An end of year round up and thank you.

Since the end of the racing year rumours have abounded as to who’s racing for who and what races will be happening and who’ll be providing what coverage, as the new year approaches we’re starting to hear the truth behind the speculation.

Probably the biggest and most widespread rumours have concerned  Brendon Fairclough and he has now confirmed he’s leaving Monster/Specialized to ride for the Scott 11. I hope he can keep going forward from his run at Champerey and be back on top form after all the trouble with his knee this year. Top rider, top bloke.

These photos may not be related to what I'm saying I just like them

Tracey Moseley has announced she is not retiring as some had speculated but is going to be broadening her horizons having achieved her goals at downhill by being World Champion and World Cup overall winner, she is looking to compete in other disciplines while still making appearances at world cup races through out the year “After 12 years on the World Cup downhill circuit and the achievement of all the goals I set for myself, I felt that the end of 2011 was a perfect opportunityto make a change in direction and pursue some new challenges.” (From traceymoseley.com) Great news from a great inspiration and ambassador for the sport.  

Also after 5 years the Atherton family are leaving Commencal for pastures new, current rumour suggests they will be riding for GT, this is backed up by the UCIs announcement of their elite teams for next season which does not feature the Atherton Commencal team but has GT in the same spot as the Athertons held last year (though to me this last point seems to be clutching at straws).

 Danny Hart has once again stomped the opposition but this time in a vote for ride of the year; his winning World Champs run in Champerey took nearly 60% of the vote leaving Road, Track and one lone Cross Country race (Annie Last) to share out the other 40+%. I saw one guy in my pub showing the video to his mates on his phone, when I collected glasses from the table and made a comment about Rob Warner they all looked a bit confused. I should also mention Mark Cavendish and his resounding win of Sports Personality Of The Year. While I often see road racing as the mainstream face of cycling I try to remember that it’s still not mainstream in the eyes of the general public.

Go on  lets watch it once more.

Hopefully this year’s results in the Tour de France, SPOTY and the video of Danny Hart going viral will push the sport into the limelight a bit more attracting new and bigger sponsors and increasing accessibility to viewing all disciplines.

Speaking of watching the sport, DH1, which I have previously said would be another race series hoping to offer the best possible viewing for at home audiences, has announced that it may not go ahead after-all. This is because Red Bull TV have announced they will be covering the UCI world cup series and will be providing what should be amazing coverage. Ray from DH1 has said he is considering the future of his planned series but can’t beat Red Bull and that no matter what this is a great step forward for the sport even if DH1 doesn’t go ahead. Full announcement here.

After the UCI ditched the 4X world cup series the teams and riders got together and as previously reported created a new world series which will be called 4XProTour and will take place at several of the World Cup Downhill weekends including Fort William. Great news for riders teams sponsors, organisors fans and those of us who volunteer year on year at the  events. Hopefully this first year will be a great success and lead to further growth in the discipline.

In terms of my own riding I would like to say a massive thank you to Architrail and Bristol Trails Group for all their hard work in making Ashton Court and Brunel Pump track up to such great standards that top riders from across the UK have come to ride them and turned Bristol into one of the foremost mtb areas in the UK, as unlikely as that may seem to many people. On top of this it has allowed me to ride different styles of trail from what I’ve been used to up in Scotland and greatly improved my skill and fitness levels in the last 6 months. I can’t wait to ride the trails at Leigh Woods in the new year now they’re open. One last thank you is to all the girls who ride at Ashton Court who by their sheer presence encourage me not to get off and push up hills and to generally try not to look as unfit and unhealthy as I am. 

Of course a MASSIVE thank you to everyone who has read any of my posts!

Merry Xmas and Happy New Year!

Pumptrack Challenge and Party!

First up sorry it’s been a month since my last post, while there’s a lot been happening I’ve not had the chance to sit down and concentrate on writing a piece, hopefully this will mean I play catch up with a few close together updates. We’ll start with the DMR Pumptrack Challenge and the Wideopen Magazine end of season party. Amazing competition followed by an awesome party!

The DMR Pumptrack Challenge was held a few weeks ago at the new Brunel way pump track. It was a gloriously sunny day, if a bit chilly by the end. I rode down towards the end of the competition as I’d had a heavy one the night before, and there were quite a few people watching as well as those competing, I arrived in time to see the semi – finals of all categories which consisted of Rippers (kids I think), Womens, Open and Elite Mens. In order to keep the racing fast pedal strokes were allowed which caused a few comments online after the event but it seemed to add to the competition and certainly made me feel better about not being able to make it round without a few cranks in here and there.

