Couldn't of been a wetter start to the day, but still as we set off from Bens after some 'plumbing' issues we were well on our way down to Bedfordshire to the infamous chicksands.......
All pics by Domnic Worrel, cheers mate!
The journey down takes about 2 hours depending on traffic e.t.c or in our case my bladder which could be seen from the top of the duel track, i was that desperate! Car parking is easy once you get there, tonnes of space directly next to the mian features is a big bonus. The first thing you hit is the massive start ramp for the new 4x track which is unreal. Flat out and flowy the whole way and awesum fuun to race your mates down and is rollable so anyone can have ago. The big triple caught a few people out when i stopped to watch inculding me when i came up short on my front wheel. Definetly one for the dry.
Next up is the duel track just 50m away (conveinient?) This is like a mini a line with constant drops jumps tables and berms littering the two track which run paralell to each other down the hill. Awesum to race down and to train some good vids and pic sof it are up on www.disfunktional-dirt.co.uk, check it out!
Next up are some jumps which you will probably have seen many times in the identiti, dmr, 24 seven ads many times. Theres on huge set and a couple of smaller sets. NOt for the faint hearted with their almost vertical lips.
The place we spent the most time on was over at the freeride area, where theres infinite lines of north shore spread out alll over the place, you gotta see it to belive it to be honest, some real time and effort has gone into it. There are kickers, step ups and drops everywhere and we all sessioned this one drop, to step up then down into a double line for ages. Alex had some awesum x ups goin on off the drop and step up.
A big session broke out on this obe piece of shore trying to rid eit both ways, which got everyone who tried it a bit wound up. Shame about it being a bit greasy, but in the summer this place should be on top of everyones list.
After this everyone was pretty fubared and sacked it off back to the car. Cheers to Ben and Dom for sorting me out with a way of getting home or i could be typing this from a homeless shelter in sheff right now.
All pics by Domnic Worrel
Saturday, 30 December 2006
Chicksands
Tuesday, 19 December 2006
Download Festival 2006
9,10,11th June ’06 Donnington Park
FRIDAY
First thing I got asked when we got there: 'Is your boyfriend better looking than me?' to which I would have replied 'If I had one...Yes' if I hadn't been taken by surprise by some fat 40 ticket chavtastic tout.
After getting lost on the way to Donnington Park (pppffffftttt!) we missed the Audition but arrived to have a mooch around and check out what else was going off. When we walked in it was like woooooooaaaaaahhhh cos there were like TWICE the amount of people than there was last year. Like billions and trillions! Ok, maybe not that many but there were LOADS!....
Got into the pit for Clutch by accident because I got my times wrong and we thought we were waiting for Inme haha! Spotted Joey from The Audition from the side of stage but at the time I didn't know who he was so I just grinned back. Managed to escape the Clutch pit when the sign for them came down and we looked at eachother like 'WTF?!!?!' then went mooching off to the shops. Discovered the almighty fair ride which was a bit awesome.
At 6:30 we headed back to the Snicker's stage to see InMe. We missed them last year but saw them at Sheffield and they were as amazing as that night. We actually knew more than one song as well wooohooo! They had the crowd singing along to the classics like Just A Glimpse, Faster The Chase, So You Know and Seven Weeks as well as plenty more. They didn't sing Safe In A Room, though which Ash was pissed off aboooot.
Left during the last song to go and meet All American Rejects at the Kerrang Signing Tent. They were so so nice. You walked in and they all smiled at you as if you're the only person they'd seen all day. They all said 'Hi you Ok?' when you went in and I ended up having a short conversation with Nick but then had to go because I was pissing everyone else in the queue off haha! They didn't let you take pictures which was a bit rubbish but I suppose Kerrang have all the rights on them so look out for me in the magazine. I'm bound to be on at least one...spent enough time at the signing tent being the stalker that I am haha!
No idea what we did for the next hour or so. We didn't manage to see Atreyu though so we must have been pretty busy.
Headed back to Snickers Stage for the All American Rejects and got joined by a random (haha). Shout out to POL!! He's a skater from Scotland yay!
All American Rejects were amazing! I was pogoing like a kangaroo when they encored with Move Along. They sang quite a few old songs which was awesome because I'm not too familiar with the new album. I can actually remember their set list:
Night Drive, Stab My Back, Change Your Mind, Dance Inside, Dirty Little Secret, My Paper Heart, Swing Swing, The Last Song, Time Stands Still and Move Along. I think there were a few more actually but I've forgotten them.
