Two times

Out twice this week... good stuff for fitness and my sanity.
Jon and I did the usual Charity Lane loop in under an hour... impressive. Rooty singletrack absolutely quality... building up my confidence every week.
Tomorrow will be on the Coiler again but next week I'm going hardtail again.

Keep it real! LOL.

NPS round 2

Top stuff this weekend, with the in-form Gee Atherton coming 1st in seeding and in the main race, ahead of Peaty, Minaar and the Honda G-Cross team. Fearingout team rider Matt also nailed a good 5th in Elite, good efforts.

Preps to Justin at Foel DH riders who got a 16th in the seniors with a time of 2:40.78. Good going.

Top 10 Elite...
1 Gee ATHERTON Animal/Commencal 2:11.82
2 Steve PEAT The Syndicate 2:12.54
3 Matti LEHIKOINEN Team G Cross Honda 2:14.29
4 Greg MINNAAR Team G Cross Honda 2:16.06
5 Matt SIMMONDS Ancillotti UK 2:17.21
6 Marc BEAUMONT MBUK/Santa Cruz 2:17.45
7 Tom BRAITHWAITE Giant 2:17.99
8 Joe BARNES Cycle Jersey/MFX Air Art 2:18.30
=9 Ben REID Iron Horse 2:19.53
=9 Dan STANBRIDGE MOJO/Orange 2:19.53

full results on www.npsdh.com and www.mikrotime.com/mtb/

Appreciation?

Its funny, riding a hardtail for the last 3 weeks I've been really buzzing about taking things back to basics and how fun it's been.
This week I decided to take out the Coiler Dee-lux again - as it hadn't been used since Scotland...

Yeah a bit more hard work on the climbs (not much though and think of the fitness!) but what a difference on Charity Lane! Wow, perhaps taking riskier lines then last week because of the increased speed but because I'd been riding the smoothest line on the hardtail, that turned out to become the fastest line (for me anyway) on the full suss so beans beans beans. Great fun. Really attacking and down the bottom with a HUGE smile... to coin a phrase 'smiles for miles'.

The rooty singletrack was a delight... nice and dry and such a contrast to Charity Lane, whereas last week I found it slippery and unpredictable it was dry and fast last night.
I guess riding a hardtail and then a full suss makes you appreciate both more - and certainly brings on your basic skill levels. I reckon it makes me a better rider. I certainly appreciate having two bikes!

Hard and fast, just like the ladies like it :D

Macc forest worship tonight with Ross and James. I was going solo with the hardtail fun, James and Ross were beans-ing it on their full sussers. The climbs were easy, and charity lane was nice and dry (mostly). Hammered it down this week as I was able to see (!), still wary not to puncture as I had no gear to fix with!

Went for speed and found good lines, plus the jumps were sweet and then finish the quick loop down the secret trail. That section is awesome, teeth chattering on the hardtail, but the cove really pins it out of the corners, much sharper than the full suss gang.

Seeing the boys mince charity lane means next week the stinky will be back. I need to do charity at light speed again :D

General consensus that swapping from HT to FS every so often keeps you sharp, keeps you smiling :D

Fucking mint.

SDA rnd2 Dunkeld

Just back from racing Dunkeld again at the weekend, this time it was for round 2 of the SDA series. There was a few changes made to the track for the race which kept everyone on their toes, and the weather was pretty good considering the forcast.
In my first race run I managed to throw myself over the bars...twice. I then ended up holding back just a little in the second run to make sure I got a respectable time. I finished up 45th with a time of 3:02. Joe Barnes took top spot of the day in Elite with a time of 2:12.
Expect to see a full write up in the next issue of wideopen.

Combe Syd

Me on one of the tabletops:

Combe Sydenham photos from Colin Coombs can be purchased here on his new site:
CLICK HERE

Not forgetting Milky's CLICK HERE

Well done on the pics guys!

Combe syd rd 2

Hi just got back from a good days shooting at round d 2 of the Sout West Summer series. Mono was there flying the FO flag and got a good result (can't rember off the top of my head ). The track was riding mint and the weather held up nicely. Here are 3 I got of Mono...

For the rest of the photos www.jacobgibbins.co.uk !!!!

Light and planted

Short, wet blast round Macc forest tonight with James. Good ride, good chat and great to have a light, chuckable rig below me! Even rinsed the climbs (with a little pushing!!!). The Stinky is god like, but riding the sanchez reminds me how chuckable a bike can be, all good :D

Did charity lane (slowly ish to avoid punctures) but found some nice lines and a tweak and kicker off the 1st jump. Bottom berm is sweet as. Then the 'secret trail' to the bottom of the forest. Nailed it in half. Stinky has taught me tight lines, so pinned those lines, with Foel wet root practice, i was down in no time. The Sanchez was nice and light round the tight twists and drops, good to get some quick feedback from a HT!

All night the moto diggers found the grip, dunno how, but the cove was planted, grippy and light. Hardtails rock, no diggity, no doubt.

What's happened to the weather?

Its been lovely in the evenings (albeit wet in the mornings) all week, then tonight... drizzle.
Didn't dampen our spirits though and as Jon was revising Scott felt the need to bring out his hardtail - good lad.
Charity Lane was wicked, foot out, maybe not quite flat out but bloody on the edge! Then the rooty singletrack later was a whole other test!
Most fun I've had since, well last week.
Bring on the summer I say.

