Ben Lomond...epic descent, climb to kill!

Well folks, I rode Fort Bill last year and boy-oh did my arms and hands hurt. Yesterday, I climbed Ben Lomond and the descent reminded very much of the Fort Bill feeling!

Passing climbers on the way I had some friendly banter, though I reckon they all had me down as insane. Up top, and with about a quarter of the 3195ft/974m climb still to go, I took the advice of some descending walkers and my own sanity that 60mph+ cross winds weren't worth the last wee bit of the climb. So, I got my armour on, full face at the ready and off I went.

In summary...rocky as fuck! Bottom half is more rideable and enjoyable, almost a techy singletrack feel to it. No end of twists and tricks thrown up to catch you out. No spills for me though and only one unpass-able section.

I was out riding to test some twenty6 products for issue 6 or 7 of wideopen. A big shout also has to go to the guys at Craig MacMartin Cycles in Glasgow for sorting my bike out, a wee brake service was just what the doctor ordered before attempting this descent!

Now for some snaps...
It's all about the twenty6 Dualielevers (and the bar ends!)


Camo, white, pink...whatever!


This was the only un-rideable section, it gets worse above the staircase here


Epic descent...the trail disappears in the distance...if only there was a helicopter drop off service!


As it got bleak up top, I decided to get a quick snap in, before descending at speed over what can only be described as "rocky as fuck" until the bottom half where it was mint

Reinstatement 2008 style

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Ross, Chris and myself headed out on Saturday afternoon for a local blast following some tinkering for the early part of the day. We'd fitted Ross's new Hone cranks, Maxxis super-tacky rubber and lock-on grips. The Chameleon was also sporting it's blingo saddle!

So with heavy looking clouds we set off from the Leather Smithy and Ross found that the gym had not helped his riding fitness as much as he'd like - mind fair play he stayed the distance without pushing until the road climb. Chris and him were a little jealous of my spritely hardtail though ;)

We sessioned Charity Lane a little - had some awesome runs down the bottom end, very smooth lines - Chris has some photos we'll share later. Luckily since I wear glasses I don't suffer with splashback, but Chris has spanked out some cash on a set of Leo style Captain Zeneca specs - only Leo got his for free, who's the loser there? hehe We may joke but Chris found it better with specs. Poor Ross used it as a (good) excuse for his distinct lack of pace. To be fair it was only the 3rd time he'd ridden it, and Chris and I know it like the back of our hands, plus Ross hasn't ridden off road much either!

After getting some good snaps we re-traced oursteps and then down the way we climbed for some chortles on the banking on the fire road again. I've a feeling it's going to get more and more fun along there as we ride it more... we took the old path down to the bottom, good fun in the dark muddy conditions and then back to the car.

Great ride - I loved the hardtail - new saddle was comfy, and somehow confidence inspiring. The forks were working well and the tyres held up well in the wet. Big smiles. Chris enjoyed himself too - having a few edgy moments always sharpens the skills. Ross took things easy and is looking forward to getting back into the swing of things - hopefully we'll see him out on mid-week rides imminently!

Next ride I believe is next Sunday for another local Peak District blast - contact Jon if you're interested :)

Fresh spring start...

News abounds here today!

Fearingout.co.uk team rider Aaron 'Mono' Bartlett is currently crawling round the side of DH tracks throughout the land filming for his debut DVD production this year. Titled 'Foot Out Flat Out' it already features some top UK talent with a lot more to come. Check out Aaron's blog for more details:

Footoutflatout.co.uk

Closer to home it's all about the big spenders again!
Ross has spanked £120 on parts ahead of Scotland in April - so this weekend we'll be fitting a set of Shimano Hone cranks, new tyres and grips. Good man!
Jon has had a good bonus and is in the market for a new bike - he's torn between the Pitch and Ransom - but can't bring himself to spend money on a bike at full retail (despite being able to afford it - bugger) so will probably end up with a Coiler ;) Come on Jon get it spent - a Pitch would be nice ;)
On the cheaper end of the spectrum I've got myself a new perch for the Chameleon...
Too bling?



That's all for now but with luck the constant needling of Chris will pay off and he'll splash out on some new forks for his Enduro!!

