Wideopenmag_Issue_5

available free online at www.wideopenmag.co.uk

wideopenIssue 5 December 2007

contents

Intro Issue 5 Decem

ber 2007

dirt bike magazine 2wideopen 5 december 2007

COVER Colum Walsh. Previ-ous Emulsion image but now

we’ve actually finished the interview worthy of the cover!.

Photo by Kung, www.randomb-mx.com

HERE Foel building. Photo Jamie Edwards

3. Comment4. Into the gloom9. Emulsion9. Fastest on the hill The Sam Hill Interview

21. Emulsion Flashgun The Mike Deere Interview29. Live fast die young The Colum Walsh Interview34. Foel Gasnach41. On the road, southern style by Matt O’Neill47. Romancing The Stone Diamonback and Lex51. World Champion The Lynda Davies Interview53. Down on the street by Scott Warnock54, Tredz Urban DH - Penarth57, Fat Face Urban DH - Edinburgh61, Fifth and Last MinibikePro Round 5 Report64, Innerleithen, The Final NPS Final Round66, NPS Debrief The Steve Parr Interview71, SDA Wrapup The Alan Cathrow Interview74, Ready Steady Go 4X at Chicksands77. Sand’s in your pants by Pat Cambell Jenner80, Longtermer Holeshot81, Longtermer 5:10 Impacts82, Gear84. Fifteen to one Cycle 200794. Trailscene Out with the old, in with the new...97. Focus on Freeride Kit

100. Smallscreen102. Method105. Freeride News by Elbry106. Contributors

Wideopen Magazine13 UllswaterMacclesfieldCheshireSK11 7YNwww.wideopenmag.co.uk

DetailsThis online magazine has been produced using a 1.66GHz MacMini running OS X (10.4.10) and Adobe InDesign CS. Ar-ticles were written on both this machine and a variety of Wintel boxes, and fin-ished efforts were sent using MSN Mes-senger. The production team is Jamie Edwards, James Hilton and Scott War-nock. Each month there are a different list of contributors (check the contribu-tors section for more info). Anyone can write or contribute, if you’d like to then email us at: [email protected]. This magazine is intended for free distri-bution and is only available through the Wideopen web portal. Check it out at www.wideopenmag.co.uk.July 2007.

Last MinuteCool a lot more organised this time around and we’ve hit the deadline!Hope you all enjoy the mag and season’s greetings! We’ll be back March 2008!James H

Here we have it, issue 5. It’s a beauty; we hope you agree. Every issue has seen development for us, and we feel we can improve every issue in succession, especially with your involvement and feedback, so keep that up. Global readership is awesome and we love you home based guys too; so sign up on our facebook group and sign up on our subscriptions list on the wideopen site if you haven’t already.

So, this issue we have our usual fantastic mix – end of season race wrap ups, a top notch interview line up; with each telling their own little story – from Sam Hill on why he’s so god damn fast, in his own succinct style; to Lex from Diamondback on his signature frame design. Of course, we have our usual blend of top pictures and riding banter, fresh news and more random kit stuff. Jamie also got us an in-depth lowdown on Foel; top Dh riding venue in North Wales with a great history and even better future with the crew down there.

The winter is wet for sure, but I was out last weekend with some of the fearingout lads, including Matt Simmonds, and it has given me a soggy motivational kick up the arse to get fit. Awesome days riding; it proved that it doesn’t always rain in winter and there’s no excuse to not be out, and although it was wet under tyre, I loved getting f*cking muddy! Speaking of fitness we have “Method” kicking into gear this month, our “How to improve your…” section, so have a read and ‘get on it’, make sure you make the most of the winter to prepare your aching body for next years riding ambitions.

Right oh, last word is that issue 6 won’t be out ‘til March. We’re not being lazy; just sensible! We’re keeping the issues coming; just a slight rescheduling of them to maximise the year round riding calendar into the issues. Enjoy issue 5 and get on that bike or the winter belly will get you!

Scott


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words by James Mcknight www.myspace.com/europikey pictures by Jeff Webb of Saloman Sports

Into the Gloom

Euro traveller and veteran of the hill and roadtrip, Mr James McKnight, “Europikey”, is a name you may have heard from descent-world. This month he scribes for Wideopen and gets you woken up on the reality of winter!

Possibly one of the biggest topics of conversation amongst the great British public is that inevitable substance that falls from the sky on an all too regular basis, which, unfortunately (however much I wish for it) never drops as champagne, but most frequently as cold, piercing, depressing, bloody rain. I for one will admit to being guilty of the great British moan, the fail-safe conversation starter that is the bloody weather, in fact it is something that has had enough of an effect upon me, that I have upped sticks and decided never to go to that god forsaken hell hole of a country ever again.


http://www.myspace.com/europikey

http://www.descent-world.co.uk/


Well, to be entirely truthful, that is a bit of a fib, when we Brits get started on the subject of weather, we’d like to make the world around us feel like we are suffering for them, taking the brunt of Mother Natures foul moods in order for the rest of the world to revel in sunshine, which, presumably, they do at all times. But, my fellow moaners, I’d like to try and help you overcome the difficulty of dragging yourselves out on your steed throughout the dark months, as recently I have come to appreciate the Great British Winter rather more than I could do previously. Living and working in Spain, as I have done now for several months, has taught me some lessons in how to appreciate the seasons and take everything that old Mother Nature throws at you as a gift rather than an impossibly large mound of foulness. You see, when man is built with a basic instinct such as survival, it is important to test oneself every now and again, it is for that very reason that so many of us are hooked on this sport that seemingly does nothing but forces us to get wet, cold and sore on a regular basis. When riding daily in the beautiful sunshine and warmth of Southern Spain, I often think to myself how I would love to be presented with an unrideable puddle, a set of slippery roots, or the unforgettable days riding when movement is limited by leaves and sticky mud so much so that groups of grown men are reduced to tears and hugs.

Once a year winter rolls over, peaks its monstrous head over the horizon, sees what it likes and grasps Britain with its firm grip, which the poor little country struggles to wriggle its way out of for another, well, 12 months or so… Or at least that is how it would seem with the state of the not so great British summer of 2007. But having been blessed by sunshine, not cursed by the cold for the last few months, I have found myself obsessed by the (im)possibility of cloudy mornings, the pitter patter of rain on the terrace, and the glory of a wet ride. When a storm cloud manages to sneak itself over the Spanish coast, hides and then makes a successful attack on the unsuspecting population, rather than grumble and hide away, I reach for my bici and go “shred some gnar.” As hard as it is to believe, I actually miss the darling months of winter that the home country sinks into for what often seems like an eternity, as seasons are just something that don’t really exist down here, but that one’s body kind of yearns for, well a little at least.

Into the Gloom


Having experienced uncountable days of bare survival out on the bicycle throughout my cycling life in Britain, you would have thought it would be enough to make any man throw down his weapon, launch his helmet, and surrender himself to the delights of a log fire, cup of tea, and the ease of a television. But as with each and every mountain biker that I know from the green island, we are compelled by the elements, motivated by the gleaming metal ride, and

their pressure, we will succumb to nothing and no one, Mother Nature can throw what she likes, we all know who’s really boss here. So I started by grouping us veterans of the war against rain with the people who prefer to stay in the warmth and comfort of the barracks and bark orders at us troopers “get out there and stop moaning about the Bloody Rain.” But clearly I have now separated us from them, surely nobody that hates the rain would throw themselves out

ever so occasionally dragged out by our comrades, unwilling to go to war alone. At the end of the day though, having survived another day in the field, battled our way through another leaf infested forest, and slogged our way across an open hillside, rain and wind firing at us from all directions, we burst in through the door with a great feeling of satisfaction and pride, we have been out fighting the elements, showing them that Great Britain never buckles under

Into the Gloom


Into the Gloom

there into the thick of it, but yes, we are real fighters and every weekend we volunteer ourselves, clamber out of the trenches and come face to face with our enemy. Mountain biking is just one of those sports, once you are in, you’re in, and there’s no getting out until you have served your time, however much you hate the bloody rain.

Where I was headed when I started this campaign of brightness, was to drum up some motivation for you lot, to restore some faith in your ability to combat the seemingly unbeatable forces and ride with pride for your country’s network of single tracks, don’t let your friends down, they need you to help them through these dark times and out into the light that is spring time. Never be crushed by Winter, it’s something that should be loved not loathed, work with it not against it, don’t be rash and lash out against it in a gym induced fury, there is no point in separating ourselves from the elements, Mother Nature is a perfectly reasonable lady, and however bad she is at persuading us that we should learn to love her, believe her and hold out as she will reward you in the end. And whilst enjoying every second of it this winter, spare a second for me as I’ll be fighting a never ending war of my own, riding in Spain, in the Bloody Sunshine!

Thanks to switch-backsdh.com, Extra UK, MT Designs, and Bertie Maffoons Bike shop for sorting my life out on a regular basis! Cheers all of you!


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NOWAVAILABLEONLY £16*

*including delivery and free stickers

order securely online at www.wideopenmag.co.ukdirt bike magazine 2wideopen 5 december 2007

Basically I’ve moved to Cumbria to design nuclear submarines and luckily the lake district is here as well, so I’ve been getting out and about trying to find cool places

to ride. When Tim came up this was one of the places we went, Helvellyin - the third highest peak in England, and

this is the bridle path down off the top. Took 3 hours to push up and about 20min to come down, with a stop for

photos, km path with a fall in height of about 700m. To put into perspective track is like riding a rock garden the

whole way down and the track is longer and descends more then fort William!

Aidan Coxon

emulsion


emulsion F 5.6 1/640 ISO-200

Remember this? Local parks, riding in your shorts, dry ramps... Here’s

Mark enjoying Summer in the South West with a clicked fakie x-up out of

the quarter.

Jamie Edwards


emulsion

Sunny day, summer riding. Foel.

Jamie Edwardsdirt bike magazine 11wideopen 5 december 2007

I was ridng up at Glentress FR park and as it was a Tuesday and a bit dead, I decided to see if I could shoot myself...I set out the timer and worked out how long it’d take me to get to the hip corner. 1st time out, I set up the shot with the trees framing the shot, and off I went. Pretty flukey really, but I’m pretty happy with the outcome. I adjusted the light a little, but this shot was all about the timing.

Olympus C-750 digitalSelf timed shot, rider shot and rider featured Scott Warnock

emulsion


Rider: OliLocation: Rhyl Skate park

A good hang-out for some of the local

talent while the weather was warm this summer. I used a Nikon D70 with Tokina 12-24mm wideangle and Nikon SB-600

flash. It was the first time I used the lense and this shot with Oli’s tailwhip, I swear

the back tyre was about an inch from the camera!

Jason Andrew

emulsion


I nearly got taken out trying to capture this photo. But boy was it worth it. The shot is of my brother pinning through a

field on one of the best days of the summer.

Rider - Sion HensonShot - A field in North Wales

Camera spec/ set up- Shot on a Nikon D40 with Nikkor 18-55mm lens. No flash.

Patrick Henson

emulsion


This month Wideopen talks to the 2007 World Champion and World Cup champion, Sam Hill. He tells us amongst many things how he’s a loner in training, and that skin suits suck. Well, he doesn’t quite use those words but you can read all about it….

This might be a funny place to start but since you’re living the dream of so many downhillers and as you’ve said in interviews before about resetting your goals… what’s next for Sam Hill? Hope fully a perfect season. You came from juniors and then turned that early success into elite competiveness, seemingly very easily. Was it a natural progression or did you find it something you had to work at?I found it pretty natural. I raced my last year in juniors against all the guys in the World Cup so it pretty much just merged in.

Did you have any more experienced riders look out for you during your early career? Is this something that you can see yourself getting involved with in the future?Yeah, I had a lot of help from Scott Sharples which was great. I am not sure if it’s something I would like to do or not just yet.

Fastest on the Hill by Scott Warnock and James Hilton

Photos by Ironhorse and [email protected]

The Sam Hill Interview


http://www.wideopenmag.co.uk/

Australia has a reputation for putting a lot of investment into young people, sport and the outdoors. Does this stretch to downhill? What is the national scene like back home?The race scene is pretty good and there are a lot of fast guys. It’s still a pretty small population and there is not a lot of funding for riders.

You’re from Perth which is a fair old trek from the East Coast – did you have to travel a lot when racing back home?Yeah, pretty much the whole national series is on the East Coast so it was very expensive to go to those races and I sometimes could only go to a couple of them. How old were you at your first race? Can you remember much about it? I was 12 and raced my BMX bike, I didn’t have a mountain bike yet.

Can you describe a typical track in ‘Oz? It’s about 2-3 minutes, loose and dusty. Usually pretty technical and rocky too. The top 3 Aussie riders on the world circuit all race on flats. Does the Australian style of DH track suit this? Less pedalling? Loose but smoother?I think it’s just riders’ preference really. I guess the loose soil does favour flat pedals though.

When did you get hooked up with the 5:10 impacts? What did you ride in before? Did you notice a huge difference or was it more subtle?I used to just have skate shoes and then got the 5:10s in 2004. I noticed a huge difference and wouldn’t be able to ride in different shoes again.

You have a unique cornering style, typically cutting the inside on fast corners, where others go wide where it seems faster… How do you find your lines in practice? Walking the track or just riding it blind?I always walk the track and just look for what I think will work best for me. Believe it or not (haha) our name comes from something you said in Earthed.. Is ‘Wide Open’ an Aussie term, or a Sam Hill term? Tell us about it… I think it’s an Aussie term. It’s kind of how Aussie’s live I guess.

On video you seem a calm and chilled guy, who has helped you with the pressures of competing at world level?I think it has just come from experience, being at the World Cups at a young age helped me deal with it. When back home off-season how long do you have off the bike before training again? What does your training entail? DH? XC? Dirt jumping? Running? Gym work?Yeah, I do a bit of everything; DH, XC, moto, gym and running – just a lot of stuff really. I will usually take a couple of months off of my bike before riding again though.

Fastest on the Hilldirt bike magazine 16wideopen 5 december 2007

Have you had any input into the development of the Sunday? Is your bike stock geometry or custom? You came from the four bar SGS to the Sunday, how does the DW link compare? All advantages or some minor disadvantages too?Definitely all advantages. The DW link is awesome. I had some help in the first Sunday frames with geometry and slight suspension changes.

Is tuning your bikes suspension performance something you get technically involved with or is it more about feel and getting that over to your mechanic?Yeah, I pretty much try and explain what is or is not happening and then my mechanic will try and adjust it from there.

Where is your favourite World Cup venue? What makes it so special?Shladming, Austria. It’s just an awesome track and I also won my first World Cup there.

In 2005 you came back after injury and beat the competition for the second time by some margin in Pila. What was the difference in 2005 that brought you on? Consistency? Fewer mistakes or actually faster too?I just felt faster and was able to have race runs like I ride in practice, I was just a lot looser and had more confidence.

Winning the World Champs in NZ in 2006 must have been amazing. How did it all come together, how much preparation did you do, especially knowing it was going to be a pedally track? Then in 2007 how did your preparations compare knowing how long and exhausting the track would be in Fort William?Yeah, 2006 was amazing. I think it was just my determination that got me the win. Also in 2007 I really wanted to defend my title and knew that I could, so I had the pressure on me to win, but I also had the peace mind knowing that I could.

How confident were you that you could make your ‘secret lines’ stick one your race run this year?Pretty confident. I had practised them, just when no one was around!

Fastest on theHill


Are the World Cup rounds and World Championships becoming so competitive that we are going to see more and more secret lines? Will that mean a more risky Sam Hill as you wont have ridden a full run prior to your race run?I don’t think it will change much for me. World Cups are a bit different because there aren’t all the cameras out on the track, it’s pretty much just at the World Championships you get that.

This year in Vigo and in Champery for example, “tactics” (of slow qualification) seemed to help some riders and have a big impact on the final results. How do you see the 2008 panning out…will riders lay back more in qualification runs…or should the “pin it every run” method be rewarded somehow?I think you need to qualify well to get the extra points. It’s a big gamble to take that – that it will or wont rain.

The World Champs is the one race of the year when the skin suits come out! What is your opinion about them? If they’re faster why don’t we see them at World Cups? Is image really worth sacrificing pace for?I personally don’t like wearing a skin suit. I think everyone knows that if we are all wearing normal clothes then no one is at an advantage. If a few people started wearing skin suits then others would follow because they would feel at a disadvantage.

How do you relax when you’re not on a bike?Just hang out with my girlfriend.

Do you train with team mates or mate mates?Usually I do all my training alone. It’s hard because when I want to train, my mates are working!

Who do you hang out with at races? How do you relax and focus before your final run? I just hang with my team pretty much. I just try not to think about the race before my run so I don’t get nervous.

I recall a clip of you a year or so ago saying you hadn’t had a beer in years…. So what does Sam Hill do to relax, unwind, chill out?Yeah, I had pretty much said I was not going to drink any alcohol until I won a World Cup…

If Sam Hill didn’t ride bikes he would be…?A stunt man. You come across as a real boundary pusher with the dedication to push the sport on at every race. What drives you, your improvements and your personal ambitions?Just wanting to win. It feels great to beat everyone at a race.

Fastest on theHill


You race the World Cups and a variety of races across the globe during the season, what does that require of you and the team ? Do you get home (i.e Perth to see family etc) much during the season?I pretty much leave home in April and don’t get home until October. It’s just too far to travel back and forth for a small time. It’s hard to be away from home and family though.

After such a competitive year and winning so convincingly, what challenges have you set yourself for the 2008 season?Just try and back it up again. You have “raised the bar” big time this year… Technically, with consistency of performance, winning on so many courses against top class fields… What are you most proud of/happy with?I guess winning the series is the best thing. It was awesome to win 3 of the 5 races this year though. I think it would be cool to have a perfect season some day…

Do you race with the intention to beat other riders or do you purely race against the clock? Who do you see as your biggest rival?Against the other riders. There are usually a few guys to watch out for; like Minnaar and Peaty.

There have been some pretty nasty crashes and injuries this year, e.g. Peaty in Wales before the World Championships and later in the season to Matti… What is the closest you came to a big wipe out this year and tell us about it?I had a few crashes during practice but

not as bad as those guys. I think it’s just the level of competition now; people are pushing harder to win and making more mistakes.

Back in the day back when you first started racing, what did you work on to improve your riding? Was it technical skills/time based or other?Usually technical stuff, just going out and making small sections with my mate Franko and just riding them.

Lastly, how do you see the world race scene in DH going in 2008 with many changes in team line ups, new teams, new bikes… Any big changes lined up for you and the team?I am still on Iron Horse so no changes for me. I think it will be interesting to see how the other guys go. I think everyone will come back faster, so it should be a fun year!

Thanks to Sam for taking time out of his recuperation after a long season away from home. Best of luck to Sam for next season, if his words are anything to go by, he’s as hungry as ever and is aiming for that “perfect season”.

Fastest on theHill


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FLASHGUNemulsion

Mike DeereInterview by Scott Warnock

Photos by Mike Deere (www.mikedeere.co.uk)

Urban landscape. Modern (and not so modern!) urban developments often give the street rider an opportunity to ride free, if allowed. This picture captures a moment in time and tells a story of its own. What does this picture tell us in your eyes? “F*ck me sideways…” That’s all I have to say about that.


