Singletrack Staff Blog

Just done a twenty minute interval session/run/limp misery thing. Twenty minutes is a long time. I have no idea why women complain about childbirth…

Both Chris and I have retired in the past 12 months and both of us have rapidly adapted to not going to work – although bizarrely I’m still wide awake at 0550 and am usually up shortly after 0600 – 40 year habits die hard! Still at least it gives me a couple of hours to myself before SWMBO surfaces and issues ‘daily orders’.

During the past few months, apart from some memorable holidays both on our own and in the company of dear Singletrack (STW) friends, we’ve been busy not only completing some of the house projects which there previously never seemed time for, but also clearing some 35 years of marital accumulations ranging from those wedding presents that were just too naff to give to even those folk we didn’t like, to items of furniture we no longer need – not to mention a ‘mountain’ of clothes, some never worn, some outgrown, some no longer needed because of our new found ‘casual’ lifestyle, but all surplus. The Salvation Army, (an organisation whose anachronistic beliefs I can’t relate too, but equally one for which we both have great respect because of the sterling ‘social’ work it does particularly for homeless and missing people) will we hope, benefit.

Inevitably my attention was drawn with increasing assertiveness to that holy of holies – my ‘Bike Room’. I used all my diversionary tactics but was eventually backed into an inescapable corner…. I’ve been as guilty as everyone on Singletrack at having a ‘habit’ – get the latest, coolest, trickiest kit as soon as it becomes available – the fact that I really didn’t need most of it was irrelevant and my regular visits to the ‘Pimp HQ’ didn’t help either. Well, over the past year I’ve been using the excellent ‘Classifieds’ on STW to move some stuff and I’m now in a reasonable balance between ‘stock’ and ’spares’. The crunch really came when attention was forcibly focussed on ‘the study’ – formerly a dining room but now redundant with a dining kitchen…

“What about all those ‘thousands’ of old magazines – I’ve been monitoring how often you look at them”. Eek! I’ve been rumbled……!

Cue: 3 days assiduously auditing the condemned magazines.

Result: Many years worth of ‘What MTB’, ‘MBR’, ‘Cycling Weekly’, ‘Procycling’, ‘Cycle Sport’, ‘Mountain Bike Action’ etc., etc., feverishly read and re-read and interesting articles, route guides and photographs carefully removed and filed in archive boxes. The remainder were taken on a sad sentimental single journey to the local Recycling site (although I did turn the car around twice with a crazy plan to hide them in the summer house – however in the end I followed orders as usual and spent a tearful half hour feeding them one-by-one through the one-way slot into blue container oblivion. Sniff.

You’ll note, however, I’ve retained every copy of STW, Mountain Bike World and Dirt Rag – some things are just TOO precious!

What did I find when I got home? Yep, you guessed – the precious space I vacated neatly filled with volumes of ‘Good Food’ magazine.
Suckered again!

Another Sunday spent writing - seems to be a pattern. Never mind, the magazine WILL go to the printers early next week and then we’ll have time to ride bikes, catch up with friends and relax.
Well, apart from our ‘get fit’ campaign, which’ll be vying for our full attention. So far this week I reckon I’ve done 40% of the exercises that Dave Smith has given us. There’s just not seemed to be enough time to ride bikes at all, let alone do intervals and stretches and the like… But then that’s one of the excuses we’re going to have to find a way around. Next week might be a little less mental, once the mag goes to the printers. So a few more 18 hour days for me Monday to Wednesday I guess, then a few days of sleep and then - oh, then it’ll be the week after.
At least we have the horror of the ‘before’ photos to keep us focussed.

Was hoping to get out for a proper ride today but as it turns out I appear to have broken a rib. I must have bust it during my spectacular over-the-bars chest-slap crash on ByC night ride the other day. So I think it’s best if I stay off the bike for a week or so; it’s particularly slippy-sketchy out there at the mo and the last thing I want to do is crash on it again.

On the plus side, it does mean I have more time to wrestle with writing up this issue’s ‘racy aluminium hardtails’ bike test (Cannondale Caffeine, Commencal Flame, Rivette H4 and Specialized Stumpjumper HT).