Northern Downhill - Hamsterley Forest TT, 19th April 2015

I was just down the road at Hamsterley Forest this time for the Northern Downhill Time Trial event, opting for my shorter suspension bike as the big FTW is overkill for these events.

Hamsterley is my local riding ground and I was fluent with the track that was being used by the NDH lads so got one practice run in on Sunday morning to see how it all rode and oh boy was it fast!  It was sure going to make for some good racing with tight times. I made my way up for my race run ten minutes before I was due at the start gate ensuring that I stayed focussed and ready to race. Out of the gate on the first timed run it was going well but not as fast as I'd have liked, a lack of warming up had left my legs feeling dead and I crossed the line bang on four minutes putting me into forth place which wasn't what I was looking for! Taking the first run into account I mentally prepared myself for the second shot and as soon as I was out of the gate I had the track completely nailed down.  However it didn't last long as I caught up with the rider in front which slowed me down as I struggled to get past. Carl Davison, the event's organiser, had noted this and thankfully allowed me to do a re-run so off I went back up to the top. It was now all or nothing, out of the gate I kept the bike pinned all the way down and managed to make up that second putting me into third however soon learned that I was just 0.3 of a second from taking the second place, but hey, that's racing for you! See you all at next race, Tom.

Northern Downhill in enduro mode, the ND(H)uro at Kidland, 20th October 2013

One word for this race..... AMAZEBALLS!!!!!!!!!

Oh my god, where do I start here?  Well, I hadn't been to Kidland since 2010 when Steve and I did one of the Northern Downhill races there, I remember it being a total shocker thinking that I just couldn't ride anymore!  So when I heard that Carl Davison was running his first Enduro event at Kidland I must admit to being a wee bit nervous, and that was before I knew he was planning on running them down the downhill tracks.  Oh my!  For those not in the know, Kidland...... is.... STEEP!

Like the previous Borderline Events' Escape to Gisburn it was a one day event so practice was first thing in the morning with the racing kicking off from 1pm.  There were three tracks, two of them were on the Alwinton downhill tracks and the third was the Kidland downhill track with a slight detour around the steepest bit, phew!  And the best bit?  It had rained solidly all night long so the courses were a grease-fest, lovely and muddy, tyre choice was crucial, I managed to get away with running Maxxis High Rollers, I didn't have any mud specific tyres to hand.

We all made the first pedal up, none of us really knew what to expect so took it easy to start with, all the tracks were pretty similar to be fair, steep and rooty with tight corners.  It felt absolutely mint to be sliding around in the mud with the back end slipping out on roots. The last time I rode my bike tripod-style with my tummy on the seat was at the Megavalanche in the snow and oh my god we were having so much fun here. Full on belly laughs the whole way down.  As we got to the bottom we didn't even need to say anything we just looked at each other with huge grins on our faces, our eyes on stalks and knew we were all loving it. 

For me track three was the best, it was more ridden in and just rode so smoothly, I couldn't wait to race it.  Steve's Yeti was sadly still in bits so he was on his Cotic hardtail again and although everyone was taking the piss out of him for riding a hardtail 29er at Kidland he didn't do too bad and came 8th in the Master category.  I took a 3rd with Helen and Sarah taking the top two steps. 

The Weapons; Sarah Newman, Helen Gaskell and Angie Coates

I really cant wait to ride there again, it's given me a huge amount of motivation to ride steeper and more technical tracks, I can't wait to get the FTW downhill beasty built up to hit some more of it!

See you on the next hill punks,

Angie

xx 

Northern Downhill Series, Old School Push Up at Carlton Bank, August 18th

Hey you guys, here's the literal low down from the Northern Downhill Series Carlton Bank weekender.....

The NDH boys always put on a great event, it's always nice to see the so-called underdogs beating the big guys at their own game!

Carlton Bank in Cleveland used to be a popular venue back in the day and it's a great shame that it's not used more often, the reason being is that there are no uplifts, it's a full on push to the top.  And with that said, it's so worth the effort, this is old school racing at its best.