Bring on the weekend - and Scotland in April :)

2008 Student Champs

The 8th and 9th of March had hundreds of students flocking towards Cwmcarn in south Wales for this years BUSA championship races. Saturday was the DH race, and also the wettest weather I've ever had the pleaseure of riding my bike in. Fully converted to the hardtail way now I managed a sub 4 minute run of the DH track which was enough for 68th place, not as high as I would have hoped but still beat the majority of the field on their big bouncy bikes. Chris Hutchens took 1st place in the DH for Edinburgh, after landing back in the UK from Italy only the night before.
Thankfully Sunday dried up enough to allow for some XC racing in just a beater and tie, the EUCC race clothing of choice. After a manic dash to put bikes together before the Sport race started I managed to spank round the track in a reasonable time to take 28th. Special mention has to go to Pete 'Weeman' Scullion for doing the 9 mile race on a brakeless 14" wheeled kids bike (he didnt even finish last!). In the XC Champs race Oli Holmes of Swansea Uni took first place after an epic 3 laps of the 9 mile course.
I also ran into Jamie Edwards of Wideopen mag at the weekend. He'll be putting together an article for a future issue of Wideopen along with a few shots of the action/carnage.

Weekend Winter Winner.

Last weekend was the second round of the Alpine Bikes winter series. So it was back down to Inners for practice Saturday and some racing on Sunday. I did my usual trick of going out for "a few" the night before, so spent Saturday tired and a little confused as to why I was on a bike. I still felt confident on Sunday morning because of the fact that I'd had a sneaky practice there a couple of weeks before hand. With the hardtails category heading of first I was the second man out of the start gate and the first into the finish area, coming down the hill in 4:11 which was more than enough to take the win. Fastest man of the day was Marc Beaumont with a run at 3:09.
For a full report check out Wideopen Issue 6 which is due to hit your screens in the very near future.

Disjointed?

Well the FO calendar said the Wirral today but a low availability, shitty weather and other commitments meant James C headed to Llandegla on his tod, and Chris and I rode locally at Macc Forest.



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Just as we finished building up the bikes the rain started! We headed up the usual path to Charity Lane finding it very wet, quite grippy but with a layer of small loose gravel that sort of moved even though it was grippy.

After a run down we pushed up and sessioned the 2nd jump for some snaps before pushing right back to the top. For a change, and the first time in 5 years we rode down the other side - fast but not very challenging as expected. Method in the madness though as we wanted to ride the side trails to the motorway climb. We played about on the top bank near the barn for some photos before ragging down to the bottom and along the horsy trail at the side.

Good fun, cold but a nice blast. All good for the winter skills.

Should be a report up from Ste later as he's riding in the Innerleithen winter series round 2 today :)

Filming and Riding

Well it's been a while since I posted here but i have been proper busy recently, hardly even had time for riding my bike! The Downhill bike has gone replaced by a Cove Hooker, 3 inch travel beast for DH, freeride and singletrack. Bloody awesome!

Been riding a little bit more the last month due to lack of shoots for my DVD (supported by wideopenmag.co.uk check out the "podcast" style video on the blog). Went and rode some sick courses last weekend, Milky came along and got some good pics, see the bottom of the post.

France again this year, should have a new DH bike in the next few months, if anyone has anything for around a grand contact me at aaron @ wideopenmag.co.uk!

Cheers everyone,

Mono

Does it come in threes?

Bad luck that is?

Cliff (of Mr Motivator fame - those who read Josh Bryceland's column in Dirt will know who I mean) joined Jon and I for the usual Macc Forest winter training loop. I arrived to find Jon had forgotten to re-install the small retaining nut on his Saint cranks and they'd slipped on the climb up...

Bummer end of ride for him.

Cliff and I pushed on and enjoyed a good chat up the climb. At the usual breather spot at the barn the forestry chaps had left a pile of surfacing rubble that Cliff decided to have a pop at - bad luck number 2 - after a few unsuccessful attempts he pulled it twice, second on camera. The next attempt went bad when he got cocky and ended up getting clouted in the face by his bike giving him a nice nose bleed... after stemming the flow we just shot back down the fire road (making the most of the opportunity and scoping out the possibility of a fun descent on the tracks either side of the motorway!).

Photos below in the new format. Hope to see Cliff out on the bike again soon.



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1st ride of 2008!

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First ride of 2008 and Jon and I were joined by newby (well 3 years out) Martyn for a jaunt round Macc Forest this afternoon. Making the most of the afternoon by finishing at 2pm we resorted the 2007 old favourite route taking in Charity Lane and then the forest bridleway. Nice day for it, bit cold but good fun to be back out.

Jon and I were struggling a little with fitness, still quite impressed with myself though. Martyn's Rockhopper sports a 5" dual crown fork and a huge single ring up front making climbing out of the saddle his only option - that he didn't take up very often!

Charity Lane was rough and wet - good fun going sideways it'll take a few weeks to get back to the 07 pace but beyond that - well it's going to hurt put it that way!

Looking forward to the next ride - about a fortnight's time on the Wirral :)

Version 11 a work in progress...

You may seem some odd happenings on here over the next few weeks as I test out some of the code for Version 11 - bear with me! It'll be worth the wait.