Headed to the Snickers Bowl for a bit and said bye to Paul but the queue was massive to get in this year so I don’t have any interesting BMX stories for you guys…sorry!
Didn't bother with Tool, just went back to Ashley's to get some sleep for the weekend ahead!
SATURDAY
Got picked up from Ashley's nice and early so we could watch Johnny Truant, who we missed because, as soon as we got there we noticed a mahooosive queue outside the signing tent. Being nosy buggers, we had to find out who it was for and it happened to be with Ashley's (possible) favourite band, Trivium! So of course, we had to join the queue in the sweltering heat. I got a free Kerrang inflatable guitar out of it haha!
We've met most of Trivium twice before but never their frontman Matt Heafy who is Ashley (and Po)'s ultimate idol. So I'm there like 'Hey Matt hows it goin?' and Ashley's a nervous wreck. She came out shaking from head to toe like 'Oh my god I just met Matt fucking Heafy!!!!!!! *imense scream and victory dance*' Trivium don't impress me much so I was just like 'meh'
Went over to the Myspace stage to phone Billy during Exit Ten who were awesome by the way so thanks for that Billy! Rubbed it in that we met Matt Heafy because he came with us to the last Trivium concert along with Po. Rang Po who starting screaming 'noooooooo' down the phone but I promised he could have my Matt Heafy autograph.
We were meant to go and see It Dies Today but, again, for some reason we didn't. Met pro-skaters Christian Hosoi, Neal Hendrix and Tony Alva while waiting for Ashley to go to the loo. Got myself a new boyfriend haha. Alva had a t-shirt left and he was like 'You want a boys t-shirt?' and I was like 'Oh go on then' and he goes 'You can give it to your boyfriend…or girlfriend'. I laughed and said 'HEY! I would if I had one…boyfriend that is' and turned around and gave it to the guy behind who was like 'OMG awesome! Free t-shirt and I've pulled. I'm her new boyfriend apparently.' Haha shout out to YOU! Shame I never found out his name ;)
Watched Stone Sour and Avenged Sevenfold from the hill. Got rather burnt actually but it's all worth it. Can't believe how hot it was! Avenged were really good! They got two huge circle pits going and there was dust flying everywhere. Megaaaaaaa! They played nearly all the songs of City of Evil (?) and the cover they did as well. We sang along to our official download theme song Bat Country and then I abandoned Ashley to find The Audition (who were apparently doing a performance at the Victory Records stall tenty thingy) while she watched her Gods (Trivium) on Main Stage. I can tolerate them but, not that much. 
The Audition didn't perform anything but they did keep me company for two hours. Along with three of the guys from Aiden which was a bit cool.
I know your jealous because we saw Darth Vader!
Can't remember what we did for the rest of the day. Lazed about in the sun mostly. Didn't watch much Metallica because mum came early to pick us up.
SUNDAY
Determined to get there for 11:00 to see Breed 77, Ashley legged it to mainstage while I went to the Signing Tent to see when Funeral For A Friend were signing. There were loads of people about so I almost had a panic attack, thinking I wouldn't get to meet them but they were all queuing for Aiden (haha they should have come to the victory tent on Saturday :p)
When I found her again I decided Breed 77 were actually quite good to say that they were the very first band on today (they get some right echo on their mics) and then we went on a huge trek all the way around the park to bits we'd not seen yet.
Watched some Dragonforce and went to the Signing Tent to meet Bullet For My Valentine. The queue got absolutely ridiculous because people were pushing and squishing everyone else. We were next to some weird guy in a leopard print dress who was wearing no underwear...It wasn't nice. They crowd surfed this little kid down the queue on an inflatable sofa...was hilarious!! haha! Extremely pissed off though because we were about to go in and they stopped us like 'they're not signing anymore' because their 40 minutes were up! If all those people hadn't pushed in front then we would have met them dammit!
Slightly angry at missing 36 Crazyfists, From First to Last and Bring Me The Horizon because of the Bullet queue we decided to start queuing about two hours early to meet Funeral for a Friend so that we'd definately meet them.
Hooray for us because we did! They were all really friendly and Matt Davies was really hyper yelling 'Hi! Hi! Hi!' at everyone who came in. I came out of the tent screaming 'OH MY GAAAAAAAAAAWWWWD I JUST MET FEEEERRRFAFFF!' I got weird looks off people but IN THEIR FACES! I'd just met Matt Davies! Woohooo!
