Making the most of the summer
Opinion

Making the most of the summer

July 28, 2014

The inbuilt thing about being British is that we’re always suspicious of good weather. Especially the more north or west you seem to be. It’s as if we’re expecting a week of good weather to always be followed by two weeks of bad, rather than just expecting more good weather – which is what you’d do if you were Californian.

Does it get much better?

So when we do get good weather, it almost seems greedy to go out and ride as much as possible because we wonder what the catch is. However, we also know that it might not get this good again for a while. Although planning summer things can be a bit of a lottery when the weather can shift from one week to another.

The bracken’s grown since we last rode here, making familiar tracks foreign-looking

Luckily, a trip to the Lakes, planned back in May some time followed through this weekend with fantastic weather. We stayed in Seathwaite (the southernmost one of the two places with the same name in the Lakes, neither of which are that near the sea) and we rode Walna Scar Road. Taking the recent Singletrack magazine Classic Ride as inspiration, we started in Seathwaite, rather than Torver, but followed much the same route. It did mean that we started the day with a 90 minute push, but it did mean we ended it with a fantastic descent back down to the pub.

Heading back to the pub!

Long live good weather! What did you get up to, then?

Chipps Chippendale

Singletrackworld's Editor At Large

With 23 years as Editor of Singletrack World Magazine, Chipps is the longest-running mountain bike magazine editor in the world. He started in the bike trade in 1990 and became a full time mountain bike journalist at the start of 1994. Over the last 30 years as a bike writer and photographer, he has seen mountain bike culture flourish, strengthen and diversify and bike technology go from rigid steel frames to fully suspended carbon fibre (and sometimes back to rigid steel as well.)

More posts from Chipps

4 thoughts on “Making the most of the summer”

  2. Beware the bracken! I managed to collect 14 ticks last week from a ride through bracken in that same area. I got back from the ride, had a quick shower and then went out for a few drinks. I didn’t realise I was being infested until the morning….not pleasant….came out with a big rash two days later………

  3. I love Summer, i do, and have been making the best use of it I can despite having Radiotherapy, I’ve been getting out for a ride most days. However I have now had Brachytherapy and have been told that I should not ride for 2-3 months! Once I feel ok and any soreness from the hospital treatment has worn off I’ll be itching to get out on the bike, but no way pedro! Hey ho! Bye Summer, see you next year!

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