Race Blog – UK Enduro Series – Rd 2 Crychan

My Round 1 result was a DNF! Absolutely not good enough! There are expectations on me this year, there is competition for my place in the team. Come on Greeny, you need to rectify this. My Rd 1 result brought extra focus to my Rd 2 race, I simply had to get a result, but not just any result, one that was competitive with my fellow team riders and my own expectations.

This guy  was showing off around the Race HQ all weekend!

 

The team riders had spent the week running up to the race, riding in North Wales. The annual exercise for the Army Cycling Union brought team riders alongside other members of the cycling union to ride together, creating an environment for learning and improvement. The whole week was progressive and challenging, the firm, manicured trails at Coed Llandegla gave us the opportunity to gauge fitness and technical abilities. Day 2 took us to Dyfi Forest to explore some of the off piste UKGE stages from years gone by, giving a step up to steep and technical trails. Some riders struggled, but in time and with some coaching from team riders, they were all building in confidence and speed. The summit of the week was reached on the Wednesday when we visited Revolution Bikepark. The trails had been battered by the winter weather and recent races. Braking bumps, ruts, big steps in the steep terrain. All of which really tested the riders and their equipment. Sadly this resulted in some broken bikes and broken riders. Thursday took it down a couple of notches as we headed for Coed Y Brenin to hunt out the best downhill segments, without having to pedal around the entire Beast trail, a truly miserable affair. Friday was an admin day and gave the team riders chance to rest the legs and travel the 240 miles South to Triscombe in Somerset.

 

The entire week had blessed us with beautiful sunshine, but low and behold, as we travelled south the heavens opened and the rain came. Pretty much all day Friday and through the night it rained. but when we arrived bright and breezy on Saturday morning the sun was back, although slightly hampered by a few ominous looking clouds.

Army representative riders alongside riders from the wider Army who we always encourage to join us in the pit area.

 

On Saturday There were 4 stages open for practise first, then in the afternoon racing. The loop was just under 10 miles and we had the flexibility to ride them in an order of our choosing. Stage 1 started off pedalling amongst the heather on a tight section of single track, the trail opened up to a straight section of draggy grass before it eventually started downhill and you could pick up some speed. Before you knew it you had reached a fire break crossing and the mid way marshall point. Into the trees and the mud and roots began. The ground was pretty cut up and it was difficult to maintain flow with very little gravity helping the wheels keep turning.

 

Stage 2 was the complete opposite of Stage 1. All the gravity to could want! In fact there was arguably a little too much in places. The stage started off fun and flowy, with a couple of kickers to grab some air and grin factor. As it neared the bottom of the stage the ground became steeper and the freshly cut section appeared in all its moist rooty glory. This stage continued to evolve all weekend and every time you rode it there were new roots and obstacles appearing.

 

Stage 3 was the majority of rider’s least favourite stage. So much so that on Sunday morning the transponder at the end of the stage mysteriously vanished meaning the stage had to be scrapped. The stage started pretty well, flowing and hopping through the trees, only requiring the occasional pedal stroke to keep you up to speed. It wasn’t long though before you appeared on a fire road and were expected to sprint, uphill in places, for a good few hundred metres. Rider’s fitness was really being tested at this point. And just when you were completely hooped the trailed re-entered the trees and became very steep and technical. A few steep switch backs later you appeared at the bottom of the stage to the sight of exhausted riders amassed in silent protest, unsure as to whether they enjoyed the stage or not.

 

The final stage of the Day, S4, was the furthest stage from the race HQ, and the most technically difficult of the day. Starting with a flat, boggy sprint, a couple of kickers were there to be squashed and feared rather than jumped and enjoyed. dry switch backs and an off camber dash out into he open gave you an opportunity to catch your breath before the muddy, steep, technical section began. I just took my time in an attempt to stay on y bike through this section. I knew for sure that it would catch riders out all weekend due to the high number of hazardous roots, tree stumps and wheel grabbing holes and ruts.

 

I managed to finish the day as the fastest Army rider, two thirds of the way back down the field of riders, but you know what, first and foremost I am racing against my team mates and other potential representative riders. improvements against the rest of the field will come over time.

The freshly cut sections were like riding through a jungle!

 

The Sunday racing was made up of six stages. A repeat of S1, 2 & 4 (remember S3 had to be scrapped due to the ‘missing’ transponder). S5, 6 & 7 would be ridden blind. Main Team rider Joe Robson joined us for the Sunday racing, he had spent the day Saturday walking the trails and watching riders tackle the more technical areas. This gave him a good advantage for the Sunday. It’s one thing to ride a trail, but to break it down, section off the technical areas and watch countless other riders make mistakes or exploit advantageous lines is of great benefit. Although there may have been a little shower overnight, we woke to more lovely sunshine.

 

Stages 1 and 2 didn’t go very well for me. I think nerves and a bit of pressure from leading the Army field got the best of me and I had trouble in the slower, muddier areas of these stages. I rectified that on S4 though with a good flowing clean run through the root gardens of death. Sadly S4 caught out Army Team mechanic, turned occasional racer, Pete. He had a bit of an off which resulted in a gash to his lower leg. Secretly I think he was happy he had done enough pedalling for one day and was glad to have an excuse to extract back to the comfort of the pits.

 

Stages 5 and 6 were pretty similar in their construction, an initial sprint before gravity took over. They were well established Downhill stages that were running fast due to the dry hard packed ground. This was probably the reason for limited tape to guide riders down the correct lines, but lack of tape causes its own problems when riding blind, trying to spot and hit your line whilst looking up to navigate through the trees, all at speed is very challenging, good tape just gives you a helping hand so you know where you’re going. I had clean runs and managed to let the brakes off quite a bit, meaning I logged good times for these two stages, helping once more to offset the poor times from S1 & 2.

 

Stage 7 wasn’t opened until early afternoon, planned to allow the movement of marshalls about the course. The result was that quite a queue had built up at the start of the stage, so we decided to try and walk the stage to identify features and spot some lines. Quite a few others had decided to do the same, so when the riders eventually stared coming down there was quite a vocal crowd around some of the more technical features. As you can imagine hilarity and heckling ensued. The main significance of Stage 7 was near the start, where the ground was quite open. There was an established trail that wound its way down through the trees, but the taping was very sparse. This allowed riders to exploit the rules by taking very wide ‘Strava’ lines and essentially straight lining about 100m of trail. This would save 10-15 seconds over anyone following the beaten trail. I was quite happy to exploit this ‘racers’ advantage, but the majority of the Elite contingent thought it morally wrong to log a time. The result was that a 20-30 rider train came down the stage and an immediate protest was put into Neil Delafield, the event organiser, who just so happened to be stood at the bottom of the stage. The outcome was that Stage 7 was scrapped and hopefully the feedback on taping lines will be taken on board. This was really sad, as S7 was the most enjoyable stage of the race, a good mix of gentle and steep terrain, with some pedally sections and other technical aspects.

Some of the roots on Stage 2 were brutal.

I finished the weekend as the fastest Army rider in the 2 Day event. Joe Robson, riding in the 1 Day event, smashed us all with his times, ending up just seconds off a podium. That’s why he is a Main Team rider! I thoroughly enjoyed the weekend’s racing, the weather certainly helped, but the trails were varied and interesting, but most of all they were all rideable and you could push yourself and actually race the majority of the stages.

