For a short time there was going to be no Gravity Enduro series in 2013, but myself and I’m sure many others are glad Mr Parr, with assistance from Charlie Williams and others, decided to go ahead and put on another races series for this year. Afan park in South Wales was the venue for round 1 this year and with the current state of the UK’s severe lack of spring like weather it looked like it could be a tough weekend ahead. Close to the event and the country seemed to be getting hit with pretty heavy snow in most places, so much so Tracy Moseley couldn’t get to the first national XC race in Nottingham but could make it to South Wales and so headed over for a change of pace! Although bitterly cold all weekend we avoided rain and snow both days so it could have been a lot worse, so this years series was ready to go.

Time to go racing in 2013

The pits and parking area was soaked however so parking was a little hectic but it was good to see main series sponsors Mavic and Shimano there to support the race and the riders. The discipline also is booming, with a sell out of over 300 riders in just one day. There was definitely a large mix of riders there to tackle the physical Afan route mapped out for us, not least in Elite, with senior and master riders moving up this year it is now a sizeable category, likewise there was a good amount of women racing too which is good to see.
Having raced there 2 years ago the route map looked like some of the same sections would be used, there was a long transition out to stage 1 but the other 4 stages were all quite close together, although there was still plenty of pedalling inbetween to be done, around 20 miles in total and 3hours to complete. The full loop ridden on Saturday and then it’s up to stage 5 for seeding time. A number of the elite riders opted for the bigger wheels this year, well this round anyway, with Dan Atherton running what looked to be a prototype 650b wheeled GT bike, would the bigger wheel size dominate the results sheet?

Will 650b wheels be THE size for enduro…the debate goes on..

So Saturday afternoon came around and it was time to ride up the hill and line up for seeding runs. Appearing longer this year with more established trail to follow before a fireroad sprint including an uphill and then a muddy pedal opening onto the 4X track which housed the finish arena, sub 5 mins ended up being a good time so plenty of burning leg and lungs at the finish. Tracy Moseley being fastest in the elite women’s field and for the men Dan Atherton led out from Neil Donoghue and Sam Flanagan, time to queue for the jetwash or a hose and clean up and get warm.
Sunday morning and the rare sight of sun was welcomed, but not for long. Fortunately however it did stay dry, very very cold but dry! The long climb and pedal up to windy point and we arrived at stage 1, where temperatures of -2 welcomed us and wreaked havoc with freezing camlebaks, freehubs, shifter cables, etc. The first stage was all trail centre track, flowing but pedally taking 3 and a half minutes at max effort. Chatting with familiar faces from the masters category, great to see the likes of Mr Tunstall, Titley and Brown racing. They had just finished stage 1 and warned us of some lethal icy patches to watch out for…great! After having a poor seeding the day before I set out to make time back, keeping speed rolling and making it past the bad ice, I was closing in on Ben, the rider infront of me, when another frozen part of the trail caught me out and I went down still holding the bars. Back up quickly I finished ok, but not the start I wanted. Turns out I wasn’t the only victim of the freezing conditions with Al Stock and Sam Flanagan hitting the deck too, a damage check revealed I managed to put a crack through my helmet when I connected with the ground….never ride without one kids!

Al Stock rode a 100mm travel 29er, issues hampered his day.

We all got to stage 2 with time for banter and war stories before tackling another section of trail section named the graveyard. Again keep speed rolling here as there were more rises and obstacles to slow you up, a little longer effort here at the 4 minute mark. Then onto stage 3 for the longest of them all. Nice flowing man made trail to begin with before a draining fireroad linked you into the trail that took you down the ‘wall’ trail, a 7 min plus stage that really tested your fitness and recovery, but some fun and high speeds entertained you for the last 30-40 secs of it as a reward for your efforts though.

Sam Flanagan riding for Hopetech, an impressive debut in elite, 3rd place.

The organisers always like to include a ‘natural’ stage to mix things up terrain wise and test everyone’s riding skills out, this was the stage for that. Short and starting out on manmade tracks it soon went onto fresh trail which due to the weather turned to into deep deep mud that became practically unrideable and most resorted to running parts of it, 3 mins of not much fun really, at least it was short!
Once more to the top of the seeding stage for the 5th and final effort. It had got COLD again, I noticed the mud on my frame had frozen solid on it! Glad to get going and warm up, less than 5 mins later and the first enduro was done for the year. Final results showed Miss Moseley is on top of the enduro game with Helen Gaskell second and Cheri Mills in third. Elite men and Dan Atherton showed impressive fitness and skills to dominate the race and take the win. Donny impressing me with a strong second place, likewise Sam Flanagan riding strongly to third. I scraped into 9th spot in the end, hoping for more if I’m honest but something to work from now.

