Number Nine, the 2014 National Championships, Innerleithen....

Photo copyright of Kenny Muir

Tom's in the crib!

After Angie's World Enduro Series/Tweed Love trip it was my turn to hit up Innerleithen, this time for the 2014 National Championships, yep, the biggest domestic race of the year!

Headed up there on the Thursday night to get some proper practise in, many other riders had the same idea. Friday came and I had a thorough look at the course and then worked at getting my FTW's suspension dialled in, tyre wise I opted for my Michelin Wild Grip R's, as they seem to handle this type of mixed terrain really well with no compromises in the tight tree-lined technical sections.  Preparation over with, it was time to settle and wait for practise to start the next day.

Photo copyright of Ian Linton

The weather on Saturday took as turn for the worse, waking up to mist which then turned into rain and that was pretty much the story for the rest of the day and on into the night!  On the plus side it made the course nicely tacky and despite some highly polished roots making lines as sketchy as hell there was a fair bit of extra grip to be had under the greasy top sides. My trick was to stay light on the bike and keep the flow down the hillside. I had a few slips and slides earlier on but started to get lay of the track quite quickly, my confidence grew and the FTW was soon railing it.

Sunday came along and the track had dried up nicely, the sun was blazing and all things were right in the world!  My seeding was going so insanely fast up until the point where I caught the rider in front who wouldn't let me pass, I was screaming blue murder to make him move but he stayed in front of me and slowed me right down this dropped me to 13th place, I was gutted with that.  No time to rest on my laurels here though as I was soon back at the top ready for my race run. The plan was to just hit the whole course head on.  

Photo copyright of Ian Linton

Out of the gate and straight into the first tree lined technical section was great, the FTW was swallowing it all up. Across the two roads and into the tighter rutted sections I was a little cautious and made a couple of mistakes.  Coming into the bottom of the course I totally railed the singletrack and the following root fest, through the bombhole and down the sweeping turns towards the finish line.  I crossed the line in 9th place which I guess was good considering the mistakes I made up top, but I was gutted to not get the National Champion stripes.  Next time!

Overall it was a great weekend, Mike Marsden and his crew always pull a good event out of the hat, had a lot of laughs and got to ride the one of the best tracks in the country with my mates. 

Life's good on the road!

Healing vibes going out to my fellow team-mate Nick who had to reluctantly sit this year's event out 'cos of his wrist injury recovery, hurry up and get better we got trails to ride lad!

Tom.


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An Act of Survival, the British Downhill Series hits Llangollen......

Photo copyright of Laurence Crossman-Emms

Where Cromwell’s followers threw down the Pillar of Eliseg riders converged to throw down their gauntlets on one of the steepest downhill courses in Europe.  Spoken by many of the seasoned pros as being steeper and more technical than the World Cup course in Champery, the plethora of photography and action videos that soon followed were simply not doing this venue any justice, you had to be a participant. 

Come the end of the first practise day several riders had given up, packed away their belongings and headed home, defeated before even the racing got under way, I was not one of them, this was my debut race for The Development Racing Team and I was armed with my new FTW Industries bike, Si Paton had set the ultimate challenge simply to survive and I aimed to!

The whole course was unbelievably steep, the top wooded section was a full-on technical onslaught where even the pros were being cautious.  I took it easy on my first few runs, getting to grips with not just the course but my new bike’s characteristics, needless to say it was railing. 

Photo copyright of Sarah Barrett

The weather on Saturday wasn’t too good with torrential downpours, however the track dried out pretty damn quickly due to it’s gradient.  No real hard spills on Saturday, sure I had a few offs as did most but no damage, all in I was feeling good. 

Come Sunday the weather had changed for the better, it was kinda crazy how much the track had changed though, the rain the previous day had helped smooth some parts out somewhat in other sections it had exposed some nice big greasy roots to separate the men from the boys! 

Mr Sunshine soon popped out and the seeding got under way, I was feeling confident, hit all my lines and crossed the line in second place.

Seeding Results

I was elated with that, once back at the pits I grabbed my BMX and chilled out with my mates for a bit. 

Soon I was back in the start gate ready for my race run, after that beep I hit the top section hard suddenly realising how much the course had changed from earlier in the day, it was crazy!  Spectators were congregating where the biggest spills were happening and I didn’t let them down taking a few tumbles, gutted!  But hey, at least I got cheered!  Once out of the woods I absolutely railed the lower open sections, that bike of mine is a beast!  Crossed the line in 11^th place and I’m very happy with that considering.