 

The next round takes us back to Crychan Forest in Wales at the end of May, Neil said he has taken on board comments from the first two rounds, so we all really hope for another enjoyable weekend’s racing.

 

Tyred n Cranky Facebook page… https://www.facebook.com/Tyred-n-Cranky-101128410243802/?fref=ts

 

Army Enduro MTB Team Facebook page… https://www.facebook.com/armyenduro/?fref=ts

 

 

Race Blog – 2016 UK Enduro Series – Rd 1 Crychan

“I haven’t spent enough time on the bike through the winter and my fitness isn’t good enough.” are the words that kept cycling through my head during the four and a half hour drive to Llandovery, South Wales, just North of the Brecon Beacons. Fear and excitement were battling for dominance but either way I was happy to be heading towards my first race weekend of the season. This would be my first National level race event and my first race wearing the Army jersey. I was definitely feeling the pressure.

 

The sight that met me on arrival at Sennybridge. Team kit and equipment from our supporters laid out on a good old Army bed!

Friday was spent tavelling and erecting our pit area. The entire journey accross the country had been in various shades of mist and low cloud, yet just 5 miles from the venue the clouds cleared and blue sky and sunshire bore down on the beautiful rolling hills of Wales. Sadly it didn’t last the entire weekend, but it did stay dry! We had been allotted prime position in the event village amongst the race sponsors and vendors. Being a relatively small event village we got a lot of passing traffic and interest. I was really good to see and speak to some other serving soldiers and some old and bold ex servicemen. We also interacted well with some of the event supporters and exhibitors. My friends from the ‘Shire’ were also in attendance, camped in the Enduro Magazine gazebo. All in all there was a really nice friendly vibe around the whole event.

 

Stage Map for Crychan Forest Rd 1

Saturday morning started early. We had expected it to be quite hectic at the 0800 registration opening time, so started the 30 minute drive from Sennybridge Camp at 0730 having already been up for a shit, shave, shower and some nutritious breakfast. To our surprise there wasn’t much activity when we arrived and the morning was all pretty relaxed. Stages didn’t open until 1000 with just 4 stages being practised and raced on the Saturday.

Le poseurrrrr!   [Credit Scott Tomblin]

The format was quite unique in that for each round there are two race options, the 2 day option of practising and racing 4 stages on the saturday followed by 6 stages on the sunday (no practise), or the 1 day option of turning up Sunday morning and racing all 6 stages blind (not literally, blind racing means no chance to practise the stages ahead of the race). The majority of the Army team were participating in the 2 day races, but some joined us for the sunday only. As it happened the Sunday stages were mainly repeats of the Saturday stages, but as the trails were constantly evolving they continued to be a challenge.

 

 

Martin and I about to head off on our practise lap.  [Credit Sureen Thapa]

The Saturday consisted of 4 stages that had to be run in order. Stage 1 started just up and around the corner from the event village, on a brief fire road climb, so most people felt as though they were racing cold, having not really had much time to get their legs warm and move the bike about before having to battle nature’s minefield of roots and stumps. There’s no real point in me describing each stage as they were all very similar in their theme; Almost entirely off piste, some pedally sections but generally plenty of gravity to allow them to flow. There were some very steep areas and lots of off camber sections that really tested your bike handling skills. The trails were constantly evolving with more and more roots appearing from beneath the loam. They were the most technically challenging trails I had ever raced. Only Glentress and Innerleithen had come close for me, but I haven’t raced there.

 

My Saturday went relatively well. I didn’t ride as well as I could have, too many occasions of both wheels sliding out on the off camber roots, leaving me laid on the floor and scrambling to get back up. But no major incidents. Everyone, including the preened gods of bikes that are the Elite riders had been struggling to get totally clean runs in, so I wasn’t beating myself up too much. I was however adamant that I must improve my times on Sunday.

This corner eventually turned into a root garden, impossible to navigate without dabbing or lying down.

 

Saturday night was spent down the road in Brecon. Pub grub and the England Rugby on the telly box gave us an opportunity to bond a bit. The team is pretty well established but being a newbie I was a bit out of the loop, so it was nice to be able to chat to the other guys about work and life, rather than just bikes. I carb’d up and stuck to Coke (the Cola version) all night to ensure I wasn’t going to bip the next day.

 

Crazy cambers everywhere

 

Sunday started much the same as Saturday, but now knowing the score, we had a more relaxed start, arriving at the venue a bit later. The event village was a little busier today as many of the one day racers arrived.

 

The Sunday stages could be raced in any order so we took a calculated approach trying to plot the most efficient way around the course whilst hitting the more technical stages early (assuming they would get cut up and more demanding as the day went on). There was one stage that we hadn’t seen yet (S5) but had heard it was pretty pedally. What an understatement!

 

Sadly my race ended on the penultimate stage, when I had a big OTB resulting in a suspected bruised Rotator Cuff and meant I didn’t have the strength to hold myself on my bars on the steep stuff. So I wished my colleagues well for their last stage and limped my way back to the event village. This also meant I clocked a DNF; All that effort for nothing!

 

Driving home from the event I had time to reflect. Never had I ridden a race that was 100% off piste, usually they incorporate some sanitised trail centre sections. This was some of the gnarliest, yet rollable, riding  I have done, and in a race environment was bound to crashes. I guess I should be thankful that nothing was broken and I should be mended in a couple of weeks. It also highlighted that I need to find somewhere local with gnarly off piste action to get some more training rides in. Eventually the lighter evenings will allow me to get to Wharncliffe mid week. But really I need to find somewhere within 30 mins of my home.

 

I now look forward to the Army Cycling Union’s riding camp in April and Round 2 of the UK Enduro Series at Triscombe.

 

Please give the Army Enduro Team a follow on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/armyenduro/?fref=ts) and of course please follow Tyred n Cranky to see all of our updates (https://www.facebook.com/Tyred-n-Cranky-101128410243802/?fref=ts).

 

Army Enduro Team Training – Bikepark Wales – Jan 16

It was 6am and 5 degrees below freezing when I woke up shivering. I was shaking so hard the coat hangers in my cupboard were rattling a cacophony against the MDF sides.

Beautiful sunrise from the van, the photo doesn’t do it justice.

It was 180 miles from my home to Merthyr Tydfil, the home of the UKs most popular MTB uplift facility, Bikepark Wales. We were due to meet at 0845 so to avoid getting up at ‘Sparrow’s Fart’ in the morning I chose to drive down after work and park up in my camper van. I found a secluded spot close to a 24 hour McDonalds, perfect for a hearty, nutrient filled breakfast! My alarm was set for 7am which would give me plenty of time to make the meeting time and factor in my post slumber sluggish work rate, in packing away and making the van suitable to drive again.

 

I arrived bright and breezy, shortly followed by the Managers of the Army Enduro MTB Main and Development Teams. Scott Tomblin is the Main Team manager and Secretary of the entire set up. Andrew Setchfield is the Development Team Manager. Both have had significant and successful military careers combined with years of riding and racing Mountain Bikes. Once the trail centre was open we would sign on, receive a briefing from Scott and head up on the uplift vans to begin the day’s riding.