Legged it over to Snickers Stage to see the end of Hundred Reasons. When I say end I mean like, a chord. We'll go and see them on their own tour anywhoo.
Then we returned to our spot on the hill to watch Bullet For My Valentine who were amazing! They played Tears Don't Fall which is my favourite so that was a bit good. They got three circle pits going at one point in one of the songs. 
Abandoned Ashley on the hill to join the main stage pit for Funeral for a Friend.
Bounced and sang my heart out for 40 mins, which was actually meant to be and hour and 15 mins..grrrr!! Chris the guitarist's brother was in front of me and he gave this random kid a VIP wristband! Made his day the lucky get! Looked like he was going to cry...was so cute!
Crowd surfed at the very end and got did a somersault over the barrier...backwards. Knocked about seven security guys flying. All the medics came over and I was just sat there laughing my head off! I walked off and got patted on the back by every single security member stood at the front hahahaah! It must have looked really bad because they thought I was properly injured. Felt like saying 'Nah my face always looks like this. No damage done' LMAO!! Ripped the arse out of my favourite cut-offs though bah!!!
Ran off up the hill to find Ashley who'd been watching from a safe difference and I was stood there yelling 'I just crowd surfed the main stage at Download! HOLY HELL! WOOOHOOOO! Did a back flip ooooooooh yeah!'
We went over to the Myspace stage to watch Lordi...yes, it was hilarious and yes, they were wearing their costumes but they had this horrific sound effect of a child crying playing for ages! The tent was still overcrowded and people were stood outside it to try and get a listen. Then we ran as fast as we could to Main Stage when we heard the beginning of Welcome to the Jungle (properly echoed around the park...was amazing!).Guns 'N' Roses were on!
They may be legends but they got a bit boring. They stopped after every song so Axl could do like a ten minute solo on whatever instrument he prefered. So we headed towards the fair. Got spun on the Waltzer by guy in cowboy hat who thought he was cool and then almost threw up on some ride that flips you over backwards. I never watched it before I went on...spend a lot of time upside down on this day.
Went on the ultimate ride once again (the money they got out of us!) before we had to go.
Saw one of the guys from Aiden on the way out and then waved goodbye to Download for another year.
Had another amazing time.
Can't wait until next year when we get VIP and Camping!
WOOOHOOOOO! The review will be likely 10x better as well. This was a bit shit and boring to be honest.
Wednesday, 13 December 2006
Autumn trails
Autumn is definitely the most picture perfect part of the year, but it’s also the season where days rapidly get shorter and cooler, the nights rapidly get longer, to the hatred of riders all over the world....
When you wake up, even at eight it’s still as dark as night, which doesn’t do anything for your motivation levels to get out there riding. When you do finally drag your ass outa bed, even the cold metallic feel of the key to your shed reminds you of what awaits you outside. However well you cleaned your bike after the last time you used it, it still somehow grinds and squeaks its way out of the shed door. The sound goes right through you making you cringe after every painful rotation, and it almost makes you feel like sacking it off and slobbing out instead, but remember you’ve just gotta grit your teeth and bear it for those first few cranks.
When your chains finally wet and it no longer embarrasses you because you can no longer see the rust that reminds you that sometimes you can even neglect the things you love most in life.
The cool air saps your breath when you make the first ascent, that in summer felt like nothing, but no it’s a whole different ball game. As you get to the top of the climb you start to get the “autumn sweats” that coolly snake their way down your face. Every time you take a lair off you suddenly change your mind as the cool autumn air hits you.
It seems that ‘easy’ Straight across the tops on the road in summer is no more, because in autumn wherever you go I swear there’s always a headwind battling with you.
Your favorite downhill which in the summer that you could hit flawlessly, railing every corner and skimming every rock garden, is now a completely different track. Every corner is a game of death or glory and rock gardens are now hidden, wreaking havoc with your mech. However well you maintain your trails, somehow that slimy, grassy surface mud (im sure you builders know the type) always seems to settle on top making it impossible to grip. The one thing that gets me the most though is leaves. It’s like riding on glass half the time and I don’t think anyone has big enough ‘guns’ to be raking them off the trail 24/7.
There may be many bad points about autumn that shadow the good, such as the perfect conditions for trial building, so come summer you can have it all pristine and ready to ride. Or the picturesque shots you can capture waiting for you round every corner, thanks to this season.