Matt gets 14th

Well done to team rider Matt Simmonds who came a very, very respectable 14th place at this weekend's World Cup Round 1 in Vigo, Spain.

Mens top 10
1 marc beaumont 2.37.21
2 david vazques 2.38.57
3 greg minnaar 2.39.09
4 steve peat 2.39.22
5 sam hill 2.40.76
6 gee atherton 2.41.39
7 mich hannah 2.42.71
8 mickeal pascal 2.44.04
9 thomas braithwaite. 2.44.05
10 marco milivinti 2.44.27
11 matti lehikoinen 2.44.09
12 ruaridh cunningham 2.44.53
13 cedric gracia 2.44.63
14 matt simmonds 2.44.84

Nice one! For for results go here:
http://www.nissan-ucimtbworldcup.com/en/Results/index.cfm?RaceID=26

And race reports from the weekend here:

www.southerndownhill.com

Foel-king hell

Headed down to Foel Gasnach today, fuck me. Thats says it all really :)


Loved every minute. Rocked up at 10am (great directions guys, cheers). The weather looked fine, so we got kicked off with uplifts in the dreamy van. We ran Track 3 first, with the new bus stop and crazy double making some interesting half way down entertainment. Andy went for it, chose not too, then Doo (Julian) went for it, and stopped just in time. You'd have thought at this stage that would be the end of it with a Dirt jump style take off (lots of chat about runwaying the entry more was had). But no. Julian goes back for it and almost cleared it, but his rear just caught the landing short and he was catapulted over the bars. A nasty winding and gashed knees for him, and we weren't even down the first run! Andy reinstated himself and sped at it full pelt, just clearing it, respect. He was still half pissed tho :D


Doo decided driving was the safest option, so preps to him for being Mr Uplift all day! I sessioned Track 2 for while, then Track 3. Track 2 top half was mint, Track 3 mint all the way. The wet roots and off camber stuff was really testing me, but the bottle was there! Had one big off over the bars, but the Giro took that one on the chin (literally, its visor is snapped already!).


We got about 10 or so runs in, with the latter half being a bit soggy with the heavens opening up. Lastly I got bullied into trying Track 1, and ignorance is bliss...rolled around a lot, but dialled the rock garden and top half. Justin got tempted by the double and reinstated himself, respect.


Good tracks all round, great banter, great day's riding.



Cheers to Justin, Andy, Doo, Rex and the other lads that turned up.

The dream machine...

FO bodged single ring set up worked a treat all day...

My new lid with snapped visor on its virginal days riding...

Wideopen Issue 2

Wideopen Issue 2 is out now - visit the site to download it.
In Issue 2 there is Rachel Atherton / Ash Mullane / Fearingout weekender / Addiction / SNDS BMX Roadtrip / BUSA 2007 / KOD rd 1 / Race reports (including NPS and SDA rd1) / NBS 2007 plus loads more... including an interview with Fearingout team rider Ste Larking.

Damp but smiling!

Jon and I headed out to Macc forest this evening in the drizzle - which made the climb a little more pleasant as although it was damp it wasn't humid.

Got round in just over an hour doing the Charity Lane and then Standing Stone way back to the car park.

Charity Lane could be described as wet but grip was still high. Nice. Jon commented on just getting used to it in the dry, to which I replied its different every time I've ridden it in the 3 years I've regularly gone out in Macc. Had a few front end washouts on our way back on the wet surface, no harm done though.

Felt good to get out - even with the weather. See you all Sunday (except Scott - who's just text me to tell me he's off to Foel for some DH practice - good lad).

Ramblings

Yeah so I'm excited.

The flyers have arrived - so all FO members away from home (Macclesfield!) expect to get a bunch in the post to distribute to friends, family, local bike shops etc. They'll be getting sent out to all the big UK shops, but if you know of any other local places then give me a shout on the usual email address.

Work on the low key line of products is coming along, as are the caps/beanies. I expect we'll have the first samples within 6 weeks.

Bashrings haven't been forgotten but we want to run them long enough to test them properly. Expect to be able to order them in about a month or so's time.

I'm out on the bike tonight and again at the weekend... Wideopen Issue 2 is out on Friday... looks like its going to be a bike orientated weekend all round :)

I'm back...

Awesome holiday - so nice to not even think about work, but back now to reality.

Working solidly on Wideopen Issue 2 this weekend so should be ready sometime next week.
Also hope to be out on the bike on Wednesday again.

New 2007 Team t-shirts are in the mix, along with a line of 'low-key' garments and caps. Keep your eyes peeled and those on the mailing list will get first dibs (as usual).

See you all soon.

Happy Birthday to Mr Cubbin for tomorrow too :)

Well I'm in. After many many blank screens, time out errors and genrally not getting anywhere with the website, I finally got through to the entry page at about 01:20.
Fort William filled up at 04:10 and the last space for Pitfichie went at 07:33. It would seam that a few people who stayed up all night didnt get in. So is there a better way to deal with entries? Answers on a postcard please...

SDA Madness!

May 1st, 00:18.
SDA website has been down for about 20minutes now.
After the mad rush for spaces when entries opened for the first two rounds back in March, the SDA changed servers in an attempt to handle tonights internet traffic as the next two rounds go live. Well it looks like quite a few riders have stayed up only to be met with time out errors and blank screens. I'll keep trying for a while then maybe just give up and go to bed for an hour or so.
This can only be a good sign that downhill mountain biking is huge in Scotland at the moment.