Scotland trip booked...

No not the World Cup one (don't remind me what I'm missing) but the Peebles one!

Yeah Ross, Jon and I (for now - hopefully Ste, Scott and possibly someone else?) are heading back north of the border 21st-24th September staying at the now regular Winkston farmhouse!

We're hitting Kirroughtree on the Friday, and then Glentress Saturday/Sunday with Innerleithen earmarked for Monday morning.

Suffice to say both the bikes and ourselves will be hammered on the long drive home.
Itching for Spooky Woods already though and looking forward to the new unknown (to us) Kirroughtree.

Welcome "home"

So, I've moved home to the parents house, start a new job tomo (monday), and I await the sale of my flat so I can buy a pad in Glasgow and use that 2nd bedroom as a bike room!....anyway...

Having driven home Saturday, what else was I going to do with my Sunday!...So another 4hour+ session at GT FR park and I have to say...why doesn't Britain have more places like this?!!! Had a top days riding, now fully confident doing 1 handers, hips, tweaks, tables, blinds, NO HANDERS, but most importantly dialling a complete run of sweet moves. I was genuinely about the 2nd or 3rd best trickster out there today and some semi-pro photographer snapped me doing a "look away" (dunno real name for it), with a hip, but I was looking at my shaddow on the ground (so the photo looks like anyway!) and it's a mint shot. Hope to get a copy of it, then I'll post it up.

Buzzing as ever. A few general comments....ppl wearing armour and no HELMET. Duh, vegetable application form for you lot, but your arms and legs will be fine. Beanie's instead of HELMETS...duh, as above for you. Dickheads standing in the way of the start ramp and even bigger dickheads standing at the exit of the last table...if i've just done a no hander, I'm going fast, so MOOOOOOOOOOOOVE out of the way!

Def going to get the Cove out next time, the Stinky is SOOOOOOOOO heavy when you see the HT DJ boys...single speed conversion methinks...and DJ1s of course ;)

Also nearly ran out of wall on the wall ride I hit it so high! What am I going to do next weekend I wonder.... :D

Full suss house...

4 of us made it out tonight (should have been 6 but two hardtailers had mechanical drive issues - Jon's cranks and James's chain!)

Ben, Leo, Ross and myself, all astride full bouncers headed up for some typical Peak District doubletrack action... two runs on Charity Lane left Ross more confident and I was enjoying the full bounce - even if Ben could keep up on his 110mm XC race bike!

Good fun though.

Out next Wednesday again I think... my birthday a week today :)

Coiler's finished...

Well at last tonight I finished (well almost) rebuilding the Coiler after a bit of a suspension overhaul... not quite as bad as I envisaged but it's taken me some time.
Took her for a spin down the street - wow - I'd forgotten how much fun a full bouncer is! 5" of bliss.

Fitted the 60mm DMR stem - its sharpened up the steering slightly (and looks more hardcore then the old Raceface Evolve XC one!). Also got Goodridge brake pads fitted courtesy of Mr Warnock! Just waiting until after Thursday/when I get enough brake fluid to replace the rear hose as it's got a suspected leak at the rear caliper. Seems ok again at the moment though so fingers crossed!

Can't wait until Thursday - they'll be a big turnout from what I've heard!

Wideopen Issue 3 out now...

Wideopen Issue 3 is now online to download. Check it out!
This issue there are race reports by Steve and interviews with Mono and Milky. There is also an article by Scott...

On top of all that Fearingout content there's a stack of race reports, interviews, dirt stuff and product/bike reviews.

All good.

122 pages will keep you quiet for a while too!

Red bikes are faster.

Just spent the afternoon at Mabie forest on the freshly built up DialledBikes Holeshot frame (dialledbikes.com) thats on test for Wideopen (wideopenmag.co.uk). First impressions are really good but I'll be putting in as many hours on it as possible over the next few weeks. The 4x track at Mabie is also looking good. Its is a little on the short side but has some killer jumps to keep you on your toes.

There she is all built up then. I did promis some shots of the sidekick in DH mode but in my rush to get this best built up I forgot all about it. so you'll have to make out what you can from this great shot of the Saturday evening slalom race at Pitfichie.

