Scariest Moment of My Life!

I was out yesterday night on a local route by Captain Cooks Monument. Everything was nice, bike was feeling good, trails were dry, had some good music in my ears! Me and a Friend were riding down a motocross track towards 'Red Hill', a large natural hill which has it's name for obvious reasons. We blasted down it at a fair speed with me in front. At the bottom we discussed various routes to take us down to the car park. I decided to take a route which I've not ridden in a while. It's a flowing piece of single track with lots of steep downs and a few climbs. My Friend decided to take the wider straight path to the bottom. I usually take this path but I'm a bit bored of it just because it is straight, rocky and a bit dull. I was on my way along the trail, there was quite a lot of debris on the trail due to strong winds the night before. I was enjoying dodging all of the fallen branches but then I had something a bit more angry to dodge....

As I got to an uphill section I started to slow down and get into a climbing pace when out of nowhere, an owl tried to take me out! It flew so close to my head that the feathers wiped across my face. For anyone who wants to know what type of owl it was, I don't know. I didn't think it was an appropriate time to stop and do and do a spot of birdwatching. I was out of their like a shot! I guess I must have entered it's territory. I heard somewhere that they can get very protective over their area but I've got to be honest, I wasn't thinking of that at the time. What made it worse was that you know owls can turn their head all the way round? When it flew past it was giving me an evil stare even though it was flying in the opposite direction. I don't think I'll ever see owls in the same light again. I don't think I'll ever ride that trail again either. I'm just glad it didn't hit me and knock me unconscious then get it's friends round and feast on my body. That would have been disappointing.

To summarize.....

Beware when riding your bike at night, you could get taken down by an owl.

Holiday!

Recently we've booked a family holiday to Wales. We'll be staying in the Snowdonia area which should be good for mountain biking. I've been wanting to do some big mountain adventure cycling for a while now and hopefully I should be able to in Wales. I've been doing a bit of research regarding Mt Snowdon and how accessible it is to mountain bikers. I'd love to be able to ride up and down it. We'll also be near the Coed Y Brenin trail center, so I'll have to check that out as well.

First of all though I'll have to sort my bike out. The fork is due a service, the hubs a feeling slightly stiff and the bottom bracket needs to be replaced some time in the near future. I can't wait for this holiday, I just hope that the weather will be good and my bike in good working order!

Here's a video of some of the riding up Mount Snowdonia and other parts of wales, enjoy!



Happy Trails!

You Like This - MTB Movie

Another one of my favourites. "You Like This" is a 27 minute video displaying some of canada's finest riding. Enjoy!

So, I went for a run.....

Last night at around 8PM I decided to go for a run. I have done this a few times in the past but never very often. I don't really know why I went but I just had an urge to get out of the house as I'd been sat in all day doing bugger all. My plan was to take the main path up to Roseberry topping. I set off walking up until I was out of sight (I don't feel comfortable jogging or running in public, don't know why.)

As I approached the path leading to the shooting hut. I heard some chanting and slurred voices. I wasn't really listening that carefully because I had my earphones in but as I got closer it was louder and louder. I turned round the corner and saw a large group of townies. I don't mean to stereotype but when they've got bottles of cheep cider in their hands and they're chanting you can tell they're townies.

I took the scenic route and ran round the other side of Roseberry Topping to avoid the crowd. As I got nearer to the top I could see some people in front of me heading the same way, I couldn't see very clearly because it was getting darker. When I reached the top I stopped for a moment to catch my breath only to see a group of about four or five townies chanting and walking towards me. I was getting serious bad vibes so decided to sprint down the opposite side of the topping. I almost sprained both ankles running down the rocky stepped path. as I got nearer to the bottom and away from the townies I started to feel really tired so I slowed down my pace.

As I was running down the farm track and back into Great Ayton I was listening to some music and got a bit of a shock when I saw a ghostly figure riding a quad bike towards me. For a moment I felt quite scared but as he approached I realized it was the farmer who was going to round up the townies and clear them from his land. I reached the road. By this point I really was out of it. it was approaching 10PM. I carried on and after a about 10 minutes I was home. I swear I'll never go on a run again. It was so painful, boring and meaningless. I don't understand why people do regularly it when cycling and mountain biking is so much more fun!

Race Face Re-opens it's doors!

