Swansea Uni Bike Club - Update

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


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

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

...Read more!

Some Philosophical Rambling!

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

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

...Read more!

Dirt Jump/Trails Video: Woburn and Caerphilly

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

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

...Read more!

Mini road trip - Wales

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

Kenny at filly

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

Small River Drop on the BFe

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

...Read more!

Redhill Extreme 4X National Champs

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Check them out at www.redhillextreme.co.uk

...Read more!

Andover BMX track

Here are some pictures from tuesdays gate practice at Andover

...Read more!

Cotic BFe

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

...Read more!