My Bird Aeris posing for a photo before the first descent of the day.

 

My role for the day would be two fold. Firstly, as a Level 2 MTB Leader I would be assisting in supervising and coaching the less experienced riders to ensure they were riding safely and within their abilities. Secondly I wanted to enjoy myself and get some feedback and coaching of my own from the established team riders. The morning began by splitting down into groups of supervisors and novices and heading off onto the Blue runs to warm up.

 

The group containing team riders and members of the Army Cycling Union.

 

We started with the new Blue trail ‘Terry’s Belly’. 4.1km of fun flowy hardpack trail that takes you right the way from the top to the bottom. Due to the freezing conditions we headed off pretty gingerly, waiting for the synapses to start firing and our brains to switch on to the job in hand. The trail meets a couple of fire roads on its was down. At the first of such we stopped briefly to tweak the suspension settings of one of the novices. 4.1 km is deceptively long, but the trail team have thought about this and put a “Rest Area” half way down. We used this facility to take a quick breather, stretch of some of the muscles that had already started to tighten and regroup with the other riders. After a brief conflab to make sure everyone was OK we headed off. The trail has plenty of berms and little kickers to get some air if you wish, but most kickers would send you to a flat landing, so I chose to pump them. This is somewhat harder on your legs, akin to doing a couple of hundred squats. As I neared the bottom my quads were screaming for a break, right around the time that we emerged from the trees into the open and a couple of frozen puddles provided an unwelcome lack of grip in key areas of turns. I was following Setch at this point, so when his back end stepped out over an ice patch on the entry to a berm I couldn’t help shouting in fear and then joy when I realised he had managed to regain his position and keep on riding. Demonstrating great reactions and bike handling skill at speed! I’m sure his bum had been nipping somewhat, as there was no soft landing beside the trail, just a drop of a few metres into the bracken and saplings below.

 

The rest of the morning was spent slowly working through the Blues and onto some Reds. Generally the trails were running pretty sweet, but in places the ice hadn’t been able to thaw so was pretty sketchy. As a result we took it pretty easy to avoid undue injury, but that didn’t reduce the grin factor. Bikepark Wales is such a good facility, well made trails to suit all abilities, providing real progression and training opportunities.

 

Dropping in to Pork Belly. A Black run in the lower part of the Park.

 

The uplift drivers break for an hour at lunch so we all piled into the cafe to warm up our frozen fingers and toes and consume burgers and chips like true athletes. It gave us a chance to reflect on the morning’s activities and spin dits of derring do and near misses. There were also a few mechanical issues that needed attention, including my cranks, again (see my Blog on the social ride in Sherwood Forest). The plan for the afternoon was for the Army Team riders to break away and spend a bit of time coaching and working on their own skills.

 

The bigger drop on Fifty Shades of Black. Drops into a steep chute, rapidly building speed before entering the trees.

 

We had a run down Vicious Valley and took the opportunity to get some photos done on the mini road gap and then proceeded back up the hill and on to Fifty Shades of Black, the newest of the Black runs. The trails at BPW are honestly graded, so black means black. Difficult and technical trails that require a good standard of bike handling. On trails such as this there is usually a small but difficult ‘qualifier feature’ in this case it was a little gap jump. I am not a great jumper and at this point of the trail there wasn’t much assistance from gravity to get some speed up, I ended up heavily casing the landing but managing to ride it out. Note to self, more speed required! As we proceeded forward the riders ahead of me had congregated at a heft road gap that was pretty much landing to flat, followed by a step down with a left hand berm shortly afterwards. We had a look and analysed how we would ride such a feature, depending on our skills and bikes. In a race we may encounter such obstacles. Getting off and walking around is not an option, so you need to work out whether you need to grow some balls and ‘send it’ or scrub some speed off and roll down the feature. After watching a couple of the guys land heavily to flat I decided to roll down both features. The next sizeable feature was a couple of berms down the trail and consisted of a 1.5m (ish) drop into a steep chute. If you hit it with speed, you might land 5m or so lower than your take off point. I had a quick visual recce and then rode off it comfortably. The only other significant feature was a sizeable rock garden (read boulder garden), which again just needed a bit of eyes on before riding to choose the right line. Aside from some medium sized drops and techy rocky sections.

Having survived Fifty Shades of Black and now feeling pretty tired and cold I decided to call it a day. Finishing a tough day’s riding in one piece is always a privilege and I didn’t want to push my luck by squeezing in another run on tired legs and arms and ending up like this guy…

 

Oh look… a penny! ungh nurgh.

 

 

All in all I had a great day out. It’s always a please to ride at BPW, the weather was good to us and I got the chance to ride with and learn from some very capable riders. I’m looking forward to the next training day, whatever that may be.

 

Credit for the photos goes to SSgt Tink Taylor who sadly leaves the team to concentrate on bigger and better things.

 

Here is a link to the Tyred n Cranky Facebook page… https://www.facebook.com/Tyred-n-Cranky-101128410243802/?fref=ts

and here is the Army Enduro Team’s Facebook page… https://www.facebook.com/armyenduro/?fref=ts

 

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Army Gravity Enduro Team 2016 Season

I am stoked to announce that I have been selected to represent the British Army in the Army Enduro Mountain Bike  Development Team for 2016. Having only been riding for 2 years and raced in just 5 Rounds of grassroots Enduro races to date, and having never met any of the team before now, team Manager W01 (RSM) Scott Tomblin must have seen something in the progression I have made in this short period of time, the level of commitment I have offered for the 2016 season and let’s be honest, taken a bit of a punt.

The 2015 Army Enduro MTB Team

With the support of my Army Reserve Squadron, 217 Field Squadron (EOD) Royal Engineers I will commit to race in every round of the UK Enduro Series and as many rounds in grass roots competitions as I can manage around my other commitments.

But what does this actually mean for me? Well apart from the obvious fact that I will be representing the British Army and wearing the team colours, I will benefit from expert tuition and mechanic support, exploiting the range of experience held within the team and support staff, and hopefully be able to travel with the team and gain experience from riding trails in some far flung places.

Adventure Training (AT) and sport are well supported in the British Armed Forces, as they help develop a range of skills including communication, team work and fitness to name but a few. They are also a recruiting and retention tool. Let’s not forget that Commanders at all levels like to brag about the achievements of their soldiers and officers.

I’m a little nervous to be honest, I have a lot to prove to not only be able to stay in the development team, but to try to progress into the first team! Fitness will be key to demonstrating my intent to progress, and ensuring that I continue to improve technically on the bike.

Right, i’m off to celebrate with a glass of Port and to dream about amazing bike stuff for 2016! You can follow the exploits of the Army Enduro MTB Team on Facebook… https://www.facebook.com/armyenduro/?fref=ts. And if you see us at an event, come and say hello.

Army Enduro MTB Team Tent used for all race events.

Race Blog – One Industries Mini Enduro – Forest of Dean – Round 3.

