Let us raise our spirits, look on the bright side, and feel the warm rays of positivity. 2023 is gonna be great, OK? There are going to be highlights, and peaks, and apogees of achievement. Big good and small good stuff. All the good stuff. To get you a sunshiny state of mind, here’s what the Singletrack Staff are looking forward to this year.
Hannah:
Having a partner to ride with
If all goes according to plan with visas, I will be getting married this year. Which will mean I will get to spend more of the year with my partner than without – whoop! He is much better at getting off the sofa and out and about than me, so I know that living together will lead to more bike riding. It’s also a lot more fun going off on adventures and exploring when it’s the two of us. So, I’m looking forward to more rides, and someone to share them with.
‘Ard Rock Enduro
I’ve only entered us (see, spirit of optimism: hoping to have a husband by this point in the year!) into the Intro Enduro so as to free up as much energy as possible for chatting and having fun, but I’m looking forward to finally getting to go to ‘Ard Rock. Every other year, something or other has got in the way and I’ve not been able to go. This year I get to join the party. Yay!
Not riding bikes
I’m looking forward to not just riding bikes, but doing other things too. And, yes, that feels like a good thing about riding bikes in 2023. By doing more other things – running, climbing, snowboarding, walking – and diversifying my activities a bit, I’m giving myself more choices about the activities I do. Hopefully that will make me all round fitter and give some forgotten muscles some exercise. I think it will also mean that I do something instead of nothing, and that there will be a little less suffering required. Instead of enduring a grim ride in filthy weather (or feeling guilty about not riding), I can go for a splashy run, or an indoor climb instead. As my fitness builds, I can ride to work and go for a run at night. More activity, equals more fitness, equals more fun, equals more activity.
Latest Singletrack Merch
Buying and wearing our sustainable merch is another great way to support Singletrack
Doing another DH race
I had thought about trying to race a whole DH series this year, but the logistics and dates were just more than I can face. But, I do want to do another DH race somewhere along the line this year. I’m definitely planning to do Steel City again, but I hope I can also add another one to the list too. A few minutes of tuning out from the world and racing the clock…
Amanda:
Saying No
This year I am most looking forward to doing what I want to do instead of what I think I should be doing. I had slipped into a pattern of saying ‘yes’ to plans regardless of whether or not I actually wanted to do them. Enduro races, long weekends in the same riding location as we always go, another race… A big part of that was not knowing what motivates me, or maybe just not admitting it to myself. Another part was the pressure or expectation that I should want to do it.
So this year I plan to take my bikes to new places, at whatever pace I feel like on each given day. I keep banging on about how much I love Wales and want to ride there more – so I’m going to. There’s more on offer in Scotland than I can possibly imagine, so I’m going to go further north. I like riding a road bike, so I’ll stop making excuses for doing it. I feel that my days of proving what I’m capable of are over, for now. It’s exhausting!
Spreading The Load
Cycling is great for the muscles it uses, but not so great for the ones it doesn’t, so I plan to continue using the rest of my body and spread the stress-load. I discovered I absolutely love trail running, and in doing that I find hiking much more achievable (no more jelly legs on the descent). Given that all I want from life is to be at the top of mountains as frequently as possible, I’ll be doing every activity I can to achieve that. I have found that my motivation to go out for a run conveniently fills in the gaps where I’m demotivated to ride a bike, so it removes the self inflicted pressure to get out for a ride when I don’t really feel like it.
Support Crew
Although I don’t enjoy racing, I do love the atmosphere. I plan to be at all the races my partner and friends are competing in, armed with snacks, fluids, motivational talk and a camera. I have volunteered myself to be a pilot rider for a neighbour that runs the Empowered People charity. I have put my name down to be a chaperone for any riders that require one at various mountain bike races that my riding buddies are entered in. Basically I have found a way to justify being at all the events I’d otherwise be missing out on!
Benji:
I love a list. My whole life (work and home) is essentially various lists on Post-It notes. So here is a list…
- Riding in Snowdonia (or just North Wales in general). I used to ride there all the time. Not been for yonks.
- Proper mountain biking with children (my own).
- Fazua Ride60 e-bikes.
- Disc brakes getting as good as they should be (more brakes like Hope Tech 4 please!)
- A new mud tyre from Schwalbe. Not that I know of anything. I just want one.
- Downhill World Cup racing. It will ace regardless of any organisational chaos.
- Finally seeing what SRAM do (or don’t do) with an ebike motor.
- Manufacturers returning a focus to slackening head angles (no, they are not slack enough yet).