Who is Mike Deere? Tell us about yourself, age, what you do, where you’re from, what floats your boat?!I’m Mike and I’m 22 years young! I originally hail from South Wales but have spent the last few years living in Portsmouth where I’ve been in university. Just finished actually, got my degree in Computer Aided Product Design and that’s about it. Still not found a grad job I’m just living on part time work and the very limited photo sales I make, haha.

From when does your love of the bike date?I’ve always loved riding my bike. I was a bit of a late starter, not taking my stabilisers off until I was 5, and then my dad built me a second hand Raleigh something-or-other when I was 7. Thinking back it was pretty good for the time, loads of Sram components and some riser-bars on it, I loved it! Rode it every day.

It wasn’t really until I was 13-14 that I started really getting into mountain biking though; there wasn’t a great deal to ride in my town so I ended up mostly riding street and trials. A mix of all-round stuff, I just loved it.

What do you currently ride?Identiti Krisis, but with a twist! The front triangle on it is a lot shorter than the production model, so it’s a lot more playful and flickable, a lot more me. On it I have some Society Xeno forks and an assortment of Azonic, Race Face, Hope and other classic racey components. It may sound a bit 4X, but I use it for everything. I just like the combination of lightweight and strength/stiffness.

And where do you most often ride and who with?I mostly ride street in Portsmouth these days, although I love the local BMX race track and the trails up in the nearby country park. I used to ride a lot with all the guys from university, but since graduating I’ve found it hard to get the time to join them on the afternoon rides. At the moment I mostly ride evenings with a mate of mine, Brad. Back in South Wales I’ve got to admit I love the trails at Afan, The Wall and White’s Level are my personal favourites.

Onto your creative gene…when did you realise you had an eye for a shot? And where did it all snowball from?Funnily enough it was when I started my degree! If I’d had started photography a bit earlier then who knows, I may have ended up studying photography instead. I got my first camera when I started uni, just for nights out and just to slip in my pocket when out riding. As time went on I found myself spending more time behind the lens and less time on the bike with each outing… It progressed very quickly from there.

Tell us about the where, the who, and what the rider/you wanted in the picture. National Bike Show 2007, Tom Dowie doing a textbook grizz-air. It was soooo dark in the hall which made shooting the action a nightmare. I just wanted a tight, sharp photo. Mission accomplished!

Mike DeereFLASHGUNemulsion


In that first year in uni I met a lot of new people, mostly riders. It wasn’t just through uni though, I started going on mass organised rides in places like London and met even more people that way. One of those people happened to be Mark Neal, who went on to create UrbanLondon.co.uk along with riders Lex (Diamondback Bikes,) Kettle (Gary Fisher,) Disco Stu and Naked Jamie. We had some incredible sessions and did a lot of shoots with the likes of MBUK, Ride Guide TV [Ed – I’ve seen that episode, its SICK!] and even a pilot of Bassio 19 on MTV. It was incredible stuff.

After that I found myself knowing more and more people at every event I went to, jam sessions, races etc… It’s an awesome scene to be associated with, with the friendliest of people too.

How have you developed your style and technique since starting out in photography?I’ve always been interested in the technical side of photography, which has been good and bad in a way! When I was starting out I was always interested in the methods used to achieve different results, I was fascinated by what could be done using different techniques and so it was kind of an impatient flurry of learning! I picked up a lot of info this way, but didn’t really develop a creative side to my photography until later on. I had some kind of compositional skills, but kinda lacked the creativity… I think I still do in some respects haha, maybe it’s just my “style,” I see a lot of things in a similar way; everyone has a different eye.

Tell us about capturing the Identiti riders in the sun, capturing the roadtrip vibe. With our return to Blighty looming and having spent the previous day enjoying snow in the desert, this day was fucking on! Once again not the best shot of the day in terms of riding, but certainly the most fun/friendly one. It’s a bit different.

When/where was this? How do you try to portray the spirit at a race event in a single snap? What did

you aim for in this shot? BUSA Championship (student champs) weekends always result in carnage. This was a free-for-all for some free beer including the infamous Diamondback Pale Ale. Chaos, just chaos… Everyone

was freezing cold, muddy and smiling.

FLASHGUNemulsion


http://www.UrbanLondon.co.uk

Is being a biking snapper the perfect combo for you? Do you stick to biking in your photography?I have to admit I’ve taken very few bike photos through 2007, I think I took more bike photos in the last month of 2006 than I have in the whole of 2007 so far! That’s probably due to spending 2 weeks on a roadtrip though.

To be honest I think my lack of riding photos this year isn’t down to a loss of love for the sport, more the opposite! I’ve been trying to spend more time on the bike this year, taking my camera out less when riding as I just want to have that fun again… Maybe it’s because I feel I’m growing older and just want to scrape back some of my childhood, I don’t want to grow up! Mind you, there is a phrase that I still hope to find true for myself one day: “Do what you love to do every single day, and you’ll never have to work again.”

Your snaps are very crisp and provide a level of detail and focus that tells a story of each moment in time captured. How have you developed your style, how you do capture a shot, and what do you look to capture and portray in your shots?Going back to the technical side of things, I always have a very clean and easy to understand image in my head when taking a photo. I like simplicity. It’s odd actually, as I like to include enough detail in the surroundings and background for the viewer to fully understand what’s going on at the same time. You can look at some photos of riding and think “wow…” about what the rider is doing, but if you can’t really see how or where then I feel something is lost.

You cover many riding styles in your shots. How do they compare in practical terms and what do you find most technically challenging? What is the most natural moment to capture? Kids ripping it up at a skatepark, someone pinning a DH run or other?I do shoot pretty much every discipline of riding in one way or another, some more than others though due to accessibility. All have their own challenges in their own little ways, and personally I actually find DH and XC the most challenging to shoot… They’re always natural locations where you have to really work with the surroundings to get creative, and then you have lighting to add into the equation too which can be very hard as anyone who’s tried to shoot in a dark forest will know; but it is very rewarding when it all comes together.

I had a think about my favourite type of riding to shoot actually, as I’d never really thought much about it, and I realised something. Most of my photos have been very much about having fun rather than anything serious! The way riders have fun together, have a laugh and do stuff for the sheer thrill as well. I’m the same though with the way I shoot, riding has affected my style a lot; it’s all about the fun… Even on the commercial shoots I’m afraid. Seems to get the results though!

Capturing the ultimate in bike control, what do you look for in you pictures

when photographing trials riding? Trials is always the most creative to shoot,

it’s always different. Different obstacles, different moves, it makes for endless

potential creativity. Here’s Ryan Leech at Southbank in London, the nicest guy in

trials. Seriously!

Mike Deere


Tell us about your ‘equipment’ (haha). Does it require lugging around a small studio when you are out and about? How have you changed what tools you use over the years? Does new kit make it any easier, or is it all in the ‘eye of the beholder’?My equipment… Now there’s the most ghetto list I can think of! I use a lot of dirt cheap and second had equipment, my camera was even bought for me by an ex girlfriend! The only first-hand item I bought was my fisheye, which I ended up selling for rent money during my final year of uni.

I’ve just bought a complete budget flash setup, which for two manual flashguns with wireless receivers and tripods came to less than you’d normally pay for a (relatively) cheap dedicated flashgun! Crazy.

Better kit would make the photos more consistent and the capture more reliable, but for now I’m coping.

What’s going on here then…potentially the most standout snap amongst the 9,

as it doesn’t have a remotely obvious story! This photo sums up riding for me!

This was the first time I’d met this guy Martin, he was new to the sport and like

everyone when they start just loved to have fun riding his bike regardless of his

lack of ability yet. We wanted a really visually impacting photo of even the most basic riding, to show that you don’t have

to be good to look good and have fun. And we did it! Mike Deere


Rooty forest dh run, how did you set up for this and what did you want to see in the rider? I wanted a fairly wide, up-close shot of the rider so that it almost appears as if they’re leaping out of the darkness and out of the photo! It was extremely dark here which made it difficult, but I tried not to take from the dark, moody atmosphere with too much flash. Sometimes it can be a fine balance.

The atmosphere between the rider and his mates can almost be heard in the shot. What aspect of skatepark riding do you think this picture

characterises? This is a really controversial photo actually! This was Brad’s (the rider) first visit to this park and as with all parks you have your local BMXers who

believe that they have every right to the park as it’s their local, disallowing the slightest inch for any other rider who may show up even once. Fed up with sitting

around on a deck for too long, Brad whipped it out as they looked on in sheer disbelief. Obligatory 14 year old skatepark girls in background.

FLASHGUNemulsion


Respect. Trials riding often draws gasps of amazement and this shot really captures this. As part of the ‘audience’ at this point, you have illustrated so much in the rider and the art of trials, how did you set up and how many times did you have to shoot it to get what you wanted? I had one chance at this. Fletch with a gap from rail to wall, about 9ft across and 5ft down. Everyone was watching, riders and fascinated members of the public. This was part of a sequence shot as I didn’t want this going wrong, with this frame being snapped at that “point of no return.” Dramatic, yet intimate, stuff. If you’re wondering about the colours, I’m a big fan of cross-processing.

FLASHGUNemulsion


at dialled bikes,

we’ll continue to file

riding under fun!

Its not enough to simply say you ride bmx or moun-tain bikes anymore, they now want you to consider yourself a racer, dirt jumper, vert, street, park, trails, tri-als, cross country, enduro, freeride, downhill or single speed rider.

The bottom line is, we design products for people who love riding their bi-cycles in the dirt, on the street or at the skatepark. If this philosophy doesn’t appeal, feel free to continue filing your riding under one or more of the catagories above. At dialled bikes, we’ll continue to file riding under ‘fun’.

dialled bikes,designed by riders for riders

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www.

.com.comwideopen 5 december 2007

at dialled bikes,

we’ll continue to file

riding under fun!

ADVERTISEMENT

.com.com

Live fast,die young

The Colum Walshe InterviewInterview by Jamie Edwards

Photos by Kung, Jamie and Ollie Ward


Ok an easy one to start with... Who is Colum Walshe?I live in Bristol, originally from Birmingham, 25 years old.

Give us a very quick background on your riding... Been ridin’ for seven years. Started off by riding some dirt jumps in Weston Super Mare that my friends built; Matt Cable, Robert Drinkwater and Danny Page. Started watching them ride and seeing all the tricks they could do and thought I wanted to do that. I heard there was a skate park called Skate and Ride in Bristol (now Motion), so started going there to ride it…then I was hooked!

You’ve just got yourself a new frame built up... Talk us through it. It’s a Fly Three Amigos with a 20.6” top tube, Primo forks and Profile wheels. Pretty light – I like it a lot!

I really want to know about the BMX and all that... But tell us about the fireworks shop. It sounds amazing.... Do you get many chances to blow shit up??To be honest, working in a fireworks shop just turns you off fireworks – like any other job. So I don’t really bother blowing anything up – I leave that to other people!

Tell us about you and The Politics Show... That was a funny one. I just got approached by Tom at Motion and he said did you wanna do something for the BBC – so I said yeah. Next thing I know, someone called me up from The Politics Show and asked if I wanted to do an interview. It was quite funny because it was about pensions... I didn’t really have much to say about it seeing as I want to die young! Live fast,

die youngdirt bike magazine 30wideopen 5 december 2007

Live fast, die young


I hear you managed to drop “live fast and die young” in on the show!Thought I’d chuck that one in because that’s the way I’m living at the moment!

I suppose we better talk about your riding seen as this is a bike mag... Around working in the fireworks shop and making showbiz appearances , how much do you manage to get out riding? What usually goes down?I usually ride 3-4 times a week; normally after work or a hangover. I try to have fun when I’m riding. Usually I try to involve learning a new trick or travelling somewhere new but that doesn’t always work out!

I always try to ride as fast and as high as I can – but it doesn’t always work out so I land on the flat..! The main thing is that I like to have fun when I ride.

You’ve been working pretty hard on the foot jams lately I’ve noticed... How do you go about learning new tricks? Does learning new stuff come easy to you?Sometimes it doesn’t. Depends how scared I am! If I’m learning a new trick I usually think about it for a couple of days before having a good go at it. Whereas with a smaller tech trick, I’d just do it on the spot until I get it.

Anything you’re particularly pleased to have got down?One of my most favourite tricks to do is a 360 turn down, but I’m fairly happy to have truck drivers and double bars spins down at the moment ‘cause I never thought I’d do those tricks.

I obviously met you and a few other riders like Adi and Kung when I moved down to Bristol. One of the things that struck me straight away was how strong the scene is down here. What do you think of the riding down here in Brizzle?Pretty savage. So many good riders – every skate park you go to has a couple of good shredders ripping it up… Such as the young kiddies like Levi – he’s always impressed me, every time I see him ride, he’s always learning something new which is always good to get me motivated and get my arse in gear.

You spend a lot of time riding at Motion... Which seems to me like an AMAZING place for BMX in Bristol but gets a bit of shit from local riders. What do you think of it?I like it. Even though I don’t ride most of the stuff there I like to ride the spine ramp. It’s pretty much the only thing I ride there! It’s good to go there, it’s a good gathering of BMX’ers so you know when you go there they’ll always be someone there to ride with. Are there any riders that really stand out for you?As I said – Levi. People like Craig Stevens, he can always turn up to a skate park and do something big and of course Chris Doyle, he’s the man.

How about those groms Dan and Dell?Those two kids are amazing, I ride with them quite a lot and every time I do they’re learning something new and going higher! They are definitely the future of BMX.

Live fast,die young


Adi at Twoand8BMX hooked you up on the team a little while back. How did that come about?I’ve known Adi for quite a few years now and we’ve had some good times and rode a lot with each other – so he thought he’d just hucker me up. He seems to like my riding so that’s pretty cool.

What have you been getting up to as a member of the Twoand8 family? Riding a lot…Partying, drinking and staying up till the early hours! Everyone in the Twoand8 family like to live life to the fullest!

You said things were also working out with Profile and Nike – how did they come about?Well Profile was a hook up through Adi. They flow me parts at the moment which is cool and I’m pretty happy with it. Nike was through word of mouth. They asked me to go and ride at the skate park one day, I did some stunt riding for them and they said they’d take me on!

Any ambitions for the future? BMX or otherwise...I wanna try and become self employed so I can fit in riding a lot more! Also just want to travel the world, see new places and ride them!

OK last but not least... Any thanks?Thanks to Adi for everything. Chris at Nike for sorting out shoes on my feet! Profile for hooking me up…and Jamie – for sorting out this interviewLove you all xxxxx

Thanks to Colum for getting this done – it’s only taken a year man! Good work! Keep an eye out for him EVERYWHERE in the near future... Log on to the new Wideopen Video section where we’ll be posting some footage of him very soon.

What gets you fired up about bmx at the moment? The thing that usually gets me fired up is when I watch new dvd’s and see what new things people have learnt, such as front flip drop ins, double tail whip drop ins and most trail stuff.

You just popped a video section of yourself on Facebook over at Hengrove. Have you had many video sections so far? How do feel when you’re riding in front of a camera?I’ve had a few video parts such as Soul Magazine and Shuck DVD but riding in front of camera doesn’t bother me. It sometimes gives me the motivation to do the trick to my best ability.

You’ve been doing a few comps lately and picking up a few sponsors ... Lets talk about the business side of things for a minute. I saw in Ride that you guys just won the Glamorama Jam in Manchester- how was that? Did anyone really stand out for you?A kiddy called Leroy who was a local really stood out. He pulled a tail whip 360 tap, to tail whip out on the volcano...dialled...I thought that was one of the best things I’ve seen all year. The scene up there really stood out to me as everyone was so tight and welcoming.

How do get on with riding at comps?I do like going to comps and always have a really good ride in practice and have my shit down. Then the minute it’s run time I tend to crash and run out of breath which is a bit annoying. But I’d definitely like to do more.Next year I’m definitely going to travel more and get to more events. Perhaps go to Europe a lot more and I’d like to go to America to ride a few.


Without getting too gushy I really think it’s an example of exactly how much you can achieve with a bit of community spirit and a few kids with spades. Now I’ve had a chance to sit down and finally write this I’m gonna have a look at both of those things and hopefully persuade you to either get up and join the Foel community or find your own hill and make your own little downhill playground. Trust me, it’ll be worth it.

This isn’t the first time you’ve heard about Foel Gasnach in Wideopen and it sure as hell won’t be the last. The reasons for all the attention are pretty simple. Number one; it’s a fan-bloody-tastic place to ride a downhill bike. Number two, the community that is growing around it is a great example of everything that’s good about riding mountainbikes. It’s just a tight group of riders, enjoying their riding, happy to see new faces lending a hand and doing their bit to make a great spot to ride pushbikes.

The tracks are all around the two minute mark, throwing you over a nice blend of fast, steep and technical... 99.9% in the trees, drifting through loose, loamy soil and sliding over wet roots. There’s a nice variety to the four trails but be warned, none of them are easy and there’s a few sections that can put the wrong rider on the wrong bike in deep shit. It is literally a world away from the manicured trails and forest loops found elsewhere in the area.

At the end of ‘07 things are looking really good at Foel. There’s four downhill tracks up and running, an active club and some really interesting race results coming from its regulars... Female Vets World Champ being a pretty good example. If you want somewhere to improve your riding, Foel is definitely the place to go. The proof is in the scary number of young guns like Josh or Sean that turn up on complete shitter bikes and get astonishingly fast very, very quickly. Justin keeps saying ‘Foel breeds champions!” and he’s bloody right. Pop up on a rainy, winter day when the roots are slick and you’ll see what I mean.

Foel Gasnach.Community and roots in the hills of North Wales

(or ‘Why I think Foel is bloody amazing!’)Words by Jamie Edwards, Andy and Aaron.

Photos by Chris Bartlett and Jamie Edwards.

trailscene


There have always been illegal tracks tucked away in North Wales, with the Forestry Commission and private land owners vaguely tolerating them. Good tracks are pretty scarce and tend to be kept secret to avoid pikey kids doing their own ‘digging’ or the land-owners getting anxious. The result is, that for an area with such amazing riding potential, there’s effectively sod all to ride unless you know the ‘right’ people. With the Forestry behind Foel there will (fingers crossed) be somewhere safe to build trails for many years and somewhere for everyone to pop up and ride.

To put across how far Foel has come in the last couple of years it’s worth a quick look at what came before it and what made its founding fathers get their spades out. For many of us, Foel really came to life at the end of a sunny October evening in ‘05 when the legendary Llangwyfan or ‘Scouse’ track near Ruthin was closed down. Riders made way for bulldozers and much of the North West downhill community were left wondering what the hell to do with their weekends from then on. It’s hard to over estimate how important the Scouse Track was to a lot of people. Every weekend it was rammed and everywhere you went someone would be boast how they’d built it “back in the day”.

The ‘natural’ style doesn’t by a long shot mean that there’s not a serious amount of graft going on. Take a look half way down ‘Track 3’ and you’ll see a 5 foot wide, 20 foot long wooden bridge that was painstakingly built by hand over a swamp. All made and designed by the locals. A short while back they had a weekend of digging and camping to put some more serious graft in. Local boyo Rex got his tractor up, a few people chipped in and now there’s a BIG step-down and a load of new rock to get loose on.

