ROSIE HOLDSWORTH
1. HOW / WHY DID YOU FALL IN LOVE WITH MOUNTAIN BIKING?
Cycling featured on and off in my childhood, but the early years of my relationship with bikes were somewhat tumultuous.
Then when I went to Uni, my friend Luke spotted the niche bike (an early 2000’s Haro) I was riding to lectures on and decided it (and I) was wasted on the commute and bullied me into joining a cycling club trip to Glentress. It was like finding the final piece of a jigsaw; suddenly mountain biking made sense and I could (mostly) do it without vomiting or having a toddler tantrum. Since then mountain biking has brought me some of the best people in my life and created some of my most treasured memories, what’s not to like!?
2. YOU HAVE SOME PRETTY COOL BIKE RIDING PARENTS. GRAVEL RIDING BEFORE IT WAS COOL – BET THAT MADE SOME FUN HOLIDAYS?
Having parents who were early adopters of mountain biking sounds pretty rad…
This was not the opinion of 5 year old me: Idyllic family holidays were generally ruined by me raging about having to wear a pink helmet (I was already totally done with gender stereotypes as an infant) and throwing my bike into a ditch. Not to be deterred; Mum and Dad dragged me kicking and screaming round some really cool classic routes in Snowdonia, the Lakes, the Dales and the Cairngorms, but fire road slogs into headwinds didn’t really inspire me with love for the sport.
Their perseverance paid off though and we still slog into headwinds and lose my Mum in axle deep bogs fairly regularly.
3. YOU SAY IT PUT YOU OFF RIDING FOR YEARS, BUT HAS IT LED YOU TO DOING YOUR OWN BIKEPACKING/BIVVY TRIPS SOME TIME LATER?
Since I discovered my love for bikes I’ve given most “disciplines” a bit of a whirl. I’m definitely getting more into nights away on the bike and can’t wait for lockdown restrictions to ease so that we’re able to head out for longer overnight trips.
I was planning to do a Scottish coast to coast route this Spring with bothy and bivvy opportunities – hopefully I can reschedule for later this year. I love the freedom that bikes bring you, you can cover so much ground and pack so much into a day, I’d really like to do some more dawn to dusk rides this summer too.
4. WHAT INSPIRES YOU? (COULD BE RIDING WISE, IN LIFE IN GENERAL OR ANYBODY IN PARTICULAR)
It sounds like hippie-dippy nonsense, but nature really inspires me. I’m a huge nature nerd, so even when my mind is racing and I’ve got heaps on, I can’t help noticing nature. It’s a great distraction from whatever’s going on day to day and a way of motivating myself to get out even if I’m not feeling like heading out for a ride. We’ve made a pretty determined effort to ignore nature and our wilder places and build over them, but even in the most urbanised of environments nature is there waiting for us to notice it. I find that really inspiring and hopeful.
5. THERE’S NO ESCAPING THE CURRENT COVID SITUATION, HAS THIS HAD AN EFFECT ON YOUR RIDING?
Definitely!
Lockdown coincided with the arrival of my beautiful new HB130 and whilst I was super keen to get to grips with it I was also conscious of keeping a lid on my enthusiasm and avoiding wrapping myself round a tree and ending up in A&E.
My riding has stayed super local (except for one really exciting daytrip all the way to Ilkley) and fairly mellow. I actually think this period has improved my riding though: I’ve been focusing on improving my skills, rather than pushing to ride faster. I’ve got much stronger on technical climbs (the HB130 has definitely helped) and I’ve been practicing wheelies, manuals and track stands as well as tight cornering round plant pots in the garden. I’m still rubbish at them, but it’s been fun!
6. IS THERE ANYTHING THAT LOCKDOWN HAS UNEXPECTEDLY GIVEN YOU?
Lockdown has been a really weird time, but I’ve come to realise how fortunate I am to live where I do. I can get out for some beautiful rides, runs and walks straight from my door and whilst that’s always been something I’m grateful for, I’ve come to appreciate it so much more during lockdown when time outside has felt extra precious.
Lockdown has also taught me that I missed my calling as a Turkish Barber – gentlemen; form an orderly queue.
7. WHAT WOULD YOU MOST LIKE TO DO, WHEN WE’RE OUT OF THE CURRENT COVID SITUATION?
My brother and so many of my lovely pals live in Scotland, and we’re usually up and down the country riding, pratting about and peeping at wildlife.
I’m so excited to see them again and have over-exuberant hugs (if that’s allowed), comedy crashes and a pint of bitter shandy and some chips in a country pub – what LUXURY!
8. LOOKING AT INSTAGRAM, I SEE YOU’VE BEEN DONE SOME ILLUSTRATION WORK FOR TRASH FREE TRAILS, CAN YOU EXPLAIN A LITTLE MORE ABOUT THE PROJECT?
Working in conservation and riding bikes means the ethos behind Trash Free Trails really chimes with me.
The mission is to reduce trail side litter by 75% by 2025 and reconnect people with wild places, which are both things I’m really passionate about. Usually Trash Free Trails would be organising trail cleans all over the country through the spring and summer but COVID put the brakes on that, so the idea went DIY.
The project was all about making the most of a rubbish (pun thoroughly intended) situation and encouraging people to take the opportunity to really get to know their local area and feel empowered to take steps to look after it. I’ve since become a Trash Free Trails A Team member which I’m mega excited about.
I’ll be working with them on lots of cool new ideas, watch this space!
9. DO YOU HAVE ANY EPIC RIDING STORIES OR AN ADVENTURE THAT DIDN’T GO TO PLAN? (FOR ME THESE ALWAYS SEEM TO BE THE ONES THAT STICK IN THE MEMORY)
Oh boy, so many!
To steal a phrase from my pal Pete “It’s not epic unless you have to eat one of your own digits” – It’s never got to that stage, but there’s been plenty of misadventures: A camper van based riding trip to Torridon with my silly friends was a catalogue of errors from start to finish but is widely acknowledged as the best holiday any of us has ever been on.
There’s “that Spanish trip” that me and my husband Rob have vowed never to speak about in each other’s presence – it’s safer that way.
A stand-out personal riding calamity favourite would be the Megavalanche 10ish years ago: I’d pinged my ACL the week before but raced anyway, in the qualifier I suffered 3 punctures and ran (knee brace and all) off the hill. I was so slow to finish that they’d taken all the course tape away and everyone had gone home except for a very grumpy French gentleman who tutted loudly whilst I cried and blamed my friend for the punctures, because I’m a terrible person. But I qualified anyway because there were so few female entrants (diversity silver linings). The actual race was mint though!
10. FINALLY, DO YOU HAVE A FAVOURITE LOCAL TRAIL OR RIDE, THAT YOU KEEP GOING BACK TO?
I live in Hebden Bridge and we’re pretty spoilt for trails.
My firm favourite is one of the many packhorse trails that drops from a hilltop village and follows a hillside stream into the wooded valley below. In our household we know the trail as “Megadeath”, I think people generally just call it “Pecket Well descent” (err - snore!). It’s nothing to do with the metal band unfortunately but I’m reassured that in the early nineties with rigid forks and canti’ brakes the slightly over dramatic name was a perfect description of what was about to unfold. It’s pretty gnadgery and difficult to ride well, there are about 400,000 line options and 11 months of the year it’s a greasy skittery horror show and I LOVE it!
ROSIE RIDES
A HB130 with the Fox Suspension package.
Black Hope Components with Purple anodised bolts, pawls and spacers.
Running on the Fortus 26 Rim laced to Black Pro 4 Hubs
