New product arrived...

The new batch of products turned up and I've sold out of it all already!

The new hoodies are awesome too, really nice quality. All those that pre-ordered one - I'm posting them on Saturday.

In 2007 I intend to make Fearingout a customizable brand.
You will be able to pick your garment, its colour and the print colour and I'll get them printed up and delivered within 28 days... all for the bargain price of £15 a tee and £35 a hooded top.

Keep an eye out over the next few weeks.

Full report to download...

Thanks to Mono and Milky for the content! First of many race reports in downloadable PDF format for 2006/7!
Click the image to download it.

Click here for full race results.

Avill Hill

Well, i better bring up the rear! good a great day at Avill yesterday. Practice went really well, despite the daunting look at some of the course on the walk up in the morning. by my runs, i felt i had it pretty much dialled. First run came, and i really felt good, hitting the corners with a sort of vigour i have missed since may! than came the killer.....
.... I hit the berm on the lower section of the course a little too hard and popped out the top, gash up my thigh in the process. Gutted is not the word. With that playing on my mind, the second run was never gonna be an improvement, hitting corners too hard and missing the high lines, leading to no proper flow.
All in, i was not overly impressed with my performance, but it has spurred me on now to place better in the next race at ashcombe. my only consolation is, if i had entered the novice catagory like i had toyed with, i would of place 4th!

well done to mono on the 7th, and of course matt, on the overall win. If your at the next race i will say hello, i didn't even know what you look like to introduce my self this time!

Avill Hill

Hi guys, sorry I haven't wrote earlier but I've been as tired as Aaron by the sounds off it.
Yeah what a great weekends racing - the sun was out for sunday and with the sun so low late in the day it was hard to see anything in the last part of the woods. What a great track from the start there where five seconds of pedaling then into steep turns, of camber, rocky and rooty corners... this went on for most of the track until you hit the finish field where there was a bit more pedaling to the finish.
I raced onboard a mates bike as mine was with my mechanic who wanted to do an uplift at Hopton. I wasn't going to race but seeing as I was down that way visiting a mate I thought why not.
In me first run I was really enjoying riding because I havent ridden downhill for a while.
My first run time of 2 mins wasn't quite good enough for the lead but second run gettin more and more used to me mates bike I posted a time of 1:57 - good enough to take the win. I was stoked to have won on me mates bike and on such a good track.

Well thats all from me until the first round of the Midlands Winter series where we shall see if the training over Christmas and new year will pay off!

thanks Matt

Avill Hill

I would have posted last night but due to being absolutely totally and utterly knackered, I decided to wait till this morning to share the news on the race!
This was Round 1 of the Winter Series down in the south west and Dave Morgan (the organiser) really did do a damn good job. The course was amazing and the uplift ran smooooooooth! I didn't encounter one que!
First run for me was sketchy and really quite out of control, Mr Bloomfield cheered me on near the top and I ended up crashing and running down the hill a bit further down! Not too much time lost here as t was a slow section anyway and I managed to keep hold of my bike and get back on quickly!
Crossed the line with a 2:36, not brill but enough to put me 6th in Junior as a load of quick guys had crashed in their runs aswell.
Run 2 came and so did the tiredness, me and Dave were shattered when we got to the top of the track ready for our second runs. Luckily I had a handy Red Bull to drink which meant I was buzzing on the way down. I was really feeling it on this run and everything went amazingly well, i got to the roty off camber straight and powered through there and overtook someone for the first time EVER (props to the rider, he crashed in front of me and yanked his bike out of the way and cheered me on, LEGEND!).
Unfortunately I hit a tree on the fastest part of the course and lost a few seconds but I still took 9 seconds off my first run with a 2:27. I'm so pleased and in the end I came 7th in Junior.
After the race I went and talked to Matt for the first time, he seems like a sound bloke and I reckon he's going to be a good asset to the team. Well done on the overall win my son!

Anyway, I'm going to write a full race report in the next couple of days, look out for it on the site.

Aaron "Mono" Bartlett

Gwydwr and more

Good to see an excellent start to the 2007 team. I have to say I'm buzzing with the prospect of (total) amateur racing (having never done it), but just to be at a race and "get amongst it" as a mate of mine says (about going drinking!) will be great. Good results yesterday for the boys and we had a top ride at Gwydwr. There were 5 of us, but Mr Cubbin has returned from Egypt with a bout of bad luck. His Fox RP3 had a "bit of an epi fit". Apparently the nitrogen cylinder has gone.....sounds expensive! So then it was down to 3 - James, Phil and myself.