As with the Ritchey Oktoberfest weeks before, Bristol became the UK focus for mountain biking with top riders such as Scott Beaumont mixing with kids and local riders. The action of the competition was enhanced by some great commentary and the Monster Energy van pumping out tunes and freebies being handed out as well as the Exploder challenge, which pitted two people against each other attempting to blow up an inner tube, first to pop won.

The racing itself was a single timed lap, apart from the Elite men who got a warm up lap, with ever decreasing numbers going through to the next round, The kids were hitting it as hard as the adults and some of the open category times were very similar to those of the Elites. Scott Beaumont didn’t make it to the final and finished in 6^th place with Ben Baker taking the top spot, the women’s event was won by Jess Greaves, the Open won by Stephen Russell and Joel Anderson winning the Rippers category. Full results here.

As the sun fled below the horizon the temperature dropped and the awards ceremony was held under the flyover while people flooded to get a quick blast on the track before it was too dark and others pulled G-turns and 180 hops chatting and giving tips to each other before heading off to prepare for the Wideopen Mag/ Monster Energy end of season party.

When I got to the party at Warehouse in town I was confronted by a bar packed with mountain bike fans, riders, writers, photographers and film makers. World Champions and former World Champions were there; this was apparently the party to be at. I swiftly availed myself of the free Monster and tried several shots just to see what they tasted like with various flavours of the energy drink. 

Moving through the party chatting to random people and seeing Brendan Fairclough, Josh Bryceland, Manon Carpenter, Sam Pilgrim amongst many others getting drunk, dancing and having a good time. As ever the best in the world are always up for chatting to people and having a laugh, as was made apparent when Olly Wilkins crawled on the floor towards my crotch as part of a dare game, encouraged loudly by Sam Pilgrim. This was a brilliant event which rivalled (and in some ways beat.) the Sunday night party at the Fort William World Cup round. On returning home I stuck 3 Minute Gaps on, for some reason I couldn't sleep, and watched the same people I'd just been getting drunk with ripping it on their bikes. 

Follow up and Fear

Follow up

Since my last post a friend of mine updated his mountaineering blog and two lines in it stuck out for me as being relevant to my previous post. “I suppose as you become more involved and talented in your hobbies, your goals inevitably become more ambitious.” (James Roddie. Glencoe Mountaineer) This first quote is that thing of the better you do the harder you push yourself and the more you do to make it come about and the higher you aim, I’d guess even the top athletes in our sport still have days where they look outside and think I don’t want to do this but the knowledge that there’s someone else out there already doing it pushes them to train longer and harder.

Gee Atherton about to win at Fort William

“The possibility of achieving a dream is always more important than that extra hour in bed.” (James Roddie. Glencoe Mountaineer). This quote amuses me coming from James, as he has always been pretty driven about what he does, finishing a shift at 1am getting changed and going straight up a mountain to take pictures of the sunrise. However for me it’s something I struggle with, the thoughts of ‘I don’t actually have to get up’ and as I often don’t get to sleep before 3 am the call of the extra hour is often too appealing. Maybe I should write this on my bedside table as a reminder. Which leads me on to the comment Claire left.

Unfortunately due to the nature of my work I can’t pick set days apart from one day I try to ensure is my day of every week however the last week or so following what Claire said I’ve picked days to go out when I got my rota for the week and kept to them (apart from one day). Buying proper lights does seem like  definite way forward however they cost money I don’t have/need to spend on other things, though my current lights are good enough to use on the road so may start doing that, it’s either that or start running. Racing gives me something to aim for, I’m not a competitive person but making the decision to take part in a race gives me something to aim for. Cheers for the comment Claire it’s definitely given me ideas and it’s good to hear other peoples thoughts.

Fear

What I have noticed in the last couple of weeks is I’m not hitting things as hard as I did before my crash the other week, while I’m out on my bike I’m telling myself it’s down to it being wet and slippy but I recognise the thoughts in the back of my head that are the beginnings of fear.

