We’ve just finished issue 34! Hurrah! It’s been a tough one this one. Man-flu and being trapped inside when the trails have been dry has been a killer. But summer is on its way and there will be plenty of time to ride. Now it’s time to sleep.
After spending all day trying to ignore the lovely day outside the office window I needed to get out on my bike. Thankfully the extra hour of post-work daylight gifted to us all by British Summer Time meant I didn’t have to mess about with sticking lights on my bike. Just throw on some (highly random) cycle clothing and GO!
Was good to be back riding one of my own bikes. Good to feel that it’s still an ace bike despite neglect. Good to be riding on my own; go as fast/slow as I want, stop for a look at the view, do a weird circuitous doubling-back route ‘cos I felt like it.
Bike Magazine has just come out in the States - with an interview with the charismatic, but quiet inventor of Rock Shox and boss of Maverick - Paul Turner. I look forward to seeing my copy arrive in the post, but in the meantime, our US spy Cyclenaut has sent me a sneak preview - can you see what T-shirt he’s wearing in the portrait? Nice one Paul, thank you…
Everyone, apart from flu-ridden Matt, has now done their ‘after’ time trial to conclude the third fitness article. You’ll have to read the magazine to find out if we were quicker or slower, but one thing that it brought into focus was how changeable a simple two-mile off-road route can be. Even a well established track can become slow and draggy in the wet, or way quicker after a winter dry-spell. We had some riders quicker and some slower, but side to side comparisons will be difficult I reckon. This was due to us picking a route that had some singletrack, some descending and then one big long climb. Too many variables I reckon, but it was argued that a simple road climb would favour the lighter riders initially, but on its second running would only show who had lost lots of weight and penalise the couple of skinny riders who wanted to get heavier… Swings and roundabouts.
Needless to say, none of us ever want to do the loop again because you want to limit that amount of pain in your life… 
Last couple of days of the magazine now (yes, I’m doing my usual working on a Sunday trick) Should be another interesting issue though. See you on the other side…
I wonder if the frequency of our blog posts goes up whenever we’re on deadline. Actually, I don’t need to wonder. Everyone knows that blogs are the ideal displacement activity, whether you’re trying to avoid doing the washing-up, or writing a magazine…
So, since the Handmade Show we’ve mostly been dull and writing stuff, but there have been good points. Some great spring weather, followed by the current icy snap. Some riding, some hiding indoors and eating and some more displacement in the form of bike fixing and tyre swapping… Only three days until the clocks go forward though and THEN we’ll be into proper spring time ride frenzy land. Woohoo!
I’m off back to the UK tomorrow after a great few days in the States. I do come to the States a lot, but it is the place you have to get to to see what’s going on. I’m rather embarrassed that I know more good rides in Moab and Santa Cruz than I do in, say, Ambleside, but there you go. I guess it comes with the good bit of the job…
Don’t worry, I still have lots of great pictures from the Handmade Bike Show. They’ll appear in our next issue.
The Handmade Show is a fascinating mix of the hand crafted ‘guy in a shed’ and the slightly more commercial operations like Merlin and Independent Fabrication. There are innovative little touches that have been pored over on a CAD machine and ones that have been made through experimentation and hand filing. It’s all good though and there’ll be a full report on Singletrack tomorrow - but first, I’d better go and make sure I’ve not missed anything.
It’s nearly 11pm and I’m answering emails. However, I’m in California and I’ve been up since 7am UK time. Anyway, I’m in the States for the weekend to cover the National Hand Made Bike show. www.handmadebicycleshow.com
There’ll be around 75 exhibitors; most of the kooky ‘man in a small shed in the backwoods’ framebuilders. I predict the following:
There will be many singlespeeds and trackbikes.
There will be too many 29ers
There will be some lovely lugged road and touring frames that will be exciting out of proportion to the amount I’d actually ride one.
It will be really quite interesting - which is why we’re doing a feature on the show next issue…
Right, I see it’s now 24 hours since I got up. Best go to bed, eh? 