What is your weapon of choice?
Here’s a pic of my Specialized Enduro pro carbon ‘All Mountain’ bike, She’s an ’07 model and much love and care has been given to her.
She is currently wearing a fancy set of yellow Nuke Proof grips (to co-ordinate with my road ride…) and a sexy looking Fox DHX air shock to give her back end a bit more plushness in the rough stuff…
What could be more fun than riding your bike for 83 miles?
Ok, I suppose it may not be everyones first choice when it comes to things to do on a Sunday, but, being of the bicycle (read slightly mad) persuasion I found myself in a damp feild full of like minded mentalists dressed in Lycra at 8AM in the morning.
There was even a que for registering on for the event when I got there!
We had been blessed (cursed?) with horrendous weather the day before, but the Sunday looked to be a bright and sunny one. The unfortunate thing about this was that all the silt and stones had been washed from the banks / feilds and onto the road, Puncture city!
I had hoped to avoid a flat tyre after the last event which I did with Simon (in the pouring rain) but, given the ammount of riders with bikes upside down, wheels out and pumps / spare tubes in hand, my chances didn’t look good!
Sure enough about a third of the way round I could feel the tell tale sign of Tarmac against rim and had to stop for a less than speedy inner tube change.
The rest of the event went without punctures (although I was paranoid from that point on!) and at times I wished I had my Mountain bike with me as it was more like off roading than a road event!
I made sure I fed and drank plenty, taking a sip from the water bottle every 10 – 15 minutes, and an energy gel (cough spit…) every 40-50 minutes.
I finished with a time of 5h 17mins, a little dissapointed as I know I could have been faster were it not for that DAMN PUNCTURE!!!!
In the words of an overbuilt Austrian weightlifter “I’ll be back!”
What do I do when I’m on holiday? Go and ride my bike of course!!
I tap this out with shaky hands after spending a good six hours on the mountain bike.
This gave me the time to visit old trails I haven’t ridden since moving house to Tring and made me wonder as to the Evolution (devolution possibly?) of our beloved pastime.
Some of the old downhill tracks I used to spend many an evening on have now sprouted huge lips and kickers to spit the talented rider airbourne, sadly this rider is a bit lacking in this talent department so it renders most of the tracks I used to be able to do unrideable. This makes me sad.
One of the drops I used to huck myself off has got all overgrown. This makes me sad.
Some of he lips had big holes in where riled dog walkers or ramblers have kicked out the support from the face of the jump. This also makes me sad.
It made me think that no matter how much we now think of mountain biking as being ‘mainstream’ or accepted by the outdoor fraternity, there will always be a small group of individuals who take offence to what we love to do and mean to make our lives miserable.
“What can we do about this?” I hear you cry. Well, just realising that people still don’t fully understand us helps, as does slowing for Horses / Ramblers (I know it ruins a wicked bit of singletrack, but ask yourself this – if this is on a footpath, who’s in the wrong?!) and giving people a smile and a cheery “hello” it works wonders, no-one likes to see someone hammer past without the acknowledgement you even exist, with drool coming from his mouth!
How about investing a bit of time in keeping the trails rideable? Yes it sucks to not be riding them, but if it helps you to come back in a few months time and find someone else has kept your precious singletrak the way you left it, you’d be happy!
And lastly, no matter what outdoor persuit you happen to chose, TAKE YOUR LITTER HOME WITH YOU! I don’t like riding round a dump, This makes me sad.
So do me a favour the next time your out, do a little bit to make me happy, we’ll all benefit!
Headed out last night for a quick shuffle around the ‘Monkey Trail’ at Cannock Chase-this in preparation for the onslaught of gnar from the assessors team meeting at the very same venue next week.
If you have not taken the opportunity to shake yourself around this tight little trail then i can only praise it. Yes, the corners are getting blown out, yes the switchbacks are numerous and tricky to clear first time around but hey! who wants a sanitised trail that rides the same every day, every week of the year? i don’t.
The ‘Monkey’ is graded a red trail, and like many of its other trail centre brothers, there are plenty of tricky obstacles to challenge you. However if you are feeling that little bit more courageous then the addition of 4 black sections should do the 50p/20p trick!
We have a good connection with the Cannock Chase trails as the Swinnerton cycles store has a full compliment of cytech qualified staff to give your bike the once over before, or after the ride so make sure you pay them a visit on the way past the cafe!
here is a good-head-cam clip of the first red/black dh run..
From a hole in the ground, to the forging mill, to the stock pile, to the welders, to the painters, to the assembaly line, in a box, on a shelf, in a container, on a ship, on a lorry, another warehouse, another lorry and then light again!
I get pretty excited when i get a new frame to build into what could be my future ex favourite bike but if a bike had feelings how excited must your new frame feel after its arduous journey when you open the box and indtroduce yourselfs for the first time!
The hurried build. The frustration that chain reaction can only deliver your new front mech in 24 hours….cant they go any quiker? there are trails to be ridden and adventures to be had.
It never seases to amaze me how a collection of metal rubber and plastic can inspire and excited so many emotions without even being ridden yet….
New bike time!
Great article from the team at ACT Smart about ATG’s involvement with the London Bike Hire Scheme.
Last week I took part in a taster session to see the company and courses from a potential learner’s point of view.
First up was an hour with Ian Ward who teaches CAD courses.
