So there i am i set off 9.20am from up north (near grimsby) after 50 miles the car dies, i coast past J1 of the M18 and cut up the southbound slip road, the car is dead, no power, wont turn over. Now rewind to 2006 when i got the car and started racing, i was coming back from the Churchill races and broke down (blocked fuel system) i worked out if i kept the revs to 1800 i could drive back at about 35-40mph, i nursed the car home, had all the filters changed and serviced and joined the AA, in case it happened again. So after being a member for a few years i needed them now, breaking down on the motorway is damn scary. So i call it in, within an hour Simon turns up in a HGV, no messing they know the car has had an electrical failure and shutdown, so Simon takes me down to Woodhall services to meet a mechanic.

So lorry 1 and a 15 min wait for Matthew to arrive to assess my motor.

At low revs the battery light comes on ! while driving it goes out, however the battery is not charging and i have been running on the stored charge, when this got down to 8.2 volts the car shut down, The men from the AA where impressed it ran that low as most modern cars with computers will shut down when it drops to 9.6 volts, a few tests, lots of multimeter action, then a whack on the alternator with a hammer and the charge light goes out (thats good) i am happy to carry on the battery is getting a healthy dose of volts, Matthew tells me to drive to the next service station Tibshelf, he will follow, as i leave the services the charge light comes on again and off at higher revs, as i enter Tibshelf the light comes back on. Heres the issue, i am a 4wd they have no info on my car (old ) and after Tibshelf i enter the M1 roadworks, no hard shoulder for a very long distance, i may get through the roadworks, but with no charging i will break down again, and being 4wd if i breakdown in the roadworks they cant tow me out i will need lifting to a lorry ( most recovery vans now lift the front wheels as this is safer than a tow bar and dosent require you to steer the car and break and stuff) some 4wd drive systems cant be unlocked for towing, you cant lift the front wheels if they are going to rotate as the rear wheels rotate.

So it’s piggy back time, within an hour Phil turns up in a lorry and takes me down to Strensham South, about 30-40 mins later John turns up in another lorry to take me back to Minehead.

We stop for a quick break at Michaelwood, i need a whizz and grab a drink, i should have been home hours ago, slowly we are getting there, i have a class 2 HGV so am used to the Tacho rules and strict speed limits for lorries, i am going home, i will get home tonight and i dont care what time as it’s home.

Little van in the background there doing someone else !

I get home about 7.15pm what was going to be a 5 hour trip has become 10 hours, i managed to drive about 50 miles of a 270 mile trip they did the rest, this is the first and last time the Tercel will be rescued, i went to the garage today and had a chat, the car is old, it was not going to be put through the next MOT in a few months anyway, depending on damage it’s a new alternator, funny thing is that one is only 3 years old and then it was the only one in the country and a pain to track down, the cost of repair against a few months MOT isnt worth it, we decided to retire the car. It has been racing with me for 4 years, it has done the dragons 2 trips to Fort William and allround Orkney and the west coast. It has been a field ambulance for practice days back with the South West winter series, people where stunned at how capable the little estate car was off road, it has lugged timing gear up to the very top of Avill ball, where the tractors couldnt go ! it did 2 winter series of that, i have only done about 35,000 miles in that time, but it has been a working car, and never failed to get me home, now is the end of days for the Toyota, it’s been awesome !

So there you go, when you make that 200 mile drive to the next race, who will bring you home ? you NPS racers from down south do serious mileage, Fort william back to Plymouth, dont even try to think of the cost if you dont have cover, DAMN glad i joined years ago, i got my moneys worth the other day, hopefully i wont need to call for a few years, but nice to know help is there.

Big thanks to Simon and Matthew and Phil and John from www.theAA.com

They summed up my car quite nicely, the old girl will only have a short last trip to make.

Words and Pics:Ace Woodley

Well racing in snow ! new one for me,  never done that before,  made things more interesting. So Coombe Syd, an old NPS venue last used for that back in 2004,  not up to current NPS specs but a firm favourite down south as it’s got good length,  a fair vertical drop,  carpark and UPLIFT,  and not to rough an uplift track and the tractors go round in a big loop,  none of this one road up same road down business.   Anyone out there who raced back in 04 would have felt right at home as the track is still the same.  Not the most technical but great for a work out and not to scary for newbies which being a local race there where a few popping the old race cherry.