Atherton dominated in Afan. Looking strong for a season of Enduro.

So as it ended up 5 of the top 7 elites were running bigger wheels, seemingly a good move for this race then although these guys are fast on any bike so I wouldn’t read too much into it. But does this mean each race will see a variety of bikes on the start line?
Personally I see 650b being the ‘norm’ for trail bikes and its racing, DH will continue to run ‘traditional’ 26” (for now at least) and XC racing has to be 29” now to compete, I just look forward to the whole thing settling down in the coming years so the debate will settle with it.
Big thanks to Cannondale, Mavic, Crank Brothers, RRP, GoPro, MRP for their support.

Race Report – Aidan Bishop

Full results on www.pumptrackchallenge.com

Words and photos: Kath Ronchetti

For the last week of their season Bike Verbier in Switzerland hosted a girls mountain bike coaching week with World Champion Tracy Moseley.  I saw this advertised on the webs earlier in the year and booked myself straight in – I wasn’t going to miss this once in a life time opportunity.

Bike Verbier, which is run by Lucy and Philip, is set in the awesome Swiss Alps offer everything that you could possibly want for a mountain biking holiday. A beautiful chalet with all the creature comforts for you and your bike, outstanding food, (which every time hits the spot after a long day in the saddle), warm hospitality, and their extensive knowledge of the area and its outstanding trails all make it a perfect place to stay.

The view from Bike Verbier chalet

I met five awesome, inspirational girls who all shared my passion for riding bikes. We were all thrilled to be on this holiday to ride the world class epic single track, to improve our skills through the help of none other than T-Mo and also to shred with other chicas. We had a blast both on and off the bikes. The week was filled with some of the best riding that I ever done along with plenty of laughter, whooping and of course Tracy magic.

The A-Team (from left to right): Sarah, Kate, Sarah, Eva, Liz, me and Tracy

Tracy was a first class teacher, her experience and achievements were enough to make you hang on every word that she said, but not only that she has that natural ability to teach. We all progressed so much and had more of a blast down the trails as a result and rode down things which we wouldn’t have done beforehand. I have been pedal happy for around 8 years but I learnt so much during this week. Bad habits were unpicked and new confidence inspiring ones were developed.

The first couple of sessions consisted of getting back to basics – bike and body position, set up, braking, cornering. This took place initially in large wide open spaces with no gradient and utilising a load of cones to mimic trial features. I found it surprisingly hard after years of hooning down singletrack how tricky some of the –on the outset easy -tasks were – it was all about balance, control and body position. All of which are essential for smooth runnings on the real stuff.

Cone practice in the mountains. ( Don’t know why Tracy brought the green pipes though.)

Tracy living every moment with us.

Once we had got to grips with the basics we then took it to the hills- ye-haa! There was a good mix of brain work cone sessions followed by hours of putting it into practice on the oh so dreamy single track surrounding Verbier. The trails included both fast flowing – go as speedy as you dare, to technical gnarl with tight switchbacks, all within Switzerland’s EPIC scenery. So much fun.

Not a bad class room for the week

Dropping in to switchback city

By the latter part of the week, with our new found skills and confidence we were flying.  All of us had come with an intermediate – advanced level of riding but with Tracy’s coaching and encouragement we all pushed ourselves and achieved things we thought we’d never do. We all had times when we were taken out of our comfort zones. Tracy and the Bike Verbier guys had the knowledge and experience to know what you were capable of and to encourage you if you want to step it up. I admit I had some moments where I was shitting myself before dropping in, but with the right skills and technique I was amazed at what I got myself  and my bike down. The sense of achievement and pure fun whilst doing it made for high fives and big grins all round.

Cheese fest and beer mmm.

So would I recommend? …abso-bloody-lutely. It really was one of the best weeks of my life. They do recommend you have an intermediate-advanced level of riding for this trip to get the full benefit of this experience. However, whether you become part of girls T-Mo week part deux or not, get yourself some professional coaching – I wish I’d done it years ago. Those bad habits would have been ironed out and although I don’t have any regrets, my riding and confidence would have progressed so much more. And girls – riding with other females is awesome – so inspirational and fun – so try and hunt out your local shredders.

