Issue 142: Last Word | My Ride Pal

Column

by ago 11

Hannah has found a new friend to ride with.I have a new ride buddy. I’ve known him all his life and when he was younger he rode quite a lot, but somehow life got in the way and he’s only quite recently got into mountain biking. From time to time we’ve ridden together, but usually it’s more of a case of me driving us to a bike park and us being in the same place at the same time rather than really riding together. It’s only recently that the dynamic has changed. Now we ride up together, with occasional squeaks as we get our line choices wrong. I go in front, towing him up and keeping the momentum going. Together we ride along, noting the clunks that emanate from our bikes and signal that perhaps we need to give them some TLC. We chat about the merits of dropper posts, sticky shoes, and waterproof socks. Sometimes we rue our choices, and stop to help each other adjust hoods and buffs as rain or hailassaults exposed patches of flesh. At the top of a climb, if the weather allows, we’ll stop for a snack and take in the view. I tell him the names of plants and birds; he tells me the science behind the cloud formation, or the history of some local landmark. He’s still learning the trails, but sometimes he’ll recognise a path where he’s been before while out walking or running. Sometimes it’s a trail we’ve done before....
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Viewing 11 posts - 1 through 11 (of 11 total)
  • Issue 142: Last Word | My Ride Pal
  • Premier Icon Esme
    Full Member

    Aww, that brought back some lovely memories, albeit in a different sport.
    Hang on to that Tow-Whee, it’ll be useful again in a couple of decades . . . 😉

    Posted 1 month ago
    Premier Icon harry_the_spider
    Full Member

    I’ve had one of those for the last couple of years. He’s 14 now and quicker than me, but I won’t admit it to him just yet.

    Posted 1 month ago
    Premier Icon Gary Biles
    Full Member

    Both my “boys” are in their 30’s now, but I remember the youngest finally beating me at Squash, he never looked back and I rarely got close to him after that. I can still out do the eldest on an MTB, but he doesn’t ride that often and bench presses huge weights that make me sweat just looking at them 🙂

    Posted 1 month ago
    Premier Icon explorerboy
    Full Member

    This really made me smile this morning. I’ll be a first time Dad in less than 7 weeks (fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck!) and I’m really hoping that I’ll be having similar experiences in the future. Of course, I wont be pushing them into any sport and I’ll support them in whatever activities they choose to do, but I really hope they’ll enjoy berking around on bikes with their Old Man.

    Posted 1 month ago
    Premier Icon Pyro
    Full Member

    You can still ride together as long as you want, but the roles, ultimately, reverse.

    I’m 41 and I regularly ride with my 75 year old Dad. The trails have got tamer – mainly roads, back lanes, gravel rather than MTB trails nowadays – but we’ve done some longer tours like Hadrian’s Wall, the Sandstone Way, John Muir Way and others. I’m now his domestique, it’s my job to deal with the logistics and pack the snacks, plot the GPS track so we can navigate from a Garmin rather than the guidebook on his bars, remind him to eat and drink regularly, and mainly be on the front to block the headwinds, and be the one to take the pictures so the trip’s recorded. With a few health issues that he’s had, I’m also there to keep an eye that he’s still upright and rolling, not keeled over in a ditch. We take it in turns to buy coffees and lunches, we chat a lot, and we generally have a good time. It doesn’t have to be a competition.

    Posted 1 month ago
    Premier Icon thegeneralist
    Full Member

    Made me sad. I love riding with my kids, but they so rarely come out any more.

    😫

    Enjoy it.

    Posted 1 month ago
    Premier Icon tourismo
    Full Member

    Lovely article. My eldest is 10 and I love going riding with him, and I know what you mean about good line choice, he certainly didn’t learn that from me! It’s been great watching him progress and more importantly enjoy riding. I love the way kids ride, they don’t worry about pacing themselves, it’s flat out, take a breather then repeat. As adults I think we can be in danger of taking riding too seriously. At the end of the day we’re all just playing on bicycles, it’s good to be reminded of this by our own kids!

    Posted 1 month ago
    Premier Icon arkike
    Full Member

    I was about to say that sounds like the start of a romance and your husband should be worried, until I got to the end 😃 which makes me laugh.
    I started mountain biking with my son since he was 5, he has been my riding buddy ever.
    When he was 6 he was riding red trails, at his 7s he was racing XC and won 4 races. At 8 yrs he was riding the hardest classic Peak District routes without any help on the climbs.
    Just before he turned 9 he started to ride so fast that I couldn’t chase him on the downhills anymore. Then last year he raced DH a couple of times in a Bike Park, finishing second in his first race.
    He just turned 10 and his interest in MTB has fallen.
    We rarely rode this winter, like only once a month during 6 months. We’ve just started to ride Sundays but he is all the time asking when we’re back home? He is still a kid and has other interests. So, I let him decide what he wants but I will take him more to bike parks this year to have some fun together.

    Posted 1 month ago
    Premier Icon harry_the_spider
    Full Member

    Went out for a spin with The Boy yesterday. Not been riding much as I’ve buggered my knee up, so this was a treat.

    Half way round he informed me that he would “burn me off” in the final 400m… so 800m out I dropped him and he never recovered. A small victory, but I’ll take it while I still can.

    https://www.strava.com/activities/6961001271

    Posted 1 month ago
    Premier Icon Jay
    Full Member

    You can still ride together as long as you want, but the roles, ultimately, reverse.

    I’m 41 and I regularly ride with my 75 year old Dad.

    I love the fact the rides have continued, Pyro.

    Posted 1 month ago
    Premier Icon reeksy
    Full Member

    Love this.
    My two are keen riders, and watching them progress is such an incredible experience.
    On Sunday the younger one had to isolate for the virus so I got to ride with just the 10 y/o.
    He informed me that he’d worked out which trails we’d be riding at our ‘mini North shore’ park, proceeded to take all the a-lines, do heaps of jump practice, a couple of fast as you can Strava runs and finished up on the gnarly dh run.
    Monday morning at breakfast he asked if I’d be getting him off the bus on Tuesday as he’d like to ride with me again. Sorry mate, I can’t… but we can go again today if you like? Boom, off we went again for a second morning in a row!

    Posted 1 month ago
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