Robbie Rickman

Redbull Downforce - My Last Race :)

2011-12-16T17:32:00.000Z

This post has been somewhat put off as it marks a turning point in my cycling career. Earlier this month I took part in the RedBull Downforce race which ran right past my house down the steep, greasy and somewhat hairy streets of Swansea. It was a cracker of an event, unusual and impeccably well organised. The race was amazing fun showcasing some of the UK's top mtb talent to a totally different audience and at a very unique venue. It was a cool mix of riders ranging from trials riders and Dirt Jumpers to some of the top DH boys, there was also a few of us 4X riders in the mix for good measure. It showed what a great mountainbiking city Swansea is, the track was lined with crowds and there was amazing support despite a mixed bag of weather. Racing didnt quite go to plan, I came off the bike both runs coming in 16th place overall. Fellow Swansea student Greg Hampton had a stormer and just missed the podium taking 4th spot. I have to thank Surf-Sales who managed to get me a bike to ride right at the last minute. They sent down a Transition TR450 to play with for the weekend! DH bikes have seriously come on since I last raced one. The suspension was so beautifully balanced and despite the big step up from a hardtail it still felt lively and elegant to ride.

The real news however is that I have decided that this race marks the end of my competitive cycling career. I have never quite managed to grab the top results but just being in the game and getting to compete regularly with the top riders at both national and international level has been an incredible experience. I have to thank Cotic for the fantastic support they have provided me with along the way. When I started riding for them Cotic was a small, and to me at least, a fairly unknown brand. It has been awesome to watch Cy's ongoing perfectionism with bike design driving the company forward. Cotic has developed a strong reputation based on some great products. I am looking forward to watching their future progress and can only imagine Cotic will go from strength to strength. Just check out the new Cotic Rocket, a stunning mismatch of steel and aluminium that Cy has elegantly crafted together to create one hell of a trail bike, it put a massive grin on my face when I got to ride it! I also would like to thank Surf-Sales who have helped me out with protective gear for the last few years.

I guess its sadly growing up but work is the new focus, I have my PhD to finnish. I am currently involved in some really cool projects right on the forefront of technology, its a really exciting place to be. The microscope techniques that we are developing are being applied both in the field of life science with work studying toxicology and human health. We are also working on graphene which has the potential to transform electronic devices of the future, think faster circuits/processors, smaller sensors, cheaper and more environmentally friendly touch screens. This for the moment is driving my need for progression. Bikes will never go away but for now I have other games to play!

Finally thanks to anyone who has taken the time to read this blog, the internet is a great place to share stories and its been good fun sharing adventures with you guys out there!

PS: I also sneaked on to the Redbull and Dirt websites, check out the links here for more pics and coverage:

Redbull photostory

DirtMag coverage

LaserDuck.py - Coloured object tracking from webcam image using Python + OpenCV

2011-11-22T20:16:00.011Z

I have recently been playing with OpenCV in Python for webcam image analysis. This real time analysis of camera footage can be of real benefit to some of the microscopy techniques that I work on. Here however is a more lighthearted project which I created for a talk I am giving in a local school. The program tracks a yellow object and uses it to control the mouse position (see vid below). I thought it would be fun to replace the overused laser pen with a rubber duck for the presentation and show the kids how easy it can be to achieve what at first looks like complex tasks with some basic programming. Full code given at the bottom of the page.

First a brief bit of background. OpenCV is a cross platform, open source computer-vision library created by Intel. This means it is free to access by anyone and will work on any operating system. I am using a Python implementation of OpenCV in this example. Python is a fantastic language to start out with. The syntax is very simple and it works as both a basic scripting language and a higher level object orientated programming language. In short it is easy to pick up by those with little programming experience but is capable, when in the right hands, of producing complex programs using techniques that are now commonplace in the more, shall we call it, 'professional' languages such as C. Python is again open source and cross platform so is free to use by anyone on any computing system.

I have been really impressed at how accessible OpenCV is. It has a lot of very powerful functions built in and with Python does not require extensive programming knowledge to access this potential. It really is straightforward to capture and display webcam images and perform object tracking or face recognition type tasks. It also seems to be massively under-reported on the web, hence why I thought I would add this example which is a slight twist on some of the others out there.

The code is given in full below, it is fairly extensively commented and also provides some additional functionality so dont be too taken aback by the length of it. There are some bonus features built in that are not necessary for simple tracking. I will give a brief overview here but is should be reasonably obvious what is happening by following the code (Hint: start at def main() at the bottom)

The steps are:

Capture image

Convert Image to HSV (Hue, Saturation, Value)

Threshold the image based on the hue value. Hue is independent of the intensity and saturation therefore it will select all pixels within a specific colour range i.e. yellow and the lighting conditions will not be massively critical. The output is binary so a map is produced of white pixels (representing yellow) and black pixels for every other colour.

Basic noise filtering - An algorithm removes speckles and other random noise from the thresholded image.

Contours are fitted which enclose areas of white pixels.

The largest contour is found and its centre position is used to set the mouse position

Additionally a histogram is plotted of the Hue and Saturation values. These values are found by binning (or averaging) a region of the camera indicated by the green square. This is not strictly necessary but I thought it was interesting to show how to make a histogram and the output can be useful for setting the threshold values for the object that is to be tracked. The end of the video shows the histogram in action sampling the ducks beak and body in succession.

References:

A really good book on OpenCV is free to download here, bear in mind it is written for C but it gives a great overview of all the functions available and what they do.

The Python OpenCV manual can be found here. This defines how to call the specific functions in Python and what variables they require.

Inspiration for this project was initially taken from this blog which shows how to track a coloured ball in C.

The code works for me using:

Python 2.7.2
OpenCV 2
Mac OSX Lion

A note on additional package requirements:
pylab is part of the MatPlotLib package (based on SciPy/NumPy) - I use this here for some basic mathematical tools. It is my standard Maths and Plotting library and I highly rate it however with a slight tweak of the code NumPy should be sufficient.
The object tracking should not be dependant on platform however the mouse positioning code is exclusive to Mac OSX.
pyObjC is required for the setting the mouse position in Mac OSX.

Code: (I apologise for the low quality formatting on Blogger - full code is also available to Download: LaserDuck.py)

# Track objects in webcam based on Hue value. 
# Use object position to control cursor on macbook
# Optimised to track yellow beak of rubber duck!
# ctrl+c  Quits program


import cv
import sys 
from pylab import *
from objc import loadBundle, loadBundleFunctions  #required for mouse position.



# Set mouse position in OSX
class ETMouse():    
    def setMousePosition(self, x, y):
        bndl = loadBundle('CoreGraphics', globals(), 
                '/System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework')
        loadBundleFunctions(bndl, globals(), 
                [('CGWarpMouseCursorPosition', 'v{CGPoint=dd}')])
        CGWarpMouseCursorPosition((x, y))


#    Convert image to HSV and threshold to produced binary image based on Hue value.
def thresholdImage(img):
    #allocate temp image based on size of input img
    img_hsv = cv.CreateImage((img.width,img.height),8,3)   #3 channel
    img_thresh = cv.CreateImage((img.width,img.height),8,1)#1 channel

    cv.CvtColor(img, img_hsv, cv.CV_BGR2HSV)    
    cv.InRangeS(img_hsv, cv.Scalar(5, 100, 100), cv.Scalar(30, 255, 255), img_thresh);
    
    return(img_thresh)
    
#    Plot a histogram showing Hue vs Saturation.  Not necessary for function of program, useful for optimising image thresholds
#    Samples from box in top corner of camera image only.
def histogram(src):
    # Set ccd sampling region.
    cv.SetImageROI(src,(10,10,100,100))
    
    # Convert to HSV
    hsv = cv.CreateImage(cv.GetSize(src), 8, 3)

    cv.CvtColor(src, hsv, cv.CV_BGR2HSV)
    s_plane = cv.CreateMat(cv.GetSize(src)[1], cv.GetSize(src)[0], cv.CV_8UC1)
    h_plane = cv.CreateMat(cv.GetSize(src)[1], cv.GetSize(src)[0], cv.CV_8UC1)

    cv.Split(hsv, h_plane, s_plane, None, None)
    planes = [h_plane, s_plane]

    h_bins = 28
    s_bins = 5
    hist_size = [h_bins, s_bins]
    # hue varies from 0 (~0 deg red) to 180 (~360 deg red again */
    h_ranges = [0, 180]
    # saturation varies from 0 (black-gray-white) to
    # 255 (pure spectrum color)
    s_ranges = [0, 255]
    ranges = [h_ranges, s_ranges]
    scale = 15
    
    
    # calculate histogram
    hist = cv.CreateHist([h_bins, s_bins], cv.CV_HIST_ARRAY, ranges, 1)
    cv.CalcHist([cv.GetImage(i) for i in planes], hist)
    (_, max_value, _, _) = cv.GetMinMaxHistValue(hist)
    
    # Reset cv sampling region to full CCD Area
    cv.ResetImageROI(src)


    # plot histogram data
    hist_img = cv.CreateImage((h_bins*scale, s_bins*scale), 8, 3)

    for h in range(h_bins):
        for s in range(s_bins):
            bin_val = cv.QueryHistValue_2D(hist, h, s)
            intensity = cv.Round(bin_val * 255 / max_value)
            cv.Rectangle(hist_img,(h*scale, s*scale),((h+1)*scale - 1, (s+1)*scale - 1),cv.RGB(intensity, intensity, intensity),cv.CV_FILLED)
    return hist_img

    
#    Filter noisy pixels using custom kernel size. 
#    Removes visually insignificant noise such as speckles
def erodeImage(img):
    kernel = cv.CreateStructuringElementEx(9,9,5,5, cv.CV_SHAPE_CROSS) 
    # Erode- replaces pixel value with lowest value pixel in kernel
    cv.Erode(img,img,kernel,2)
    # Dilate- replaces pixel value with highest value pixel in kernel
    cv.Dilate(img,img,kernel,2)
    return img
    
def contour_iterator(contour):
                while contour:
                        yield contour
                        contour = contour.h_next()
                        
    
def findImageContour(img,frame):
    storage = cv.CreateMemStorage()
    cont = cv.FindContours(img, storage,cv.CV_RETR_EXTERNAL,cv.CV_CHAIN_APPROX_NONE,(0, 0))
    max_center = [None,0]
    for c in contour_iterator(cont):
    # Number of points must be more than or equal to 6 for cv.FitEllipse2
    # Use to set minimum size of object to be tracked.
        if len(c) >= 60:
            # Copy the contour into an array of (x,y)s
            PointArray2D32f = cv.CreateMat(1, len(c), cv.CV_32FC2)
            for (i, (x, y)) in enumerate(c):
                PointArray2D32f[0, i] = (x, y)
                # Fits ellipse to current contour.
                (center, size, angle) = cv.FitEllipse2(PointArray2D32f)
                # Only consider location of biggest contour  -- adapt for multiple object tracking
            if size > max_center[1]:
                max_center[0] = center
                max_center[1] = size
                angle = angle
                        
            if True:
                # Draw the current contour in gray
                gray = cv.CV_RGB(255, 255, 255)
                cv.DrawContours(img, c, gray, gray,0,1,8,(0,0))
                        
    if max_center[1] > 0:
        # Convert ellipse data from float to integer representation.
        center = (cv.Round(max_center[0][0]), cv.Round(max_center[0][1]))
        size = (cv.Round(max_center[1][0] * 0.5), cv.Round(max_center[1][1] * 0.5))
        color = cv.CV_RGB(255,0,0)
        
        cv.Ellipse(frame, center, size,angle, 0, 360,color, 3, cv.CV_AA, 0)
        ETMouse().setMousePosition(2.6*max_center[0][0]-150, 2*max_center[0][1]-100)
    

def main():
    # create windows for use later
    cv.NamedWindow("LaserDuckOut",1)
    cv.NamedWindow("Theshold_IMG",1)
    cv.NamedWindow("HSV Histogram",1)
    # initiate camera
    capture = cv.CreateCameraCapture(0)
    
    # grab frame from camera
    if capture:
        while True:
            frame = cv.QueryFrame(capture)
            if not frame:
                cv.WaitKey(0)
                break
                
            cv.Flip(frame, frame,1)
            
            hist = histogram(frame)

            img = thresholdImage(frame)
            img = erodeImage(img)

            findImageContour(img,frame)
            
            
            # Mark out sampling region for histogram
            cv.Rectangle(frame,(10,10),(110,110),(0,255,0),1,0)


            # outputs image to windows created previously
            cv.ShowImage("Threshold_IMG",img)
            cv.ShowImage("LaserDuckOut",frame)
            cv.ShowImage("HSV_Histogram",hist)
                        
            if cv.WaitKey(10) >= 0:
                break
                
    cv.DestroyWindow("LaserDuckOut")
    cv.DestroyWindow("Threshold_IMG")
    cv.DestroyWindow("HSV_Histogram")
            

if __name__=='__main__':
    main()

BFe's flying Wideopen

2011-09-11T18:32:00.007+01:00

Its all happening in this months issue of Wideopen magazine. Theres a nice interview with Britain's very own World Champ Danny Hart. A follow up review of their longterm Cotic BFe build and to top it off I somehow sneaked into its coveted pages as part of Alistair Keens writeup of our Scotland World Cup adventure.

Best of all its free to read over the Web so follow the link below to check it out.

Harthill NPS and National Champs

2011-07-21T11:15:00.004+01:00

The big news from last weekend was that Luke 'Limbo' Limbrick took home the Elite National Champs Jersey. This was a trully massive event, usually riding for in the Senior category he managed to step it big time and raced like a hero to beat the pro's at their game. In the final he had to fight hard with Pat Campbell Jenner as the lead swapped a number of times but Limbo wasnt having any of it at and held the lead at the finish taking the win. The crowd were on their feet screaming as the underdog thrashed it to the finish. Serious celebrations followed and a highly ecstatic looking Limbo was on the podium sending the Champagne corks flying.

Once again we had another very wet and windy weekend of 4X. This time up near Chester at Harthill. The track was an interesting one. It has the potential to be a really nice track but in my view it just falls short on the final touches. It is too narrow and encourages a single file procession and some of the lips and landings really aren't great at race pace. The short start straight lead into a 90 degree right hander which saw a serious number of collisions. One line leaving this corner and no room previously to separate the riders created a lot of four rider pileups and some heavy crashes. The track is very sandy and so the corners are super loose both in the dry and the wet which was a lot of fun to ride and livened up the racing with plenty of crashes. There was also a gusty cross wind to contend with down the pro line. A lot of riders were having their wheels blown out from under them over the second pro jump. It was clearly the quicker route but a heavy gamble due to the changeable weather conditions. The track and conditions came together for some real crash heavy racing. By far the most crashes of the season took place on this track which created some lively racing but not really for the right reasons.

More Mountain Biking Videos

The national round went ok, in the motos I had a win two 2nds and 4th after Mop rudely took me down on the first corner. I was through to the quarters but this was it as I ate sand once again on the first corner taking me out of the comp. The national champs was a little more successful. I had a good qualifying run and made it through the first knockout round and then took 3rd place in my second knockout round leaving me in 20th place overall.

More Mountain Biking Videos

The champs race was massively competitive and action packed. The Semis saw Will Evans take out both Nate Parsons and Jake Ward in the first turn. The finals followed and Scot Roberts and Scott Beaumont came together in the first turn leaving Luke Limbrick and Pat Campbell to fight it out for the top places. Somewhere through the proceedings Isaac was taken down on the first straight catapulted through the air using his head to smash through a marker post and bring him to a stop. Jono Jones held it all the way to the last rollers before choosing to throw himself over the bars and across the line. Dowie and a few of the other big guns were sent to the floor on the pro line along with many others during racing. There really was too much of this camera pleasing action to comment on, unfortunately most of the camera men were hiding this round. Duncan Philpott was out representing the togs and has put together a few awesome videos of both the racing and the shockingly sunny pumptrack challenge which went down on the Saturday night.

Another good weekends racing, with any luck the next round down in the south west will be a warm sunny event where we can stick on some fast tyres and see some rapid, dry racing, my fingers are crossed!

Epic Week: Afan NPS, Afan Euro, Glentress and Fort Bill World Cup

2011-06-07T15:03:00.010+01:00

Afan NPS4X:

To kick the week off we had an NPS 4X round and a European 4X round on at Afan. The guys at Bryn Bettws Lodges had done a huge amount of maintenance to the track prior to the race weekend. The track was looking really good and was absolutely flying on the Friday night. There were a good number of riders hitting the pro line and the track was running fast and dry. This all changed come race day. A massive load of rain fell over night and the start of racing was delayed as we all hid waiting for the rain to stop falling and the wind to die down. The track was running much slower but was fast enough to make for some good racing and by the end of the day a formula one style dry line was forming making passing one for the brave taking on the greasy alternative lines. Saying that this was one of the best 4X races I have ever been to for overtaking. There were moves being made the full length of the track and a hell of lot being made and stuck on the last corner. It goes to show wide corners work and produce fantastic racing! I had my best result yet at the NPS taking 2nd step on the podium alongside Gareth on 3rd who was giving me a lift to Scotland, a great start to the week for both of us.