As usual the first climb sucked, and all day James blasted up the climbs, with an unfit Phil and a not-fit-enough-to-power-a-stinky-up-a-hill me behind. Still, good on the legs! I started the day badly, getting a random puncture on an invisible something! Nevermind, with it fixed the rest of the day was awesome. Great crisp air and blue skies, we filmed sections that we haven't before, and from a quick review at the end we got some good footage for the DVD. Filming the second section, James caught me flying down, nearly losing it on entry to the "chicane", but I masterfully rescued myself, and continued! After a freeride stop at the quarry (or smelting house), i.e. me fucking about as usual, James kept the pace up to get us to the last 2 sections and some good filming.

The whole ride felt great, and a surprise for me as i've felt Gwydwr has been a bit shit lately. So well done you! The bike flowed brilliantly, and I can really feel a race in me soon! The bike feels great at the moment and I'm loving finding my lines, trying not to lose speed. Even got some drifitng going on and the look on the faces of the lads in the car park after the final descent said a lot (plus it was dark and we were all still giving it some)! Anyway, we shall see about the racing bit...!

Avill hill photos

Hi the full repo will be up in a few days but until then here are 3 photos to keep you going. The bottom one is team rider Dave Bloomfield!

South West Winter Series - Round 1 results...

An unexpected but fantastic result for the team this weekend at Avill hill, 3 team riders in attendance!

Dave had a right laugh getting back into it but crashed in his 1st run and got a puncture 2nd run.

Aaron blasted Juniors coming 7th in class - good lad.

Matt (or a borrowed Orange) won Elite and came 1st overall!

Photos and a full report to follow once I've spoken to Milky. I don't think we could have hoped for a better result 1st event out!! Cheers guys.


In somewhat different news - the regular FO riders had fun in Gwydwr. I'll post up a report and photos for that later too.

Inners and 07 Team

Had a good days riding at Inners again yesterday. First time I've actually ridden a full sus there and although it was forcast for really bad weather the rain held off all day and everyone had a good ride. The tracks at Inners seam to hold up pretty well in the bad weather however they've not sean as much use as they normally might due to the whole uplift situation. I really like the place because you can get quite a lot of riding in for the amount of pushing you do and there is such a variety of tracks you can spend the whole day there and not ride the same one twice.

I probably won't get much riding done in the lead up to Xmas due to exams but I cant wait to get riding and racing again in the new year, and I'd just like to say a quick hello to all the new team members and hopefully I'll see you at some races over the season. It'll be interesting to see how I get on racing DH next year and I'm also moving up from junior into the big boys category.

Sunday...

Riding at Gwydwr forest (Marin) on Sunday. 4 of us down so far, Phil, Warnock and myself travelling from Macclesfield and the wanderer returns, Mr Cubbin is joining us from the Wirral after a month working in Egypt!

Will be the penultimate section of this years DVD.

We'll be there in the first carpark about 11am.

Mono!

Alrite guys, it's Mono here (I have one eyebrow you see, in case there was any confusion ((Monobrow))...) Yea anyway, chuffed to get my first sponsorship deal with the site, it's cool to have some properly talented riders on the team. I will update the site after Sunday with a race report from Winter Series Round 1. The bike is all stickered up and i got new t shirts this morning, awesome!

Can't wait to get to some Fearing Out rides soon!

Mono

Team 07

Hi it's Matt Simmonds here - I'm happy to be on the team for 07 and really looking forward to meeting everyone and getting out and doing some riding.
I'm really happy to be helping out with the blog, updating it with race reports etc.

hope to see you all soon.

thanks Matt

Hi I'm Milky

Hi I am new to the team for 07 and have been given the role of official photographer for the 07 season.
I live and ride at Tavi woodlands where existing team rider Dave Bloomfeild and new team rider Mono ride a lot, I will also be getting to as many races as I can this year to take lots of looooovly photos for race reports on here. To see more of the photos i have taken go on my website www.dhphotography.co.nr - there is a link on the home page to a gallery that is updated all the time.

I will probobly see most of the team at races in the coming season I'm sure, so see you then.

2006 Team summary...

I've just added a 2006 Team summary to the site, with a writeup of the year and results for all team members

CLICKY

I'd like to say a big thankyou to everyone involved during the 2006 season (both team riders, friends and family). I really appreciate all your hard work, input and feedback - and I hope you've enjoyed being part of Fearingout.