My first ever Enduro race was the 2014 Eastridge Mini Enduro, having only been riding mountain bikes for six months, my main reason for attending was that it was local to the majority of my riding buddies based around Market Drayton and Shrewsbury, so a few would be in attendance and others would be there to cheer us on (well, heckle us). I thoroughly enjoyed the day so was disappointed when the 2015 Series was advertised and there were so few Rounds, in fact I was only able to book onto the second Forest of Dean (FOD) race. Although the Mini Enduro’s (https://www.facebook.com/MiniEnduro?fref=ts) market themselves as grass roots racing I view them as an intermediary between true grass roots and the larger national series (such as UKGE or now BES), the reason being, for the mini’s you are seeded based on your assessment of your expected pace, they then have rigid start times for each stage and you ride with others of your Category as opposed to selecting your own start time and riding with your buddies.

FOD is about 150 miles away from my home in Lincolnshire but travelling across the country is a tedious affair. If I want arterial routes I have to circumnavigate Nottingham and Birmingham or I choose a single carriage way that is slow progress at the best of times. I chose to break the journey up and pay a visit to Cannock on Friday morning on the way down, giving me a chance to meet up with my mate Spike and his new Kona Process. We had a quick blast of the ‘Donkey’ (Dog and Monkey Trails combined) and a play at Stile Cop, before I packed the van up and headed south. I was staying at a quaint little B&B that was geared up for riders and hikers alike named Sarah’s Place (http://www.sarahs-place.co.uk/). Sat just 10 miles from FOD it was ideal and came highly recommended. Friday night I was on my tod, so I headed to Frome to catch up with some peeps I met in Morzine in the summer. I couldn’t stay long as I had an early start to meet the others at FOD for Saturday practise.

The Enduro Mag guys are always visible when they visit events.

Saturday practise was really important for me, I spent the day with a few monners from the Shire (Shropshire) who are very experienced and accomplished riders and competitive at a national level, some i’m lucky enough to call friends, others I would be meeting for the first time. There was Rob Loynes (Coynie), Stu Hughes who has a prestige in Motocross and DH, but has had recent successes at UKGE and Red Kite Enduro events, Andrew Cooper (Coops), a tester and writer for Enduro Magazine and Mr Enduro himself, Jim Buchanan (Enduro Mag UK Editor and Chief Tester). You can find details of the Magazine on Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/EnduroMountainbikeMagazine?fref=ts. I was keen to watch, learn and understand how they assess the trails to find the best lines. Also if I could keep up with them down said lines, I could see how fast they were attacking the different features. We rode each of the stages at least once, sessioning some of the more technical sections and where there were multiple line choices. After lunch and waiting over an hour for a burger, we headed back up the hill and had full runs of stages 3 & 4. The trails were running pretty sweet. They were all off piste, though a couple had fire road sections mid stage, I was expecting mud galore, but the loam was pretty dry. Roots were predictable and grippy, however the trails were evolving as more riders rode them, lots of skidding and roosting corners meant loose soil and loam was getting scattered.

As a Bird owner (http://www.birdmtb.com/) I am a fan of the brand and look to support it whenever I can. I had expected to see a few Bird bikes about FOD as they are relatively close to the factory and Pedal A Bike Away (http://www.pedalabikeaway.co.uk/) have a fleet of Zero and Aeris bikes for hire or demo. I also knew Tomas and Linas Kupstys, two of the Bird Cycleworks Factory Team, would be in attendance and racing at the event, so I kept my eyes peeled and tried to say hello and chat to any Bird owners I could. I bumped into the Kupstys brothers a few times over the weekend, sound lads and very capable riders.

I got the opportunity to chat to the Kupstys brothers who ride for the Bird Cycleworks factory team.

After Saturday practise we retired back to the B&B for a homemade beef and bean stew, with veg and jacket potatoes, not quite the pasta feast I had hoped for but it was bloody lovely. The icing on the cake was the homemade apple and raspberry oaty crumble with lashings of custard, just the job to fill us to the brim before we retired to watch the Red Bull Rampage highlights.

Sunday morning was an even earlier start. For some reason Jim wanted breakfast at 0700 to get over to the Forest for ‘Sparrow’s Fart’ [defined as ‘the earliest time of the morning. About the time when all the sparrows get up and let out a little fart signifying their awakening’]. When we arrived, myself and Coynie were itching to get on the trails, whereas the more experienced boys were happy to hang about a bit, anyway we all decided to head out together for one full practise loop, hitting each stage in order and in full. So no sectioning the stages and pushing backup, just a trail run at about 70% pace. A few other lads had also joined us; Allan Pugh from Blazing Bikes, Chris Bromley (Doose) and Ben Llewellyn, more Shropshire boys who are very good on two wheels and genuinely nice guys. The plan broke down almost immediately as Coops and Stu opted to have an extended look at some areas of S1, fair play to them, they were after all pushing for podiums, but the rest of us left them to it and headed towards S2. As it happened they caught us back up on the transition, we weren’t going fast, just a chilled pace, well aware that we had plenty of time before racing started around midday. We progressed round the loop as a big group until the unimaginable happened towards the end of S3, Jim crashed and hurt himself bad. Only the other day Jim was heard to say that in 30 years of riding, despite plenty of crashes he had only ever broken a knuckle. Well, the Gods of bikes must have been listening because they sent him off line into a tree stump which kicked him towards a tree, he decided to bail to avoid the tree but got his foot caught up underneath him. The result was a bad dislocation and a couple of fractures for good measure. There was a marshal nearby who called the accident in and red flagged the stage. Jim did a great job of putting on a brave face and there was plenty of banter to ease the situation. The medics showed up within a couple of minutes and took control of the situation, they were clearly well trained and experienced and after assessing the situation and stabilising Jim’s ankle we lifted him down the trail to the fire road. A stretcher would have been nice, but five big lads made relatively light work of lumping Jim’s hefty frame down the trail, to be honest Stu did most of the work, the rest of us I think were just for show! After Jim was in the safety vehicle heading down the trail we headed over to S4 to complete the morning’s practise. As we arrived at the bottom, so did the safety vehicle and the ambulance. Nobody likes to see anyone getting hurt, especially your friend, but its good to know the system works when it needs to.

Jim Buchanan receiving attention from the race medics

Jim’s saddle shows how hard he hit the deck.

It wasn’t long before we needed to head up the hill to begin our race loops. The Elite guys headed off and we wished them well, there were a few of us in Masters so although we were a few minutes apart in our start times, we rode up as a group.

Stage 1 began with a short sprint, I was worried looking at the riders before me going off the start line with the speed of a thousand gazelles, I had planned to take it relatively steady and save my legs for the steeper and more technical parts of the trail, but the pressure was on now. The nerves were jangling away and making me feel a little light headed, so I grabbed a Dextrose tablet and a few sips of water [manly I hear you say]. I was struggling to get the thought of Jim’s ankle out of my head, afterall, if it can happen to him it could more than easily happen to me! Eventually I took my place at the start line and the start marshall kindly allowed me to clip in and balance with a hand on his shoulder. “5 seconds”, “3, 2, 1” and I was off. All of a sudden the nerves went and I was focusing on the trail. I saw flashes of colour to the right of me which I knew were other riders scoping the first hundred metres of the trail, but I ignored them and concentrated on the job in hand. Before I knew it I was at the first fire road and I carried a bit too much speed into the drop and a nasty compression used the majority of my front travel. Now came the technical part of the stage, around a flat left turn and a rut led me towards a tight squeeze between two trees and two massive roots that were trying to send you sideways down the slope. I had decided well in advance to take speed off and slowly pump my way through this section. I came to a bit of a stall on the corner immediately after the roots but a couple of pedal strokes and I was away again. A couple of fun jumps had to be squashed to avoid losing time due to getting off line and it soon got steep and twisty again. The corners were getting badly blown out but I managed to keep some momentum and eventually got to the end of the stage in one piece. S1 was a bit out of the way, so there weren’t many spectators who had made the effort to come out here, which was good because it was easier to retain focus, but bad because a good crowd can be a real motivator.

