Young ripper Jackson Goldstone takes you for a spin around the Lumberyard in Portland, Oregon. Would be great to have a set up like this in the UK!

For more info hit up www.lumberyardmtb.com

Highlights from the DMR Pumptrack Challenge at the London Bike Show.

Read Manon Carpenter’s well tidy  blog from the Bike Show here.

Horticulturally inspired pumptrack shenanigans from Swizterland!

Good to see Brendog mixing it up with the 4x riders. We need more indoor pumptracks I reckon. Year round riding in the UK would be ace!

The rankings.

London Bike Show Pumptrack Challenge Snow Weekend

Words and photos: Manon Carpenter

So here’s how I spent last weekend, in case you’re interested… And there are some photos for those of you who aren’t so into reading!!

It’s Thursday night, I’ve packed ready for an amazing weekend of Dirt Jumps, Pumptrack and Moto, set my alarm for half 5 and got into bed. Few hours later my alarm goes off and the apocalypse has hit. Well, not quite, but the multiple inches of snow on the roads mean I’m not getting out of Caerphilly anytime soon, let alone driving to London!

White out

Friday – Snow Day

After sulking for a bit it’s hard to resist a day in the snow so pretty soon we were out on the motorbikes having an explore. I’ll be honest; moto enduro in the snow wasn’t quite what I expected! For starters just riding along the road was sketchy as fook, the slightest bit too much throttle or catching the edge of tyre tracks and you were going sideways. Kinda like taking a motorbike on an ice rink.

Once we warmed up and got off-road it was less hazardous, mainly because the ground was softer to fall on! It was pretty funny trying to stay upright and in a straight line but trying to go anywhere fast was hard work, I had my poor bike screaming trying to get to the top of the hill and you couldn’t see a thing that you were riding on. Nevertheless, snow makes everything look awesome so I kinda spent most of the ride taking photos!

Snow Moto

Next up was snowboarding, I’d been itching to have a go all day so rang our friend Jimmy to ask if I could steal his board for a few runs when he was free. I think he’s one of the only people in town with snow chains for his car so he was a busy man that day!

Snowboard

So it’s not quite the Alps… and me still being fairly amateur at snowboarding you don’t get much time to get your snow legs back on the five second descent vs five minute ascent but it’s still good fun, and you definitely get a work out walking back up!

A day in the snow was fun but it didn’t take me long to realise that if I stayed at home there wasn’t going to be a hell of a lot to do that weekend, especially as my van didn’t look like it was going anywhere! So at half past nine that evening I text Katy Curd to see what was occurring and pretty soon we had a plan. I set my alarm for five in the morning and got into bed… again.

Saturday – London Bike Show

Getting up at 5 in the morning and riding to the nearest train station in the cold, dark and snow to get a 6 o’clock train for a four and a half hour journey to London might seem like hell to most people; but as soon as I got out of the house and started riding down the icy hill to the station mega-avalanche style it felt more like an adventure than a drag! It’s definitely a good way to wake up in the morning anyway.

Deserted train station at 6 in the morning on a Saturday in the snow.!

Getting the tube across London with my bike was actually a bit of a mission and I was pretty relieved when I finally made it to the ExCeL where the Bike Show was taking place. If I’d seen this poster on the underground (spotted later on by Jacob Gibbins) it might have made my journey a bit more interesting!

Me on the London Underground!

London Bike Show Day 1

I turned up late so by the time I found the pumptrack area (after a few accidental detours through the Boat and Travel Shows) people were already riding. The pumptrack was made up of wooden segments, designed really well with smooth rollers and curved berms so riders were absolutely flying round.

First few laps of practise felt as crazy as the last race laps, all it took was a couple of good pumps over the rollers and you were straight up to speed; the near vertical berms spat you out at all angles so if you didn’t react quick enough you were sent careering off the track!

Straightening up out of a corner with my go faster reflector tyres… Figured if we were racing against the boys I may as well come prepared!!

After practise we went for an explore round the show, it was fun to catch up with everyone from Madison Saracen and riders who were there chatting up sponsors with their CVs (ahem, Jono Jones ) and Katy made the most of the free sweets being given out on most stands! The Saracen Bikes stand looked amazing and I definitely can’t wait to get my hands on the new team bikes which are going to look just as good!!

I’ve gotta sneak a photo of these lovelies in

Kili Flyer 650b!

