Good morning everyone, and welcome to the Monday Morning Debrief!
Open the door, step inside, grab yourself a drink, find a seat, and get yourself comfortable. Ok, well maybe not there, closer to the stage is preferable please – we’ve got more people arriving soon, and we’d like all the seats filled so everyone can see properly. And if you could kindly switch your mobile phones off or into silent mode, the performers would very much appreciate not listening to Snapchat notifications. Oh and the toilets are broken, so don’t try to use them like the last person did – we’re still cleaning that up. Thank you for your understanding.
Just as we do every week here at Singletrack Towers, we’ve dusted off the old projector wheel to bring you all a stack of photos and riding stories from over the past weekend. As well as our local shredders, we’ve got loads of shots from our contributors based all around the British Isles, who have been exploring all sorts of trails over the past weekend.
So take another swig from your mug, get yourself in the mood, then sit back and relax and listen to the soothing chick-chick-whirrrrrr as the projector spins around to the next snap. Enjoy!
There was loads of riding going on in Calder Valley over the weekend. Although we’re knee-deep in the winter season, things have been surprisingly dry, so every mountain biker was making the most of it to get out and hit the trails. One of those riders was Jane, who’s riding a lovely Yeti SB5c that you may recognise. Last year we auctioned off a custom-built Yeti SB5c, with all the proceeds going to St Gemma’s Hospice, who looked after Jenn during her final days before her tragic passing in October 2015.
Thanks to Jane however, Jenn’s Yeti SB5c is finally seeing the singletrack it was always destined for. And you could not wipe the smile off her dial on the weekend – we think she’s in love! Rock on Jane, and thank you for supporting the auction #forjenn.
Meanwhile in the valley, Chipps spent his entire Saturday prepping and assembling sushi. Yes, the entire day. This kind of pretty doesn’t happen on its own!
Apparently only Calderdale was covered in fog over the weekend, while the rest of the country enjoyed sunshine and blue skies. In January. Here’s Pete Scullion shredding the snow up Esk Hause. As Pete says, “Winter can stay if it’s going to be as good as this!“.
“Freezing cold (literally) but sunny – everything good in the Surrey Hills so long as you wear two of everything, avoid the frozen mud ruts, and climb a lot to stay warm. There was a lot of talk about tyre pressures too: not that we’re boring or mtb obsessed, obviously.” – Adele Mitchell.
“Too grey for any decent pics to feature I expect from my ride at Gisburn. Fab solo ride (apart from being called a brave woman for riding the red route on my own…. I did wonder if I’d bumped into Donald or ported back a century or two!).” – Katherine Crompton.
And in the Tweed Valley, Mr Tom Nash has been spending some time getting to know his new Santa Cruz Hightower that’s setup in 29er mode. Barney’s been ripping around on a Hightower that he has developed a somewhat unhealthy attachment to, and it looks like Tom might be slipping into a similar state…
The magician behind the lens, James Vincent, had another weekend packed full of riding and snapping certified #bangers, including this one that he took while down south in Todmorden shooting Andy Mee not far from Singletrack Towers. Love it!
More adventures from Tom Hill over the weekend, including an overnight bothy trip in North Wales. Luckily for Tom and his group of riding mates, they arrived at a busy bothy to snag themselves a bed each. The riders that arrived later that night weren’t so lucky and had to go looking elsewhere.
It’s not a real bothy trip without a Singletrack hip flask full of single malt is it?
Andi has been rocking out on the NS Eccentric Cromo test bike lately, and he took it for a rip around the local BMX track over the weekend. Thankfully for us, he got this ripper little video through the rhythm section – how good is that!
The weekend wasn’t all about riding though. For some of us, it was also an opportunity to push the boundaries of riding fashion.
For me, the weekend also marked the six month anniversary since I arrived in the UK. I only realised this when I took a quick snap on a group ride overlooking the valley below us, which happened to be taken in exactly the same spot as a photo I got during the first day that I arrived in Todmorden. The windmills are still there, and the mountain bikers are still there. I’m not sure where the warmth and blue skies have gone, but I’m sure they’re there somewhere…
And that my friends, is the last slide in this week’s Monday Morning Debrief session. You’re welcome to hang around the bar for a little longer, though we will have to kick you out at some point before we attend to that broken toilet again. If you’re keen to have another drink and prop up the bar, then we’ll leave a video rolling on the screen for your late night entertainment. It involves Chipps nearly freezing his fingertips off after trying to fill a balloon with CO2, so that’s fun.
Otherwise, we shall wind up and get ourselves hooked in for a brand new week. To all of our friends and fellow riding comrades out there reading this, we bid you a Happy Monday and hope you can make this week better than the last. Get out there, and get at it!
Peace,
ST