Cheers to my new bike mad friends: Sarah, Liz, Eva, Kate and Sarah for all support, giggles and whoops; to Bike Verbier ,Lucy, Phillip, for your warm hospitality and everything!; Sam for your trail side stories, guiding and encouragement, and Gill for all the delicious food- mmm cake!; and of course to Tracy for her fab company, patience and encouragement – I will forever have your voice shouting ‘ELBOWS’ and be a better rider because of it !!!

Bike Verbier say there are definite plans for another Tracy Moseley girls week next year (dates to be confirmed.) If you’re interested please email lucy@bikeverbier.com
For more details visit

http://bikeverbier.com

After dealing with a severe injury Dan thought that was the end of him and mountain biking for good but found a new lease in his mountain biking life with Enduro racing. Dan’s commitment to excellence won through and before long he was back on the bike and competing.

We are taken for an amazing POV ride of the Mega Avalanche Enduro race that starts at the snowy top of a mountain before heading across country and pushes Dan to his limit. These are unique shots of what it is really like to ride in an Enduro race from right in the thick of it.

Then the film heads to Italy to the Alpi Bike Park and some amazing shots of riding at it’s best in the beautiful Italian countryside.

For more, check out www.redbull.com/en/bike

Hands up, I’ll admit I’m a bit slack when it comes to competitions and sorting out winners. We’ve got a few comps outstanding, notably the NS Bikes Holy 1 and the ABD Derelikt 3 bike but I promise I’ll sort them out now that the World Cup hoopla has finished.

So, remember the Greg Minnaar Gamut P30 Chain Device comp? Well Sebastian Revell was the lucky lad who won it, and here he is.

The Schwalbe Euro 4X Series always provides close racing and the overall title, year after year comes down to the final race. 2012 will be remembered for the same reason. Coming into the final round, Tomas Slavik was leading the series ahead of Scott Beaumont and Daniel Prijkel. The scores were incredibly tight and either of these riders could win to claim the overall title.

The drama began on Friday when it emerged that the injury Slavik sustained at the World Championships was going to prevent him racing. A blow for Slavik, but this set up a real head to head battle between Beaumont and Prijkel.

The weather was ok in the morning, but the low cloud turned to drizzle then rain by the end of the day. The track was holding up good and at 12.00 qualifying began. Daniel was one of the first riders to set a time. He went fastest and took to the hot seat. Rider after rider tried but no one could beat his time. Scott was the number 1 seeded rider and he was the final rider to qualify. With Prijkel anxiously sat in the hot seat, Scott set off from the gate. With a good lap, even hitting the massive pro line doubles, Scott got the fastest time and with it the full 16 points for fastest qualifier. Prijkel got 15 for 2^nd. 3^rd went to Tom Gethin and 4^th Isaac Mundy.

Scott now led the overall series by 9 points over Prijkel. It was still going to come down to whoever finished ahead was going to take the overall crown.

Scott and Daniel would not race each other till the final – provided they both made it there.

In the women’s qualifying, Katy Curd took the fastest time ahead of Suzanne Lacey and Cara Murray. Katy was looking in determined mood as she looked to add the European Series title to the European Championship title she won 4 weeks ago.

In the final, Katy took gate 1, Suzanne on 2, Cara on 3 and Jess Greaves was on 4. Katy got the snap and checked out. She rode a perfect lap to take the win and be crowned the 2012 Schwalbe Euro 4X Series Women’s champion.  A great battled behind Katy ended with Suzanne in 2^nd, Jess in 3^rd and Cara 4^th. A quick mention to Erin Maquire who finished 5^th. In only her 2^nd ever 4X race, the 16 year old Erin already looks like she has a huge future in 4X and her qualification time was impressive. Looking forward to seeing how she progresses into 2013.

The rookies also had a great final. Ryan Hutchinson who is in his first ever year racing 4X took his first win ahead of Dylan Grell Delsol, Connor Sellors and Cai Wootton. These guys are the stars of the future so remember these names.