Also contributing to the bloody amazingness of the whole thing is the sheer number of runs you can squash into a day. 16 I think I overheard head Dai Jones saying they’d had. Sure, the tracks aren’t the longest in the world but you don’t half get a damn good run in the two minutes. Also, there’s a fire-road from top to bottom that you can uplift yourself or push up without much hassle. With a driver and a van it works a treat and means you can really pack your whole day with runs rather than dragging your arse up the hill. Think about it, 16 runs in a day. That’s four runs down four completely different tracks in a day! Not bad in anyone’s book.

The really important thing about Foel is that it’s 100% official and backed by the Forestry Commission, thanks mainly to the local manager Dave Liddy. They’ve supplied labour, materials, advice, heavy plant and, of course, the hill. Oh yeah... And a quarry full of rocks to play with. A lot of the local Forestry guys are riders themselves so actually go out of their way to keep the tracks safe when doing logging work near-by.


Getting a bit pissed off with riding over at Scouse, a small group of riders upped camp and quietly put some graft in elsewhere. Introducing Andy, Aaron and others like Justin who you’ve met elsewhere in the mag and I’m really happy to say I’ve got to know and call good mates.

“We used to ride the Scouse track every weekend.” Says Aaron “After riding it for five years and not seeing much building we started riding further a field over in Shropshire or up in Scotland. In the end, it made sense to find somewhere we could build and get the backing we needed from the landowners. We started digging and set out to make it steep and technical, everything that the Scouse track wasn’t. Something we could train on for races, something different. Shropshire is rooty but the majority of the tracks aren’t that steep. We wanted more of a challenge, more fun!”

I may well be wrong, but the problem with the Scouse Track was that it never managed to get enough of a community going to hold it together. I guess it was just too popular. Everyone rode it, a handful of people dug it but only a really dedicated few were at its roots to keep it alive. Sadly, the few couldn’t quite pull it off and after endless problems with bridleway crossings, unhappy locals and dodgy uplifts, the Forestry Commission pulled the plug. I wouldn’t say that the lack of community actually killed the Scouse track...but it sure as hell didn’t help.

It’s running up to all of this that Foel comes in and the history of the two tracks overlap a bit. The Scouse track was amazing fun to ride but it was about as technical as your average fire-road. Digging was also a bit of a problem. As the track wasn’t strictly legal, its existence was constantly under debate and any work seemed to really get on the Forestry Commission’s tits.

trailscene


Things took another step when the Forestry insisted Foel would only stay if the locals got a British Cycling registered club together. This would keep an eye on digging and provide some insurance fall-back if things went tits-up. Skip forward a couple of months and several lost versions of the club constitution and the FoelDHRiders club was born, headed up by a ‘committee’ of original locals and a few new-comers. Justin took the seat as Chairman whilst Andy headed up digging... After a couple of months I stepped in as Club Secretary to do some of the admin.

I’m never really sure how they feel about the whole thing getting a bit ‘political’. Andy always says he can’t be arsed with having a club and would much rather crack on with just riding... Whilst at the same time is always the first out digging, greeting new riders, running the uplift and pushing to make Foel even better. His missus Lisa is even the new club secretary and is always track-side bullying folks out of their subs and doing a damn fine job on the BBQ.

“At first we weren’t to keen on the idea, the politics side of it, things having to be roll-able, no big jumps etc. Things that would stop us from progressing... After several meetings, we had no option to form a club for the future of Foel. In the long run though, we’ve benefited from it. We’re nearly at 100 members in just under two years, four tracks, regular club uplift days and every bank holiday there’s a club event at Foel, with a BBQ, members only timed runs, and a very healthy turnout. In the last year the club has gone to strength to strength.”

“We scouted out a few hills nearby and found that Foel had the best uplift route (5mins max), and it’s such a good hillside... You can easily get 20 runs in a day. We also looked at the gradient of the hill, if it was open or closed or if weather would affect it. With Foel we knew we had the backing of the Forestry Commission so we could look at what part of the forest they planned on doing work and build tracks accordingly.”

Despite taking a bulldozer to the Scouse track, the Forestry Comission apparently has a rule not to plough tracks ‘wherever possible’. The thinking being that it will piss the riders off and just force them underground (like the cops do with hookers!). To that end, when the Scouse Track got the chop, a sign appeared in the car park telling riders to get their arses over to Foel and go to work.

“To be honest, we were a bit gutted.” Says Andy. “We had planned on it going public but not until we’d finished at least one track and we had another one marked out... That got to us a bit because no one had told us they would be advertising our track, especially as it wasn’t finished.” Like it or not, Andy, Aaron and friends suddenly had a lot of new riding buddies and we all trooped up with our spades intent on getting involved.

For them, it must have been a bloody nightmare as their quiet corner of North Wales was suddenly blasted all over various websites and poured over on the forums. For the rest of us however, it was a massive breath of fresh-air and a chance to start all over again with a new track and a new hill – something that hadn’t been seen in the area for a long time. You can be sceptical about the Forestry Commission or not...but I make no apologies in saying that when they chopped the Scouse track it did nothing but damn fine things for mountain biking in North Wales. It opened up a properly sustainable venue and the potential for a real community of riders to come together.


From my rose-tinted experience of it all, the club has been a complete ball-ache and an absolute joy in equal measure. People are either getting along great and it’s the most satisfying thing in the world or they’re throwing tantrums over choices of lines, people slacking at the digging or moaning on the club forum. Necessary evil if you ask me... And a good excuse to go for a pint in the White Horse once a month.

Despite all the bullshit that goes along with it, the club is just a great chance to become part of the family and really contribute to Foel’s future. There are club uplift days, digging weekends, discounts at local shops, occasional piss-ups and best of all... The chance to meet new folks who share your madness for riding pushbikes and digging fine trails. There’s nothing better than pulling up at the trails to a sea of familiar faces and the feeling that you’re part of the scene.

There’s also (and this bits probably my favourite) the chance to enter what are probably the best bloody races in the whole world. The ‘Foel Bank Holiday Club Jams’ take part on Boxing Day, Easter Monday and The August Bank Holiday. I’m not entirely sure that’s what they are actually called as they’ve never been officially christened... But it’ll do. You can check out my repo of the Easter race in Issue 2, but in brief, every bank holiday the club has a bit of a race with a few timed runs, uplifts, beers, bbq, dodgy prizes, categories for good/not so good riders and good times for all. No stress or pressure just a really nice, mellow vibe and a chance to CRUSH your mates! Join the club and get involved, you’ll love it. Look out for Lisa and tell her Wideopen sent ya, you might just get a discount on your subs!

trailscene


Finally then...A quick look at what’s in store for the future. Which is very simply to keep quietly grafting away at Foel to make it’s one of the best places to ride downhill in the UK. More club events, more members and even more steep, rooty tracks. There are also vague hints of seeing some official races at Foel. Steve Parr was up last summer checking it out as a regional venue and the boys have been scouting a completely new ‘race-only’ venue. Stay tuned for more news on that one, it’s a long way off but could well happen.

I guess that what I’ve been trying to say by writing this is that a strong community is the one thing that will make or break your trails. It’ll drag it out of the dirt in the first place, fight to keep it alive and keep pushing things forward. Foel’s got one and if you don’t mind a bit of digging and love riding downhill bikes I’m sure they’ll be happy to welcome you into it.

I finished my interrogation of Aaron and Andy by asking what they had in mind for the future...

“To keep improving the site we have, possibly a jump spot/4X/play section – definitely no north shore! A bridge is one thing but skinnies are for Ewoks!”

Cheers to everyone at Foel for all the good times digging, boozing, arguing, and of course riding great trails. And sorry for taking a year to get this article out, I told you I’d get there in the bloody end. See you all at Christmas for the big race!

Foel can be found nestled in Clocaenog Forest, near Ruthin in North Wales. It’s about an hour from Chester and Wrexham. Full directions can be found on www.foeldhriders.co.uk and you can chat to the club on the forum. Oh yeah...and it’s pronounced “VOYLE”.


http://www.foeldhriders.co.uk

http://www.foeldhriders.co.uk

On the road,southern style

The Dubriders “summer” roadtrip 2007

Words and photos by Matt O’NeillIntro by Scott Warnock

Wideopen likes you, the readers, getting involved…so this month we get a tale of a southern summer roadtrip from Matt O’Neill and his “Dubriders” mates. Summer? Remember that time? Summer weather was in April/May wasn’t it? Pissed it down most of the “summer” from my memory….Anyway, if the winter blues are kicking in big time, sit back, relax and laugh at Matt and his mates tales of clown suits, broken collar bones and hitting on fathers daughters.

June/July 2007 will go down in history as one of, if not the wettest summer on record. With a large percentage of the country underwater and possibly the best track ever built slowly slipping its way down a hillside somewhere in Devon, a handful of riders from the Dover/Deal area embarked on a road trip, originally heading along the south coast in order to finish up at ‘The Track’ in Portreath, Cornwall. A few days before leaving we all met up to discuss the plan, already in jeopardy due to the freakish weather. This is when Martin tells us all that ‘The Track’ has been temporarily closed in order to build a BMX track. The closure dates match our trip dates exactly. “So what are we going to do now then?” is my obvious question. “Don’t know mate we’ll just have to wing it.”



Day 1With grey clouds looming overhead and a plan that had been torn up a few days previously, we eventually set off from Chips house and began the 3 hour drive from Dover up to Chicksands. Most of this journey was spent cursing the rain clouds and confusing service station security with the two way radio Martin had bought. On arrival we were blessed with some luck as the clouds parted and the soil soaked up what rain had already fallen, leaving us free to enjoy the rest of the afternoon. For those that don’t already know, Chicksands rules, it has something for everyone, and it made for the perfect start to the trip. Most of the day was spent ragging the dual track and the north shore sections, then after a short session on the main six pack, we decided to set up camp before it started raining again.

Day 2After waking up to the first of many brews (cheers Ash!), we realised that it had rained buckets overnight and even the mighty Chicksands soil was having a hard time draining this amount of water. Despite the six pack being flooded; somehow the smaller eight pack was bone dry: GAME ON! This was a fun session, and Martins 360 attempts over the last set made for good entertainment, better luck next time mate! We chilled for a bit and chatted to some locals who were busy putting in the shovel time, thanks guys! Then we headed south again towards our second destination, the UK bike park at Blandford Forum, and while most of us got busy putting up the tents next to the car park, Windsor found it more enjoyable to hang out of the back of Geoff’s van and blow chunks. Nice!


Day 3After the most uncomfortable night of the trip (tree roots in places I’d rather not mention) some of us warmed up with a game of frisbee while we waited for the slackers to sort themselves out. This became a lot more fun when a second frisbee was thrown into the mix, and subsequently into Redman’s face. Good times… To anyone planning on visiting Blandford, I have two pieces of advice. Firstly, set your bike up properly. Not only were we the only people there on hardtails, but most of us either had one brake/slick tyres/both. This is not recommended but it is fun! Secondly, invest in the uplift. You’ll be ok if you’re only riding the top sections, but venture on to the longer downhill runs and the push back up is hellish, especially in ankle deep mud! After we found this out the hard way, some of us forked out the dough to ride the uplift tank (no exaggeration, these things are mean!) for the afternoon whilst those of us on tighter budgets were happy to rip around the north shore tracks like Ladder Alley. In fact I think everyone had so much fun that we all forgot to stop and take photos, oops!

That evening we ventured out to Blandford Forum town centre in search of food. What we found was possibly the best fish and chips shop in England, and a Spa shop being run by numerous women which had everyone queuing up even though we didn’t really need anything! And then it started raining. Again.

Day 4Everyone woke up keen to hit the bike park again but the weather turned even worse, so we reluctantly packed up and hit the road, heading further into the west country. On arrival at Haldon we were told that the only tracks that were open were the basic cross country routes. Crap. We decided to press on and headed to Okehampton instead. After getting a bit lost and gawping at the most terrifying pikey campsite I’ve ever seen, (seriously, there were upside down caravans! The Hills Have Eyes anyone?) we arrived a little late to get much riding in. We knew we were in for a treat the next day though, even the most hardcore of north-shore haters would have loved riding this place; it is DIALLED!



Day 5Yet more rain greeted us in the morning but our despair quickly vanished when we realised that all the ladders had been coated with “grippy stuff.” Despite this, one section had me worried, a small drop down onto a steep ladder and then a corner straight after it. I was concerned that with only a back brake, you would skid uncontrollably down the ladder and straight off the corner at the bottom. Halfway through explaining this to Martin, Ash appeared out of nowhere, straight off the drop and railed the corner perfectly, no front brake required, cheers Ash! Other highlights included Martin’s x-up drops, Redman using his ribcage as a brake, and Scott owning everything whilst wearing a clown suit, surreal!

That evening the weather continued to howl and since Cornwall no longer had the track to visit we made the decision to turn back and head to Chicksands once again. We also discovered the joys of playing with shutter speeds and various light sources, hours of entertainment!

Day 6We broke up the long journey east by visiting Stonehenge, and all I’m going to say is that the National Heritage extract the urine! We stood at the fence and laughed at those who had paid the extortionate entrance fee to stand 6 feet closer than we were doing for free! Camera man Ash forgot to get any photos of the stones, but he did start “motivating” some random chick for the camera, who seemed more than happy with the attention she was receiving, although I’m not sure her dad was as happy, sorry mate!

Since we were passing so close we decided to pop in to Woburn trails on the way, only we got there with about 10 minutes of daylight left due to stopping at the wrong lay-by, nice one Chip! It was way too wet to ride but me and Redman still had to be dragged away! Eventually we arrived back at Chicksands and set up our tents in the pitch black, unaware of the carnage about to unfold the next day.

Day 7The day started off promisingly. The sun was out and drying off the wet patches nicely. We met some more locals, one of whom was pulling the sweetest tables and a clicked x-up off the big drop. Martin was emptying his trick bag at height and even expanding it a little (unturndowns?) and Windsor even started with some limbless trickery. In fact everyone was boosting that


little bit higher than normal, and I was happy to play photographer for the morning. Then Chip decided to clear the triple jump on the 4x course and BOOM that was the end of his day. Then, perhaps due to the karma of shooting photos of a wounded Chips as he lay on the floor, I hit the 6 pack way too quick and landed at the bottom of the second take off. Ouch. So after much grumbling Chips took me off to the local A&E to get checked out, where we discovered that my collarbone was in fact in three pieces, excellent! And that pretty much ended the trip, sorry guys, I’ll try to be more careful next time! Despite the track closures, broken bones and the appalling weather, this trip turned out to be a lot of fun. What should have been a disaster ended up working out really well, due to the positive attitude of everyone who tagged along. Thank you to everyone who is involved with Chicksands, Blandford, Okehampton and Woburn even though we didn’t get to ride it. And especially Okehampton for not sending any of us nasty emails about leaving ladders covered in muddy tyre tracks, we owe you! Thank you to all the riders we met and rode with, despite a few exceptions Britain’s riding scene is still really friendly, let’s keep it that way. And a very big thank you to the staff at Bedford Hospital for patching me up, as well as the guy who crashed into an ambulance outside which kept everyone in the waiting room amused, nice one mate!

Trip highlights had to be…Ÿ Scott shredding Okehampton in a clown

suit, surreal!Ÿ Windsor puking his guts up outside

Geoff’s van on the second day!Ÿ Ash’s technique of “the narrower it gets,

the faster I’ll pedal.” Awesome!Ÿ Laughing at people who had paid £6.30

to stand 7 feet closer to Stonehenge than we were doing for free!

Ÿ Ash trying to “motivate” some cute chick for the camera before realising she was with her dad!

Ÿ Martin’s whips over the 6 pack at Chicksands. Still trying to figure out if they’re even whips or un-turndowns…

Ÿ Everybody’s inability to hold on to a lighter for longer than 5 minutes.

Ÿ Increasingly shady camping spots…Ÿ Me breaking my collar bone on the last

day. Not really a highlight but it kind of wrapped the trip up.

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When Diamonback product fella Mike Sanderson told me that his company were going to make a gearbox bike I almost pissed myself.

I was finding it hard to get my head round the idea of gearboxes at all... Let alone one from Diamonback! Didn’t they just make shopping bikes and crap bmx’s?! Apparently bloody not! Two years on and DB have literally exploded with great bikes and a fresh new image. They’ve not only actually made the aforementioned Sabbath gearbox bike but a host of other rides that look rather nice indeed.

One of the really clever things they’ve done is to show exactly how much they want to be part of the real UK riding scene. I mean how can you not love a company that puts a Pearce Winter Series race plate on the muddy bike in its advert?! The trick of it seems to be to employ staff who actually have a clue about bikes and about UK riding. People like Mike S., who know exactly what punters want to ride and what they want to see. They’ve also taken on a few really talented, young and relatively unknown team riders to represent them and gone out of their way to sort them out with great bikes. You’ve got Bristol groms Dan and Dell who are under-15 bmx GODS, both on custom 18” DB bikes.

There’s also Lex...Who I bumped into, whilst riding street in Bristol and drummed the whole Diamonback revolution home. In the 3 or 4 times I’ve met him he’s managed to be both quiet and unassuming, yet madly hyperactive and 100% keen to talk about bikes. Above all, he’s a crazily good rider who seems to be able to bar-spin ANYTHING! Anyway...enough of that. Here’s Lex and how he barspun his way onto a signature frame.

Introducing Lex and his Lex...

Hey man – OK... First up who is Lex?Haha, Lex is a rider. Simple as that. Not going to give me life story, all I want to do is ride and have fun.

How did you get in to riding push bikes?It’s all thanks to my dad. He started me off at aged 3 and helped me ride without stabilizers. Since then I’ve raced BMX, quit riding altogether, and started up again. All the way through it was other people who inspired me to keep going and push myself.

I know you mostly as a street rider, What is it about street that gets you going?I’m not sure, I think it’s the sheer scope of street. You can ride all day and never hit the same line twice. Also I love streety/techy tricks, and random stuff so it’s just right for me. Also you don’t have to wait for runs or repair lips, just keep riding. Saying that, I’ll ride anything, but street is my real passion.

Romancingthe stone...

Alex Gross, the Lex signature bike and the Diamonback Revolution.Interview by Jamie Edwards


What are your lines/tricks that you are working on at the moment? Whatever comes to mind really. I’m really into spine mini’s at the moment, you can flow around those for ages! I have me eye on twisting a double set (two sets of stairs) and more twist variations.

How are you coping with the winter kicking in? Any tips...?Alright actually, you can still ride street in the wet (usually some covered area to mess about in) and there are a few indoor parks to ride. Yeah, either find indoor parks or equip some nice sticky tyres, or you can go off-road and make the most of the mud. Also now is the best time to build trails.

You always seem to be riding with headphones in...What do you normally tune in to?Haha, I hate riding without music! Which means I can’t hear people or police shouting at me. I usually make a new playlist every few days on my MP3, it will always contain some metal/thrash, but anything I’m into at the time; old school hip hop, D&B, punk, ska, 80’s pop! Seriously I get some shit for the stuff I put on there, but I don’t care.


Do you ride many comps?Yeah, I try to get to as many as I can. Although the UK is really bad for street/park comps. I’ll ride trail comps, but there needs to be a series of proper street comps in the UK. In the U.S and Europe there are loads! That’s what we need. Next season I’ll ride King of Dirt and probably some 4x, but I want to head overseas for some comps.