CAD (Computer Aided Design) is used by a lot of people in the engineering industry and architects use it too.
We got shown the basics of the program within the first ten minutes and were then left to decide what image we would like to recreate from 4 images that have already been done.
Once left to our own doing, it became quite apparent that most in the session were quick learners and very computer literate. A few people had previously had a taste of CAD at school but said that participating in the session here was a lot different to school and they really enjoyed the hour spent on the computer. Ian also explained that there are always new versions coming up every so often and the learner’s who start in September 2010 will have the latest version to work on and it is more complex.
Then we went from the computer room through to the workshop and were introduced to Richard Barrett who was taking the Electronics course taster session. We were given a brief talk on the importance of safety and cleanliness when using the equipment we will be using. We were shown a computer motherboard and Richard explained to us that machines solder different pieces onto the motherboard, however when a piece becomes loose or needs replacing, an engineer will actually be soldering it back on, not a machine.
Once given our task and overalls and safety glasses, we went to the workbench and got familiar with the soldering iron.
The task was broken down and first we were given a small board, four pins and told to put one pin in each corner of the board. Once the pins were securely in place, we then had to solder two resisters to a small board (it didn’t matter where on the board as long as it was secure.)
First we selected where on the board the resister will be put, and tried to make the wiring on each side as even as possible. Once the resister was in place, we then soldered the two wires in place on the opposite side of the board. Making sure the resister didn’t come loose whilst trying to solder it on was a bit tricky but we all managed it in the end. We then attached two wires onto the board by first stripping 1cm of insulation off the wire and securing it against one of the 4 pins that we put in previously.
Once we had all finished the last step, we admired our handiwork and set about clearing up. I do have pictures of the finished product and will upload them when I can =)
Then I went back to the office to get on with my day to day things with a bit more of an insight on both what goes on in the workshop and also how it feels and how things look as a learner.
Overall a very good experience and I would definitely recommend it, even if you do not end up going on one of the courses, it is a good way to see if you actually like the kind of work and learning that will be involved to gain the qualification.
I will be learning more about other departments/industries and will keep everyone updated on my experience.
Hungarian artist Adam Magyar has created two very interesting photo projects in the UK, using the same technique as photo finished in athletic events he has combined thousands of individual images. The results are really quirky but fascinating.
Wonder what a similar image of riders would look like.
Anyone fancy a go?
The project is called Walk As One and you can read more about it and see the images by clicking here
.
The fourth round of the World Cup circuit was contested this past weekend in Champéry, Switzerland, in the Alps near the
Swiss, Italian and French borders. The race also served as a precursor to the world championship event that will be held there
in September 2011.
The course in Champéry is already one of the most technical on the circuit. A true mountain
biker’s course complete with rocks, roots, drops, and steep descents; all of which present a challenge
even in the most perfect conditions. That was before the previous days rain turned the
course into a peanut butter mess, which had the riders now even more worried about keeping
themselves from crashing.
For Willow, it reminded her of her trails back in Asheville, so she felt confident about her fitness
and bike handling. And it showed early on, as she was part of the early break-away group on the
first lap. She and two other riders opened up a gap on the rest of the field, and continued to do
so for the next five laps. Headed into the final two laps where the three riders separated, with
Willow trailing in third. She chased hard to try and catch second who was her biggest threat for
the leader’s jersey. She managed to close the gap, but could only halve the distance before the
finish. She still remains in second overall in World Cup standings, now just trailing by 15 points.
Unfortunately for Heather, her race did not go as envisioned. She was involved in a opening lap
tangle with another rider, that saw her get spun completely around into oncoming racers. They bumped her around like a pinball.
Once the chaos cleared she found herself almost dead last in the field of over 100 starters. Furiously, she chased to try and get
back towards the front of field. At the end of the first lap she was eighty-eight. Her push caused her to fade a bit on the finals
laps as her energy levels from the accelerated efforts. She managed to claw her way back up to forty-third by the end of the
race. A salvageable result, she now stands seventeenth overall.
The course did manage to dry out a bit more for the men’s event that followed, which made Jeremy,
Sam and Russell a bit happier. Granted both Sam and Jeremy, respectively felt that “
our bikes were perfect on the course; with full mud tires mounted on our big wheels it was like
riding around on a tank (in a good way).” “The bike floated through deep mud very well, and was
also a very confidence inspiring setup, which made a big difference on such a technical course.”
Both riders managed to move up into the top-30 on the initial lap which buoyed well for them.
JHK just could not bridge up to the top-20 group that was just ahead of him. However, he was
pleased with his 22nd place finish, having gain more than 31 spots from the start. This was best
world cup result of the season, which helped to boost his morale and confidence for late season
racing form.
Unlike his teammate who managed to advance throughout the race, Sam started to fade mid-race and had to try and fight tooth-and-nail to keep from getting passed by other racers, itching to get by. He managed to hold off most challengers and only loose five spots from his initial 43rd start. He’s looking forward to a re-do opportunity this coming world cup race weekend. Handicapped with a high start number of 145th out of 175 entries, Russell made strong headway in the field and moved up to 109th before being pulled with two laps remaining in the race.
For only his first season of racing elite category, his development is proceeding nicely. The team’s world cup schedule now has them travelling across the border to Italy and the ski region of Val di Sole, site of the 2008 MTB World Championships. Stay tuned for more news as the 2010 Subaru-Trek team races around the globe.
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