Into the rugged North... the Alwinton Enduro, May 4th 2014

(Photo copyright of Geoff at Backpacking in Britain)

Whilst Angie's away with the Team Berghaus crew in sunny Spain the Seagull’s here with the Alwinton NDH Enduro run down, let’s do this!

Last weekend saw the second round of the NDH Enduro Series at Alwinton forest, for those of you who didnt race it last year this is probably the meanest most testing Enduro race in the UK, putting it bluntly you go there to hug trees and get bruises!

(Photo copyright of Paul Mears)

Alwinton’s tracks are notoriously steep, fast, rooty and all out naughty, absolutely perfect for my trusty Orange Five! There’s not a lot of pedalling involved which is what makes life great. With its wild nature it’s insanely fun to ride and incredibly hard to race on as the majority found out, myself included!

(Photo copyright of Victoria Dawe)

The tracks were in awesome condition, still fairly wet from the previous week’s rain but that just made for good entertainment. Just about everyone on the hill seemed to be smiling even though the majority of us spent a lot of time on our arses!!

(Whoops….!)

This was probably one of the best races i’ve done in over two years, there were 3 race tracks in total (all dirtily technical) and due to the nature of them it was damn hard to get clean runs, I tip my hat to the few that managed it.

(Photo copyright of Paul Mears)

It certainly felt like I was riding fast yet couldn’t quite keep it together and kept humping trees hahaha! Luckily for me that was the only order of the day as most people took a tumble or two, I finished in second place which I was very chuffed with, flat pedals for medals at Alwinton I tell ya! 

Mega apologies to Orange Mountain Bikes for not wearing a team jersey on the podium, I think the previous bloodied arm photos explain why and me not wanting to look like an extra from ‘The Walking Dead’ up on the step!

(Photo copyright of Paul Mears)

All in all it was a great weekend and a massive thanks goes out to the NDH crew for making these kinda races take place. In my opinion the no-frills approach along with Carl Davison’s track building skills gives way to some of the best racing in the country, well done again bro’!

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Into The Woods.... Northern Downhill TT Enduro, Hamsterley Forest 30th March 2014

Hi guys, it's Angie here again and you've caught me on the fly, it's a whirlwind of riding, rocking climbing and country scrambling with my new dog, I've hardly been able to sit still!  I reckon our Steve should write more blogs too!  Speaking of Steve, he's over in Wales doing some filming with The Tea Lady for a new video so keep your eyes peeled.

2014 is the Northern Downhill crew's first real stab at a series of Enduro events.  Being a single day format with practice in the morning and then racing throughout the afternoon it was set to be a tiring day however with just three stages it was enough time to master the courses and give it full beans!

The morning of the race I was excited to try out my Orange Five as had been fettling with various settings, as you do!  Combining the lowered front end with a set of Michelin's Wild Grip R tyres I figured that with a couple of downhill stages being soaked from the wet weather these bad lads would chew it all up really well, I was later proved right!

Stage one started down 'Section 13' followed by a fire road sprint off the left before dropping down onto some technical wooded trails and then onto the Descend Hamsterley's National Points Series downhill course to the finish.  The tracks were running sweet and it felt amazing to be back on some proper downhill stuff.  

(Photo copyright of Tom Harrison)

Stage two was down 'The Transmission' with the single track sprint at the end, this is always a fun track to race on despite it being completely man made, the bike was running incredibly well, keeping it nice and fast.

Straight back up the hill for stage three which started on the Phil Saxena designed 4-Cross track and then went went straight back into the woods, down over the fire road and finishing again on Descend's NPS downhill course.

(Photo copyright of Robert Blackburn)

All three tracks were very well thought out, quite varied and not too pedally which is always always a bonus!!  It would however be nice to have more trails of the forest being utilised as there's such a great scope in the area.

Unfortunately the timing hadn't worked on track one so times were based across last two tracks.  Helen Gaskell smashed the overall win with me taking 2nd.  Steve then killed it for 3rd place in the men's.

I've been inspired to ride more steep gnar again, watch this space!! 

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The Northern Downhill Series season closer, Chopwell Woods, 17th November 2013

After what was an awesome event at Kidland just a few weeks beforehand, it would have been rude not to have raced Northern Downhill's next event at Chopwell Woods.  Let's face it, it's only a couple of miles from home and it's not often you're able to get a nice lie in before jumping on the race bikes! 