So next time you set your alarm for 9 on a Sunday to go ride, stick to it and haul yourself out of bed and onto the autumn trails.
Friday, 17 November 2006
From Somme to Sun
Saturday morning 6am is a time to be sleeping not greasing. (That sounds so wrong) But anyway… 6am start for the DHP team as we finally got all our crap together and headed off towards round 6 of the midlands series in Kinnerton. Entertainment was provided by Robin, in the form of his new flashy laptop ‘’ queue oooos and aahhhs’’. But the battery packed in halfway there so we had to make do with just laughing at him instead....
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Cheers to the farmer and his cronies for helping us get into the field or we would still probably be there. After me and Rob got all our gear together, we were just about to set off up the hill and guess what…. My rear brake needed bleeding. So after 2 hours of searching round and round the pits I finally got what I needed and got it bled. Cheers to the Morgan bro’s, the Burg and Rob Breakwell for helping me out, you’re saviours. 
Now, onto the track. First run down I’ve never hated a track so much in my life. The top woods looked liked they’d just been raked and left to be bedded in, meaning ruts bigger than my bottom bracket (cheers turner) opened up left right and center. But thanks to all the elites, come the end of practice day, these were dug out and the track turned into one of the most fun this series. After you’ve pinballed your way through the woods, and maybe even over the road gap? 
I think I only saw about 4 people hitting this, very impressive.
You were straight out into the open where u could either hit one smaller double or one massive one which I don’t think even the best were hitting that weekend.Over some roots, and then pump or drop the next mound of dirt which engulfed more than a few peoples wheels including mine. Over the fire road and batter your way through a load more turns over roots and stumps, then hit a nice tree stump jump which could either be hit flat out to clear the slimy root on landing or a bit slower to the right. 
Sam Dale was looking very impressive here all weekend, landing in the corner. Then into the last woods. These were very fast and caught a few people out who weren’t concentrating 100 %, over the last fire road and off a small drop, which the Morgan’s made look like a booter to sail through the trees. Pedal pedal pedal, skip the road gap and final hip by taking a new stump infested line, and bang you’re out in the open. Up the old step up and carve your way through the finishing field corners like a pro. 
The off camber left caught more than a few out, especially one woman who I saw go down hard in the first runs. Hope she’s ok. At first I thought this track was really dyer like a lot did, but towards the end of the weekend when you’d had a look at the lines available and tried and tested, it became an awesum track. The uplift was on form, with Steve Parr doing an excellent job making sure everyone got a tonne of runs in on the Saturday and Sunday. I especially liked it when you got the kids driving the tractor, when they were racing each other like Gran turismo it meant we got to the top in record time.
My first run went brutally wrong when I found out my brake was pissing oil for the 3rd time this weekend and I had to do my run with just my front one. I think I counted 3 tree hits? Anyway the second went much better even though I got stuck behind someone for a loooonggg time, but hey that’s racing!
Results:
Hardtail: Once again my mate Jayden from the dis dirt team took top honours earning himself first place overall in the series.Check the gap out between first and 2nd…..
Jayden Waddington Dis Dirt / www.newhoneys.com 3:44.567
Edward Parkes 4:15.825 +31.258
John Willerton Astonhill.com 4:15.950 +31.383
Juvenile:
Brad Mather 3:35.581
Josh Hodgetts Somerset Bike Centre 3:39.967
Josh Swire 3:44.128
Youth: 75 entrants in my catergory, this only means good things for the sport… Sam Dale once again flying to the top spot , and getting 3rd fastest time of the day!
Sam Dale Goldtec 3:00.867
Joseph Smith Ancillotti UK 3:04.976
Gareth Brewin Fort Royal/Descent World 3:09.335
Junior: How close can you get??
Darrell Upton DDR/Electric 3:14.352
Jason Davies Fort Royal 3:14.453
Bradley Shields Pearce Cycles 3:14.463
Master: Col Williams charging on a chumba, paton having a stormer of a second run grabs second, Ian white rounds off the podium in 3rd. Rich burgoin just missing out on a podium coming home in 5th for burgtec ( cheers for the brake oil mate )
Colin Williams Yeti/Electric Visual 3:13.238
Simon Paton Descent-World 3:18.339
Ian White Pearce Cycles RT 3:22.806
Women: theres tooo many catergorys in the womens so ill just list the top 3 fastest times. Monet adams went down very hard in the grass, hope shes healing.