A few minute push up from the drop off point,  and Sunday morning was a bit fresh and the snow was still there, the timing was set up where the red posts are.  So from the start my 1st run,  lil Chris Lamley zips off, he isnt that far off me on shorter tracks so i go on the 30 second mark, drop in,  few pedal strokes then slam into the roots and remains of a drystone wall,  new wheel grabbing holes, tight through the trees, slip the pedals to stay up and scoot over the log into the braking bumps and hit the fireroad,  SPRINT stay in the stream of meltwater or take your chances in the inchs of snow and slush,  hit the bus stop hard and fast and you carry enough speed to get up and over,  going well, dab the brakes line up to exit the bus stop you are about 10 feet above the fire road,  i then wondered why the marshall was in the way down there, i am committed to the exit,  an emergency stop is not going to happen,  NO red flag, the marshall shouts stop !  lil Chris is lying on his back and the marshall has a hand on his head.   I CANT STOP,  stay put i will go round,  this all happened in a few seconds,  to try and stop there and then would have put me on top of the pair of them,  i safely ride round,  Sprint again hit the next bus stop again carry as much speed as possible to get over it, this one is long and flat with bumps and logs,  step down exit, i go right of the tree slower but no roots, dab the brakes set up straight then hold on (somehow i managed to flat land it on the 2nd run, marshall here was impressed i didnt snap the bike again about 10 foot drop to flat)  Into the middle woods,  no snow here, tree cover too dense but its thick mud i cant hold the cheeky corner cuts and aim for the big rut and stay in that,  the mud is clogging the wheels ( some had to stop and clear it to get rolling again) the bike is all over the place and slowing down fast,  slower you go the more mud you pick up,  stay in the new rut around the 2 small jumps to slow to jump,  the gap jump is in sight,  did it last year, screw it just skim it and the bike sheds mud and as if by magic picks up speed again.

The gap jump sends you into a right then left berm then hit table 1, the run in is full of braking bumps all full of standing meltwater, the upslope is rutted,  no wind today so no worry of being blown off the jump, i skim it and pedal where i can, the open field is cross rutted and very wet, table 2 skim over that and into more cross ruts full of water and hit the double,  thats Dan Fisher up there from Team Big Peaks making a better job than me,  short sprint and i batter the double double, sit down tuck in and pedal to the small step down to the fire road and yes you guessed it SPRINT pedal like buggery,  dead tearoff graveyard here,  line up for the bottom woods,  hard braking straight line, let go and stuff the front wheel over the roots and hard right, then hard left weave round the trees and straight line into the bombhole,  my line now hits the big rut in the bottom of the hole that wasnt there a few hours ago and i get spat into that big tree stump on the upslope and go over the bars uphill,  grab the bike try to clamber out with flat shoes on, run and jump to get rolling more roots and a line split,  fast boys go left and aim for the spine of the rock drop, i go right and into a berm and go down the right hand side of the tree,  loads binned it on the left faster choice, i choose the longer slower right and stay on the bike, go slow to go fast and carry speed to make the akward exit, hard right and a chunk of shale comes up with the mud and jams the cranks,  back pedal then forwards then back again, it’s cleared exit the woods, line in sight, pedal over the speed hump and SPRINT and jump the finish,   drop the bike and talk to Tony about lil Chris,  a radio check goes up as they have heard nothing,  he is ok  and shortly sets off to finish his run and then crash’s out again, 7 mins after starting he rolls over the line and dont look good,  he clipped a stump on the bus stop exit and went over the bars and flatlanded on his back,  badly winded and sore ribs.  We were surprised when he rolled up for run 2 !

Run 1 went well, no snafu’s with timing, loads of DNF’s but no injury (not that i heard about, and uplift is gossip central for whoever crashed out) Time to clean off the bike ready for the next run. 

Other stuff ! i had the normal social things on the go and wanted to talk to a few people about things i have heard,  keeping quiet about the details at the moment but we may well be getting an official uplift service (other than kustom bikes) at the moment it’s mates only,  but they are thinking about a proper public service (bookings only) and have to look into the legal side of things,  it looks good, have to wait and see on that one, if it goes “official” i will pass on the details.