More Mountain Biking Videos

The Euro went less well for me. They do a worldcup style system with timed qualifying runs leading to straight knockouts. I qualified in 35th place after loosing my clips out of the rockgarden and got knocked out first round of the knockouts.

Glentress:

From here me and Gareth loaded up and headed to Glentress with Mop Head, Keeny, Jess Greaves and Chris Ratford. We spent a lot of time in the skills section messing about on the jumps and having a lot of fun. It was great to have a chilled out session throwing the bike around in the air, I have still barely jumped the MTB since the leg got broke so it was nice to start feeling confident again with the wheels off the ground. Chris Ratford was on camera duties and got some brilliant shots on the jumps and through the trees. They had just finished a new section of the blue run. It was the most amazing section of trail featuring probably of the order of 50 berms, all perfectly smooth and shaped so that it was flatout off the brakes the whole way. A huge amount of fun I definitely recommend visiting that place. After a bit of ghetto camping we did the red run the next morning then back into the cars up to the Fort. We had heard on the way up that the Glen Coe race got called off due to 70MPH winds and snow and so we were a little apprehensive about what the weather might be like up at the Fort.

The World Cup, Fort William:

This was both mine Mop Heads and Keenys first world cup. Gareth was the seasoned vet of the group having entered Fort Bill last year. The nerves and excitement really started kicking in once we had gone up and taken a look at the track. The whole scale of the track is way beyond anything seen at nationals. The jumps are big and intimidating and the style of the track meant there were some very awkward looking features. The worst bit was the amount of time we had to sit around and think about it before we were allowed to actually get the bikes out and give it a go. This came in the way of two 90minute practice sessions. One on the thursday and one on the friday right before our timed qualifying runs. This gave a really pressurised atmosphere where there was no time to mess about. We had to step it up right from the start and get the track nailed. It was really interesting, the big jumps that typically on a national level track would be massively intimidating and scary were not too bad. The gradient meant there was tonnes of speed to be found without even trying. This made sending the big jumps easy as there was no need to worry about making the distance on the larger gaps. With the big jumps done and that mental game out of the way my focus was on the first straight which was somewhat awkward and required good rhythm and committed pumping to get down fast and smoothly.

The track kicked off abruptly and continued in that manner most of the way down. The gate dropped with enough room for one pedal before hitting a steep sharp roller and into a double. This lead to a camel triple type thing that most riders were picking on to then dropping down the other side. The quicker line was to jump over the camel hump and push the back wheel into the backside of the transition, this was somewhat risky and with not much room between jumps required good skills to pull off without binning it. There are then two doubles into the first wide loose corner. This lead into a massive roller that could be pedaled over and into a decent sized double. The next roller was big and took some care. Hitting at race pace it was near impossible to keep the bike on the ground over it and it naturally sent you onto your front wheel well past the landing transition. I and a few others had a good stack here in practice trying hopelessly to hold on following a very heavy front wheel impact weight fully over the bars then finally digging in and pitching over on the loose entry to the next corner. This next corner had two main options, a wide entry following the berm or a loose inside line cutting tight to the flag. The corner was up over a hump which unweighted the bike and made it very easy to loose the wheels trying to keep it tight. Loads of moves were being made here, if you were in front it had to be ridden defensively however lots of people were using the extra speed from coming wide to capitalize on other riders mistakes and make a pass stick. The entry to the rock garden was a similar concept with a wide line carrying speed or a tight inside line on the flag. The tight inside line setup to allow the rock garden to be jumped and cleared but the run in was by no means straight forward and jumping the lot required commitment. The rocks themselves were not bad to ride and there were a number of lines through them. After this point most of the racing was done. It was on the pedals and off the drop into the big table which had been reshaped this year making it longer and with a steeper landing. This jump felt beautiful to boost and kept the crowd entertained as the riders flew past. A really loose right hander lead into the steep sharp quad that I think no one jumped in full this year. A sprint to the finish dropped the riders into the large and packed grandstand area with the big screen and loud commentary amping up the atmosphere and making it by far the coolest event I have taken part in.

Friday night saw qualifying, I actually didnt find this part too scary. The top of the track was fairly empty of spectators and it didnt feel any bigger than a normal event. On the gate I got my race head on and was fairly relaxed and focused. I had made the decision to take all the safe longer lines and try and hit them fast and get the cranks in wherever possible. There were 89 people entered and 64 places available so this was the run where it had to count. The qualifying runs are timed with the quickest riders going through. My logic was that the looseness of the track meant that a load of people would wipe out and so staying safe and keeping the tyres underneath me would pay off. I put in a reasonable run with no mistakes and got to the bottom just inside the top 60. There were 10 more riders at this point to come down and so it was by no means guaranteed. Mop Head was in a similar position and we both had to wait for the board to cycle through to see if we had scraped in. I placed 62nd and Mop made it by the skin of his teeth in 64th place. I think it is fair to say we were both ecstatic, we were the only UK Senior riders to make it through qualification and this meant we were in the game to ride in front of the crowds and freecaster the following day.

Another round of practice and things were starting to get really intimidating. I spent most of the session on the top half of the track trying to get relaxed and comfortable on the bike and ignore the large crowds accumulating at the bottom. It is ok come race run as there are so many other things to focus on and race head makes you oblivious to anything going on beyond the extents of the track but in practice I found it hard to ignore all the spectators and I wasnt really enjoying riding in front of all the people. The setup for the race was cool. It was fun being up there with all the big names and lining up on the gate the adrenaline was really kicking in. I was on the gate with Dale Russel, Pat Campbell Jenner and David Graff. Off the start I felt that Dale was edging towards me and veered to the side, this unfortunately messed up my timing on the first straight and left me trailing by the first corner. I did my best to catch up but was never close enough to the action to be threatening any of the higher places. No one made any serious errors and so that was it, I was out of the comp. To be honest I couldnt have cared less. I was so happy to have been part of an event of this scale and getting that far was a massive achievement for me particularly this year having just come off the back of a fairly decent injury and able to get back to form in time for this event. Final position was 60th place which I was super happy with for my first ever World Cup.

Watching the rest of the racing was really cool. The intensity of the top guys is absolutely nuts. Everything from raw power to the lunacy of of the lines they are prepared to hit is so much further beyond anything I have previously experienced in 4X. There really is a big jump up moving to World Cup level 4X and rightly so. As a spectacle it looks absolutely fantastic the coverage and the way the event was setup and run makes it look really impressive and great on TV. This is the sort of action that can spread the sport wider into the public domain and we really are in a position now to push it to a bigger audience. It was amazing to be part of such an event and an incredibly intense experience. Part of me now wants to run away having ticked that box and said I have done it, the other part wants to dive in and have a focused effort to step my game up and take on a few more of these world class events next year. I guess we will have to wait and see on this one!!

Big thanks to Chris Ratford for taking some awesome pics throughout the week and for Cotic and SurfSales whose excellent support and fantastic bike allowed me to get to the World Cup and take part in such a fantastic event. To see the action in full check it out on Freecaster My heat is about 24 minutes in!

Big week ahead.

2011-05-27T15:34:00.003+01:00

Works done and I am packing up ready for an epic week on the bikes. This weekend it all kicks off lightly with a National 4X on the saturday and then a European 4X round on the Sunday up at my local track in Afan. We are then packing up the cars and heading North to Glentress and Inners before ending up at Fort William for my first ever World Cup. It is an interesting mix of nerves and excitement at the moment, well saying that right now it is a frantic dash to get packed and make sure nothing is forgotten!!

I will keep the updates coming via Twitter so keep an eye on my account (@RobbieRickman) to find out how the week is developing.

The Wideopen boys have a nice preview and timings for this weekend up here. There will be plenty of Pro's down for this race and Sky TV are there doing the filming so its worth checking out and mixing with a lap of The Wall if you are local. The track is literally at the top of the final decent on that trail.

NPS 4X Rd2 PORC

2011-05-10T08:42:00.003+01:00

This weekend saw the 2nd round of the NPS 4X series at PORC right down in the south east of the country. The track features a narrow start leading to a tight left hander putting a lot of emphasis on getting a good gate. This leads out over the bridge and down the main straight which is probably the fastest straight of the season. It is flat out with long low jumps and fires you into a large bermed 180. The next 2 straights have been modified this year providing more options for overtaking for those keen on the pedals. Both feature big 180 degree corners. This spits you out over two left handed hips and over a road gap into a loose corner, the finish line is more or less in sight by this point and only a seriously ballsy last minute move would allow the finish order to change. A flat left hander leads into a new double and then some drops and then a short sprint to the finish line. The track is a blast, very hairy in places and I think the changes they have made meant it was racing well with moves being made on the middle section of the track. The weather was a real mixed bag, mainly it was very hot sunny and very dusty but overnight we were getting massively heavy rain which cleared the dust and greased up the lower flat corners.

The motos were highly heated and looked very well fought in all the categories. Senior seems to have stepped up again in competitiveness and there are a lot of riders pushing hard to make the quarters. Unfortunately in the Senior quarter finals there was a very serious crash. The officials made the right decision to call off all further racing off. The rider, Scott Shepherd was taken to hospital via air ambulance. I think its fair to say that everyone on the 4X scene is thinking about Scott and we all wish him all the best in making a full and speedy recovery.

Greek Easter

2011-05-04T08:38:00.003+01:00

I will let age take the hit for this one, I just went away on a holiday with my roadbike. I am not sure when things changed but a few years ago that never would have happened, or at least I would never have admitted it! Me and Katie went out to the Greek island of Corfu for Easter, the bikes came along and we did a cycle tour around the island. The Greeks out there are known to celebrate Easter properly and it was a seriously cool event. Their culture is based around food and socialising and this really was the emphasis of the religious festival. The main town out there is Corfu town. It is a very picturesque place and for the whole Easter weekend the majority of the islands inhabitants could be found in the towns small streets and squares. There were big processions, fireworks, pot smashings, egg smashings and every family had an entire lamb on their barbeque and were laying on massive feasts for the occasion. Food is a bit of a passion of ours and the Greeks really understand the value of quantity so that side of things was a real winner! The craziest part of the whole easter event was the pot smashing. The main square in the town filled up from all directions with a steady stream of people. Everyone was there from grans to babies and the odd dog brought along for good measure. Once there was literally no space left to breathe a small space, literally only a few meters deep was cleared in front of the buildings surrounding the square. This was the target for the buildings occupants to hurl terracotta pots into from the balconies above. It is lucky to get hit by flying fragment (probably not whole pots) so being up close and personal with the carnage is meant to be a good thing! We were about 4 rows from the front which was more than close enough for this unordered chaos.

Greeks like competition and a chance to show off and so there were progressively bigger pots emerging from balcony windows. The climax was when a few 6foot tall pots requiring 3 people to lift them were dropped less than gracefully from a 4th story balcony. It was quite an engaging experience. The police there were taking a blase approach to protecting the safety of the onlookers and after they had blown their whistles a few times it seemed that they reasoned there was nothing else they could do and so let the crowd bulge past any optimistic safety tapes laid out on the ground. The cycling was nice, the locals thought we were totally insane, no one else cycles out there. The north end of the island has some really scenic terrain, the roads were quiet and the weather was nice without being overkill. All in all it was a really nice trip even if it does mark a dangerous descent from the cool steps of mountain biking towards becoming some kind of leisure cyclist!

Rd1 Race Report published on SouthernDownhill.

2011-04-06T07:49:00.002+01:00

My race report from the weekend has made it on to Southern Downhill accompanied by some very slick looking pictures from Dave Franciosy, check it out!

NPS4x 2011 Rd1: Leamington Spa

2011-04-05T08:23:00.003+01:00

This weekend saw the opening round of the national 4x series at Leamington Spa. It was a hell of a start to the season, these people spreading the quite frankly ridiculous rumours that 4X is dead need to get to an event and check one of these events out, the atmosphere was buzzing. There were 40 riders signed up in Senior, 20 Elite riders on top of the Youth, Juvenile and fun categories making 170 riders in total. Even the women were really well represented and battling hard. This year the series is looking very pro. The trackside was lined with big team stands and there were loads of spectators giving the event a real motocross feel and great atmosphere. The quality of the organisation from Naked Racing is top notch and very slick. Out on the track the it is obvious how competitive the team competition is going to be this year. There are now a number of really big teams displaying some trick looking bikes and striking race kit. The big players for this season are going to be team 44Racing who have last years victory to defend but that wont be an easy task when up against the formidable looking team Identiti and team Nukeproof. It was also great to see a load of the dirtjump scene signed up and charging hard, Glen Coe was on the gates and Ross Tricker was back giving 4X another go in the Elites.

The track has just been rebuilt and so it was super fresh for this event. The track has a clear BMX influence with lots of steep close set jumps and rollers. First straight was awkward right off the gate, first pedal stroke put you into a small double that required good timing and control to pedal over then there are 3 doubles that split into a small roller/double and a do or die double into the inside of the first corner. This line couldnt be rolled, it was the faster but slightly more risky option. On the ouside there was a triple to double. Again very closely spaced so you had to be really on the ball or else it got really ragged. The first corner was long and loose and tarmac on the second half. This saw some big crashes as people struggled to hold the inside flatout. Out of this corner was a large camel hump table, most people were stepping on to the hump but a few were storming the corner and clearing the lot. This lead into an S-turn and a few more BMX style roller doubles. A right hander lead into the final straight where the track split to form the pro line on the left and a load of small tight rollers and doubles on the right. The proline isnt the biggest out there but the run in out of the corner is more or less uphill so you really have to be on the cranks to have the speed. Not everyone was into the BMX feel of the track but I think we need to have a range of tracks that make a dynamic and interesting race series and which can test the full range of riders skills. It was definitely challenging to ride but good fun, its a track that I would love to have on my doorstep as there is so much there to play with and learn from.

The sky was threatening to produce a big storm but we managed to dodge the worst of it and we had a mixture of sun and big heavy clouds with some wind to keep people on their toes down the first straight. The track did produce some good racing and really showed which riders were still asleep from the winter break. Most of the action happened on the first straight but there were plenty of moves being made lower down the track. The best racing of the day was coming from Nathon Parsons. It was his first race in Elite and he was pushing to the limit and not giving any of the more experienced Elite riders an easy time on the track. In one of the motos he came from 4th at the end of the first straight and chased down the riders in front making up two places by the finish. Nate made it to the A finals but got tangled with Oggy to take 4th overall. Not a bad first outing! In Senior Alistair Keen was the shocker of the day. He is a Leamington local and has clearly been getting the practice in as he was storming every moto and held it all the way to a 3rd place finish overall. The big crash prizes went to Ross Tricker who was gunning for the inside on the first corner but caught the other riders wheel and lost it at full pace shoulder barging the upslope of the next jump which marked the end of his racing for the day due to a suspected collar bone injury. Tom Knight had a good one coming off one of the doubles half way along the first straight getting thrown impressively over the bars with bike still attached. He got away with it and was back up and sprinting back down the track. Lee Ferry went down sending the camel top table in what looked like a really heavy crash but luckily he was back up and able to race.

I was happy with my day. It was literally my first day back on a mountain bike since the cast came off. The ankle was giving me some grief in practice so I took it easy and got it strapped up ready for races. My first two motos werent that great. I was too fresh on the track and a little hesitant which gave me two 3rd place finishes. the last two went a lot better and I was feeling my racing form coming back and feeling like I was riding far more respectably. Third moto was a 2nd place finish. The last moto I had a decent start but got chopped at the end of the first straight and didnt have the speed for the inside line. Coming from the back I managed to get back with the pack and finished the moto in 3rd. This wasnt enough to get through to the quarters but I am super happy to be back on the bike and its great to know that even after hanging up a few jumps the leg is in one piece and good to go. Bring on the next round!

Thanks to Chris Roberts and the team at Naked Racing for putting on another great event. It was brilliant to see so many riders out, the scene looks really vibrant at the moment, the atmosphere was awesome, I am looking forward to seeing how this 4X buzz develops throughout the season. If any of you DHers realise you are missing out and want to give 4X a stab then next round is at PORC on the May the 8th.

Heres a nice video from Duncan Philpott covering the event.

Video Blog: Back on two Legs

2011-03-28T19:24:00.004+01:00

Here is my first attempt at video blogging. In all honesty I am still getting my head round the software, IMovie seems to hide and disguise all the actually useful controls. This vid could probably still do with a few more tweaks particularly on the audio side but I think these projects reach a point where it just needs to be sent out, I would end up fiddling forever otherwise! It does however leave plenty of room for improvement so expect bigger and better things next time and possibly a little more mountain bike riding! First race is next weekend, I still havent tested my leg on the MTB so it could go either way. I am confident and feeling strong so with any luck it will be a good weekend and if nothing else it will be good to catch up with everyone after the winter break.

