Thinking this afternoon(while mudplugging through local woods ) about growing up many moons ago .When i did eventually learn to ride properly (ok some will say i still haven't !!! )it was always dirt that i was interested in .Mid 60s scrambling on Grandstand then between races out for a tear about. "Just going dirt tracking mum " playing card flicking the rear spokes adding our own motor bike noises .Pretending we were Badger Goss,Dave Bickers et al .5 speed racing bikes with straights or cow horns totally impractical but great fun .
Never that interested in riding on the road though .Still bloody good fun now though i do wonder if we spend too much and could have just as much fun on hack bikes ?
wasn't interested in bikes until we moved to the Peak District when i was ten. Parents bought me a mountain bike as my BMX was no cop on the rough stuff around the house and i haven't stopped since.
I do have the odd wee chuckle at those (and i include myself in this) who mince around the peaks on ££££ full sus bikes when i used to ride my 24" wheeled Raleigh *generic kids bike name* on exactly the same trails
could have just as much fun on hack bikes ?
I do 🙂
When I graduated there was no work and even less money. To save me all those bus fares, Mum got me a £69 "mountain bike", and the rest, as they say, is history.
That bike got me riding for the first time since I had been a nipper, and even though it died on my first real biking trip the bug had bitten.
Thanks Mum,
Alex
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Peak District > Derbyshire > Chesterfield > Linacre Woods was the first proper, filthy, muddy, winter ride I remember on my Raleigh Lizard when I came back head-to-toe in mud, freezing cold and loving it. Local Chesterfield trails were the stomping ground for another 6-7 years before moving to Sheffield and discovering the Peaks more.
Happy happy memories.