In some ways this tint of fear is helping as I’m concentrating on riding things smoothly rather than just smashing them as hard as I can however through my experiences in kayaking I need to make sure the fear is just a slight background whisper rather than something that holds me back. In kayaking I got to a stage where I was very confident in my boating and paddling a lot of difficult rivers and rapids unfortunately I had a series of incidents which knocked my confidence culminating in two very big swims out in the French Alps, now my confidence is pretty low and I struggle to make myself do anything that might make me tip over.

I’ve tried several ways to rebuild my confidence but find as soon as I push myself I let the fear take over and that makes me make mistakes which again knocks my confidence back down again, so at the moment I’m consciously not paddling anything hard and trying to do more teaching and river leading to build up my basic level of faith in my own abilities.

From this

to this.

There are many people to take inspiration from in this in mountain biking though, first and foremost (for me anyway) is Dan Atherton, having broken his neck on a jump he’s back on his bike racing World Cup rounds as soon as he can, also Rachel Atherton who has had a bunch of injuries and is still riding hard enough to be one of the best riders in the world. The list goes on from Sam Hill to Matti Leikhonen who is back on his bike after his massive crash in the Nordic Downhill Championship. That’s just the pro’s I’m sure we all have friends who have taken a big crash and jumped back on their bikes or even outside of biking, those who have bounced back from something big to get straight back on with life.

Speaking of big crashes I’m now sporting a wrist band from http://scottshepherd-riderdown.weebly.com/  check it out and show your support through the Facebook page and @RiderDown_Scott on Twitter.

Getting motivated.

The nights are turning, no they have turned dark, the clocks have gone back the weathers not so great, so how do we get ourselves to get out on our bikes?

Some people are in the mindset of being able to jump on their bikes no matter what, it’s a certain drive and passion for the sport that I’m somewhat jealous of. The biking season is over no matter your discipline it is very much the off season. There are no inspiring new videos from world cup rounds or tours to watch, Ok re-runs on Freecaster and You Tube can help and there are always sick videos like 3 Minute Gaps to watch but when it’s wet and cloudy and dark it can take some effort to get out on your bike.

This week I finished work at 3pm one day and realised the sun was shining and I had a couple of hours of daylight left to do something with. I also knew it was going to be muddy and there’s a lot of fun to be had getting absolutely filthy on the bike. I headed down to the Pump Track where there were a couple of school kids messing around on their way home then headed up to Ashton Court where I had the place to myself. It was the first time I’d been there when there wasn’t loads of other people and it was great not having to keep half an eye over my shoulder for better faster riders coming through. The ground was slick enough that to look at the brakes was to send you sideways on the corners, there were deep puddles and the tracks disappeared under layers of mud lain down off previous tires. I got home coated in mud and very glad I’d gone out however on other days when it’s not so sunny I can struggle to psyche myself up for it and I’m guessing from the emptiness of Ashton Court that day I’m not alone.

I try and keep in mind that it’s now winter and the weather can’t be guaranteed so if a decent day comes along you’ve got to jump on it, this still doesn’t always cut it when your warm and cosy in bed and have no reason to get up. Every ride I go on reminds me of how much fun can be had in the mud and wet of winter and thinking of previous rides can help inspire me to get out and have another one, on top of this I’m trying hard to improve my fitness to race next year and having taken a week out after my crash the other week I noticed how quickly I lost what I’d gained so I see every missed chance as a step backwards, and the fitter I am the more I‘ll enjoy the riding. In those terms I guess it’s easier for the pro riders as every time they don’t train one of the other riders will be and that can make seconds of difference on the competitive circuit, for the rest of us it’s just got to be a personal thing.

As the biking season closes the kayaking season begins so that takes up some of potential riding time and certainly takes up more of the time of the guys I usually go out with plus they work 9-5 jobs which means during the week it’s dark when they get home and none of us have good enough lights to go out in the dark, as much as it seems like a lot of fun. Getting out on your own is much easier in terms of organisation but much harder in terms of motivation.

(The rewards of getting out on your bike can be stunning views)

So what do we do to get ourselves out the door? Remember previous fun rides in the conditions you face, think of how much you’ll enjoy it and what you’ll lose by not going out. Watch the videos we have and stuff you can watch over the internet. Look to the people who inspire you and think of what they’d be doing.

Remember all it takes is to walk out the front door with your bike.
(Please leave any suggestions and ideas on how you keep motivated on the comments)

The reason why.