2007 is going to be a good one - team lineup to be announced at the end of the week... watch this space!

Llandegla....or do I mean Llan-dung-la?

Report:
Well, as cutting as I can be, I'll hold back slightly (seriously, I have!). Ok, Llandegla is still shite. Mr Rennie has been hard at it designing the new black trail section (is it really 2km long?), and as good as it is, it is neither black grade nor worth the trip round the rest of Llandegla to get to it.

Unfortunately, Llandegla is fundamentally flawed. An easy going climb to start sets you up good, warmed and ready to start. The 200 yard first jump section is poor at best, with the 3rd and 4th table tops dangerously close together. And from here, with the exception of the two "Black sections", there isn't anything to get excited about. Only annoyingly up/down, no-flow trails.

The annoying factor is the flow. All of the purpose built trails in North Wales (that I've ridden) have flow. All of the 7 Stanes (that I've ridden) have flow. Even natural trails in the lakes have flow. Somehow, Llandegla has this annoying habbit of feeling ready to get going, then it'll have a single jump going uphill, which epitomises it really.

The new "Black" 2km DH singletrack section is excellent, very flowing (sticks out like a sore thumb), and some awesome lines to get your speed up. However, it doesn't even approach what Black Grade is all about. To be honest, the Red-Black Trail mixture combined loop is Blue-Red at best in my opinion. Nothing technical in sight.

I'd love to say I like Llandegla, but having ridden elsewhere in the region, I'm not sure why anyone would go back. Apart from the new black section and the Cafe. Great food, yum!

And as for the majority lycra-clad crowd, it sums up what the place is about.

I'm afraid I'd still give it a D, up from a failing F!

The day:
As ever FO had a good day out, and it was good to feel fresh on the bike after only 2 weeks of post holiday exercise. Loving the bike as usual, no slight play from the rear end with my "serviced" bike. Have the front and rear ends set up to perfection, just need a bit more TLC on the gearing. Preps to the new lads, it was a long day and good effort all round. I'm sure secretly the foundations have been laid for 2 more addicted FO-ers!

Dunkeld

After hearing all week from various people about the rocks and roots at Dunkeld I didn't really know what to expect. Well lets just say it lived up to its reputation. We went up pretty early and managed to avoid most of the bad weather. After having not ridden the big bike for quite some time I was a little off the pace to begin with, but a few times through the middle rock garden had me hitting the right lines 9 out of ten times. The track has its fair share of nasty rock drops and chutes to test the nerves and the new track that's there is uber steep. I felt that I was riding really well today which is something I've not felt for a while. I scared myself a few times with a bit of off piste action, but I think this has just made me want to ride more. The other guys I was with also seamed to have a good time, and thankfully there was no major incidents.
I was having such a good ride that I didnt really stop to take many photos, and the ones I did weren't very good so I leave you with this offering from the top of the track.

Let down again?

Just back from Llandegla (read more in the photo page on the right) and had a great day riding...

The new black singletrack descent is fantastic but I just don't get why they've still not done anything about the bad flow on some of the old existing sections... anyway 12 months on and its improved a little but still dissappointing considering what a fantastic trail centre it could be.

Pete and Ross enjoyed themselves, although found the going sketchy I think. One good thing about Llandegla is the awesome cafe!

Bring on Gwydwr next weekend... should be fun.

It is NOT a XC bike

Never again shall I fool myself into thinking that XC is possible on a bike with 8 inches of travel and 2.8" tyres. Well.. it is possible but not all that fun. The Uni bike club head off to the Pentllands just outside Edinburgh twice a week and I decided to join them on the big bike today. I was ready to give up after riding the 10miles across the city to get there but then it seamed like such a wasted trip! Reluctantly I followed up fireroads and single track but it was worth it for some of the really techy downhill single track sections. That was all forgotten on the way back through town though. Fat tyres dont roll well on tarmac. (What did I expect...muppet!) Anyway should I recover by tomorow morning I'll be heading off to either Dunkeld or Inners with the camera, so I'll finally post some pics of what we get up to north of the boarder. Untill tomorow guys.....

Dirt 10 year party and EARTHED 4...

From the Dirt website...

This is a bit rushed, we will try to get a proper flyer out to you some time soon but if you could put this date in your diaries, tell your friends, put it up on your websites, etc, etc.