I know you did a video section for Diamondback...How do you get on riding in front of the camera? Can we expect a few more sections out of you soon?Riding for the camera is fine, it usually pushes me harder. I’m really into my videography so I don’t mind at all. Yeah we are starting to film some new stuff right now. Should be good!

OK and on to Diamondback and your new bike... How did you get hooked up with Diamonback in the first place?I knew Mike through his brother and found out they were looking to make a come back and needed riders. So I sent them a video and to my surprise they said yes!

What are they like as a company? They seem to have really stepped up their game in the last few years...Haha, is this where I brown nose it, right? Naa, they are ace, Mike, Simon (his last name is Wild! How cool!), Matt and the rest are all legends! They all ride themselves and are more like mates than sponsers, which kanes! Oh and we’ve had some awesome but messy nights out with the guys! Haha!

DB has been a background bike brand for years... But the new DB team are re-inventing the brand, and coming out with some seriously good kit! Honsetly, the stuff’s amazing!

I’ve met Product Manager Mike a few times now and he seems to really have his head screwed on as to what the company needs to do to stand out....Yeah, Mike’s been riding way longer than me and he really knows bikes. They need to give him the resource and backing to push DB onwards.

Romancingthe stone... dirt bike magazine 49wideopen 5 december 2007

Tell us about the Lex frame... How did getting your own signature frame come about? It was suggested to me because I helped them develop the Bandito and kind of a natural progression. The bike itself is amazing!

How does it feel to have a signature frame? Must be pretty rad... I mean i can’t think of many other riders with their own signature parts... Maybe Martin Ogden and Peaty?!Gah! Do I have to answer this?! Loool!

Give us the run down of the frame... The frame lush, soo strong I’d dare anyone to try and break one, short of using a sledgehammer! We kept the back end short and head angle steep, which makes it whippy and nimble. Just right for trick riding. Giro tabs give some more scope for brake options and the rear disk mount has sliding bolt holes to allow for chain tensioning.

How did it work when you were telling DB what you wanted to see on the frame? Was it a case of you saying what angles you wanted and they went straight on to the bike or was it a bit more complicated than that?As with everything there’s a bit of give and take. I made suggestions using the bandito as a base and we worked from there. Obvioulsy there were budget constraints, but it came pretty much as we planned. It’s not overly complicated because we used the existing Bandito as a base, which kept prototyping down and the finished artical is spot on!

Is there anything you think is really important in a street frame?Strength. Street riding takes frames out with ease, so strength is the main thing, and most riders will sacrifice some weight for a stronger frame. Also short and nimble aids manuals and hops.

And how about the build on your bike? How do you run your set up?I run single speed microdrive with 3pc cranks and one rear brake. Simple and strong. Forks-wise, I always use coil sprung because air cartridges are easily broken. I also ramp the compression/rebound damping up to take the big hits and when you air quarters they don’t push you out from the lip.

It’s a pretty wild colour... Did you choose it??I have to say I hate the colour green! But for some reason I love the Lex’s paint job! Looks awesome under street lights!

Ok finally – What are your plans for the future? Can we expect to see more of you?Yeah more vids, more mag stuff! I want to get over to the states more and I really want to try slopestyle! Looks amazing!

Any thanks to anyone?God, there’s too many to list, but uber thanks to parents and everyone who has inspired me to ride. Shout out to Mike and Beck (me bro and sis), and Scott my legend of a team mate! Boys! Mark from urbanlondon.co.uk. Mega thanks to everyone at DiamondBack, spesh Mike and Simon. Also loves to my amazing girlfriend Rachel! what an amazinger!

Romancingthe stone...


Welcome Lynda, First up congrats on the new title. How does it feel being a world champion?Thanks! To be honest, it feels a bit surreal. I didn’t start riding downhill until I was 36 and even then it was just for fun, racing certainly wasn’t in the plan. To win a world title was just totally unexpected... But in a good way.

Was it worth giving up the old Kona for?My old Kona holds a special place(in the cellar!), just because it was my first downhill bike but the Glory is something else. (Lynda was a bit ‘Ben Reid’ with her old Stab... and found it pretty tough to get rid of for a new Glory when she joined the Ticket2ride team!)

Obviously you’ve been doing the NPS and Midlands races this year. Was there anything in particular you did to prepare for the Master’s Champs?I tried to ride most weekends over the summer, if there weren’t any races, I went up to Foel for some training. They’ve got two really good tracks there and a very efficient uplift! Other than that, I spent some time at the gym as it always seems to be my aerobic fitness that lets me down and I was anticipating a long steep track.

How was the week running up to the race? We drove down and arrived on Tuesday night in the middle of the opening ceremony, the place was really buzzing. It was a great location with the accommodation, race village and uplift for the track really close to each other which made everything very accessible. There were also loads of Brits so lots of familiar faces and just a great atmosphere the whole time.

Was there anything particular you were working on?As at any race, my main priority was learning the track. It seems to take me way longer than most people to do this, probably an age thing but it was such a fast track, knowing where the tight corners were, and so where to scrub some speed was really quite important.

It was also strange to be competing against women when you had no idea of their ability. Bear in mind that in the UK there are so few women that race, you can pretty much predict who’s going to place where. I spent all Thursday riding with John (John Willerton, Lynda’s fella) as we ride at a similar speed and he picks better lines! It wasn’t until womens practice first thing Friday morning that I got to see how the others were riding, then later that day in seeding which I won overall, despite a crash. This gave me a big boost, but also put some pressure on as I knew that I did actually have a chance.

How did you find the track? I remember you telling me a while back that you feel most at home on fast open tracks like Moelfre. How did it sit with that?I read somewhere that the track was like “Moelfre on speed” and they were right... It was just so fast, dry and dusty. I loved it.

WorldChampion

Lynda Davies, World Women’s 40-49 World

ChampionInterview by Jamie Edwards


How did your race run feel? Did you know you were doing well mid-run?Nerves definitely got the better of me on my race run. There was nothing major, it just didn’t seem to flow as well as it had been in practice. None of this really mattered however once I’d crossed the line.

And how about afterwards... Anything particular you’ve been doing to celebrate or unwind?It started with a beer from one of the Irish lads and carried on from there. We went to ‘Le Pengion’ where we’d eaten for the last few evenings... Ivan, the crazy barman cracked open the champagne then the Irish posse turned up and the place went wild... It was a top post-race party which ended about 3 hours before most people were due to head home.

We had another week’s holiday so drove up through the Alps stopping to ride in Les Deux Alps, Alp D’Huez, Pila and finally to Morzine where we met up with some friends for some great riding.

Tell us a bit about how you got into riding mtb’s and racing downhill?I rode horses until I went to uni at 26 (as a so-called mature student) when I sold up. After a year of doing what students do best, I needed to find an outside interest. A few friends were into cycling so bought myself a bike (a rigid GT Talera) and it went from there. I only ever rode xc until a trip to Innerleithen introduced me to downhill, a month later I’d bought my Stab Primo and was riding at Nannerch on a regular basis. I suppose racing was just a natural progression from there. My one regret is that I didn’t discover downhill earlier.

And how did the deal with Ticket2RideBC come about?I’d been going out to Morzine for a few years and decided it was time for a change. There was talk of Whistler so I called up Scott at

T2R for a bit more info on the place and a holiday was booked. We spent a lot of time riding with Scott and the guides over there and had a great time. Just before Christmas a couple of years ago I got an email out of the blue saying they were putting a team together and asking if I was interested. I didn’t need to think about it for too long....

I know you had a pretty bad crash in 2006 at Fort Bill. Do you mind telling us the story behind that?It was the World Cup race at Fort Bill, not quite sure how I got talked into doing it but it seemed like a good idea at the time. Great experience but without a doubt the most nervous I’ve been at any race... Or possibly ever. It was all going well and qualified 23rd but crashed out big style in the final.

I know you’ve been out to Whistler a couple of times. What do you think of the riding out there? Is it good training for the UK season?The riding out there is just the best, there’s so much variety and its not just the Bikepark, there are so many other trails around Whistler that are amazing.

It’s good training in the fact that you get to spend so much time on the bike, and as your confidence grows, you attempt bigger and bigger stuff. By the end of two weeks, you’re doing things that at the beginning of the holiday you think... Never in a million years! It really pushes your boundaries.

You’ve been racing the NPS for a few seasons now. How have you found the new-look NPS series this year? Was there anything that stood out as being particularly good or that you think still needs work?I think Si and Steve have done a great job with the NPS this year, just about every aspect has improved. Things that stand out for me are better uplifts, a proper pit

area that gives more of a pro feel, good commentary and live timing, and just better organisation in general. However, different people place importance on different things so you’re never going to keep everyone happy.

How have you seen the female talent this year? Is there anyone you see really standing out amongst the female ranks?Katy Curd, she came from no-where in the middle of the year and will soon be challenging the top elite girls.

Is there anything you’d particularly like to see to encourage more female riders entering races?I still can’t understand why there are so few women riding downill, there’s plenty riding xc but not many make the cross-over. I think ‘women only’ training days and the club set up by the Scottish women help enormously as turning up to an uplift day or race to find you’re one of the only females (if not the only one) can be quite intimidating, especially when you’re starting out.

The Pearce Cycles series is a great starting point for women wanting to start racing as its really friendly and encouraging.

Finally, whats next? Any big plans for next season?Now the seasons over, I’m going to spend a couple of weeks catching up with non-biking friends as I hardly get to see them over the summer. I’m also looking forward to doing a bit of xc over the winter. For next season, I think it’ll be much the same as this year .... NPS, Midlands and definitely the World Masters. There’s something about a title to defend ....


It may have been a few months back, but the memories from the Fat Face Urban Dh in Edinburgh still lives with me well. Maybe it was the sunny weather. Maybe it was the stinking hangover I had. Or maybe it was the top class racing on my doorstep! You can see the snaps from Edinburgh and Penarth, but in essence I wanted to lay it down, urban style, from a political mumbo jumbo perspective….

[In Edinburgh] On one side you have the single local who was so annoyed at the invasion of his home street he walked his dastardly mutt down the track. Then you have the random old ladies on the street, happen to be passing and wander over for a gander.“Oh my god, what if they get hurt?”Then I heard the not-happy-unless-he’s-moaning-about-something-bystander…“Can’t believe they dug up the road for this mob”.

The first is just an ‘age thing’. And an element of motherly caring. Not all of us will ever comprehend that. But I can condone it. She even looked interested! The latter needs to get his facts checked out. The gas board were digging the fine cobbled streets of Edinburgh’s grass market anyway. Pipe and smoke it son.

Anyway, to my point: bringing downhill to the masses is the future. I love trekking into the middle of nowhere to shred it up, watch a race, to catch an uplift, and obviously many of you are in the same position. Not everyone is so blessed or aware though. To grow the sport, we need money, money comes from sponsorship, and sponsorship comes from interest. It’s a numbers game, like any business, any successful “scene”. We potentially have one of the most

exciting sports in our hands. We have thousands of people that think mountain biking is £79.99 from Halfords. Our sport is top spec engineering, design and top class sportsmanship. It doesn’t come at £79.99, AND it is a TOP CLASS sport. Let’s show the masses that.

OK, I’m probably getting ahead of myself, but Chris Roberts has told us that he’s probably going to take the Fat Face Urban Dh race to another city next year, but would like to return it to Edinburgh in the future. Personally I’d like to see a city race series (any “BIG” names wanting to discuss this with me, email me!), but I doubt there is even a weekend spare in the race calendar. However, we can race on street in the wet can’t we…winter gap anyone?

I’d also like to see Edinburgh rival Lisbon. Why not? It is just as, if not more, scenic. It’s also got waaaaaaaay more people for a captive audience. The possibilities to grow that as a premiere race in the global Dh calendar are endless.

To confirm my point; to grow, we must expand. To expand we need numbers. Numbers are in the city. Give them (the masses) the carrot (the wow factor) and they will come…to the wilderness, where we normally play. Or maybe we’ll stay a “cool, fashionable, extreme sport” with stagnant incoming money to the sport for a while yet. The numbers and new faces gasping in awe in Edinburgh told me the interest was there…

Down on the Street A commentary on life in

the urban jungle

by Scott Warnock



Wideopen photographer Oke jetted over to Penarth for us and came back with a stack of quality pics. I dropped him a quick email the next day to see what he thought and get the perspective of an onlooker rather than a rider:

“I would say it was worth the trip over. However there are a few things worth mentioning to put my answer into context. The track was good for spectators i.e. lots of open space with minimal climbing, few steps and low gradient slopes. The track was also quite short with the fastest run lasting about 1 min 18 seconds or so. The main thing that slowed the riders down were a few decidedly anti-social corners (I think the website actually had a notice saying that those with big bikes would be at a disadvantage).

There was also supposed to be a massive car jump near the end of the track but health and safety (and some might argue a bit of common sense) got together and it was taken down before the seeding and race runs. Dirt rider Rob Breakwell took a nasty crash on the jump so it was maybe for the best that it was removed.

Tredz Urban DHPenarth

Words and photos by Oke (www.kchuk.co.uk)



Words and photos by Oke (www.kchuk.co.uk)



In many ways though, the track was rather tame.

There was a leisurely atmosphere around the place but the ‘passion’ that would normally be seen in the coverage of urban downtown races was a bit absent. There were no people cheering the riders from their windows while hanging their washing out to dry. Except for a few funny hecklers it was all quite civilized!

For me, this was great as I had to actively look for where to get my shots. As it was a short track and an easy walk, I was able to cover the entire length without hassle and it gave me an opportunity to use my zoom lens (which I probably would never use at a normal dh race due to the dense tree coverage).

In summary, it was great (but tame) from a photographer’s point of view but was probably just about worth making the journey for. A bit further and I may have to revise the previous statement! For most dh riders though, it was maybe way too tame apparently someone did it on a bmx bike).

There you have it. Big shout out to Chopper, his team and the good people of Penarth for putting on the event. Lets hope we see more of them!



I’m sure the thought has crossed the mind of anyone who has ever spent a bit of time riding street in Edinburgh…”How cool would it be to have a race here?” The same can probably be said for many big cities, but seeing as I live in Edinburgh I was pretty excited when, way back in April, I heard the first whispers that a certain Mr Chris Roberts might be putting on a race in the Scottish Capital.

It wasn’t long before the official word was let loose onto the tinterweb and then the guessing games began. Who would be racing, what’s the best bike setup but probably on most peoples mind… where will the track go? The track was kept secret until the day before the race as the council were quite adamant that they didn’t want anyone ragging their bikes around the city centre before the race.A few people that know Edinburgh well probably came quite close with their guesses but on the Friday night we all found out the exact route. You couldn’t ask for a better backdrop, starting up on the Edinburgh Castle esplanade there’s a number of routes you could take off the hill. That day though, we would be hitting the first set of stairs as you come out of the car park. Three small sets, a short flat and then into five big steep sets that saw you rapidly pick up speed.

Fat Face / Urban DHWords by Ste Larking (www.fearingout.co.uk)Photos by Neil Hodgins (www.iseepeople.co.uk/firemonkey)


At the bottom of these stairs was a ninety degree right hander into the biggest, steepest up hill I’ve ever seen in a downhill race! With it costing way too much to close a road for the day, a solution was required to get riders across without stopping the tour buses that drive up and down all day. Answer, a six meter high bridge. Now this bridge was supposed to be much further down the street so riders could have a run at the up ramp. However it was placed immediately after the corner out of the stairs. So jump off and run up it or, if you’re feeling fit, shift down a few gears and crank your arse off to get to the top.

On the other side of the bridge you flew down the off ramp to be faced with another ninety degree turn into the steepest stair set on the track. Coming down the stairs here all you could see ahead of you was a wall of stone, and if you were willing to ride at said wall as fast as you dare, the next ninety degree (noticing a trend yet?) right hander could be taken quite fast which set you up nicely for the little sprint at the small jump. Now throw your bike over to your left to ride the final lot of stairs. A lot smaller and shallower than all the other stairs, it was possible to attack the last few so you had plenty of speed coming into the Grassmarket.

Fat Face / Urban DH


A sweeping turn on the cobbles (thank God it didn’t rain!) and you hit a more familiar surface, dirt. Thanks to gas workers pulling all the cobbles up during the week. As small berm formed in the loose dirt, which let you sprint flat out at the car jump ahead of you. Style it up in the air for the crowd and maybe, if you’re not too tired, put in a pedal stroke or two before you cross the line.With so many riders and such a tight and short course everyone was given three practice runs to familiarise themselves with the track and then a seeding run before having to attack their race run under the cover of darkness.

The five big sets of stairs at the top of the track seemed to be causing the most problems for the riders. Many met with the barriers at the bottom after coming into the corner too fast, while an unfortunate few got intimate with the square edged stone work. Practice and seeding ran smoothly without much delay, although the track was momentarily closed when one unappreciative local wanted to walk his dog down the stairs.

Through the day the tourists came and went and there was a steady flow of spectators trackside. Come night fall and the crowd was at least 4-5 people deep from top to bottom and you couldn’t move on the stairs.

When the racing began the start was moved back up towards the castle which made judging your speed into the first corner interesting. Having never hit the corner at this pace before, I was one of the many who went round it sideways bouncing off the barriers as I went.

Fat Face / Urban DH


It was clear to see that the fast boys were still giving it their all in this race. As the racing went through the categories some familiar names were appearing in podium positions. In Juvenile Mark Scott and Lewis Buchanan had another battle for first place but it was Mark that added this one to his list of wins this season. Ruaridh Cunningham took first in Junior (but what else would you expect from a World Champ?) leaving Alex Bond chasing a whole two and a half seconds behind. Other World Champs to mention, Nigel Page took gold in Masters just ahead of Glyn O’Brien, and in the Women’s Rachel Atherton was over a second quicker than Tracey Moseley and Helen Gaskell who took 2nd and third respectively. It’s also worth mentioning that although Rich Cunnyghame finished 12th in Elite he did so on his hardtail and was only four seconds off the winning time with a 51.7.

When the final few Elites came down the hill the atmosphere on track was amazing. It was now well and truly dark and with a lot of the crowd wanting to take a little piece of the racing home with them, riders couldn’t put more than a pedal stroke in without having a camera flash go off in their face. At the end of it all Gee Atherton took the win to stand on top of the podium with his wee sis’. Dan Atherton was looking good all day and seeded second but only managed fourth place after switching to his big travel rig for the race run. So it was Dan Stanbridge who steeped up to second place with Scott Beaumont in third.

After the race the crowd descended the track to the Grassmarket for the podiums and then much drinking followed in the many bars up and down the road. I caught up with Chris Roberts later on to ask him if the event was a success and also to quiz him about plans for next year.“I was really stoked so many people had a good time at the race, the Fat Face guys and girls always work hard to make the make the place look good, The Bike Chain in Edinburgh were brilliant with their support for the race and everyone who helped (which is quite a long list) should be very proud that they helped to make the event such an amazing success. As for next year well, I have few options to choose from, I do like the idea of moving it around from City to City but it will be hard to follow Edinburgh, it might be we go some where new in 08 and then come back to Edinburgh in 09. Lets just say watch this space for now.............”

I for one will be putting my name down for any more races like this, and whether you’re into racing or not you should try it. Pinning it down a set of stairs in front of a massive crowd is a world away from blasting down an open hillside in the middle of nowhere.

