Swansea Uni Bike Club - Update

Half the term has flown by already! I thought it would be a good point to post an update on the uni club. I think we are really set to achieve a lot this year and so far have had an absolutely awesome start. The more "pedally orientated guys" went up for the Student Hillclimb Championships on the weekend and absolutely rocked, taking the team win for Swansea. Pete Greenwood won the individual despite being new to racing and riding a mountain bike! Some serious props being handed out to those guys, that is some real bravery/insanity racing up a hill, from what I have heard the celebrations after were equally impressive! The bar has been set though and definitely a challenge for the rest of us to keep Swansea high in the BUSA rankings.


The Downhillers were also out in force with the final round of the Dragon held up in Caerphilly. The welsh weather played its part as ever to provide interesting conditions for the weekend. Will Soffe and Jack Malone were representing for Swansea. Will ended up taking 5th in the senior, we should see him dominating the podiums next season!

We had a club ride up at Cwmcarn the weekend before last which was a great blast. The riding was dominated by hangovers thanks to Alex throwing one of the best house parties I have been to the night before. This definitely left me Jack and Sion farely well written off for the morning! Once the head had cleared though the riding was awesome. CwmCarn definitely has to be one of my favourite tracks in terms of sheer fun. All in all it has a perfect combination of flat out sections, switchbacks, that tight techy black run through the trees and then of course the jumps. I think I have finally got over my fear of jumping a full suss, mainly thanks to turning the rebound up to a sensible level! There was some good banter going on, I have to say Monet winding Jack up on the bus was absolutely classic, I am not sure I have ever seen a grown man that embarrassed! The uplift service up there is running really well they were fully booked up and yet the service was still slick and we still got loads of riding in, well recommended.

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Some Philosophical Rambling!

Went up to Tredegar today with Sion and Jack, the van was absolutely rammed full of bikes and we were all stoked for a quality days riding. We ended up ditching the DH idea and heading back via Caerphilly trails. Filly is riding mint at the moment, we had an awesome impromptu session. The bikes have been a bit neglected recently, getting out today reminded me just how good it is to be out having a laugh with your mates. I have just caught the surf bug again and have been out 3 or 4 times a week. A good session is immense, chilling out the back with mates and then all charging for the same waves, sun going down and that really calm feeling that comes from lying out on the sea. It still doesn't stand up to biking though, biking has so much buzz, one run down the hill and you have a stupid grin on your face, that doesn't depend on weather conditions! A hill will always be a hill. I think it is important to keep it mixed up and try other things, when you pick the bike back up it gives you so much appreciation for the sport. Nothing makes more sense than two wheels and a hill!

I have been back in Swansea for getting on a month now. The start of term is mental so much getting crammed in, partying mainly! It has been absolutely awesome fun and great to catch up with old mates as well as meeting some new ones. I am running the DH/DJ side of the bike club this year which is really exciting. I think we have more than 60 riders signed up which rocks. Took the DH lot up Clyne on Wednesday and theres definitely a few guys showing some serious talent which should give some of us old boys a bit of a kick to sort our act out! This year looks stacked already with a load of trips and races planned, should be off the hook!

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Dirt Jump/Trails Video: Woburn and Caerphilly

Was up at Woburn on the weekend here is the video with a bit of action from Caerphilly thrown in, story and pics to follow.

Riders: Robbie Rickman, Kenny Howard and Chris Barnard. Filming by Fred Rickman

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Mini road trip - Wales

The plan was to hit Caerphilly trails Friday, party in Bristol, Still woods on Saturday then onto Swansea for more partying and a quick session at Clyne. Filly was awesome proper techy trails steep sniper landings, made it all the way to the end of the main line for the first time ever! Stoked on that.

