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Well known Singletrack forum contributor over the years Simon Barnes has peacefully passed away. Well known for showing off the many trails in the Lake District and surrounding areas and having banter on the forum and having an eye for a good pic. Simon has been in a care home near Windermere for several years now after a incident in which had lasting effects on him which meant he had to have constant care.
He will be sorely missed by the club he brought to a lot of peoples attention over the years some good some bad
RIP fella
Rich
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50751437383_6c5ef78628_k.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50751437383_6c5ef78628_k.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2kjJobt ]132882482_10157815811604849_8233065131828539005_o[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/145353521@N03/ ]Richard Munro[/url], on Flickr
Very sad news indeed. My sincere condolences to his family and friends.
🙁
☹️
Sad news. Ride on, Simon.
RIP 🙁
Aww shit. RIP, SFB
Sorry forgot about the other Simon Barnes!!! who equally has a good eye for a picture
RIP Simon he’ll be a well remembered character.
I did wonder just how he was doing the other day.
Ride in peace SFB
Oh well this year just proper sucks balls. Long time lurker on here and will remember my chats with Simon. May your trails be free of mud and grit and rest well. I have had just about enough this year 🙁
Sad news indeed. As said above, condolences to his family.
He posted some great stuff over the years.
RIP SFB
Simon was a free-thinking argumentative smart alec. I'm glad he's free of his prison.
Rest in peace simonfbarnes, you annoying swine and ride free.
Sad news. RIP Simon
That is sad to hear. RIP
Seemed a really nice guy, I did wonder how he was getting on, so sad to hear this.
💙
Sad news. Ride on SFB.
Man, those shorts though.....
Legend on here. RIP
RIP to one of the earliest 'characters' of STW. May he trot bogs in peace.
Sad news.
I never new him but appreciated his weekly ride pictures and thread.
Glad he’s at peace now. He was always on great form on this forum back when it was one big forum. I enjoyed his pictures greatly as he just got out there and rode without worrying about the latest tech, something I could learn from.
Are the bogtrotters still around they were quite a clan in the past?
@simondbarnes who was here first, you both must have done over 15 years?
Get up some of his pics if anyone has access?
RIP, may all your trails be dry and dusty with the wind at your back, ride on young man ride on
☹️
R.I.P. Simon. Always liked the photos
RIP SFB.
never met you but you entertained me on the internets. happy trails.
Rest easy
ah man, one of the originals, rest peacfully
Jeez! This year just keeps going, doesn't it?
RIP sfb
RIP funny guy.
RIP Simon.
Bloody hell. Didn't see that coming.
That's horrible news. One of the STW legends.
☹️
I did wonder just how he was doing the other day.
Same here - there was a thread a few months ago when people were looking back at some of the forum characters who were no longer with us, some of them because they'd passed away, others because they simply no longer posted and SFB was mentioned then.
He lived just round the corner from me in Lancaster, I rode with them quite a few times. Simon was one of those people who just kept the club alive. Every club has a member like that - a mix of genuine, passionate and annoying who organises all the rides and events, updates the website and generally does all the crap that no-one else can be bothered with.
RIP Simon and thanks for all the trails (at least half of which were footpaths... 😉 )
RIP, far too early.
RIP sfb.
Contributed loads, both on here and irl, got under a few people's skin. Loved an argument. Honestly couldn't believe it when he had that heart attack, he seemed tough as boots, thought he'd go on forever. Missed.
Get up some of his pics if anyone has access?
SFB hosted the website so when he went into care the hosting expired. The club transferred onto Facebook for a while but that has been defunct now for a year or more.
He does have a near dormant Flickr account - it was very rarely used because he just uploaded most stuff direct to Bogtrotters.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/simonfbarnes/albums
I'm fairly sure I took this one of him
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That's so sad. I somehow missed what had happened to him at the time but was aware of his absence, I didn't realise it was anything like this. RIP 🙁
Bugger, RIP Simon.
He had a marvellous eye for a photo and a champion of equal opportunity mountain biking.
May all of you hills be down.
My condolences to his friends and family.