Saturday was definitely the busiest day for the pumptrack challenge and soon there were so many quick riders signed up the competition was getting tough! Only the top 10 from the Qualifying round would go through to the final round and we only got one run so everyone was pretty nervous. I wasn’t expecting to get into the top 10 at all that day but I had made a few bets with other riders who I wanted to beat and there were so many people watching so the pressure was still on!

Setting off for a lap in front of the crowd… Concentration face

Qualifying got pretty tense for me. Amazingly after everyone had done a lap I was still in ninth position with a decent time of 8.40 seconds, but a couple of people had to have re runs after they got spat out of the last corner off balance and missed the timing beams completely. Actually, tense is an understatement, I wanted to qualify with the boys so badly!

Slowly I got pushed down to tenth position with one rider to go. As Christian was coming round the last two corners I couldn’t look at the clock until it stopped… at 8.48 seconds. I was so excited to have qualified overall and shown some of the lads up, I couldn’t help making the most of it and dishing out some abuse. I thought it was pretty funny when Scott Beaumont said I liked battering guys’ egos, it’s all friendly banter… kind of

Scott on a lap of the track in practise

That night Chris Roberts (pumptrack organiser) very kindly sorted us out a hotel room which involved kicking Olly Wilkins and his girlfriend out of the room they had stayed in the night before. They’d obviously had a heavy night so Olly left us a lovely message apologising for the state of the room…

As soon as we saw the ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign on the floor outside the door we knew we were in for trouble. From the design of the shower I’m sure (well, I hope) Olly hadn’t pooed in it but I was still pretty nervous getting in and gave it a good rinse out first just in case!! It’s also not the first time I’ve had to use a T-Shirt for a towel but it definitely doesn’t get any better the more you do it…

London Bike Show Day 2

By Sunday it was snowing again but that didn’t stop more people turning up to the show. I think that was one of the things that made the Show so much fun. Before qualifying and finals on the pumptrack the Animal Bike Tour which was next door would have a display with Blake Samson and Martyn Ashton getting rad, so everyone would head straight over for the pumptrack afterwards and watch the fun!

Blake spinning his Saracen ALX…

And Martyn just being ridiculous!

At first we thought there weren’t going to be many people racing on Sunday but by the afternoon there were plenty of quick 4x racers and Brendan Fairclough turned up again for a second round with his brother Christian and the S4P gang, so again there was plenty of competition.

The GB Cross Country guys even came over for a play on the track in their kit!

At dinner the night before I’d been set a goal of getting under 8 seconds which I thought I could get with a good lap, it was just a matter of staying in a straight line which is easier said than done on that track. During practise I was feeling quick and putting the effort in but I wasn’t expecting to do quite as well as I did…

This made me very happy that day!

This time we didn’t have qualifying, we just went straight through to the Final where we had three laps to set our best time. Yet again, everyone was feeling the pressure. It’s crazy how nerve-wracking a pumptrack race can be and every time I finished a lap my hands were shaking and my legs felt like jelly. I beat my goal of a sub-8 second lap on my first attempt, beating the first few riders that had already gone and shocking myself as well as a few others!

After the first round I was in third position behind Brendan and Tom Dowie and I was hungry… I wanted a podium! However a few people hadn’t placed times in the first round so by the end of the second round I’d been pushed down to fifth by Scott Beaumont and Arthur Cotterell.

I’ve got to say here that Brendan was looking ridiculously fast, like in a totally different league. It’s mad how someone riding around in circles on a wooden track can look so impressive!

Brendan ripping around the track with Dan Jarvis on the mic

The problem with beating my goal for that day in the first round meant that I wasn’t happy with it anymore, top 3 had been dangled in front of my face and I wanted it. I wasn’t too far behind Scott but I’d have to find 0.2 to beat Arthur which is hard on such a short track!

The third round came around and I was sat on the start. After a warm up lap I got up to speed and went through the beams to start the clock…

…7.769 seconds later it stopped when I crossed the line. It wasn’t enough to put me on the podium but it just about beat Boom Boom’s fastest time, which was pretty crazy in itself!

I hadn’t even thought that that might happen, and I’d beaten some other really good riders as well so yet again I was over the moon! I don’t know what it is that makes beating guys so good… Probably the look on their and everyone elses faces when they realise what’s just happened, haha.