Aimee Dix Team Skene 4:00.193
Sue Mahony Psyclewerx.co.uk.Bristol 4:07.947
Lynda Davies Ticket2ridebc.com/NWMTB 4:12.084
Senior: Ben morgan screaming into first as usual, with a kieron mcavoy close behind in second riding for burgtec, and sams good friend tim from nocycling.com coming in in 3rd!! gud effort son.
Ben Morgan Pearce Cycles Race Team 3:05.914
Kieron McAvoy 3:08.136
Tim Pearson nocycling.com 3:08.592
Experts: Very close for first.. Rob Breakwell is a savior for lending me break oil.
Fergus Lamb Ancillotti UK 3:02.630 2 65
Alex Stock Descent World 3:02.879
Rob Breakwell Dirt Mag 3:07.066
Elite: Track builder matt simmonds made everything look uber smooth all weekend, sailing the road gap as if it wasn’t there…scary. Braithwate in second, iv’e got an unreal pic of him on the road gap, think blurry. Him and matt are the only 2 alll weekend to go sub 3. Rob smith round off the podium in 3rd.
Matt Simmonds Ancillotti UK 2:52.799
Tom Braithwaite Giant Racing 2:53.737
Robert Smith Yeti/Electric 3:03.684
Politics
Important Rubbish
What’s the deal with all this government stuff going on right now? To be honest we at DHP don’t have a clue and to be honest I don’t think any of us will ever truly know what it all means or leads too half the time....
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All I know there is a pretty sound guy who looks like this: 
And there is another bloke who runs this party called the Tory’s or something? All sounds a bit homosexual to me…. But he does ride a bike apparently so we’ll let him off:
And then theres this other bloke, well by bloke I mean granddad who kinda looks like he’s on his last legs. I swear there used to be a big aggressive, ginger Scottish bloke instead…? In this pic he looks like he’s trying to imply something, but what??:
ON the news all you here about the minute is all that bull about bluddy Iraq and terrorists. To be honest I think the terrorists and George Bush should all sit down and just watch Team America and settle their differences, now there’s a solution if I’ve ever heard of one!
On the news and on question time if you really are bored, all mp’s seem to do is just argue the toss for hours and hours and eventually come out with hating each other more than they already did. If they weren’t all so busy sleeping with each others secretaries and getting visas for their Russian brides, then I think we’d get a lot more stuff done around here!
To be honest all these parties above seem kinda a bit too serious about stuff, you could even say uptight. So why not join this patriotic, passionate and dare I say dedicated party and vote for the chance of making the UK into the worlds biggest floating party.
Which other party has its leadership left to a cat? I mean come on….. 
http://www.omrlp.com/ you know its right…
From Haggis to Hills
When my Mum and Dad said that we were going to Scotland for 2 days in November I couldn’t think of anything worse. I imagine Scotland in November being a mix of rain, more rain and a hell of a lot of wind......
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But I thought wrong. As me and my dad pulled up at the red bull car park, shadowed by ‘mt inners’, the skies were clear and it was even t-shirt weather! As a lot of you have probably seen there has been a petition on descent-world that has been signed by hundreds asking pleading for a chairlift to be put in, and for good reason. The push up is EPIC from the bottom switchbacks to the start hut, you wind your way up the hill, it even makes you start to think why you started this sport in the first place, and then you get to the top…
Fist off we did ‘make or brake’ from right at the top this time (the start hut). This track is classed as a red I think and involves tabletops, berms, doubles and many other features. Man this trail is fun, my dad was hooked. For people just getting into mountain biking this is the type of trail they need to be introduced onto, because I doubt they’d look back. Towards the bottom you hit some awesum switchbacks with rollers and fly offs taking you all the way down back to the car park. A quick refuel and back up you go, starting the epic trek up the hill again. Chairlift anyone? Someday…
Next track was the infamous nationals’ course; well at least I think I did it. This is named in conjunction with red bull I think and it’s a hell of a track. Out of the hut you fly over some roots and into the darkness, the overcast skies above me didn’t help in here either. Now the gradient drops, you’ve gotta pick your line carefully and watch for the off camber roots which nailed me into a tree. 
