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.