Kenny at filly

Stayed over at Andys in Bristol. Checked out The Hatchet, recommended quality pub. Then onto The Academy. Good old British weather kicked in the next day, torrential rain and Still woods are definately not a recommended combo! The day wasn't so successful John came off on a berm twisting his ankle badly, obviously in a lot of pain. He sat out and watched as another rider came off a drop and lost control on the landing shoulder barging one tree and then into another rugby tackling it taking the full impact on his chest. He managed to get up laughing but not after we all legged it down the hill, definately one of the gnarliest crashes Ive witnessed in person, scary. Eventually John made it back to the car and Ken took him to hospital! V. Ironic! (there is a long history of Kenny destroying hims elf and getting scraped up by John!) It turns out he broke his leg and is needing operations, pins and plates, not good.

Small River Drop on the BFe

Up at Clyne Sunday a little dryer and could actually get some riding in! I was shocked to see someone has altered one of my favourite tracks and in my opinion not for the better. It used to be quality low risk fun that was super greasy making any cornering almost impossible. It was all about getting muddy and sliding about, mostly without the bike! Now someones dug in berms the whole way up. I appreciate someone putting the work in but it still killed an awesome trail in my eyes. Anyway shame, rant over! We had a bit of a play and then headed over to the river drops. There are 2 large drops down by the river that drop onto an awesome steep landing the smaller one is prob 8-10ish foot drop and has a nice gap to it the bigger one is more 12-15ish and is literally a straight drop. It feels mental, big enough to actually be really aware of falling. I hit the smaller one on the BFe making it by far the biggest thing Ive hit on a hardtail and was getting tempted by the bigger one, might have to head back with the full face and body armour when I get back. Spanish-Dave hit the smaller one which was awesome to see, if not a bit scary as it is the biggest thing hes ever tried. It looked like he was about to chicken out right before leaving the lip was getting worried, but he nailed it perfectly. Awesome!

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Redhill Extreme 4X National Champs

Sorry bit of a late report! but here goes....

Having only ridden the new bike twice the idea of my first race being the National Champs was a bit daunting. Turning up at Redhill in the Forest of Dean was definately reassuring the atmosphere was very relaxed considering it was the champs. The track looks over the severn estuary a hay bailer was collecting Hay, a load of old V-Dubs were driving about and plenty of bottles of cider could be seen. The scene was a rural timewarp intruded on by the 4X race scene.

The track itself was fun and reminded me a lot of the Hornton Hill setup. The guys running the centre really are sound and have big plans for the place. Everything originally was built to cater for mountainboards but now they are planning to move in the bike direction and along with the track have started work on some trails and rumours of even a slopestyle setup. The mountainboard jumps are big and slack and well worth a visit if your new to jumping and want to try some bigger jumps without having to worry about trails and steep landings.

Racing saw all the action happen at the start. the first double was tight as everyone pushed for a good line into the first corner making it very easy to get squeezed out. This consisted of a loose drifty set of steps into a rhythem section or a sketchy big triple that only Will Evans and Yeomans were jumping come the race. A lot of good riders come down hard attempting it though! By this point everyone was fairly strung out and not much overtaking went on. The second straight lead onto a big berm with a sneaky inside line that was easy to over shoot. More doubles and into a tight right hander with a hip on the inside, down over a pair of tables the second definately being on the large side which charged you into a flat grass corner to the finnish. Overall the track is really good fun and its good to see some proper Pro lines but it definately needs some work to try tighten up the racing and allow more overtaking.

The Champs race was one of the scariest things ive done, the Elites and Experts all race in the Senior category so I was directly racing against the fastest riders in the country. The format is based on the world cup format where you get a timed seeding run and then straight knock out. The timed run was incredibly nerve wracking. Im used to timed runs but this felf a lot more pressurised not being up in the woods on your own. Wasnt my best run to say the least! I got knocked out in the first round and came 3rd in the moto. It was a good race up against fellow Swansea rider Will Evans which was cool though he left me chasing his tracks! I ended up coming in 3rd in the moto which I was stoked with. This put me 22nd overall.