UPDATE: Followed some feedback and got the audio levels sorted so heres the new tweaked version!

BUCS 2011 - Moelfre

2011-03-15T16:06:00.004Z

BUCS 2011 - Moelfre Student Championships from Rob Rickman on Vimeo.

I was on camera duty for this years BUCS. It was a great weekend and really nice to be back out in the welsh hills. The weather was a mixed affair but that didnt dampen the mood and there was plenty of excitement both on and off the track. Swansea was well represented, we had 5 riders posting more than respectable times. It is fair to say that thanks to the shear genius of the vibe trolley swansea was also responsible for bringing the party. The XC on the sunday was fantastic, a straight up straight down track, the down being down one of the DH tracks the up being up the uplift track. Bike skills were required along with brutal fitness. The steep showdown section provided endless entertainment as rider after rider were sliding out or getting flicked over the bars. There is a strange beauty about that unavoidable moment when the front end digs in which when combined with an epically high saddle and an extended stem forces the rider into a slow but perfect arc over the bars, the bike following thanks to the carefully engineered clipless pedals. All of us who practice the statistically safer sport of DH had a great time cheering on the XC riders and providing helpful advice and support whilst sitting in the sunshine nursing a hangover. All this action has been crammed into the video above for all the non students out there who want to know what they are missing. Once again BUCS wins the prize for the best atmosphere and all round event, thanks to all the organisers for pulling it off again this year.

Oot n Aboot

2011-03-04T11:00:00.002Z

This is why I would be hard pushed to leave Swansea. Since the weather has picked up and we have had some stunning mornings I have been taking the long route into work down the Clyne valley cycle path. It feels fantastic to be out first thing, flying down through the woods with no cars around for miles and the dappled early light creating a striking mix of colours. For now the cross tyres are still on which help take out the odd bump and allows the Rat to keep exploring when the tarmac runs out.

Back on the road!

2011-02-26T16:39:00.002Z

The big news is the cast is now off and I am back on a bike! The doctor doesn't recommend anything too agressive for a while so the BFe is still locked up and sitting in the corner looking neglected. After so long being immobile it feels great to get back out on the road bike and getting some freedom back. Today was a gentle but rather cold and blustery ride out onto the Gower. My leg feels far more natural on the bike than walking at the moment, cycling was actually far easier than I expected after so long off. The goal now is to stay intact and get fit ready for the race season.

Protection (apparently I need it!) from Kali and TrickX

2011-02-21T20:03:00.004Z

Kali have just sent down one of their new line of Piss Pots the Samra. The graphics look sharp and the fit is a noticeable improvement on my Maha from last year. The new shape feels far more fitted and super secure so big thumbs up there.

To go with the new lid TrickX have provided knee pads and ankle guards. The knee pads follow the standard slimline pad design that positions foam and a hard knee cap exactly where it is needed. They look tough and this tried and tested approach to protection will no doubt result in secure and comfy pads that will stay in place when shit hits the fan.

Sneak peak at the BFe's new KCNC Bling

2011-02-21T19:53:00.003Z

Shiny new bits just landed on the door step, first impressions are really good unfortunately first tests wont be for another few weeks yet.

Did I mention all this time off the bike has robbed me of my sanity!

Southern Downhill Interview

2011-02-07T09:40:00.006Z

I was interviewed by Rob from SouthernDownhill this weekend about life and Four Cross racing. If you need some monday morning distraction then the full interview can be found here.

Discount BFe's

2011-02-03T09:50:00.002Z

Cy has just announced an offer on Cotic's awesome BFe frame. For this month only they are down to £300. If you are after a super fun, thrash around hardtail that can take on more or less any type of riding then it is definitely worth checking out their website for more info (www.cotic.co.uk).

New Year Guide to Nailing Spins, Wheels and Bones

2011-01-10T20:28:00.017Z

"Tricks are for Kids" well it seems maybe this time I should have listened. Cy lent me one of the new XS BFe's to play on over the christmas period along with some light encouragement to see how the XS behaves as a throw about, freestyle type bike. To be honest I have got a bit carried away with having a small flickable bike to play around on, but it is a hell of a lot of fun. It makes a really nice change my usual long, fast stable setup. Getting back on something more diminuitively sized has sent me back to the riding I did as a teenager. When first getting into bikes we would go out and find some little pimple or dirtjump and mess about playing with tricks, boosting and generally just having a laugh. I have to say, the christmas break in the end really was that, a real laugh. The XS has now been out in the snow, tentatively aired in a cold icy mini ramp, manualed around a small council skatepark, sprinted down a rather waterlogged BMX track and taken a lot of abuse on the dirt jumps at our local sand quarry. This is where the XS belongs in my view, out in the parks and smashing the dirtjumps.

So from the beginning. My first real taste of the XS was on the brand new and beautifully crafted concrete mini ramp that has just been built in my village. It took some time clearing the ice from the inside of the ramp but it was an opportunity not to be missed. Dropping in was hairy with the ice covered coping sucking the wheels out sideways but the transition was nice and the XS was very comfortable to air. My mini ramp tricks are more honed outside the ramp, back in the day we rode a lot of mini, it was all about smooth manuals across the length of the ramp and tricks to tyre tap, the odd failed pedal grind. Snow was killing this kind of action but it was still fun to pump around and throw the bike into the air.

My personal mission for the Christmas hol was to relearn 360's. I have tried a few spins on flyouts on my normal BFe but it really is hardwork to get the bike to spin. The extra length just keeps it railed in a straight line and it really has to be hauled into a rotation. 360's are one of those tricks that I very almost had as a kid. I could do them over small box jumps in parks but never had the guts to throw one over a proper double. The sand quarry this winter has been the perfect training facility for nailing this trick. Being sand it really is a winter venue as it needs water to keep the jumps held together. It builds quick but also erodes fast and sand is definitely one of the nicer substrates to bail onto. I have got to thank the local guys because this year there was a really nice 6 pack riding a small semi table top jump and a larger double with long soft landing for stepping the tricks onto. The place is also the host of 'famous' an absolute monster jump built by Grant Fielder, Blake Sampson and Sam Pilgrim. Luckily that one was not really in a rideable form, it has an immense run in from the top of the quarry wall and the take off is a super steep and massively imposing piece of spadework, the landing long wide and soft. It is one of those scary beasts that looks humongous but worryingly doable.

The first session up there was a chilled out affair. It took a while to get out of race mode and hit the jumps at a slow dirt jump pace. Initially I was charging about with twice the speed I needed, squashing the lips and having to fight the over hectic nature at this tempo. Once the speed mellowed and I had found a more suitable flow we had a mint session on the 6 pack. The 6 pack is a nice size where the jumps are big enough to play on but by no means intimidating or overly risky. The larger jump at the side of the quarry was a little more intimidating. It had a nice steep take off, reasonable gap and a slight bomb hole before reaching the takeoff ramp. With no setup before it speed is somewhat guess work. First attempt was too fast and I totally miss judged the bomb hole killing my launch and ending in a nice solid hang up on the back of the lander. Spades had to come back out to mend the mess. Second attempt was far more successful. I was able to send it high and 90 percent in control. The short bomb hole meant the takeoff came up very quickly and it required nice timing to feel balanced in the air over this jump. Never the less Grant and Blake showed up later in the day and were busting flips and spins over this jump with upsetting ease.

Having got my taste for the jumps my mission was to start bringing out the 3's. First attempts were on a flyout, I found spins initiated really nicely on the XS but was struggling to keep the front wheel at a reasonable height and had the bike near vertical through the rotation. I blamed this on the awkward nature of the flyout and decided it was time to transfer them to the smaller table. A couple of chicken runs lead to the first attempt that was succesful in the sense I got round but front wheel was high and one foot was not on the pedals. The sensation is strange, and pretty full on. In a sense when learning these things you have to chuck them fairly blind and hit them with confidence to maximise the chances of a good outcome. Assuming a reasonable take off it is only on the last portion of the spin, reaching round with your head where you really know how its going to work out and there it this last minute panic of trying to crank out the extra rotation needed or surpress any extra momentum. After a few attempts I was getting the front wheel low but not getting the distance I needed to travel through the air any where near right. I had about 4 or 5 attempts a couple of crashes but felt happy to be able to succesfully judge the rotation even if landing on the right part of the jump wasnt working. Last attempt of the day was a quality crash where I put extra effort in to make the landing. I held onto the bike for the complete rotation but landed heavily on the front wheel, dug in and ended up on the floor with my handlebars in my chest. This marked time to leave before any serious damage was done.

Second session at the jumps I was jumping far more naturally and feeling far more confident on the bike. First attempt at a 360 of the day went well. It was a really nice stable rotation, I cleared onto the landing and barely drifted sideways. The problem was on the landing I wrapped the rear wheel into the frame. The obvious answer to this was to get the spoke key out, jump on the rim until straight and keep riding. This worked and we had a good play on the 6 pack. Second 360 of the day was near identical nice rotation but folded wheel on landing. Feeling I had 360's fairly well nailed I wanted to step them up onto a proper jump. This spot with its soft landings is one of the few places I am prepared to try this kind of thing, the usual hard packed dirt sends the risk level too high for my liking. I knew I would probably have only one shot at the 360 over the larger jump so I got the guys to arm their cameras ready and hoped they would not miss the shot. A serious amount of 'maning up' later and switching all sensible thought processes to the back of my mind I dropped in. I had the bomb hole pumped nicely, I felt balanced up the take off and initiated a nice spinning action. Chances felt good, only as I reached the top of the take off there was a massive crack and my rear wheel folded in two. This stalled my bike and sent me careering through the air backwards. I managed to land with my shoulders onto the very top of the landing and rolled out but the bike dictated that it was game over for the day. Still the psychological hard work was done.

I needed another poke at getting the 3 on the larger jump. All my mates had finished their christmas break and with relatively good odds of hurting myself I didnt want to end up jumping alone. In the end my parents kindly offered to take photographer duties and so we were back in the car with a fresh rear wheel ready to take on a 'proper 3'. On getting there it was clear this would not be on. The guys were changing the larger set and it wasnt going to be riding for the day. After a bit of warming up I tried a couple of 3's on the smaller ramp. The first was perfect. Nice and high and clean to the landing with little drift. The second however was not so nice. I got off balance and squirley on the take off and ended up ditching the bike. I stayed just about in control and landed on both feet facing forward. There was a loud blunt noise which turned out was my fibular snapping. I walked away but my leg would not hold my weight. After a brief moment on the floor getting my breath back I got up and could feel a crunching sensation. The strange thing was no considerable pain. Arguably one of the other great things about this jump spot is that there is a Minor Injuries unit literally across the road. Within a few hours of snapping the bone it was X-Rayed and in a cast. By far my quickest and most efficient hospital experience! No pins have been needed but the injury will unfortunately keep me off the bikes for a while and the worst thing is I now still dont know if I could have landed a proper mansized 3.

SnowRat

2010-12-20T22:44:00.003Z

This cold snap has produced some lively conditions out on the roads, the mix of snow and ice makes getting about a load more interesting than usual. I recently chucked some cyclocross tyres on the Rat. These things have been absolutely fantastic now that things have got slippery. In the snow and ice I feel as in control as on the mountainbike but with none of the excess drag. The Rat sporting these cyclocross rubbers has been perfect for flying around the city whilst everyone else is stuck inside or sliding around in their cars. I have to say that I have been enjoying it so much I keep taking the long route to work and avoiding the gritters to find the fresh snow and more challenging descents and climbs. Here are some early morning pics from the top of the hill, even the bay has had a splattering of snow!

Bfe: Extra Small and Extra Gritstone

2010-12-04T18:28:00.005Z

Cy has made a bold move with a near invisible graphic scheme on the new gritstone BFe and it looks seriously sharp. The wrap matches the frame the logos are done in reflective vinyl which by normal light arent visible but ride past a strong light or get a flash on it and the graphics really pop. A cool effect that I reckon would make for some interesting pictures under the artificial lights in a skate park. Incidentally this is where this frame wants you to take it. The reduction in length makes it super chuckable and dead manageable on the back wheel, Pete more or less manualed the first straight of the pumptrack first try and he had only been on the bike an hour. The new stealth graphics will be grabbing some attention for sure, they have a really intriguing appeal. The look reminds me of a subtle version of Pashley's matt black frames from back in the day. Anyway enough of me rabbling here are some pics.

No Flash

Flash!

Pete getting his slide on!

Snow Lines

2010-12-04T18:03:00.003Z

Stunning weather, snow, bikes what more can be said. We hit the hills and had loads of fun sliding around in the white stuff. Jonathon Lloyd was on the camera and did a great job of catching the action to compact flash. Lets hope theres more of this great winter weather to come.

Wet Welsh Windy Night

2010-11-12T13:26:00.006Z

Winters here, lights are strapped on ready for some urban night riding. Jonathan brought his camera and flash out and his new proto bike lights. We spent some time smashing into this leafy flower bed corner and playing with lighting options. Here are a few of the results.

Autumn Chilling

2010-11-02T20:21:00.003Z

It has been a bit quiet up on here recently so I though about time for an update. Following the end of the race season and the rapidly closing in evenings I have been making the most of the local riding here in Swansea. This has involved a whole load of the trail centres with a splattering of Kilvey and Clyne on the side. Kilvey is riding really well, there are now 3 full, official DH tracks on the hill. I am really enjoying the new track which is a nice tech affair tracking tightly through the trees at a relatively slow pace making for a decent length overall run. The original trail is still a super fun, rapid run. I sometimes forget what a great bike the BFe is when the trail gets faster and more challenging as I have pretty much spent the whole year on small XC tyres. Sticking some large bouncy rubbers on her and pointing her down a proper DH trail feels beautifully natural, balanced and puts a massive grin on my face.

Clyne is all change at the moment, they have had a decent chunk of funding to link together the network of home built trails and make something more all weather and loopable. Rowan Sorrel and his crew have been involved, Moos trails has had a boost and the old dirt jumps are being rebuilt and targeted towards the beginner rider with some safe tabletop lines. This should see Clyne becoming a top quality local facility right in the heart of Swansea. Unfortunately a slight hiccup in the funding has put some the development on hold temporarily but I understand the project will be kicked off again at the start of the next financial year.

Afan 4X track has seen some action with a University club day both last weekend and one planned for the weekend coming. The club now has an elite 4X rider, Pete Warner and with a local track it seems a few more people are getting inspired to give it a go. Last weekend was good fun, we were playing with race lines. The massive open, rough corners give so many options and open up some decent battles as all lines are compromised. Cut inside get ahead and aim to block or go wide carry speed and dart through on the next straight. I think the track will produce some top class racing. In places it still needs some love but I think with more people getting up there the track will ride itself in.

The RoadRat is getting daily action. It really is a solid, setup and forget bike. I am loving the simplicity, the Alfine hub works a treat and all bar a change of brake pads the bike really has required no attention. I have just equipped it with a set of the Hope dual LED lights with the intent of also using them on the BFe for some night rides. I am still a little uncertain about these lights, I have ridden halogen lights in the past and the spread of the beam made a lot of sense. These seem a little too focused for a sole handlebar mounted light but they are yet to be properly tested out on the trail so I will reserve judgement. Build quality is absolutely top notch and they come in a very nice compact, lightweight unit. Burn time is good and they make a great head torch but I think there are a few niggles that are amplified by the price tag which sets expectations high. Expect more to come on this topic with some head to head tests out in the woods as the winter progresses.

Chicksands NPS 4X

2010-09-20T08:37:00.002+01:00

Apologies for the fantastically late post on this one. Chicksands held the last round of this years NPS 4x the weekend before last. Changes to the track destroyed what used to be a drag race to a multi-stage race. A loose chicane has been added halfway down before the triple producing a whole heap of action at the halfway point. The exit of this section was slow and created a staggered start as we had to get back on the pedals uphill towards the triple whilst everyone was bunched up and pushing for position. The track was very physical to say the least.

Racing wise it did kind of work with moves being made the length of the track but the triple was now out of action and it didnt have the flow of other tracks that we have seen this year. In the senior category there was a bit of a mix up as some of the usual suspects didnt make it past the quarters. Keeny left it to the last round to show he can sometimes ride a bike and me and Mop Heap pushed out a few of the other higher seeded riders. The B-Final was a really good race. By the chicane I was somewhere near the head of the pack but left the door open and got taken out taking 7th for the day. Mop pushed ahead of me which gave him enough points to jump me in the season standings taking 8th place and so I finished the season in 9th overall.

The guy to watch for me was Duncan Ferris who was making some insane moves in the elite category. He was destroying the corners in a flat out do or die manner. The moves didnt stick every time but it was awesome to watch him push it right to and slightly past the limit.

