“Neither a borrower nor a lender be, For loan oft loses both itself and friend, And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.” And so goes the oft-quoted advice in Hamlet,……
Chipps’s introduction to each issue of Singletrack magazine. From random ramblings to musical metaphors for riding bikes.
Chipps encourages you to seek out and praise your heroes. However, they might not be the people you first think of. Doesn’t the saying go ‘Never meet your heroes’? Is……
Words: Chipps Does anyone ever aspire to be average? Surely, statistically, most of us must be average at most things? Look around, though, and all talk is about the fastest,……
Admission time… I’m a secret, or perhaps ‘recovering’ left-hander. That is to say I write and use a mouse with my left hand, but apart from that I’m basically right-handed. I play guitar right-handed. If I……
Chipps encourages us to get to know our ride-group neighbours. As a reasonably feeble and glasses-wearing schoolboy, I was never great at ball games and was usually among the last……
Chipps is in the flow zone… just don’t tell him. Been ‘in the zone’ lately? Have you achieved ‘flow state’? Perhaps you have; perhaps it’s something you’ve only glimpsed once……
Words Chipps Now, how did those lyrics go again? “Accept certain inalienable truths: Prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too will get old And when you do, you’ll fantasise……
Words Chipps How is it that I can love listening to a particular band, yet my friend hates them? Or that I can dislike food that is someone’s favourite dish?……
Words Chipps There’s a fresh sign that’s recently popped up on a bridleway near me. It’s at a road junction between a very minor road and a bridleway. The bridleway...
The wider we travel, the more narrow our focus… Words Chipps It’s been said that travel broadens the mind. If you expose your mind to new experiences, new places and……
hannah blind. Will following half-heard directions in the woods lead to peril? Or pleasure? I’m following directions that are little more than a rumour: ‘Through the horse gate, turn right……
finding your place Words hannah Chipps is away. He’s off on sabbatical to what he calls ‘his favourite place in the world’: Moab, Utah. Now, I’m not going to argue……
Greasing Out Words Chipps Daz was our ride leader for the evening, so he got to deliver the pep talk at the top of the final descent – a rocky……
adam batty a spotters guide to mountain bike groups. Finding new routes for rad rides is pretty simple nowadays. You have standardised signs and symbols that give empirical evidence to……
The Highland Heist Charlie the Bikemonger reveals his criminal past. Does ‘I was very tired’ count as a defence? You know what? Bikepacking can really change you. Around ten years……
Longer shortcuts. Words Chipps Out in the car, running errands on a Saturday lunchtime… the Council tip, the shops, the cheese stall on the market… The usual. Wondering why it……
I took a trip back in time recently, revisiting a place I used to ride when I was just starting out. Back then the mountain bike world was a rich,…
Train, Train Go Away Barney faces up to the inevitable: he’s not magically going to get fitter by doing nothing. It sits against one wall of the cellar, locked in……
Make The Moment Last Words Chipps I’ve never heard of Ben Hogan. I’d assumed that he was the lesser famous brother of Hulk, but apparently he was big in the……
barney marsh Train, Train Go Away Barney faces up to the inevitable: he’s not magically going to get fitter by doing nothing. It sits against one wall of the cellar,……
Strength through respect Words Chipps 2017 saw car brand Porsche retire from endurance, Le Mans-style bike racing (it’s off to do fully electric racing). Rather than gloating about one of……
