Mountain Bike - Tour de Cake
Posted: Saturday, 20 October 2012 by Mark Kinnon in Labels: England, MTB Mountain Bike
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This might be about skibikes, but I still like to keep the "bike" in skibiking very much alive. Normally this consists of many dreary commuting miles between my home in the suburbs and work based in the centre of London. Occasionally though something special happens, certainly the 1000 miles I racked up whilst working at the Olympics/Paralympics this summer will be with me to the end.
I also love to get in a few true recreational rides during the year, where the only goal is to soak up the sheer visceral pleasure to be gained from consuming miles of terrain, with nothing more than the breeze and the changing scenery to fill your consciousness.
For a city dweller, based in one of the most over inhabited corners of the planet, such trips are not only good for the body, but also for the soul.
The weather is almost unimportant, which was just as well, as the forecast looked distinctly iffy as I left for the train station, expecting autumnal gloom at best, heavy showers and torrential downpours at worst. I was heading for Purley train station and the brisk 40 mile train journey to Brighton on the English South Coast to join the local RetroBike riders for the amusingly named "Tour de Cake // Concourse du Café 2012". This was to be the second time I had been on this event; a genteel ride along the promenade from Shoreham on Sea to Rottingdean and back. With much admiration of an eclectic mix of obsolete bikes and the consumption of stupid quantities of tea and cake.
For my part I managed to get in plenty coffees en route, but was oddly not hungry, in spite of a missed breakfast, I seemed immune to the temptations of cake and only remembered I had two delicious Braeburn apples with me on the train journey home.
My poor appetite however didn't affect the boundless energy I seemed to possess. Apparently, I am "pretty fit (for an old bloke)" and "pretty fast for someone who doesn't wear a helmet" hmmm, I think there was a compliment in there somewhere!
I also love to get in a few true recreational rides during the year, where the only goal is to soak up the sheer visceral pleasure to be gained from consuming miles of terrain, with nothing more than the breeze and the changing scenery to fill your consciousness.
For a city dweller, based in one of the most over inhabited corners of the planet, such trips are not only good for the body, but also for the soul.
The weather is almost unimportant, which was just as well, as the forecast looked distinctly iffy as I left for the train station, expecting autumnal gloom at best, heavy showers and torrential downpours at worst. I was heading for Purley train station and the brisk 40 mile train journey to Brighton on the English South Coast to join the local RetroBike riders for the amusingly named "Tour de Cake // Concourse du Café 2012". This was to be the second time I had been on this event; a genteel ride along the promenade from Shoreham on Sea to Rottingdean and back. With much admiration of an eclectic mix of obsolete bikes and the consumption of stupid quantities of tea and cake.
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| SkiBiker - immune to the temptations of cake |
For my part I managed to get in plenty coffees en route, but was oddly not hungry, in spite of a missed breakfast, I seemed immune to the temptations of cake and only remembered I had two delicious Braeburn apples with me on the train journey home.
My poor appetite however didn't affect the boundless energy I seemed to possess. Apparently, I am "pretty fit (for an old bloke)" and "pretty fast for someone who doesn't wear a helmet" hmmm, I think there was a compliment in there somewhere!
 |
| Tour de Cake - An eclectic mix of obsolete bikes |