Photo copyright of Isac Paddick

It was a fantastic weekend, some good laughs with my mates and my hat is off to Si Paton for putting this course together, it’s certainly proved controversial.  Next up is the National Championships at Innerleithen, see you all there.

Tom.

Man Down, taking the hits on the Dunkeld hillside, Scottish Downhill Series, 27th April 2014

(Photo copyright of David Mould)

Nick's back in the crib....  Sadly this was going to prove to be a weekend that Zak and me would rather forget about though....

On the way up there we should have taken the dark skies as a bad omen, it was raining cats and dogs, once at the venue the main camping field looked like a huge pit of Nutella and the foreboding doom of what the course was going to look like started to set in. This was gonna be fun.

After Zak hit the podium at the Penshaw weekender I knew that I too had to redeem myself after what happened at Innerleithen.  I mean I was totally buzzing about the course, I've raced here before and Dunkeld's amazing, rock strewn, steep and definitely separates the wheat from the chaff.  You and your bike are pounded left, right and centre with none of that pedalling like Chris Hoy shit, no sirree!

(Photo copyright of William MacDonald)

Tyre choice was crucial, I opted for some Michelin Grip'R Descent tyres during the morning's practise to see how they handled.  The SDA guys had changed the top section, as Zak was saying it was less of a hassle and we were both a little disappointed.  That said there were still plenty of rocks to catch out the unwary and further down, everything still covered in the brown slop, were tons of stumps and roots.  The tyres handled damned well, good mud clearing and they kept the bike moving, come mid-day though with more rain pouring down I switched over to my Michelin Dig'R tyres instead, everything was getting really cut up and these gave me the edge.  The only bright thing about this weekend were our Ride 100% iTrack gloves which were standing out like beacons in the gloomy conditions and as grippy as hell in the wet, love them!

(Photo copyright of Louis Arnold)

Reckon we both got about five runs in, not too bad considering the poor uplifts however to be fair still not enough on a course like this one.  Zak was totally flooring it, he was pinning all his lines, a pure purple blur! Both of our bikes were running so sweet, utterly stoked with that. Later on in the day it was drying out and things were getting faster, all was going good.

The came Sunday the course had changed so much it was a total onslaught, being so hard to hit my lines the only thing I could do was lay off the brakes and let the bike do all the work. It wasn't pretty but I was doing well on my first race run considering .....until the last section that was.  This was where I bounced down into the wrong line and tried to hit the main rut round the corner compressing my front wheel way down and down I went hitting the floor! My run was over, got straight back up but I was unable to hold the bars and redeem myself with a second run, I'd smashed my hand up badly and it was then a case of "Hello hospital!" and some x-rays!

There were no two ways about about it, Zak was on a belter all through Saturday and Sunday morning, that guy's got balls! 

(Photo copyright of Malcolm Porter)

He was super excited on Sunday morning but as with me it didn't pan out.  He was a quarter of the way in on his last practise run and after coming off hard in one of the steep shoots knocked himself unconscious, he was clean out for the count and stretchered off the course. Worrying times, but hey we're North-East lads, we're made of strong stuff you know and he was soon back up and walking about although still dazed.  He didn't get to race, poor blighter.

All in and despite of the accidents, Dunkeld's an awesome race venue and very worthy of being on the circuit, it was still a great weekend riding a great track.

Both of us know that the pressure is on now though.....

Chasing the mojo, Zak Holmes hits Borderline Events at Caersws with all guns blazing.

(Photo copyright of Chris Griffiths)

Caersws, my first race in Wales, the second race of the season and hopefully less of the technical nightmare that was Innerleithen. Let's get this Borderline Event underway.....

We travelled down on the Friday night, arriving after after three and a half hours on the road, although there'd been some scattered showers the weather seemed to be behaving itself and putting the tent up in the dark mustered all of our Bear Grylls skills!

I really shouldn't have tempted fate by mentioning the weather because by the time I had signed on and got everything ready the heavens had opened... brilliant!   Walked the course in the pouring rain and first impressions of top sections were good, really fast and flowy with the ground still compact and hard, thankfully the rain hadn't affected it.  The top consisted of tight, steep switchbacks which is my kind of riding and made me very excited to get on the bike.  Next up were the bus stops which had unfortunately been affected by the rain and looked very slippy, I was making mental notes as I went.  The course became muddier the further you ventured, although still technical you could see that the riding was going to be absolutely flat out and where riders needed to issue caution across the roots that had became extremely wet and slippy.  Once out of the bottom you were into a grass field to the finish line. Job done!

