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11/11/2003: "Singletrack Reloaded"

I spent last weekend in the fine company of a bunch of people from the Singletrack website. Friday night a few of us went to see The Matrix (which was crap) followed by the odd beer or two. Saturday, up bright and early to watch a bit of the rugby world cup, bit of breakfast then off to Singletrack Towers to meet up with people for a ride. Eventually we managed to get organised enough to set off. First job - ride around a roundabout a few times so that Chipps could get some photos (and more importantly to piss a few car drivers off!) then off on the ride proper. All I seem to remember is that it went up. Lots. Being a soft sothern nancy I don't really ride hills very often and my granny gear took a bit of a bashing...

It was worth it though, riding with lots of likeminded people, some i'd met before, some new. All good fun. A nice bumpy rutted descent led us into Hebden Bridge and a cafe stop for tea and cake :^)

A few of us, mindful of the fact that there would be a long evening of partying ahead, headed back to Todmorden along the canal towpath. The others set off for another couple of hours riding.
The evening started early with a few of us meeting in the bar at 5 for a couple of beers. Andy Armstrong wins the award for having the best eyesight after spotting this bottle of Whiskey right at the back of the bar from around 20 yards away!

We had a nice meal and drunk a fair amount of alcohol. A few people may have smoked a few drugs but I wouldn't know about that :^) We watched Dave Andersons helmet cam footage, gave out a few awards and generally had a good laugh, especially watching Mark Alker breakdancing! Eventually we got kicked out and had to retire to the residents bar in the hotel. Don't really remember much, think Andy A and myself left the bar at around 0430.


Somehow managed to get up in the morning, couldn't face more than orange juice for breakfast though! Went outside to assemble my bike. Struggled a bit with this but got there eventually (thanks to Jo for helping me get the bike out of the bike bag!!). Spun down the road to meet everyone at the office for another ride. Bearing in mind the long drive I was faced with later in the day I chose the easy ride. I wasn't expecting a long 1 in 6 road climb to form part of an easy ride but the descent was worth it :^)
More tea and cake in the cafe was again followed by a spin back down the canal. Goodbyes were said and I set off on the Redbull fuelled trip back down South. A fantastic weekend was had by all and I can't wait until the next one.


I took a few photos over the weekend as well, see them here.