The Men from Mule.

After the first run a banner appeared on there car,  i wondered if this was a race sponser so slinked over for a chat, Jimmy and Giles from www.mulebar.com i have had a look at there site and they like adventure,  well they got that allright,  Jimmy(on the left hiding the bike) is the big Boss and this was his first DH race,  Giles was making sure the boss didnt get nailed,  it gets better (dont tell Intense!) they kind of “borrowed” an Intense Slopestyler for a “test ride”  in the course of this test it was subjected to a proper tractor trailer uplift (we all know what that does to a new bike) and then got raced in all that grinding mud,  Giles bagged 3rd in master’s on that 951 and Jimmy was happy to survive,  who knows maybe they will appear at a few more DH races, it was nice to see industry people at a local race,   and racing for kicks to try it out,  the box of mulebars in the boot came in handy when they had to get out of the carpark,  nothing like a bribe for a push,  my Toyota is of course awesome and had no trouble getting out.

Other stuff, i heard via acebook that Mr Deakin is doing training days,  i got him to stand still for five minutes and asked if this was true and not an internet windup..  I got a press release later on,  heres the main details.

Ben Deakin Mountain Bike Coaching and Training days

This is one2one training whether you are into Xc, free ride or downhill or just an absolute beginner looking to get more from your bike and riding.   Ben has the following,  British cycling level 2 coach,  CTC trained instructor,  M.I.A.S. level 3 (mountainbike, instructor award scheme) and is trained in Adventure first aid,  the course can be tailored to suit you and will cover,  the basics and bike set-up,  kit and equipment,  cornering technique,  jumps and drops,  line choice,  race prep and training.

Prices start at £25 per hour for a one 2 one session lasting between 2-4 hours.    Or a group booking up to 6 riders at £20 per person, per hour for a 2-4 hour session.  For more information email bendeakin5@hotmail.com or call him on 07940485311

  Ben is a well known character down south and a bit of a powerhouse on the bike, he is also a Royal Marine and has been training them to ride and race, he is now riding for Torico and Muc-off.   You see what i mean about down south getting going !  secret cookie races,  Woodland riders winter series at Tavistock, the Uk Bike park is having a major facelift as well, Kustom bikes racing and uplifts now we have personal trainers,  we might not have the big tracks here but we seem to have a very strong growing DH race scene, look out out for team big peaks this year,  and it’s growing as i heard a few other things as well.

AND I HAVE MOVED NORTH against my will…   bugger.

Ben is the one in the middle, Andy Payne from Torico on the left and Andy Wright from Axo/RHUK on the right, yes the HT podium for results check www.kustombikes.co.uk  or go an d check out Sebs www.rootsandrain.co.uk which is pure gold for race results and well worth a look anyway.

Right trade show stuff next, icebike show here i come.

Ben Deakin attacking the track thats hiding under the several inchs of snow, at Coombe Syd country park for the Kustom Bikes winter series.   Well as you can see things are under fluffy white snow,  a thin brown line was cut through today in practice,  going off the main line could be risky as you cant see whats hiding under the fluffy white snow.  Sticking with the HT’s  Lil Chris from woodland riders has shattered his headset bearings today and Deakin up there had Andy Wright (another HT’er) banging in new front wheel bearings in the carpark,   all bikes are in a mess the track is snow, slush, standing meltwater in the braking bumps then mud at the bottom,  all this equals lots of spray.

As i am between two places, well i kinda left my tearoffs,  an intergrated mudguard and a crud race fender set up in the secret HTN bunker underneath Grimsby fishdocks,  i was desperate,  i went through the car and found a walkers cheese/onion crisp packet  and a big Goodridge sticker,  so a Ghetto mudflap was knocked up and it lasted the rest of the day,  i have gone and borrowed (ahem)  a crud race pack from another HTN staffer who is on marshall duty and not riding,  i have no chance of a podium as the animals have come out to play this is about survival and just being able to see where i am going.   What a way to start the year off,  a full write up will follow later in the week unless i crash in a snow drift and no one finds me.

