Things have been a bit hectic since I jumped ship and started my new life here at Singletrack, so I took a break. A whole week off. To catch up with wife and family, and as it turned out mainly ride bikes.
Riding bikes is good yeah?
With the sun out and a shed full of various new bikes to play on the end result was inevitable. A week of different locations to repeat a familiar activity on a range of differing interpretations of the same basic two wheeled concept.
A chance to revisit a couple of routes I’ve kind of ignored in favour of more gravity fuelled and technical challenges. A chance to check if there’s such a thing as the wrong bike for a route with the bikes on offer today.
I’ve ridden XC loops on a 140mm enduro focussed bike, taken a 160mm downhill weapon on a route that featured several technical climbs and a 1×10 set up that was more suited to shuttling than the Calderdale climbs we encountered. And I came away from every ride impressed with where we currently are in the evolution of mountain bikes and the technology involved in them. Every ride was a success, every ride was enjoyable and on every ride the limiting factor was me not the bike.
It’s easy to get wrapped up in endless debates about which is ‘better’. Rigid or suspension? Single or multi pivot? 26,27.5 or 29er? How many gears? Blah, blah, blah…
But when it comes down to it all that matters is if the sun’s out, who your riding with and how good are the trails you’re riding. They’re the biggest factors on how good your ride will be.
Moral of the story? There’s no such thing as the wrong bike. Unless it’s stuck in a shed. Get out there and ride.
How was your weekend?
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I was out, racing the Brownbacks event at Lee Quarry. My first ‘proper’ XC race for I don’t know how many years. Legs hurty today.
Wise wise words 🙂
8 laps of the glentress 7 on perfect trails means very heavy legs
I too was at Lee Quarry, proud of myself holding everyone up and getting a pleasant applause as I crossed the line! Couldnt have asked for a better day for my first ever race. and the old Zaskar coped better than I did!
Tweedlove events for me; POC Enduro, dual slalom & the Glentress 7 all aboard by Ibis
SoNoMas XC race (lake Sonoma, CA), 35 miles, 7000 ft of climbing and 93F towards the end. It kicked my backside.