So back to the elite men.  There was some awesome racing through the rounds. This format of straight knockout really throws up some surprises as senior riders go against elites. By the final the field had been whittled down to Scott Beaumont, Daniel Prijkel, Issac Mundy and Mirco Weiss.

Beaumont chose gate one, Prijkel with second gate pick went for gate three, Mundy took two and Mirco Weiss went in four. Prijkel was planning the high low move in the first turn for sure. Scott got the gate and lead into turn one. Mundy and Prijkel cut back under Scott and he was bumped into third on the exit. Powering into second position by turn two Scott’s sights were set on Prijkel who was leading. Scott closed the gap and coming into the tight right corner before the rocks drew level with Prijkel. As everyone bunched up Prijkel, Beaumont and Mundy bumped together. Prijkel went down, Mundy took the lead and Boom Boom was in second – ahead of Prijkel. Knowing he had the series in the bag, he set off after Mundy. In the last turn, Scott went tight and took the lead, but Mundy using good speed from the berm passed Scott at the finish line. An awesome race for the crowd to watch and really interesting to see Isaac celebrating his win, but Scott celebrating more with his 2^nd place!

At the finish, Scott said:

‘To win this title means everything to me. I’ve won British titles, World Championships, but a European title was the one missing for me. I’m so stoked. Thanks to all our team sponsors for giving us the opportunity to win this title’ I’m just blown away by the season we have had. Amazing.’

At that point all of Scott’s team, team mate Dave Richardson and his mates who had stuck around after the British 4X round on Saturday to watch him battle for this title, jumped on him and screams and whoops were heard for a few minutes. It was an emotional victory that obviously meant so much to Scott.

Daniel Prijkel was gutted but very gratious in defeat. Scott and Daniel are good mates and the respect for each other after the race was clear to see.

So the 2012 Schwalbe Euro 4X Series overall was:

Women’s:

1^st Katy Curd

Men’s:

1^st Scott Beaumont

2^nd Daniel Prijkel

3^rd Tomas Slavik

That’s it for the 2012 Schwalbe Euro 4X Series. A huge thank you to Series sponsor Schwalbe. Michael Kull and Dave Taylor from Schwalbe, the organisers in Winterberg, Leibstadt and Afan, the marshals, medics, officials, fans and riders. The 2012 Series was a huge success, and it will be back for 2013 bigger and better.

Keep up to date with the series: www.euro4xseries.com

Follow the series on Facebook: www.facebook.com/eurofourcrossseries

Follow the series on Twitter: www.twitter.com/euro4xseries

Photos Chris Roberts

Fetish Bikes UK Gravity Enduro
Round 5, Dyfi Forest, Wales
8-9 September, 2012

Words: Aidan Bishop
Photos: Barbara Sztyk

The 5th and final round of the UK gravity enduro series went down this past weekend at the venue of Dyfi forest in north Wales. Fortunately all in attendance were rewarded with ideal conditions for the whole weekend, with Saturday’s practice and seeding soaked in sunshine and the race on Sunday starting bright then clouding over which was also welcomed so riders weren’t wilting in the sun as they ground out the many climbs around the route.

Aidan Bishop enjoying a dry Welsh round! 4th on the day

Talking of the route, it was a challenging one! Over 20 miles in total with the shortest transition time between stages being 40mins and all being mostly climbing, the ‘Enduro’ side to the discipline came into full effect this round as it was a test on everyone’s stamina, strength and fitness. So with all transition times added together the whole loop took around 4hrs to complete, do that twice over the weekend and that’s a lot of time in the saddle and with the scenery highlighted by the sunshine of the weekend it really was a great weekend of mountain biking.
To the racing side then, again 5 stages were timed varying in technicality, gradient and length.

Stage 1

With the dense forest the sun hadn’t managed to penetrate enough to dry up the trail and so it was quite greasy down this one so smooth braking and being on your guard was required. Picking up speed down a wide singletrack trail, slow up for a road crossing followed by tight rooted trees, try to exit high and carry speed back onto the trail. Pick up some high speed now before banking right and a pedal before pointing back down again. Two more blind drops and road crossing to keep you on your toes then a couple more corners to finish.

Donny, 2012 Fetish Bikes UK Gravity Enduro series elite winner.

