All the leaves are brown…and the sky is grey…Calderfornia dreaming…on a September day…
It’s been a fine weekend here – in contrast to last week’s persistent wet and cold, the weekend gave us a welcome helping of settled weather. Hurrah!
For me, Sunday was all about bikes, with an early start to get in a spot of practise at going down steep stuff before Red Bull Foxhunt in a couple of weeks.
Once I’d finished slithering about in the woods on the Saracen Ariel, it was time to head home for family duties, which happily also involved messing about on bikes. The local community had arranged for the road up Cragg Vale (the longest continuous incline in England) to be closed for a series of races and events – there was even a crowd pleasing tractor parade. I was there for the Tour de France in 2014, and the joy of seeing everyone out enjoying the closed road was as much of a treat as seeing the pro riders whizz by. This is the first time since then that they’ve managed to get all the permissions in place to close the road, but let’s hope it becomes a regular fixture – it’s a joy to see everyone out enjoying the freedom that the absence of cars gives.
Those of a sensitive disposition should look away now, because Andi has done terrible things to his bike. Well, it looks terrible but he says it’s amazing to ride. And that’s what is important.
Argh. So many colours.
Speaking of many clashing colours, the master of the unexpected colour combo, Chipps, was off riding the 3 Peaks Cyclocross race for the ninth time. He hasn’t actually done any training, so we should probably give him a round of applause. Or maybe just a golden cushion for his punished posterior.
Out there in our extended Singletrack family, Tom Nash was out with his drone catching some riding footage. He says ‘This ride was all about getting folk who don’t all often ride together in the same place and the same time!’ – I think we can all relate to that and have mates we never quite manage to ride with as often as we’d like. Do it now, make a plan, catch up with old mates.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BZZbmIGDdk8/?taken-by=ridingbikesrocks
Adele Mitchell was talking about bikes rather than riding them:
I was speaking about women’s mtb at the NEC cycle show this weekend. Paralympian cyclist Corrine Hall was one of the other speakers, and at the end of her talk I got to hold her Paralympic gold medal from Rio 2016 (which she won with Lora Turnham) . It chimes when you shake it so that visually impaired athletes can differentiate between gold, silver and bronze.
Sadly that’s your lot, for despite Ross having a crash that was apparently very dramatic looking (he’s got a sore wrist but the rest of him seems to be ok) he let the side down by failing to capture it on camera.
There’s no Fresh Goods Friday Live either, since we went to the pub to celebrate our designer Rob Crayon’s last issue of Singletrack heading to the printer. Sniff. So we’ll send you on your way into the new week with this, a peek at the next issue’s bike test.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BZWdR5lhbjG/?taken-by=singletrackmag
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Ross’s crash was like Minnaar’s at Val di Sole! except his bike broke the tree in half, not the other way round….!