Mark:
The power of my legs
I have spent the last few years gradually drifting towards riding eBikes almost exclusively. This year I will continue to ride eBikes because they are just so much fun but I’ve also woken up from Christmas with this unexpected urge to ride my motorless Norco Sight, so I’ve made some plans to do just that. Home and abroad, in August I’ll be celebrating my wife’s 50th by going to Whistler to ride bikes.
Although I plan to ride more under my own steam (and just a lot more often than I have done in the last few years) in keeping with the theme that other things beyond bikes are also quite important, I shall be continuing to learn to play the drums. It turns out I’m not a complete natural when it comes to playing drums and indeed guitars and keyboard – and that is the great attraction for me. Because it’s hard 100% of my brain has to be put to work doing it and that plays an important part in just switching off from the stresses of work and money. For those periods I’m somewhere else, buried in the thing I’m trying to master. After 30+ years of riding mountain bikes, it’s not something that happens all the time in the saddle. Riding comes so naturally that my brain can do other things at the same time, and while that in and of itself can be very beneficial as often riding helps me think more clearly, it’s sometimes important to switch off completely for a rest. Doing something that you find really hard to do can clear the way to that switch.
Chipps:
Keeping the momentum
One thing that stood out from my dramatic year of 2021 – in which my partner and I got engaged, sold our house, moved house, got married and re-imagined our working lives, all in about ten months – was that it’s far easier to say ‘yes’ to a new idea if you’re already moving forwards. 2022 brought with it another house move, but it also brought more bike riding opportunities and a greater focus on ‘why’ we ride and who we ride with, rather than ‘what bikes we’re riding’. I plan on taking the fitness benefits from riding more and planning more and bigger rides in 2023.
While 2022 was spent getting to know the trails in a five mile radius of our new home, 2023 is going to be about finding out what’s behind that ridge and over the back of that mountain. For 2023, I want to do more ‘two-sandwich’ days out. Rides that aren’t necessarily about how rad the trails are under-tyre, but about how rad the views are once we get to the top of the endless climbs.
Self maintenance
One of my 2023 goals is to try to make sure that every bike in the shed, from my daily-driver Yeti ARC to the Sturmey Archer 3-speed ‘bakery bike’ is in tip-top working order. Something that’s not the case at the moment. Beyond that, though, I’m going to do more self-maintenance. I’ve been doing online Pilates once a week for the last year and I plan on adding regular stretching and weights to that regime. As I tick over into 55 years of age, I’m grateful that I’ve mostly been free of random aches, pains and twinges over the years, despite a history of zero stretching, shonky diet and a love of beer. This year will see a further improvement in the diet, and a greater dedication to preventative maintenance.
Just say ‘no’ – to bikepacking
Despite having done a pretty chunky cycle tour across France a bunch of years ago, I’ve come to the realisation that the sheer amount of minimalism and organisation involved in bikepacking just isn’t for me, and neither is shivering under a tarp, praying for the warmth of the sunrise. So I’m going to make 2023 the year of zero bikepacking. Instead, I’m going to try to do more rides where I get up early and get home late…
[Editor’s note: none of the STW team can remember Chipps doing any bikepacking since about 2009, but if he’s happy to look forward to actively avoiding it, we’re happy for him]
Summer trails
And finally, to anyone despairing at the continual rain and gloop, remember that – every year – summer does return. It wasn’t six months ago that everyone was complaining about the killer heatwave and not able to move due to the heat. Try to hang on to a bit of that, while remembering that trails do dry out, the days lengthen and the sunshine returns. Until then, there’s always Tenerife…
Ross
Riding Bikes
It might seem obvious, but I’m looking forward to riding bikes. Over the last couple of years, and the transition to working from home more often, I’ve ridden bikes more than I ever have. When the weather’s been particularly good I’ve even found myself getting out twice a day to capitalise on the perfect trail conditions. Not only had this been good for the body, but it’s also good for the head and I seem to be happier from riding more.
This year will also see a return to the Alps for me after a few years and I can’t flipping wait. A whole week (hopefully!) of big mountains and big riding. I may have ridden more than ever over the last coupe of years, but nothing compares to being in proper mountains.
Spending time with the mini-me’s
It’s recently hit home that my girls will be starting high school in September and will soon be teenagers. People who have been there seem to all say the same thing – within a week of starting high school they change and are no longer your ‘little kids’. So, I’m looking forward to making the most of kids who are still kids. Ride bikes, walk up hills, splash in streams, say yes to things with them and make the most of the time before I have high school girls in the house to contend with!
What are you looking forward to this year? Do you have big plans, or something more small scale to look forward to? Head to the comments and inspire us with your happy thoughts.
Signing up to our email newsletter is a great way to support us. The more people who sign up the more sponsors become interested in us.