Stage 2

Starting out on the highest and most exposed of the loop here with some spectacular views. A fast stony trail for the first minute of this one with some timed braking into a left to right naturally banked turns before a brutal minute long fire road sprint (realistically a seated slog!). Finally turn off the road and into more fast trail with gentle corners where you could ride the edges like berms and some steps, ruts and drops to watch out for, you really picked up speed down here and it also claimed lots of flat tyres due to it being littered with sharp loose rocks all the way down. As I crossed the finish there were about 8 riders fixing punctures, a good reminder that I always run dual ply tyres to lessen the chances of flats.

Stage 3

A shorter stage here, sub 2 minutes and you’re going really well. A quick pedal off the line and follow the main greasy line from the muddy tyres riding it, soon picking up speed and staying online down the sharp flint rock that made the trail. Before a tight left on a road there were some large steps and rocks to get through intact. Come off the road and along the edge of a wide trail before it narrowed again and got rocky again too. The trail then ran along a ridge and got steep in places with a number of very sharp looking rock steps and drops before a tight right onto the fire road finish, had anyone had fallen here whilst committed to racing speeds there would have been some serious injuries, but a good test to riding skills and bravery.

Stage 4

Starting off with a very steep drop in off the side of the road into a tight left turn which many were over shooting, then nearly a minute of technical fresh cut trail in the hillside littered with roots and tree stumps before dropping down onto a hard surfaced trail and up a steep rocky climb, seemingly out of the blue. Do your best to pedal over the top of the climb and get up to speed as quick as you could along undulating dark forested trail, starting to roll nicely and then another kick in the trail really finished your legs off (if you had something left in them!). Once over this rise it was then down the fastest section of trail I have ridden in a while, all of it consistently made up of natural ‘whoops’, it was like a natural motocross track, you would manual, double up, huck or simply hang on as you hit high speeds as the trees rushed past your head as you speed through the finish line.

Stage 5
Used for the Seeding run on the Saturday also. Starting up on top off a grassy field, you set off and straight over three features, off the first step down double followed by a drop off and then another step down, all good fun to blast off but also claimed number of victims over the weekend. Carry good speed along the edge of the hill then through two corners to keep speeds modest, speed up again and judge your braking for a very off camber right hand turn and follow the camber back across the hillside. The it was on and off the grass and onto dirt corners and back again before dropping into the finish arena round one more flat grassy turn and sprint under the finish line. A real feel of old school DH tracks here with all the natural flat and off camber grass turns where braking and corner technique were put to the test. Under 3 mins and you were on the pace for this one.

‘Box’ rocking the 29’er, 3rd Elite on the day

After a hot and tiring practice lap of the route it was time on Saturday afternoon to line up for your seeding run, which counted toward your overall race time and seeded you within your category. Tracy Moseley showed her DH experience and rode smooth and fast to set the fastest women’s time of 2:43, that was more than competitive in the overall standings too. Whilst Neil Donoghue put down the fastest time in the elite men’s field with a 2:30. In the battle for the overall series title, it was close between Donoghue and Ralph Jones, both have been consistently fast all year with the final podium spot being fought for between Myself, Rob ‘Box’ Cooksley and Alex Rafferty in the elite category, Likewise, talking to other riders most categories had battles going on to the finish, so with all sorts of points connotations to be had everyone was especially concentrating on having a clean trouble free race to secure the best end result possible.

Sunday and race day.

The sun was out again for everyone to start, this gave way to cloudier skies for most of the day, but stayed dry and was a blessing to most riders as overheating and dehydrating was less likely now. The long fire road climb (Donny managing to puncture on the way up!?!) and we were all set for racing to start on stage 1. Quite greasy conditions and judging the blind drop away features meant caution had to be exercised to give yourself a clean and solid start to your race. The longest transition to stage 2, all uphill only made less exhausting by sharing stories with other rider along the way and maybe take in some of the Welsh scenery to the top. An exposed fast start down the loose rocky trail then onto the painful fire road pedal, I was following Ralph each stage and could see him on the road and so thought I was going well until I realised how long it took to get to the point I saw him at!! Into the stony ‘luge’ like trail at high speeds trying to keep light on the bike so as not to puncture, many did here including half a dozen Senior cat riders at the end of the stage and Jones, Green and Donny casualties in Elites, but all making the stage without losing time. Arrive at stage 3 for the rocky attack, a fast stage where staying off the brakes as much as your ‘bottle’ would allow rewarded you with a quicker time.