Racing on Sunday was back to the usual format of 4 motos plus semis and finals, so plenty of racing went down. Motos was a bit of a mixed performance on my front. First moto was awesome got a good start charging in second and managed to cut in on the inside on the second corner to take the win. 2nd moto I lined up on the start gate and looked down to see my cranking hanging off, with no 8mm allen keys about I had to ride one legged (more challenging than it looks!) and came in in 4th, 3rd moto came 3rd. Last moto I won only to find they had called the wrong person and so it had to be re-run only to finnish in 3rd, I guess thats racing for you. Again quarters didnt go my way I got squeezed on the first jump which left me at the back of the pack and took 3rd in the moto getting knocked out in the process.

All in all it was a quality weekends racing. Id highly recomend checking out Redhill, Niel and the guys have done an excellent job creating an official centre which has both planning permission and insurance. The potential for the place is huge it just needs us to all turn out to get money to develop.

Check them out at www.redhillextreme.co.uk

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Andover BMX track

Here are some pictures from tuesdays gate practice at Andover

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Cotic BFe

Whilst away a collection of boxes has been building up at my house, containing a new Cotic BFe ready to be built up into a lightweight 4X bike. The bike is looking awesome I have managed to get it down the BMX track since building it and all I can say is the bike is too easy! Coming off a 24" cruiser which really needs working to pick up speed and to get over the jumps. This bike seems to float over with so much less effort. My brother has already started complaining saying it is an unfair advantage! At the first session at Andover BMX track I managed to clear the whole track not only forwards but backwards aswell! something I have never been able to do before. The BFe is specced out with Rockshox Pikes, Hope brakes and a collection of Bontrager parts. The frame size is a small and the whole build tips the scales at about 32lbs. Check out the pics:

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Megavalanche 07

Dave, Kenny Andy and Me above Alpe d'Huez

This was the big trip of the year, heading down to Alpe d'Huez for the second time to compete in the Mega. I know for James and Kenny this has been a long time coming, James didn't even make it to the end of qualifying last year after breaking his arm about 10 meters from the finish and kenny got air lifted off the mountain two thirds of the way down the mountain on the main race. We were definately looking for a bit more success this time round! With us were the 5 of us from last year plus some Mega newbies all psyched by the stories and vids they had seen. Last year I had qualified at the front of the 2nd group and was hoping to make it into the first group this time round.

The Group missing me John and Eamon,
from left to right: Dave, Mike, James, Joe, Tom, Kenny, Andy.

The trails at Alpe d'Huez are amazing. The riding is all very natural lots of tight winding singletrack loads of switchbacks and not much in the way of fire roads. First day in and I was regretting having done Rheola the previous weekend, the lower bushings in my 888's had become seriously worn causing the forks to lock out on sharp hits. I only discovered this after being sent over the bars twice on the first run tweaking my ankle badly in the process. The next day was possibly more painful though with my bank account being emptied to fund a new pair of forks! This was not the end of the bad luck, James twisted his knee which put him out for the rest of the week and John came off on the switchback trail down to Oz that then became known as "Bast@#d Track!" resulting in a badly swollen hand. Even the weather wasn't going all our way the first few days were wet and cold, not the dry hot dusty conditions we were expecting, John was moaning a bit as I had made him leave his mud tyres back in England!