Fat Face / Urban DH


With the first ever Minibike National Cham-pions to be decided and the wildcard entry of MXGP runner Carl Nunn to add to the pack, the final round of the 2007 British 4 Stroke Minibike Championships was always going to be an occasion to be remembered.

A well groomed Doncaster Moto Park pro-vided the ideal setting for the climax to this inaugural series, with dry weather and a slightly damp track giving perfect racing conditions throughout the weekend.

All eyes were on the 50cc Pro Mini class with Nunn lining up against the ultra fast Jonathan Groves who has dominated this category in previous meetings. Despite the anticipated head to head duel, Groves took the first two race wins, after Nunn suf-fered an early tangle in race one and had to come through the pack, and then slightly misjudged his charge in race two to take a close third place.

Enjoying his first competitive outing on a minibike at this level, Nunn showed he is a quick learner and a class act as he left Groves for dead in the third and final moto of the day to earn a creditable second spot overall. Two wins and a safe runners’ up spot was enough to give Groves the overall victory on the day, and to allow him to take the title.

Fifth and lastWords by Mini4gp.comPhotos by Kung (www.randombmx.com)


Only an absolute disaster could have pre-vented Trevor Scott lifting the 88cc Pro Mini division crown, and with two start to flag wins in the first two motos he wrapped up the title in some style and could afford a comfortable third place in his final outing in this category. Andrew Lawton and Jamie McClaren finished 1 – 2 in the last race af-ter having pushed Scott hard in the other encounters.

James McFerren has been the star of the Open Mini class this season, and rounded out an almost perfect campaign with a 100% record at Doncaster to become champion of this category. Luke Coker was equally con-sistent on the day with three second places to give him the runners’ up spot overall in a class that he does not usually compete in.

All systems go for ACU backed British Mini-bike Series

Fifth and last


The Superstock Midsize division was head-ed by Toby Souchotte going into the final showdown, and thanks to a 1-2-2 result over the three motos, it was the rider from Norwich who clinched this championship. James Cotterill led the first race, but a crash on a step down jump due to a rear brake problem would eventually demote him to eighth and ruin his chances of overall suc-cess on the day.

With one title in the bag Trevor Scott was under much more pressure in the Open Midsize class, with only a fifteen point ad-vantage over the hard charging Stu Hughes going into the final round. Scott responded brilliantly with an opening race win, and a solid second place behind Grant Dyer in race two. Cruelly Hughes was left on the line in the last battle, leaving Trevor to cruise to a safe third position and his second title of the day.

Fifth and last


It may have been a good two months ago since the last round of the NPS at Innerleithen, so I’ll just tell you about the bits that I saw with my own eyes, and the bits I heard from my tent!

We all took the Friday off work, got away by 9 and were there at 1. My ‘no-beer-must-race-to-win-this-is-the-decider’ attitude lasted until we stopped for beer at Co-op in Peebles. In the evening the ‘four’ beers I was going to allow myself to help me sleep turned into ‘all ten so I can’t drink tomorrow’. Waking up the next morning late for practice wasn’t a problem as we had the whole day to practice with no seeding due to the light fading early. The queues weren’t massive as no one was rushing to cram loads of runs into a short space of time. People were taking a more relaxed approach to the whole thing; which was nice!

That night Andy and Aaron got lashed as normal. Aaron swore at himself in his drunken stupor for not being able to sway backwards far enough in order to sit down. This never fails to make me laugh. Positioning himself in front of the chair, then trying to lose balance backwards in order to end up in the chair, but his self preservation kicking in at the last minute swinging his weight forwards again to stop him from falling. Class. He finally sat down and fell asleep in the chair after nearly falling into the embers in front of him that I was sat down watching. Andy came back from the Fenwick’s van and put Aaron into the tent. I got into my sleeping bag next to him soon after and was just drifting off when Andy started swearing and got back out of his tent. The conversation went like this:

Andy: “Aaron, Aaron! Where are the van keys? I need to lock the van!”Aaron: “Eugh, I thought… I left them…with the front person….”Andy: “You left them with the front person? What the f*ck are you talking about? Where

are the keys Aaron? I need to lock the van!”Aaron: “Eugh… oh…eugh…. I was giving it, the old, Aussie one two…”Andy: “You what?! Where the f*ck are the keys?! For f*ck sake!… Oh I found them, Lisa it’s alright. I found them.”

By this point I was pissing myself laughing, which lasted about 30 seconds as I recall. However the next morning everyone was having a go at ME for laughing for a solid 3 minutes and saying I kept them all up! Nothing about a loud angry Andy and an unconscious sprite! Blue murder I tell ya…

Sunday rolls round, the alarm goes off. The alarm is snoozed. The alarm goes off again and again until it’s turned off for good. As per normal Aaron gets up completely unaware of the previous nights events and is retold his mumblings over a cup of coffee. After everyone has left for practice I get up. After some Alpen with added raisins and some bacon and egg baps I’m ready to roll. One practice run in the bag and all my lines missed. A second roll down with all the lines had and I’m happy before race time.Later in the day, just before I go up for my run, some guy turns up still half cut from the previous evenings events. He pulls into the

Innerleithen, the final

Words by Justin Fisher-Cooke (www.foeldhriders.co.uk)


camping field through a gate. The wrong gate. The gate with the foot deep, tractor rut puddles in it. Before he can stop he’s already past the point of no return and is well and truly not going anywhere. He stumbles out of the car, takes a quick look at it, locks it up and walks off! What a ledge…

Off to the uplift late as usual and the bus pulls away as I get there. By the time I get to the top there are no riders at all and all the experts are late too. I apologise to the start guy, down half a can of Redbull and ask if I can go on 30. He says “If you’re happy to do that.” I say “Yeah lets get it over and done with.” He says “good man, 20 seconds then.” Helmet on, goggles on, go. Three turns in and I have a massive tank slapper over some big dodgy roots on the first left hander in the trees. Just about manage to save it and avoid hitting a tree but come out of it at walking pace. Get back up to speed but have a generally slow run.

No crashes though and plenty of airtime off the step down and fire road fly off. I was just happy to not be broken. Overall, I only placed 27th of 40 odd in senior which is pretty poor as I qualified 13th and finished 23rd out of 60 odd (I think) in the first round. Never mind, that’s racing. Sunshine had ‘a crap run’ but no crashes so came in 4 seconds quicker than me, pushing him up the season overall results. I drop to 25th in the series but I’m happy enough what with having to race someone else’s bike for the final round, first time out on which was first run sat morning! Andy wasn’t really happy with his run but happy to have finally done a step-down after having bottled the one at Ae forest every time for the past five years! One second down on me and it was all smiles and mild cursing…

Walking back up to the last few corners to catch the elite coming through and there was a massive difference in corner speed

over a load of dry roots after a left right flick that Beaumont and Gee hit sooooo hard. Gee looked slightly more in control and faster through it though. He duly took the win and the series title seconds later.

Home time, and after helping the random to tow his car out, we got going. We stopped off at the chippy in Peebles where I finally got to try some haggis, although I am aware it might not have been a good version, being battered and deep fried by a scary looking woman… it did taste nice though.

Like a dry, mashed up steak and kidney pie. Without the pastry. The word ‘filling’ comes to mind.

The journey home to North Wales in the trusty Renault took ages but was time well spent reflecting on the past 9 months of racing. Never a dull moment; laughs all the way and smiles all round. Just how it should be.

Here’s to a fun winter on two wheels.

Innerleithen, the final


It’s very unlikely that any of you need an introduction to Steve Parr, his business parter Si Paton or the NPS saga that’s been played out over the last few seasons. We caught up with Si back in our pilot issue to see what they had planned to save UK downhill racing... Now 5 issues and one season later we’ve got Parr on the case to let us know how it went.

Ladies and gents, the saviours of UK downhill racing...

First of all, how does it feel to have got through your first NPS season?It’s been a hell of a roller coaster ride, made a lot of new friends and some new enemies, probably, but yes I came into the new season with a bit of fear and trepidation, but also a lot of enthusiasm, as anyone would. The main questions in my head were “Have we got enough uplift vehicles” and “I hope people enjoy this”.

What have you been up to since the final round? Have you managed to get a minute to relax?Relax, don’t think that word is in my dictionary at the moment. Last weekend on the Saturday I was at Inners with the MSC

bikes on test for some prospective team riders, also spotting the courses for the Alpine bikes winter race. Then on Sunday drove to Carlton Bank, to check the venue and the infrastructure out. My life at this point is MAD, we are at present scouting for 2009, that’s how busy it is.

You’ve done your fair share of racing, spannered for Ancilotti and organised one of the best race series’ in the UK. What do you think are the most essential things for a good series?Thanks for the compliment on the series, glad you enjoyed it. From my own personal point of view the most important things are good efficient uplifts. You’ve paid your money you want to play on your bike, secondly to have some craic, as the Irish call it, with your mates. That is something you will have seen at any race of mine. Bonfires, pig roast’s, boozing :)

with Steve Parr

The National

Points Series

2007Debrief

Interview by Jamie EdwardsPhotos by Jim Smith (www.fattyre.co.uk) Ian Linton

(www.ianlinton.com) and Oke (www.kchuk.co.uk)


Is there anything new that you’ve learnt about organising races from being at the helm of the NPS?It needs a really good team to run the series not just a couple of people. SPS have been really, and I mean REALLY, lucky in the people we have helping us, without them we would be fucked like other years.

You and Si obviously got together at the end of ‘06 and put a tender in to run the series, starting in ‘07. What personally made you take such a massive step?Have you ever watched, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom? When he takes that step into what looks like oblivion at the end? It was like that, having the confidence in knowing you would be OK; we knew we could do something really good with the series.

With all the bullshit flying round the NPS at the end of ‘06 how did it feel in the run up to your first season? I’d imagine it must’ve been pretty nerve wracking....It was OK until we got to the official date for entries to go live, the nerves really started going on the day, then the following day about 20 entries dropped through my door for the full season, we knew then it was going to be great year.

Let’s talk about the tracks. Now the races are all done, are you pretty happy with all the tracks that you went for? Did it pay off sticking almost totally to tried and tested venues?It paid sticking to the tried and tested definitely, I know we had some moans and groans about some of them, they were all chosen for various reasons, some had great courses, but were let down by local facilities, others were just short or open. As hard as SPS try we can’t magic 5 new venues out of thin air, but we will get close in 2009.

Was there any track that really stood out for you (good or bad!)? Was there anything you’d liked to have improved with any of the tracks?The first Inners track stood out for me, I actually rode this, in the Ice, when it was built by Frenchy a few years back. It was 1 of hardest things I had ever ridden and 20 riders went home on the Saturday because they couldn’t ride it. Improvement, there is always room for that anywhere, and anyone that thinks they have the perfect course are very wrong.

Do you think it would have added much if you’d got Fort Bill in the line up?No, not really. It may have given people something else to moan about on the forums.

Was it a big disappointment that Rugog didn’t quite make the cut again? Gutted about Rugog, for Dai (land owner), Jim Hughes and everyone else who worked so hard to get that venue running. Watch out though, the plan is to do more work up there and get it weather proof for 2009.

A lot of riders seem to think the NPS should have really tough tracks to push riders and prepare riders for the Worlds. Do you think the tracks were challenging enough?This is one of the long term goals of SPS. Rome wasn’t built in a day! We made everyone have a license in 2007, now you have to qualify for the NPS, so it’s all moving in the right direction. In 2009 we will see some more new venues too. These new venues should be up there with the best, one that springs to mind is just outside Llangollen. Matt Simmonds walked it with me and couldn’t stand up down some of it! Oh, and it’s got BIG rocks!

The National Points Series 2007Debrief


2008 is going to have Ae, Inners, The Fort, Moelfre and Carlton Bank. Are you pretty happy with the line up? What made you go for the list?The Scottish venues are no brainers, they were full of riders and were the best attended by spectators. Moelfre the Sun shone all weekend and was flat out, Carlton, well you will have to wait and see. First looks are very good, lots of gradient and rocks, 2 things that guarantee satisfaction. I’ll keep you updated on the track at Carlton, there will be dig weekends and uplifts before the race.

If you had guaranteed weather and free choice of tracks would your list be any different?Probably not, no.

Going back to the new rule about qualification for next years series. .. What made you come up with this and what do you think it’s going to add to the series? Can you give us a quick explanation on how it will work?SPS has a long term vision, shall we say, to put the NPS at the top of the tree for race series; THE race series to be seen at on a worldwide level. I know it’s a vision but its one to work towards. The first part was licenses, anyone who races no matter what series will then accrue BCF points; this gives SPS and the BCF a true picture of the race scene. Secondly - is the qualification. If you were in the Championship of football, would you not want to get to the Premiership? You used to have to qualify back in the day when DH was fashionable. We have kept the points low this year but in ‘09 it will go up again. Lastly – now we have competent riders racing, SPS can start to bring the level of courses and the obstacles to a level hopefully not seen outside of a world cup. Each course will have something to make

most riders stop and go “which line are you taking or are you doing that?” SPS are here to stay for a while; well; until you all get pissed of with us we will not outstay our welcome. To clarify – you need 5 points from a BCF sanctioned DH event before you can enter a 2008 NPS round. Uplifts are a big issue at the moment it seems... How do you think things ran overall?Overall the uplifts were very good, top job by all involved.

There were a few problems at round1 with the uplift that people mentioned. What was the problem there? It seems like you got on the case and sorted out it pretty quick...We tried a few things at Inners that hadn’t been done before, the uplift from the car park on this scale being one. We had to blitz the 1st round uplift, otherwise it would have been same old NPS just with 2 Morgan’s. I think all through the season people will have noticed that when an issue started to arise we dealt with it ASAP. We didn’t let it carry on till it became a real problem.

The film nights and themed food seemed like a bloody good idea to give the races a bit of atmosphere. Were you happy with how that all worked out? What can we expect for 08?Very happy and we are working on other things for 2008. A bar at most rounds is looking good at the moment, so lock Andy Williams’s wallet up!

A young man called Justin from North Wales has written in to ask if there’s any chance you can turn the sound up a bit on the videos next season?Why do they call him Justin? I know why round here :)

A lot of people have said how much better the pits looked this time around, making the whole thing feel a lot more ‘pro’...That was Paton’s bag, but if we get that wrong then no new sponsors will come on board for the NPS or the teams if it looks like a shit tip. Overall the pits looked very bling bling!!

How did the Saturday night parties work out for you and Si? Did you get much of a chance to relax? Any stories spring to mind?Too many stories, so little time. I did have a few wee drams myself. One story does spring to mind form Caersws when someone handed in Billy Cheetham’s phone and a little bit of fun was had!!!

You bagged a lot of bigger sponsors for ‘07 – how big a boost was it having them on board?Great big thanks to all of those for having the confidence in SPS to deliver. That main prize from Loctite is bonkers, full days tuition in a formula BMW race car, priceless!

I guess the really big question is... Did the 07 season see riders putting their faith back in the NPS? Did the numbers of entries see riders coming back to the Nationals?Every round was full, weeks ahead, so yes think they have their confidence back.

How did you find the riders throughout the series? Were they pretty tolerant/patient of issues or a bunch of moaning bastards?!99% of all the riders were great, even offering their time to repair courses and other things, so a big thanks to any of you who helped SPS and the NPS in 2007.

The National Points Series 2007Debrief


Obviously the entry fee went up a bit for ‘07 which didn’t seem to put too many people off entering... Are you confident you gave riders the best value for money they could get? Will there be any changes to the fees for 07?No change to the entry fee of £60, Paton and myself are very happy with our new Range Rover Sports, only joking, we still have our Sprinters.

There was a really impressive list of pro-riders at some of the rounds... Was it a big boost to see riders like Minaar or Rennie racing. Big, big boost for everyone to have these top riders at the NPS, everyone has to step up their game.

What were female entries like this season? Will you be doing anything to specifically encourage more females to enter for 08?The Female racing was poor for numbers in 2007, don’t know why and it’s a shame really. I don’t know what the levels are like country-wide... About the same I presume? Shout me out some riders that really stood out for you throughout the series...Pete Williams (Senior) Talley (Master) Frenchy (Vet) Simmonds (Elite) Brayton (Expert) Bryceland (juniors) Gavin Beaumont (Master piss head)

Any requests to riders for next season (things they can do to make your life easier!)?I drink Stella, Bulmers cider or Banana Bread Beer :)

Ok... we’ve had a lot of serious questions. Let’s finish off with something a bit lighter. We asked Si for his predictions for the season back in issue 1... Lets see what you think now it’s all over!

Fastest Rider: PeatyMost stylish rider: BrycelandYoung gun of the season: Lewis BuchananBest Rider: PeatyOne to watch: Mark ScottBest Track: Fort BillMost ridden bike of the season: SundayBiggest moaner :Paul Hart/PatonParty animal: ME

AND... finally.... What can we expect for the 2008 NPS:I would like to answer that 1 at the end of 2008

Thanks to Steve and SPS for taking the time out to talk to us... Even bigger thanks of course for manning up to the shit storm that was the NPS and making it into something to be proud of. Good work chaps. Here’s to 2008!

Finally-finally, any thanks you’d like to shout out?Shit this list is massive - My Wife for putting up with all the phone call’s and weekends away, she’s my rock! Matt Simmons for all his help and advice, Crocket, Gaz (word up) Burns, James Flinders, Green (aka Benny), Talley, Frenchy, Gilly Horton, Roger at the BCF, Mark Flockhart, any Commissaries, marshals, Forestry Commission, Land owners that have let us hold events on their land. Oh, and best not forget Paton (aka the dwarf).

www.npsdh.comwww.britishcycling.org.uk


http://www.npsdh.com/

http://www.britishcycling.org.uk

“My first NPS ever and it felt like my first race all over again craping myself and feeling tiny in a cold field somewhere in Ludlow. Matt Parkinson giving me words of encouragement, walking the track I was taken back by the way it dwarfed every-thing back home. Courses were brilliant although uplifts and access to certain ones could have been a lot better, take a page from Dave and Lindsey Pearce.”Tom Clarkson - Team Fenwicks. Junior rider.

“Si and Steve have done a great job with the NPS this year, just about every aspect has improved. Things that stand out for me are better uplifts, a proper pit area that gives more of a pro feel, good commen-tary and live timing, and just better organi-sation in general.”Lynda Davies - Female 40-49 World Champion Team Ticket2rideBC

“nps 2007? some good, some bad, but always better...”Justin Fisher-Cooke, Wideopenmag race hack and Senior rider

“I thought it was fantastic, the atmosphere at this year’s series was immense, the pits looked like a pit instead of a mess, the added extra’s were great too, the fenwicks bike wash, red bull, park mechanics.. Ya canney go wrong really,the NPS needs some new super tech tracks though, higher than world cup standard!”Wayne Appleby FoelDHRiders local.

“I was a little worried in the early part of 07 that there was over hype about the series but after the first round I was put at ease. There were some initial problems involving transport, but these were quickly rectified. It was certainly a more professional set-up to previous years which saw more World Class riders attending the races, making it a far more interesting series. My only down fall was a lack of marshals at some of the rounds. I’m sure next year will be as smooth as your finest Innocent smoothie.”Chris Hutchens MFXairart racing team

“2007 has been a great step in the right direction for this series. It would still be good to see some fresh courses being de-veloped and used. This is something that both the organisers and local riders need to work at. But after a stormy few years the NPS ship is now sailing in the right direc-tion.