I  started this blog initially intending it to be about fixing and riding bikes, however I found myself writing more and more about what was happening out there in professional Mountain Bike racing, mostly Downhill with some 4X and with recent developments I got a bit mired in the politics of it all. At the same time I’ve been out riding a bit and have had some cracking days on the bike reminding me why I ride and why I enjoy watching these competitions.

When I moved from Glencoe in the West Highlands to Bristol, quite a dramatic change of scenery, From being surrounded by rearing mountains in the middle of nowhere to rolling hills covered by Tarmac and buildings. It was so easy to head out and get straight into some great trails up there, with Glencoe Ski resort on my doorstep and Nevis Range and Laggan just up the road there was no shortage of purpose built trails, so coming to Bristol I had concerns about how easy it would be to get out.

Fortunately with the newly developed trails in Ashton Court, a new Pump Track at Brunel way and soon to be opening trails in Leigh Woods there’s no shortage of biking within a ten minute ride of my front door. The other day I rode into Leigh Woods for the first time to have a look at the trails being built there, and I got myself utterly lost. I loved it. There’s a certain joy of setting off on your bike with no real idea of where you’re going and just following the most fun looking trail. Admittedly this landed me in a few bogs and ended up riding down a seriously steep slippy hillside to appear underneath the Clifton suspension bridge covered in mud, grinning from ear to ear and wondering how I was meant to get back up to meet my friends at Ashton Court.

The other weekend I rode up to watch part of the Ritchey Oktoberfest to see how the course and enjoy the atmosphere, I have every intention of competing next year so took the opportunity to see it this year, especially with Steve Peat, Martyn Ashton, Sam Pilgrim and Blake Samson taking part. When I got there I rode straight into the middle of these guys filming a how to piece, something about cornering maybe I should have paid more attention.

I stood and watched the race for a bit, then went to try and get some pictures, passing Peaty practising some tricks at the side of track and getting the usual friendly hello from him. I’ve been crew at the last 4 years World Cup Rounds in Fort William and love how down to earth the riders are and how easy it is to chat to them. Also it’s great to see these guys turning up and supporting a local event, I know this is quite a popular event but to see some of the best riders in the world racing on the courses you ride every week is pretty cool, especially as Oli Beckinsale the only actual XC racer in the group was just stood on the side lines because of his injury.

Trail designer Phil Saxena

 As the racing ended I decided to hit the trails, I tried to hit the start of a trail at my usual speed, unfortunately with a Vito Sport in my normal line I was forced to hit the corner at a different angle, riding over a branch that had been used to mark the course, one minute I was on my bike the next minute I was on the floor bleeding. I got back on my bike and rolled home. What annoyed me about this crash was the fact my elbow pads were on my bag and my knee pads were at home, had I been wearing them I’d have been fine. Lesson learned, got ’em, wear ‘em.

Despite the crash I had a cracking day out seeing world class and amateur riders mixing and enjoying mountain biking together. That’s why we do it; because no matter how good (or bad) you are how old or how fit or how many times you roll home bleeding or walking a mangled bike, you get out there and do it again because it’s fun because it’s freedom  and because of the great people who do it too.

Exciting announcements but what does the future hold.

I’ve flicked through a few ideas on what to write on this post, some of which can wait as exciting developments are happening in the sport.

With the new sponsorship deal for the UCI World Cup series with Rocky Roads and the end of Freecasters’ contract to show them, there was some concern as for the future of the gravity side of the sport; this was made worse by the cancellation of the 4X series. As I reported previously it was looking a bit bleak and I was more than happy to embrace the idea of a move away from the UCI, though I've always been a fan of the underdog. 

Talking to a colleague in work about skating he had said that independent competitions were becoming more and more popular with skaters and fans alike because they were free from the rules of governing bodies and large events like X Games, also the prize money for the independent events was much higher as the money raised went back to the event rather than into the large company/governing body.

New series, more money for the winners.

In response to the cancellation of the 4X series the 4X Alliance have started to organise their own World Cup series as I mentioned in the last post. Though I have heard nothing more on this as yet, another exciting piece of news came out this week; Freecaster and Nissan (previous sponsors of the UCI World Cup) have collaborated to create a new Downhill series to happen next year called DH1. Intended to run alongside the UCI World Cup it will be interesting to see how it takes off especially with Freecaster showing it and teams Like the Steve Peat Syndicate and the CG brigade (all of whom ride Santa Cruz bikes) already signed up and a reported 53% bigger prize fund. Also this series is open to amateurs as well as professionals which should encourage more people to get involved. To keep up with what’s happening ‘like’ the Facebook page. Having read a little more into this I have seen it's not an entirely new series it's just being marketed differently and while a lot of other big name teams have not signed up for this years series once it establishes itself in this form it may attract other teams. 

