Scotland... Snow... Smiles!

Sat cruising at 70 on the M74 heading home after two days riding hardtails at Glentress for an article in Issue 12. 3 riders, 3 hardcore steel long travel hardtails, and surprisingly 3 very different bikes! Throw in 4 in of snow and some sketchy singletrack and a photographer and you've the making of a classic Wideopen article. Good times. No bike snaps, they can wait until Dunc downloads them. See you all out on the trails.

Oh and special mention to the mechanic at the Hub bike shop, Glentress who let me have some gear cable outer and saved a weekend. Legend.

James
Producer - Wideopenmag.co.uk

Sent from my Three mobile

Like something out of the Arctic!

Macclesfield 7/2/10

The first ride of 2010 and it turns out to be a cold one!

Kev and I headed up this morning for a stretch of the legs pre-Scotland at the end of the month. Despite having 4 bikes in the garage only one was serviceable (the Genesis needs a shock pump to set up the forks) so out came the Chameleon for a play. Climbing was hard work in the cold and with all the pies and over-indulgence of Christmas hanging around my waist - but no longer than usual so yet again bike fitness seems to carry over Christmas.

We got to the foot of Charity Lane fully expecting snow patches and a lot of ice. What we didn't imagine was it FULL of ice and snow. Those who know the lane will understand how deep it was when I say it was level with the base of the stone walls at the side - that put it at over a 1m deep. Luckily fairly compact so easy to push up walking on it. Thinking it might ease over the top we pushed up... but it didn't. So for the steep section we jumped a fence and took the safer snow free farmers field which was wicked fast. After a short section of back on Charity Lane I jumped the fence again for a short section before Kev and I headed down the last section ski-style. Lots of sliding and a good laugh.

Back via the singletrack as we predicted there would be more snow on the biker descent the other side of the forest and then stopping by Kev's parents for a nice warm brew in Sutton.

A good ride - and I can't wait for the hardtail weekend in Scotland now... one thing is for sure - these new fangled steel long travel hardtails have a hard job of beating my aging Chameleon - awesome fun today, totally planted - light and sure footed. A brilliant bike.

Wideopen on your Mac...

Yes - you read that right! You can now download a desktop application to use Wideopen straight from your Mac*. It's available now, FOR FREE, from the Wideopen website.

Check it out here.

*Internet connection required.

LOCALS: Milky comes good

It all started here! Fearingout race team took on SW locals Mono (Aaron Bartlett) and Milky (Jacob Gibbins) as team rider and team photographer for the 2007 season. When we launched Wideopen in 2008 both joined us and Mono went on to produce two fantastic films (FOFO and FOFO2).

Milky - a truly talented photographer - went with him snapping world cups, british DH races, secret sessions all over the UK and europe and has had material in every issue of the mag since day 1.

Now he's put together a short film documenting the South West's local talent and it's a corker. Check it out!!!

Wideopen Issue 11 has landed...

and expect an Fearingout site re-vamp during January and February for 2010!

Snow!

It's snowing and has been all day, check it out! About 2 to 3 inches now and it's gone crazy in last 20 mins! Still in the lull made a snowman family!

James
Producer / Wideopenmag.co.uk

Sent from my Three mobile

We must be mad!

Jon and I headed to Llandegla today to burn off some Christmas Do calories! -2 in Macclesfield how cold can it be we thought? Ffffffin cold is the answer. Two tees and a coat plus a hat after 5 mins I couldn't feel my fingers!

The trails were very crisp and quiet though, and wicked quick in the singletrack so we had a great time! Also good to see some trail maintenance with the worst worn parts of the original trail being spruced up!

It's always a long way back to the car though and to top it off it started snowing!! Brrrrrr.

Anyway on our way home now with Jon driving, so work on Wideopen Issue 11 continues! See you all on the 30th, have a lovely Christmas!

James
Producer - Wideopenmag.co.uk

Sent from my Three mobile

Messing around in the woods...

Putting together Issue 11 for Wideopen and Dunc's just dropped off some photos of Jon's Blue-pig that are for a great feature in the mag... I thought I'd share a snap of all the fun in the woods! :)



In other news on the 19th December we'll be riding at Lee Quarry or Llandegla (dependent on the weather) and then 30th December in Macclesfield.

Rock and Roll.

Rain rain go away...

Woah wet wet wet through today!

I picked up Kev at an unearthly 8am this morning in damp but fair weather. As we headed for North Wales a few spots of rain and even on arrival at Gwydwr still looked ok. I think it was about 3/4 of the first climb when the heavens first opened - and it continued to repeat the cycle all day.

So damp (and muddy) conditions, what about spirits?
Not a chance.
Awesome fun today - bags of grip and hella fast. Tony and Kev's first ride at Gwydwr - both really enjoyed themselves. We made decent time doing the loop in 3/1/2 hours, even with some filming. Props to Kev for managing all day, well more than managing, whooping Chris's arse by the end of the ride, on a 4X bike with short seatpost and small selection of gears - despite this he found a setup that worked.

So back to the roots of Fearingout, and all smiles. Good to see Chris back out on a bike - and nice to be in a group again. It's been too long. Inevitably talk turned to 2010 - and calls for Scotland in April and Spain in September are still ringing in my ears... personally I think we'll be in Scotland before then! Peebles is calling...

Gwydwr 15/11/09

Gamut P30 chain device

Thanks to the lovely chaps at Madison a Gamut P30 arrived in the post today.

First impressions are good, solid feel, quality finish and simple fitting. This is the P30, a dual ring device, and one that'll be fitted to the Cotic Bfe when it arrives in the new year. Brief first look in Wideopen Issue 11, out before Christmas.

RRP £114.99
www.madison.co.uk

James
Producer / Wideopenmag.co.uk

Sent from my Three mobile