Windy but not wet... revisit to Cragg Quarry

Jon and I headed up yesterday, taking the afternoon off work, for a second visit to Cragg Quarry. After a heavy shower and rain en-route (along with a bit of fun on the A34) the going was wet but the weather held fine, and both on hardtails we made the trek across the moor from Lee Quarry. First ride around we shot some footage for a web-edit before cockily saying we'd do a second loop which killed me!

I had a mega puncture incident killing both front and back tubes whilst showing off for the camera - but easily repaired with Jon's help.

The Superstar wheels inspire confidence on the Chameleon but have deadened the handling so once the review is over I'll pass them on to someone who really needs them and refit my original lighter wheelset :)

Anyhow - here's the video... enjoy!


Cragg Quarry Web-edit from James Hilton on Vimeo.


See you all out again soon!

Another week another ride...

Good ride tonight - just Kev and I but there seemed to be a lot of riders out in Macc Forest tonight!

Kept it short, both of us tired and Kev's first week back on the bike for a few weeks, and I'm still trying to get full sus fit for Scotland in September. Another week with the full face again and Charity Lane was lots of fun, maybe a little too easy now though? Singletrack, invincible on the big bike.

We're doing Lee/Cragg quarry next Wednesday - and shooting for another section of the video... I'll be 30 by then as well. Doesn't time fly...

Back on the bounce...

It's been a few weeks since I've been out on the bike and I felt it tonight!

Tony and I headed out, and it was good to ride the Coiler Dee-lux after a long time in hibernation (with shock and bottom bracket issues). I'm going to keep this short tonight, suffice to say we just did a Charity Lane / singletrack blast.

The Coiler was immense coupled with the full face and I was getting tired pedalling in top gear... awesome fun - and SO quick, and so much more stable. The singletrack was slippery (apparently according to Tony) but I was going so quick I didn't notice hehe.

Roll on next week.

Macclesfield Forest 22/7/2010

Goodbye beard, hello bottom bracket...

A weeks holiday without a razor and I had quite a cool beard. Cathy hated it though, it wasn't anything like Jamie's monster!

Ordered some bottom brackets from Superstar for both bikes. A cool Aerozine one with SKF bearings for the Saints and an innovative large bearing ISIS for the Race Face Evolves. Fitted the Aerozine one to the Chameleon in 10 mins! Can't wait to get out on a bike, such bad news at home this week that I could really do with a break.

James
Producer - Wideopenmag.co.uk

Sent from my Three mobile

That's six for Scotland!

Yup it's organised, not booked, but sorted... Fearingout hit Glentress and Innerleithen the 24th to 27th September!

Accomodation is sorted for 6, that's Jon, Chris, Ross and I plus newbies Pete and Kev.

Anyhow good ride tonight, dry weather again, Charity Lane was fast and dusty and the singletrack was lush and overgrown but terrific! This is what it's all about, this is Macclesfield.

See you in a fortnight, and also an afternoon jaunt to Lee Quarry for my 30th is planned! Ciao!

James
Producer - Wideopenmag.co.uk

Sent from my Three mobile

This Charming Man... (Llandegla Web-edit)

We didn't take a still camera with us yesterday at Llandegla - but we did take my aging Sony MiniDV Camcorder and grabbed some dusty singletrack footage :)

Llandegla Wideopen Web-edit from James Hilton on Vimeo.

I think we all enjoyed the ride - I certainly found that although the Superstar wheels are heavier than the XC setup I had previously they do add to the bikes handling at speed. I'll need to re-tune my forks a little though as the increase in unsprung mass was making them a little quick in places :)

We'll be back out in Macc next Thursday night - and there will be another afternoon blast somewhere in July - probably Lee and Cragg quarry, again with the video! :)

Llandegla la la la...

Sat in the pub with Jamie, Jim and Jon after a great ride at Llandegla. Awesome! Twisty, dry, grippy, ripped up though! Burger on the way, good times.

James
Producer - Wideopenmag.co.uk

Sent from my Three mobile

Off we go...

... to Llandegla to meet up with Jamie and Jim from Wideopen. Report later!

James
Producer - Wideopenmag.co.uk

Sent from my Three mobile

Foot out, arse over... tit!

After last week we've had a little rain so tonights exploring of the new trails we discovered last week was 'interesting' to say the least.

The original route is slippery as hell and the corners are a combination of great fun and fear mixed together. No ones tyres had ANY grip, clinging on for dear life and then releasing the brakes for the next straight, great fun and grins all over. We scoped out some alternative routes before realising the mega steep bits are a necessary evil really, there is no way of avoiding them... still good fun.

Grabbed a few snaps (below) and good banter this evening. Good to see Jon back out on the bike!

Macclesfield exploring 10/6/2010

Steep dark and fast...

From Macclesfield singletrack downhill - 3/6/10

Another week and first up my heartfelt apologies to the guys - I was 30 mins late tonight! I hate keeping people waiting - it won't happen again.

So with the injection of fresh blood the Fearingout weekly ride is really taking on a new vibe - it's excellent and finding new stuff in the forest is igniting everyone's passion for riding.

Tonight, the track that Pete showed us last week was the target so we climbed up Nessit Hill. None of us really new what to expect - Pete's description was pretty vague 'ace up top, then some shit steep bits that are pretty much do or die' - so I grabbed some photos just into the tree line (see below) and then followed them down. The surface was loose but the corners were well established and tyre treads dug in nicely to the soil surface - great fun once you found the flow, leant in and got your foot out - speed crept up really quickly! Then the steep scary bits - and yeah, we all pushed or crashed - by the end of the summer hopefully we'll have it licked! The think that struck me was how much bang you got for your buck, a really decent length track, good fast twisty singletrack and a fresh challenge!

We then rode back up to Standing Stone and did the other woodsy singletrack that was bone dry and insanely quick - I loved every second - it feels so good to be hammering through the rough stuff hanging on to the bike before throwing it into the corners... it may be familiar but it's still every bit as exciting as the first time I rode it 2 or 3 years ago!

So onwards and upwards. Here's to a fantastic summer of riding in Macclesfield!

Macclesfield singletrack downhill - 3/6/10