We’ll just gloss over my weekend. It was very pleasant, but involved things like rhubarb gin, hair dye, and roast Sunday lunch. No adventures were had, and no wheels were turned. Sometimes a rest is good. The rest of the Singletrack team have been a little busier and more interesting, so let’s see what they got up to.
Amanda was helping build a new jump line at Havok Bike Park. No riding for her, just lots and lots of digging:
I spent Saturday on the dig team at Havok, helping demolish a berm on the dirt jumps and build up the landing for some new doubles that are way out of my riding capabilities. They had to teach me the magical hip-flick to throw mud really far with a shovel!
It’s not all jumps at Havok – check out this video of Tom Wilson, ambassador for the PMBA Enduro series, making very light work of the red downhill trail, despite the wintry conditions:
Daz, Singletrack reviewer and occasional leader of the Monday Night Pub Rides (beware any ride he leads, it will be hilly and wet), headed off to the Kielder Chiller for some seriously epic weather 24 hour racing. Luckily his JMC team set up is pretty pro, so there were opportunities to empty water from shoes by the comfort of a gas fire:
In warmer conditions, Chipps got to play out in Italy following a week at the Bike Connection press camp:
After a few days in Italy for #bikeconnectionwinter2018 (sorry, someone had to do it and hey, anyway, it rained) I moved a few kilometres over to Massa Vecchia, one of the best bike hotels ever. With easy access to trails and rental bikes, I spend a day sitting around in the (almost short sleeves but not quite) sun and a day riding e-bikes on the trails there. Why e-bikes? The ability to self-shuttle the amazingly fun trails was just what I needed. Ride up, switch the motor off, descend the hand-made trails – and have so much fun that you’d choose to ride up again. Ace fun.
Also in sunnier climes, Wil continued his busman’s holiday:
I got reacquainted with the realities of riding in an Aussie summer on creek singletrack. Then I went up to Bright in the high country to ride some of the (new to me) trails including the popular Hero trail.
It was not shit.
Back in the world of snow and sleet, Andi braved the slither of the roads and the trails to play out at Llandegla.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BfA_wM9BhLd/?taken-by=andisykes
Luckily for Andi, he’d already spent some of Friday afternoon acclimatising to low temperatures in our studio, so he was ready for the snow and ice:
Into the breach we go. Between Pancake Day and Valentine’s Day, this week ought to fly by in a flurry of calories.