Back when Nissan were main sponsors

With coverage still up for grabs for the UCI World Cup who knows what the future holds. Apparently there are four companies competing for the rights according to Nicole Gruber-Gil of the UCIs marketing department in an interview, with some unfortunate quotes, on the Rocky Roads website. ‘Four cross-cancellation is almost irrelevant’ Why they decided this was a good sub heading, apart from to get irate fans to read a fairly uninformative and dull article, I’m not sure. Though I must mention that Freecaster do seem to be one of the vying companies and that the UCI provide the coverage, Freecaster broadcast and  provided commentary from the inimitable Rob Warner. 

A slightly more encouraging article was on the Dirt website in the last week which said the UCI would welcome any venues wanting to hold 4X events at the same time as their events and that the popularity issue was restricted to certain regions where it had not taken off as well as others. You will also notice that the 4X is being replaced with another XC event, and while that’s still taking away from the gravity side of the sport the reports of a possible Enduro World Cup breathe a little hope for those of us who like going downhill fast and could be interesting with Dan Atherton looking to compete heavily in that area of the sport next year.

Currently the future still lies, with the UCI but if independent series’ gain popularity and coverage more teams and riders will get involved with them, either way it increases the amount of racing those of us who watch get to see and increases the amount of competitions (and prize money) for the riders and coverage for teams and sponsors. Teams not involved with this years DH1 series may look at it next year but for the moment the UCI World Cup is the title to race for and the one that gets the most coverage.

Joe Barnes at the 09 Glencoe SDA 

In national news Joe Barnes took the win at the Glencoe SDA round which hopefully give him a boost for next year, also Joe is another one to keep an eye on if a World Cup Enduro series happens with his 10th place at the Megavalanche this year. There is a BDS round at Caersws this weekend which a few top riders look to be attending and in other BDS news,organiser Dave Franciosy will be taking a break from it next year. All the best to him and thanks for the hard work.
Also there's the Ritchey Oktoberfest at Ashton Court happening on the 15th which Steve Peat and Martin Ashton will be competing in, wish I'd entered now just to say I'd have rode against them even if I have no where near the fitness for it! Will be watching anyway.

No more 4X anymore

In the competition for the worlds’ most unpopular governing body the UCI have pulled a master stroke by getting rid of one of its disciplines.

In yet another immensely unpopular move by the Union Cyclist International, who are the governing body for on and off road cycling. A lot of consideration is given to the Olympic disciplines (road, track, Cross country even BMX) however the gravity sports (4X and Downhill) seem to be considered the black sheep in the family and are pushed to one side, but have they gone too far by removing the 4X world cup? Is it time for a new governing body for mountain biking or at least the gravity sports one that will actually stick up for them, promote them and make them as widely and easily accessible and watchable as other disciplines.

The excuses for pulling the 4X World Cup are pretty pitiful, claiming the financial and environmental expense of building the tracks and that riders may want to concentrate on BMX in the Olympic year. First off will the UCI be demanding all support cars in the Tour De France and other road races have to run on Hydrogen or be Electric in order to save the environment? There are already World class 4X tracks out there that at most need to be tweaked not built, not only that but more are being built anyway due to the sports rising popularity such as the mini 4X track at Stockwood, Bristol just completed by Architrail. I’d guess most 4X riders aren’t intending to compete in the Olympic BMX competition, yes there is some cross over but there are only a few places in the Olympic competition and there are BMX riders who don’t ride 4X who obviously would be competing for the spots on the start ramp.

Another excuse is that not enough people go to the competitions; surely this is poor marketing rather than lack of popularity. I had heard that the marketing director for 4X had never been to a race before the World Champs 2 weeks ago. The races at The Fort William have always been popular as shown by the iconic images of the kids in the tops of the trees, and what happens to events such as Fort William which once had XC, 4X and Downhill and next year will be down to just the Downhill? Will people still travel hundreds of miles for one event? The Downhill there is secure for the next couple of years but with no 4X World Cup will we see rapidly declining numbers and therefore lose some of the world famous atmosphere that makes the event what it is.

Taking to the trees to see the action.

