We also love great stories here at Singletrack. We don’t crop and crimp stories to fit, we like a good long tale to read – something that’s worth putting a favourite album on and settling down in a favourite armchair.
And these are the stories from Singletrack that have inspired people the most this year.
Ecuador – The Avenue of the Volcanoes – by Cass Gilbert, first published in Issue 106
Cass Gilbert is a world traveller’s world traveller. His adventures through Asia and Central and South America have inspired many to get up and get out there. This story about a less than ideal conditions trip through the Avenue of the Volcanoes in Ecuador was written in such a way that the reader could feel the squelch of the shoes and almost taste that roadside food in the rain.
Magic In The Margins of The Day – by Doug McDonald, first published in Issue 106.
What do you do if you’re a rad mountain biker who suddenly finds other demands on your time? If you’re Doug, from Basque MTB in Spain, you start riding earlier or you go out later, once the world is settling down for the evening. Doug’s story does a great job of inspiring riders who don’t reckon they have enough time to ride.
On The Rampage: Behind Freeride’s Biggest Freakshow – by Fahzure Freeride, first published in Issue 103.
The world of the Red Bull Rampage has been done to death. All those backflips over chasms, and cliff drops and all that stuff. Everyone’s seen it, right? That’s not the attitude this story took as the mysterious ‘Fahzure Freeride’ lifted the lid on the story of the dedicated Rampage fans. The riders who show up a week or so before, establish scruffy campsites and who party by night, but help dig by day. They’re the ones who make the two mile trek to the event, beers and deckchairs in hand to shout and scream at their heroes.