Waiting at the start of the Sprint race in Oz

With the Mega you get three races the sprint race that is a 5 minute long downhill race, the qualifying and the main event. The sprint track is amazing, I would go back straight away to ride that track. The track changed from last year with a rock section being removed and being replaced by a steep roll into a flat out bermed set of turns that felt like were taken straight from a motocross track and which I was absolutely loving. The track itself is steep and fast, the top section was a bit pedaly for my liking but once you dropped down the first lot of rocks it was full on. It sends you flying into big loose turns, rock wall rides before becoming really dusty and drifty. Then it tightens up a bit into a wooded section where there is a steep narrow rooty chute that spits you straight at a 90 degree corner with a tree on the other side to stop you, this got challenging as I was experiencing serious brake fade by this point and having to slam the bike around to get through. This lead into a long fast fire road before dropping into more steep rougher turns that were hitting hard on the hands. The finished emerged following a series of flat out off camber grass corners. First race run I managed to run one of the Aberystwyth boys off the track, he pulled out of the way and then slipped off the edge, probably not the best move as they were all staying in our hotel! I came in with a time of 5:15, Aim for next run was a sub 5 min run. Didn't quite get it though ending up with 5:06 which was enough to sneak me into the top 100 with 99th place! I later discovered my chain had decided to re-route itself over the top of my chain device, hence lack of pedaling, or at least a good excuse for it! The Finals turned out to be a good show, Si Paton was on the commentary drumming up the English-French rivalry, the top times were coming in around the 4 and a half minute mark. The riders were charging into the finish section. Ben Cathro was flying and got a huge wobble on on the last corner just holding it to take 5th and top Brit.

Thursday we headed over to Les Deux Alpes. The scene was a lot more lively this side of the hill, more touristy and more going on. Getting on the lifts was more of a fashion show with all the snowboarders about, am glad DH still isn't trendy! The riding at Deux Alpes is again switchback after switchback. One track we named scallextric was quality. It had every type of corner in it and wound down for ages through a valley, definately helping push everyones cornering skills. The black run was the first thing I have ever ridden that really deserves the title. It was super steep with big chutes and gullies that had the back wheel being dragged the whole way, it was like having an engine release the brake and get silly acceleration. There were even a few stupid drops into even sillier landings, not even Ken was tempted. Final run of the day was on a trail that finished down by the river. this was one of the most fun trails Ive ever ridden. It was made up of berm after berm the ground was loose and the speed flat out. Each corner the drift was getting pushed a bit further foot out moto style, awesome!

Tom, Kenny, Andy, Joe, Mike and Me resting halfway down the qualifying track.

The Mega qualifying is probably one of the best bits of the hole week. The track is mint long enough to be a challenge but short enough that you don't have to worry about pacing yourself too much and can absolutely rag it from the start. The start line is at the top of a set of fireroad switchbacks leading to a wide open rocky area with patches of snow loads of lines and some pretty hairy drops and gaps if you take the wrong path. Down from here a fireroad takes you to the top of track 2, one of my favourite tracks at the resort. This is a proper downhill track narrow, rocky lots of sketchy inside lines on the corners. Then theres a bit of an xc loop to a climb over the other side of d'Huez into some scary fast singletrack with huge exposure on one side, the views are awesome but you are oblivious as you are fully focused on trying to stick to the narrow single track. This leads into hundreds of switchbacks, I was having serious problems on this section, I was loving it too much getting a bit excited and flying way to hot into the corners, I think the guys had to fish me out of the hedge several times the first day we did it. second time we hit this section it was still wet and all the turns were super greasy. It was like being back in wales sliding about everywhere, load of fun! Following this is some mega fast fireroad which is good for picking up a few positions and then into more singletrack with a big rockgarden and some bus stops to finish.

Dave, John, Andy and Me at the start of the qualifying race.

