Kielder Avalanche Enduro UK

If you want to see the best trail riders around, then get yourself to the Avalanche Enduro UK. The next one is at Ae in early May.

Seriously, you gotta go.

This weekend saw my team mate Josh and I going to do the downhill thing in our own XC stylee, on 24 spoked wheels and xc tyres.

It was marvellous!

Saturday was prologue day, so we went to the Kielder Castle area to book in and get some practice for the upcoming qualifier. We were late, and only had about an hour to practice 4 sections that were spread over the local hillsides.

The previous night had seen us arrive late at Rich's (Julio) house and then eat a well deserved curry. I had the best vindaloo, ever, the night before this fun event.

We decided to do a couple of runs on the prologue and then the same on one of the other sections prior to the main event of the day.

Rob (Our Manager) took the safety briefing for us and passed it on on just prior to the start of the flat out run along the peddly but entertaining section.

It was hard work. Josh and I qualified within 1 second of each other, so we were seeded next to each other--Freaky.



I had laughed at Josh earlier for taking a duff line on the prologue practice and gamboling into the trees at the side of the trail. He got to laugh at me as I did the same thing, later. Numpty.

After the seeding run, we went around the rest of the sections and tried to memorise them for the following day. That young gun doesn't know how to go slow, so I had to take him under my wing (or threaten to beat him up) so that he could benefit from a bit of 24hr pace riding to clear the acid from our legs. It was funny; he'd lose concentration on the task in hand, and within seconds he'd be 100m up the trail in front of me. I hate him.

The trails were all very different and seemed to cover almost all aspects of mountainbiking.

We did one which is almost identical to my local loops at Machen, so you'd think I would ace that one, wouldn't you? I was all over the place and kept losing my front end through a lack of commitment in the turns on roots and pine needles.

Another trail was made up of the gnarliest rock jumps I have seen at any trail centre and I have to say how impressed I was with Josh. He was jumping these things with aplomb on his 4" bike, and loving every minute of it. Poor wee bike.

All of the others were mixtures of rocks, loose rocks, roots, berms and jumps.

We had a lot of fun together.

After keeping ourselves busy riding the trails until evening time we headed back to Julio's for...

...another curry!

I was in heaven.

Another late night. We were up again, and out at 7am since the racing started early on Sunday.

So, we got to the start line, and were counted out and off we go, but not into a flat out race. We had plenty of time to get up the hill to section 1. We rode up and chatted whilst at the top we met a load guys that we were destined to do all of the rides with- except the timed stages because we did those at 30 second gaps and alone.

This format means that you get an incredibly sociable ride out with like minded individuals who, after the seeding run, go about the same speed as you do. A sort of camaraderie formed between the nearest five or so riders.

For both Josh and I, the first few runs were a bit of a nightmare. We were "off form" because of all of the driving and late nights. When I jumped on one section I veered off to the right, whilst my bike kept going in the intended direction. So, on the next section, I consciously veered the other way. The bike did it's own thing and I nearly came off. I was all over the place and started to lose my nerve a bit; especially on the bigger jumps on run 3. We kept going all the same, but only felt that we came alive after lunch.

Lunch was, err, prunes, biscuits and Mule bars. I ate tons. We struggled to get to the next stage (5) after our extended break of about 15mins. You definitely have to keep moving, even if it is at a sedate pace.

The last three runs were great fun, and both of us felt that we were back on the gas. But disaster struck Josh on the final run, as he got a flat about a third of the way down. For some reason, I braked a bit when I saw him looking dejected, but I think I still had a good run.

By the end of the day my body felt battered, but both of us had had a superb day.

Next time I do one of these I'm going to use a stronger set of wheels, though. I don't think that the ones I used slowed me down at all, but the thought was there...

Clive, The Force, organised a superb event. I think it was faultless from a competitors' point of view. Absolutely faultless. We're lucky to have Clive as friend and team mate, and I'm going to be picking his brains for speed tips before the next Avalanche Enduro.

I won't be missing it!

The first time I saw him this weekend was as I passed him on one of the sections. He was doing a bit of official stuff, but as I "flew" past him I heard him shouting "He's a 24 hour soloist, look at him go!" and something about speed. I think it was a positive comment. We didn't really get any time to chat apart from that because he was up to his eyeballs in "it". It's a shame, because he's always entertaining to say the least.

I'm cream crackered, but happy.

