Very sad news, RIP

I didn’t have any meaningful words when this thread was started, still can’t put it into words.

RIP Jenn. 🙁

Far more affected by this than I have any right to be. We’ll miss you.

jimmy – bless you 😥 Take care.

Thirty bloody Eight how can someone so full of joy & life be taken so young.
I know It makes no difference but I’m actually angry…
It might not be the correct words or emotion but that’s what I feel.

Sorry for the outburst but coping with a wife with an incurable condition might not make me rational but I DGAF

Tom you have my greatest respect

Very sad news indeed.
My condolences to her family and friends.

Rip, very sad news

Very sorry to hear this. My thoughts are with her family and friends. R.I.P.

sad news and so young 🙁
Riding for you today Jenn

R.I.P Jenn, condolences to all her family and friends. Such sad news.

Jenn
Very Motivational
Very Talented
Very Friendly
Very Fast
I hope the #JennRide pictures and rideouts brought a smile to your face.
Thoughts are with all friends and family. Sad times .
Rob

Very sad news, thoughts to family and friends

My thoughts and condolences are with friends and loved ones left behind.

May you RIP Jenn.

🙁

I only just read the update. 38, active and massively well-liked. Life (and death) just is not fair a lot of the time. Best wishes to all her family and friends and colleagues at Singletrack. Keep riding, keep writing and try to make the best you can of it. RIP.

If Tom is reading there was love riding bikes and baking chez Sandwich today.

Hopefully this is appropriate.

A few people have said they never met Jenn; my OH wrote a thing which might help with that.

http://mudinmyeyes.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/just-jenn.html

Nice words Mrs Cougar…

Sorry for your loss.

Terribly sad.
My condolences to Jenn’s family and friends.

Some great words in this thread. Took me a while to find the words and I’m not sure these are the ones http://pickled-hedgehog.com/?p=3476 – warning some swearing

RIP Jenn and the best wishes to those mourning her loss.

How very sad.
Condolences.

As others have said – so sad to hear the news, condolences to her family & friends

Very sad news. Condolences to her friends and family.

I didn’t know her personally but I did enjoy reading what she had to say, she was certainly creative and had a God given talent for writing. More often than not her words summed up exactly what I felt about riding, or indeed not being able to for some reason.

In my opinion the article Jenn wrote called ‘Escape’ in issue 69 was one of the best Singletrack have published, so much so I felt compelled to show it to the wife and write in to ST towers to say so. It’s one of the few times the wife has taken an interest in what I do !

Thanks for the inspiration Jenn.

Very sad news, so sad. Thoughts with all.

Jenn’s excellent piece on racing the great divide has been inspiring me to do that race ever since I first read and still does. A huge inspiration and one of life’s amazing people. RIP Jenn x
*guess I should think about getting my arse out on the divide, live while you can.

Actually the link should have been: http://pickled-hedgehog.com/?p=3499 – the first one was when STW announced Jenn was standing down, the second was after the terrible news on Friday.

Thanks to everyone for your lovely messages and tributes. If anyone has pics or memories of Jenn, we’d love to see and read them… we’re reading everything; please do keep posting.

Barney

I remember a call (maybe an email but pretty sure it was a call) from Jenn when she had the herculean task of turning something I’d written into production quality material. The conversation went something like this

Jenn: “I like the words. They’re great’
Jenn: pause
Jenn: “I’d just have preferred them in sentences’

Me: Right, I’ll have another go then.

Always positive, always cheery even when she must have being going through something close to hell with the treatment. Always made you feel your stuff was the most important thing she was doing.

Bah, set myself off again.

And from an email

Me: did you get the article?
Jenn: Yes, I’m reading it now… You seem to have used all the words, mind if I chop a few out? :
Me: No, any particular ones? 😉
Jenn: I went with every third, and swapped every 20th 🙂

Made me giggle remembering that. Not sure if that’s an appropriate emotion. Going to miss Jenn loads. Clearly so are many, many people. Short life, big impact.

Sincere condolences to her family and friends.

To Jenn: happy trails in those beautiful golden skies.

Just awful. RIP Jenn and I hope the riding is good wherever you are now.

Karen and I send our sincere condolences to Jenn’s family and friends.

So sad. Ride In Peace, Jenn.

Sorry to hear this, my condolences.

I didn’t really feel like riding yesterday. I’d already sacked off the club road ride for an extra extra hour in bed. I’d meant to go but it was too cold, and too sunny, and I didn’t feel great, and loads of other pathetic reasons.