People are always gonna whinge about something but I do feel there is a need for some new tracks. I got no problem with all the tracks either being in Wales or the north/Scotland. That’s realistically where the mountains are and that’s what ya need to run a race on. I’d hate to see areas with crap courses being used just because they were convenient. After all people climb Everest because it’s good not because it’s close to where they live!”Richard Cunynghame - Charge Bikes

“After boycotting the NPS series in 06 with the Mojo team it was good to come back and race it this season with a fresh outlook, I think the first round had teeth-ing problems but the guys did what they should and ironed out these issues straight away. I think the series has been a great

success and should build on that over the next couple of years with new more chal-lenging venues.”Rowan Sorrell - Orange/South Wales Trail Centre

“I thought the national series made a big improvement this year. I only did 2 rounds but I was impressed and I thought that bringing in the international riders made it a lot better. I wasnt so sure at the first round when we sat queueing for uplifts for about an hour after practice had started, but they soon sorted it out and it was a good event.”Josh Bryceland, Royal/Santa Cruz “The NPS this year has been a refresh-ing change from years past, Steve and Si have done an amazing job in their first year and its good to see some atmosphere back at the races.I had to miss a couple due to injury but hopefully next season i will be able to do the full series. Bring on 08.”Steve Peat, Santa Cruz Syndicate

“It was great to have a good atmosphere and feel in the pits this year. I think the lay-out of the pits worked well and the having some spectators on race day really gave some atmosphere throughout the day and after at the podium.” Tracy Moseley

“Itís been obvious that the organizers are enjoying it and itís not purely about the cash. Everyone has seemed more relaxed from the marshals and uplift drivers to the caterers, medics and, ultimately, the riders themselves. The transport was the worst thing about previous years and, save for the first morn-ing of the first race, this has been sorted. SPS have encouraged input too ñ particu-larly on the tracks. Thatís been refreshing.”Seb Ramsay North West Mountain Bike Centre

The National Points Series 2007What the riders said...


So first off… Glencoe. It must have been a tough decision to call off the final race of the year? How bad was the weather up there? Very bad, we have never called off a race before, close with floods at Innerleithen and high winds at Fort William, this though was the first one we had to cancel. These are mountains, so when a storm comes through, it hits hard, Saturday night was horrendous and blew everything over, toilets, railings, most of the tape was gone as well. The storm had passed over by Sunday but there was torrential rain, the course was simply a river and there was a risk of riders falling into the now raging rivers at the side of the course, it was a simple call at the end of the day.

Will you be looking to use the venue again? Absolutely, the birth of any new track is difficult, but slowly as the problems are sorted, it gets better and better. The chairlift is great, but not the sole reason for the track being there, it was evaluated for a couple of years before anything was done.

So how did you (the SDA) decide what to do about the overall series standings? Either way some people were going to loose out, and understandably there’s a few who have been quite upset over this. The SDA is made up of a committee, the option of 3 results from 4 races or 4 results from 4 races was put out to a vote, and 4 from 4 was the majority vote. Points were put forward how it would affect riders etc, from both sides, there was no definitive reason why 4 from 4 won, simply what each individual thought and voted for. Since we are mostly parents of riders, we are very well aware of all the opinions, but decisions have to be made on a number of things, rightly or wrongly, popular or not.

The SDA, wrapup

Interview by Ste Larking (www.fearingout.co.uk)Photos by Ian Linton (www.ianlinton.com)

By the time you read this all the summer series will be well and truly over...

Unfortunately for the SDA, this series ended a little sooner than hoped. Glencoe was subject to weather that made the rain at the Scottish Champ’s look like a light shower. The result was no racing on Sunday. Riders turned up to a flooded car park and a river where the track was the previous day. So, with no racing to report I thought I’d let Alan Cathro, one of the many hard working people on the SDA committee, give us a little insight into this years racing and what goes on behind the scenes at the races….

For those that don’t know, who is Alan Cathro? I am the SDA Race secretary, so I am in charge of entries, the website, run lists etc., then I switch to timing on the Sunday and produce all the final times from the manual system. (Extra: We have 2 systems that run on the day, the live timing where the data is sent from the top to the bottom via radio modems and a manual paper system which prints every beam break as a barcode, this is brought down by Gary, the runner! I scan the barcodes into the timing software for the definitive race results.)


It seams like the series has been on the up and up this year, what with it being totally oversubscribed, and the excellent feedback from all the races. Do you think this has been a knock-on effect of there being very few to no uplifts in Scotland this year, or is racing just rapidly growing in popularity? This is a difficult one, the SDA was initially formed to give riders a race series in Scotland, with around 100 riders the weekends were quite laid back and the friendly atmosphere was apparent and still holds true today. Now we are in a very different ballgame, there are too many riders for the spaces available, the professionalism of all the Race Series has to be of the best, riders are paying a lot for their weekend, so they want the best understandably. The huge change has been Health and Safety, not only changing organisers lives completely, but it has put an end to amateur uplifts, no longer can someone hire a couple of vans to do uplift for a day and just share the costs, those days have gone, which is a great shame. Only now are organised uplifts coming on-stream with the likes of Tally at Ae and Innerleithen, but the costs are huge because the expenses are huge, this though is the future and hopefully will grow to meet the demand.

Can you give us some insight on what it’s like to run a race series? What do you think have been the biggest achievements for the SDA this year? Stress is the number one factor, the run up to launch for me, getting the whole thing in place for the committee, we all leave jobs on Friday, however a few give up Friday and get everything ready at the venue. There is no question we get a buzz from it, we wouldn’t do it otherwise, it is great to see it all come together and people racing. We do need more people on the committee though, it is getting too much for the current level at the moment!The highlights are probably just more than a year old, when we introduced the completely bespoke timing system and latterly the timing board, thanks to Iain Wilkie of Wilkie Electronics, again a Dad of a Rider. The whole system and Race timing software was built from the ground up, immensely complex to achieve but now invaluable and very reliable. We also introduced the website at the same time, which again has grown from an admin system into full blown online entry, again we have Craig Mitchell to thank as it became his baby and, like Iain, has only taken a fraction of what it should have cost, virtually to cover expenses. This year, we have just consolidated what we had in place.

The SDA, wrapup


What about your personal highlight(s) of the year? I think it is outside of the SDA and was Ruaridh winning the World Junior title, I remember him 6 years ago, as a tiny wee lad, trying his heart out on a bike which was a bit big, ragged and sketchy, but determined to beat the big boys around him. In 2007 his mindset changed and he had a dream, for all that to come together, and to go fastest in qualifying as well, was a great achievement. My own son Ben had to withdraw from the 2006 World Champs in Italy at the 11th hour, with a broken hand (like Brendan had this year), it was the single most disappointing thing so far, but somehow Ruaridh’s run and screaming like everyone else, buried that disappointment once and for all and I am so looking forward to 2008. There will be good performances from a lot of riders next year, Gee has now got the confidence to podium regularly at World Cups I believe, however I think Josh Bryceland will be the talking point for 2008, I think Steve is brilliant at taking pressure off the youngsters and letting them ride at their best, hopefully Josh will do that and not be weighed down with the expectation, he is extremely fast. A perfect year would see Steve winning the World Champs, he’s starting to cost me betting money!!

What’s on the agenda for 2008 then? Are we likely to see any new tracks appearing on the racing circuit any time soon? We are always on the lookout for tracks, there is nothing major to shout about at the moment, Glencoe will continue to be developed and hopefully we get back to decent weather for all the races in the UK this year.

Anything else you’d like to add? Just that I wish all riders, at whatever level, a successful 2008. This is a great sport, we have proved that to everyone, so enjoy it!

So that’s it for 2007. Like Alan says, things are on the up with uplifts back on at Innerleithen and soon Ae. Plus we’ve got the Alpine Bikes winter series to look forward to at Innerleithen, entries are open now so head to any Alpine Bikes shop to pick up a form.

The SDA, wrapup


It was cold, exceptionally cold for a Sunday morning and I was actually getting in my car at 5 in the morning to go to Chicksands, something I’ve never done as it’s only down the road from my house. But this time it wasn’t, it was 3 hours away and I was in Chester...

Ready, steady, go!Words by Pat Cambell Jenner

Photos by Tim Jackson (www.smokeriders.net)

...2 hours later and some Lucozade I pulled into Chicksands car park feeling the effects of the M6 and so on. The turn out was good and by the look of the car park the track could have been soggy… But I was delighted to see that the good old Chicksands 4x track was as dry as ever. I have to say before I go into the racing blurb, Chicksands happens to get the biggest turn out for races, especially 4x, that I have ever seen. It always draws a crowd purely for the convenience factor and the fact that the track is mint! Soon to be extended no less!

So then, the racing...Practice was longer than normal due to the unexpectedly large turn out and Chris Roberts had his work cut out trying to get everyone’s entries sorted in time to get the racing underway. There was a good amount of riders in every category and everyone looked to have a good race up ahead. The moto sheets went up considerably early and everyone was scrapping to get a peak in at who they were racing and when. And it began!


Eventually the racing was on and the gate was dropping left right and centre! In juvenile Adam Thomas was looking fast all morning and took the win followed closely by Matt Jones and Isaal Mundy, with local Sue Lacey rounding out the top 4.

On to Youth and Scott Roberts was looking the favourite for the win and took it with Aaaran Shrosbree and new comer James dower in third spot. National champ Tom Knight came in 4th after an unlucky start.

Junior was pretty empty as many riders like myself and Dowie, were riding in our new class that we’ll be in next year. Ali Shiach, a newbie on the 4x scene took the win with Dale Russel in second and Daniel Jary in third and newcomer Andrew Heaton coming fourth.

Senior was one of the most hotly contested categories of the day. With money up for grabs everyone was trying their hardest to get a chance at the cash. With the largest category out of them all, the final boiled down to Liam Munn, Tom Gethin, Yeovil local Tom Birch and Nick Geoghean. Munn got a good snap, as did Birch, Gethin was unlucky and snapped a bit early hitting the gate and putting himself in catch up position so the podium ended up with Liam Munn on top with Birch in second closely followed by Geoghean and Gethin styling it up the rear... no change there.


Onto Elite. The racing was hot from the start and I was nervous coming into it but with some crafty motos I got a good gate pick in the final. Lewis Lacey, Martin Ogden and Tom Dowie all rode consistently all day and all made it into the final. Speaking of which, with the short days and little amount of sunlight we all lined up the gate in almost darkness, making the racing all the more challenging! Lacey was on the inside, me next, then Ogden on my outside and Dowie in lane 4. As soon as the gate dropped we all got a good snap, although I went slightly early and hit the gate, letting Ogden and Lacey come in front of me, blocking me

into the first corner. With all 3 of us on the inside of the first corner, Dowie was free to take the outside and keep away from the danger. Going into the triple the inside line was favoured by most as it provided the fastest line of the day and the last corner also gave plenty of opportunities to over or under take. The final ended as it had started, Lacey, Ogden, Campbell, Chadwick.

Top racing and a top turnout, Chicksands never disappoints.

Ready, steady, go!


So it’s that time of year again, wrecked bodies are mending and nicely carved summer trails are becoming too wet to ride. It also happens to be the time of year that Chicksands, the UK’s premier riding spot, becomes it’s most ride-able; moving away from the dusty, slidey surface that resides in summer and becoming grippy and tacky.

Chicksands has been a local spot to me for sometime now and I don’t think I go there as often as I should. Over the past year there has been a construction of a new line off the others and it is far bigger than the other two sets that were there. But now it is winter and the jumps are moist enough to be able to sculpt back into ride-able mounds of sand. With all this in mind, it was perfect timing… Roll on the end of season Chicksands Jam!

An early morning on a cold Sunday and I was on my way to ride the big line and meet up with a few guys I hadn’t seen for a while. The jumps looked good, albeit a few premature tyre marks from some eager beavers who couldn’t wait to ride them! The jumps mainly consist of one main trick jump with a nice ‘boosty’ jump before, and a ‘racer’ preceding that. With a lot of timid faces, the riders were all warming up on the middle set before the main jam kicked off at midday.

Sand’s in your pants...

Words by Pat Cambell JennerPhotos by Chris Smith

Chicksands end of season jam


All the usual faces were there to spice up the day and put smiles on, Dylan Stone was sporting a fetching moustache and old school Oakley glasses whilst others were going for the casual approach and wearing a t-shirt and jeans. Sam Pilgrim was sending the usual tricks and landed a flipwhip on his second attempt... Simply amazing to watch, he is definitely a face to watch out for in the future. Another couple

of riders who were good to watch were Bob and Matt Priest, Melbourn locals that were following each other in and doing lofty 360’s and backflips.

The actual jam was mainly for the younger, less experienced riders who wanted to get themselves noticed. Amongst other prizes from 661 and Ison distribution, there was a Commencal Chromo Absolut up for

grabs for the person who tried the hardest throughout the day and who stood out the most.

After a fair bit of digging and a fair few free drinks courtesy of Beds Fat Trax, everyone was having a good laugh and a few crashes, ending up with, as the title suggests, sand in your pants! I managed to crash a one-footer and buried my face in sand and

many others sampled the tasty delight of gritty teeth. The short hours of the day flew by and it was soon dark and the trails were empty. With a healthy turn out and lots of laughs, the season was drawn to a nice close, something I was looking forward to; at the same comp last year I ended up with a broken leg, 4 days in hospital and a nice cast.



dialled-bikesholeshot

longtermer

the rear mech, and after straightening the drop out I discovered I’ve bent the SRAM X.7 that’s on there. The rim of my rear wheel is also far from circular now and is probably starting to become unsafe.

So the plan is to spend a little money on the bike over Christmas, you know, make her feel loved again. I’m on the look out for a new wheel build (probably 26”) and I’ll also have to sort the gears in preparation for the New Year. Come January I’ll be taking the Holeshot from the streets and into the hills to see how well it’ll handle the trails at Inners in the winter DH series.

words by Ste Larkingphoto by Neil Hodgins

Fearingout team rider Ste Larking gives us an update on the Dialled Holeshot frame he’s been running. Or should that be ruining…not quite, but he’s been giving his build a good concrete thrashing, do read on…

I’m afraid to say that over the past month or so my relationship with the Holeshot has started to deteriorate. If bikes could talk, mine would probably ask me to stop abusing it. It’s taken quite a few big hits recently and bounced down the stairs more times than I can remember, but it keeps coming back for more. It all started off with the Fat Face Urban DH race in Edinburgh.

Rather than run the slicks I usually do for street, I opted for a pair of High Rollers, although Maxxis only make the 24” version in a 2.7” width for some reason. Thankfully the chainstays on this frame are more than able to accommodate this much rubber, and it took the sting out of the stairs a little. The sharp steering on this frame made it really enjoyable to throw round the tight track and I even managed to bag fourth place in the hardtail category.Since then I’ve been hitting the streets two or three times a week. Unfortunately concrete is a very unforgiving material. Square edged stairs, flat landings and the inevitable bails have caused me a few problems. On one outing I managed to clout


http://www.fearingout.co.uk

dialled-bikesholeshot

longtermerwords by James Hilton

The 5:10 impact: 3 months on

So I thought I’d look back over the last 3 months and see if on reflection the 5:10s have lived up to my expectations?!

It’s something I’ve not really thought about a great deal to be honest. They’ve instantly become second nature and I can’t really remember what it was like before I had this level of foot certainty on my V8s.I’ve taken them to Scotland and Wales as well as regular abuse locally in the Peaks. They’ve seen rain, mud, dust and rock and still look like new (after a quick rinse in the washing machine with no detergent!).

Before all this I always wondered what all the hype was about - my Vans always seemed grippy enough for me in all honesty. However, just like when I swapped my aging Tioga Factory DHs for some Maxxis Super-Tacky High Rollers, the transformation from Vans to 5:10 was immediate and immense! More grip = more confidence = more speed.I guess they came at a bit of step change in riding for me and whereas previously I’ve always just ridden up and down things using gravity, I now find myself cranking all of the time! On my local rocky bridleways this wouldn’t have been possible (seriously, it wasn’t) before 5:10s - now putting the power down with confidence has just become the norm - so much so that my non 5:10 wearing mates are considering spanking the dough on a few pairs themselves! The only negative I’d heard was about re-positioning your feet mid descent, I’ve never had a problem with this however.

As for the general ‘living with them’ side of things, they’re light and stiff (much stiffer than my old skate shoes) and as we know grippy as hell. I find they don’t absorb water and mud as quickly as my mates originals, but once wet they do take some drying.

As I said at the start, the real telling story here is the fact that I don’t even notice I’m wearing them now - that is how much they’ve changed the way I ride. I love them! Bring on the next 3 months!

(Expect to see an article on the relative merits of flat vs clips and shoe choice in 2008 by Fearingout.co.uk team rider Ste Larking).


gear

Words and photo by Jamie Edwards

Animal Traylor Panel Jacket: Camo Can you tell I wanted to be GI Joe when I was a kid? I blame my dear old Gran for making me an army outfit when I was about 6... Anyway, here’s more DPM (army speak for Camo) goodness from Animal... I’ve had it for the best part of a year and its coping like Chuck Norris in a fire-fight (really well)! It’s had a good testing out on the trails, riding to work and on the floor of countless pubs... 12 months on and no problems to report what so ever. It’s a straight up, no-fuss ‘shell’ job with a snug fit that’s perfect for riding. It’s 100% Polyester with a mesh layer on the inside and has chunky draw-cords at the neck and waist, stretchy velcro cuffs and tough metal zips up the front and on the pock-ets. On the bike all the draw-cords are really good, meaning you can stop anything flapping around where it shouldn’t be. It’s not massively water-proof but is plenty good enough to keep the splashes off until the weather gets really grotty. All in all Good stuff for riding, sitting in the pub and engaging the enemy in hostile conditions. All for a pretty reasonable £54.99.


Lizard Skin lock-on grips, Peaty special edition

Here’s the latest Lock-On grips from Lizard skin, inspired by none other than Mr Steven Peat.

They’re a low profile 130mm for a more ‘direct feel’, come with a ‘Peaty - Cheers!’ logo and anodized lock-On rings that also have ‘Peaty’ engraved on ‘em. They come in white or black, with the white version getting red and blue lock rings to complete the Union Jack look. They looks a bit dodgy on my army-green Iron Horse but would look right at home on a GBR 224 or something similar.

I was a bit unsure about whether the low profile dim-ples would be grippy enough but after a day in the mud at Cwm Carn they held up fine... No problems at all. Except I guess, that people kept asking me why I had French flag grips. And that they turned brown in about 15 seconds of leaving the packet. Get the black versions if you live anywhere other than California.

As with all Lock-On’s, fitting is a piece of piss. You pop the lock rings on to the grips, slide on to the bar and tighten up the little grub screws. When your ready to change them you just buy the grips and keep your lock rings... Your grips dont spin, there’s no wrestling to get them on/off and no knicking your mums hair spray to keep ‘em in place.

I’ve been a bit of a die-hard DMR Zip Grip fan up to now and have always refused to spend more than a tenner on grips. I think i could well have been per-suaded by these....I’ll let you know how they get on after a couple of months of abuse. Cheers Steven!