Over a wall and out you come into the open down a steep rocky chute which you can air into. Hit the roadgap and land in complete darkness not being able to see anything, then just hold on for grim death blasting through the tunnel of darkness and hit a sharp left which takes you into a maze of trees which ping pong you around until you get it together. Some nice tight singletrack through the trees, traversing the hillside until you jutter your way down the lasts section of breaking bumps and out onto the fire road. Off a rock drop landing off camber and take a sharp left over some doubles and tabletops before hitting a awesum drop into the open, with a stadium like entrance. Fly down the straight and off the fly off landing somewhere near the take off of the next double. Straight over them in a blur and hit the gas over the last man made sections. Blast down the fire road skipping in and out of bus stops and hit the three big ass tabletops and fly into the last wooded section. Out of the infamous bombhole jump and fly through the tight switchback berms and sky the last few little kickers and your back at the car park to refuel. Me and my Dad repeated these two track as many times as we could manage to walk back up without passing out , I think we ended up going 5 times right to the top, which aint a bad effort for an old man. We went back to drop my dads bike back off at the hub café in Glentress, wow those guys have got it sorted there. It’s the best set up I have ever seen for a mountain bike centre. The shop alone is brilliant but the hire bikes are the best I’ve ever seen in the UK. Other places should take note. 
I was only up in Scotland for 2 days so the second had to be spent doing something with ‘the family’ (yes how gay am I) But it’s not as bad as it sounds. I was guide for the day round Glentress trails. The weather had decided to try and drown us in the morning with my sis actually getting blown off her bike to eat concrete in the carpark! But we set off towards spooky woods along the steady climb up the fire road. The final part of the climb switchbacks up the hill and for this I borrowed my dads rental bike the Scott genius. One thing, that bike is actually genius. To be honest I don’t think those x country boys even have to be fit to do what they do with technology and such little weight on a bike! Joke. The wind was so powerful now that jumping was getting a bit scary but that trail is to much fun and the push up too big not too enjoy it to the max, regardless of the conditions. Pump your way down the whole track; rail the berms and air the tables before u get spat out into some awesum switchbacks. After all this we were so wet and cold we hit the escape route and headed back to the ‘freeride’ park. Now this places has had some effort put into it, with wallrides box jumps tabletops and ladder drops, but I can’t help thinking if they got a pro in to design it, it could have been made a hell of a lot better. A few runs over the box jump and off the drops and I called it a day because I could no longer feel my hands. So time to tutor the sister, firstly I managed to get her to go off the drops and she flewww of them from first to last attempt. After that she learnt how to jump properly on the tabletop line and I can’t tell you how impressed I was.
She had no fear and just went flat out into them nearly clearing some smooth. Finally I talked her into following me into the box, instead of rolling off the end she hit it too fast and hucked off it into a nose dive but just held it. I can’t tell you how dead I would have been if she nailed herself that time.
That’s about it, just one motherlord of a car journey home and tones of dirty kit to hose down, If you haven’t yet get yourself up to any of the 7 stanes you wont be disappointed I promise.
Trail Fairys
Who in their right mind would plough all their extra time and energy into building a trail just to see it get knocked down, but then to rebuild it bigger, better and stronger? I bet you know a few people like that.....
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Digging is like marmite, you either love it or you hate it. I live with the usual situation where I love it but most of my mates hate it. If you get asked by people why you build trails in the most ridiculous conditions with the worlds shittiest tools, you can never really justify it apart from having that self satisfaction from riding something you’ve built. Which in my book, is better than any other feeling in mountain biking.
If you think about it, progression in mtb has only happened because of the progression in trail building. People like Riley Macintosh at Whistler Bike Park, Dan Cowan and Todd Fiander of the North Shore movement and many other unknown builders, commit part of their lives to developing and progressing the sport of mountain biking, by building more and harder stunts to push the limits of the sport.
When you go to visit a new track, trail or spot you can always seem to tell which one out of the locals is the main builder. He’s always the one fixing the lip or the transition when some ones had an off or cased it, even if it wasn’t him. For that builder, when you see a jump crumbling from a harsh impact, the feeling goes right through you. There’s nothing worse than seeing your hard earned work getting destroyed by a rich kid with all the gear but no idea.
Your local builder at your trails or local DH spot more than likely digs more than he rides. It kinda gets you thinking, because it’s obvious that person has bought a mountain bike on the intention of riding it and having fun on it, but instead he has spent most of his time building stuff to ride. Whether it be for him or for others. Once you finish this obstacle you’re never satisfied and you move onto the next feature without even riding the one you have just made. It’s like a drug. You want to keep pushing yourself as a builder just like you push yourself as a rider.
Don’t you love it when you turn up to your local spot or trails and discover that there is a new monster line or section to a trail... Don’t you love it when you turn up to your trails and all the lips are reshaped back to the knife edges they once were, and the transitions smooth enough to land a harrier on once again…
This my friends is the work of the ‘trails fairys’. These rare creatures are usually found lurking in small packs with a set of special tools, which they treat as if they were their own flesh and blood. Venturing out only at dusk or when the trails are quiet, they set to work on resurrecting everything, bringing it back to its previous form. If you’re lucky enough to have one of these at your own spot, try lending a hand once in a while. You never know you might just turn into one yourself if you’re not careful.
So to all you diggers, builders and trail fairys. Don’t let your ‘mates’ who don’t understand what you love about riding and trail building, get you down or make you feel sad and lonesome. Keep getting out there building, maintaining and creating those little spots of hope, because it is you, that is keeping our sport alive.
Thursday, 16 November 2006
‘Over the road’
I think we can all remember the day when we built our first dirt jump. Mine was probably no different; I’d just got my new bike and had nowhere to ride, so I wagged a day off school and decided to build on our little patch of land ‘over the road’. Thinking back now its scary how much time it took me to build up to doing that tiny jump, but yet I still get the exact same feeling every time I try something new even now……
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After watching Kranked 5 we were bouncing off the walls with adrenaline so we decided to build are first north shore style structure in tribute to Dan Cowan.
We even made a proper gap jump check out the gap on that!!! Gotta be at least 3 feet? Jump count in the garden now = 2. The garden stayed like this for a long time until we finally pulled our finger and got some digging done.
By the end of year 2 of building ‘over the road’ it looked something along the lines of this…
Quite scary seeing that pic, I think even my mum would jump them now?!?!
Anyway after pulling our fingers out we made the jumps grow a bit. Eventually they started to become an acceptable size. Lots of hard graft over winter left them looking like this…
It was all going smoothly, everything was getting that bit bigger each time we’d all meet up for a ride or a dig day. But then we started to use wood one day to build stuff? Don’t know what was going on there, we weren’t exactly ‘skilled’ carpenters. Heres what came out of that stage in life...
After this outburst of woodwork there was a big pause in construction. Nothing went on for a while, I don’t know if we’d given up after failing on many projects but everything seemed to be getting a bit overgrown.
That summer was one of the greatest of our lives. All we did was ride and ride from dawn till dusk. But we needed something else to push us, because I think ‘over the road’ was becoming a bit too tame. So instead of building in the winter like most, when you have soft ground and hours of time to pass, we started building in the summer hols. It could well have been a big mistake wasting all that time basking in the glorious sunshine , but in the end it resulted in the infamous ‘tabletop’ and many new lines.
There is a time where you think I’ve got to stop building and actually go ride, but there’s something that you get hooked on about it?? You always want to build something more creative and impressive than the last. We used this mindset to create a mini bike park throughout the winter of 05 and what we have to this day is an awesome training ground with doubles, drops, gaps, wallrides the works…
I’ve got to thank all my friends who I’ve known since like being 2?! Like Josh and Robin, together I think we’ve made something pretty special in a place where riding your bike is looked down upon instead of being accepted. 
Brindgewood
Shropshire is home to the most legendary band of all time led zeppelin, and to one of the greatest tracks of all time. Brindgewood.
Brindgewoods surroundings look like something straight out of heartbeat or Emmerdale. Deserted farmyards and baron fields litter the valley floor. The woods themselves give off an eerie sense, as if you shouldn’t be there; I swear I heard and saw a bear coming at me more than one point during the day…
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Anyway enough of the David Attenborough bollocks. The track we first hit up was the one used for the national champs when it was held here last. The last time I raced on this track was in the winter series round 3, when instead of dust we had snow… Its strange how much different a track looks without tape, I suppose it’s a good thing because it widens your boundary’s and allows you to get creative.
The first part of the track is fast and littered with braking bumps and roots. Weave in and out of the trees, over an annoyingly tricky rooty section (even in the dry) into a 90 degree right hander. Round a berm which leads you into a triple which you can either fully clear or jump then pump or in many peoples cases get bucked.