Practice runs got underway and I was on the first uplift.  My first run felt really good, the bike felt so sweet, the Michelin tyres were gripping well and coped easily with the constantly changing terrain giving me a further confidence boost.  Throughout the day the bike just kept getting better and better, I was loving the track and managed to get seven practice runs in.  No faults, hitting some good lines and absolutely railing my FTW Industries bike!

(Photo copyright of Chris Griffiths)

Race day arrived and it had rained heavily over night, everything was absolutely soaked! This amount of rain would have changed the track so I went straight up to get in some more practice runs in.  As expected the course was muddier and and a lot slippier, I was taking it full on speedway style through some of the corners!  Had to change some of my line choices, especially in the lower sections which had changed a fair bit and was catching lots of people out.  I struggled with grip in the muddier sections, especially across the roots so I decided to change my front tyre from a Michelin Wild Grip R to a Michelin Dig R which then worked amazingly well! I'm running the new MK4 Burgtec Penthouse pedals which shed mud so easily, Dave and the guys have worked hard on the new design still keeping their huge amount of grip and trademark looks.  Over the morning's practice I got in three runs and was happy with the change to the track and my new line choices.

(Photo copyright of Chris Griffiths)

Time now for my first race run!  After such a confident morning I over cooked some sections and experienced a few stop-start-stop-start moments in the switchbacks which lost me time however the rest of the track ran pretty smoothly and I finished with a 2m 16.517s which saw me sat in fourth place.  I wanted to do better though and decided to go all out on my second race run ... this didn't work out too well as a rather large crash slowed me right down, a total rider error with only myself to blame.  As a result of this I slipped down to sixth place and disappointed wasn't the word!

A good weekend overall, a top course despite the inclement weather and a learning curve for me.  The bike ran superbly with, thankfully, no technical issues this time around.  Next up is Penshaw, see you on the hill punks!


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Life on the road...... a very warm welcome to the team's first road racer, Megan Hopper.

It's Lee here....... OK, I can't keep it to myself any longer, this news is so new that even some of the bike team don't know about it yet! 

We have a new, and up to now secret, seventh member to our North Eastern cycling arsenal. It's also a big first for the team too... both Frank and me will be supporting the wee 16 year old whippersnapper Megan Hopper with her road crit and cyclocross races. 

She'll be letting rip aboard her incoming bespoke FTW Industries crit frame and forks currently being cut and welded up by the master that is Frank The Welder as I type.

May I take the pleasure on introducing the lovely Megan Hopper to you all...... welcome aboard Megs!

Technical Nightmare..... Scottish Downhill Series Season Opener, Innerleithen, 22nd-23rd March 2014.

Hey everyone, it's Lee here, I’ll let Nick open the blog up and then we’ll all hear from both Nick and Zak as we go along…

So it was exciting times, first race of the year, first race with the new strips, first race with new toys and first race with a new team mate Zak.  I’ll let him give you a low down, welcome to the team Zak!

Hey thank you Nick, it’s Zak here and none of you out there know me, “Hi there!”.  I’m one of The Development’s new riders and this is my first blog update so here goes…..

As one of the newest members of The Development the Scottish Downhill Series 2014 season opener race at Innerleithen was the first opportunity to prove my worth.  A new team with an awesome new bike and not to mention the first time on an actual bike in months!  In fact my FTW Industries baby has only been built a day, yes, I know that that was certainly cutting it tight and that this race was going to be rather interesting!  I’m ‘FB10’ mounted, opting for 26” wheels for the time being, the bike is unlike anything I have ridden before, Frank Wadelton certainly knows his stuff.  I’ve watched Nick race on these frames over the past few seasons and would never have thought I’d be on one too, what are the chances eh?!

Zak's 26" wheeled FTW Industries 'FB10' set up

Nick's 27.5" wheel adjusted 'Odysseus' FTW Industries set up

Being sans bike in the off season meant searching for alternative ways to keep race fit, both Nick and me have been doing a ton of Crossfit classes with the aim to improve our strength and endurance.  Still early days yet though we can both certainly feel the benefits already, time now to put the theory into practice!

Travelled up on Friday evening, as soon as we got there the snow began to fall, winter arrives in March, brilliant!  Saturday morning dawns and it’s all looking rather picturesque to put it politely.  Up we both went for the a morning track walk and thankfully despite the snow laying on the top half of the hill it didn’t affect the track, phew!