Chris Roberts on sniper attack with the camera

The best part of the day though came just as I was leaving the pumptrack area and a little girl came over to say how fast I’d been that day. I mentioned this to Katy to which she replied “that’s what it’s all about isn’t it?”, which is so right. I loved the idea that we might have inspired that girl and others to pick up a bike, have a go and see how much fun it is. I love riding bikes; they can give you so much confidence, take you to so many places, and you get to meet all the other lovely people who ride bikes too!

The snow had started falling again so it was time to leave and 36 hours after I left Caerphilly at 6 in the morning I was back on the train home with my steed… I was still really excited from the day’s events, running on a similar high to doing well at a World Cup if I’m honest!

It’s gotta go somewhere hasn’t it?

All in all it had been a really good weekend and I’m so glad I decided last minute on Friday night to go. Thanks to Chris Roberts for organising the Pumptrack Challenge and letting me steal some of his photos, Olly for giving up his hotel room for us, Katy and Jake for breakfast Sunday morning and everyone for making it so much fun!

A really good weekend with really good people!

All the best… Manon

www.manoncarpenter.com

This is my take on the DMR Pump Track Challenge from a town just down the road from me called Bishops Tachbrook, luckily I get to ride here on a regular basis and it’s an awesome little pump track. Racing was very tight against the clock, with people trying to shave seconds and even hundredths of seconds of each others times if they could.

The pro category producing some good battles between elite rider and local hero Nathan Parsons and last rounds winner Ben Baker also the other local hero Matt Sills was battling with elite riders Davi Roberts and Tom Gethin for a shot at the £250 top prize. Nathan took the win with Ben colecting the £100 second prize with Matt Sills pipping Gethin on the last run to take the £50 for third.

Keep up-to-date with Sheet Media on Facebook and Twitter at
Facebook.com/SheetMedia
@Sheet Media

www.pumptrackchallenage.com

Remember the Tottenham Pump Track that we featured in Winter Digging a while back? Well she’s open for business on Dec 3rd.

The Trax mountain bike and BMX club are delighted to invite the local community of Tottenham and London, the wider bike community and all our members, friends and family to the official launch of The Lordship Loop bike park on Saturday Dec 3rd.

Lordship Loop is the exciting new 391 metre long pump track’ style trail loop suitable for both mountain bikes and BMX in Lordship Recreation Grounds in Tottenham, London.

Event: Lordship Loop Mountain bike and BMX track launch
Date and time: Saturday 3rd December at 10am
Meeting Location: Broadwater Farm Community centre, Adams Road, Tottenham, London
N17 6HE (next door to the bike track)

The Itinerary is a fun packed day:

10.00am-11.00am The Trax Annual General Meeting and nominations and votes for committee roles. Volunteer opportunities and awards ceremony.
11.00am Official opening of Lordship Loop
Rowan Sorrell and his Back on Track team will be there to anoint the virgin track for its first ride to show how the loop can be ridden
12.00pm We will run two sessions to let the youth use it first (only right). First are 8 – 10 year olds and then 11 – 16 year olds.
13.00pm open to all.
Loads on around the event like…

London Cycling Campaign (LCC) funded Dr Bike session.
Community and bike stalls.
Evans Cycles bikes
Including a lucky dip (BMX top prize). All proceeds to club funds
Mountain Bike Rider Magazine
Dirt Magazine
Bike Club
CTC
British Cycling
International Mountain Bike Association
Lordship Rec Users Forum
Friends of Lordship Rec
Games and fun coaching activities going on all day including adult coaching on the day.
Face painting (All proceeds to club funds so nobody leaves until their face is painted)
Fun ballon shapes and a smoothie making bike
More pro riders like the Old Skull national 4X race team showing us how to ride the track
The Trax are also happy to announce we are now a Bike Club organisation with funding to help take us forward to both maintain the track and deliver on it the necessary coaching and promotion required to run a quarterly racing league with local youth and young adults. To make this project even more sustainable we have also just gained British Cycling Go Ride Racing status.

Frances Chaloner from Bike club contributed this statement…”As the Bike Club Officer for London , working for the Bike Club Consortium of three charities: CTC; UKYouth; ContinYou. I was delighted to support The Trax bid for one of our Bike Club Grants, which are funded by ASDA’s Pedal Power Campaign, to help upskill the group and make the Club more self sustaining. The Trax initiative will bring lots of new young people to cycling, improving their health, education and sense of community in a very safe environment which will appeal to their parents. In addition, it will help support a fabulous new MTB facility maximising the use of a valuable community resource. The long term sustainability of the project and the large number of young people the Trax Bike Club will benefit, impressed the Bike Club Consortium and secured The Trax a Bike Club Grant Award. I am looking forward to supporting The Trax Bike Club, as their Bike Club Officer, over their first year of activities at Lordship Loop.”