Foot out, flat out, eyes shut in blind fear!

Filmage and sheep fur

Bon voyage ride from Macclesfield today with James, Jimbo and Phil and it ranks right up there with the best of them as it had a little bit of everything, yet no crashes or punctures! It even started warm and sunny (ish).

Got some filming done which was good as our local spots dont feature much in the dvds! The climb was awful as i was in full DH mode, full facer and all, but once up top, i knew the day would improve. Charity lane was supa-fast today and we sectioned the filming out, and i had no respect for the berry pickers who didn't even have the courtesy to move when i shouted "rider" before pinning it past them, if its good enough for the SDA, its...well, i wont rant, but i didn't brake anyway, so "fuck 'em"! Anyway, blasted down there and then filmed the lower half and nearly ran over two novice lady riders, but no hassles with them at least. I popped into the bottom berm and definitely felt "on it" as they say.

Over to the "bombhole run" and James filmed from afar as the other 3 of us did an epic scenery shot. I then re-ran it and drifted through the bottom, foot out, just inside the limits of being in control, fucking mint.

Over to Wildboarclough for the climb/push up from hell and the heavens opened. Did a variety of shots and i nearly came a cropper in the canyon section as james filmed, but somehow held it, i reckon forgetting to brake was my riding style today! i think the comment was "as you came through there....fucking hell". Bottom half was very rocky and i floated all the way down, somehow avoiding puncture, but we were now all dreading the climb back up to standing stone. james and jimbo shot off home down the road and phil and i went for a last jaunt through the rooty tooty section, and jeez it was slippery over them roots. Just held it at times, and then got back home fucking soaked.

great ride, like the olden days with lots of chit-chat, hence why the ride took a mammoth 4 ish hours, but classic chat moment for me was at the bottom of charity lane, buzzing from the berm, helmets off and i noticed a pile of white stuff in a nearby field....
"is that...?" i started
"yeah" james interrupted .... and continued "it is sheep fur".

Maybe you had to be there, but hey, it had me chuckling!

Arrivederci lads, but i'll be back some day.

RUGOG CANCELLED
By: SPS on 16 July, 2007

SPS Events has taken the tough decision to cancel the next round of the Chain Reaction Cycles NPS this weekend on the 21st and 22nd of July 2007.

With the wettest June on record and July almost looking the same, this has left the pit fields at Rugog inaccessible along with our two back up courses at Caersws and Moelfre.

SPS Events will let you all know by Thursday the 19th of July as to whether we will re-schedule the round or cancel it all together and offer a full refund of race entries.

Again our deepest apologies.

SPS Events.

Steve Parr & Si Paton

Fearingout hits Facebook...

Yes we have our very own Facebook page (as many of you already know, being on there already). The best bit is finding random pictures of the team!

Here's Dave from his recent trip to France! :)

Quick blast...

Back in work tomorrow after what seems like an eternity off for Paternity leave so I took the opportunity to get out for a blast around Macc Forest with Jon after work.

The weather held dry and felt fine (should do after a banana, red bull and caramel slice)! Charity Lane was fast - managed to get two SLOW punctures that didn't raise they're ugly heads until halfway down the roots!

Met a nice looking girl before (and was waiting there when we finished) - which made the whole affair even nicer... wonder if we'll see her there again next week? :)

Out on Sunday meeting at 1pm at the Leather Smithy for a jaunt and some filmage!

Matt 3rd at Nationals...

Read the full story and results here... with word from the man himself soon!

Fearingout team rider Matt Simmonds 3rd at Nationals

Hardtail DH Anyone?

Long time no post. Last weekend was round 4 of the SDA series up at Pitfichie waaay up north. With a split in the rim on my DH bike I was forced into taking the hardtail to race on. After grabbing the 8 inch rotors and a couple of 24 x 2.7" Highrollers the sidekick was in downhill mode. My first practice run saw me smash into a tree splitting the front brake hose, so I was left with just the rear for the rest of the weekend. A few more big offs and I quickly learnt which parts of the track I had to slow down on! Come race day and I was pretty confident with the track considering my bike also had about 4 gears at this point after some mech/rock interaction. Both my race runs were clean from start to finish which makes a change for my and I even managed to knock 10 seconds of my time on the second run. In the end I finished 40th, 47seconds slower than Ben Cortis who won senior. I wonder how much quicker I'd be on the full sus? Anyway expect a full report in issue 4 of wideopen.

