Even if you’re far too core to lower yourself to buying a greatest hits album, I’m sure at Christmas an aunt will have remembered your obsession with Cliff Richard and got you a copy of “The whole story” (I googled it)
Before you got the greatest hits though, you’ll have listened through albums, heard singles on the radio. Over time the songs became kind of familiar, a bit too familiar. They lost the urgency and freshness they once had and worse, you can even grow to hate them.
I end up listening only to a select few tracks, the best of the band, then even they don’t really grab me anymore and I’ll drift away from the band for a bit.
This is where the greatest hits album comes in, because the band has split up, gone to rehab, dropped off the scene, then got a tax bill, reformed and is touring off the back of the greatest hits album, out just in time for Christmas.
The tracks are on the radio again, you remember what was so great about the tunes and get back into the band, just hopefully not to repeat the same cycle again.
Which brings me to riding bikes (yes, eventually, but you try writing semi interesting copy every week…)
Brevent’s been open, and that’s kind of it for uplift here. Despite the weather being generally pretty good, the upper sections of Brevent have been slow to dry or melt when it’s rained/snowed and not much fun on the bike, so every day’s been more laps of the front face trails of the lower gondola.
It’s a fair argument that there’s plenty of other trails about, but that would involve pedalling, like, all the way up. You get lazy when you’re used to lifts, so we mostly rode Brevent.
There’s a huge number of ways you can link the many trails on the close on 1000m drop you get from each lap up the gondola, but after a while you end up on the best 3 or 4 ways down.
You can see where this is going, but with some of the best riding in the world on the door step, I’ve still managed to get a wee bit over it and I’m strangely happy about the lifts closing today meaning any riding will now have to be worked for (well, except for trips to Saleve and Dorenez…) with worsening weather and riding partners getting ready for skiing.
And when you find yourself moaning about getting to lap amazing trails in t-shirt weather with hardly anyone about, you know it’s time for a change! If you’re looking for any info on the trails at Brevent, check through previous posts and/or buy the bike book. Instead of describing them again I’ll just let you look at the photos, all from assorted rides over the last week.