With that out of the way, grabbed some scran, got changed and back off on the bikes for some practice.  In order to get to the uplifts you had to ride for about a mile along the road where you’re then faced with massive queue which is a bit of a bad mark for a premiere series such as the SDA to be honest.   Although I do understand and appreciate the issues with closing the lower road for an event weekend, ah well.

When I got to the top it was time to test my bike out for the first time with my first practice run, this was its maiden voyage.  Although the track felt great, I had a few unfortunate mechanical issues which continued throughout the day.  Spent more time fixing the problems than being on the course, my own fault though as had rushed to get the bike built and ready only the day before, so can’t complain, I know.  Nick was having a better time of it, I’ll pass you all over….

Innerleithen’s harsh on kit, no two ways about it and this track was a great way to get used to the new Michelin Grip R Descend tyres and Dorado forks, a perfect assault course with all of the changes in terrain on the way down.  I found out the Michy’s not only have superb grip but roll amazing well.  I was catching people up for most of the way down, couldn’t fault the tyres or my suspension system, all working in conjunction flawlessly, superb.  Our bikes were garnering a lot of attention, my fitness however was letting me down.  As Zak’s said crossfit is helping a lot, everyone raising the bar, you need to be totally on the ball, and we will be!

(Nick in practice, photo copyright of Ian Linton)

There was a big hoo-haa this weekend with British Cycling banning action camera filming and thus neither me or Zak were able to fit our cameras.  This is a massive step backwards for the sport (since the race British Cycling have back tracked and now allow cameras in practice but not race runs) so we have no onboard coverage, sorry guys and gals.

The track was really good, it’s hard to go wrong at a place like Inners, the top was quite pedally (which is not my cup of tea) however the bottom nice, fast and tight with some big deep soft ruts which were fun but damned hard to nail.

I’m getting a coffee, back to Zak…..

On Sunday, both of us took the morning’s practice as a fresh start. This was when I could started to get the feel of my new bike, the Michelin tyres came into their own in the tighter sections at the bottom of the course, they aided my confidence, especially through the loose rocks.  My Manitou suspension was pretty much dialled, I’d spent a wee while the previous day working on the settings getting the Revox and Dorado set up running sweet.

(Photo copyright of Andrew Brandon)

I had people complimenting me with the bike asking questions about where it came from, we will add a link at the end of the blog for FTW’s website.

Race head now on!  My first run came with a load of mistakes and a fair few crashes, crossed the line with a 4:11.67 which isn’t good, at all. The perils of trying too hard.  Nick had a slightly better run but he too made mistakes, very disappointing, so sorry!

(Photo copyright of Ian Linton)

Back up for my second run, took it steadier, still made a few mistakes but nothing as bad as the first run, crossed the line with a 3:54 placing me 20^th which was deflating as I was just outside the top ten last season. Argh!

I headed back, got changed then walked up the track to meet my mates and watch Nick go past on his run, the setting sun was giving everything a golden glow.  Back over to Nick, good coffee?

Damn fine coffee fella.... after the shitty first run I was keen to make up some time on my second one.  Everything suddenly went monochrome!  The sun was dropping, the dark woods were getting darker and I really should have remembered Tom Barker’s sage words from the 90’s; …”get some lights fitted for the early season races lad!”…  isn’t hindsight a wonderful thing, pah!  I pushed hard in the low visibility but as soon as my eyes adjusted to the dark I was hit square on with sunshine in the open sections, swearing blue murder (apologies to the spectators for my foul language were you in earshot!).  Made far too many mistakes and had to resign to the fact I wasn’t going to hit the podium, not even close to it.

(Photo copyright of Barry Primrose)

So…. Zak?  Overall the whole weekend was a huge learning curve for me the new bike set up necessitates a different riding style which I’m not used to yet.  I’m going to getting myself over to Hamsterley pretty sharpish to rail the trails.  Want to get back on top of my results and build on the work I’d achieved last season, I don’t want to let anyone down.  I will be riding a lot more with the other team riders too so lots to learn.

Finally, a huge thanks to Lee for taking me on and giving me this new experience along with getting everything together for this season and a big thanks to all the sponsors!

If you’d like an FTW frame all the contact information is here: Frank The Welder Website

The Development Racing Team can also be followed on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheDevelopmentMTBRacing