Another top day at Wharny with the sun blazing & temperatures hovering just above zero which stopped the ground from getting too soggy.
Bit of a reccy mission this one - looking a bit beyond the stuff we already know of. We all need days like these but it does reduce the riding a lot.
First time I've seen & ridden the 'No Human' track. Not my prefered choice of track, partly because I stoved my head into the ground going over the bars & Rob thought the best way to stop after the catapult shaped tree drop would be to stuff himself into a tree. Both methods produced very short stopping distances but added a few aches & pains. I don't think Rob found it quite so funny, although he fell even more when climbing up tracks. Not much flow to this track just very technical & when you fall it aint pretty.
Other tracks were fine aside from the slipperyness in certain sections.
I thought I saw my old Spesh Enduro Elite been ridden by I presume the girl that I sold it to. Hope she's enjoying it.
The others decided to walk back to the cars after Aaron's tyre split so I went for one last run & decided I'd get some helmet cam footage. Plugged everything in & set off - not the best run of the day but thought I'd get some nice vid of a hip jump until I got home & realised the lead had unplugged the second I set off. I knew I should have checked the length of those leads.
Top day had by all!!
Monday, 18 February 2008
Sunday, 3 February 2008
Ae Forest Freeride Film
A bit of film from Ae Forest in 2007.
Me & Aaron ripping a bit of the Ae Line & the drop near the end of the downhill track. Shame we didn't have the camera with us all the time. Unfortunately, filming does take up quite a bit of riding time.
There isn't loads of gravity stuff at Ae but what is there is a blast & I'm sure we haven't seen it all.
Hope you like it!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BvkB1oKucQ
Me & Aaron ripping a bit of the Ae Line & the drop near the end of the downhill track. Shame we didn't have the camera with us all the time. Unfortunately, filming does take up quite a bit of riding time.
There isn't loads of gravity stuff at Ae but what is there is a blast & I'm sure we haven't seen it all.
Hope you like it!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BvkB1oKucQ
Saturday, 26 January 2008
Innerleithen Chair Lift Proposal
The Innerleithen chair lift proposal is still alive & kicking. Click on this link for the latest update. http://www.bikemagic.com/news/article/mps/uan/6020/v/1?source=weeklyemail&attr=editorial1
This is the best news for downhillers since the rear shocker was invented. At the moment there is an uplift service run by Ae Uplift which is a coach & trailer run on a twice monthly basis. Hats off to Tally who runs it for his fore thought of giving downhillers what they want & some would say need.
Unfortunately, there is a big 'but' with this service. The fact that you have to book & pay for it up front & usually quite early due to demand. As we all know the weather in Scotland is a bit difficult to forecast & it has been known to rain & snow on the odd occasion, so a chair lift that you could just turn up to & pay for either 1 lift or a full day is fantastic news. For those that are accustomed to getting chairlifts with bikes in tow are fully aware of how much more (downhill) riding you can get in. For those that have not enjoyed this luxury beware that there is no looking back after you have experienced it.
The alpine towns in Europe & over the pond have really benefitted financially from using the ski lifts in the summer for bikers, especially with the recent lack of snow in the past years. I know there have always been the hikers & paragliders etc. but these towns are now bustling with people almost like in the ski season. Hopefully, this can also happen to the Borders & maybe even lead the way to it being a common sight in other mountainous or hilly areas.
The government wants us all to be fit & healthy so why not invest in sport in a way that I would presume is relatively inexpensive in comparison & also gets people outdoors. Rather than spending millions on painting extra lines on some of our roads & calling them bike lanes which then end abruptly because theres no room, they should invest in something that people may want to use & enjoy. Making fitness fun in my opinion is the only way to keep peoples interest high after the usual New Year resolutions & Xmas binge guilt trips. This sort of scheme can only be good for encouraging kids to get into biking as they are also talking of building more trails & a bike park.
My other hope is that England will catch onto the idea that we need to move forward with sports that verge on the extreme side & get away from the where theres a blame theres a claim culture & lighten up to Downhill Mountain Biking, surely by putting up disclaimers (which I have rarely seen) they would be covering their arses to some degree.
This is the best news for downhillers since the rear shocker was invented. At the moment there is an uplift service run by Ae Uplift which is a coach & trailer run on a twice monthly basis. Hats off to Tally who runs it for his fore thought of giving downhillers what they want & some would say need.
Unfortunately, there is a big 'but' with this service. The fact that you have to book & pay for it up front & usually quite early due to demand. As we all know the weather in Scotland is a bit difficult to forecast & it has been known to rain & snow on the odd occasion, so a chair lift that you could just turn up to & pay for either 1 lift or a full day is fantastic news. For those that are accustomed to getting chairlifts with bikes in tow are fully aware of how much more (downhill) riding you can get in. For those that have not enjoyed this luxury beware that there is no looking back after you have experienced it.