Stage 4 and there seemed to be some sort of delay as the whole of the senior category had yet to start when we arrived. Everyone watched as rider after rider went over the bars or through the tape at the bottom of the steep drop into the stage. Ralph laid the bike down on the third corner, would this hand Donny the advantage in the overall? He was up quick and riding so any loss seemed minimal. Once you were through the technical start you had to prepare your gearing and your mind for the steep rocky climb, I took full advantage of my Cannondale Jekyll here switching down to short travel to get me up and over it. Push hard to get yourself rolling as fast as you could along the next section of trail before being faced with a painful little rise once more before blasting the last part of the stage through the finish line, everyone finishing grinning from the speeds they have just achieved down it and buzzing from the adrenaline. One more climb to the top of stage 5 and repeat our seeding runs, glad that the grass hadn’t been rained on! Having already raced the stage people knew where they had to back off (Ralph and Box both put the bike down in seeding, costing valuable seconds) and where to push, everyone seemed to finish intact, so it was time to wait and see the results to find out how everyone faired.

Punch your race number into the computer at the finish and info would pop up, giving you the first 4 stage times, along with you category position and overall position. I had finished 4th in Elite and 4th overall, I looked up other riders to discover our results. Ralph had won the day with Donny in second and Box in third the four of us separated by 9secs, in enduro terms that is a close race! So Ralph’s mishaps weren’t a factor in the end, but had Box have stayed on in seeding he may well have finished in front of Donny and would that have affected the overall series battle? I’m not about to do the maths on it, but that’s just all part of racing, and why we love it! Tracy won the elite women’s race, again ahead of Helen Gaskell and Sarah Newman. So the second year of the UK Gravity Enduro series is done and with better weather than last year and more faces taking part and rounds selling out, the discipline shows no signs of slowing down. In fact driving into the race site on the Saturday night and seeing so many people there camping, talking by little campfires it really reminded me of racing DH years ago, it seemed like a friendly mountain bike event with everyone there to enjoy riding their bikes, something which everyone got their fill of on this weekend! So a thanks to Steve and team for putting on the series once again and I look forward to more of the same.

Elite podium, Donoghue, Jones, Cooksley

Results below:

Elite male

1st Ralph Jones
2nd Neil Donoghue
3rd Rob Cooksley

Elite women’s, Gaskell, Moseley, Newman

Elite female

1st Tracy Moseley
2nd Helen Gaskell
3rd Sarah Newman

Senior Male

1st Sam Flanagan
2nd Chris Keeble-Smith
3rd David Mirfield

Masters podium, Nicholson, Devine, Williams.

Master male

1st Andrew Devine
2nd Stuart Nicholson
3rd Charlie Williams

Veteran male

1st Richy Lewis
2nd Rick Ellis
3rd Marcus Jones

Grand Vets podium, Felstead, Baines (team roost lives!), Wills

Grand Veteran male

1st Keven Baines
2nd Steve Felstead
3rd Dave Wills

Under 18’s

1st Ben Nott
2nd Joe Buck
3rd Rob Goodey

Women’s

1st Cheri Mills
2nd Sally Evamy
3rd Liz Simmons

Overall rd 5

1st Ralph Jones
2nd Neil Donoghue
3rd Rob Cooksley
4th Aidan Bishop
5th Phil Shucksmith

Full Results here:

www.rootsandrain.com

Big thanks to Cannondale, Mavic, RRP, Crank Brothers, Giro, GoPro, 661, Maxxis for their support all year, here’s to the next one! Hope to see everyone there!!!

Yeah this is a bit of a last minute one to say the least, as the race is this Friday and Saturday, but if you’re a fan of such last minute shenanigans then all you need to do is tell us in the comments section below why it should be you that wins the prize.

Oh, and to make it clear the prize is two entries to the Maxiavalanche race (basically a shorter Megavalache, but just as much fun) in Åre, two lift passes which will cover you from this Thursday until Sunday, and an apartment that the two of you can share for three nights! That just leaves you with having to sort out getting the pair of you to Åre in time to take up this great offer.

The competition will close at 5pm BST on Tuesday 21st August and we will notify the winner straight after closing in order to give them enough time to arrange travel etc.

Also, please only enter this competition if you’re serious about going as otherwise it might mean that someone who really did want to go misses out.

Full details of the event can be found here.

That’s right, just answer the simple question at the bottom of this post and you can win yourself a sweet as you like dirt jump bike.