There hasn't been an event at Chopwell for many years so it was quite exciting to be back there again.  Following on from the previous events it was a one day format with practice until lunch and then two race runs in the afternoon.  Carl got a cracking number of riders signed up, well into the 120+ marks which was great to see at this time of year.  Hats off to you sir....

The track they were using was the Powerline which is fairly straight forward with some berms to start off with, down into a section littered with nice and shiny roots, a few more more singletrack turns which took a fair bit of pedalling and then across some jumps.  All pretty easy stuff which is a good job as Steve was on his hardtail after his enduro bike wasn't all it was cracked up to be (ahem!).  All in though it was a simple and fun track to race on, when combined with the laid back vibe of the event it all added up to a belter of a day.  Oh and muggins here had forgotten her full face helmet so had to borrow one, just wait till you see the photo....

Photo copyright of Mick Stephenson

There was a great bunch of people there who we don't normally get to race with, one being my lovely brother James so it was cool to do a few runs together.  It's great galloping behind him with his balls out riding style and then there's mad Gary Mac, well what can I say?  The guy's a hairy legend!  Steve was buzzing as he got to race with Andrew 'Weedkiller' Weeding for the first time in a long while too.  You guys need to come out to the other races a lot more you know, no excuses!

Practice was soon done and dusted (more like mud-covered) with about five runs each, the race runs soon came around... Steve managed to grab the hot seat just ahead of Phil Grimes who was looking right fast all day... my first run was a tad on the slow side, after Steve told me that I looked like I was dawdling I took the aggression out on my second run knocking four seconds off my time, awesome! :) 

The weapons meet again... L-R: Sarah Newman, Helen Gaskell and Angie Coates...

Steve maintained his top spot, hardtail style!  He was a bit coy afterwards, it's not in his nature to shout about it but I knew he was buzzing!! 

Photo copyright of Paul Mears

It was a great race day all round and here's hoping it's on again next season, we'll certainly be at all of new ND(H)uro races next year. 

Let's not forget a great effort and a big pat on the back to Carl from the NDH and Scott Mears for holding the event in honour of Eileen Joyce Gibbons whose family will be giving a percentage from the race to a charity of their choice.

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, Ramsgill, 23rd June 2013

Stepping back in time a bit here with the next two blog updates, there's been a lot going on behind the scenes and all will be revealed in good time.  Anyway here's Nick with the low down from Ramsgill.....

Ramsgill in North Yorkshire has been the home to some amazing races back in the days of the NAMBS (Edit from Lee: and back even further in the days of NEMBA, gosh I'm old!).  The track this weekend was built up by the Cycopath Cycles boys, they have a few tracks across the Yorkshire way which look pretty damned good to hit up later in the year.

The format of the weekend was two days and two race runs on each day on two different courses.  Saturday was the easier course which was aimed at getting younger people involved in the sport.  

The day started with a push-up to the top checking the track as I went.  As I said the track was pretty simple with a number of fast flowing corners followed by a short rock garden and a couple of jumps.  It was a good day on the slope, the bike was handling flawlessly and I didn't need to touch the set up much at all.  At the end of practice I'd managed to work out a line towards the finish, quite a sketchy one actually... it involved trying to make a big S-bend, which was all off camber, into a straight line and which left me drifting like a maniac towards the timing gear, erk!

(Photo copyright of Robert Dickson)

Both of Saturday's race runs went exceptionally well with me being able to shave sometime off on my second run to take the win.  My first podium of the year along with my first win of the year, oh happy days!

Sunday morning soon hit and with it came a new track.  This was much longer, starting with some open sweeping corners into a massive road jump before dropping down into the woods and then joining on to the previous day's track.  To make it a little more exciting it had rained really heavily so everything was gonna be slick.  I was confident that the bike would be fine set up the way it was already and kept the Maxxis 'High Roller' tyres on hoping for the best. 

(Photo copyright of Noah Collins)

Throughout the morning I was laughing my tits off, as the track was quickly drying out I had loads of fun getting seriously sideways motorcross stylee.  So glad I had the X-Fusion shock and TF Tuned tweaked Boxxers on as the first time hitting the road gap I wanted to make sure I cleared everything so put a few extra cheeky cranks in, pretty soon found out this was too much and shot passed the landing zone Henry Cavill style!

(Photo copyright of Robert Dickson)

As with the previous day it was a pretty chilled out atmosphere (which I have to add is rare these days) and I just banged out a load of runs in preparation for racing. 