😢 RIP Simon, in your honour i will be exploring many cheeky trails across the local landed gentry estate tomorrow 👍
That’s very sad news, one of the real characters of early STW, how old was he Rich ? Can’t have been much older than me 😳
Shit! RIP Simon
I met him a couple of times in an access advocacy capacity whilst trying to get Lancashire Country Council interested in upgrading more of it's footpaths to BWs. I've moved to Canada since and have no idea whether Lancashire has improved it's BW provision.
(IIRC, Lancashire had one of the lowest BWs provisions in England)
Frankly, Simon wasn't much help in an advocacy capacity cos he'd just carry on riding FPs anyway! 😃
I seem to remember that Simon also had a keen eye for photographing female club riders arses as well, which prompted various lively conversations on here! 😃
I fondly remember some of the arguments and definitely the photos.
RIP Simon
Sad news, as with a lot of others I enjoyed the photographs.
Another here who was wondering only recently how he was getting on. I knew he'd had health issues requiring care and wondered if he was perhaps improving but sadly not. RIP Simon and sincere condolences to family and friends
Arse.
A proper STW character.
Dusty trials fella.
Sorry to see this. I remember reading his threads when I first joined the forum. Ride on SFB.
I met him a couple of times. A real character and I enjoyed his contributions on here. RIP SFB.
RIP Simon. Had many a ride with the Bogtrotters pre 2010. Simon the photographer, (who always seemed to find a stream or river to cross) could usually be spotted lurking near water waiting for some unlucky rider to take a plunge. He took two of me, one on Skiddaw & the other in the Howgill Fells.
He certainly led the charge for cheeky riding with many an argument on here.
Was a leading light in the forum when I first came on in the mid noughties. Seemed to do a lot of good work and always well thought of.
how old was he Rich ? Can’t have been much older than me
.@stevemakin - he was 67.
RIP chap 🙁
Missed his presence here over the last few years since his disabling health issue. Rest in peace Simon. Ride free.
Sadly missed - rip SFB. Swapped the odd email about routes and once bumped into him / had a chat up by the fox in Grizedale. Funny how STW means you "know" people before you meet them.
I had the pleasure of joining Simon on the majority of the Saturday social rides between (iirc) 2001 - 2012.
His eccentric & affable character won friendship & respect from everybody that met him.
The last few years must have been unimaginably difficult for somebody who previously spent all their free time in the great outdoors enjoying life to the full.
Rest in peace SFB.
JC
Very sad news indeed.
☹️ fondly remember his posts and photos from way back. Nabbed loads of cheeky routes/trails from him.
Ride in peace Simon
Not much to add but to echo what has been said above. He added a lot to STW and seemed to be a proper rider to the core. RIP
Rest in peace. Legend.
Poor Simon. What a shame.
RIP Simon.
Yeah I reckon reading his stuff on here opened my eyes to the wider access issues (aka cheeky). RIP dude.
Rip sfb
RIP SFB.
I never rode with him but knew of him and think he worked near me. He always wore shorts no matter the weather. I'll be wearing a pair tomorrow in his honour. RIP SFB
Rest in peace. Having been on here since 2004 it feels weird knowing people by user-name and reputation only, but feeling grief for them. Shows how important the place and its people is I guess.
Shit news. R. I. P
Crap news to wake up to this morning. He was part of the fabric of this place back in the day and although I never met him it sounds like he was a great person who will be missed by many. RIP Simon.
I'm sorry to hear that. RIP Simon.
I'm another who remembers Simon fondly from years back.
Sad to hear this, he was one of the old guard when I came here years ago.
A real character on here.
🙁
Terrible news, very sorry to hear that.
Sad to hear, have to admit i don't remember him that well, been so many bad ones over the years, RIP
Sad news, fondly remembered for photos and ability to wind up just about anyone.
RIP
Sad news, RIP. I remember him well from years ago when all this was fields..
Sad news, RIP Simon
Used to look forward to his regular photos back then.
Met him once years ago when the girls were very young. We were riding back up Walna Scar and he was up near the top shouting words of encouragement to them. He recognised us from posing on here and we had a chat
He even got a cheeky shot of my bum as we climbed past.
RIP SFB.
Proper original STWer.
I shall go for a ROW-agnostic ride with a massive rucksack as tribute.
As many above, I remember him on here from back in the day.
RIP Simon
Sad news, RIP Mr Barnes.
Damn. Sad news.