The NS Holy 1 features a quality full Cr-Mo frame which shares exactly the same geometry as the legendary high-end aftermarket NS frames such as the Majesty. The components have been just as well thought out as the frame itself and the rigid fork means that money isn’t being wasted on some cheap suspension fork that you’d never want to run anyway. For legal reasons they’ve had to fit a front brake and that’s why it’s a cheap one. No point fitting something fancy when you’re just going to rip it off the second you get the bike. For 2012 NS have also included an upgraded rear hub which runs on cartridge bearings.

The Holy 1 is available in both 26″ and 24″ wheel versions, but the one up for grabs is the 26″ one.

It’s no surprise that the NS finishing kit is just as nice as their frames.

It’s great to see the quality SALT by Wethepeople 3-pc tubular Cromoly cranks fitted to the bike. So often bikes like this are let down in this area.

The Octane One integrated seat-post combo weighs next to nothing and because everything is fixed solidly in place there’s little if anything to go wrong.

And you even get a pair of the excellent Sam Pilgrim signature grips…perfect for a bit of light reading when the trails are flooded.

Here then are the main features:

• Frame with integrated seatpost clamp & clearance for fat tires
• NS bikes cockpit including: Quark stem, Mint handlebar & Sam Pilgrim grips
• Integrated headset
• Avid BB5 disc brake in the back
• Small drive train (28:13)
• Sealed bearings Octane One singlespeed hub
• Odyssey Twisted PC pedals
• Strong Mid-BB system
• Odyssey 13t freewheel
• Strong NS Fundamental rear rim
• Black spokes with DT Swiss nipples
• Light Octane One seatpost combo

And here’s the full spec:

Frame: NS 100% Cromoly
Fork: Rigid NS fork 100% Cromoly, 435 mm (a-c)
Headset: Salt by Wethepeople, sealed angular bearings (Campy spec: 45x45deg, OD41.8mm)
Stem: NS Quark
Handlebar: NS Mint
Grips: NS Sam Pilgrim signature
Brakes: Avid BB5 160mm rear / v-brake Alhonga front
Bottom Bracket: SALT by Wethepeople, Mid-BB, 19mm x 8 splines with 2-sealed Spanish BB bearings
Crank: SALT by Wethepeople, tubular cromoly
Chainring: SALT by Wethepeople, 28T CNC alloy ring
Chain: KMC-410
Freewheel: Odyssey 13T
Rims: NS Fundamental rear / Jalco DBX front
Hubs: Joytech 9 mm front, Octane One Single Speed (sealed bearings) rear with 13T Odyssey freewheel
Spokes: Velogross black spokes w/14mm DT Swiss nipples, laced 3 cross
Tires: Kenda K-Rad 2.3 rear & front
Seatpost + Saddle: Octane One integrated seat-post combo
Pedals: Odyssey Twisted PC
Weight: 24”: 12.1 kg / 26”: 12.5 kg without front brake

Geometry: 

Frame size: 24”: 301 mm / 11.9” 26”: 308mm / 12.1”
Head angle: 71.5 deg
Seat tube angle: 72.5 deg
Chainstay: 24”: 374 mm / 14.7” slammed 26”: 381 mm / 15” slammed
Top tube length (c-c): 24”: 554 mm / 21.8” 26”: 574 mm / 22.6”
BB height: 24”: 308 mm / 12.1” 26”: 312 mm / 12.3”

Price: £629.99
www.hotlines-uk.com
www.nsbikes.com

And last but not least, here’s the question…

[competition_24]

Entries close at the end of July.

We might as well come straight…all our usual film makers are missing in action and all you Dirt website lovers are going to be sad if we haven’t got any footage of the event, so a bit of hectic brainstorming has led us to the following idea…

Basically there must be a load of you budding film makers out there who we don’t yet know about, so why not show us what you can do this weekend. The best edit will win nothing short of £150! Even the runner up will take home £50. Plus, there’s a strong possibility that we’d be up for using your skills in future, paid of course.

Rules are simple…all videos must be uploaded to Mpora by midday on Tuesday 24th of July at the absolute latest. You must also ‘tag’ each video ‘National Champs Video Comp’, and entries are strictly limited to amateur efforts, i.e. they can’t be shown elsewhere.

Now all you need to do is go and dig out that video camera…