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[petitpal]

I only ever made it to one ride (major life events got in the way shortly afterwards, and largely still are unfortunately) over Long Mynd a good few years ago. I have to say it was a fantastic event though - really good humoured and some lovely riding. I still have fantastic memories of blatting down some single track off the back through some heather and having a guy on a rigid Salsa (I think - completly forgotten his name, sorry!) an inch off my rear wheel shouting something about, 'where the hell are we going' with me having zero idea anyone was following me and heading for a large drop off, flat out, to rejoin the main single track ... I think he got two pinch flats latr on over the boulders on the nice long drop off the back of the hill. I still laugh at the few guys we met on modern bikes who must have thought they were in a time warp as they rode through a guard of honour of 40 odd retro bikes flanking the paths, sparkling and glowing in neon yellows and pinks. Fantastic time and if life ever gets itself sorted out I'll be back up there. In the meanwhile - anyone who can get that up and running again is only doing the whole retrobike movement good. For anyone new-ish who's never tried a ride, I wuold say get out and do it - riding with a big group is fantastic and lots of fun (even if the one I ended up on seemed to be about 80% climbing! )

 

[brocklanders023]

Re: Re:

Don't draw justkev back in, he's busy making trails for me to ride my modern toss on.

...now there's a model retrobike forum user! :roll:

Tongue firmly in cheek there chap.

 

[Silvergoat]

Re:

Aside of running errands to the shops or allotment, virtually all my riding has been biking it to work and back for the past six years – around 165 miles per week. Public transport in London is too expensive and frequently unreliable to depend on daily, so the bike is invaluable. Even though I try to incorporate some 'fun' into the commute route, by Friday evening or the weekend, the last thing I want to see is a bike. I know there are some local roadie groups out of my LBS doing rides in the area of Enfield I live in but it's all on the roads and often at times when I'm just about home and knackered out. I often say hi though when I encounter them on the home stretch of my commute route.

For one reason or another, I've missed out on doing some of the big event rides, say like the Ride London 100miler. Other commitments and having to respond to and deal with other people's nonsense in life has kind of got in the way of fun stuff too many times.

That said, I'd really like to change all of the above in some way and do some proper life-affirming rides. I really miss the buzz and the camaraderie of regular group rides. Whether it was round the coast or valleys or mountains of South and Mid-Wales, occasional trips to the Malverns or riding the high moor tops around Huddersfield and Halifax with some of the Orange crowd. I also miss the days of setting off and meandering on my own, finding and exploring trails in the middle of nowhere.

Would love to participate in a Retrobike ride event, some day soon. I often spot the old bikes out there on London's mean streets – they're so distinctive and stand out from the ahem "modern toss". It would also be a shame to see Retrobike itself kind of wither away out of lack of interest – finding the forum got me back on my bike, after nearly two decades off it. The wealth of information on RB rekindled the spirit and got the mojo working again. If there are any fellow Retrobikers around London, even just a pootle round town would be a great start to shake things up...

The pic attached is familiar sight for me – nearing home and just in time to see the sun setting behind Ally Pally :roll:

 

[tintin40]

Lovely picture