As soon as it clears up we’ll get Ben to send some track photos and details, in the meantime he says:

“I just wanted to fire over some pictures from last week. I have some bike stuff that I need to test but it keeps snowing all the way to the bottom of the valley. I might have to go to Italy for some riding sometime in February to find some dirt. Anyways, my brother got a new camera and we were playing around with his new toy. I ride my bike down to the lift everyday to go snowboarding and drifting in the snow is one of the funner things in life. Here are a couple pics from a normal winter’s day in Champery.”

Anyway, here’s the full story:

More than 2,000 spectators made their way to the White Style course designed and built by Kona Clump team rider Grant “Chopper” Fielder. Grant received lots of props from the other riders for the set up consisting of different elements like:
An igloo at the start with a small drop, a set of two doubles, followed by two massive fruit bowls combinations (with a 15ft. drop) as well as a huge double at the finish (about 40ft. far).

Riders jumped the last gap and reached up to 25ft. above the ground. The most important point to remember: the whole course was built out of snow. So it was definitely a challenging set up. But some of the world’s best riders came to Leogang. They impressed the spectators and sometimes each other by pulling off the biggest tricks that were seen in a mountain bike contest.
The riders seemed to feel already quite comfortable in the first training session on Thursday, and even more on Friday. Some of them even changed from their small travel full suspension bikes to hardtails – a proof for a smooth course, even though there was so much airtime involved.
The qualifications on Friday evening were dominated by Swedish rider Martin Soederstroem (technical and clean riding including double tailwhips), Yannick Granieri from France (by far the biggest backflips performed on a contest), U.S. American Cam McCaul (great style and big bag of tricks), Canadian Darren “The Claw” Berrecloth (360 look downs at its best). Linus Sjoeholm (SWE), Amir Kabbani (GER), Sam Pilgrim (GBR) and Jamie Goldman (USA) completed the Top 8 of the qualifyings. But qualifications and finals are always a different kettle of fish: Martin Soederstroem, who won the qualifications, couldn’t finish his first run because of a technical issue. Then he crashed pretty hard on his second final run trying to pull a double tailwhip
because he overshot the 40ft. gap and landed to far down – 11th place for him.

Jamie Goldman did what he can do best, showing a huge backflip off the big fruit bowl, but unfortunately slipped from his pedals landing a backflip superman at the last double and therefore only placed 7th. Cam McCaul, Darren Berrecloth and Amir Kabbani showed clean runs including backflip tailwhips, super seaters, opposite 360s, 360 x-ups and backflips.

But it was France, Sweden and Great Britain to dominate the podium:
Yannick Granieri managed to be the highest one in Leogang’s sky with huge 360s, backflips and tailwhips in his first run. He might have even been at the top of the podium, if he had landed his 360 tailwhip drop in his second run. But he over rotated and missed the following jumps. The third place is still a good result for him and a good start into 2010 on his new bike.
Linus Sjoeholm, Martin Soederstroem’s best riding buddy, was the big surprise of the contest. His clean execution and range of technical tricks impressed the judges and spectators: 360 at the starting drop, double tailwhip at the first double, superman at the second jump, backflip off the fruit bowl, barspin into the 2nd fruit bowl, tailwhipping the big drop and finishing his run with a flipwhip at the last double. Linus’ second place and 1,000 Euros were well deserved!
The man of the day was Sam Pilgrim, no question: tailwhip at the start, frontflip at the first double, backflip no hander at the second, 360 x-up out of the fruit bowl, tuck nohander and backflip at the 2nd fruit bowl, as well as a backflip table at the last jump.

