks. Witness the kerfuffle over the 2012 Olympics course at Hadleigh Farm (that’s now open to the public) – yes, it might have looked a bit tame at first glance in comparison to some of the riding on offer elsewhere in the UK, but try riding five laps of it at 90% and then see how easy you find it… Anyway, I digress (as usual). My pick of the week was Dan Atherton’s write up of his experiences at the Dyfi Enduro – which is less enduro, more marathon, and with a little bit of bog snorkel mixed in, too. Top marks to Affy for stepping outside his comfort zone – and coming up with such a good story about it for us, too.
Barney’s Link – Slickrocking in Namibia
I’ve been out of the country dodging pre-conceptions about Slovenia (I didn’t see a single AK-47), and as a result haven’t really been keeping on top of what’s what on the site this week. But I did catch this. And BLIMEY. There’s a shot at about 09:15 which made my knees go funny.
