Monday Morning Debrief 75

Another Monday, another week, another day of more daylight. The birds are definitely twittering in the trees, it’s daylight before it’s time to leave the house. It must be nearly spring. Hurrah hurrah, the dark days are nearly behind us. Did you get out to play?

With most of the Singletrack Gang down at the London Bike Show, there was a lot more talking about bikes than there was actual riding of bikes this weekend.

Wil was chief talker, doing many broadcasts on Facebook Live. The Dirt Jump displays were pretty cool, but we’re still all waiting to see the footage of Wil having a go. We’re sure he’d have been killing it. Right?

The rest of the weekend seems to be largely a tale of parents. First up, Hannah got out for a ride on her current Giant Full E+1 e-MTB for some repeated runs of Pecket Well, a favourite local descent marred only by the long and busy main road climb to the start of it. Of course, on the e-MTB this was no trouble at all, and Hannah got back home to the family having done five runs down the descent. Sadly there is no photographic evidence of this outing, but here’s a photo of Hans Rey doing the same trail.

More parents, and more Hebden trails. Kat Crompton reports in:

Two busy Mums got to ride some favourite Hebden Bridge trails this weekend. It’s fair to say my riding has taken a back seat for almost 12 months now after being pregnant and having a baby to feed every few hours. It felt wonderful to have a few hours this weekend just to ride bikes and natter with a friend. I had a big smile at the end the last trail of the day.

Proving that there are other places to ride, and that Dads can ride bikes too, Tom Nash went riding his local trails in the Borders:

Nothing quite as cool as going on a ride with your kids. Able to pedal before he was four, Luke is quite happy to pedal off into the distance and the confidence grows every ride. The start of a new, but exciting and rewarding, aspect to mountain biking.

Ben Gerrish was out there riding trails, but also doing some prep for the summer.

“Plenty of riding yesterday at Inners and the Golfie but more excitingly Saturday was spent making plans and clearing lines for summer!”

”Twas dark and gloomy riding round Whinlatter today, but @graham_beaumont didn’t mind. He was just too stoked on his new @konabikes Hei Hei. . . . #chamone #heihei #lakesmtb #eskapee #lightbro #woods #forest #green #lakedistrict #cumbria #whinlatter #sony #moss #mtb #hopetech #teamgreen

A post shared by James Vincent (@jamesvincent) on Feb 18, 2017 at 12:38pm PST

Meanwhile in Whinlatter, our Skilled Snapper, Mr James Vincent, was out mining for photos in this gloriously green and lush backdrop. What a beautiful shot!

And of course, the biggest news of the weekend is that Our Glorious Leader, Chipps Chippendale, had a birthday. Not a Big Birthday, but a birthday nonetheless. So off he went to ride bikes and drink wine (hopefully in that order) to celebrate.

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Hit some slidey turns in Innerleithen today. Great day out with our fine local guide.

A post shared by Chipps Chippendale (@chippschippendale) on Feb 18, 2017 at 8:58am PST

Right then. Onwards. To work, and to the week ahead.

Hannah Dobson

Managing Editor

I came to Singletrack having decided there must be more to life than meetings. I like all bikes, but especially unusual ones. More than bikes, I like what bikes do. I think that they link people and places; that cycling creates a connection between us and our environment; bikes create communities; deliver freedom; bring joy; and improve fitness. They're environmentally friendly and create friendly environments. I try to write about all these things in the hope that others might discover the joy of bikes too.

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