My first race run was reasonably steady to put a time in I was second just behind SPS (Steve Peat Syndicate) rider Jimmy.  On the next run I just thought 'Sod it, let's get wild!'., a tad too wild however as on one of the open corners my back wheel drifted out and I nearly did a 180 which lost me a heap of time, bollocks!  I got my head back down and pushed on hard shaving a half second off which was good but obviously I coulda done without my backside sliding away earlier on!  Either way I made the second step of the podium.  Top weekend racing by all accounts, I really miss the laid back atmosphere of racing as we used to have and it was good to see it back at Ramsgill.

(Photo copyright of Noah Collins)

Massive thanks to everyone who has helped out, the Northern Downhill Series is going from strength to strength.

Now I need to sleep, 13 hour days are bloody hard going!

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Northern Downhill Series Round 2, Kidland, Northumberland, May 4th & 5th 2013

Sorry forgot to do this earlier in the week chuck, it's Nick here.

This was the second round of the NDH and was at a track that I helped to build, really love it as it's super technical and steep which suits the FTW to a T, bang on!

The weather was excellent, I was beaming as much as the sun's rays coming down.  Had to bed-in the new disk brake pads on my first run, took it steady on the steep corners. as soon as they were bedded in the Hayes Primes were fantastic.

I quickly developed a real good flow and pretty much nailed my lines. I did have one interesting spill however... near the bottom of the track there was a sneaky inside that I had been taking, which I think a few others had started to do too, over time it brought out some shady roots that became like polished glass. I was pretty much pinned, the front wheel couldn't take it anymore and slid from under me...face to dirt interface. Back to the drawing board there then methinks!

Practice uplifts were running amazing, big respect to Carl Davidson for sorting them out. Even taking my time and chilling out for lunch I bashed out 10 or so runs, almost unheard of at any race event.

I took Sunday steady and got four runs in which went well without any dramas. Then came race time....  first run went well apart from a few silly stalls due to trying to hit some sections too fast.  Hey, this is the FTW Industries frame here y'know, it WANTS to go fast!

(Copyright Ian MacLennan)

I came down in third place which I was happy with but knew I had more in the tank, And with this in mind I set off on my second run.  Managed to shave off a little time but had a near miss right at the end, there was a section where you jump over some roots and immediately bear right around a tree down a shoot.  My bar skimmed the tree but I held it together.  I was promoted me to 2nd place however then shortly afterwards dropped down to 4th with the final riders crossing the line. 

Was really happy with the weekend, can't fault how well the Northern Downhill is being run and can't wait for the new FTW Industries bike to land.

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Northern Downhill Series - Round 1, Alwinton, 24th April 2011

Nick Turner: The first round of the Northern Downhill Series kicked off at the now infamous Alwinton course, you want steep? You got it! This has to be one of my favourite courses of all time, it’s absolutely RAD. Last year people didn’t do race runs or even practice as the track was seen to be too steep and gnarly!

There had been some changes at the top which made it more rider friendly! However it was still steep and technical and so….. much….. fun……, it suits the FTW FB10 bike perfectly. The forecast was sunny skies all weekend and the organizers planned an uplift day for the Friday as well, unfortunately due to work constraints I couldn’t go. When it came to Saturday practice the course was more or less dry, the wet and slippy bits only hither and thither.

Practice was blisteringly good, a few sketchy moments granted, mind you most people were in the same boat. I only had one crash which was on my last run and it was because I was getting far too carried away, hit a lower corner with way too much speed and just washed out resulting in a big high-side down the hill to some rapturous cheering from the spectators! Excellent!

(Photographer currently unknown)

Rain?! Nooooooo…..!!! Six o’clock that evening and the heaven’s opened, did it rain? Oh yes! Was it heavy? Oh yes….. !! It went on for a good four hours and we all knew the track would be even tougher the next day. The morning thankfully dawned with clear blues skies, phew. Walked up the track, just to scope it out and leaning towards running cut down spiked mud tyres as there were quite a lot of exposed roots coming through. It was gonna be a fun day!

Managed three runs before the racing started, the first was quite wet and muddy but still riding well. Between the second and third runs the course was drying out again and becoming a damn sight quicker. I was really positive for my race run as the bike was amazing on this course. Overall it went pretty well just a few little mistakes that, collectively, probably cost me a few seconds.

I came down in 3rd place, was one second off second and 9 seconds from first. That fired up my determined further to go quicker and ensure a podium place. From the start I hit a root which stalled me into the first corner, I made up this time further down, I was railing it and crossed the line keeping my third place position, excellent!

Overall the weekend was awesome, really happy with the result and this is the kind of course where the FTW bike comes into its own.

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