Cotic RoadRat - Drop Alfine build

2010-09-15T08:59:00.004+01:00

As I am now slowly falling down the slippery transition that is growing up I have come to the point where I need a more sensible everyday bike to do the commuting and keep the fitness up whilst work slyly takes up more of my time. My commute is not massively long but does feature a couple of serious hills, as you may have seen in the Tour of Britain Swansea has a few of those! I wanted something skinny tyred, geared and drop bar but also low maintainance and durable to cope with the stunning welsh weather. The obvious choice for this brief was the RoadRat.

Cy doesnt do the dropbar with a standard geared option. A trawl of the web found the beautifully made barcon shifter by JTEK designed for use with the Alfine hub. The final build is the standard singlespeed dropbar RoadRat with the Jtek shifter and the rear wheel swapped for its Alfine equivalent. The range of gears provided by the Alfine is sufficient for the steep climbs but I will admit the pace is high and there is not an easy cruise gear that you would find on a traditional setup. I dont mind this but I am used to fairly compromised gear setups having only ever run a single front ring on my bikes. The hub itself performs far better than I was expecting. The internet seems full of mixed reviews but I have to say there is no noticable drag and shifts are sharp however they do require easing off the pedals to change. The lever has a really solid action and is very comfortable to use. I love the subtlety and clean look that you get with this setup.

As a commuter this bike fly's. Getting to work is a shed load more exciting and is absolutely flat out down the hill in the morning, it is now a rapid and somewhat brutal way of waking up! The RoadRat handles nicely, the v brakes are so much more effective than standard road brakes which helps raise the confidence when fighting with the traffic. The bike looks really clean and understated which works well to avoid too much attention in the bike sheds. I personally really like the drops as it gives a range of positions for different scenarios whether thats head up amongst other road users or getting the head down for slogging up a hill.

NPS 4X Rd4 - PORC

2010-07-27T09:33:00.004+01:00

Photo courtesy of Andy Fricker

Rd 4 of the series was down in kent at the pretty impressive Porc venue. This meant fully getting to know the M4 and a bit of a wrestle with the M25, by far the best way to spend a hot saturday afternoon! Porc itself is a woodland set aside for mountain biking. There is a massive log cabin which sits alongside the track and plenty of earth works scattered around catering for Dirt Jumpers downhillers and obviously the 4X riders.

The track itself is an interesting one, it is a blast to ride being absolutely flat out and included some relatively challenging corners at the bottom as the rock hard ground is covered in a soft layer of fine sand making traction pretty sporadic in places. I dont think however it produces brilliant 4X racing. It is too narrow the majority of the way to allow overtaking and very little preparation before the weekend meant only the main line was smooth and completely free from undergrowth. The first corner was in most cases where the race was one or lost. The inside line had the advantage, the entry was over a small jump wide enough for 3 and a half riders and the exit was wide enough for 2 riders abreast. The outside lane allowed you to generate a lot more speed for the exit of the corner but there was no where to use it as the inside line more or less totally blocked off the exit. From there on any overtaking required a pretty bold manoeuvre or a mistake from the rider in front.

My motos themselves went well with 3 wins and a 3rd after a failed attempt at trying to take the inside on Dave Roberts left me sprawling around on the floor. I grabbed a second place in the quarter but only a 4th in the semi leaving me in the B final up against Gareth Parr, Tom Gethin and Tim Pearson. Off the start in the B final we were all level necking into the first corner. The width of the track wasnt having this though and I felt someone get underneath my bars causing me to veer into the side of Gethin taking us both down in the process. Flipping into the floor gave Gareth and Tim the chance to get clear and Gareth took the win. I grabbed my bike and managed to get down to take 3rd place which left me with 7th position overall. The Senior podium was taken by John Hewitt, Lee Feery and Dave Roberts.

It was a fun weekend of riding but we are now looking forward to the next round and the national champs at South West Extreme which is being held on a totally fresh track that is rumoured to be a massive step up in difficulty with technical features that should create some really exciting racing.

RedHill NPS 4X

2010-07-05T09:09:00.003+01:00

Redhill is one of my favourite 4x venues. It always has a great atmosphere with the camping right next to the track and lots of other antics going on with the dirt jumps and new bomb hole area. The track is flat out and really doesnt take much effort to be properly hauling making some pretty exciting racing.

I have recently made the transition to clips and this was my first time out using them in anger. I am still at the stage where the stupid crashes happen due to forgetting to twist and unclip, apparently this is all part of the learning curve but so far I have done a half back flip pulling out from the take off of a steep jump and forgetting I couldnt just jump off the back of the bike. I almost ate it at Bryn Bettws getting hit by a gust in the air and had a good stack in practice on the saturday over Redhills new rock garden, in short this new clipped in stuff is still pretty hairy and giving me a few to many exciting moments.

The payback is off the gate and the reassurance of being able to attack the pedals without foot issues. This was doing me well off the gate and 3 out of the 4 motos I was out in front by the first corner. Unfortunately 2 of these motos I ruined the lead I had by binning it on the bottom half of the track. The first crash was on the grass chicane, my tyre lost grip on the second corner, grabbed and high sided me into the take off of the following jump. The second crash was on the last corner when Dave Roberts was right on my tail and I pushed too hard losing the front wheel on the grass hairpin. These crashes turned what was one of my better days of racing into a bit of a disappointment as I didnt make it through to the quarters. The senior podium ended up being taken by Tom Gethin, Peter Hosker, and Dave Roberts.

BFe Mk II

2010-06-12T22:10:00.006+01:00

I have been riding the new BFe for a few weeks now, the concept of the frame is exactly that of the old model only Cy has managed to sneak in a few tweaks and refinements in order to bring it in touch with the new regs whilst still keeping the weight impressively low. From my understanding this means this should be even stronger than the last. My original BFe has been abused solidly for 3 years, the paintwork is heavily scarred but the frame itself has never shown any signs of weakness in this time. The original BeeFe is only out of action now because her prettier little sister has shown up!

The most striking new feature other than the lush new paint job is the ovalised top tube. I remember Marin did something like this years back to increase stiffness however their oval was rotated by 90 degrees. The advantage of this is the BFe is more compliant vertically helping to reduce harshness whilst beeing super stiff laterally where it counts, sounds a far better application of the concept. There is also an extra sticker on the frame indicating that reynolds 853 and 631 tubing have joined the party. This really shows Cy's obsessive nature when it comes to specking the optimum materials for the job according to their required loads and purpose.

I have also switched to the Magura Thor forks for the time being which run at up to 140mm of travel and also lighten up the front end when compared to the Wotans. Fork action is very similar, I am really enjoying the sharp twitchy nature and low front end that comes from running the shorter travel forks.

The overall feel of the bike is ace. The geometry of the BFe is now proven, the new frame fine tunes that original design. The bike is all about stability and speed. It loves being absolutely hammered on the pedals and positions your body in a strong balanced attack position that really lets you charge, keep the bike on target and maintain control when things get a little hairy.

More importantly here are some pics, plenty more to follow!

Kali Protection

2010-06-12T21:34:00.004+01:00

The guys at Bullet Distribution sent me some more of the Kali protective gear to test, so far no serious head to the ground testing has happened so will have to comment on the secondary features of the helmets such as comfort and style. The two helmets I have been trying are the Avita Carbon a more XC orientated lid shown above and the Raja 'piss pot.'

Not so much to say about the raja really as with all lids of this type it has a thick layer of foam encased in a hard outer shell with minimal venting to achieve maximum head protection. The fit is good, I like the graphics and the subtle styling features with the 'rail' over the top make it stand out from other equivalent helmets. It comes with a range of padding sizes as to be expected to fine tune the fit.

The Avita is something a bit more special. I guess it is targeted more at the trail rider who wants an all day lid with plenty of venting but also with a good level of protection. It mixes up carbon to keep the weight low, has lots of vents but still seems to be chunky enough to be of use in a decent crash. The helmet has a decent adjustable headband that is easy to use and feels secure and a visor to keep the sun out of the eyes. I think the styling is good with minimal graphics and a not too extreme shape.

i have also been testing some Kali Aazis soft knee pads. These have actually had some proper testing following a fair few crashes up at Harthill. They are similar in concept to the Troy Lee T-Bones which really are the classic when it comes to pads. The Kali pads are really comfortable as the bits in contact with your leg are nice and soft and stretchy and dont seem to get too hot or sweaty. I happily spent a weekend in them and forgot they were there really. Protection is good. The knee has both front and side protection and I can say it definitely works. The only downside to them is the fabric encasing the front of the knee pad isnt as hard wearing as other pads such as the T-Bones. After a weekend there were some noticable scuffs and snags in this outer fabric, they are still perfectly usable but they may be best suited under jeans to get the most life out of them.

More details on all these products can be found here.

Harthill NPS 4X RD2 and Euro

2010-06-03T22:02:00.005+01:00

Photo by Dave Thomason

Ace weekend of racing at the new 4X track up near Chester. The track itself was a mix of tight and awkward features that were a little rough and ready compared to the usual track standards. This however made for some really interesting racing and tonnes of overtaking due to the awkward flow. The terrain was loose sand on top of a hard packed under layer making grip a struggle to find and there was the odd random sandpit ready to catch people off guard. The weather played its own part in livening up the racing, we had it all. Rain to further lubricate the track and when that started making sense the sun was out to dry out patches allowing a formula one style dry racing line to form. The wind built throughout the weekend and by sunday it was seriously hauling literally blowing off the competition at the gate.

Saturday was an epically fun day of racing. Every moto turned into a real battle with moves being made left right and centre. I managed one win and 3 seconds, unfortunately this run of luck was lost in quarters leaving me out of the competition. With the Euro the following day and the imminent Fort Bill World Cup there were some big names entered and a full Elite class which was great to watch. There is a definite step up in intensity in the Elite class and the speed that the top riders were taking on the track and each other made for some top notch spectating. Check out this great video coverage by Corine Walders to really see what was going down.

British 4X National Rnd 2. Harthill May 2010 from Corinne Walder on Vimeo.

The big day was the Euro round on the sunday. We were all in one class mixing it up with the Elites. A timed qualifying run set the order for the motos which were a straight knockout. Qualifying went ok, a few mistakes up top left me in 40th place and put me on a gate alongside Will Evans, a large gust of wind right before the gate dropped put the other 3 off their balance and leaving me with a brief foray out front but the deep sand on the inside line on the second corner got me and from there it was chase to the finish and giving a final ranking of 43rd. The atmosphere trackside was really good and everyone was getting right behind the racing. The finals were hottly contested and the places the top guys were able to pedal and get those few extra cranks in is really impressive. Prokop ended up taking the win but I think Dan Atherton was my favourite to watch making a number of seriously impressive passes at the bottom of the track.

All in all a great weekend, the UK 4X scene feels really strong at the moment with great turn out and a number of fresh tracks popping up, bring on the next round!!

Afan Dirt Park

2010-05-10T22:29:00.004+01:00

South Wales mountain biking is seeing a great new development in the form of a new centre catering for the more extreme end of the sport. Last weekend saw some fine tuning of the new 4X track up at Bryn Bettws Lodge at the back of Afan. The track has been built with the aid of Phil Saxena who is better known for his work on the word cup 4X tracks. The place has big ambitions and looks set to be a really good venue for the UK scene. The pro line, christened by Duncan Ferris is quite literally massive and if that by itself isnt scary enough the run in is over a massive multiline rock garden. It was clear the track has been designed to make some tight close racing and will be a serious challenge for all levels of riders. If thats not enough there are also some comp level dirt jumps, a licensed bar and when we were there the guys had a barbeque going to keep us all well fueled. With any luck this is just the start, the guys have access to an array of diggers so we should see this being developed and built up over time, exciting stuff!

More details and updates can be found here: Afan MTB Afan Valley

NPS 4X Rd1 - Easter washout

2010-04-08T12:29:00.003+01:00

Easter weekend may not have been the best choice for the first round of this years national 4X series. Some serious rain had left the track in an exceptionally wet state. The track has recently seen some pretty big changes but unfortunately they couldn't be tested due to a very thick heavy layer of mud that left only one jump really jumpable. Riders were pedalling their nut off but only getting to speeds less than that seen in your average pump race. The event would be better described as XC 4X since the second half of the track felt more like an uphill climb. Riders were even having to get off and push the backside of one of the jumps since holding speed into it was such hard work. An S turn had been added to the first straight that introduced a new feature to 4X racing, the lake line. This opened up a nice little overtaking move where you could squeeze into the inside and push the rider in front out wide into the lake, hopefully track designers wont start applying this to future tracks! In fairness the Blandford track looks fun in the dry, it has a proper ruggedness to it that I think more 4X tracks should have.

Racing this track really made you work for your position, it was a slog and 7 motos in total was killer. I got two firsts and two seconds in the motos and managed to place 7th overall having been just sneaked on the line. Some one let Mop Head on the mic for some class commentary which livened up the quarters, Mop does like to be heard! Senior ended up being taken by Nathan Parsons and Will Longdon took the win in the Elite class. Full results and dates are up on Naked Racing.

BUCS 2010 - Ae Forest

2010-03-24T21:58:00.002Z

The Student Champs should be the model for all other DH races. There is nothing quite like an event catering for 800 students. The DH track was really good this year, the level was suitable for all abilities with a few challenging sections to really mix up the results. Friday night saw a load of rain which lubricated the track and made the whole event a lot more interesting. In practice the final section of steep, freshly cut terrain was carnage. Riders were tumbling and crashing at every possibility through this section which lead to a massive alcohol fuelled crowd building through the day. By second runs the atmosphere was totally wired. From the top of the track the crowds could be heard showing their support for fellow riders, banter was flying, claxons and air horns were going off, the atmosphere really was nuts. As a rider it makes the event really something special and the party feeling makes spectating incredibly entertaining. Joe Bowman has put together this awesome video of the DH, check it out:

British Student Champs Downhill 2010 A.e Forest from Joe Bowman on Vimeo.

Swansea, although missing the podium for the first time in a few years posted some respectable results with Will Soffe finishing 4th and incredibly managing to finish first fun in 17th despite having smashed off his rear brake rotor right at the top of the track. Greg Hampton squeezed into the top 20 to finish in 19th place. Jack Malone made 39th after properly, and I mean properly snapping his front wheel in his first run. I got the BFe down in a 2:56 to finish in 81st place overall.

The XC followed an epic party on Saturday night and to be frank the track was a massive disappointment. The hillside had so much potential and yet they chose to route the track along fireroads and a man made tow path type thing. There was no tech climbs or descents and worst of all there was no comedy crash section to provide comedy for the DH boys. Despite this some really imaginative heckling was carried out on a couple of the switchbacks giving the XC a bit more fear factor for a lot of the riders. An impromptu rock/tyre/ravioli/pot noodle garden was also built on the start straight to keep the riders on their toes each lap. Swansea managed 3 riders in the top 30 but unfortunately that wasnt enough to secure the team podium.

Thanks to Joe Bowman to this great video of the event and James Holt for the pictures. For more info on the picture and fullsize images contact him at jceholt@gmail.com

Snow on the Raven

2010-02-09T21:35:00.003Z

We had a totally lush ride up at Brechfa a few weekends back. A snow shower over night left us waking up to a light dusting. Out in the hills the ground and trees were covered with white powder that produced some stunning scenery. The snow was really powdery and light enough to keep the tyres rolling quickly and still gripping in the corners.
The Icing on the cake was a near deserted trail and bright sunshine coming together to form a perfect winter ride.

Keeping it Simple in Wideopen Issue 11

2010-01-04T14:04:00.005Z

The story behind the Simple is in this months issue of Wideopen Magazine. Wideopen is a quality online magazine that is free to download over the web and great distraction when stuck in the office! Check it out here.

Winter Skate

2009-12-04T10:10:00.003Z

First Uni Longboard club meet was a success. Dodging the rain and security guards we found a dry spot to have a session and dragged the surf club along for a play. A load of people were trying longboarding for the first time and seemed to really like the landbased activity. The realtive warmth when compared to the plummeting surf temperatures and the similar feeling of carving turns seemed to turn a lot of the surfers onto the idea of longboarding. Hopefully now having shown there is enough interest the club will be supported by the Uni and be able to become official for next year.

The Gap - Brecon

2009-12-04T09:26:00.006Z

The bike hasnt seen much action recently due to the onslaught of rubbish weather and a bit of an injury to get over. A couple of weekends back we found a small gap in the rain and snuck out for a Physics Department bike ride following The Gap trail around Brecon. All in house Physics jokes were meant to be off for the afternoon however this didnt last long and we had a great day geeking out in the hills. This was the first true XC ride I have done on the Simple, Single Speed definately makes things challenging and is not the most sociable ride as going slowly really isnt an option when driving a fairly large gear. The end of the loop finished in a long fun decent followed by some really tight fast and greasy single lane roads, this was so much fun despite a plague of punctures. Me and Jonathan were going for a bit o a head for head throwing the bikes into the corners, kicking the back end out supermoto stylee, the nimble handling of the Simple getting abused to the max. All in all we had a good ride through some fantastic scenery. However the loop was a little too along the lines of classic xc for my tastes as the singletrack was severely lacking.