And then I thought of Jenn, and everyone else who’d love to go for a ride but for whatever reason can’t, and gave myself a talking to. And went after all.

It was a lovely day, and a lovely ride. Not far, not fast, but good to be out there. I took the wrong bike, which was also the right one. Right, because a singlespeed was Jenn’s weapon of choice. Wrong, because, well a singlespeed’s always the wrong bike when you’re old, fat, unfit, and with knees like a halloween door hinge. But an obvious choice, obviously.

I stopped for a bit at one of my views, sat on a bench and just watched the sky. It wasn’t a proper Jennride; I hadn’t organised it specially and it was just me, and I certainly hadn’t brought a sign. But there were some sticks, and a bare patch of ground under the fallen leaves and pine needles, and so I marked the spot.

Next time I go there, someone or something that didn’t know Jenn will have been and kicked my sticks into the undergrowth. That’s OK – just as Jenn isn’t here for her loved ones to see any more, but her influence will last forever – I’ll always know that’s the spot where I sat and thought about how lucky I am and how unlucky others are. I don’t need sticks to remember that; someone I only met once and briefly at a race, but who was a good friend to one of my biking buddies will always be there to remind me to grab a stupid bike, grab a bottle, and grab the chance while you can.

#jennride

PS – hope she isn’t offended by the mix of upper and lower case. Sticks aren’t as bendy as I’d hoped

A long time ago, when I used to post on here much more than I should, I met Jenn at a Critical Mass in London. She used to end every STW post with :o) and she was like that in real life, wonderfully warm and smiley.

I had an idea that I’d like to work in the bike trade and open my own bike shop and Jenn was incredibly encouraging and gave me lots of useful advice, we intermittently exchanged emails for a year or so and met a few times at SSUKs.

11 years later I’m typing this from the workshop in my own bike shop, which I opened 3 years ago, after a few years of solo mechanicking, after a few more years of working in other people’s bike shops, after Jenn persuaded me to make the jump and leave a boring desk job for the dream I had.

There are so many tributes, from people who were much closer to her, but I just wanted to add my own small one. In her usually brilliant way, she made more of a change to my career than she’d ever have known.

RIP Jenn. Shine on.

:o)

Just found out the news. Got teary eyed reading Tom’s piece and, whilst I can only manage a short ride to and from work tomorrow, it will be on a hardtail and my thoughts will be with all Jenn’s friends and family.

Plenty of excuses not to ride today – 3 young kids, van at the garage, heavy rain, United Utilities trench inspector, Howdens to measure kitchen, due at the in laws for tea and a ‘sleep over’. I’d said I’d ride though, so bike in car with the family and jumped ship just short of Grannies.

The rain stopped, the cloud rolled east and the setting sun fired it ablaze along the western fringe of The Lakes. Spent some time looking out over the Solway thinking about people I’d never met.
Crap phone pic doesn’t do it justice.

Another person I’d love to have met. Cheers Jenn

Wednesday, Oct 28 was a dark rainy day here in Pittsburgh. Not they type of day I would normally consider for a ride. But I did a leisurely ride in the afternoon because of Jenn.

Downtown Pittsburgh from the bike trail on the Hot Metal Bridge.

There is a sculpture along the Three Rivers Heritge Trail that I never noticed before, so I put the Fatty in the hot metal ladle…

And a closeup of the bike in the ladle

One rainy ride done in the US because of Jenn!

There’s a lot of folk giving themselves a talking to about getting out anyway; which is entirely appropriate I think.

My overwhelming impression is ‘generous’.. –

* I’d missed out on getting a copy of the first Ride Journal (and bemoaned the fact). No problem, said jenn, I’ve got a spare, I’ll post it to you.

* I was planning a long coast to coast, offroad, singlespeed, and wondered about a Thudbuster seatpost to take some of the harshness out of a 5 day jaunt. No problem, said jenn, I’ll send you one I’ve got lying about.

* A family holiday took me close to Todmorden, a spin seemed like a good idea, but I’d no idea where to ride. No problem, said jenn, swing past the house mid morning and I’ll show you round.. And she did, completely out-biking me (I think I even had an off and tumbled down a woodsy traverse, the shame..) up hill and down dale. To finish up with coffee and cake (of course).

…you get the idea…

Would have been so easy last night to not go out for a ride with my son. It was cold, I had lots to do etc.

However, he’ll never be 14 years and 100ish days again, so we went out for an hour with the lights. Beautiful evening, lights shining from the eyes of the monsters*, and the moon out and bright. Lovely.

Thoughts with Jenn’s family and friends x

*cats and foxes