Check out lizardskins.com for the complete range and get ‘em from your local bike shop RRP£14.99.

Distributed in the UK by 2pure.co.uk, cheers to them for hooking us up.

gear

Words and photos by Jamie Edwards


I’m just settling back into normality after 3 days at ‘Cycle’ in Fancy London. That’s a 3 day orgy of bikes, components, clothing, catalogues, stickers, dancers, sales reps, kids and everything else that goes along with the cycle industry circus. Imagine a 17,000 sq metre jumble sale packed with sales reps doing their damn hardest to persuade you that their brand is THE best thing since the sliced stuff.

Anyway, as a media savvy lot you’ve no doubt seen just about everything that went on at the show on the websites already so I’ll avoid a blow by blow. Here are a few things that I snapped over the weekend...

1 DMR had lots of nice complete builds on display and some new colours on the

components. Check out the ‘Oxblood’ bars and forks that are appearing in all the Dirt ads

roundabout now. Also some nice microdrive components on show and some new tyres. Not

much new to report from them.

Fifteen to one...Words and photos by Jamie Edwards

Cycle 2007 - Earls Court London.


2 HOPE had some pretty special bits on show. The big eye catcher was their 24”

kids bike that they’d made so their young ‘uns could have something decent to

ride. The frame was completely CNC’d except for the top and down tubes which were carbon... An amazing bit of kit and

definitely made me question whether my parents loved me enough. Their

website reckons they’ll do you a frame for £1200 if you want to give the young ‘un

something really special for xmas. Other bits included a new external bearing BB, a trick new LED light and some girly brakes with pink anodizing and flowery graphics/

disk etching. www.hopetech.com

3 BROMLEY BIKE CO had the Yeti fleet along with a gorgeous new version of the DJ hardtail in team green, white and black colours. They also had the current 303 on show

which is about to get an overhaul with a sleeker top tube and some subtle mods to lighten it up. Interestingly, there’s also a ‘Seven’ on the way that’s being touted as a ‘Noman

Killer’. Google it for some images. www.yeticycles.com www.bromleybike.co.uk

Fifteen to one...


http://www.hopetech.com

http://www.bromleybike.co.uk

4 2STAGE had made the long haul over from Kiwi-Land to show off their dual air-shock bikes. Apparently, one shock does the small bumps and the other does the big hits and locks out under pedalling. They’re bringing bikes in through Abbey Cycles in Liverpool or Craig MacMartin Cycles in Glasgow. No doubt we’ll be seeing more of them. www.2stagebikes.com

5 PASHLEY. Poshest bikes in the show by far! Can you guess what this leather satchel thing is for? Bottle of wine init! Classy... There was a definite ‘no’ to my questions about a re-entry into

the mountainbike and bmx game. They’d been there, done their bit

and are well and truly finished. Damn shame but no surprise.

www.pashley.co.uk/


http://www.2stagebikes.com/

6 SPECIALIZED had a mammoth stand. This years biggest innovation for Speccy (and a lot of other

brands) seemed to be fancy graphics with literally every bike coming in a tarty looking paint job. The new Demo

will be a white pin-stripe number with single crown 66’s (no-one seems to like triples anymore if the show is anything to go by...), the SX will be a kind of sunset orange and dark brown with trees down the top tube

(decked out with full Fox shocks). Also a couple of nice dirt jump complete builds. www.specializeduk.com

7 SCOTT had some really chunky looking hardtails on show and

their new gambler full suss looked pretty flash with loads of angle/

travel adjustment options. Much to my surprise... More jazzy paint

jobs. www.scottusa.com

Fifteen to one...


http://www.specializeduk.com

http://www.scottusa.com

8 Riding High UK – One of a small handfull of companies that really stood out over the weekend as being genuinley interested in their product and really happy to talk about riding, racing and having fun. I had good fun dropping by and chatting shit to Chris, Vicki and the other guys. On show were hundreds of Bergamont full builds... Including the Big Air Team – a 170mm travel, air sprung single pivot that looked like a right laugh. Also, their unnamed Gear Box bike that was catching a lot of eyes. 185mm travel with a Suntour box. There was also a couple of Canfield full-builds and lots of pimp Spank and Superfly components that gave me sticky fingers. Check out the tarty gold bits! www.RHUK.com

Fifteen to one...


http://www.RHUK.com

Fifteen to one...

9 Diamondback – another company that really stood out. I’ve spent the whole of the Lex article

elswhere in this issue spaffing over them so I’ll keep this short. The signature Lex street/dirt bike

was on show. As was, of course, the Sabbath which I managed a quick bounce on. They also

had a really interesting looking XTS Proto 7” bike that I’m gagging to test. Their product manager

Mike and team rider Lex Gross were on hand all weekend to answer questions and swat kids

away from the Sabbath... Both seem really keen to keep pushing DB in a really fresh direction.

Can’t wait. www.diamondback.co.uk

Fifteen to one...


http://www.diamondback.co.uk

12 – HANS BLOODY REY! So close I could have touched his Chocolate Foot, amazing! He was chatting about his Irish pub crawl with Peaty and assorted jet-set adventures before signing peoples boobs on the Hotwheels stand. A living legend and no mistake. www.hansrey.com

11 SE – The boys from Shiner Distro in

Bristol were set up opposite our stand

which made for a really nice distraction.

They had a pretty nice DJ-Flyer hardtail on show but by FAR the best bike of the

entire show was their 1982 UNRIDDEN

SE BMX. Priceless they reckoned. www.

sebikes.com

10 Extra – Had their trick M6 proto bike on show, kitted out with Cane Creek Doube Barel Shock and Whyte Bro’s forks. Due out June ‘08 They also had the Intense Slopestyle that appeared in Dirt a couple of issues back... Lovely Jubbly. www.extrauk.co.uk

Fifteen to one...


http://www.hansrey.com

http://www.sebikes.com

http://www.sebikes.com

http://www.extrauk.co.uk

http://www.extrauk.co.uk

13 Empire – The nice guys from Ride-On spotted us learing drunkenly at their bicycle after the exhibitors party and came over for a chat. The bike on show was apparently at Fort Bill but has never been ridden off road... Check out the factory graphics to write your shock settings on! They’ve got massive plans for Empire and are pretty confident the bike has got a few big brands watching them verrrry closely. They’ve also got some brand new ideas in the pipe-line so stay tuned. Nice guys, nice bike. www.empire-cycles.com

14 Charge – Best stand for sure. They had the whole thing done up

like a kitchen with all their bikes laid out on the work tops or in grubby

glass cabinets. The bikes are called the Stove, the Iron, the Plug...

Geddit? Check out team rider Lewis Lacey’s Ti ‘Grill’ race bike. Lush.

www.chargebikes.com

Fifteen to one...


http://www.empire-cycles.com

http://www.chargebikes.com

15 Iron Horse – The all new Sunday Elite thanks to UK distro Jim Walker. What was I saying about no-one liking triples anymore?! And look... A flash colour scheme! www.ironhorsebikes.com Fifteen to one...


http://www.ironhorsebikes.com

THIS IS-SUE HOSTED BY OUR FRIENDS ATFATTYRE.CO.UK go pay them a visit!

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THIS IS-SUE HOSTED BY OUR FRIENDS ATFATTYRE.CO.UK go pay them a visit!THIS IS-SUE HOSTED BY OUR FRIENDS ATFATTYRE.CO.UK go pay them a visit!

THIS IS-SUE HOST-ED BY OUR FRIENDS ATFATTYRE.CO.UK go pay them a visit!

It’s that great time of year when most people are out digging, changing jumps, building new lines. The summer, or should I say lack of summer, is gone far away and we are now left with the wet damp and cold time of year. Most people hate it but in the dirt jump world it’s the best time for digging and building those trails up ready for those summer sessions of next year.

Like with all trail spots not everyone knows about them unless it’s a forestry commission run park. Locations are hidden and kept secret to protect the trails and to keep them going. Five or six cars pulling up at a secret jump spot is not what you want the land owner to see as they are driving past on the way back from doing their shopping. If you are in the trail scene it is possible to find out where most jumps lie, if you are lucky you will get to ride the spot. If you are not in the scene it is hard to get to into some of these dirt jump playgrounds, purely because people don’t want them to be discovered and get shut down.

Gay trails had to be one of the best spots I had been to, built near enough by a one man digging machine and helped out sometimes by friends and fellow riders. Nick built one of the most creative sets of trails I have seen. It was more like a dirt track with a man built 13 foot roll in to a drop off into volcano’s, berms, seriously sick trails, and crazy step-up, step-downs. The take offs were quite mellow but with huge floaty gaps. The soil was nice and sandy meaning good drainage and all year round riding. Unfortunately after a fare few years of the gay trails existence the once cool land owner became frosty and scared of insurance come backs. The bulldozer went in to flatten the land. It was a sad day, but the same sad story as Histon.

Out with

the old & in with

the newWords and photos by Chris Smith

trailscene


Histon trails were very similar to the trails in “building the underground” (bmx trails film, if you have not seen it check it out, it’s rad!). The jumps were perfect sculptures built out of muddy clay. The line started with a wooden roll in, into about 7 jumps, some hipped, surface super smooth, like a roller had come in and done them. Big take offs, big gaps and some serious height. This place was built by three amazing bmxe-rs; Matt Bently, Over Sam and Mat Priest. Yet again a slightly scared land owner decided to go in and flatten the lot.

The amount of work and dedication that all these guys put into making these trails is unbelievable, after watching them grow jump by jump, then to seeing them being ploughed. It is so harsh. The land lays empty and abandoned. The “blame claim” world we live in is ruining all the fun and making it difficult for people to create their own little scenes.

These trails have all now been ploughed, god rest their souls. Battles are won, but wars are never over. The really good thing is after visiting places like any of these, it encourages people to go out and try and build their own spots; creating their own scenes. The people whose trails get ploughed look for new holy grounds and it all starts over again. But it is not all bad news; as two spots fall away into the dirt jump hall of fame, other spots will rise.

trailscene


A relatively new spot to the scene even though the builders are far from new, is Arctic trails. Hidden away next to a dual carriage way these trails have been springing up fast, built by a four man hit squad this place looks crazy. Lil Dan, one of the builders describes it as:

“A fun, unique place that makes great use of the amount of space and people”

The jumps are built out of golden brown clay also known as magic mud. Steps built into the terrain take you up the side of the descent to the roll in. As you roll around the corner and down the hill you hit a drop down into a transfer jump to the left, followed by a straight jump with a super smooth berm running left, left handed hip jump into a straight jump, another berm, racer jump, berm right, berm left into a double roller leaving just a hip jump and a 180 berm. The plan is to be able to loop around to beginning and to just keep going around and around, now that sounds fun! Lil Dan, Charlie, Over Sam and Matt have made an amazing set of trails, and by the look of it, will continue to grow.

There is no moral to the story. Just as it is winter and general biking depression sets in, we should remember the good times and make the best of the winter and get out riding no matter the climate. It is the same with DJ trails; every time another set of trails gets ploughed there is another set being dug! So, get out your spades this Christmas and go digging!

trailscene


Focus on FreeRide kitReviews by Elbry @ www.riderruncompany.co.uk and Paul Barker. Pics also by

Paul Barker www.myspace.com/ninjacam

KBC 2008 K-SERIES GOGGLE exclusive• What you are looking at are the very latest goggles from KBC. KBC have stepped

up with this pro level goggle for next year featuring tri-density foam (3 layers) that are each of a different density, thickness and are contour-moulded to create optimal fit and are finished off with a fleece outer layer for comfort.

• Next up we have the strap, like all good goggles it has a silcone strip to grip your lid and the high quality black strap with the KBC logo; look cool and understated.

• Next up we have the frame that KBC call their "Tactical frame". This means the goggle strap joins the goggles thanks to outriggers very much like the top end Oakley and Fox goggles. The out riggers are designed to balance pressure and create a better seal around your face. The frames will come in a range of colours and we loved the snow camos!

• Out in the woods the KBC goggle was liked by all testers, fogging was not a problem thanks to the snowboard style double glazed LEXAN lens and over the time we have tested the goggles the lens has proven to be better than most at being scratch resistant. The goggles fit real well inside D2/THE style lids as well as MX lids. The out riggers seem to eliminate all "goggle trampolining" inside any of the lids used and we all loved how incredibly comfortable the goggle was. The foam did its job of preventing any sweat from entering the goggles while the vision area was nice and wide and its clear to see KBC are about to launch one of the best goggles on the market in 2008. Replacement lenses in a range of tints will be available along with tear-offs for moto users.

Headworx seal point jacketThe Seal Point is the perfect showerproof jacket for an

active outdoors lifestyle of a MTB or mini bike rider. Light and comfortable the jacket works well for riding or chilling

down the pub, this jacket is made from nylon oxford ripstop fabric with a nylon mesh lining. Features include zippered

side and chest pockets, storm flapped chest zip, adjustable hood, toggle drawcord waist, velcro-adjustable cuffs,

mobile phone pocket and a drop tail design. The jacket says it is “Showerproof “, but it has held up to almost a year of wet-weather riding and also works well as a windblocker.

It makes a great freeriders jacket as its cut real well for riding and its drop tail saves your bum from getting muddy

on those winter rides. It’s only down side being it lacks arm pit vents that some MTB specific jackets have.

The best bit, this jacket is amazing value @ just £55!Available in Black or Charcoal (shown)

www.headworx.com


http://www.riderruncompany.co.uk

http://www.myspace.com/ninjacam

http://www.headworx.com

Crank brothers 50:50 pedalsDesigned for dh/freeride, these pedals are wide, flat, grippy and built to last. They come in two versions; the top spec 50:50XX with sealed roller/needle bearings and a two year warranty for rrp £64.99, or if your budget can’t stretch to that try the 50:50X with standard bearings and a one year warranty at rrp £34.99.

Thomson elite X4 stemThomson have been at the top of their game for many years now, and this stem shows why. USA made, CNC’d from solid billet 7000 series aluminium, you get the ultimate in lightweight strength. No welds or joints mean a clean, bombproof construction, designed to save your knees with no sharp edges or protrusions at the rear end. This stem is for oversize 31.8mm bars. rrp £74.99, although we’ve seen them for £59.99

Chris King headsetChris King products are a legend in the mountain bike world, and with good reason. Chris came up with his threadless headset design in 1976, and since then has built up a reputation for ever-lasting strength and performance. Construction is aluminium for the cups and caps, with stainless steel sealed bearings and base plate. This is a real fit & forget component; you’ll never need to worry about your headset again. Usually around the £125 mark, shop around for a bargain.

Azonic B-52 barsMade from state-of-the-art Super Scandium (whatever that is), these awesome bars are stronger and lighter than regular aluminium bars. Azonic are a big name on the freeride and DH scene, so you know if they say something is strong, you aint gonna break it. Available in standard 25.4mm or oversize 31.8mm stem-clamp size. They come super-wide so they’re ideal if you like a wide bar - we cropped an inch or so off each end to our preference and really couldn’t fault them for feel and design. RRP around £84.99


SIKSPAK Clothing100% made in the good old US of A comes SIKSPAK clothing. Designed by one of the worlds most creative designers in the dirt bike industry (Eli Bowman) and it shows. This rider run brands is as core as it gets. If you are looking for high quality underground products with some of the most hardcore anti-establishment designs then look no further than this range of tees, hats and beanies.tees £20caps £20beanies £18

www.riderruncompany.co.uk



Earthed 5 DVDby James Hilton

Hmmm, the law of fives? I think it should be more like the law of odds!

I’ve had every issue of Earthed now and I still count Earthed 1 as the classic, unsurpassed in many ways. Crisp editing, great action, good music - it’s the original and some say best. Earthed 2 was trying a bit too hard - it’s not one thing but all together doesn’t work as well. Earthed 3 (my favourite) is the perfect balance of everything and I love the closing Peaty section. The whole film makes me want to go ride! Earthed 4 is a disappointment, badly edited and it feels un-finished, doesn’t flow as well and then we have this, The Law of Fives and Alex Rankin’s latest instalment...

1st impressions?

It could also be called the Sam Hill show. No rider has dominated the scene more in the last few years than Sam has in 2007 and this is reflected by the coverage he gets here - it’s awesome to compare his style, lines, shapes and rather confused dead pan interview bits to the rest of the world’s best.

Hi-lights for me are Vigo 4X (carnage on an amazing course), the Athertons (mad mad mad in Wales) and the Sam Hill 1:04. The music is good, the editing works well, it feels part of the Earthed family, puts a smile on your face, some fun little interview/insights that fit perfectly, excellent record of events in 2007 and supports my law of odds reflection at the beginning of this review!

I’m not one to list every section and comment - go buy the film (or borrow a mates) for that. In summary, the best film of 2007, a good record, a must watch, great music, great editing and good feeling. Just perhaps a little too long?

http://www.dirtmag.co.uk/

smallscreen


Klunkerz DVD reviewby Scott Warnock

When Billy Savage got in touch with me a few months ago, I thought it was another keen avid reader, subscribing to the mag and maybe dropping me a message about his trails, pictures or trying to blag something! Only once I’d read his mail and done some tinterweb homework did I feel a little more humbled than that!

Billy comes from a slightly older generation than most of you, or me I hasten to add! However, from the hills of Marin County in California, Billy (‘humble filmmaker’) has documented his very own childhood heroes. No ordinary heroes though; these guys were the early pioneers and (possibly) the inventors of our very sport. You can certainly say that without these guys mountain biking wouldn’t have grown to what it is today. Billy says...“Growing up in Marin, they were my hometown heroes. This film is a love letter to my amazing childhood in Marin, and those guys who gave us so much.”

History, values and origins are all very important in culture, and for dirt bike fans, Klunkerz is an education that many of us have skipped, so sitting down to watch it was time well spent for me. So as to not give away an important history lesson I’ll sum it all up briefly…

With tales of “marijuana, it’s not just a recreation, it’s a way of life”, you know pretty soon that dirt bikes date back to the finest day of the hippy. Billy gets legends such as Gary Fisher in front of the camera to tell the tales of Klunkerz, back in an era of no boundaries, no rules and absolute pioneer-

smallscreen

dom (surely that should become a real word!) of the highest order. They took road racing and the idea of off road and melted it into one, and to do it they invented the most basic of bikes. Fat tyres, bigger rims, early 20th century bike frames, cruisers, this was back to basics!

They ragged their rigs to death, bodged parts from motorbikes, scrapyards, developed geometry, gearing, and bottom bracket heights…ultimately they developed their “Klunking” bikes (Klunkerz) into what has developed into the fastest growing sport on the planet.

What I love about this film is its raw message. You can change the weapon of choice into a modern Dh bike, a bmx custom build, DJ beast, or whatever, but these guys just wanted to ride. Fed up of road racing and competition, they just wanted to shred their trails up in the hills, and have fun. They dug out lines, they fell off and bodged their Klunkerz back together. Single speeders, no front brakes, these guys invented drifting!

Latterly the film explains how a bunch of friends end up in the industry, the perils of falling into a massive industry, supply chain issues and the age of mass manufacture in Asia. All in all a good tale from our sports’ fathers!

Anyway, before I ruin it all, go and find out where our sport originates, go watch it now. Check out the website for info.

www.klunkerz.com


http://www.klunkerz.com

methodIntro by Jamie Edwards, Scott Warnock

Last month we introduced you to METHOD. In this section we’re going to look at how we can make ourselves better on two wheels. Whether it’s gunning for the top step of the podium or just to claw back your mates lead round the local trails...This is our “How To” section on fitness, wellbeing, how to improve you, and your riding. We wont be telling you to buy this or that, as buying “new stuff” doesn’t really work anyway, and if you think otherwise, then look up the phrase “all the gear and no idea”.

We’ll be talking to people from all over the sport, listening to their advice and piecing it together to see what we can learn. No miracle cures or step by step tutorials, just the sound advice of those who know. What you do with it is up to you!

To start off we’re looking at one of the most basic, most fundamental demands of riding a bike – regardless of your chosen discipline. Fitness. Sure enough you can ride without being overly fit but with a bit of extra effort you can get relatively instant results. More control on the bike, more speed out the turns, more juice in your legs to sprint and pump. More fun and longer rides that don’t leave you breathing out of your arse. All obvious stuff.

This is a long term section of the mag, but for this month, we step it up with a 3 pronged attack. First off, to get you ready for a more regular fitness regime, Elbry takes us through some fundamental stretching exercises. Then we have Alan Milway who takes us through planning your winter fitness, and what you should be thinking about and aiming for in structuring a weekly diet of exercise, and not chips. Lastly, and to ram the point home, we have Simeon, an Osteopath who’s met many a knackered bikers bag of bones, who reaffirms why your body is the best tool you have and why it requires more care than your rig does.

Stretch yourself... some fool proof basics for your limbsby Elbry

As a basic start, we have some basic pre-ride and after ride stretching that should make you ride better and also keep nasty muscle injuries at bay. These should be a long termer starting now, for all riders! First of a word of caution: please make sure you stretch using fluid movements and do not make any jerking body movements. And clearly, if you feel any pain stop right away.

Getting down to itJust hold all the stretches for 5 seconds at a time to start with, once you have done this for a few weeks, you can then build this up by five seconds at a time until the point where you are holding for ~20 seconds. Also these fitness stretches can be done in the week or before you go to the gym etc and are things you can do all year round. Get to it...

Number one rule, if you’re going for a run/jog, or a training ride, OR ANY RIDE, make sure you stretch before and after. And remember, its not all about the bike. Not a great thing to say in a bike mag, but seriously, its not. Why not think of doing some rock climbing, mini biking, jogging, surfing or going for a swim? It all counts.

Calf Stretch

Thigh Stretch

Upper Body Twist

Leg Stretch

Shoulder Rotation


Fitnessby Alan Milway – MXFitness.co.uk

Looking to fill your time with some things to work on over the winter...Why train you ask? And train on what you may also be thinking. Along with the obvious route of doing more practice on a downhill bike on a mixture of challenging tracks, there are lots of other routes that will help us to achieve our full potential.

Fitness training plays a vital role in allowing us to go flat out whilst still maintaining technique and hitting the lines we want. A simple example of this takes me back to the first year Fort William had an NPS and me and some friends travelled up to hit the longest track around. In practice as everyone cased out the track we were all pretty happy with it and having loads of fun. The jumps on the ‘motorway’ section were fun and fast and all was good. However, come race run and many of us were hitting the track for the first time in a full run. We were rubbish! Lactic acid had a tight, painful grip on my thighs and my shoulders were sod all use at pulling on the bars. The bike did what it wanted! That really kicked it home that fitness was integral to being half decent on a downhill bike.I agree that more time spent on that track and more time spent doing full runs would have obviously helped. But how many people are in a position to do this during the week ready for the weekend? I think the main point is that training is the perfect supplement for a weekends riding and racing. It allows you to put your body through physically challenging demands and to prepare for similar demands when your out on the downhill bike at the weekend.

This time of the year is hard. There’s not much racing, pretty grim weather and only the race calendar and lure of shiny new ’08 kit to keep the interest alive. For many the ‘idea’ of riding is still really cool, but the reality of getting soaked and muddy is not so glamorous or appealing.

To help with the motivation have a look back at what you achieved this year and what you want to achieve next season. It is important to have in your head what you want to get from your riding as this will help motivate you. If racing success is what you want, you are going to need to be prepared to dedicate time to this. Training, riding and travelling all form the basis of racing and expecting to do well at a National with little or no preparation pre-season may well lead to disappointment. There are lots of riders willing to sacrifice time and effort into making themselves faster than you…

Training for downhill racing is different to many other cycling disciplines. Road cyclists and cross country cyclists require phenomenal endurance capacity and one of the only ways to truly achieve this is by putting in many miles on the bike. There is little ‘skill’ to a road race and training for racing is relatively straightforward. Crudely put... ‘The more the better’.For downhill racers the situation is very different. The performance is not purely judged on fitness – you can be beaten by someone less fit, or less strong than you. Skill is the main parameter. However skill alone will still not make you successful! Riders need a combination of various fitness attributes too; from good endurance to ride all day long, good power output in the legs to go as hard as you can for the race duration, and also good upper body strength to improve your control on the bike. Some of the best riders are not always the most physically developed and some may question the need for it, but strength does not always mean ‘big muscles’ and a

method very good rider will still become better with a more structured strength training plan. Strength also plays an important role in helping you resist injury – another important consideration. Getting Started Pre-season is an ideal time to put together a routine. The first area to address is endurance.

Many riders lack regular riding mid week during the winter so evening/night rides or spin classes in the gym are a great way to improve your endurance base. Road bikes are a great tool and offer a good way to effectively train. There is no way you can take a jump/ downhill bike out for 30 miles so don’t try and go down that route!

This ‘Base’ of your fitness is vital as you cannot effectively work on higher intensity (and more race specific) training without a good, thorough cardio endurance base so look to try and get out and spin your legs for prolonged durations. The more frequently the better. Don’t go at the rides ‘full guns blazing’. You should be riding at a steady, maintainable pace to get the results required. 1.5 hours at medium intensity is much better at this stage than 45mins flat out.

Another area to work on and start to try and progress with is strength training. Weights training is fundamental to many sprint based sports and BMX riders and track cyclists all have very developed weights training programmes. The first step is to learn the techniques involved in free weights training. Weights machines are ok for certain muscle groups and their development but free weights allow much more ‘real life’ situations and also train in a closed chain manner which means numerous joints and muscle groups are brought into action... As occurs when riding your bike.

It is difficult to address all the issues here with regards to weights training but as a basic piece of advice, many people have poor technique as they want to lift as much as the beefcake next to them. Don’t be pressured into this kind of thing. Technique is key to developing strength, preventing injury and progressing into power training and plyometric training (Google it) – so get it right!

Obviously how much and how often you try will depend on what you can cope with and all exercise should focus on duration more than intensity to begin with. There’s no point going for a huge effort on a Sunday if it takes you days to recover from it! I don’t think anyone needs to exercise for over 2hours unless they are well trained. I would suggest two sessions per week to start with. This could start off quite easily by riding to work a couple of days a week or a jog at lunch time.

Building it upIn my experience it is hard for people to do more than 3 times a week – even with the best will in the world. Unless you are a dedicated professional (or a student with a lot of time on your hands and an appreciation that there is more to life than £2 a pint) 4-5 days a week is hard to stick to.

If you can manage something structured twice a week you can build to 3 times a week. I try breaking it into 2 cardio, 1 weight session to begin with. Then weekend is for having fun and doing something active.


http://www.MXFitness.co.uk

Pre-SeasonYou really need a good 6-8 weeks of steady stuff before focusing on specific race training. Then ‘race training’ will ideally be another 6 weeks bringing you up to the first national. Around February is the time for more specific work.

My advice would be that if you find it difficult to exercise too much, have had a lazy winter or been ill, then stick to steady riding...but if you want to improve your riding you need to be working on changing the whole structure of your training.

Instead of steady road rides you will be doing sprint intervals. A lot of people are still going out on 1-2hour steady road rides during the season as race training which is very wrong and does not help your racing at all really. It is the foundations, nothing more. There is plenty of time to go into that in more detail later though...

Training should be fun, rewarding and help you have more fun come the weekend and the downhill bike is cracked back out to hit the track. After all we all just want to go faster eh?

Thanks to Alan for the words of advice... Check out his website at mxfitness.co.uk and keep an eye out for more of his wisdom in Wideopen and on Descent-world.co.uk

All the gear, no idea?by Simeon www.wellstreetclinic.co.uk

Hi my name is Simeon, I’m an Osteopath, and I am an addict! I’ve been trying to quit for years, but I’ve just got to get my regular fix; hoping it will make me better, but it never does. The dealer always seems to have some new thing to try so I keep on buying.

It’s not drugs, it is worse…it’s trick kit, bike bling, things I don’t need!

The sad fact is that there is the sad consumer junkie in all of us, desperately hoping and dreaming of being able to lay down enough hard cash, or worse, credit, to buy ourselves better with kit. There is a good antidote to all this, and the best of all it costs a whole load less than a world class down hill rig.

We’re already owners of the most highly evolved biological machine on the planet, and if it doesn’t feel remotely like that then you haven’t got anywhere close to your potential yet……being a bug-eyed, adrenaline wired head the ball can be an advantage downhill. But skills and fitness are better insurance against high speed tree hugging, career and life changing accidents.

Lots of you are probably switching off now because fitness training is dull, hard and mostly reserved for weird pain loving, lycra-gimp-roadies and X-Country fans.

But get real, if you really want to get better and last longer you’ve got to put in some extra time and effort into getting where you want to be. My day job is all about trying to help people get better, and helping their bodies cope more efficiently with the physical abuse they’re getting in work and at play. Most of the walking wounded I treat could have avoided some of their pain and suffering by being physically fitter.

method The cause of the majority of problems I find with the downhill bikers I treat is the lack of core stability, and poor leg strength and endurance. No matter how many times you throw yourself down your local course it just won’t make you strong enough.

So, what is core stability you ask?Basically it’s having a torso (chest, back and abs.) flexible and strong enough to absorb the shock and generate the power required for co-ordinated limb movement. In other words, if you’ve got a flabby gut or a weak back then your legs and arms can’t do their stuff.

Hammering downhill puts big demands on this, as your whole body is acting as a shock absorber to keep your head still and eyes level. A weak back, a wobbly head means crap balance – it’s as simple as that.

Having legs like bambi can be a serious disadvantage in two ways. They’re your main form of propulsion, shock absorption and power. That’s not rocket science, but it is fact. However, having legs like twiglets is mighty hard on your knees – one of the body’s most vulnerable joints. Thigh and calf muscles control and minimise the strain on all the knee structures so if they’re not strong, you’re asking for trouble.

If I’ve just described you to a “T”- don’t despair. We have the power to rebuild you! If you’re already physically perfect and at 100% of your max, then take a day off. Seriously, the other thing I’ll talk about in a future issue is how chillin’ and taking the weight off can make you stronger.

Although 8 cans of wife beater and 2x12” pizzas might wipe out the benefit.If you’re itchin’ to get in the kitchen, it could be a nasty skin condition or perhaps you could do better than another pizza for essential fuel. We’ll get on to nutrition and hydration at a later date.

If you’ve got an interesting, painful or hard to cure ailment, stop bitchin’ about it and email me at [email protected] and I’ll try and send you the right advice on how to ease your suffering. In the mean time, if you want to be tragically keen and impress your teacher (that’s us!) you could do a lot worse than try to get into some good habits.

If this is all too much, take a deep breath and relax. In future issues there will be something on relaxation and visualisation…over to you.

Thats all folks. That should either have switched you off (meaning you’re a lazy bar steward), or motivated you and maybe even shocked you. For those at the top of their game, it either embarrassed you or you didn’t finish reading it cos you had to go for your weekly siwm.

3 clear messages folks. Stretch before you do any exercise. Get a fitness regime planned, started and built up over the next few months. If you dont, you’ll be waaaaaaaay behind come issue 6. And lastly, now you know the most important part you need to maintain, and why.


http://www.mxfitness.co.uk


http://www.descent-world.co.uk

http://www.wellstreetclinic.co.uk


trailsceneSo this is your part, in part.

Whats going on at your trails?

If you’re one of the few riders out there

sacrificing hours to pour blood and

sweat into building trails then Wideopen

wants to hear from you.

Send us the stories from your

trails, adverts for your dig days or

simply some news on what’s going

down. Everything and anything to

[email protected]

FreeRide News….from ElbryFreshly squeezed juicey news for you from life in the Free Valley

By Wideopen regular and owner of www.riderruncompany.co.uk Elbry.

• Starting off with some industry stuff, Cornwall is the new home of Silver-Fish; the importer and distributor of products such as RaceFace and Rocky Mountain. So

if you are after finding a local dealer, their number has changed, check out www.silverfish-uk.com for site updates from Pete Drew and the team.

• Hotlines www.hotlines-uk.com are another distributor based in Cornwall that seem to be feeding most of the UK with freeride brands, such as Straitline for ‘08. If you’re in the market for a new hop-up part you will not go far wrong with their range. Hotlines have also picked up the job of importing Manitou forks. The ‘08 range looks to be great value, and if the problems of the past few years are behind the big M brand, then they could be a big player again in the freeride market over the coming years. We will keep you posted on any new products coming down the pike.

• Wind-wave www.windwave.co.uk the distributor of Marzocchi look set to have a bumper 2008. The new freeride/all mountain 55 fork looks to be a massive seller here in the UK and Jim “I’m soon to be a daddy” Davage will be rocking 55’s next year on his slopestyle rig.

• Funn have started its own distribution site/company called 2026 www.2026distribution.com run by former Muddy Fox team boss Ben Cox. 2026 will also look after sister brand perv bmx and be the new importers of German brand ‘Last’.

• Paul Barker who part owns RiderRun Co www.riderruncompany.co.uk the distributor of brands like MDE bikes has got all ECO like his company, and has even sold his much loved skyline! The RiderRunCO freeride team have picked up

support from Halo wheels, KBC helmets and www.Rip.tv On Rip news it looks like the next Drop-in TV series will be a Euro one! Stay linked to the RRC site for updates on that one.

• 24-7team rider Sam Pilgrim looks set to focus on Slopestyle next year and I know this guy has the skills to take on the worlds best so look for him at the euro events.

• Sadly this year’s washed out SS events seem to have put a damper on 24-7 team rider Chris Mahoney focusing on SS events next year. Look for Chris to be back doing more BMX events on the new 24-7 bmx complete that they have just launched. Last bit of 24-7 news has to be the sale on its DH3 pro big mtn freeride bike, from £1800 to less than £1,000! Hurry if you want a Xmas bargain!

• A blast from the past…Darren Tapp is back riding! The former MBUK cover boy and former fat chance and Yeti team rider is back freeriding down with the east devon locals @ my spot (after about 10 years out) and looks to be an every weekend charger again.

• Work starts next month (Jan the 8th) on Eshers all new slopestyle area. Also updates at esher from Rob.C are that the "Stuntgod" line has been refreshed with new clay, chicken wire and the run-out berm has been re-built, work will soon start on "the drop zone" in the blue / red area of the park and a replacement trail for the old "see-saw drop" .

• Haldon are posting up build days down at the trails. So if you are an Exeter/Haldon local, help build things in your area by checking for notices of future build days! Chicksands are building its new flowing shore and its looking good, very good!

Check www.smokeriders.co.uk for all the latest shore pics.• Plans have been put forward for a new Huck @ Okey shore and a new line could be on the cards for next summer!

Triscombe guys (Dwain, Alex,Simon) are building a new DH/freeride Jump track with all the jumps being over 20 foot, stay tuned for more updates on this place and the super booster they are building to send you 30/40 foot down the trail. More work has been going on down at THE-TRACK in Cornwall with wallrides etc. Look for a report on this place in the future.

• Chris Smith dropped us a mail to say his sponsorship will be the same as this year. Props to Grant fielder for his section in the new NWD-8, which is now out! It’s been a long time since King and Davis were in Kranked.

• For me 2008 can not come soon enough, a blown knee has seen me out of action for a while so far this winter, but I’m going to be shredding again any day now.

• What’s new for ‘08/’09? It’s all about the neck brace!...See www.leatt-brace.com and www.vitalmx.com and maybe

you should think about one in the future! Also from the UK we have the Neck-protects from www.frosystems.com These have just gone on sale as we write this, the Leatt are the top of the range items at £300 and the Fro’s come in at £150.

• Wrapping up the news, here’s a look at Jim Davage’s bike for you to look over and also the great news that kel www.epicimages.co.uk and Jim are about to have a sprog in the new year!

• Until next time have a good Xmas and new year and if you have any freeride news then drop us a mail

[email protected]

Frame: BMW SR6 with fox shock 6" travel

Fork: Marzocchi 66 ATA soon to be 55 ATAHubs: Hope pro2

Rims: Atomlab PimplitesTyres: Tioga square 8

Bars: Easton Havoc 50mmBars: Easton Havoc 2" rise

Seatpost: Easton EC70Seat: Atomlab

Brakes: Hope mono M4Cranks: Profile 175mm

Chainring: Profile Imperial 33 tooth

Pedals: Atomlab AircorpsShifter: XT

Cassette: Dura ace 12-23Chain: Sram hollow point

Mech: Ultegra 10Headset: Cane creek IS8 ISeat clamp: Profile slim jimGrips; ODI intense lock-ons

Bar bungs: Hope


http://www.wideopenmag.co.uk/

http://www.riderruncompany.co.uk/

http://www.silverfish-uk.com

http://www.silverfish-uk.com

http://www.hotlines-uk.com

http://www.windwave.co.uk

http://www.2026distribution.com


http://www.Rip.tv

http://www.smokeriders.co.uk/gallery/Chicksands251107

http://www.leatt-brace.com/gpx_product.asp

http://www.vitalmx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=0&Itemid=64&media_type=pro&media_id=196&media_owner=1180

http://www.frosystems.com

http://www.epicimages.co.uk

http://www.epicimages.co.uk


Next Issuestaff

Aaron Bartlett VIDEO EDITOR [email protected]

Jamie Edwards ASSOCIATE EDITOR [email protected]

James Hilton PRODUCER [email protected]

Scott Warnock EDITOR [email protected]

contributorsEvery month the contributors to Wideopen change. This month we’d like to thank the following people for their contribution to the latest issue.

thankyouThanks to all the forums who allowed us to publicise to date, and to those that picked it up and posted it across the world. Word is spreading :)

Issue 6 March 2008

Out beginning of March. [submission deadline 1/2/2008]

Race series previewsParklifeFour Seasons and the usual reviews, photos and ramblings.(but hey - you don’t expect us to get this right do you?)

Paul Barker (www.myspace.com/ninjacam)Andrew ‘Kung’ Browning (www.randombmx.com)Pat Cambell-Jenner (www.identitibikes.com)Mike DeereElbry (www.riderruncompany.co.uk)Justin Fisher Cooke (www.foeldhriders.co.uk)Ste Larking (www.fearingout.co.uk)Ian Linton (www.ianlinton.com)Alan Milway (www.mxfitness.co.uk)Oke Ogali (www.kchuk.co.uk)Matt O’NeillSimeon (www.wllstreetclinic.co.uk)Chris Smith (www.smokeriders.net)James Smith (www.ftmb.net)


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