The New Steel Stead....

Both Steve and me have been talking for a wee while about sorting out a small steel hardtail for Angie, throwing ideas around regarding geometry and what have you, something lively, responsive and most of all fast.... some points were notable; as the frame will be used predominantly off-season and for less extreme enduro events it demanded a fair bit of mud room out the back, the ability to fit a 2.5 tyre without it clogging up with crud.  Also to keep in with the contemporary technology an oversized 30.9 internal diameter seat tube so that we can easily fit a 'dropper' seat post, which is a boon with the typical British 'rollercoaster' style trails. The frame's been built around a 140mm travel fork, more than ample for anything that the British Isles can throw at it, and again a contemporary 44mm internal diameter headtube which gives a plethora of headset and fork steerer options.... in a nutshell this frame was not only being made to be ridden hard it was also being made to be future proof!

With all this in mind Frank set to work using his favoured Columbus Zona tubing mating it to some gorgeous Paragon Machine Works rear drop outs (http://www.paragonmachineworks.com) and a custom made silver headbadge that I had crafted by the lovely Jen Green at www.headbadges.com.  Previously I had some Americana style 'Frank Wadelton' frame decals made bespoke for my own street bike, Steve and I agreed to use the same ones on Angie's frame too, it just ties everything in so perfectly

The end result is an absolutely stunning, precision hand crafted frame with a semi-transparent purple paint job highlighting the rainbow effect of the welds and if there's ever any doubt over whose frame it is, well you'll soon see who the owner is in a moment or two.  This is going to be a bit of a slow build whilst we wait for the 2013 team kit to arrive, Angie's itching to get out on it, I'll post further pictures as we go along.....

The mitering begins......

Tacking the left Paragon Machine Works drop out.....

And then the right one.....

Fabricating the bottom bracket shell....

 Tacking up the back end.....

Almost ready for the next step.....

Rear disk brake mount now added, all of the cable stops, seatstay and chainstay bridges.....

Et viola, perfect craftsmanship....

 Semi-transparent purple paint job done, pre-frame decals and clear top coat..... beautiful....

 All stickered up......

 Just after Christmas, a mysterious box arrived at Angie's.....

Can you see what it is yet? (Nice socks by the way!)......

 Craftsmanship is second to none the paint job is absolutely superb, just look at those welds, stunning....

The big man himself, Frank Wadelton....

 Big "Thank You" going out to Jen Green for the bespoke silver headbadge.....

The frame means business......

 All snuggled down......

 And the icing on the cake, Angie's very own name plate, there's no doubt who this frame belongs to....

We were all mind blown with the frame and a massive "Thank You" goes straight out across the pond to Frank for this.  We're looking forward to getting out there again with FTW Industries, exciting times are afoot!

Lee.

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....And Then There Were Four.....

..."..Dr Emmett Brown: If my calculations are correct, when this baby hits 88 miles per hour... 

you're gonna see some serious shit.."...

Well I never saw this coming, quite out of the blue...... for 2013 we're going back to the future.....

In the middle on the 90's I would say Teesdale Development, as The Development was known at back then, was probably one of the biggest teams on the circuit, if not THE biggest.  Reckon I was managing something like 12 riders at one point, crikey....but by hell, they were absolutely great times and we ripped it up all over the country.  As we still do today, although on a slightly smaller scale.  

Now, you've all been introduced to the Seagull, AKA Steve Foster in a previous blog, well I'd like to (re)introduce you all to Chris Foster, Steve's older brother and a stalwart of the UK mountain bike circuit.

That was back then....

And this is now.... (Photo copyright of Ian Linton)

Like his brother, Chris has been travelling around the globe, rock climbing, snowboarding, white water rafting, hiking, adventure biking (I keep telling him to blog about his past adventures out there on his bikes, believe you me the photos I've seen are amazing and NEED to be shared!) and indeed cutting people up and sewing them back together when he was working in his local hospital, I kid ye not.  His tales about the contents of the 'under-the-operating-theatre-table-bucket' were quite hilarious, especially the one about the dismembered finger!  On top of that I have to say he owned what is probably the best team vehicle we've ever seen, his mighty Mini, legendary!

Best.Team.Vehicle.Ever!

