Members’ Feature

After a day of mucho rainio and excellentio trailsio yesterday on the hills above Irun…….imagine technical, rocky Lakeland trails and you’ll have a good idea of the type of riding we were doing, we were glad to waken up to normal service of blue skies…

Dias Uno in El Bigio Brotherio Housio! Arrived late last night to the rural B and B in an old converted farmhouse to find what seemed like a concerningly large double bed. While I’m in touch with my female side, the thought of Mark spooning…

Just arrived in Basque Country to stay with www.basquemtb.com. It’s me and Sanny here. Last time we both went on a biking trip together we were in Austria and it rained for most of the trip. It’s raining here. Hmmm. I’m quite tired at the…

I spent the Bank Holiday weekend up in Swaledale with my other half (who’s a teacher) enjoying the last few days of the school holidays. When you’re a pupil the school hols seem to last for ages. But the six weeks this year seemed to…

Issue 52 was sent off to the printers last night. Nice work Sim “Moonlight” Mainey! It’s been a particularly difficult issue to do due to various people being unavailable to contribute -not just paid Singletrack staffers but our usual team of helpers (freelance or just…

So a week ago we retreated up to Austria from Slovenia due to the combination of high temperatures and high humidity making riding just a little bit too much hard work. In retrospect and facing the inevitable homecoming rain that seems pretty stupid now. Regular…

I’m out of the office tomorrow. I realised as we came back from Morzine that my passport had literally days left and if I’d have been there a few days longer in France I could have been stuck there (which wouldn’t have bothered me if…

Now that the Genesis Alpitude has been finished with it was time to get another Long Term project in. And after a LOT of deliberation here is what I’ve gone for… I’m going to build it up as a All Day Mildy-Hardcore Hardtail Trail Ripper.…

This issue is on The Plan as being the “Interview” issue. For such an apparently straightforward feature they always seem to end involving a surprising amount of work/hassle – both beforehand and afterwards! Trying to “synch” diaries with people in the bike industry seems to…

Hello all, Just had a weekend away with my Missus in Dartmoor. Lying around in a tent, reading a Complete Saturday Guardian, beer, wine, barbecue, mild sunstroke, the usual stuff that makes a break. Plus a great ride on Sunday. My main reason for returning…

You can’t beat a good deadline rush even though it’s early this issue thanks to the efficiency of Sim and Ben at the helm. Finished words for the next issue yesterday, then in true male tradition started packing for our trip this morning. A random…

Last week I was in Morzine on the Singletrack Readers’ Week holiday with FlowMTB. And it was fantastic. After a while off the bike due to one thing or another it totally re-ignited my riding. The trails were challenging and fun, the company was good…

AKA the Ben & Sim issue.. right then, words and pics are beginning to trickle in. I’ve tried to chase up some words from folks and hopefully by the end of this week we could have about 25% of the mag’s “raw materials” in for…

You may have been wondering why the front page of the site has been quiet this week. Well, we’ve all been in Morzine on the 2009 Singletrack Magazine Reader Holiday hosted by Flow MTB. A full report will be in the next issue but in…

We’ve a simple rule in our house; If the sun’s shining we’re out riding. And so faced with the prospect of having to sort out the garden fence it was a pleasure to pull the house rule out of the bag for a “get out…

We’re off to Morzine tomorrow for this year’s Reader Holiday (kindly hosted by Flow MTB). Myself and Matt are just back from a week’s hard riding in Norway. Marky The Mark is just back from a no-bikes-allowed holiday in the Med. Sim and femme fro-rider…

As you may already know, Chipps is having a well-earned rest for few weeks (well, if you can call hauling yourself self-supported across the Pyrenees a “rest”). Which leaves myself and Sim kinda in charge of the next issue. Not sure whether the mag will…

Once a year I like to get away from it all. And by that I mean I like to have a week away from bikes! Now don;t get me wrong – I love bikes. I’d be in the wrong job if I didn’t, but to…

We all know that getting the work/life balance right is important, but I seem to be having problems with my work/work balance at the moment too. I was meant to be attending the Silverfish/Lapierre/Extra Demo Day at Dalby this weekend, but young James Crazylegs has…

Even though I spent Thursday, Friday and Saturday messing about on two wheels under scorching sunshine I still felt the urge to "play out" on Sunday afternoon...