The Trax are also delighted to announce our affiliation with the IMBA (International Mountain Biking Association) and their massively useful award of a tool grant as their kind support to ensure the loops and the clubs sustainability. The tools will be awarded on the day by Mark McClure, chairman of IMBA-UK. To find out more about the work of IMBA-UK or to join as an affiliate check out www.imba.org.uk

Evans Cycles will be supporting the track launch with a stall flaunting some of their latest offerings as well as raffling a 2012 BMX, various accessories and bike servicing with all proceeds going to the Lordship Loop and Trax club. Facilitating cycling and making it accessible to all is something Evans Cycles are passionate about and proactive in; “it’s a fantastic privilege to be involved in such a valued community project, and we look forward to creating a longer term relationship with the scheme” Leon, Evans Cycles Crouch End, Store Manager.’

“This much anticipated launch brings both a much needed community run facility for youth in Tottenham. The whole bike world and the local community are coming together to make this a sustainable venture. The launch heralds a new era of off road biking as it is brought to a new generation of riders in an urban setting. Hopefully the first of many, we welcome all to come and celebrate this historic day.” Daniel Mintz Chair of The Trax

If you are interested in setting up a stall in the hall, or donating prizes for our launch activities or sponsoring our awards etc then please get in touch.

The bike world comes to the local Tottenham community on Dec 3rd. Join in the fun. www.thetrax.co.uk

Ben Baker, Weston-Super-Mare’s finest plumber, won the event clocking a time of 0:16.298 and picked up 250 quid for his efforts!

But what’s all this about “pedalling” at a pumptrack?!

Top five were:

1.Ben BAKER
2. Bernard KERR
3. Lewis LACEY
4. Olly WILKINS
5. James WILSON (jun)

Full results over on www.rootsandrain.com

Max Munteanu beamed over the news and says: “We’ve talked about building a pumptrack for a while now, but you know how it is: too much talking and you end up doing nothing. So we switched to the “Less Talk, More Rock!” format. After the last race of the DH season, my friend Costi decided to act, he got a crew together and they went up to the hills surrounding our wonderful city where we dug a few jumps two years ago. Back then we had to stop digging so we wouldn’t get in trouble with the local authoritities, but this time nobody cared, so it’s all good.

The boys worked hard and they got the basic shape of the pumptrack in just three days time, and in ten days it was already done and ridden. The early times of 21 seconds per lap got lower and lower and it seems that the last official record of the was 16.8 seconds.

So what’s next? Film something, of course! Luckily we have some skilled and creative people when we talk about filming around here. Our pal Mateffy just quit his job to become a full time filmer not so long ago and Prepe is is the master of technology. Lights were set up, the Blairwitch Project themed script was followed and riding action was documented until deep in the night. Fun? Duh! A memorable riding session, to say the least!

A big shout-out goes to the builders and shapers of Brasov! They know who they are!

PumpTrack Fun

Scott 11 honcho and track builder Claudio Caluori just beamed over photos of his latest pumptrack in Mendrisio, Switzerland.

This isn’t a pumptrack this is a work of art! How many lines?!

Here’s what Claudio told us:

“Coming home from Windham, we (me and the velosolutions.ch crew) started working on this new pumptrack on the day our flight arrived.

It’s in Mendrisio, Switzerland at the Italian border, right in front of a high school.

We finished it yesterday just in time before leaving to La Bresse.

We rode it right after finishing it, and it’s tons of fun, even though we couldn’t even try out all the combinations of lines yet.”

Check out Claudio’s other pumptrack track in Italy

Here’s what Ben told us:

“I just finished building a pumptrack for free beer all summer! There was a lack of budget so we worked out a trade.

Joel and Will, my best diggers, riding buddies and close friends also donated their time to the cause and now we have a super fun pump/jump track at the bottom of our trails in Morgins, Switzerland. The local government shut us down on the last day so there are a couple details to iron out but overall, I am very happy.

The pumptrack is in front of a bar called M3S and Rolf and Ernest are to thank for getting this project up and running. Anyone up for BBQ, beers and pumptrackin’ after a day up on the trails?”