Who could've seen me?

I've just had a look around the papers that have done some publicity on/for me. The Herald (Scotland) has a total readership of 850,000, and The South Wales Echo has a readership of 200,000 (plus internet readers).

They are big numbers. Big, humbling numbers.

It's no wonder my website has gone crazy.

Woo hoo!

Thanks guys!

Ouch!

There I was, riding along on my own on a recovery ride. I was doing about 15mph and was just thinking about the weekends riding that was to follow.

Suddenly, I realised that I was stopping quickly, and my shoulder was starting to hurt- a lot. I don't have the best shoulders after 6 clavicle fractures and nerve damage after various ops and a rather nasty paragliding crash.

What stopped me?

A tree.

A tree that the local "talent" had pulled down and left in the disused railway line that I was using to spin my legs out. I could see all of the branches covered in leaves as they were, in the twilight. But what I didn't see was the bare end of a bough of the tree, aiming squarely at me. It wasn't covered with leaves or fauna, and so it just blended in with the trail ahead.

A tree yesterday

It caught me, in the area under the deltoid, and once the arm had dislocated out of the shoulder joint, it fired me off of the back of the bike and sort of sideways, onto the side of the trail.

I lay there, gathering together my thoughts, whilst my shoulder slipped back into joint. My shoulders can withstand a lot wobbliness, as they have been out of joint more times than Pamela Anderson's Boobs have bounced in slow motion.

After a minute or so, I realised that everything was working well enough for me to pick myself up and start heading home. It was a wee while until I could get on my bike.

Anyway, enough of that!

Saturday, what a day!

We got up late and went to Cwmcarn. I did a few laps, and the efforts that were planned by Chris Eatough, for me. Bearing in mind that I did my WC2C 4 weeks ago, I felt really good. So, at the end of lactate tolerance rep, I felt like I was doing well. A steady, fast and comfortable pace was where I was, so I continued it, until the end of the lap, as a sort of xc race practice (a mild one). When I finished my lap, it was a PB!! All the better, since it was wet and slippy on almost all of the top sections.

I had a sore shoulder though.

Then Sunday.

The training ground

We went to, err, Cwmcarn.

Jo was on a hard ride day. So I hoped I could sit behind her and stay in my endurance zone. It was fine.

So we hammered around for a few laps, and then came home so that I could rebuild one bike's drive train, bleed another's brakes, change some pads, true up 2 sets of wheels and have an ice-cream!

Nice.

Next week is the Avalanche Enduro in Kielder. My mate, Clive, is organising it so it'll be great!

Full travel seatpost

I love my Mk111, and I've been riding it a bit too much lately. It's the most comfortable bike I've ever ridden and goes like Billy-Oh on the descents.

I love my bike, seat down or seat up.

So, I took as many photos as I could to imaginatively portray the adjustability of the seat post. I'm not very artistic, though.


The seat post is at the "minimum insertion point" in the first photo. I just wish the other pictures would show the seat post going right to the bottom! :)

The post is actually below it's taper point in the seat tube, so that the clamp has no effect on it. If you get a chance to try one, then do yourself a flavour. Try one.

Oh, and we had a great weekend hammering the trails and doing some skills work with our friends. Two blokes hooning down the hill on MK111's is a great sight. It's the only bike Dez has kept for more than a few months, and that says something.

A new start

Well, I've done the WC2C and it was great fun, actually.

Rob has joined the 7Stanes.

Rich is next...

...and he's rock'ard.

For my next trick, I'm going to have to try to remember how to trail ride, quickly. The Avalanche Trophy, at Keilder is beckoning and I'm getting a bit jittery.

So this weekend, I got myself some new and chunky tyres and threw myself down every hill I could find.

A nice pair of higher volume tyres and the sag set to about 30% and off I went. The Crossmark rear and Ardent front (both Maxxis) is a great combo. It offers tonnes of corner grip on the front, whilst allowing maximum rolling speed on today's dry, rocky trails, with a bit of loose loam over a firm bed. (Or whatever it says on the labels for the tyres). I like 'em!

It's the first time I've worn knee and elbow armour in about 2 or 3 years, and it felt weird. But I haven't ridden so quickly on the Doon Hill either, for about the same period.

The Mk111 is a rocket ship.

I didn't take any photo's because I forgot as I was having too much fun!

This is going to be a good year!

Well, it will be once my foot comes fully back to life.