The 4X Alliance have now issued a statement shown here, pointing out other issues such as the lack of consultation and the fact that sponsors riders and teams all had deals in place for the 2012 season, and the support they have received from fans and race organisers as well as their quickly implemented decision to set up their own World series, which more than likely will take place in places such as Fort William, though personally I can see the UCI getting petty about it happening at the same time as the World Cup Downhill. However this could turn into a step forward for 4X as it will be free from the constraints of the UCI and able to move in the direction riders and teams want to take it.

Obviously struggling with popularity.

This all comes on the back of announcing the major sponsor for next year’s Mountain Bike World Cup series and World Championship as RockyRoads, a web based magazine that no-one’s ever heard of and that I struggled to find in a google search to put a link on this blog (you do get a lot of cake recipes though....). Is the loss of the 4X World Cup part of the deal? This deal had current media providers worried for their future coverage rights and while some fears of exclusive rights for the title sponsor have been allayed, Freecaster have decided it’s too costly to show next year’s World Cup series, this surely doesn’t help the popularity of the sport never mind discouraging sponsors from placing advertising.

One last piece of bad news is about Downhill racer Matti Leikohnen who was badly injured in a crash in the Nordic Downhill Championships, more on this from his teams website as well as a link to the facebook page where you can leave messages of support.

Muddy rides and a couple of videos

Earlier today I saw this article on what British Cycling is doing for mountain biking, it's interesting that it appears to be entirely focused on Cross-Country with only one photo of Downhill. In terms of text it only has one line that mentions that Downhill and FourCross (4X to you and me), this seems rather disproportionate with the number of medal winners in the World Cup series and the  World Championships, as I talked about in my previous post.

Okay I guess it’s looking at grass roots and there’s only Cross-Country mountain biking in the Olympics and most people getting into the sport aren’t going to be throwing themselves down a mountainside or competing head to head against three of their mates straight away. So I see where they are coming from in those terms, however surely showing our success in these disciplines is a way to encourage new riders and make existing riders try something new, never mind to get them to pay money to join British Cycling. I know following this year’s Downhill and 4X World Cup series' has certainly inspired me to push my limits and ride more often.

If you want something to inspire you to get out here’s two homemade videos for you, one from me which is pretty damn rubbish and one filmed by and starring Mike Martin up in Scotland which is pretty damn good. 

The video I put together is from Ashton Court last weekend, finally got there with a couple of friends and my cameras, unfortunately it was very wet and pretty chilly so hanging around trying to get good photos and video was dropped from my main priorities. Instead I opted for getting a couple of shots and having a lot of fun in the mud.

The first ride round we took things pretty easy not knowing how slippy the rocky sections would be, however they seemed to grip fine it was some of the muddier sections where we could feel the tyres sliding from under us. It made for an interesting run with a couple of close calls for me and one crash where my front wheel slipped and I was thrown out the front door, somehow I managed to jump over my handle bars landing on my feet and running out while keeping hold of my bike and being able to pull the front brake to swing the back end out of the following riders way.

Despite the weather it was a cracking day out and there’s something fun about getting coated head to toe in mud, and although the cloying mud made it hard to pedal in places most of the trails are barely different in the wet from the dry. On the last ride of the day one of the lads tried a drop off and unfortunately stacked it, buckling his front wheel quite badly however after a trail repair of standing on it, it was rideable so we departed to the pub for a well deserved pint. One thing I noticed on the ride was the amount of 661 gear we had between us, whether it’s the price or the quality, or both (as it is for me) it seems to be the make of choice at this level.

Bike report and Race reports.

Ok so I haven’t posted for a while and a few things have happened since then, which to be honest is why I haven’t managed to put anything together. Firstly the Lanai is up and running and already covered in mud. The World Cup season is over and the World Championships took place last weekend. I’ve been to Oslo for my brothers wedding and have another wedding to attend this coming weekend. My car failed it’s MOT and after everything is going to the big car park in the sky.

Bike Repair

The Lanai had new brake pads installed, a new saddle and new tyres as well as the old grips off my bike put on as they were a damn sight better than the gaffa tape and scraps of rubber that passed for grips before. The old tyres were practically bald and very weather beaten, so I had suggested rather strongly they should be replaced. So it’s up it’s been out for a very decent ride and is now coated in mud. All the hard work seems to have paid off and the payment in beer was much appreciated.

World Cup

The World Cup season was all but decided when I last posted and that’s how the overall standings finished.