More Simple in the Alpes

2009-10-27T09:27:00.006Z

Just found a few more Alpine pics that for some reason missed the cut last time. Heres a bit more summer fun before we get totally immersed in winter!

Builders Tea

2009-10-21T21:41:00.006+01:00

In celebration of the Builders Tea Simple build, "Make Mine a Builders" sent me a stack of tea bags, very random indeed. I am sure this will make a valuable contribution to the PhD! Having sampled the new brew I conclude that it does make a good strong cuppa. The packaging also contains just enough humour to stay entertained all the way to the bottom of the mug. As can be seen from the colour comparison with the Simple Cy did a good job of colour matching, although the Simple does have a slightly more orangey hue.

Issue 10, Wideopen Mag

2009-10-20T10:06:00.008+01:00

The latest online issue of Wideopen Mag has amongst a load of other cool stuff an awesome write up on this years hardtail champs at the UK Bke Park. Its great seeing the hardtail scene getting a bit of coverage, download this months issue here for free and check it out.

Yomps Paragliding Video

2009-10-05T07:58:00.005+01:00

Simon Vacher has just finished this cool video for Yomps. You may notice the signature green helmet sneaked in to shot a couple of times. I cant decide if it is uplifting or somewhat depressing watching this as the british winter is creeping up on us, either way this is a beautiful record of what was a totally epic summer. Simon is pulling out some really cool stuff check out some of his other projects at www.pixelblockmedia.com and www.simonvacherfilm.com

Larger version of the video can be found Here

Mont Blanc, Mountaneering Epic!

2009-09-19T11:52:00.005+01:00

This is by far the most extreme terrifying thing I have ever done. I met Andy Brown in Verbier, he is a GP in the Marines and has done some seriously cool expeditions including making it to the South Pole and getting most of the way up Everest. One night following a few bottles of wine he talked me into doing a mountaneering trip in Chamonix. To set the scene heights terrify me, I cant deal with exposure and the small bit of climbing I have done before hand scared the shit out of me. This was set to be one hell of a weekend.

After hiring the gear and getting the Aiguille de Midi lift up to 3800m it was about mid day. Crampons were put on in an ice cave joining on to the station. To get onto the mountain a metal barrier had to be climbed over this was covered in warnings, danger signs and made it very clear we were on our own after this point. Over the barrier was a ridge just wide enough to put both feet on, one side it dropped straight down to Chamonix and on the other it dropped away to a load of Crevasses. This was a serious initiation into mountaneering. My tactic as happened a lot was to fixate only on the snow a couple of feet in front and not stop moving.

The route we did was called the Cosmic Arrette it took us through the Vallee Blanche and then up the rock face back to the midi station. The rock section was nutty. The 3 of us were roped together however the length of the route meant we could only use gear on the most serious sections. There were some really quite committed moves that had to be made, there was also a hell of a lot of massively exposed bits of rock. The scenery was absolutely incredible but I admit I didnt spend much time looking at it unless I had a very solid grasp of a rock. The climb took us well into night, the top section was tackled with a head torch. Mine however was knocked off by the rope and I watched it fall away down a cliff face riccocheting off rocks as it went. This meant the rest of the climb had to be tackled by moonlight. Luckily we had a full moon and it was a beautifully clear night. The relief of making it back to the lift station was amazing. I was absolutely buzzing, the exhileration from pure fear the whole way up.

We bivvyed up in the station and got a good dose of army rations. The next day started at 4am, we were back out in the vallee blanche walking by moonlight. It was such a peaceful and stunning environment. A little trail of headtorches could be seen dotting all the way along the path up towards Mont Blanc. We were heading for Mont Blanc de Tacul. The climb up was nice, just steady plodding. There was far more chance to take in the scenery and it was trully spectacular. This is the heart of the Alpes and in every direction there was this incredible jagged skyline. We more or less made the summit of 4248m however the winds were hauling and the windchill was really bad. It was a matter of getting there getting the photo and then turning straight back to find more sheltered parts of the hillside.

As an experience this was absolutely fantastic and I thank Andy for inviting me as it really is something very few people get to try. It is however something I am glad to have done but wouldnt rush back to do it again. For me the dangers are too high and I was so far out of my comfort zone the whole time. Once in a while this is good but I dont think I could deal with that level of fear regularly.

Slacking About in the Alpes

2009-09-19T11:35:00.005+01:00

Slacklines are so much fun. I had a few really cool sessions in Verbier. The instructors had a go, it was so funny seeing these guys totally out of their comfort zone. Slacking is not quite as easy as it looks and peoples first tries are always very entertaining. Jerome was determined to make one step whilst holding on to my shoulder, about 10 minutes of heavy breathing and nervous talking later he tried a step and ended up jumping into my arms instead. The ironic thing was Nat, the chalet chef, is far more athletic than pretty much all the paragliding instructors put together and is apparently a bit of a dab hand on a line, awesome!

Verbier Summits

2009-09-13T12:21:00.002+01:00

The blog hasnt had as much attention as planned recently as can be seen from the pics and video far too much fun was being had! Now my epic adventure is over I can actually sit down and post my thoughts on the experience.

I have had far too many amazing expereinces over the last few months to document everything. I have seen some totally stunning things and met some amazing, inspiring people. At the end of the day it is the people that these sports bring together that really transforms these experiences into something amazing, thanks to everyone involved for making it such a fantastic trip.

Over the 6 weeks I have more or less earnt my full pilots licence and am really just short of a few hours in the sky to getting this signed off. In all 20 hrs of flying were clocked up and just shy of 80 flights made. From what I hear gaining this kind of flight expereince in the UK takes years!! Paragliding is such a beutiful feeling. There really isnt much else that gives you this ammount of freedom in the sky. It is silent graceful and serene way to view the environment.

Ridge soaring forces you to fly low searching for lift whilst skimming along the contours of the ground. Thermalling brings a different interaction with the landscape and forces an understanding of what will create and trigger thermals, this search for lift is the challenge and unfortunately requires masses of experience to master. The feeling of the wing being thrusted upwards is both terrifying and exhilerating. Going up is rarely a smooth ride, the finesse and control of birds in turbulent air is just outstanding and something I dont think a paraglider will never be able to trully match. One of the most amazing expereinces I have had flying was thermalling with two falcons. I was flying only 5-10m above them as they circled through the thermal, they didnt seem at all bothered by my presence. Seeing their motion up close was stunning.

The other game is acro and although I havent anywhere near the experience to start playing this one properly I did enough to glimpse what it may be like. Acro pilots turn paragliding into a flat out roller coaster. It is possible to get the glider to pull upto 6 G's, as much as a fighter pilot can expereince. I was playing with gentle spirals and some baby wingovers. The acceleration is such an addictive thing. This for me is where the real buzz of paragliding is. Learning to throw the paraglider arround whilst in full control and whilst the glider is trying to rip you through the harness.

Verbier Summits itself is incredibly well run. The twins, Stu and Mike who run the school are so enthusiastic, full of energy and loads of fun to be arround. They have such amazing knowledge of Verbier and its local weather and really use this to ensure we got the maximum possible time in the air but more importantly that the conditions were always suitable for the ability of the people flying. On average we were getting 4 flights a day with generally only one day getting shut down due to weather each week. The tuition was great and really thourough going well beyond the BHPA syllabus in places.

Its a strange thing for me to come on holiday to have lectures and exams. The lectures themselves were brilliant, again the Twins enthusiasm made it impossible not to want to get stuck in and learn what makes a paraglider fly, what produces the weather and how it develops. We had some really interesting discussions and I learnt a lot that will benefit all my outdoor persuits.

For me the real appeal of paragliding is the possibility of mental adventures hiking up mountains and trying to fly to the next peak. There are some incredibly inspiring stories of people travelling through some remote parts of the world like this, for me this is the ultimate goal. For now I want to fly Rhossilli on the Gower, this beach is spectacular and I have some beautiful memories of kiting and surfing this bay. The hills and prevailing winds make it one of the best ridge soaring sites in the UK. Unfortunately for now paragliding is on the back burner but it is one thing I am certain I will come back to in the future, once my body is finally too beaten up to continue with the bikes!!

Verbier Summits Alpine Adventure: The Video

2009-09-09T08:47:00.005+01:00

Verbier Summer

Simple fun in Verbier from Rob Rickman on Vimeo.

The Dimplespeed was built up with the aim of creating a toy that was nimble, lively and most of all tons of fun for all those situations where the BFe is a tad overkill. The simple shares the same solid reassuring geometry as the rest of the Cotic range. With 120mm adjusted rigid forks it takes mountainbiking back to basics and is incredibly agile. The geometry gives shed loads of confidence allowing the bike to be piloted down terrain where a fully rigid bike traditionally really should not venture.

Modern bikes have masses of features that aid both performance and comfort so why strip them away? Going Singlespeed gives such beautiful drive and confidence when stamping hard on the pedals and forces real commitment in the climbs. The bars look so clean, the controls are simple, no distractions leaving a very pure connection with the bike. Best of all with the Dimplespeed setup the bike becomes 2 bikes in one. The light trials gear gives snappy performance and allows the steepest alpine climbs to be taken on. A quick flick of the chain allows the second gear ratio to be selected that is perfect for charging round the local woods or ragging about through town.

Rigid forks are so much fun, they create a new outlook on riding. To go fast an incredibly active, accurate and supple style is required. Incorrect line choice will either totally kill the bikes momentum or have you picking yourself out of the undergrowth. This makes even mellow terrain technical and challenging. The satisfaction when getting it right is so rewarding as is the bewildered look of fellow riders on their nice cushy rides when they struggle to pull away.

The Simple is so much fun, the stripped back look is so sexy and without any of the extras it is light and screams to be chucked around and played with. Having so little on it to go wrong or gadgets to get distracted by it brings biking back to the fundamentals of just getting out and having a good time.

Verbier has provided an amazing testing ground for the Dimplespeed. I have had an amazing time exploring what is possible on this bike. It has been pedaled up the same climb used in the tour de france, along amazing singletrack, pointed down the DH track, hopped over rocks and walls around town. All the time it has put a massive grin on my face and opened up a totally fresh set of challenges to test my skills as a rider.

Most of all it was brilliant fun going out with Simon Vacher exploring, searching and building new lines. I think we found some absolutely stunning shots that gives a bit of a peek of the amazing scenery that Verbier has to offer. All credit to him for putting together an awesome video.

VIDEO : pixelblockmedia.com
MUSIC : hopeandsocial.com
BIKE : cotic.co.uk/product/simple

This report was emailed in by Rob from Verbier and

Verbier Summits Alpine Adventure: Part 1

2009-07-30T14:46:00.007+01:00

Being half way between an Undergrad and that shuffle towards (or at least a slight step around) the real world when I start a PhD I thought now was a good opportunity of taking a gap month. I am signed up for an intensive 4 week paragliding course with Verbier-Summits out in Verbier in the Swiss Alpes, I also have the Cotic Simple with me to explore the fantastic trials potential the Alpes always has on offer.

Day 1:

First off the accommodation here is total luxury, not the usual 10 sweaty men shoe horned into a single room that I have come to expect from alpine adventures. The Chalet is fantastic it has great views loads of room to sit around and chill out and an amazing chef Nat who has been conjuring up some outstanding food.

Day 1 was ground school, Marcus and Reeve were instructing us out on the baby slope to explain the basics of the kit and get us momentarily off the ground. This turned out to be a solid day of lumping gear up a hill as we made small runs inflating the glider legging it and pulling in some brake to generate the lift required to leave our legs momentarily dangling uselessly in mid air. I ended up with a couple of nice moments properly off the ground. Martin and Aiden also started the course with me, me and Aiden have had no previous experience on a glider, luckily we all got to grips with it pretty quickly as the first serious flight was planned for day 2.

The bike came out in the evening, Verbier has so much potential. Here are a few shots of some lines right outside the chalet. Having not done trials or really much street riding in about 5 years my timing and precision are disgustingly out but the raw power and concepts have not deteriorated too badly. The next few weeks should be a sharp re-learning curve as my ability catches up with the ideas and lines I know I used to be able to hit!

Day 2:

Leaving the chalet early we were driven to the top of the mountain for a brutal initiation into the world of paragliding. The launch site was Les Ruinettes at an altitude of 2170m, the proposed landing site was at Champsec at the bottom of the valley and at an altitude of just 930m. Serious nerves were building on the way up and whilst setting up the canopy.

The first experience of real flight was remarkably fast and graceful, my first flight was with Mike on the tandem. A paraglider smoothly lifts you into the air in a far more sedate fashion than with a kite. Kites rip you from the ground with brutal acceleration, this was a far more relaxing experience that is until the ground drops rapidly away and all that is left is to trust the laws of physics keeping the canopy in the air and Mikes skills as a pilot. The tandem initiation was both good and bad, with nothing to do on the take off there was nothing to distract the mind and I really did feel very exposed and scared by the situation. Once given the controls I was more relaxed, it was a totally amazing experience. As Mike said at the bottom "oh god we have a giggler!" Mike put me through a few semi stalls and some dives, the forces going through your body are phenomenal, it is like a roller coaster, super intense but completely dependent on the will of the pilot.

The afternoon took me to my first solo flight, again from Les Ruinettes. This was a totally different build up. The experience was much like the start of a race there was all the anticipation and fear that comes before the clock counts down but once the call was made to go all fears were suppressed and moved to the back of my mind as I got on my race face. The launch and flight were all carried out with that blind focus and complete concentration that blocks all other thoughts. It was actually a very relaxing experience and in some ways a bit of an anticlimax. I was expecting a massive buzz but as a first initiation goes it was far tamer than my initial experiences kiting and maybe even surfing. The landing itself was stunning, I landed on the valley floor with the sun going down and have to say was very mellowed out by the experience. In a similar way to surfing there was none of the crazy over energetic buzz that you get from a nuts day on the bike instead this really subdued chilled out and relaxed mindset was created by the flight.

Day 3:

We managed two top to bottoms. The first was from the highest take off used by the boys at an altitude 2400m. The views from here are absolutely epic. The launch looks straight down the valley and tapers off really quickly requiring full commitment to leave the ground safely. A set of high tension power lines lie below the take off so getting it right really did feel very critical. The launch went well and we were starting to really explore how to control the glider. The gliders are incredibly responsive just by leaning. Hanging out the side of the harness despite being incredibly unnerving produced some really nice turns. 2nd flight of the day we were exploring stalling the glider and letting it surge in front accelerating us forward in the process. This felt amazing and as the tasks were becoming more dynamic the whole flying experience was surprisingly becoming far less daunting.

We went up the hill to watch Mike take a young kid for a tandem flight and it was amazing, he took off and flew straight into lift shooting up above us and cruising the ridge for ages, the sky was really hazy and the blurred peaks in the distance was totally stunning. The evening was finished off with Raclette, a traditional Swiss dish of melted cheese potatoes meat and gherkins. The cheese was melted by an open fire, by far the best Raclette I have had.

Day 4:

Flying from Croix de Coer in the morning we had to pull "Big-Ears" which requires deliberately collapsing the tips of the glider to increase the sink rate if you need to get out of the sky in a hurry. Apparently this also increases the pressure in the cells of the glider making it more stable but it felt decidedly dodgy!! The afternoon was spent with a few lectures on meteorology and a quick blast on the bike. Pedaling out of the garage as the guys loaded up the van my chain fell off sending me over the bars, a typical totally embarrassing crash! Found some cool rocks though and got a nice touch hop line nailed, confidence in my slow bike handling skills is slowly starting to get back towards where it should be.

Photos by Simon Vacher

Sneak Peak - Kali Ad

2009-07-24T21:35:00.006+01:00

The guys at Bullet Distribution have put together this ad for their line of Kali helmets and El Gallo components. The ad will be running in MBUK next month and features the pic of me and the BFe taken a few months back by Rob Hinds up at CwmCarn. They are bringing in some really cool looking gear, check it out at www.bulletdistribution.co.uk or even better pop in to Wheelies in Swansea to see these shiny new parts in the flesh!

Slacking Around

2009-07-20T12:20:00.003+01:00

This is the latest game, Slacklining. It turns out 20 meters of webbing and 3 caribiners can be loads of fun. Slacklining is seriously addictive, it is easy enough to get hooked on but at the same time dam near impossible! There are kids on the web doing backflips and landing back on the line, this stuff is nuts. We found this amazing place on the Gower to rig up the line, the old military tower and deserted beach was a slightly eerie but a really cool place to have a session.