The track is all out in the wind swept open, much more cut up these days with all the (ab)use it's seen over the years, but this in itself adds character to it, it's one of the old dames that has nurtured so many of today's stars!  The fun starts straight out of the gate, fast flowing corners laced with loose rocks, step downs and jumps a-plenty through the heather covered moor's singletrack.  It had rained a fair bit over night so the track was slick, I had a few really scary moments trying to keep my grip.  My nemesis  proved to be one of the main step downs that was followed by a sharp right hander straight into a large gap jump, I was doing huge front wheel drifts in the off camber and having to abort the jump, it took a good few attempts to get it perfected.

(Photo copyright of Karen Brumwell)

The thing about this course is that it's easy to learn, it's about pushing as hard as you dare all the way down.  I was on fire during my first run, had the top part of the course totally pinned, railed one of the open corners and nearly hit a boulder on the inside, that cost me a chunk of time but oh boy was the adrenaline pumping!  Second run I knew what had to be done, it's balls out or nothing!  Hitting all my lines, the bike was just soaking everything up, pedalling like a demon.  Hit the lower off cambers and my front wheel just washed out, hit the deck hard and saw stars, game over.  Totally gutted, this was the last race on my FTW Industries 'FB10' frame and I wanted to go out with a podium spot, bollocks!

Next race is at Fort William and I'll be debuting the new FTW Industries 'Odysseus' downhill bike...... bring...... it....... on!!

Northern Downhill Series, Kielder Forest, 20th-21st October 2012

Thought I would get you all the low down on the Northern Downhill's Kielder weekender, here we go....

As some of you may be aware I came into this season after losing my mojo and in between my injuries and crashing out I was pretty cut up with my results this year.  Therefore I was determined to pull out all of the stops with the Northern Champs at Kielder Forest, it would have to be the place to redeem myself.

As has been the story throughout most of the race weekends this year it absolutely chucked it down on the Friday and Saturday!  This was also a new track and not fully bedded in, I knew straight off that we were all in for a sloppy one!  Unfortunately due to wrangling with the good old Forestry Commission the very top of the track was not going to be used for the race, it still left a three and a half minute course though and it certainly wasn't shabby!  The NDH boys pulled out the stops with the amazing RedBull Rampage-style start ramp which rolled you off a high drop straight into the first shoot, excellent! 

The top section was the biggest, gnarliest rock garden I've seen so far in the UK, this would be a real test my TF Tuned tweaked suspension and X-Fusion shock.  The rock garden was incredibly physically demanding and caused a lot of riders a lot of issues, so much so a load of riders pulled out of racing altogether!  I must add here that I have nothing but respect for Carl Davison and the Northern Downhill boys who put these courses together, it's not the first time they've had riders pull out due to so-called 'extreme' sections, however how are riders to progress in this sport if they are not being challenged by this terrain? 

We did say it was muddy! Photo by Richard Easton

The track crossed into the woods which were quite dark with a lot of tricky roots to negotiate. The main trick at the bottom was keep your speed up and keep pedalling otherwise you got bogged down in the mud which became worse as the weekend progressed.

My first race run went half-decently with a few errors and one big stop in the slop which took a lot of effort to get going afterwards.  I finished in third place with my first run, because of this I knew other people were struggling with the course's worsening conditions and I was keen on trying to go faster then the other two riders on my final run.  From the start of the second run I was being thrown all over the place, it was really hard going, I did however stay steady, no stops, no stalls, just took it all as it came, the course was a complete mess of mud, roots and rocks.  No-one bettered the times of their previous runs and I remained in third place, more importantly however I was the Northern Champion for 2012!

Photo by Stewart Dickson

The course conditions were damned tough, the combination of an unbedded in new track and the weather playing havoc! The bike however worked like a dream, I am over the moon with the X-Fusion shock, it came into its own, combined with the TF Tuned forks the whole suspension set up was incredibly supple across the weekend, couldn't fault it.

I would like to say a massive 'Thank You' to everyone who has supported me through the year:

Firstly and foremost Frank Wadelton for supporting me with his brilliant FB10 frames, the guy is a legend, a Mountain Bike Hall of Fame inductee and an all round lovely bloke, thank you so much Frank.

Then up in no particular order:

Hayes Brakes, Thomson posts and stems, Dave and the Burgtec boys, Urge Helmets, SDG Saddles, X-Fusion Shocks, e-13components chain guides, Pete and Darren at Silverfish, GoPro cameras, Sun-Ringle wheels, the guys at TF Tuned, The Cycle Jersey, Matt at Royal Racing, and last but by no means least Oury Grips.

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