The alpine towns in Europe & over the pond have really benefitted financially from using the ski lifts in the summer for bikers, especially with the recent lack of snow in the past years. I know there have always been the hikers & paragliders etc. but these towns are now bustling with people almost like in the ski season. Hopefully, this can also happen to the Borders & maybe even lead the way to it being a common sight in other mountainous or hilly areas.
The government wants us all to be fit & healthy so why not invest in sport in a way that I would presume is relatively inexpensive in comparison & also gets people outdoors. Rather than spending millions on painting extra lines on some of our roads & calling them bike lanes which then end abruptly because theres no room, they should invest in something that people may want to use & enjoy. Making fitness fun in my opinion is the only way to keep peoples interest high after the usual New Year resolutions & Xmas binge guilt trips. This sort of scheme can only be good for encouraging kids to get into biking as they are also talking of building more trails & a bike park.
My other hope is that England will catch onto the idea that we need to move forward with sports that verge on the extreme side & get away from the where theres a blame theres a claim culture & lighten up to Downhill Mountain Biking, surely by putting up disclaimers (which I have rarely seen) they would be covering their arses to some degree.
Sunday, 20 January 2008
Road Trips
Another click on thelink film. This time various riding spots in 2007.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBb_xDMLVeM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBb_xDMLVeM
Wharncliffe/Grenoside 2007
Here's a vid of us in Wharncliffe & Grenoside in 2007. Just click on the link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1YFHA06kww
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1YFHA06kww
Shock Shuttle Changes Spesh SX
I've just put the 'High' Shock Shuttle on my Specialized SX Trail to see what difference it made for just riding trails. I must admit I was surprised how changing the head angle by 1 degree, from 66.5 to 67.5 made it so much easier from a pedalling point of view but still leaving it free & easy on the drops & jumps side of things. For general riding I'll probably leave it like that & only change it when I know I will just be doing just gravity fuelled riding.
Saturday, 12 January 2008
Chain Reaction make hay while the sun don't shine!
Not much to report I'm afraid. All this rain is not doing my biking quoter any good at all. Not that I'm a fair weather biker but too much mud is not good. So most of the riding is just getting out & about on hard tracks locally but thankfully jumps & drops can still be found with a bit of hunting around. Luckily Temple Newsam is close enough to ride to & those that have been there will know that it is all weather hard core so getting the wheels off the ground still keeps the springs bouncing & blood pumping. I don't think many people ride it regularly which is cool but it would be cooler to see a few more riders using it. The track is still in good condition, possibly due to the little use it gets. Credit has to be given to the MTB Leeds lads & all others that helped build it - a good job done. But be warned if you do ride here just keep an eye out for the chavs that every place like this seems to attract. Not so long ago one came at me with a stick but bottled it. I jumped off the bike & chased them but they soon dissapeared, but I have heard stories of young lads getting jumped & their bikes knicked. So just take a bit of care & maybe don't ride it alone (unless battering chavs floats your boat).
The main problem with this weather for me is that it doesn't do my wallet much good either with regular visits to the Chain Reaction & Wiggle websites buying stuff that probably isn't needed apart from the wet weather gear of course.
The pics are from Tempy quite a while ago. It was freezing cold & out doing a local route on my then Specialized Enduro. Hope you enjoy! I did!
Friday, 28 December 2007
Ae Forest
The double half way down the Ae Line at Ae Forest. This sends you into a chute & a super fast table top which I think they call the coffin.
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Thursday, 27 December 2007
Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) damage
30 years ago when I was 8 years I had a major accident with a big iron rocking horse that were common place in most playgrounds. To cut a long & painful story short I was pushing it from behind & it took me off the ground & when it came back down to earth so did I with my leg underneath it. This smashed my leg up pretty badly & because of this my ACL has never grown back in my right knee.
Thankfully it has never stopped me from doing all the sports that I have enjoyed throughout the years, although rugby & football became a no no just because of the constant impact when running & being tackled.
Although I have always been into biking, it is only quite recently that full suspension has become a breath of fresh air to people like me.
Pain is a funny thing & is something you do get used to, ask anyone with a tattoo, after a while you just get used to the needle. This is the same for a re-ocurring injury like the ACL but without products like Glucosamine, Collagen & Chondroitin I'm sure the pain would be a lot worse.
For anyone out there who has trouble with their ACL not only in biking but any sport should really try out the above herbal tablets. I get mine from Healthy Direct but many other outlets sell them.
Another temporary solution are knee braces. Chain Reaction Cycles have some on their website which although not cheap do seem to be considerably cheaper than the famously branded Donjoy knee braces. I have only ever used a Donjoy some years ago but I could still play squash with it on with very little obstruction, although I'm sure people looking on may well have thought that by the looks of it I should have be in a wheelchair.
I had my last knee operation a few years back & when I asked my surgeon if it would be all right for the snowboarding trip that was only 1 week away he did say that it would only be the pain that would hinder me. Although I don't like meeting my surgeon because it usually means I'm lying on a table & he has a scalpel in his hand, I do like his attitude & with him being a skier he does understand what it is to do these types of sports. The boarding holiday was a relative success with me boarding for a day & resting for a day or sometimes 2 but I did get some powder which always makes it worthwhile.
The moral of this story is don't let a bit of pain stop you doing what you really want to do. Equip yourself with the correct lotions & potions & you'll be fine. You are long time dead.
Thankfully it has never stopped me from doing all the sports that I have enjoyed throughout the years, although rugby & football became a no no just because of the constant impact when running & being tackled.
Although I have always been into biking, it is only quite recently that full suspension has become a breath of fresh air to people like me.
Pain is a funny thing & is something you do get used to, ask anyone with a tattoo, after a while you just get used to the needle. This is the same for a re-ocurring injury like the ACL but without products like Glucosamine, Collagen & Chondroitin I'm sure the pain would be a lot worse.
For anyone out there who has trouble with their ACL not only in biking but any sport should really try out the above herbal tablets. I get mine from Healthy Direct but many other outlets sell them.
Another temporary solution are knee braces. Chain Reaction Cycles have some on their website which although not cheap do seem to be considerably cheaper than the famously branded Donjoy knee braces. I have only ever used a Donjoy some years ago but I could still play squash with it on with very little obstruction, although I'm sure people looking on may well have thought that by the looks of it I should have be in a wheelchair.
I had my last knee operation a few years back & when I asked my surgeon if it would be all right for the snowboarding trip that was only 1 week away he did say that it would only be the pain that would hinder me. Although I don't like meeting my surgeon because it usually means I'm lying on a table & he has a scalpel in his hand, I do like his attitude & with him being a skier he does understand what it is to do these types of sports. The boarding holiday was a relative success with me boarding for a day & resting for a day or sometimes 2 but I did get some powder which always makes it worthwhile.
The moral of this story is don't let a bit of pain stop you doing what you really want to do. Equip yourself with the correct lotions & potions & you'll be fine. You are long time dead.
Saturday, 22 December 2007
Freeride mountain biking in Winter
It's that time of year again for the all year round freeride mountain biker to don his thermals, breathable tops & try & fit something warm under their full face helmets only to be drenched in cold sweat after the first downhill run of the day. Hopefully your full facer will have been cleaned after the last huck otherwise you've got that smell to contend with aswell.
Get out of the van with mountain bike, usually in the middle of nowhere in a forest car park, check out the brakes & set the suspension up & get kitted up for the first big push of the day. Wondering why you bothered getting out of bed this morning to drag your lazy ass past everything that you are going to come down or past, picking the best lines & hoping you can remember it all before you nail it at warp factor 10. Eventually you get to the top & rest & contemplate what lies ahead. The chat has stopped realising you've got to carry out what you were bragging about on the way up here.
Making sure everyone is ready, the first pedal turns as rider number one sets off. All follow closely behind watching as much as they can those in front for any doubles or pitfalls or stacks.
The adrenaline has already kicked in after the first few turns & jumps. Flying past trees, getting the flow of the smooth steep forest tracks winding around the mountain with doubles, table tops, berms, hip jumps & switch backs. A smooth kicker fires you out of the forest & into daylight, your eyes adjusting to the bright sunlight in the nick of time before the next jump is there in front of you. Now you're into a swooping fast track with big berms to bank as high as you dare with each table top in between giving you that weightless feeling as you launch with the sound of knobbly tyres riding over the hard pack & then it goes silent until the sound returns on the down slope. Jump, berm, jump, berm, launch over a set of doubles. The roller coaster ride keeps your arms & legs pumped but you know you need to keep hold of those bars - but not too tight, they're the only thing that's keeping you from eating the dirt big style. You don't want it to end but you know you can't hold on for much longer. You spot the fire road ahead, a chance to breath again. Cruising the fire road, arms dangling getting blood back to your fingers. Until, you shoot back inside the tree line for some single track, over rocks & roots set off camber trying to catch you out. Padding bouncing off the odd tree. The trees space out more for some big roller coaster ups & downs with kickers built in to shoot you into oblivion floating you well over the top & nearly to the bottom of the down slope, keeping your speed for the next one sending you up again, your stomach goes into your throat like a hump back bridge. Over a rock garden & over a series of drops, knowing that the 'speed is your friend' speech is only a short step away if you lose your bottle & brake. The bottom section flows with high walled berms to keep the speed up for the final big floater, tyre noise again followed by what seems like an eternity of silence before tyres touch down again. Whooping & hollering your way into the car park you take your helmet off with a Joker style grin stretching from ear to ear. Sweat & adrenaline drip from every pore. What a rush! Time for a break until the next time.......................in 10 minutes.
The push up never really seemed that long did it? A one hour push rewarded by a 10 minute gravity fuelled blast doesn't sound worth it but believe me you'll remember almost all of it in every detail!
When you finish you remember why it is you start at the bottom, so you can finish there too! Mountain biking rules!!
http://steve-extremesports.blogspot.com
Get out of the van with mountain bike, usually in the middle of nowhere in a forest car park, check out the brakes & set the suspension up & get kitted up for the first big push of the day. Wondering why you bothered getting out of bed this morning to drag your lazy ass past everything that you are going to come down or past, picking the best lines & hoping you can remember it all before you nail it at warp factor 10. Eventually you get to the top & rest & contemplate what lies ahead. The chat has stopped realising you've got to carry out what you were bragging about on the way up here.
Making sure everyone is ready, the first pedal turns as rider number one sets off. All follow closely behind watching as much as they can those in front for any doubles or pitfalls or stacks.
The adrenaline has already kicked in after the first few turns & jumps. Flying past trees, getting the flow of the smooth steep forest tracks winding around the mountain with doubles, table tops, berms, hip jumps & switch backs. A smooth kicker fires you out of the forest & into daylight, your eyes adjusting to the bright sunlight in the nick of time before the next jump is there in front of you. Now you're into a swooping fast track with big berms to bank as high as you dare with each table top in between giving you that weightless feeling as you launch with the sound of knobbly tyres riding over the hard pack & then it goes silent until the sound returns on the down slope. Jump, berm, jump, berm, launch over a set of doubles. The roller coaster ride keeps your arms & legs pumped but you know you need to keep hold of those bars - but not too tight, they're the only thing that's keeping you from eating the dirt big style. You don't want it to end but you know you can't hold on for much longer. You spot the fire road ahead, a chance to breath again. Cruising the fire road, arms dangling getting blood back to your fingers. Until, you shoot back inside the tree line for some single track, over rocks & roots set off camber trying to catch you out. Padding bouncing off the odd tree. The trees space out more for some big roller coaster ups & downs with kickers built in to shoot you into oblivion floating you well over the top & nearly to the bottom of the down slope, keeping your speed for the next one sending you up again, your stomach goes into your throat like a hump back bridge. Over a rock garden & over a series of drops, knowing that the 'speed is your friend' speech is only a short step away if you lose your bottle & brake. The bottom section flows with high walled berms to keep the speed up for the final big floater, tyre noise again followed by what seems like an eternity of silence before tyres touch down again. Whooping & hollering your way into the car park you take your helmet off with a Joker style grin stretching from ear to ear. Sweat & adrenaline drip from every pore. What a rush! Time for a break until the next time.......................in 10 minutes.
The push up never really seemed that long did it? A one hour push rewarded by a 10 minute gravity fuelled blast doesn't sound worth it but believe me you'll remember almost all of it in every detail!
When you finish you remember why it is you start at the bottom, so you can finish there too! Mountain biking rules!!
http://steve-extremesports.blogspot.com
Saturday, 8 December 2007
Stainburn
Does anyone have any ideas when the new line at Stainburn Forest (Otley) is going to be completed & is it going to be fast & flowing with jumps, switchbacks & berms etc.? I was told about a year or so ago that the clearing was going to be used for a dual track or something similar. Is this true?
Freeride mountain biking
Welcome to my blog. I'm trying to find out how much interest there is in the mountain biking world for downhill courses & freeriding locations in the UK & especially in Yorkshire as I live here. For those of you who have visited Innerleithen & Glentress (in the Borders) will appreciate how good it can get with a little imagination. There are a few dotted around the country with Esher & Okeford being two other examples for freeriding.
Any info & input on good riding spots or any news of proposed freeride parks would be fantastic so that people who want this sort of riding can find it. Would Yorkshire benefit from freeride/DH spots with the amount of hills it has? I think it would.
I will keep this blog updated with riding that we have done or heard about so other like minded riders can get their gravity fuelled fixes.
It'd be great to hear other riders views.
Thanks.
Any info & input on good riding spots or any news of proposed freeride parks would be fantastic so that people who want this sort of riding can find it. Would Yorkshire benefit from freeride/DH spots with the amount of hills it has? I think it would.
I will keep this blog updated with riding that we have done or heard about so other like minded riders can get their gravity fuelled fixes.
It'd be great to hear other riders views.
Thanks.
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