BUCS 2010 - Ae Forest

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

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Snow on the Raven

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.

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Keeping it Simple in Wideopen Issue 11

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.

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Winter Skate

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.

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The Gap - Brecon

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.

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More Simple in the Alpes

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!

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Builders Tea

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.

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