Focussed on the trail, coming towards the end of Stage 1.

I rolled down the hill and over the S4 crossing, we had 45 minutes for the first transition, yet it only took about 15 minutes To slowly pedal / push back up, so a pretty long queue had formed. This gave me the opportunity to chat to some of the other riders about the stage we had just ridden and what was coming up in S2, also word of Jim’s injury had spread like wild fire. I overheard some pretty audacious stories, chinese whispers were doing a grand job of evolving the story. Stage 2 was the most pedally stage, an initial flat 200m sprint was followed by a right turn into the woods and a few techy lefts and rights as the gradient increased. There were a few line choices to be had, but it had changed immensely since I was last here. Reaching the fire road, there was a steep drop, compression and then the seat post was up and I was pedalling as best I could. A photographer prompted me to get out of the seat and pedal harder before we once again ventured off piste. Steeper this time over fresh loam and moist roots, I chose the safer, lower line to avoid the off camber roots. A short flat section had the seat post back up momentarily and then a fun open section through the woods allowed me to increase my speed a little, until eventually arriving at the ditch gap. The scene of much debate over the last 48 hours, do you jump the ditch or pump through it. There was definitely time to be gained if you could clear it and cleanly turn into the 90 degree right turn, if not then pumping will be quicker than picking yourself out of the fern and reinstating the tape. Needless to say, I pumped it and pedalled hard (as hard as the shiny roots would allow) for the line.

The end of S2 was the scene of much debate… to jump or pump

Stage 3 was the shortest stage. A steep start took you straight to a log that needed to be hopped, immediately followed by a tight left and right. A flat, rooty, loamy pedal ensued before you arrived at a little bomb hole which you had to pump into to carry speed up the other side. Crossing the S2 transition you continued to have to pedal despite a slight gradient. A big open left hander gave you a tight or wide option. The tight option being a lot shorter but meant you had to lose speed to maintain traction, I chose to take the faster wide line so I could carry speed into the double jump immediately afterwards. You then lost more height with a couple of rooty turns and the finish was just before you reached the fire road. By now I was feeling confident, I had had a clean run, no crashes, no dabs, no time wasting errors. It was a short push to the start of Stage 4 and although I was enjoying myself, I was glad that the race for me was nearly over, I wasn’t terribly fatigued, my glass back was holding up and I was feeling strong to be able to attack stage 4.

The final stage was deceptively long, it also had the most gravity of all the stages apart from the last few hundred metres. Two fire road crossings that required you to check your speed to avoid a painful OTB, plenty of kickers to get a bit of air and a few different line choices in the technical areas. I particularly enjoyed the lower segment where the roots dictated which lines were faster or even rideable. As the gradient levelled off there was a small ditch just at the desired braking point into a flat right hander. It had to be hopped, but this made it difficult to be smooth round the corner. More flat rooty turns had to be negotiated with as much speed as you dare before you could attack the last few hundred pedally and pumpy metres. With already tired legs this was quite emotional but I gave it all I had and crossed the line with a crap attempt at a manual. I was so relieved to have completed a clean race run. No mechanicals, no injuries, I was just hoping for a competitive time! The highlight for the group was Coops getting on the podium, Stu was fast but unfortunately a crash on S2 put him out of contention.

Enduro Mag’s Andrew Cooper (Coops) grabbed third amongst a strong Elite group.

The race results were live as the riders came into the finish, but the final confirmation of results came at about 6pm (https://www.rootsandrain.com/race3201/2015-oct-18-one-industries-mini-enduro-3-forest-of-dean/). I was thrilled to have got 31 out of 116 in Masters and 93 out of 323 overall. I expected this to be a tougher race than the PMBA Enduro last weekend as the quality of rider at these events is usually higher, yet I surpassed last week’s result by moving up the table. To say I am happy with the result is an understatement. This may or may not be my last race of the season. If it is then I will have ended 2015 on a high, if I can slot in another then I will be looking to continue this good run.

My Bird Aeris (Betty) carried me to 31/116 in the Masters category.

Thanks for reading my Blog, you can see my other race and ride reviews on WordPress (https://tyredncranky.wordpress.com/) or linked through my Facebook page; (https://www.facebook.com/Tyred-n-Cranky-101128410243802/).

Race Blog – 2015 PMBA Enduro Round 6 – Gisburn

The PMBA Enduro Rd 1 which I participated in earlier this year was held at Gisburn, Round 6 finds us back here for the season finale. Although I enjoyed the racing during Rd 1 there were some truly horrible stages that were turned into a boggy mess by the combination of a week of rain and 250 (ish) riders practising and racing over two days. The organisers Mike Marsden and Kev Duckworth have made sure that this race will be different to Round 1 by utilising different areas of the Forest. The Red trail at Gisburn is in the rough shape of a figure of eight, round 1 mainly occupied the bottom half of the 8, this round was set to utilise more of the top half and the all weather downhill trail named after it’s sponsors and local prestigious company, “The Hope Line”. Using the top half meant there would be more pedalling involved during transitions as the stages would be further away from the car park, what we did not expect is super long stages with loads of pedalling! This became apparent on the Wednesday evening before the race weekend, when the race details were released, including the Stage Map. Almost instantly light hearted griping ensued on the PMBA Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/PMBAEnduroSeries?fref=nf) from the many riders who were familiar with the Gisburn trails, and hence knew from memory the content of the stages.

The Stage Map. 12.5 miles for a race loop, apparently.

I arrived at Gisburn mid morning on the Saturday with my mate Alec, expecting the majority of the trails to have been marked out, looking at the number of vehicles in the car park, it was quite obvious that many others had the same idea. There was a higher than normal presence of camper vans, some endorsed with sponsor logos such as Marin, Orange and Kona. We set off for a full practise lap, intentionally taking it easy. Arriving at the start of stage one and the butterflies in my tummy were already fluttering. I think seeing the tape lining the route and knowing what may lay ahead just gets the race adrenaline flowing. Stage 1 was exactly as expected. Initially loamy, turning muddy with lots of roots, an utter pump fest. The first few metres and the last thirty or forty were the same as Round 1, so there was some familiar territory. The last few metres would be interesting as you drop into a steep muddy gully and back out the other side, before sprinting for the line. This would likely be the site of many a washout and OTB, and a race photographer will surely be sited here.