Rickman Mountain Boards

2009-07-20T11:47:00.004+01:00

Rickman boards have diversified and we now have big wheeled mountainboards joining the quiver. I have just finished 10 new decks, 5 are short 195cm decks the other 5 are a longer 100cm variety. This follows on from 2 prototypes that have recieved some serious testing, both have survived a good hammering. The frst one has been bashed around by me on the kite for a year now and it is holding up really well. The latest prototype has had really good comments from local riders, Ben has been using it down at the centre and the feedback coming back about the board has been great. Final build specs are still to be determined but the parts will be picked to produce an awesome riding board at a decent price.

The boards will be available through BRD mountain board centre out on the Gower. This place is amazing, the location is stunning right by the sea and next to Woebly Castle. Ben who runs the place has some really big ideas, I am really excited about how the centre is going to develop. It should become an amazing place for both bikes and boards over the next few years.

"Like a supermodel wearing fake tan"

2009-07-08T23:57:00.005+01:00

Cy posted this comment from Tim Cokayne up on the Cotic website last week

"New Cotic Soul frame arrived this morning. The builders tea colour is really nice. Skinny and light like a supermodel wearing fake tan."

I think this is a brilliant description, my simple goes further having had all the useful, practical ideas and concepts stripped away to leave the raw basics. Like a true blonde there is nothing too complicated about her. The beautiful tan colour further enhances her lines and she is incredibly elegant. I particularly like the lack of clutter on the bars and the streamlined look provided by the rigid forks.

I had her on the scales and she comes in at just over 24lbs which I dont think is too shabby. Light weight trials bikes rock in at under 20lbs but the Simple still has some rider comforts like a useable seat/seatpost and a fairly sturdy build. As a comparison the Simple frame is over a pound lighter than the steel Pashley 26MhZ trials specific frame and really not a lot heavier than the Alu trials frames on the market. In terms of dieting weight could be lost on the cranks and bashguard, moving to smaller disks and a skinnier set of rubber on the front. The bars at the moment are Spank DH ones that also put a lot of pressure on the scales.

I was having a bit of a play with some bamboo canes earlier and these couple of extra pounds dont hold the Simple back. The bike will still happily jump over a pole set at handlebar height which is just shy of a meter off the ground. Trials probably wasnt in Cy's original brief when designing this frame however its got really nice geometry and for a lanky rider like me it is a good size to really chuck around. Quality materials and engineering have kept the weight down and also gives me confidence that it will be able to handle this style of riding.

Anyway more importantly heres a quick vid of the bike in action:

Cotic Simple - Playing with Bamboo: Bar height sidehop from Rob Rickman on Vimeo.

Dinglespeed update - Toolless gear change

2009-07-08T14:06:00.007+01:00

Using DMR chain tugs allows toolless gear changes. I was a bit worried about having to carry a spanner in order to adjust the chain tugs so that the gear could be changed. The DMR tugs however allow the wheel to slip forward slightly when the QR is undone. The QR head sits in a cup in the tug, this pulls the wheel back when the QR is tight. The amount of movement allows the chain tension to be reduced enough to flip the gear. To change gear all that is needed is a quick undo of the QR flick the chain across and then close the QR. This works perfectly, both gears are well tensioned using this method and have that beautiful direct singlespeed feeling, result!

Heres a vid of a gear change in action, exciting stuff!!

Cotic Simple - Dinglespeed - Toolless gear change from Rob Rickman on Vimeo.

Redhill NPS 4X and National Champs

2009-07-07T07:40:00.005+01:00

Picture courtesy of Dave Thomason.

Redhill hosted another round of the national series and the 4X National Championships this weekend. As racing goes this was probably one of the best events I have been part of. The track was brilliant, perfectly manicured and with tons of line options that allowed some tight and exciting racing. The riders I think have really stepped it up a level. In my opinion the 4X scene is really thriving at the moment. turn out for events is really high and in Senior there are now a large number of riders that when on form can be contending for the top spots and who are putting in some highly fought battles out on the track.

Saturday was NPS day, the track was the standard Redhill track finishing with the flat out grassy left hander. Off the start there is a small start straight that funnels into a tight left hander. The straight gives no chance to spread out and so this corner determines what position you enter the next straight. The next section of track is fast, really wide and has 3 main lines. Loads of moves were made here, when ridden well the two outer lines allowed a stack of momentum to be built up and riders were using this to nip up on the race leaders. Morgan, the local boy, took this to extremes coming up behind Keeny shouting "surprise" as he did so, Keeny fell over due to the shock of this experience. the left hander following this had a high and a low line. Moves were made going both ways the top line being less risky but the main rat run while the bottom line when nailed could be really quick. Loose dusty corners lead into a sprint towards the massive table and the final grass corner. Will Evans was making some great passes down here with a move that looked a lot like slip streaming in motor racing. He would charge out of the corner tightly on the guys tail pull to the side on the table and sneak past over the table and round the outside of the grass, a very stylish move that he pulled off a few times on some very quick riders.

Motos were really fun I managed three seconds and a third. My quarter went well and I made the semis. It then all went wrong I literally forgot how to ride and hung up everything in my semi ending up positioned 8th overall in Senior.

The big race was the champs on the Sunday. This race uses the UCI format that is used in worldcup events. Senior and Elite riders are all mashed in together and have one individual timed qualifying run that leads in to straight knock out rounds. The qualification determines who you are lined up against in the knockout. The track was also altered to include a tricky grass chicane and an extra 180 degree hairpin into the finish.

The qualification is a totally different game and was really good fun. Line choices had to be made based on speed as to those that were easy to defend mixing up the tactics a bit. My qualification run was good despite getting lost in the chicane and making a mash up of my gear changes that I had been working hard on in practice. 46.3 seconds left me qualifying in 19th place. I was in the last 4 to go down and we could see a massive rain cloud blowing in, spots of rain could be felt as I was on the gate so the incentive was to get down before the grass corner received a soaking. Mop Head put in an absolutely storming run qualifying 11th, not bad for his first champs.

Between qualis and the heats the other categories raced motos as usual, it was great to be able to actually sit down and watch the action for a change. Mop was leading the crowds with some enthusiastic cheering creating a great atmosphere. Mid motos the showers came in a couple of torrential downpours completely changed the dry dusty track and made the grass insanely slippery as riders were going down all over the place. Some tough deliberations occurred over tyre choice. In the end I went for the Bonty "Jones wet X" which are skinny xc spikes and were getting some good reviews from other riders. Once changed the sun came back out and everything was rapidly drying up, it felt like an F1 race with riders struggling to decide on tyres and tactics.

First knockout round I was up against AJ and Will Evans, this didn't help my chances. I was kind of hoping Will would get a bit excited and fall over in the grass which I saw him do a couple of times earlier in practice. I had a good gate up with them into the first corner but was on the outside and got pushed out and was then behind for the rest of the run. No one fell over so that was my chances of getting through gone.

The weather caused a few major upsets allowing some of the senior riders to break through into the quarters and semis, they were representing the underdogs in this comp and put up a really good fight. Both Gareth and Scruby went through making it to the B finals, Mop Head just missed out on his chance slipping a pedal right at the finish.

As the A final lined up on the gate a massively aggressive shower came through thoroughly lubricating the track. This did not slow down the pace, the guys were absolutely hauling, Beaumont was in the lead, Will was flying up behind everyone and looking like he was ready to fly past on the left hander but wiped out leaving Duncan Ferris and Lee White left to battle it out. Beaumont took the win followed by Ferris and then White.

It was a great weekend and great to see the scene in such great form, hopefully 4X is on the way up and next year will be bigger and better. The quality of the track this weekend was absolutely first class so props have to go to Neil and the FoD boys for putting so much work into this place.

Dinglespeeding the Simple

2009-07-06T19:07:00.007+01:00

The parts I have been waiting on have arrived, the Simple is finally able be ridden hard. The tugs hold the wheel solidly in position so the issues with sliding under heavy pedaling have been resolved. More excitingly a 26t chainring has now been fitted alongside the 32t and an extra sprocket has been added at the back making this a true dinglespeed (double-singlespeed for those not in the know). the Simmple now has 2 gear ratios (26:23 and 32:16) to play with that both run the same chain length. This means that with a quick manual flick of the chain I go from a snappy light trials gear to an XC/BMX/sprint kind of gear. The 2 ratios are about perfect for their intended use. If I had more flexibility in available chain rings for the front I would probably go for a slightly harder trials gear but mainly because I have always liked to stomp a higher than average gear for trials type stuff. The big gear is mint for charging about on. These pictures were sneaked in between a couple of rather aggressive showers, hopefully this crazy weather stops soon so I can have a proper play! I still need to cut down the steerer tube and source a more elegantly sized bash ring but otherwise this bike is more or less there.

Crynant Pump Track

2009-06-25T17:18:00.008+01:00

I took the simple for a spin at the Clydach pump track yesterday evening with Gav from wheelies. It was a great evening session, Gav was absolutely smashing one of the corners and sending dust flying. The bike has a few teething problems mainly that the quick release slips when cranking hard, tensioners are ordered and on the way so this will be fixed shortly. Its so nice feeling a rigid front end again, for generating speed over the humps this was mint. I also have some funky plans for gearing on this bike, the concept has been proved to work, just waiting on the chainrings to arrive now so that the plan can be seen in action, watch this space.

Gav took me to see some of his local DH runs on the way back. Fully rigid downhill is hilarious. My lady wings got a thorough working out as they bounced all over the place on the way back down. Suspension forks are amazing things when you realise just how much faster they allow you to go over rough terrain.

Builders Tea!

2009-06-24T10:18:00.003+01:00

Heres a sneaky peak at my new project. The plan is to build a minimal and light street, trials, xc, fun bike using one of Cy's lush new Tea coloured Simple frames. This bike is a hard one to categorize but having taken her out for a little spin last night I can see we were right in thinking this bike is going to be a lot of fun. It is light and long enough to play with some trials moves but the bike has the Cotic stability and stance that makes her planted and have a nimble BMX feel whilst charging through the streets. I took her to the miniramp and felt more than comfortable boosting a few airs. I think what this bike is and what it can do will evolve the more she gets ridden. Right now I reckon she is far too pretty with her immaculate shiny new paint job to hammer too hard, I am sure this wont last!

Bath Trails

2009-06-24T10:04:00.002+01:00

Mint session with my bro up at Bath trails. Its the first time I have ridden these jumps and they are really cool. The place has a load of pretty sizeable jumps sandwiched into a small plot of land by the river. There were a ton of tour boats chugging down the river, I am pretty sure they werent expecting to see bikes flying through the air must have made their trip a load more exciting! Thanks to Alban for being photiographer for the day.

NPS 4X Rd 4 - South West Extreme

2009-06-17T08:20:00.002+01:00

This was a new venue with a fresh built track. Rocking up we had no idea really what to expect from this place. The location is amazing, the track is in Bideford near the North Devon coast. We made a weekend of it and got a load of surfing in on top of the racing which was brilliant. The weather also managed to defy the weather men and produced fantastic sunshine all weekend.

All this sunshine left the track incredibly dry and dusty creating some really interesting racing and a lot of crashes. In the corners only the main line had grip and so making a pass was risky. It was all about drifting moto style and then trying to hold as much speed to make the pass stick. It was a track where taking a longer line and holding more speed out of the corners paid off as many riders struggled to maintain their position after making a pass as too much momentum was lost doing so. This all created some really lively racing. The plumes of dust being ejected from the rear wheels of riders was pure moto cross and made for some great spectating. It would be nice to see a few meatier jumps on the track but for a newly built track it was a lot of fun.

Racing the track was a tough one the first straight was tight and narrow so as ever the first corner was the one to get. Once cleanly in front the track was so much easier because you could just hold the main line and stay out of trouble. The tightness of the first corner however meant a clean lead was hard to get and most motos were well battled with a lot of inside lines and cutting up. My motos went well with 2 wins a 2nd and a 4th. One moto was particularly eventful, leading into the 3rd corner I slid out managing somehow to stay rubber side down but veering across the track in the process. This caused the other 3 riders to crash one guy managed to scrape the ends of his bars down my back in the process, total carnage!
Unfortunately quarters were less successful and in trying to make a move from 3rd to 2nd I lost the front wheel and finished in 4th getting knocked out of the comp.

Isaac was on it all day in the youth and has some serious talent shredding the other riders, he will be one to watch for the future. Senior in the end was won by AJ Boardman. There seem to be far more Elite riders this year which is great to see. The racing was well contended. Will Evans was one of the crowd favourites as usual and doing a lot of passing to take 3rd. Pat having recovered form his brutal crash at Blandford came second with Beaumont taking the win.

Next round is back to Redhill, another great venue and a really good track. This will include the National Champs so definately one to get to even if it is just to watch and check out the action.

NPS 4x Rd1

2009-06-17T08:02:00.005+01:00

Mop Head tagged me in this pic on Facebook I reckon its a pretty cool shot. Thanks to the Mop and Terri-Anne Busbridge for this one.

Brechfa Raven Trail

2009-06-09T09:16:00.011+01:00

Its great having these light evenings, after a day of slacking and flying the kite I met Tam and Oli for an afterwork ride on the new trail up at Brechfa. It was really good other than swarms of pesky midgies and a stupid crash early on in the ride. The crash was a beauty involving some horrendously gnarly northshore skinnies which were nearly a foot wide and prob a foot and a half off the ground, totally full on stuff! Anyway it caught me off gaurd and sent me over the handle bars a few time with my leg wrapped round the bar, no idea what my feet were really doing up there. The crash managed to cause both my brake hoses to unscrew themselves dripping fluid everywhere. This is pretty miraculous I can only assume someone has a grudge on me and took a spanner to the brakes, how I had the dexterity in my feet to perform such an act to both hoses is just totally implausible. A bit of trailside bodging and the BFe was back on the trail and all in all a great ride. I am loving the last section down to the car park the trail has loads of large woops smashing up and down around trees. The mission is to ride it death grip and with no peddaling, it is a great challenge for keeping momentum going.

Out in the Valleys

2009-05-28T23:02:00.004+01:00

It was great to get back out on the bike after a few weeks stuck in front of a computer. I headed out with Rob and James up into the hills to do a bit of exploring and find some new tracks. The sun was out and it was great to be back out in the woods and check out some new lines. The afternoon was finished off with a play on the bottom half of Cwmcarn. I know it has its critics but I love it. Sometimes a manmade track is just needed and it was loads of fun charging about and hitting some decent sized jumps. James left us early to enter an Aquathon; a swim across the lake at Tredegar followed by a big old run, I will happily admit I cant think of anything worse. He definately deserves some respect though its a pretty hardcore way of topping off a days riding and shows an offensive level of fitness!

BKSA landboard comp - Swansea

2009-05-27T20:59:00.005+01:00

The weekend before last the BKSA nationals came to Swansea. I managed to sneak down a couple of times on the weekend to check out the comps. The wind was hauling with the guys powered up on 7m kites and taking advantage of the conditions to go huge. The landboarding was mental Lewis Wilby is seriously talented was mixing up the tech tricks with some just insane loops, was awesome to watch.

A fair bit of carnage went down as well, Ash had a seriously hairy crash getting squirly on landing a big loop and got the bar trapped behind his back forcing the kite to loop. He was getting ripped across the beach which was pretty scary to see. Angus came down hard when he accidently looped the kite dooing damage to his collarbone in the process. Only 6 landboards were entered which is a shame and out of that only Tim was not sponsored. Hopefully more people get involved in the future and there is a bigger range in ability to really liven up the comp. It was great to see so many kites down the bay and a really good atmosphere despite the less than pleasent conditions.

Heres the video of the weekend courtesy of Custom Kite Boards.

BKSA Round 1 Swansea Landboard from CKB Boards on Vimeo.

Geeking Out - Wolfram Alpha

2009-05-27T19:27:00.008+01:00

Totally off subject, but just found something that really satisfies the geek in me and I reckon deserves credit. I have had my head immersed in Mathematica (A mathematical computing program) a fair bit recently whilst working on my dissertation and am a big fan, its insane how easy it is to calculate and simulate some really complex stuff. The makers of Mathematica are taking this technology to the web and a mass market with Wolfram Alpha. Their aim is to "make it possible to compute whatever can be computed about anything." Thats one hell of an ambition. As a tool its not quite there yet but as a concept I think its brilliant. The implementation of this has required the storage of a seriously hefty 10 terrabytes of data and some similarly massive processing power. They are only just breaking into their second week online so a few years down the line this is going to be a seriously powerful bit of kit that everyone has free access to, thats really exciting stuff.

Heres some interesting uses I have found for Alpha so far:

Tide and Wind data - not sure where they source the data but loads of detail and some great historical data.

Meaning of life: 42 - obviously.

Robbie: 17362 Americans currently sharing this name (78k American Tims, burn!)

Fourier Transform, Taylor Series, Bessel Functions . . . well who wouldnt want to test these!

Anyway I promise my next update will be a little less geeky, the dissertation is now in and the bike is getting dusted off. Thursday and Friday have been booked off for an assault on the Valleys with James and Rob. Pics and Story to follow!