Sam couldn’t stop joking after his success having 1,800 Euros in his pocket: “I will spend all the money for sweets, for real!” But he also stated pretty serious: “Crashing on snow is not that funny, because it’s much harder than you might think. It took me a bit to cope with it when I competed the first time at the White Style, but man, it was fun this year and Chopper did a really great job, big respect!”
A short overview of the top 12 riders – seems like every bike brand sent someone of their rooster:
Place Name Team Country
1 Sam Pilgrim Diamondback GBR
2 Linus Sjöholm Scott SWE
3 Yannick Granieri Commencal FRA
4 Amir Kabbani Mongoose GER
5 Darren Berrecloth Specialized CAN
6 Cameron McCaul Trek USA
7 Jamie Goldman Santa Cruz USA
8 Sam Reynolds DMR GBR
9 Grant Fielder Kona GBR
10 Niki Leitner YT Industries AUT
11 Martin Söderström NS Bikes SWE
12 Jakub Vencl AGang CZE
For all of you that didn’t make it to Leogang last weekend:
A 24 minutes event report will be aired soon in the Red Bull TV
window on Servus TV: March 6th at 11:30 pm CET.
You can watch it with your digital satellite receiver or on March 6th
at 11:30 pm CET also live online at www.servustv.com (click
“Servus TV Live” link on the bottom left hand corner for the
stream).
The White Style partners Kona, CamelBak, Bikepark Leogang and
ONE BIG PARK hope that you liked the hot mountain bike
slopestyle action on snow. More detailed information about the
White Style partners can be found on: www.konaworld.com,
www.camelbak.com, www.onebigpark.at and www.bikeparkleogang.
com.

So where is it ?  cant say wont say, it’s a secret, other than it’s down south,  as i was coming down from Grimsby i got a late email with a map the night before i left.  The venue changes with each race, and arent open to the general public hence it’s a secret ! (remember the 1.04 track and what happened there).  So i only got lost once, not bad enough to phone for help, and soon found the meet up point,  there was about 3/4 mile up a valley to the finish line, i used my tracking skills to follow the tyre tracks.

As you can tell the walk was hard going thanks to all the snow/rain and meltwater, if the push up is like this what the hell is the track going to be like, and should i go back to the car now and put the spikes on.  Still be a good test for the tyres, can you tell what they are ?.  Found the first finish line, the format was simple, 2 tracks same start, split 100m in go left or right, 1 run on each both times count fastest overall times for the win, both tacks where mostly taped which lead to some interesting line choice’s going on.  So i made the bad move of not walking the tracks, but then it’s a fun race and my first race for a very long time so just getting a finish was the goal, after rolling and scooting down No 1 i went back to the car to spike up, skill and ability count for a lot, mine was really lacking oh and i was huffing and puffing like a chain smoker as well, the mud was sucking the bike down and i had trouble trying to hold any speed, had to pedal all the way down and it was quite steep in places, the skinny spikes made life easier for me.

Tim Black there on the HT, and the man behind the cookie race, lots of things going on with this race, bit of a training day for team big peaks, and a trying out of running races.  The timing was done via 2 cheap radios and a stopwatch, which is cheaper than freelap, you just need 2 people to run it all day,  this was fine for track 1, things went wrong on track 2 as the finish was 200m away from the 1st, so the radios wouldnt work from the start, after a bit of walking around the wood it ended up with someone about 50m down the track in sight of the start, and the radio about another 100m down on the crest of the hill, with lots of shouting, piss taking and arm waving and a very confused local minicab company(not joking) run 2 got under way.

Andy Payne from the Uk Bike Park/torico there on the HT, he was right at home on the steep tight turns and the mud was not slowing him at all.  This time the finish line was the stream,  and the last two down got the full effect of a sudden monsoon letting rip, the rain stayed off most of the day, so it wasnt too bad.

With racing over it was off to a pub to sort out the soggy timing sheet and see who did what.

Dan Fisher of team big peaks took the win in sussers, and Andy Payne took the win for HT.  Mr Payne also bagged the fastest overall time and won the prize of a Pub Bike .

So the hidden agenda then, well things are still be sorted but the south looks like it’s getting another race venue playground in the near future.   I have been aware of this for some time, but know how much work is involved and how fast things can go wrong, this should involve a campsite and showers and a bar, i havent been there yet but dont think we are talking NPS venue so dont get excited (no its nothing to do with gawton either) Tim has been dealing with IMBA so it’s  serious !

Reading between the lines of what i saw/heard, you could say the cookie races are training days for event staff, they will of course use TAG timing for open races, but not everyone has marshalled or knows what goes on behind the scenes of  an event, so people get an idea of what needs to be done before they throw on an open race,   then we have www.teambigpeaks.co.uk who are driving this forward, Tim is the team manager this is tied in with www.bigpeaks.com who are backing the teams and the venue, they aim to have a big race profile this year and they are running a primary Team and a further 10 places in a second development team, there may even by spaces left, it’s on the Team website if you fancy sending a CV in,  in the last 2 years the south has moved forward a lot, and there are some other possible things/venues on the bubble down here.