The view from the top of Whelpstone Crag (Stage 2)

Now began the transition right up to the top of the hill, literally from the lowest point to the highest. A height gain of 706 ft and distance of 4.1 miles. Stage 2 started at the top of Whelpstone Crag and offered a slightly less steep, ‘chicken line’ to get to the bottom of the crag. An enjoyable flowy first section brought us to the dreaded fire road climb which came in two stages, flattening off slightly in the middle, this, I imagine will be where the race will be lost and won with fitness being the factor as opposed to technical riding ability and “balls”. I tried pushing it out to see how brutal it was. Yep, it was miserable, I didn’t go as low as my 40T granny ring but I was literally hanging out and trying to breathe through my ears. Arriving at the start of Hully Gully I was pretty knackered to be honest, pacing myself will be a must come race time. Hully Gully itself was in fine form, following a recent bit of maintenance, all of the braking bumps were gone and a few features added, it was rolling quick and a Strava PR despite being knackered proved the point.

Stage 3 utilised one of the DH lines with four sizeable drops

Stage 3 had been changed slightly from Rd1, the same start point, but a different route down to the fire road gave you the option to hit the ‘leap of faith’ gap jump if you were feeling ballsy, I preferred not to, anyway, it looked the slower, albeit more stylish, option. Some sizeable drops (with chicken lines) followed by a couple of turns, a small rocky table and another drop and you were heading into the trees where it got a bit wetter and more slippery, the corner just before the second fire road caught a few riders out last year. Over the fire road and into the same off piste section as last year’s stage 5,  masses of roots greet you as you head back into the trees and the pumpathon begins. It all culminates in a tricky off camber section at the end, where the preferred high line is sure to get blown out after everyone has practised and racing has begun.

The transition to stage 4 takes us back up the dreaded Hope Line climb, you definitely need a breather before setting off down the stage which comprised of purely the Hope Line, relatively flowy but with the odd pedally section and a couple of fun jumps and drops thrown in for good measure. The shortest transition of the day takes us down to stage 5 and the longest stage of the race. Somewhat a roller coaster section with its ups and downs, but nothing like the fire road climb in S2, but with tired legs this will surely be a tough one to finish on. We returned to the car park to grab some lunch and formulate a plan to head back out. I hoped to get the majority of the practise done today to save the legs for race day. So we headed back out up the fire road to redo stages 3, 4 and 5.

After packing up and making the hour-and-a-bit drive back to the inlaws, the wife was heading out for the evening with her girlie mates. I was the master of my own destiny, so what better way to soothe your legs and fuel your body for race day, but with a Nando’s!? In retrospect, despite having all the major food groups; carbs, protein, salt, maybe a full chicken with sides wasn’t the best idea, but it was super cheeky!

There are no words, just bask in it’s cheekiness.

Early to bed, early to rise, I needed to get back to Gisburn before registration opened at 0800, so the alarm was set for 0600. I arrived at 0745 and headed straight over to the registration tent. Although I expected to be mid table I wanted to get an early start time. The early wake up call, coupled with a drive back to Lincolnshire via Preston would take it’s toll so I wanted to get away early. Not ideal, it’s nice to be able to congratulate the podium riders and chance my luck at some spot prizes but needs must. There are also disadvantages in riding out of turn, as i’ll explain later. After registration I grabbed a coffee and headed back to the van to faff with my bike and riding kit.

The modest Race HQ / Registration area before the masses descended upon it.

Practise was compulsory as part of the race rules, and no doubt the organiser’s risk assessments. Having ridden everything on Saturday I decided just to ride the off piste stages (1 & 3) and stage 5 as it was on the way back to the trail centre anyway. A great plan in its concept of only riding the sections that could evolve, and hence saving the legs for the race loop, but could be a bit of a gamble in case anything changes since yesterday’s unofficial practise loop. Would it pay off?

I was at the front of the second group of riders, I was very conscious of the amount of pedalling involved in the race, so decided to just take my time in the transitions, but I still ended up passing riders from the first group on the transition to Stage 1. I didn’t start great, slipping on some shiny roots in the tight right hander near the start and having to dab, losing momentum and no doubt a couple of seconds. Also, despite opting for a 25 second gap to the rider in front of me, which I thought would be ample on such a short stage (~2 min), to my frustration caught the first rider half way down the stage and the rider before him right near the end. Although they were very courteous and moved aside as best they could in the tight trees, it still took time from me. I couldn’t be mad, it was my own fault for choosing an early start time, usually reserved for the slower riders. I passed a group of riders who were exchanging war stories at the end of the stage and started the horrendous transition. The pesky stage 1 roots were caught on video by White No Sugar TV; https://instagram.com/p/8u0jw4QPxKf0mI4POeSZn_vVrrLxPFjIpC_SA0/

Just into the start of S2, grabbing a bit of air but trying to conserve energy.

For reasons unbeknown to me, I was absolutely exhausted by the time I got to the top of Stage 2. I arrived just in time to see the rider in front of me start his run, but I was in no hurry to crack straight on. The main benefit to me in racing grass roots competitions is that the race format is relaxed, so I sat and took on water and a caffeine and energy gel. In fact I had about 10 minutes chilling before the next rider arrived and I thought I had better make a start. I needed every ounce of energy to be able to work as hard as I could on the uphill fire road sprint. I relaxed during the top section, enjoying the jumps and berms and tried to flow rather that wasting energy pedalling. When I eventually arrived at the fire road I knew what I had to do; dropper seat up, find the right gear, head down and spin like crazy! I had a silent chuckle whilst gasping for breath as I turned the corner to see the ambulance parked at the start of Hully Gully. I was tempted to jovially call for help, but thought better of it. Seat post back down and I was dropping into the Hully Gully start. I worked hard, still deficient in Oxygen, but knowing my climb had been pretty slow. Which probably didn’t help my state of confusion as I arrived at the bottom of Hully Gully to see no Marshall or Finish board. I dilly dallied while I tried to figure out what was going on before heading off on what I thought was the transition to S3. It was then that I saw the finish line another 200m away at the stream crossing! Dammit, I thought as I sprinted for the line, gutted that I had been so stupid to stop and not just carry on. This my friends is the downside to taking only unofficial practise. Had I put the effort in to get up here on Sunday morning instead of just Saturday afternoon then I would have known where the finish was. Organisers 1 : Me 0. I must have lost at least 15 seconds by monging it, but tried to comfort myself that there would be many more riders in the same boat as me.

Stage 3 for me was the fun stage, and as I neared the road crossing I could tell it was the crowd’s preferred stage for spectating. Several big drops followed by an off piste section where unlike Round 1 the loam had remained loamy, despite the amount of traffic. I knew what was required of me and didn’t want to make the same mistakes I made in Stage 1. The crowd at the fire road gave a great reception as I dropped in to the fastest section of the stage. I worked my way down nice and tidy to the second fire road where the hecklers had assembled (you know who you are!) and started the off piste section. I felt good, my fatigue had temporarily disappeared and I was in the zone. As I entered the trees I was nice and steady over the first couple of ‘root gardens’ and then I turned into a pump-osaurus, straight outta Jurassic Bike Park (see what I did there?). Trying to stay off the brakes as much as possible and keeping the front wheel safe of ruts and roots I worked the bike hard, hitting all the lines I wanted. I pedalled when I felt I should, but just tried to stay smooth instead of lairy. The trickiest section was at the end where the off camber bank was sat. I managed to hold the high line and drop in perfectly to carry momentum back up the other side and a short sprint to the line.

Somehow this guy managed to ride this nose dive out.

This is what I love about grassroots Enduro. I hope i’m still giving it some at his age and enjoying it this much!

Back up that bloody climb to the top of the Hope Line and Stage 4, watching spectators muchning their lunches whilst I gasped for air was not enjoyable. There’s not a lot to say about Stage 4, I rode it OK, I didn’t feel blisteringly fast, I tried to style it up for the photographers poised on each of the three tables, but not carrying enough speed out of the berm I only managed to grab a relatively modest amount of air. I rode relatively tidy but will have lost time in the slight uphill section two thirds of the way down, my legs were really feeling the strain, I knew last night’s Nandos would back fire. I feel I must apologise to the chatty old lady spectator and her husband who I met at the end of the stage. I could only manage a couple of one word answers to her barrage of questions.

Stage 5 was pure lung busting brutality, at no point was there enough gravity to take you any significant distance so you were on the pedals pretty much 90% of the time. With already tired legs I was coasting way more than I should and having to select much lower gears than I wanted just to keep some level of cadence going. I felt OK in the first flat section but really slowed down as it started getting lumpy, but when there was a bit of gravity towards the end I think I flowed well and carried my speed over and around features. A bit of a mixed bag really, I was just glad to get to the end and pass that final marshal.

I arrived back at the Race HQ to hand my transponder back and get my times. I was thrilled to see I had gone into 1st overall, but I quickly remembered I was only the sixth or seventh rider in. It was so short lived the guy immediately behind me was faster! As I reviewed the Sport Ident (http://www.sportident.co.uk/results/2015/PMBA-Round6/) website later that evening the results were posted and I saw I came 32 out of 99 in my category and 111 out of 286 overall. Considering I was two thirds of the way down the rankings in Round 1, I was really happy with my progress to be in the top third this weekend despite catching other riders on S1 and my silly mistake on S2. And of course I had no major crashes or mechanical issues which is always pleasing. I have to credit this improvement to a small advancement in skill since Rd1 but mainly the Bird Aeris (http://www.birdmtb.com/) and the confidence it gives me to attack the trail. I definitely need to work on my fitness over the winter as I aim to make the step up to one of the National Enduro Series’ like the new British Enduro Series.

The big draw for the PMBA events is how relaxed it all is, you can select your time slots yourself and ride with your buddies. I competed alone this weekend, usually I would have had at least one of my usual riding buddies alongside me as quite a few like to race, that didn’t stop me chatting to other riders, marshals and spectators, but it’s not the same as the craic and banter with your mates. The marshals were brilliant and the organisers had everything pinned down. The weather was a blessing, it meant that the off piste stages stayed dry (ish) and were rideable, so we could all be competetive. I thoroughly enjoyed my weekend at Gisburn and am looking forward to getting a few more of the PMBA rounds in next year. Thanks to everyone who contributed to the day’s events, see you all next year! Here is the official weekend video from White No Sugar; https://vimeo.com/142194722

Next weekend I race in the One Industries Mini Enduro at the Forest of Dean. Wish me luck and keep an eye out for the post race report. You can find all of my Blogs on WordPress: https://tyredncranky.wordpress.com/ or on my Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/Tyred-n-Cranky-101128410243802/timeline/

Black Betty and our life together (Part 2)

It’s been 7 weeks since I collected my Bird Aeris (affectionately named Black Betty) from the factory near Swinley, in this time I have been privileged enough to be able to ride most weekends and I even squeezed in some mid week rides before the nights drew in. I’ve done a range of rides, from a steady spin around Sherwood Pines, to balls out off piste EWS Stages. I’ve done quite a lot, certainly more than I would normally have been able to do in such a short period of time, afterall the British Summer has been quite good to us outdoorsy types, not necessarily blazing hot, but relatively dry and mild, perfect for outdoor activity. Some trips were solo rides, some group rides, but i’m going to have to refer to Strava to remember everything i’ve done, so here goes…

8th August – Swinley Forest

13th August – Sherwood Pines

15th August – Cannock Chase and Stile Cop

19th August – Sherwood Pines

21st August – Gisburn

29th August – Gisburn

30th August – Llandegla

11th September – Llandegla

12th September – Coed Y Brenin

18th September – Glentress

19th September – Innerleithen

In all this adds up to 176 miles ridden and 21,198 ft climbed. Yes, I did the maths. Well, Excel did the maths. Wow that’s a lot! How does my wife put up with me? Seriously though, I should probably take her out and buy her some flowers or something! I needed to get some miles in and get used to the bike as I have some Enduro races booked for mid October so I made the most of the dry (ish) late summer months. Here are some gratuitous tourist photos for your viewing pleasure…

Gisburn

Spooky Woods, Glentress

Minch Moor, Innerleithen

So the point of this Blog is to explain to Bird owners and prospective buyers what I have learnt in these first few months of riding Betty (LOL).

First of all I need to press the point that I am so much faster (according to Strava) than I was on either of my previous bikes. Every time I ride somewhere I have already been, I get a raft of PRs. Some of this will be down to improved fitness, skill improvement following riding in Morzine in July and my maturity as a more seasoned rider, but in my opinion it’s at least 90% down to the bike. It’s a comfortable ride meaning I can go further without feeling so sore or tired, it pedals well up the hills, and when you turn it back down the hill, it just goes, and goes, and goes. It is so stable and confidence inspiring that you are able to be more relaxed on the bike going faster and riding rougher trails with ease. The 650b wheels roll well over the majority of trail chaff and for the bigger features, it remains agile enough to get around or light enough to get over whatever gets in your way.

When I rode at Cannock Chase in August, we had a brief session at Stile Cop after riding the Dog and Monkey and before heading home. I had ridden at the Cop before on my Pitch and had completed the red trail and the black trail, with the exception of the big drop, second to last feature on the black. This time we started on Balboa, I was riding blind but had friends in front to lead the way. It started out quite steady, a narrow trail through the trees with a couple of playful drops and kickers, the area opened up a bit into the forest where it became a haven for off camber roots, very much like the Alpine trails I had ridden in July. I had been warned about the drop, but it crept up on me and I only noticed it when my friends disappeared from view. It is pretty big, at least 6ft I would say, landing into roots and turns right shortly afterwards, but the bike rode it brilliantly. The second run took us down the black after scoping out the last two features during the push up. Riding the Balboa drop gave me confidence to hit the big drop that I had previously taken the chicken line around. They had also extended the last drop meaning you had to carry a lot of speed round the berm to avoid a heavy case on the lip of the landing. I rode both features, not necessarily with ease, I was a little nervous. An untidy landing off the drop meant I lost speed for the last jump and cased the landing lip a bit. I rode it out, I thank the DB Air shock and 150mm of rear travel for saving me on the case. But this has now given me confidence, knowing I can ride the bigger drops, and even if I don’t quite get it right, the bike will help me out. To further prove the point of the Aeris’ ability to hit big things was Capt Tom Humphrey’s recent win in the Inter Services Downhill Competition. Despite being a member of the Army Gravity Enduro Team (https://www.facebook.com/armyenduro?fref=ts), he was competing against the best Army, RAF and Navy Downhill riders at Revolution Bike Park, and what was he riding? You guessed it, an Aeris!

Capt Tom Humphrey winner of the IS DH Competition. Credit Ssgt Tinks Taylor.