Pedal your ass off up the fire road for a split second and drop into a left hand catch berm. Somehow in my race run in the winter series race I managed to actually miss this berm, and for people who know which part of the track im on about, it’s a looooong way back up. Sprint until your legs are gasping for no more over jumps and off camber roots until you finally hit the big tabletop, sending you into the first woods. 
By hitting this jump you can save a hell of a lot of time as me and Ed discovered when doing timed runs. I hit that jump and a few others in the course in my run which gave me an advantage of 20 secs up on him. Interesting… sometimes it is faster to go big than keeping it low.
If you ask anyone about Brindgewood and which part of the tracks they love the most I swear down 9 out of 10 will say the wooded sections. There’s nowhere else like them. The close knit trees with their timely matured roots provide you with a very rare and very unique terrain. You can pump your way through these woods like it was your local BMX track. The locals we met that day had many lines sewed up that I didn’t even knew exist. Once you stop and take a look around you start to imagine endless amounts of transfers off natural kickers and roots. 
The bottom section is no different to the first wooded section tight and very flowy. If you can find the right line here you can really rail it. Pinballing off trees we made are way down to the final roll in to the infamous final booter. A well crafted tabletop which needed to be hit at warp speed 9 to have any chance of clearing. To be honest I think the only people I’ve seen clear it are the infamous Morgan bro’s Adam and Ben.
We did this track time after time because of the handy road that winds pretty much all the way to the top of the hill, Road + Dad + car = free uplift. Everything was going smoothly until I had my daily nightmare with my bike. The rear end was that loose that I cud literally fit my hand into the gap between my pivot and bb. Worrying…
We’d dragged my dad out for his second proper ride since he got his first big hitting bike. He seemed to be at home in the rough stuff, powering his way through using the beef. Ed was his usual consistent self constantly hammering in runs and sessioning sections until he could no longer move.
We ventured over to a bomb hole further down the top fire road and as soon as we got their a session kicked off jumping the step up hip and carving the natural bowl. By this time I could hear the sound of the golden arch calling, and I answered. We set off back down the smoothest, flowiest track I have ever witnessed. Popping in and out of trees and carving berms left right and centre was all we could do to make our way down the hill. Even my dad was starting to get the hang of this pumping the trail malarkey.
Sluggishly making our way back to the car in the blistering heat the usual talk of the trail quality began and I swear, I didn’t hear one bad word about this one.
Jam 1
How hot? 27 degrees in England has surely got to prove global warming…
After a steady start the trails were finally watered and swept to get them back into something rideable. A steady stream of the locals started arriving, jonny robin, josh and later on Dan. Followed by are Shetland (shitland) island friend Ieuan!
Riding to music once in a while is a godsend....
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Everyone gets psyched listening to tunes while ridin, especially when there being blasted out from an amp. Of are neighbor nick is reading this I apologise, but to be honest you cut are tree down so pooschnaff to u!
Lately I’d just finished my ‘dads’ line’ which consisted of a step down to tabletop to kicker, or if you wanted you could transfer it to the far line landing which we found out later…
Jonny started a session off on the tabletop which must have lasted for 4 hours straight. Jonnys no footers got from mad to just a bit silly really. You can see in the pics that there not the most stylish things to do but man there impressive in real life. I think if you look close on one of the pics he’s doing a superman by accident which he somehow landed?! You never know what that boys thinking half the time, must be something to do with the water in Hathersage…
More and more lines were being discovered as the day progressed, the best probably being the hipped transfer from the middle to the far flow line. Josh started up a session on the oldest line near the wallride, which ended up in some sketchy take offs and landings. Me being one of the sufferers. Where a helmet kids you never know it might just save you…..
Minor foods stop aka pasta and water courtesy of the ‘mother’. Ieuan are shitland friend was all very new to this trails malarkey so he was a bit conservative at the beginning of the day but towards the end he was easily sailing over the tabletop and the new line. All this must be a tad new to him seeing as he lives literally in the middle of nowhere. Who’s heard of Walsay????
For the first time I witnessed the jumps starting to crack. Usually one douse of water from a watering can would do the job but for some reason the soil was eating the moisture like a fad kid in a candy shop. I even saw the lip of a jump completely fall off! 
As the day wound down our childish and immature selves decided to gaffer tape josh to a tree…. Why you ask?? Who knows but I tell you now he got one hell of a wedgie when he was hanging out of that tree.
One jam down. How many more to go?