Chris will be ripping up the expert men's downhill category alongside Nick on the team's handbuilt FTW Industries 'FB10' downhill bikes as well as dabbling here and there with a bit of enduro to keep it all fresh.  Not forgetting the annual foray into the French Alps for the Alpes d'huez Megavalanche later in the year.  Bring it on!

Photo copyright of Ian Linton

Welcome back in the fold Chris, I'm absolutely over the moon that you're back on board and wish you all the very best for the season.

Photo copyright of Ian Linton

 Now, let's get out there and kick some ass!



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Welcoming in the New Year.....with a fell run!

Admittedly we're not your run-of-the-mill bike team, although I guess you already worked that out by now, all of the team thrive in the great outdoors.  

Whilst the throngs of people congregated in various places to see in the New Year both Angie and Steve were snuggly tucked up in bed to see it in in a different way......with a fell run...... here's Angie with the commentary....

Steve and I decided that 2013 going to be all about doing new and memorable things ...and what a better way to start the year off than with a cheeky run up the Great Gable, which the seventh highest mountain in England!

Naturally it had been chucking it down cats and dogs the week leading up to it however we decided to just go regardless to what Mother Nature could throw at us.  The weather wasn’t that bad in the morning when we woke, just low cloud.  

An hour and a half later we were at Seathwaite Farm in Borrowdale and quickly got ourselves ready, trainers on, lightweight jackets and a small rucksack with a map and a drink, easy!  The fells above looked grey and oppressive, the low cloud meant we couldn't see if there was any snow up top …it was very atmospheric, pure Lord of the Rings!

Off past the farm we went and along the track over Stockley Bridge, up ahead we could see the first climb and it started to go up, and up, further on it went, and went, we pushed on and pushed harder, the lactic build up telling you it was a good work out.  Just imagine being on a stepper machine at the gym for a good 30 mins solid at high intensity, yeah?  OK, I think you got the picture a little there!  

As we climbed we kept looking back over the views that were starting to open up across the Borrowdale valley, it was a beautiful feeling to know that it was New Year’s Day and there wasn't another soul to be seen, just us and nature.  It's a canny good feeling that!

It started to ease up as we ran along a singletrack path beside a small beck, trying to get our breath back as the terrain became a bit more tricky underfoot.  Boulders and ankle twisters at your desire!  The path lead us to the edge of Sty Head Tarn, from here you can either head off to Scafell and the surrounding fells or head towards the right for the Gables.  This is where we were headed, off up Great Gable. 

(Edit: Lee here, I cannae get this darned photo to centre, sorry!)

The fell gets a lot of foot fall on Remembrance Sunday (11^th Nov) when hundreds of people and a priest summit the mountain to hold a service around the memorial and show respect for the men and women who fought in the war.

Having got our breath back it was time for another steep incline up the south face of the mountain, man-made steps have been put in here and it’s a bit of a thigh killer.  As we got further up the steps disappeared, a drop in concentration could mean a twisted ankle, or worse, best to be on your guard.  The over night rain had iced over on the rocks, it was incredibly slippery just like running on wet glass.  But then, that's all part of the challenge.

Reaching the 700 metre mark we started spotting patches of snow and little flurries were coming down, rather magical.  Not long later we were at the top, the wind was just so bloody strong that it was freezing our faces and fingers off. You could just see across to Scafell where there was quite a bit of old snow on the tops.  We both chucked on warmer jackets and buffs, then set off to run down to the Windy Gap (titter ye not!). 

When you're out on the fells you soon learn how quickly the weather can change, literally in a snap of the fingers.  Mist had dropped and we couldn’t see much around us, it was so much fun though once we got some speed up, it was like being on a downhill bike and picking lines the whole way. Excellent fun!

Got back down to the Sty Head Tarn and then just cracked on all the way back to the car.  This wasn't before heading off the trail after finding some sweet sheep tracks with off-camber sections mind, we raced each other picking the high lines.  Such fun! (Thank you 'Miranda'!)

Back at the car it was an easy decision to make..... a pub lunch you say? Well how could we not!? Mmm, most delectable! Haha!

Lake District fell runs are going to be one of my main staples for 2013! 

Absolutely loved it!

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