On Sunday December 3rd Dirt Magazine will be having a bit of a party to celebrate 10 years of the magazine but also to show the BRAND NEW Earthed 4: Death or Glory, and announcing the Dirt Reader Awards winners. The venue is downstairs at the Walkabout in Birmingham (CLICKY CLICKY).
The time is TBC but we are looking at 7pm onwards I think.

Like I say, more info as we get it, but in the meantime tell everyone and get yourself up there.

AWESOME. Who's up for trip down?

CLICK HERE for a trailor of Earthed 4 (doesn't work at work - doh!)

New downloads

If you click on 'Xtra' (logo to the right of this frame) then not only can you download old front page images, but there are a number of articles to download.

I've refreshed this recently so you can now read all about the Nationals and view the brochure.

Anyone who wants to write or submit anything then email me.

And it lives...

Well it lives, conversion of new boy Pete's Saracen Raw into a Trek 4300 is finished.
With my old frame, Scott's old forks and wheels, crankset, gears, bars etc from Pete's Saracen its a bit of an eclectic mix but the main thing is its about half the weight of the Saracen, less bouncy and more reliable off-road.

Thanks to the technicians at work we managed to bodge the front V-brakes on as Scott's old forks didn't come with V-brake bosses due to his old GT being disc equipped.

Roll on (literally) Sunday and Llandegla revisited... lets hope its raised its game and our 3 newbies enjoy themselves.

PS Scott might be on his Cove at this rate :)

Fort Bill 2007, anyone for a race?!

As previously rumoured/mentioned before the Fort Bill (William) trip next September (2007). Yes its a while away, but it is the biggest event in World Biking, and Fort Bill has become the best round of the DH world series, so it is the place to be next September!

So.........to whet the appetite and for me to be able to get numbers for booking, here is a bit of info below on next year's official UCI world cup of mountain biking, hosted in Fort William by my Scottish cousins!

Dates: 3rd-9th Sep 2007 (Mon - Sun)
Website (work in progress):
http://www.fortwilliamworldchamps.co.uk/

FO PLAN!...
Those "invited" have the email! Basically, a week of riding in and around and on the way up to Fort Bill, with lush chalet as base camp.

WHAT I NEED NOW.....
I need to know if you are interested in coming! If so, for how much of the week (all week, just the weekend).
I want to pay a deposit before Christmas. I do not want people saying yes and not paying a deposit, so I will be asking for money.
Be honest and reply with a "YAY" or "NAY" before the end of November.

Its gonna be fun,
Cheers,
Scott

Superior crank technology

Gentlemen,

Hello from the world of flat hills and people who say 'glass' as though there is an 'r' in it. Hope everyones keeping well, and that Scotland was as good as it looked.

As I know you like to keep up to date with the latest technological advances and innovative components for bikes, I thought I'd draw your attention to the article below. It discusses the engineering prowess of their cranks, and state that they are far superior to anything you could possibly be running. A personal favourite of mine; with these cranks "bicycling becomes a pleasure, not a chore."

http://www.classicrendezvous.com/Italy/PMP_crk_ad.htm

So now you know what to get each other for Christmas.

Out.

Hoodies - order being placed on Wednesday

Ordering these this week - so if you haven't given me your size and want one for Christmas then email me as soon as possible!

Will also be ordering a few T-shirts for back orders, if anyone wants anything specific from the last 3 designs I'll see what I can do. If anyone is desperate to have a hoody with one of the old designs I should be able to sort that too... EMAIL ME though. I'm not a mind reader.

Some TLC...

Well, it's about 12 months since I spent the best 1100 notes I ever have, so the Stinky is nearly a year old. To that end and to celebrate the 'beasts' year of awesome riding, and the fact I'm a big lad and have given her a bit of a beasting for the last year, she's getting a service! I'll need to tell the guys "forget the slight ding in that wheel, ignore the twisted forks, they're fine, but take at a look at her rear end, she's a bit loose". This is a bike I'm talking about here of course.

After that she'll be g2g for the end of year exploits. Rock on, I've missed the bike!

Before he even started...

Ross who's been itching to get back in to riding for the last fortnight started out looking at £300 hardtails - a day later it was £450... I casually joked he'd end up with a full susser!

Well he's gone and done it! Now a proud owner of a 19" 2005 Coiler (6" travel). Good work lad... a baptism of fire awaits at Llandegla on the 19th.

Winter rides

Dates and proposed locations for FO rides until Christmas...

