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Monday Morning Debrief 59

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Good morning Singletrack crew! Or if you’re a little further around the globe, good afternoon!

How was everyone’s weekend away from the daily grind? Did you manage to escape out of the house for some two-wheeled adventures? Or was it a weekend spent prepping children’s Halloween costumes and enjoying a good ol’ sleep in with your extra hour from daylight savings?

It was certainly an action-packed week of riding for the crew here at Singletrack Towers, with almost everyone having had the opportunity to get out on the mountain bike for either testing, pleasure, or racing reasons. And there are plenty of weary legs in the office this morning to prove it!

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David Hayward is getting highly proficient at fork-swapping after a few days spent back-to-back fork testing.

Last week, a few of the gang made the trek down to Bikepark Wales for a few days of suspension testing. We have a grouptest coming up in the next issue of Singletrack Magazine, so we’ve amassed seven different 130-140mm travel 27.5in forks to pitch against one another in the search for the ultimate trail slider. Which fork do you think will come out on top?

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Going up! The shuttle service at Bikepark Wales means you can get A LOT of runs packed into a short space of time.

Test time @bikepark_wales! We’ve got 7 trail forks on test for the next issue of #singletrackmag. What’s your pick for a 130-140mm travel trail fork? @fox @mojosuspension @rockshox @srammtb @dtswiss @bos_suspension @rideformula @xfusionshox

A photo posted by Singletrack Magazine (@singletrackmag) on

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Wil showing his enthusiasm for his first UK Autumn. Don’t worry fella, it only gets warmer and drier from here…

Rolling over into the weekend, the fork testing continued closer to home in the Calder Valley. However, as you can probably tell from the mud-spattered shorts, things were a little wetter up this way than they were down in Wales. Our recent import from Australia, Wil, is starting to realise what he’s gotten himself into…

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“Did I get any mud on me?”

Meanwhile, Hannah is embracing the conditions whilst testing out a pair of Ion riding trousers (also known as “pants” to our Aussie staff member). She assures Wil that the weather is “quite mild actually”. She also assures us that the above photo is from her best side.

During their weekend ride, Hannah, David & Wil took out a new rider with them. Becks has only been riding a handful of times before, but she is absolutely loving it already. On the weekend though, she had a nasty over-the-bars experience that was, thankfully, not as bad as it looks. Also thankfully, it was caught on camera:

When things don’t go according to plan… Becks (who has only been mountain biking a handful of times before), decided to take the steep line down this rocky chute, and got all crossed up on the way down. Despite the heavy fall, Becks jumped right back on her bike and kept riding with the whole crew as if nothing had happened. What a trooper!

A video posted by Singletrack Magazine (@singletrackmag) on

relentless scotland fort william 24 hour endurance pits tomato sauce skeleton
Night time at the Relentless 25-hour mountain bike race at Fort William.

Further away from home, Mark and Chipps had made the journey up to Fort William in Scotland for the Relentless 24-hour enduro race. They had the rather easier task of pitting for their partners, both of whom ended up on the podium, so job well done there Mark and Chipps. A bigger cheer goes to Vic and Beate for doing the actual riding though! Known as the longest 24-hour race in the world, Relentless actually went for 25 hours due to the clocks winding backwards one hour through the weekend. Relentless indeed!

relentless scotland fort william 24 hour endurance pits tomato sauce skeleton
Cruising along the boardwalk around part of the Relentless racecourse at Fort William.
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Tom Hill put in a stellar effort at Relentless, notching up some 19 laps all on his own in the singlespeed category. What a guy! Here he is looking absolutely hollow.
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Now that’s the kind of gel we’re into!
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Tom & Stu from Kirby Londsdale Brewery were racing solo at the Relentless 25-hour race. This is their nutrition plan.
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Vic high-5’s one of the solo competitors who didn’t quite make it. Poor Gerald.

Did you also race at Relentless? Or did you race a different event? Maybe you just got out for a weekend ride with a couple of mates? We’d love to know what adventures you got up to, so leave us a comment below and tell us how you spent your daylight savings weekend!

And if you’re slowly dredging through a Monday morning’s worth of unread emails (we know we are!), then perhaps we can distract you for just a little while longer. Here’s a video of Wil from Friday afternoon, where he was the only one in the office while everyone was either away at Relentless or on holiday. Poor, sad, lonely Wil. Though he did have some lovely fresh goods from Fresh Goods Friday to keep him company.

Enjoy!

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