Chipps killed a previously scheduled article in order to get mine about the recent Crested Butte adventure into the issue that was in print during my recent visit to the UK. It’s in the subscriber online version and the subscriber print copy, but not in the one you can buy at the news agent.
I paid a visit to STW HQ in Hebden Bridge, where in one whirlwind day I sat for a video interview with editor Hannah Dobson, went on a night ride with the local MTB crowd, gave a talk in a local pub, and was presented with one of the three bottles of rare whisky auctioned for charity.
I’m told that the bottle gifted to me raised 1070 pounds for charity, and I will toast all who contributed when I crack it with the other members of my band. I expect that event will be followed by the most awesome jam EVER.
In the absence of a formal presentation, I spoke at a local pub to a standing room audience of about 40, then I sold and signed copies of my book. After the talk, Bum Butter/Bikemonger Charlie Hobbs, who had arranged the appearance, passed the hat and it came back with 100 quid, fair pay for an hour of lecturing. When the talk was over, we drank and chatted until closing time, then retired to another pub down the street until it closed and we had nowhere else to go except home.
Hannah reported the next day that on her ride home she was felled by a sudden gust of gravity and a pedestrian sign that leapt into her path, but eventually identified the house she lives in and made it home uninjured, because she knew enough about crashing that you should be loose when you strike the road surface.