19th November - Llandegla
26th November - Gwydwr
10th December - Penmachno / Coed-y-brenin

These will likely be the last 3 sections on this years DVD - so fingers crossed I can finish the editing in time for a Christmas delivery!

Reinstate Macc Forest Style!

Today myself, James and new boy Pete went for a good blast round Macc forest. After a month off the bike I suspected that it might be tough going. I was right, the first climb was a nightmare and I was pushing as soon as we got to the road section! This unfit feeling was easily surpassed though on sight of Charity Lane, at which point it was as if I had been injected with a dose of adrenaline. I instinctively knew that I just had to reinstate! The ensuing ride down Charity Lane was easily the fastest I've ever done it. The way the bike flowed underneath me and went just where I wanted it to felt amazing. So much mud came up onto my safety specs that I practicaly couldn't see by the end of the run, but I didn't care! Next was the bottom of the oven, which although slower was still a good blast.

James was keen to show me a bridleway section over towards Wildboarclough and I felt enthusiastic to give it a shot. To save a bit of time we decided to push up the bridleway and then ride back down it rather than going on a fairly long winded loop via the Cat and Fiddle Pub. This strategy had the benefit that on the way up we were able to discuss which the best line would be for the descent. It also gave me the confidence to just blast down it with the adrenaline flowing again in copious amounts. I love my bike! The only downside with this new track is that it's a bit out of the way for a regular Macc Forest ride and isn't part of a sensible loop. Oh well, good just to have a bit of a change and I'm sure the boy Warnock would love it if we gave it another go in the near future. Now looking forward to the rest of the rides this year - bring it on!

Riding locally today - Macc forest and some of the knarlier bridleways up towards the Cat and Fiddle...

Sorted out my buckled rear wheel yesterday - wasn't that bad in the end, only about 4 mm out if that, so managed to true her up and all the spokes are tight now. Legend.

Almost back

Alrighty from the smog of Bangkok! We fly home today, just killing time before we head for the airport.

Had a fucking great holiday, all to be revealed, but i have had 'the bikes' on my mind recently. scoped out some great terrain on a hill trek the other day, thailand would make an awesome DH track, rocky as fuck though!

Got some TLC to give out and kit to buy on return, new cranks for the stinky and a new 24-7 rear wheel for the cove, then it'll be all good for cold winter riding. I will have a cold soon no doubt, from 35 DegC for 3 weeks to the not so tropical climate of cheshire can mean only one thing.

Wont be out on sunday, bikes nor i will be in suitable state! Looks like the FO site is keeping it live, good reading to catch up on there. Good to see Dave is loving his new beast, muchos jealous!

"Sawadee-kap" as they say here.

Rebranded?

Hell yeah, with the shitty weather and lack of commitment from both myself and the other locals not been out on the bike for a week or so now... however plenty of tinkering time on the Chameleon.

Fitted the new chain and cassette, a job that I should have done a long time ago - what a transformation. Instant snap now, I hadn't realised just how worn the old one was!

To finish things off I splashed out on some old school Psylo stickers (off the original SLs from 2002ish I believe - correct me if I'm wrong) which I think look sorted on the maroon respray.

Click the close up above to see the whole shebang!

Will be out riding it on Sunday, as the Coiler's suffering from a slightly buckled rear wheel which I intend to attempt to straighten - not before the weekend though...

So SUNDAY - Macclesfield in all likelihood - currently myself and Leo, possibly Ben, maybe Scott if he's back - and even maybe a newcomer... we'll see!

Well I turned up at Tavi woodlands sunday morning to an eerie site... an empty car park! A quick call to Ashley Mullane came up with the answer, that everyone was still in bed! damn!

but once the slackers had turned up we set down the to the task at hand and although I hadn't ridden there since January, it was like I was a local. Everything flows so well that you feel like you have ridden the trails all your life.
Milky got some great photos which I will put up here, for more of his great pics, go to http://www.dhphotography.4t.com/



By the end of the day, we ended up at 'rich's track', very technical, off camber course hidden deep in the woods. It's filled with roots, rock gardens and drops. The v10 proved what a machine it is, never faltering through any of it, nor the whole day in fact.

Howies photo comp shortlist...

Well the Fearingout submissions I sent in didn't get into the final 50 (which is a shame, because personally - I thought they were better than some of the ones that did)...

Click here to see the finalists. Winner announced in Dirt sometime soon.