A day at Foel

Having seen the forecast today I expected rain all day, but no, only light showers later on! Had a few runs then did some building on track 4. That is bedding in...slowly! The final run to the bottom is pretty much the fastest route down the side of a hill! The drop onto the fireroad is technical, but i loved it. I somehow held that!

Rest of the day highlights were pinning track 3 over and over, and finally I did track 1 drop in! Mental, and i nearly bottled it, but no probs. Its sweeter to ride than it looks, tho second time round, I fell twice on the run and felt a bit of a dick dropping afterwards lol!

The tracks were pretty muddy but not too soggy. Was running super low PSI to get that root huggy tyre effect, but the tyres just filled with cake muck all day!

Usual good craic from the (some hungover) boys, and sadly it'll be my last trip to Foel for a while now I'm moving back to Scotland in 2 weeks. I'll be back tho as someone once said.

No action pics as usual cos it's all about the riding :)

It almost looked sunny this mornin....note clean bike


The volume of mud must double the weight of the bike lol

Sun....wtf?

Was tidying the flat all day and then realised about 3pm that the sun had been out most of the day!

So having fitted my new rear mech and new Hayes nine's (old ones were fuct!), I went for a local ride up at Wildboarlcough (alone like a loner!) to bed in the brakes for a DH day at Foel tomorrow. Did two runs with push ups and went a bit overkill with the full facer and goggles on! The stinky is still in DH single front ring mode too, but the whole set up felt dialled so I felt confident nailing the whole run, especially the technical lines through the very rocky sections. And the wash from the streams through the lines weren't an issue with the oakley's on, lol!

Also found a random natural bus stop affair (about 3ft of ramp) at the bottom, so tried that and got a bit sketchy mid air but landed it somehow :D

All good. looking fwd to Foel tomo, smiling like a Cheshire cat :D

Results from Austria...

CLICK HERE

Yeah Matt flying the flag at the World Cup again and did himself proud, 36th overall.
Expect a report up from him when he's home, in the meantime check out JILL KINTNER's site, she always keeps things fresh and has a full writeup :)

Back from the quagmire

Hello peeps!

Got back from Morzine saturday night. and what can i say? HOW BLOODY WET?!?! managed to ride every day, but it takes a lot more determination to drag your ass out of bed early when it's peeing down.

by the end of the week, most of the course had a lovely 8 inch layer of mud, but they were all still rideable, and its always good training! chalet was great, especially as it was well cheap, and the bike held up pretty well. no big off, which is great, given my dodgy health situation :s

got me a bit more motivated to up my pace a bit though, so watch this space, i may be racing again soon!!

Lots of updates

I'm injured a bit...
Sprained ankle from walking up at Buckstones yesterday.
Scarred back from an over the bars moment yesterday at Buckstones.
Bruised hip and calf from last weeks MotoX blind double impact at Buckstones. Apart from that I'm still riding!

Bike
Stinky front hose was leaking, ordered new hose from CRC, the fittings didnt arrive, when they were sent (after complaint) the piston had seized, when trying to "free" it up, the pin snapped. New caliper is £50, whole new brake is £75 (CRC prices), so I got a whole new set from ebay for £100. Bargain i say!
LX Rear mech is also so bent from Foel crash a while back, and it has been doing my tits in, so I got a new one from ebay tonight for £20 (£25 from CRC).

Rides
Been up at Buckstones (of northwestriders.net fame) yesterday and last sunday (full write up to follow with pics). Awesome trails, and despite the rain, had some good lines nailed and good chat with the boys up there.
Crack of dawn ride in Macc forest this morning. 0730 start, but after the climb (bearing in mind I couldnt walk most of last week!) which I was particularly slow on, then Charity lane was mint as usual. Wet as feck, but middle to end was so, so fast. Loving the Cove. The rooty tooty section was mint too, love that bit.