Qualifying didn't exactly go my way. I was at the back of the grid (incentive to get your entries in early) and had to make some ground up. In front of me in the grid was one of the ancillotti boys in yellow, knowing they are quick riders I set myself the challenge of keeping on his tail. As the helicopters circled and the tapes were lifted, the chaos began. Most people seem pretty intimidated by that number of riders around them, bmx racing is good training so with elbows out I found a line on the outside charging past loads of people, cutting in in the corners, t-boning the odd person. through the rock section the helicopter was about 5m off the ground chasing us down. Absolutely buzzing, pedaled all the way to track 2 here managed to get past a few people on inside lines in the corners, there was a about 6 riders in a chain in front of me being held up by a slower rider determined to get passed I cut across a load of rocks that cut off a big ox bend only to come smashing over the top into a jagged rock which gave me a flat. By the time id got the rear axle off and wrestled with the tyre everyone in the group was long gone. The aim now was to make it to the bottom without getting overtaken by anyone from the next qualifying group. after the climb (which i stayed on and pedaled up to the cattle grid!) I had caught a few of the back markers then heard 2 irate Frenchmen on my tail that were absolutely hauling down the singletrack. I thought off the brakes was fast these guys were fully on the pedals! The next rider from their group didn't catch me until half way through the switchbacks so they must have had a considerable lead. Andy had a stormer of a qualifying run, after I dumped the bike and sat down I looked round to see Andy come through in 18th putting him ahead of Nico on the grid. I was disappointed with qualifying but at the same time felt an achievement as I had put a huge amount more effort into pedaling than last year, it made me realise i do have the fitness but am just usually too scared of using it!

Me and John representing for Swansea

Main race was a bit of an anti-climax. Qualifying at the back put me in the "Mega Affinity" This meant no mass start just riders being trickled off. One of the most memorable bits of the event last year was the start. 400 riders charging down a glacier is absolute carnage. Riders are falling down all around you whilst you have very little control over your speed or the direction your 'riding' in! I was giggling the whole way the experience was pure comedy. This year I was faced with about 20 riders strewn over the snow definitely not the same. Snow still caused us some laughs though, John was trailing Eamon with his headcam , Eamon's snow technique 'starfishing' consists of placing his belly on the saddle and dragging both legs out wide behind him, an interesting technique to say the least! The race was a bit of a slalom, I had made the decision not to do any dirty overtaking, its quite easy to pressurise people into making mistakes and crashing but this seemed unfair seeing as I missed the race. Because of the lack of mass start there were hundreds of slow riders regularly spaced down the track which meant plenty of overtaking to be had. This did however turn singletrack into traffic jams the pace was more leisurely than practice and a lot of it was able to be ridden on the saddle, definitely a different pace than last year. Most of the easy overtaking is on the climbs so i made a concerted effort to charge the climbs as much as possible fighting my usual instinct to walk. Being in the affinity removed all sense of a race and competition that goes with the mega it was only by the second half where there was a much greater density of riders that I really felt the buzz of racing. The mega is definitely a physical challenge, getting to the finish gives you an amazing sense of achievement. Looking around at the finish everyone has got huge grins on there face and stories to tell. The race itself is full of conflicts and friendly competition especially when it comes to Dh and the xc riders. To do well you have to be strong on both fronts at the bottom there were a few brits getting worked up on the descents but weren't prepared to put the efforts in on the flat sections where the overtaking was available. Likewise it gets frustrating when a light bike gets pedaled past you and then brakes get slammed on when the riding gets challenging. This lead to a few interesting moments at the top of a drop or rocky chute where theres a bit of a lemming moment as everyone gets pushed over the edge. Memorable moments for me were ragging past the guy from Aber again! cutting him up as we came into the big fast grass field on the bottom half. The lower section in the trees where it got really tight and fast. there was probably at least 10 riders in front of me and a load behind all riding wheel to wheel down some really fun bits of trail. I was sticking to the guy in front of me who was going all out on the overtaking, at one point there was a shortcut into a chute wide enough for one bike yet there were four of us side by side piling in somehow squeezing back into formation without too much carnage.

Finishing at the bottom of the valley there was a bus back to Oz then the lift back up over the sprint track to d'Huez, seeing it winding below I couldn't resist one last chance at riding the Sprint track, this kept repeating until i had done 7 runs and could hardly hold on to the bars and my brakes were barely working. I was such an awesome session, working on my cornering and drifting I was confident had knocked those 6 seconds off my time. on the penultimate run I drifted way too much through one of the sandy turns jack knifing into a rock and putting a huge gash down the side of my new forks, gutted! Still I will definitely be heading back down to France to ride that track again!