It’s always been lacking down south with most of us doing the dragons, ok we dont have the hills,  well we do it’s just that we cant use them as they are national parks or zero prospect of uplift.  And what about the cookie races, well i know 2 more are in planning subject to venue conformation, but then that will remain a secret unless you get an invite  

P.S.  being an unfit slackass i got 4th from 8 in HT so was nicely surprised, and get to race again, suffered for it the next day though, gotta get fit again.   Ace

Well it looks like he’s just been enjoying himself in the snow. Hopefully Ben will give us some inside news on the Champery World Cup track soon. Check out the below:

Sorry for the total lack of blogging on my part. Here are some pics that will hopefully explain why I have not been keeping y’all updated.

Been very quite for a while, hardly ridden a bike for months now, but a new year and a new start and new things to try out.

So the sick in the head thing then ?  well started with random facial pains that would come and go, slowly got worse and more severe, took a few weeks before i got round to getting it sorted (so i thought)  anyway i had a nice fat jaw infection which was attacking the nerves in my face,  and causing the odd dizzy spell (work dont know that one, they do now).  So the gory bit, i wont be too graphic, you see i got a bit of the piss take banter when i went to watch a local race, and after a graphic talk through,   well they shut up and walked off, i was unhappy that none of them where sick, maybe not graphic enough.  Yeah back on track, so jaw infections are drained out through a tooth, then you nuke it with antibiotics, leave the tooth hole open for a while, then root canal and fill it up.

Sorted yeeeah, well no, lasted about 5 days then i had an aggressive relapse, boy did that generate some pressure inside the jaw, was a bit of a spurter when the dentist drilled through, i even skipped the novacaine  this time round.  So repeat the pills and start again, this time it was still hurting so the tooth was whipped out,  SSHHitt loads of novacaine for that.  Strange sensation never had someone rip out a tooth while i am awake.  So that seems to have sorted it out,  on top of that i had a freak accident which would be like have your knee hit with a cricket bat,  cant say thats ever happened to me before,  been butt clubbed to the knee but dont think to many people would now what that ment.  So xmas was spent with a sore head and a pronounced limp.  Then it started snowing and i took out the worst possible bike for xc snow riding to try and get the knee going again.  The first mile was the worst, you now that grating noise your joints make as the the tendons and cartilage realign themselves and your knee cap sorts of resets itself in the right place.  Walking better feeling better.  That was the ungory version of the last few months for me.

So being bored and getting an attack of “Hardenthefuckup’s” i went out to play in the snow on a very big singlespeed roadbike with 23mm slick tyres,  did quite well, got about 7 miles and only snapped the chain once, had a multi tool so fixed it (HTFU)and road home, as my new home is remote i rode to the nearest town over the fields to find a copy of Dirt,  i had a chat about subs with Thackers but so far my submarine hasnt surfaced yet, still put my knee cap back in place, so that was nice.

Other things then ! well i havent been up to much but i have been watching things, and playing with stuff, more on juice lubes later, but after a false start “Project Bender” took off.  Shane (evil munchkin) has now done his first ever race, on the downside he came DFL but finished both runs and knocked 30 seconds off on his second run, so rock bottom last, the only way is up from here, and so far he has dropped over a grand to win a bet he made with me (a bet i can no longer lose, only gain   So top marks for HTFU and racing and going to work the next day because he didnt break his arms !  and yes he is about to give me the finger in that photo cos he’s evil.

Other random hardtail stuff, i heard from Farmer a mate of Dom Mcrae that Dom has only got offered a deal of some sort by someone,  cant say any more as i havent seen Dom yet to ask, cue a photo of Dom airbourne at Moelfre, the thing is he has been racing an OTP dirt jumper, 24″ wheels 80 or 100mm fork and singlespeed Microdrive, his little legs just spin like a tumble dryer on full whack, so hopefully with a full on downhill bike to play with he will have a damn good go at mixing it up with the fast boys,  more on that when i catch up with him.