Riding shot from Buckstones on Saturday...

Other news
I'm moving back to Scotland for a new job. Don't worry, I'll still be doing FO and Wideopen, just from afar. My ramblings will continue, and "FO scotland issue" here I come...
Besides Glentress/Innerleithen will be on my doorstep (relatively), get in!

Pinned

Quick dawn(ish) raid on Macclesfield Forest this morning... before visiting hours at hospital! Great fun. Forks bedding in well, and pinning lower Charity Lane (see above).
Roots were grippier then you'd think but I was taking it easy - all to aware I have responsibilities now, leave giving it beans until its bone dry through there!

Thanks for making the huge effort to join me Scott - and Chris - sorry we missed you, hope you had a good ride - I appreciate you getting up early too!

4X Nationals venue announced...

See BRITISH CYCLING for more information... but at least Forest of Dean isn't too far away!

NEWS

I'm a Dad - Elly Grace Hilton born Thursday 5th July at 7.22am. Awesome.

In somewhat lesser news, the replacement hose has arrived FREE OF CHARGE from Goodridge. Can't argue with that!
Can't wait to get out riding again - possibly an early dart over the weekend (would need to be in hospital again for 11am so riding EARLY like 7.30am start.

First bed in...

Awesome first ride on my new forks today - Jon and I headed up for a blast in the rain around Macc Forest. Click the image for the writeup (or use the link below left).

The new forks have completely transformed the bike - it now feels unstoppable - I'm looking forward to thrashing it all summer.

Coiler rebuild is in progress... Jon is going to be pushing the new bearings into my swingarms in work... all good... in the meantime Scott is talking to Royles about how much to service his!

Goodridge got back to me too! Shout out to Adam Ramsden who is sending me a new 2.5m length of clear upgraded hose (due to my issues with it leaking at the ends!). Top stuff.

Articles

I've recently refreshed the Articles page - and added a whole stack of new material that the gang have been involved with through Wideopen.

Itchy trigger finger...

Yeah so a set of 2006 Marzocchi AM3s, new headset and a shorter stem are winging their way to me on 24 hour delivery to refresh the Chameleon...
I've been looking out for a set of 130mm travel coil sprung QR forks for a while and have really struggled to find anything... The AM3 are Taiwanese made and fully air sprung so we'll see how they behave - they have good writeups, and should keep the front end of the bike light-ish. The 50mm stem should sharpen up the handling further and I'll chuck the 60mm one on the Coiler.

Add that to the recent replacement bush purchase for the Coiler and both beasts will be firing on all cylinders this summer (when I have the time to finish servicing them both!)

Only small issues are Coiler will potentially need a new brake hose for the rear as the existing one seems to not want to stop leaking! Bloody Goodridge - I'm going to email them about that... and also will need its hubs servicing soon too. Still no one ever send bikes were a cheap hobby.

In other news... STILL NO BABY!

Buckstones...in the wet!

Summary blog report for now... full repo to follow on Fearingout with pics, and a full article on Northwestriders.net in Wideopen issue 3.

In brief...I headed up to northwestriders.net (NWR)prime location of Buckstones on Crompton moor today to ride with NWR and see their trails. Only an hour drive from Casa del Macclesfield, so nowt to worry about. Other than the monsoon conditions on road, so I was a bit worried about the riding!

Met Joel and Tony in the car park as it started to rain and Rich soon followed, having been up clearing the puddles from the lower jump area. We did a walk up and survey for moi, up to the top and I was keen to get on it! Tony started his warm up with a Gap jump, just landing long enough, but respect for efforts! We did a few runs to the bottom, but the jump area was soggy as feck. So we did top to middle all day in rain, hail, sunshine, glaring heat, the lot! Paul joined us as the hail came on, so it wasn't just me that brought bad weather! Great riding all round and a nice set up. Everyone managed a crash or two, and I have a dead leg from an over zealous attempt on a blind double, oops. A few low res pics to tease...

muddy up top

flying AFTER i caned my leg!