Some totally obscene riding

2009-04-26T13:51:00.004+01:00

This has got to be checked out, every move in this vid is just ridiculous. Hopping up a stairset into a G-Turn is my personal favourite. Danny MacAskill is seriously pushing trials/street riding in some amazing directions, great stuff!

Inspired. Danny MacAskill on Vimeo.

Caerphilly trails (AKA Goldtec) Under Threat

2009-04-23T19:36:00.003+01:00

Caerphilly trails are due to be bulldozed unless we can persuade both the Council and the Forestry Commission that they are worth saving. Send an Email putting forward your opinions on the matter to both:

fcwenquiries@forestry.gsi.gov.uk
countryside@caerphilly.gov.uk

This would be another great loss to the South Wales mountainbike scene and im sure there is a load of us out there that would be totally gutted to see them go. There is also a facebook group "Help save the Goldtec Trails aka Van Road Trails" Time to get involved and stop another awesome location getting shut down.

Tredegar BMX Track

2009-04-23T16:10:00.006+01:00

Me, Will Soffe and James Heaton having a play.

Club day out at Tredegar, a few gates and a chilled out sess on the track, loads of fun. It was great to see some new people down the track, we had xc guys, road guys, the lot. I think everyone had a great time plus a few small crashes!

Kali Aatma Lid

2009-04-14T19:33:00.007+01:00

The guys at Bullet Distribution have sorted me out with a new Kali Aatma Full Face helmet to replace my old battered lid. These are new to the UK and look pretty dam cool especially if you want something a bit different from the standard TLD that practically everyone on the scene is rocking these days. The Aatma is of Moto-X origins so tons of safety (luckily I have not yet tested this!) however an innovative production process has kept the weight really low making it dead comfy to ride in. There is also a smaller more vented DH version, the Duranger for those less into the MX look and feel.

Definately worth a look, Chris at Tredz has a full write up here and they are available through Bullet Distribution.

NPS 4X - Rd 1 - UK Bike Park

2009-04-13T09:32:00.007+01:00

Results - Senior:
1st Kieron MCAVOY
2nd Chris CUMMING
3rd Robbie RICKMAN

First round of this years NPS 4X went really well as I took 3rd place in senior. The track at Blandford is a rugged one that favours true MTB riders over the BMXers. The first straight is a drag race to the first corner which saw a lot of action with plenty of contact and moves being made. Riders left behind were then forced into a risky dive down the inside on the 2nd corner, blocking the outside line into the moguls. Some good riders ended up on the floor trying this and only a few made the move stick as the outside carried far more momentum.

The motos were really action packed. The first corner for me was a hairy one. The quad leading into this was tight and a little sketchy to say the least. The trick was to not let off into the quad and hold the inside round the first corner. This produced a lot of bar bashing and some quite tense moments. The semis turned into a battle with Keeny, elbows out and bars coming into contact I made it through turn 1 ahead leaving him to make a break for the inside on the second corner which left him on the deck. In the finals Lee Ferry was going all out not to let me take 3rd, a serious fight was on with some serious contact. Somehow I stayed rubber side down to take my place on the podium.

The racing was awesome to watch, Will Evans was on it in the pro class and making some serious moves at the front of the pack. Kieron Mcavoy wont be staying down in Senior for long, considering it was his first 4x race he was developing a serious lead in practically every moto and is definately one of the main guys to be chasing this year in Senior.

All in all a great days racing, bring on round 2!

Full race report online here
Photos of the Event can be found at www.moredirt.co.uk

Northern Rocks

2009-03-31T20:42:00.004+01:00

A great days riding with Cotic and Singletrack Mag up in the Peaks.

UK Bike Park - BUCS 09

2009-03-24T09:18:00.006Z

A bit of a change for the champs this year the weather was absolutely amazing! Loads of sunshine and a great venue with camping right next the track created a brilliant atmosphere. The champs is always one of the best races of the year. the racing is incredibly chilled out but at the same time a huge amount of pride is at stake as the University teams battle against each other for the top spot.

I missed friday practice after having broken down thursday night, the day was spent frustratingly under the van replacing the alternator and trying to get it all fixed up in time to rejoin the action. Hearing stories of grass slalom races friday night with mass start directed at a line of students who were marking the extents of the track, the weekend was clearly starting well and I had to get my act together.

Still tweaking the van saturday morning, swapping in a new fuel filter and giving her the last bit of love and persuasion she was after. We were finally on the road, rocking up at 10 to find Rob had also only just made it. I cant say I was a huge fan of the track to begin with, it was a short fiddly one, not too technical but most of the corners were over blown and roots hid in strange places and which swiped the wheels away from under you. This was a track that required care and control rather than ballsy off the brakes antics. With a huge range of ability on the track practice was a bit of a traffic jam so no chance to really get into the flow or manage a full run.

Come racing though it was a totally different game. The entire length of the track was lined with loud, excited students dealing out the encouragement and abuse. They were all there for one reason, to see some carnage. It was possible to tell standing at the top how a rider was getting on just from the pitch of the cheering that was making its way down the track. First run I got a little carried away and excited by the audience. Charging the top half of the track I was putting in a good run until some friendly spectators were shouting at me to get on the pedals right before this cheeky steep right hander. A good crowd had developed above this corner as it was the center of the action and I flew in totally forgetting it was coming and had no chance in hell of making the turn. Having smashed into a couple of trees I eventually ran out of momentum half way down the hill. The crowd were clearly well entertained by my cornering abilities. Will Soffe was the only rider on form for Swansea placing 3rd overall with his usual unhurried style that never seems to reflect the incredibly quick times he posts.

After the DH the flood lights were wheeled out (and some even lit up) illuminating the first 3 jumps off the 4X track. A straight knock out was arranged, a drag race with the top 2 going through to the next round. This was so much fun. The track has been changed since I was last there and there is now nothing to slow you down up until the table which consequently is very short for the speed. That combined with not being able to see the landing and flash photography smashing you in the eyes it was a really sketchy, fun, exciting event. First practice down the track and someone ran under my wheels as I was flying up the step-up totally scaring the sh*t out of me and getting the adrenaline pumping ready for the event. A few snaps later and I was knocked out by the french BMX champ who's name I should know and Steve Atkins who went on to take the event and earn himself some easy money.

Then the main event, the party started with Soffe and the torico boys laying down the moves with some break dancing and a few pirouettes. A heated battle of British bull dog, George instigated the coneing of a few unsuspecting characters who had to down large amounts of the contents of his bottle, enough said really.

The XC track was brilliant. A flat loop round the woods then up the 4x track down the dual track into one of the DH runs then up the uplift track to complete a lap. The climb was too steep to really pedal so it was a brisk push to the top, perfect! Me and Soffe went all out to get the holeshot, starting near the back of the pack we shouldered the bikes legged it over the grass leaving the start field we were up with the top 10. This was a lot of effort so I took my first break up in the woods! The DH was fun, some serious overbreaking meant the mega techniques were back out involving some crafty high lines and possibly dodgy overtaking maneuvers, which apparently resulted in a string of fallen riders in my wake. A can of WD40 sprayed at disk height up at the top would have really improved this race! After the climb I figured it was a good chance to sit in the van grab a drink and change my top ready for the next lap, this was a serious race and hydration is always important!! I ended up finishing just behind Rob, Soffe came in in 7th which is really good going, will be entering him for the Champs next year!

Representing Swansea in the champs was Sion the defending champion, Matt and James. James had been shredding the DH and Dual all weekend so big expectations for him despite being the underdog in XC this was a track that really suited his ability. Going for the cheeky start up the grass he made it from the second pack to the front half of the leading pack and was seriously flying the DH only to puncture. Legging it back to the car he was straight back on it and made up a serious number of positions on the descents, really good to see. One corner at the bottom of the descent surrounded by probably over a hundred rowdy downhillers. The look of terror as the less confident riders approached the section was brilliant. Loads of cheering, chants, overtaking, crashing, skidding, Mexican mooning. . . made for some great entertainment. Sion ended up finishing 4th just off the podium.

Another great weekend, a big thanks to everyone involved in organising the Champs, bring on next year!

Anyway Sod all this typing malarkey heres the real story, thanks to all riders involved:

DIRT Issue 85

2009-03-03T14:32:00.006Z

If you havent seen it yet, Dirt done their first roadtrip feature in Swansea. Steve asked me to write some words so check it out my first piece of published writing, exciting stuff!

Wentwood - Simpy DH

2009-03-03T13:46:00.002Z

This weekend was back to racing a serious track, Wentwood was certainly more challenging than last weekends antics. The track was fast, tons of corners, nice wide taping which offered some real options when it came to line choice. There was also plenty of sections ready to catch you out. In my opinion a great track to race both challenging and super fun at the same time. The bottom section was incredibly tight and deep greasy mud, off camber and roots meant it was a total minefield that could destroy a good run. Pushing was actually not too bad, there is less chance to build up the nervous energy and stress when you are slogging up a hill compared to sitting in a crowded bus. The sun was out and it was a good chance to have a natter on the way up. In terms or riding, I managed as many runs as I would have done on an uplift so cant really complain.

The hardtails were getting competitive this week. Last weekends warm up fired up the competitive streaks leading to a lot of light hearted banter. Stuart stormed the first run setting the target of 2.26 for the second run. This clearly ignited the beast in Alex who I believe has never been beaten by Stu and he set a blinder of a time in his second run of 2.22. My first run was well off the pace, somehow I avoided ending up off the track after getting pitched up into the bars coming off the road where the track drops into a steep rooted section, hairy to say the least. Second run was on pace with a 2.26 but Stu managed to clear a second off his time putting him deservedly on the second step of the podium and leaving me back in 3rd.

Hardtail Podium.

Will Soffe was on it once more representing the Swansea boys and 2-Step bikes. He posted second fastest time of the day and took the win in Expert. Rob Hinds was looking good all day, lining it up to the max, finishing in 16th place in the senior category. It looks like Swansea still stand a good chance of domination once again in the forthcoming student champs!

Soffe flying

The drive back was totally Maxxed up with the van taking its go at rally driving. Suspension damping was clearly not high on Mitsubishis priorities when designing the beast making it really quite an exciting experience blasting down the forest road out of the venue. Ha anyway for a proper report check out Si Patons write up at Pink Bike

Forest of Dean - MiniDH

2009-02-24T19:36:00.003Z

I was a bit sceptical about this event before hand, £20 to push your bike up the hill and a couple of hundred riders on a short track just seemed like a bit of a raw deal to be honest. It turned out to be seriously good fun. The event reminded me a lot of the old Cheddar Challenge races, really chilled out and lots of new younger faces about which is exactly what the sport needs at the moment. The atmosphere was far more social than a Dragon and the short track was littered with spectators the whole way, loads of banter, cheering, jeering, Rob even coercing a cheeky smile from a few of the ladies coming down!

Short track racing is a totally different concept to your standard DH. I reckon its actually really good training. To do well you need to nail the perfect run as messing up a corner will knock you down a good 10 places in the standings. There is no cruising or having a rest its all about being flat out to the finish.

From the Swansea boys Will Soffe was on it taking 3rd in the Pro-Am. Rob Hinds made one hell of an impression in his first DH race on a proper bike coming in 7th in the Seniors. Manon Carpenter was seriously impressive in the ladies Pro-Am category coming in quicker than Fion Griffiths to take the win.

My weekend was less impressive, a comfortable 1st run came in at just over 57s, got my race head back in gear for the 2nd run which was proper hairy up until a crash halfway down leaving me in 50th overall but importantly a 100th of a second faster than FoD local Leeroy, a real character on the hill and not at all impressed that I sneaked in front of him!

It was a really good weekend, I recommend it especially to those new to DH, its a great way of getting a taster for what racings about. Chris Roberts is running a series as well as the 4x and Caersws Cup. Check out future events here MiniDH

The Hemlock

2009-01-29T21:17:00.008Z

Cy sent me a new Cotic Hemlock to play with for a few weeks. Unfortunately demo season is now on us and I have had to return the bike. It is now sat in my hall all boxed up ready to leave, today is a sad day. Having had exams cluttering up the last month I havent been able to give it as much of a thrashing as I would have liked. I have however had the Hemlock out around Afan and taken it to some local DH tracks to see how it handles when the riding gets tougher. Anyway heres how it got on.

Obviously riding for Cotic my opinion is a little biased, I ride for them though because I love riding their bikes, I think Cy has the right philosophy and at end of the day makes bikes that really do put a grin on your face. On this count the Hemlock really is no exception I had an absolute blast with this bike. The Hemlock is the first 'full susser' I have ridden with less than 7 inches of travel and it was an absolute revelation. DH bikes are slow, take a lot of effort to chuck about and suck too much fun out of the terrain, this is a totally different kettle of fish. The Hemlock shares the sharpness and nimble feeling of a hardtail, it pedals amazingly, very little energy is lost to the shock and it really drives forward when hammering on the pedals. I believe with good suspension you shouldnt really be aware of what it is doing and with the hemlock this is definately the case. I was hammering a section in the same way I would the hardtail and the Hemlock lets you carry a lot more speed and softens the blow on your body. It rewards good riding in the sense that soft legs and good line choice can let you absolutely fly down the trail.

The last descent on the wall is an epic section of trail. It is very Alpine feeling traversing a steep hill side, littered with rocks and trees, it is the kind of trail that can get very nasty if you get off line or catch a rock wrong. The Hemlock gave me a lot of confidence to stay off the brakes and chuck it into the corners, the back end keeps the rear wheel under control and in check despite taking some really decent hits. Unlike a Dh bike I felt very aware of the terrain and it makes you really ride the bike to get the most out of it rather than get lazy and let the suspension do all the work for you. It responds really well to pumping through sections and picking up the front wheel and rewards an active riding style.

On the super steep DH tracks I dont think the bars were helping it out. To me they were too high and the sweep slightly wrong in that holding onto them didnt give me that planted feel I have with the BFe. The brake levers (Magura Julies) also sat a long way from the handlebars so that when you were hanging off the back of the bike it was a struggle not to drag the brakes, being maguras though I am sure there is a way to adjust this with a bit of fiddling, stopping wise they were ace. The Hemlock really didnt feel that out of place and was able to handle some pretty lairy descents. I did get pitched over the bars once where perhaps a lower bottom bracket and super slack head angle could have saved me. Considering this isnt the Hemlocks natural home it did a very admirable job and gave me a lot of extra control than I wouldnt have had on the hardtail.

At the end of the day the proof is in the riding. Cy has a load of Demo days coming up and I would really recommend giving the Hemlock a go. I think the way UK riding is heading a bike like this is near on the perfect bike, having ridden this I dont think I would ever go for a pure DH bike again. For the new stage races and even grass roots, short course DH where you can pedal efficiently to the top and have an absolute blast on the way down, a bike like the Hemlock has to be the future. Oh and not to mention the mega! For trail centers I just dont think you can really beat a short travel bike, it does everything you need it to and keeps a grin thoroughly planted on your face.

Powerkite Mag - Flying for Swansea

2008-11-29T16:00:00.004Z

The signiture green potty appeared in PowerKite mag this month as part of their report on Aussie-Kiss the UK's biggest student kite festival. Aussie-Kiss was way back in October now, we had 20 students representing Swansea and are own Jess Barker made the podium in the comps. It was an awesome event that mixed decent winds, epic piss ups and hundeds of kiters of all abilities mashing it up down in Westward Ho. I was having loads of fun flying my 15m Lynn and riding a proto Rickman mountainboard, Tim Harley was also featured in the article ripping some very stylish tricks on his Instinct, demonstrating all weekend how to man-up and get the tricks out of the bag.

Velodrome

2008-11-19T20:09:00.006Z

I just had a great session at Newport Velodrome. Rocking it in style with piss-pot and baggies riding a sketchy fixed gear, brakeless rig and trying to chase down Swansea Uni's Lycra crew. It is a far scarier experience than DH! Those walls are steep and riding (or attempting to ride) on someone elses wheels with an inconsitant ability to slow down gave a huge sense of impending carnage. If you think I am exadurating a quick check of YouTube turned out this beauty:

Maybe roadies deserve some respect!! It was a great thing to experience and a disturbingly addictive sensation, aparantly I am now on a slippery slope and I will soon be converted to a full blown lycra wearing, skinny tyred, carbon junkie...

Keeping it local

2008-10-23T22:27:00.003+01:00

I had a mint session yesterday out on Kilvey with the Swansea boys. Sometimes the local hills are the best, nothings better than charging down your favourite line wheel to wheel with your mates, banter flying in all directions, awesome!

Will Soffe has come back from this summer looking insanely quick, he's definately one to keep an eye on next season!!

