Day 14 – 30 Days of Biking

If you’ve not heard of it before, 30 Days of Biking is a personal challenge with a charitable edge. People pledge to ride their bike every day in April, and for every two that do, 1USD is donated to World Bicycle Relief. This year we have six riders attempting the challenge.

Day 14

All your healing vibes have worked, and Giles was back on his bike and got his ride in early, sending in his ‘Kindness’ piece. But then there was a distinct lack of kindness in Greg’s ride, and now Greg needs your healing vibes.

Adele

Yesterday I mentioned that, alongside my 30 days of riding effort, I was also attempting 30 days without sugar. Due to the horrified reaction this news provoked (mainly from Hannah) I am swiftly going to reassure you that it’s okay because I AM STILL DRINKING. To reinforce this message, today’s picture is of some gin (with bidon, because I cycled to the shop, obv). Rest assured, tomorrow there will be mountain bikes.

Giles

Bike people are a pretty good bunch. Riding to Singletrack HQ this morning, who are vanning my bike up to Dirty Reiver, this sign got me to thinking. We’re great at sharing stuff, we’re great at encouraging each other, we’re great at supporting each other. Flat bars, drop bars, knobbly tyres, slick, geared or single speed, we ride bikes, we’re kind and we’re ace!

Greg

There’s no picture for today, although Greg did ride his bike. However, in the course of his commute along the canal towpath, he encountered a moped rider, who pushed him off his bike, and kicked him in the head. So, no photo.

Hannah

Poorly child parenting duties all day, and husband at work until past my bed time. This new GT Grade test bike came with Euro/Suicide brakes. I was going to risk it, but Barney came over all Parental And Concerned and swapped them for me. This resulted in some new and rather bright bar tape. I had a quick post fettle test ride up and down the road outside my house, but couldn’t go out of sight of my front door. Possibly the shortest ride ever.

Lara

The traffic was terrible today #commuterhell.

Rachel

Thursday: ride to work, work, leave work, bike on train, ride to woods, ALine evening session (where I discovered I had bunny hop dyslexia).

Injuries

To some extent, we expect to get injured riding our bikes. Falling off on the trails is often a sign you’re trying hard. On the road, we hope we don’t get injured, but the risk of collision with a car, or of a driver failing to avoid us, is one which we are ever aware of. But actual wilful physical assault, that’s not something to be anticipated. Sending best wishes to Greg, and hoping the police catch the, well, let’s just stick with moped rider (although other names do spring to mind). Greg is sore, and cross, but OK. And more importantly, he assures us that his new 2-day old bike is absolutely fine.

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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