Firstly the categorisation that is happening in cycling is barmy, it reminds me of music genres - stupid titles given to the slightest difference to create another market to sell to. We did an off road ride at Dalby, two on mountain bikes and myself on my cross bike and we each faced challenges and had fun in different ways on the same ride. Whether it was me attacking each climb because I didn't have a low enough gear to spin up it or watching Alastair bombing down descents I had to run because of my lack of skill. We were all just riding. Full stop.
The same applies in my mind to the craze of off road riding on road bikes, be it bridlepaths, gravel or old coach roads. It doesn't need a name and to be placed in a genre for manufacturers to rehash old ideas and spin out 'original' new products. That aspect of cycling personally reminds me of 'Green Laning', which is basically driving 4x4's down unsurfaced tracks or forest tracks and enjoying the countryside, almost the audax of the 4x4 world I guess. One thing it is definitely not is cyclocross. 'Cross has to be raced, you can use a cross bike for a multitude of different rides but racing is a whole other ball game.
On a related note, it seems that riding generally slows down this time of year as riders who are tired after a full Spring rest up before Summer and some stop almost entirely when family duties take over.
It's a time for plans to be hatched and one of my all time favourite things to do is bullshit plan making with people, where we're all dreaming and not even considering reality. This weekend was a classic - a week long riding trip to northern Italy. One bag and a bike, days spent in the saddle, evenings spent eating, drinking and sleeping. But it is what it is probably a dream. To do it solo might be possible, but the organisation it requires to get two or four lives full of responsibility to match up long enough to make a window of opportunity is mind boggling. Hell it takes a week to get a trip to Dalby to happen and even then half of us don't even turn up!
So, my recovery Monday has actually been complete rest so far. The most effort has been making beans'n'toast for my dinner but maybe the washing up will require more will power or at least another cup of tea first.
Who knows the sun might even come out again when the rain goes away and we can all get our guns out.