Elite men; 1. Aaron Gwinn (USA). 2. Greg Minaar (RSA) 3. Gee Atherton (GBR).

Elite Women; Tracey Moseley (GBR).  2. Florianne Pugin. (FRA) 3. Rachel Atherton (GBR)

Junior Men’s Champion; Troy Brosnan (AUS)

Junior Women’s Champion; Manon Carpenter (GBR)

You may notice one country keeps cropping up in these results and you’re just looking at the top 3 if you look at the overall standings you’ll notice how often GBR crops up. We have a mass of talented riders from Lewis Buchanon and Manon Carpenter in the juniors through to Steve Peat still getting on the podium at 37 and everyone in between. More on how amazing Britain is at mountain biking in the next section.

Lewis Buchanon

The World Cup series has been thrilling to watch this year, while it may not have had the head to head competition for the overall of previous years, each race has had me completely gripped for both the men’s and the women’s. Aaron Gwin and Tracey Moseley, both racing for Trek, have been dominant this year with Gwin winning 5 out of 7 races, Minaar winning the other 2. Yet still we have seen these people pushing themselves to the limit to try and catch up, not only that but we have seen the future Danny Hart GBR grabbing 2 second places, Brook Macdonald getting on the podium a few times as well as Florianne Pugin and Myriam Nicole in the women’s, it won’t be long until these guys are winning world cups in fact the girls already have. Hot on the heels of these guys are the generation after, with Carpenter placing 10^th overall in the women’s and Brosnan placing 8^th next years world cup series is going to be intense.

World Championships

Unfortunately, but I think fairly, you had to pay to watch the World Champs on Freecaster and I’m skint and wasn’t sure I’d even be around to watch any of it. Freecaster pay a lot of money to show the World Cup series and World Champs so I don’t think you can argue too much about only having to pay for one race. Call it a season ticket if you will.

The week started off hot and dry, it finished quite differently after thunder storms and showers the downhill track rapidly deteriorated and with it being such a steep course anyway carnage was bound to ensue. However certain riders’ faces lit up when they saw the rain falling on Sunday.

On Friday night the 4X took place. I don’t often mention the 4X but it’s great to watch, 4 people head to head on a Downhill/BMX course. The dominant force in women’s 4X this year has been Anneke Beerten (NED) winning most World Cup rounds and the overall so it was no surprise that she took the World Championship title, one she’s so far not managed to achieve. She did this just ahead of Fionn Griffiths (GBR) see those three letters again, told you we were good. In the men’s races the win was taken by Michal Prokop(CZE), with World Cup overall winner Jared Graves (AUS) in 4^th after a massive pile up which resulted in all the riders going down in the final and Prokop managing to pick himself up and ride on fastest. Graves had hung on a little longer before going down but ended with a flat front tyre for his trouble.

Rachel Atherton

Sunday saw the Downhill finals, starting with the Junior women which Manon ran away with, putting over 14 seconds on the next quickest person. This girl is fast, in fact her time would have seen her third in the Elite Women’s race if my maths is right. This was followed by the Junior Men’s race which saw once again Troy Brosnan at the top of the pile despite two French lads having posted better times in testing, they weren’t able to hold it together on the day. Lewis Buchanon managed 4^th . Unfortunately there were quite a few crashes in this race with the rescue Helicopter working overtime, this delayed things a little and some of the top men were worrying they should charge their bike lights.

The Elite Women’s race was always going to be hard to call and it was a shame Florriane Pugin crashed in practice and was unable to race. Hopes were high for Rachel Atherton but after a couple of crashes she only managed 2^nd 15 seconds behind the winner Emmeline Ragot(FRA). The French girls are looking pretty good for next years season. Clare Buchar(CAN) came in 3^rd which is cool for her, I met her in Glasgow airport 5 years ago and have followed her results since. Tracey Moseley defending World Champion and World Cup overall winner only managed 9^th with some big crashes in the mud.

The Elite Men’s race was going to be an all or nothing affair in the low cloud and pouring rain, there were apparently some pretty heavy crashes throughout with the prize for the best one going to Josh Bryceland with this effort. Steve Peat managed 17^th, Marc Beaumont 6^th, Brendan Fairclough, after a disappointing season following surgery on his knee, came in 4^th and letting it all hang out and styling it up with an 11 second gap on 2^nd place was Danny Hart, taking a well deserved win. Aaron Gwin finished in 12^th , after slipping in the mud and getting caught up in the catch netting.