Is it me or are the people posting comments on our stories getting increasingly more negative and cynical?  SRAM launch their 10 speed groupset and within minutes of Dave posting his report from the launch itself the comments are ‘what’s the point?’, ‘it’s all just…

Is it that time again? Again?

Well, I’m glad I made an effort to do a lot of riding during the decent weather we had through April. But… CAN WE PLEASE HAVE A SUMMER THIS YEAR FOR GOD’S SAKE??? That is all.

(£449 RRP from Raleigh) This year’s mantra for me is to learn how to jump properly on proper jumps. It’s a funny old game. You pretty much have to unlearn a lot of the way you normally ride a mountain bike. It’s been very hard…

My favourite five minute MTB video ever...

Entries for the Singletrack Classic Weekender are coming in nice and steadily. We’ve probably taken a few more over the Easter break but we passed the 50 mark for processed entries last week. Woop! I’m really looking forward to this event (even though I’m not…

Having been to Canada a couple of times to do mountain bike stuff with the help of the tourist boards over there, I’ve ended up on the mailing list of the Alberta Tourist Board. Usually I get press releases about new trails opening at one…

nPower have doubled our office electricity bill because we didn't write a letter to them in September to tell them we were switching suppliers in December, even though at the time we were quite happy with the rate we were paying them and didn't actually…

Or 'Sim and I' for those that prefer spaces between words... Yep, it's another 'The mag's off to the printers' blog

.. the Lake District National Park Authority! “As Oscar winning film Slum Dog Millionaire hugs international headlines, Lake District village halls are celebrating their own big cash windfalls. There is no fanfare for the £27,000 pledged to give a vital boost to buildings which form the…

It’s kind of snuck up on us again. Taking a week off to go skiing earlier in February, plus our new week-shorter production schedule has meant the usual deadline cram. However, some articles are (finally) being commissioned in advance and are coming in on time,…

Chipps ponders the ratio of hardtails to suspension in the magazine(s)

Chipps is back from his -9C skiing fun in Italy, but when's the next jolly? He's going to have to invent some more days in the year to get on one...

Swearing can be funny, stats are great but not when an insurance company gets hold of them to try and prove that cycling is dangerous and ads are here to stay and you need them as much as we do ultimately... No really!

In the continuing saga of “sorting out downstairs” I’ve been spending a great deal of time shinning myself on lots of random wheels that are littering the Singletrack offices. There seems to be something about wheels. No matter how useless or battered it may be,…

Our workshop isn’t in the neatest of states at the mo… So with this in mind we’ve just taken delivery of an “Action Station” from PAF Systems. It’s a “work bench solution for those with limited space.. despite its heavy duty capacity, it folds flat…

A peek into the staff bike shed reveals a lot of changes for 2009. Here's "Part 2" of Benji's thoughts on his Genesis Alpitude ("Part 1" can be found in the new 47th issue of Singletrack Magazine)...

Explored a new (to me) Lakeland bridleway today. It turned out to be one of the best technical trails I’ve ever ridden. Better than the Snowdon Rangers Path? I think so. More details in a future issue of Singletrack. Awesome.

Just back from the Core Bike show - it was great as always... Now to get some pictures up.

I am really into mountain biking again. And when I say “really” it should say “REALLY”. Times 10. Tuesday night rides, thursday night rides, Saturday techno rides, Sunday social rides. All of it please. I think my mind/body/spirit has finally given up waiting for good…

A snowy commute made for some late night fixie-fun

Chipps mulls over whether he still qualifies as a singlespeeder...

Some bizarre late night musings...

Frozen byways and far-away pubs made up Chipps' weekend

The forum post frequency is returning to its pre Christmas level now, which is reassuring and I reckon a big indication of a return to normal service is the number of posts involving passioned and often irate posts about tiny, insignificant issues. It feels to…

Chipps borrows a dog...

No sooner had I suggested doing a photoshoot for today – given the run of unbroken blue skies we’ve had recently – than the clouds close in and it starts sleeting. Typical. Here’s hoping that Friday is better. We have lots of ace bikes to…