Rickman Boards

2008-10-15T23:46:00.004+01:00

Rickman Boards are now trading check out the new website here: www.rickmanboards.co.uk

Surf/Bike Van Conversion

2008-09-28T18:04:00.008+01:00

The plan for this summer was all based around travelling on the cheap out the back of the van. The first roadtrip of the summer however ended abruptly after the van had to be scrapped at the bottom of France as a result of it practically bursting into flames on the autoroute. I was left with a stripped bank account and no wheels. This project was born to get back on the road and on the cheap.

My choice of vans was severly limited by budget anything with a VW badge was well out of my league so the search was for an old Japanese van that from what I have heard are meant to last forever. The only issue was that none were popping up in the pages of autotrader. After a month of looking I got lucky and found one down the road off of Gumtree.com. The van was an electricans well used Mitsubishi L300 with a mere 180,000 miles on the clock. Worrying numbers, but it drived nicely and there was no major rust that needed sorting.

First job was to plyline and carpet the inside. This helps insulate the back which is a must for camping but also helps with deadening the noise and making it look considerably more tidy. The ply was cut to shape and screwed into the pillars using selftapping screws. Any big voids were filled with polystyrene ceiling roll I found in B&Q. Ply was also screwed to the ceiling creating an instant transformation, the inside of the van had almost lost the whole retired builders van look.

The layout was very difficult to work out. I wanted a sort of 'rock and roll' setup where a seat lifted up to form the bed. Putting any permanent structure in severly limits the useability of the back of the van. As there was not much room to play with it is crucial that bikes and surfboards could still fit in when wanted. As a result the bed had to be very high so that bike wheels could fit underneith and we are still able to load up several bikes. The seat is fully removable and lifts up to hang on metal supports I had made forming the bottom half of the bed. It is also possible to have one fully built bike standing inside the van with the bed up along with loads of room for storage underneith. The advantage with this setup is also that with the seat down muddy/wet gear can be stashed behind the seat in the rear section keeping it fully sepparate from the front living area.

The seat and rear shelf were made out of varnished MDF with a supporting structure made out of 2*2 beams again self-tapped and glued to the side of the van. Once the structure was in place I carpeted the inside. I managed to get the end of a roll of carpet for £10 which was enought to do all the areas in the back I wanted. The carpet had a rubber lining that had to be peeled off first and then it was cut and glued using spray glue to the sides. The edges of the carpet were tucked behind the ply panels giving a crisp pro finnish.

The outside of the van was looking really ropy I wanted to do a full respray. First any major dings were filled and sanded so that the pannels were all nice and flat. the next stage was the hardest part of the job in that all the exterior trim had to be removed or masked. This takes a lot longer than you might imagine!! The van was then fully cleaned using thinners to take off any dirt grease and residues. Followed by a light rub down to key the surface ready for the paint.

I was lucky enough to be able to borrow a spray room and guns to do the van in. The painting itself was quite a simple process. First a dust coat was added where a very thin speckling of paint is sprayed and let to tack off to give something for the first layer to stick to. Then spraying along the full length of the van at as constant a speed and distance as possible to give an even covering of paint. Getting the right ammount of paint applied on each coat is crucial. Too little and the droplets wont converge together leaving a textured finnish, too much and the paint will run. After 2 coats we had a couple of runs and so left it to set before giving the runs a careful rubdown. The final coat was then applied and left to set. We ended up only getting one small run on the whole van. the finnish of the paint has come out really well. Opening the tin of paint for the first time was a bit scary, the colour was brutally loud!! It has thankfully mellowed down now the paint has set!

With the paint done the trim was refitted and the inside given a good clean up. The van is more or less finnished for the meantime. Mechanically it seems to be running sound and has passed its MOT with no issues so fingers crossed this one will last a bit longer than the last!!

One BFe, One day, Four disciplines

2008-08-13T14:53:00.005+01:00

This post got lost in all of the end of term fun. However the pictures are too good to let sit unseen and are definitely a bit of a reminder of what our summer weather should look like!!

The plan was to hit the road early with the guys for a lap of Afan, then on to Tredegar BMX track for a few motos. This was followed up by some DH, valley style, ready for an evening of Dirt Jumping at Caerphilly to use up all the remaining light. Finally our activities were chased down by the compulsory sweet and sour chicken-balls and chips outside the castle!!

Rd1 Afan - The Wall

Eventually having made it out of Swansea, late thanks to jack ripping the handle off his garage door locking his bike in and some overly officious car park attendants up at uni. We were on the road with the prospect of The Walls long fireroad climb as a warm up and a painful wake up call. This, my first ride of the wall and as far as Mega training goes it really is one of the best. The trail is seriously Alpine feeling, the hot summer air and smell of pine trees makes for the start of an amazing ride. The views from the sides of the hill look down the near deserted valley down towards the welsh coast, stunning. Likewise the riding is top notch. Another full on descent fast, narrow, rocky that for an xc route really tests the nerve of us DH boys.

Rd2 Tredegar BMX

The track looked in great condition after having been groomed for the national up there the previous week. Jason's new pump/play track is now up and running and really finishes off the place. The view across from the start hill is now an unbroken mass of jumps and berms. The play track is also great for less experienced riders providing them an opportunity to get the feel of what a BMX track is about with out having to face a full sized track straight off. It is however incredibly tight so small wheels recommended.

Rd3 Valley Dh

Valley loom is so much fun!! This trail is loose drifty but even in a week since we were last there the ferns had grown. They were poised ready to grab you leaving no room for error. This is the perfect afternoon track with nice easy push, lots of sun and a cool breeze.

Rd4 Caerfilly DJ

This is still one of my favourite places to spend an evening. The sun goes down behind the trails and the orange hue of the dirt blends into the sunset. The jumps are big challenging and a lot of fun. More trails need to be this way they are built with corners and hips in mind so you do lots of changing of direction and makes it really lively and fun to ride. Rob was seriously on form. Not having much dirtjumping experience and on his 'sx trail' he was making it smoothly half way down the main line. He was more than proving our philosophy that one bike can be all thats needed to have fun in any type/style of riding.

Unofficially Hard 08

2008-07-16T08:52:00.005+01:00

A few likeminded British riders thought that this year it would be fun to take hardtail riding a step further by setting up an Unofficial Championship to be held at the Mega. With hardtail riders from both the Cotic and Univega teams up for the challenge the idea was in place, but despite lots of interest on the forums few others could be persuaded that ditching their rear suspension for a 30km DH race was a good idea!

Recruitment continued well into Mega week. By the end there were 10 riders representing 4 different nations and with bikes ranging from the tricked out Nicolai hardtail with Rohloff hub down to Arnold's hardcore singlespeed semislick configuration! With 4 well placed Mega veterans and Cotic bikes offering a frame to the highest placed hardtail a serious fight was on to be crowned the Unofficial Hardtail Champion.

The Contenders
Top: Arnold, Tom, Me, Lloyd
Lev, Christian, Torsten and the two brits whose names I have forgotten, sorry guys!

Wednesday saw the first challenge with the Sprint Race over at Oz. This track is amazing with loads of fast flat out cornering big rock rolls and a huge drop down to Oz. This is DH racing well beyond anything found in the UK. Me and Tom were representing the hardtails, although I had to borrow Lloyd's number plate as I had missed the entry on the sprint. What I hadn't considered was this put the Univega name well up in the results, sorry Cy!! Racing wise Tom set a 5.13 which sat very respectively above a large number of `Full Bouncers.` Tom said he received a load of surprised looks as people were called up before him for the second seeded run!! I managed a 4.53 which left me in 117th position overall. Comment of the day came as I was hammering a berm and someone shouted "F*** me that guys on a F***in hardtail" Awesome!!

Thursday we took a pack of hardtailers comprising of Tom, Lloyd, Arnold and me to hit the top half of the Mega and eye up the level of competition. I was seriously impressed and slightly worried by the standard of riding. All 4 of us were flying down the snow and catching DH bikes down the singletrack getting some shocked reactions along the way. Lloyd and Tom were looking to be hot competition for the title. Lloyd, who is also a competitive cage fighter and so is used to taking a decent beating, was telling us how he would rather be punched in the face for 5 minutes than take the kind of abuse handed out by the mountain! He was hot on the pace on the downs as was Tom who had just taken part in a 100km road race that finished with the notorious 21turn climb up to Alpe d'Huez. His fitness is insane, destroying us on the climbs and not loosing bike skills to fatigue as quickly as the rest of us. Arnold was showing serious French style, he had a skinny rear tyre as this was all his frame would handle but this never held him back and he was absolutely shredding the trail with the rest of us.

Qualifying came around quickly and the pressure was hotting up. We had decided that the winner was to be chosen according to ranking in the main event as opposed to time down the mountain. This meant the qualifying event would decide it. Tom was the in the first group at the front of the grid while me and Lloyd were at the back of the grid in the second wave. Sitting on the second to last row I knew this event depended on being a hero off the start so a fast snappy gear was chosen and all the 4x skills were brought in to play waiting for the Eurotrash to blast across the mountain indicating the start. The helicopter was rising behind us as I eyed up the row in front looking for the best person to aim at in the ensuing charge. I attacked the side of the track and managed to get to the front quarter of the pack by the time I reached the end of the fireroad switch backs. By the time we reached the climb out of Alpe d'Huez I was placed in the top 30 but fatigue was playing a part. My hands were unable to control the bike down through the switchbacks over the other side of the hill. It was a fight between maintaining hold of the bars and grabbing enough brake to survive the corners. Lloyd who had not been far behind up to the climb had serious brake issues and with so much fade he had no chance of slowing into the switchbacks sending him deep into the shrubbery. Crossing the finish Tom was there waiting and having placed 30th in his group there was some tension as to who had made the top group. It turns out I placed 40th and so made the main race for the first time. Lloyd however had slipped back and so was in the Promo. Chilling at the top we saw Lev arrive back at Oz. He was missing a load of skin and had a ripped off mech hanger, putting him out of the game. One of the Brits who came through who's name I have forgotten had a set of self steering lefties forcing him to run the last section of the track.

The main race was a different story than usual. The organisers had been telling us on Friday that the weather was set to be 'Scottish' to suit all the British riders over for the event. Out of bed at sunrise and the sky appeared to be clearing. However the rain quickly settled in as we had to wait for an hour at the bottom of the lift. At which point we were told that the snow start was off and so we were to go off and pedal to the lift that took us to the Qualifying start. We were then left there effectively sitting in the middle of a cloud for a couple of hours without any news of what was happening. Eventually the lifts started rolling and we shuffled up to the start of the qualifying track. A lot of riders gave had given up choosing to head back to the warmth of Alpe d'Huez, or for the 10 other riders in my chalet not even getting out of bed in the first place, Lightweights!!

The track was rerouted along the start of the Qualifying track, down track 2 and then across to the flat out grass track down into Alpe d'Huez and onto the bottom half of the Mega. The track was actually really good and although no snow, the start was still bonkers. With now twice as many riders leaving the qualifying start at once and with a more even range in ability there was absolute carnage. Massive pileups across the moonscape at the top as people were pushed like lemmings off the side of rocks. Riders were funneling 50 at a time into the narrow start of track 2, filling the full width of the tapes and beyond. A stream of riders cheated heading down the fireroad with no action taken by the marshals. There was no chance of the pack spreading out so it was tight, tail to tail all the way through to Alpe d'Huez. Chasing Tom down I saw him fly front flipping through the air clipped in. his crash was huge, bikes and people going everywhere as other riders careered into him while on the floor. He said he was seeing stars! Tough as ever was back on the bike and made it to the finish.

The tempo of the race was down on previous years as the cold and wet of the start had knocked peoples competitive edge. The rain had left the steep climbs down in the woods unrideable and for a lot of people unwalkable, as people slipped around in the mud. This lead to long tailbacks and a chance to rest aching bodies. The mud was awesome, it was thick and tacky and with the steepness of the hill the motorbike noises were coming out as the bike was smashed into corners motocross stylee!! The sun was out for the finish, finally reaching the line after a long sprint down the road is an amazing mixture of relief and a sense of achievement. In the end I believe we only had 4 hardtail finishers showing the extreme nature of the event. I took the win with Tom coming in 10 minutes behind for second place. Two of our German representatives, Torsten and Christian, filled 3rd and 4th positions after completing the Promo. Walking back to the buses I heard a guy tell his mate that this was one of the best experiences of his life, I totally agree, the event is totally nutty and an insane undertaking. Congratulations to all the finishers as well as the organisers putting on a great event despite the issues with the weather.

Before: Cotic vs Univega
After: Univega defeated!!

Overall Hardtail Rankings

1st Robbie Rickman Cotic (164th - GBR)
2nd Thomas Gilfedder Univega (259th - AUS)
3rd Torsten Rolfes Nicolai (277th Promo - GER)
4th Christian Schott (303rd Promo - GER)

www.cotic.co.uk
www.univega.com

For more pictures click here.

One Cool Dog - Slobber drums up a media storm!!

2008-07-04T11:28:00.008+01:00

Bit of excitement for the morning, after a couple of photos of slobber on the back of Nicks Harley reached the local newspaper, a bit of a media frenzy has developed. He reached the national papers and we now have talk of TV crews and the likes, mental!! It looks like Slobber (Big ed Slobber Chops) our 8 year old boxer is the new star of the familly! Anyway here he is with my dad trying to steal some limelight: Check this link out for a video of Slob in action!!

Dragon Rd3 - Rheola

2008-06-25T17:00:00.008+01:00

Rd3 of the Dragons was back to Rheola which inevitably meant the end of all this nice hot sunny weather and the onset of heavy rain and high winds. Luckily the forcasters were a bit keen and sunday ended up being dry, although the track was thick with mud from rains the previous night. Being a cheapskate I missed qualifying and so only hit the sunday.

Getting to the venue I bumped into Ian Woodley from Hardtail Nation. It seems Hardtail DH has moved up a level since I last tried with Lee Husky setting an insanely unfeasable qualifying time of 3.43 which considering the fastest qualifying time set by our own Sion Whitecross was 3.25, is absolutely bonkers!! Ian also let me know that the infamous starwars was no longer an issue as the trenches had been filled in, first practice run lead to me confidently approaching starwars hitting a root and getting flicked over the bars towards a tree, ha no longer an issue!!

Lee was on fire again come race run following him off the start was going to be tough and I knew there would be little hope of catching him!! First run was a little too calm and in control but set a reasonable time leaving me ranked 3rd in hardtail. 2nd run was full on and absolutely mental, I managed to scare myself a lot on the top section but was hanging on. Reaching the gulleys near the half way point and my wheels got ripped out from under me sending me into a slide under the tape and down the side of the hill. The run finnished with a huge grin but unfortunately no improvement in time.

Swansea boys did really well this weekend. Will Soffe made the podium in expert showing some impressive consistency and outright speed. Sion Whitecross won Juniors and as ever is looking insanely quick and stylish on a bike.

Photos are courtesy of Ian, he also has a full report up on Hardtail Nation that is a well worth a check. I really enjoyed the hardtail scene at the Dragon. Its small and definately not as serious as racing a big bike but loads of fun with friendly competitiveness and a load of banter. This is how racing should be in my opinion so thanks to all the hardtailers making it a wicked weekend.

Check out Hardtail Nation its a new but quality resource for the hardcore hardtailers!!

www.hardtailnation.co.uk

NPS 4X Rd3

2008-06-19T09:39:00.004+01:00

Check out the British Cycling race report here

Last weekend saw the 3rd round of the series which was contraversially back at Chicksands after NASS had been enevitably cancelled. Maybe one year NASS will happen, racing in front of a proper crowd and on a new track would be cool. Chicksands is about the only track I ever seem to race at the moment, a few changes had been made to it this time round which introduced a couple of fresh challeges, but it will always remain a bit of a drag strip. Motos went well and were good fun, ended up with two 2nds one 1st and a 3rd, which carried me straight to the quarters.

I managed to get a tough draw for the quarters, next to me on the gate was Mick Ridgway, first race with him of the day - typical. Mick has some serious determination when it comes to racing. Off the gate was tight knocking elbows into the left line allowing Nick Geoghegan to stay clear round the right and develop a lead. I was hanging on Micks tail the whole way down but couldnt sneak past, It was a quality race but would definately have liked to make it further. Mick and Nick ended up taking 2nd and 3rd respectively overall. My final ranking was 9th.

It was a good weekend but notably a lower turnout than the last round at chicksands. Check out the British Cycling website for more pics and results, www.britishcycling.co.uk

Freedom!!

2008-06-08T11:00:00.004+01:00

Have finally finnished exams and have managed to dust off the BFe, attach a shiny new pair of Magura Wotans, scrape together my long lost bike skills and hit the hills. The last 3 days have been abslutely mental, Wednesday we hit brechfa, followed by a full day of solid 20mph onshore winds out on the kite, Friday we were back up to the valleys checking out a couple of the secret DH tracks hidden about, I have to say we found some absolute gems. I dont think I can handle much more of this freedom, its left me a full on exhausted wreck!!!

Riders: Jack Malone, Rob (Stink Bomb) Hinds and Me