So we’ve established the bike can handle big drops and jumps. It loved Llandegla, my friend Dave and I did a non stop lap of the red trail in just 51 minutes. That’s some way off the KOM but I challenge you to beat it, the first three miles are all uphill! We then went and did a lap of the black less than an hour later! The black is great fun, it’s a hardpack trail that is rideable in all weather, very bike park-y it has lots of fun little tables, jumps and drops to entertain you and the Aeris just eats it up. To be honest, i’m still getting used to the concept of being in the air, but I soon noticed that my confidence was growing as I was attacking the jumps. So much so, that I was over shooting some and nearly landing to flat! The Aeris has hidden speed, it takes you down the trail faster with such ease you don’t always notice. But, 15+ stone landing to flat and I survived, and neither the shock nor fork bottomed out.

Snowdon view point, Llandegla

Apart from a post ride wash down after each outing, my first bit of maintenance came after a couple of rides at Cannock and Gisburn. I ride both of these trails quite regularly and they both have some tight squeezes between trees. I soon realised that my 800mm wide bars were impractical when I literally could not get through some gaps without pulling some fancy turnbar trick. This is clearly no good for the Strava whore that I am, so my first bit of tinkering involved cutting 15mm off each end of the bars. I don’t regret opting for 800mm wide bars as I didn’t know what would be a practical width, I wanted the stability at speed so needed more than the 720mm that I was running on my old bike. I don’t notice much difference in the feel by losing 30mm. The squeeze at Gisburn is now achievable, i’m yet to revisit Cannock.

During my ride at Coed Y Brenin I had what I could easily say was my darkest moment in MTBing. A slow speed innocuous crash put a series of deep scratches in the left stanchion of my Pikes. I could have cried! I was negotiating a tricky section of single track and not looking ahead meant I made a poor line choice coming to a tricky section. I tried to correct my error around some large granite boulders but I stalled and being clipped in meant I fell over. Unclipping in the fall I actually rolled off the trail into some trees which prevented me from falling further down the slope, I had scraped my elbows a bit, but nothing serious. As I clambered back to my bike my mate Loz had already caught me up and was checking my bike over, he immediately noticed the damage and we both let out a quiet but pained “ohhhhh”. I brushed the trail dust and a bit of dirt of the stanchion to reveal the full impact. Unbelievable considering how much of a nothing crash it was. The saving grace was that they were towards the top of the stanchion but there were some sharp edges and I didn’t want to damage the seals, so I added some air to firm them up and reduce the chance of using the damaged area. This limited me to about 110mm of useable travel. Not ideal! When I eventually got home, late on the Sunday, I poured my heart out and asked advice of my club mates and the Bird owners group. The sympathy came pouring in along with some good advice as to how I could file and sand down the sharp edges and infill with nail varnish. I used a fine metal file to carefully remove the sharp edges and 600 grit sand paper, again very bloody carefully to smooth things out a bit. I’m yet to throw some nail varnish at it. I need to have a practice first. I will post the results in Part 3.

Glentress was the first real test for the bike, riding the off piste Enduro World Series stages from 2014. Most parts were steep, moist, rooty, some were rocky, others narrow or twisty. The first casualty of my riding was the rear tyre towards the end of the day. I must have punctured, but I couldn’t see any sealant escaping, nor hear any hissing or other signs. Adding air gave only a temporary resolution so I had to put a tube in. This is when I realised that the sealant had all cured, hence why the puncture wasn’t sealing. This surprised me as I had been running tubeless on my old bike and one fill had lasted upto 6 months until I sold the bike and pulled the tyre off and saw there was still wet sealant inside (Stan’s). So why was this tyre cured? Perhaps it was to do with the brand of sealant the Bird guys used (Effetto Mariposa), or the amount they put in, or perhaps even if they use CO2 to inflate the tyres (i’ve heard CO2 can cause premature curing). Anyway, it wasn’t long until I realised how much of a nightmare it was to fit these Minion tyres back onto the DT Swiss rims! Oh my god! My fingers were bloody and I had broken a Park Tools tyre lever so I conceded defeat and employed two of my friends to help me out. If I was riding solo I would have had a long walk back! A little later I managed to do something to my rear mech on the final descent during a particularly narrow section. I believe it was the mech and the hanger that took some damage, but for ease I just changed both anyway. I didn’t want any shifting problems to ruin the next day’s riding. A spare hanger is just £8.00 delivered, direct from the Bird factory.

Mech and hanger swap out.

The very next day and more EWS stages brought about another issue. A warped front tyre! Dont ask me how, i’ve just put it down to riding too hard. Perhaps I turned too aggressively with too much weight on the front end, who knows, but what seemed like a buckle turned out to be the tyre having become misshapen. In the same event (I believe) I managed to get some pine needles well and truly stuck in the bead of the tyre, oddly though, they didn’t compromise the bead integrity and the tyre stayed inflated. I took the tyre off, gave the rim and bead a good clean, stuck it back on but the shape was definately out. It’s worthy of note that this isn’t the first time this has happened to me. I did the same to a Specialized Purgatory that I was running on the rear of my old bike. I roosted round a fast berm at Swinley under compression and the tyre was ruined. I am 15+ stone so maybe that’s a factor? Anyway, i’m now running a Schwalbe Magic Mary on the front. I was pretty happy with the performance of the Minion DHF, especially considering the grip I got from them on the EWS stages, but I had the Magic Mary lying about so it was the easy option. Plus the Mary was easy to put on, hands only, no tools required.

Pine needles stuck in the bead of my front tyre.

I decided that due to the abuse suffered over the last two rides, I would give Betty a weekend off and instead give her a strip down, a good old clean, lube and rebuild. It was only when I was disassembling the drive train that I noticed the cranks, and how stiff they were. My old bike had Shimano Hollowtech Bottom Bracket and cranks, if I spun the cranks with the chain off, they would complete half a dozen or so revolutions. The Race Face Turbine cranks however would only complete one or two full revolutions before coming to a halt. Perturbed by this I started to take the cranks apart and strip down, Obviously searching for a You Tube video to guide me. There wasn’t much out there to be honest, but the few videos I did find all showed the same thing; Pretty stiff, draggy cranks. I checked with the owners on the Bird MTB Facebook page and they confirmed that they were a tight fit and hence were quite draggy. Now in my mind the cranks should be free like a wheel hub, otherwise you are building inefficiencies into your drivetrain, requiring more effort for the same output. Points to consider are that despite this drag, the Aeris still climbs better than my old bike, but this may be food for thought when considering your component selection. I have my eye on the new Shimano XT 11 speed drive train, i’m in no hurry to change but its on my Christmas list!

So, to summarise the first 7 weeks with my wonderful bike; I’ve ridden a lot more than normal, generally trail centres but the EWS riding really tested the bike. It coped brilliantly with the steep technical terrain and certainly saved me from crashing a few times. The mechanical issues haven’t put me off in any way, it’s not a failing of the bike it’s a part of riding, but perhaps there is some food for thought for potential buyers regarding component selection.

Check out my other Blogs for more detail of some of the riding i’ve been doing. Part 3 of mine and Betty’s story will be posted near Christmas, I have a couple of races in October that will test the bike again, i’m hoping for some tidy results and then it will be another strip clean and suspension service ready for the new year. Thanks for reading.

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