Danny Hart

Dannys run is here it just shows how much he is in control of that bike even when it looks like he isn’t, it also shows how awful the weather and the track is by this point.

All in all a good run for the Brits in the World Champs, though a couple of the riders will be disappointed with their performance as a team they kicked arse. Oh yeh some Cross country happened and we got a 2^nd by Annie Last in the under 23 class but other than that Britain doesn’t do so well in that discipline.

Photos all from Fort William World Cup round.  

Success and failure.

Having acquired new pins from my local bike store I replaced the missing pin from my pedal, a very easy job to do taking minimal time and effort and the smallest allan key I have.

 

Now the major project has been the Lanai, and you may remember I was waiting to get a tool from my parents’ house. I retrieved the tool and set to work attempting to undo the Bottom Bracket, a job I’ve done before with minimal fuss and effort. Unfortunately it wasn’t to be the case this time, the old Bottom Bracket (BB) was cross threaded and seized in place, and after much effort, pulling a muscle in my ribs and destroying my socket wrench, I had to concede defeat and take it to my local bike shop and their proper workshop, where even they didn’t have an easy time of it.

Disappointed by having to admit defeat on that one, once I had the bike back I set about cleaning it up in order to install the new BB. There was a lot of crap in there with dirt stuck hard into the threads inside so this took a good bit of work. Also there was a bit of damage to the threads from how badly stuck and cross threaded the old BB had been.

Once cleaned out, installing the new BB was easy, greasing the threads before using the bottom bracket tool and an adjustable spanner to tighten it in. After that I re attached the cranks and pedals, I had debated putting the old cranks and pedals off my bike on to it however, the wear on my chainrings was higher and felt it best to keep it as was.

Now all that’s left is to put on some new tyres and replace the brake pads and it will be rideable, it’s a shame the owner is currently nursing a knackered wrist, and therefore can’t come try it out….

The World Cup series is almost over, with the last round taking place next weekend at Val Di Sol, Aaron Gwinn (USA) has already taken the Mens overall, which is no suprise considering the runs he's been putting together this year, Tracey Moseley (GBR) (riding on the same team) Is looking to take the Womens overall title with Troy Brosnan (AUS) looking to to be the mens junior champion and Manon Carpenter (GBR) the womens junior champion, despite having missed a race to do her exams! Good luck to all the riders next week.

I mentioned the trails at Ashton Court in my last post, I really want to get a proper post up about them as they are great and am very impressed with the work Architrail has done, however to put a decent post together I need pictures which means going up with other people. Please continue to watch this space….

Lost parts and pointless bikes.

A few days ago trying to fix one of those annoying little clicks in the pedal area I decided to re-grease my pedals, an easy job, just undo the grease port screw inject the grease from the handy syringe thing DMR supply with the pedal then put the screw back in. Unfortunately at the bottom of the yard is a drain and it’s a very small screw, I think you can guess what happened next. I replaced the screw with one of the pins out of the pedal to stop grit getting in while I waited to replace it, having looked at the prices I decided to replace the pin rather than the screw as a set of pins are about the same price as one screw.  Time will tell if this is a good idea or not.

Having visited the new improved trails at Ashton Court (post coming soon hopefully) I decided to do a little tweaking here and there, again some slight adjustments to my gear alignment and taking a couple of links out of my chain, which with the right tool is very simple and can be done very quickly. I use a Topeak Super Chain Breaker which is small light and works very well and also comes with a hook to hold the area of your chain you’re working on loose.

Something I’ve noticed a lot since I moved to Bristol are people riding around on cheap full suspension bikes, and it bugs me. Why on earth do you need a full sus’ bike to ride around town especially a cheap one that takes most of the power out of your pedal strokes? It doesn’t look cool because cheap full sus’ bikes look… well… cheap, for the same money you could get a much better hard-tail which will be much more suited for what you use it for and less likely to break. If you do take it off road, the stuff a bike like that can handle can easily be managed on a hard-tail, not only this but it will improve your riding. If you need a full sus’ bike then you probably know all this anyway, if you don’t know this you probably don’t need one and can either save some money or get a better hard-tail.  I guess most of these bikes come from large chain shops and shops where you just pick one and walk out with it, where there is no advice or potentially not anyone who knows anything about bikes working there.

Rant over, happy riding.