What else, trade show time again, and i hear that Mike aka Mr Atomlab will be over again, maybe depending on the british weather, but the Core Bike show is coming up soon and me and Dave from over at www.hardtailnation.co.uk are booked in with no problems this year, looking forward to that, already got my eyes on the new Pimplite hubset in the photo, the single speed one is just what i need, have a look at the new cranks as well, more on that and other shiny things after the show.

Be back with more stuff later, waiting to hear about a race i am trying to get in, a European Champs race at that where i will be upholding the fine name of Scotland and racing for them, still waiting to hear back, should be a scream if i get it !

All i have to do now is get back down south for the weekend as i am doing the secret cookie race, which will be my first race for a while, looking forward to getting going again.

Ace

92 days, 650 laps, over 1 million vertical feet of descending, summer was good in the Whistler Bike Park. Before terrible winter arrived I worked with wood wizard Dave Fortier for WORCA ( Whistler Off Road Trail Association ) building an extension of an existing xc trail.  As far a skinny bridges go I’m not a fan but we made one that I’m proud of.  The middle of the log we planned on using was rotten so we scraped out the rotten wood and found rocks that would fit into the hole then concreted them in.  Not only does it look cool but its functional, no more slipping on greasy wood. We called concreting cheating at first but after walking through the woods for 15 mins with a 55 pound bag of concrete we changed our minds.

Words: Jimmy Carling
Photos: Luke Sergent

So… here we are … November. The world cup has been and gone, the tears have almost stopped flowing from Dr Peat’s historic champs victory (Sheffield steel for life baby!) and the transition into the off season is virtually complete. Of course, while the latter is true for those reading this in the northern hemisphere, where I’m living, things are only just kicking off. Spring lambs are losing their cuteness by the day and are just becoming regular fat sheep, the blossom from flowering trees and shrubs is being replaced by fresh green leaves and most importantly, the trails have woken from their winter sleep to receiving lashings of TLC from excited local riders. This special, unique part of the world to which I’m referring, is the land of the long white cloud – New Zealand.

This new weekly supplement to the site marks the start of an extensive insight into the rides, riders and post ride activities that make this place unlike any other in the world. You’ll have to excuse a major bias to Queenstown and the central Otago part of the South Island, but over the coming weeks you’ll see why this part of the world has captured the hearts (and minds) of those who live and ride here.

Built on the gold rush of the late 1800’s, Queenstown was named so as it was deemed a place so beautiful it was fit for the Queen herself. Since then the all the obvious gold has gone, and the only true gold you’ll find lies in the hearts of those who have worked tirelessly to make mountain biking what it is here. There are too many people to start naming them all. They all have day jobs, but also possess the passion and guts to take their spare time and put in hundreds if not thousands of unpaid hours managing the politics, driving diggers, slapping spades and raking soil. Thanks to people like this, New Zealand is no longer just a place to skive off the winter. It is a premiere mountain bike destination in its own right.

Enough of the talk. You get the idea. Recenty the Vertigo downhill track, which is situated on Skyline, has had a complete makeover from Nathan Greenwood and the boys from Vertigo Bikes. Think serious digger action as opposed to light spade work… Combing existing trails with new sections through previously unridden parts of the woods, V-Line as it has affectionately been referred to, has drawn a lot of attention from both amateur and advanced riders alike. Due to its smooth, wide and jumpy nature it can be either plodded or pinned and allows for fast progression for less experienced riders. It’s not everyday you see smelly, knuckle dragging dh-ers being followed down by Mr and Mrs Smith with their 2.4 children. It’s a huge difference from what was there before. Skyline features a lot of technical trails and as such was only previously ridden by the more core bike enthusiasts, but the range of riders now hitting up Skyline can only be a good thing for the growth of the sport down here. Here’s to a successful summer!

One of the additions to “V-line” – the creation of some super-g berms. Yeeoo! My old Bighit may be 3 years old and been the victim of some harsh abuse but she still goes.

Dan Thwaite, of Vertigo Bikes Queenstown and Ticket 2 Ride BC, samples part of the new lower section, as the steam powered T.S.S Earnslaw chugs on by in the distance.

Matt Wragg manages to stop thinking about aussie women long enough to float a wee stepdown!