The Canadian mountain bike component brand, Race Face ran into financial difficulties and said goodbye in March of this year but now their back! Chris Tutton, a previous employee who left in 2008 entered a "tightly contested bidding war" to regain control of the company. He is now managing director. I am hoping they will carry on revolutionizing the sport of mountain biking for many years to come. Good luck to them!

My Race Face Bar and Stem Combo feeling strong and looking good.

Follow Me - A Mountain Bike Film

I've recently been watching a variety of mountain bike movies in the hope that they will inspire me to ride faster and to give me more confidence on more gnarly trails. My personal favourite is "Follow Me" by Anthill Films. It follows some of the most amazing riders as they tour the globe ripping it up on some pretty spectacular trails. Please feel free to suggest some of your favourite mtb movies!
Here's the trailer for "Follow Me".


Follow Me - the Teaser from Anthill Films on Vimeo

Red Hill Route

Thought I'd share one of the trails which I ride. This trail is only five miles long but it contains some pretty sweet technical riding.  If your just getting into mountain biking this is probably one to avoid. The ride starts by the information centre in Great Ayton, North Yorkshire.

Firstly you follow the road all the way up to Gribbdale Gate which can be a lung-busting climb if your not used to this kind of riding. Next, you take the path up toward Captain Cooks Monument. This is now a wide style walkers path which is quite easy to ride.

As you get nearer to the top you will come across a rocky stepped path which is a very technical climb. It took me a while to master this and I still can't get up it in the wet but in the dry, with a soft rear tyre or rear suspension you've got a good chance at it. When you reach the Monument, most people stop and get a bite to eat if it's a good day but if you just want to attack the singletrack then you will take the descending path down and through the dry stone wall. After this you follow this track until you can swing a left down a technical piece of downhill style trail, this path is extremely steep with many steps and obstacles so be very careful.

You should turn left at the bottom and follow this path, go round the hairpin corner and blast down towards the forest area. Take a left which will shoot you down a short steep descent and onto a wide walkers path. Follow this until you get to a gate. Go through the gate and onto the motocross tracks. This part of the ride will be confusing because there are tons of different ways to get to the bottom. If you stick to the map you should be okay. You should come to an extremely steep descent which is a blast if you can pluck up the confidence to do it! This has been named 'Red Hill' by me and my friends and you will see why when you ride it. After this it's a straight descent down to a small graveled car park by a fishing lake. You should follow the map back onto the road and down to the finish point.

Rating: Moderate/ Difficult
Duration: 55 mins



View Red Hill Route.kmz in a larger map

My Bike - Scott Aspect 45

Hi Guys,

Thought I'd post a bit about the bike I ride. I have a Scott Aspect 45 from the good ol' year of 2008. When it was stock it had a Suntour fork and an Alivio eight speed drive train. The forks didn't last long. After a month or so of riding they had seized up. I took it back to the bike shop and explained what had happened. They were good guys and put a pair of the same on straight away! After another month of riding the same thing had happened so I took it back again and they fitted a pair of fairly basic Rockshox Dart 2's (This was my third fork in under a year!). I had never used Rockshox before but I was already feeling the benefits over those dreaded Suntour's. I must have run these forks for around a year but I was beginning to feel the limits of what they could take. In the end I payed a bit more and opted for a Rockshox Tora 318 Air which is lasting me ages! I've got to say, it can deal with most things I throw at it.

After the forks, I upgraded components as they wore out. the next things to be upgraded were wheels and drive train. I replaced the wheels with a pair of Shimano MT15 wheels which I also rate very highly, they have come out of true a few times but they offer a good compromise between weight and strength for the £89.99 I payed for them. The gearing is a mix of Shimano Deore, Deore XT and Sram PG950 and PC951 for the chain and cassette.

Overall I am now very happy with the bike and what it can handle. After experiencing how different the bike can feel with altered components I am a strong believer in customisation because it allows you to style it to your type of riding.

Anyway here's few pictures of what I've just been talking about.

Built up and ready to hit the trails ;)

On it's homemade work stand :)

One Sexy box of bike components! :D

Welcome!

Hey Guys,

First of all, welcome to my blog. I am going to be posting lots of stuff just generally about mountain biking on here. I'd be interested to find out where people ride and what bikes you guys ride, so if you like the blog please follow it. Keep an eye on the blog as I'll be posting some video's and routes in my area. Happy Trails!