Overall the trip was a success everyone finished! Andy managing to take 80th overall and more or less top unsponsored rider. v. impressive, especially seeing as this was on an ironhorse sunday with an inch of play in the back end! Me and Andy share a huge amount of friendly rivalry, trouble is it means I definitely need to come back now the bar has been set! My final result was 108th out of the 600 riders in the promo and affinity, with a time of 1:23. This is definitely a success as it was a slightly quicker time than last year despite some incredibly slow sections of single track. My biggest achievement though was pedaling up near on all the climbs, it is possible! This is still by far one of the best weeks you can have on a bike. The place is buzzing, you have the chance to ride some of the best trails in the world with your mates and head to head with hundreds of other riders. I am hooked, plans have already started for next year!

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Rheola National Champs

What can I say but bit of an epic weekend. Driving back up to wales was an event in itself, torrential rain most of the way set the scene for the rest of the weekend. So far this season all the races have been dry hot dusty tracks, personally I prefer the challenge of a wet greasy track its what UK downhill is about, Rheola is always a washout! The forecast had issued a severe weather warning for Wales with persistent and thundery rain. I was feeling a mixture of nerves and excitement. Swansea got a bit frantic, I was trying to get a hardtail sorted out for the race, unfortunately mine hadn't arrived due to the postal strike, after a bit of blagging, trying to mix and match bits from a few different bikes and several trips to the bike shop it turned out even my bodging skills weren't up to the task, eventually decided to swap to the open category and ride the full suss.

Seeding runs took place on the Saturday. Rheola is definitely a gnarly track and more than worthy of holding the National Champs, Julian and Jason have done a great job of getting it ready for the weekend. The top section is flat out loose drifty rock then lower down there are tight channels between trees, huge numbers of roots, the infamous star wars section and a fair bit of welsh slimy mud. Definitely a scary track to ride. My Seeding run was super fun, I was riding really ragged and blowing most corners but it did put a huge grin on my face. I ended up going over the bars at star wars then again off the bridge jump landing too far to the left in some real soft mud and almost taking out a few spectators. Dumping the bike and grabbing the camera I legged it back to the track to catch the fast guys go down. Got there to hear Jason on the mic saying that racing was stopped due to an injured rider, who was most likely Jack Malone or Alex Roberts, the 2 guys I had come with from Swansea. It turned out the had both had mechanicals but didn't find out until after running up the track to check if they were ok. Watching the star wars section was mental, the speed that the pros hit this section was scary, very few riders looked in control. There was also a good crowd providing a bit of friendly abuse and amping up the atmosphere. Last rider down was Steve Peat looking super quick coming in but he came unstuck on the first lot of roots dabbing and getting pitched over the bars straight towards my camera. First thing he said was "f*@k Ive done my ankle" it was clear to see it wasn't pointing in the right direction. From what Ive heard it was a rare dislocation and nothing was actually broken. I hope he has a quick recovery and wish him all luck in getting back on it by the world champs.

Sunday was very wet, after me and Alex eventually got bullied out of the car by Julian and Jack I had 3 real fun practice runs. The track was running a lot nicer but it was too wet to be able to see much of it! After Saturday and with the thought of a holiday in france in less than a week, the aim was to get down in one piece. I managed to stay upright the whole race run but probably took it too easy, I only gained 10 seconds on qualifying which was pretty disappointing especially when this meant I was at the bottom of the open cat. Congrats to Julian taking the win in the masters, I watched him leave the start a few times and he was absolutely charging plus he managed to have a mental grin on his face all weekend, inspiring. Marc Beaumont ended up taking the win in senior and Tracy Moseley claimed it for the women.


Cheers to Jason putting on a great event, everything was really slick and the best uplifts Ive experienced at a race yet.

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