UK Gravity Enduro - Ae Forest, 29th to 30th August 2015

The UK Gravity Enduro at Ae Forrest was a Bank Holiday bonanza of riding, it was a total barn stormer with mammoth thigh-busting pedal-to-the-metal sections in between! Round four had everything!

Arriving early on the Thursday meant that I had plenty of opportunity to ride the course before seeding on Saturday. It also demonstrated to me the amount of work that goes into this kind of event, a LOT, big thanks as always to everyone who makes these events happen – they've all been rad!

Now, the stages:

Number 1 was a typical trail centre type course with built up berms and jumps leading into a gnarly freshly cut section which twisted back on itself a couple of times before hitting a tight right hander and then plummeting down a steep descent into the finish. My Manitou suspension really soaked this up and the track was pure delight to ride, you picked up some good speed and really felt it on your face when swooshing around the corners, brilliant!

2 came along with fresh thick mud, roots and a sneaky few bumps and lumps which caught out the unwary, including myself, which wasn't very pretty I admit!  You then flew out onto the fire road for a fairly long sprint until reaching the red trail centre section and then hitting it in reverse. This meant a fair bit of pedalling which tested everyone's fitness. I could see the rider in front of me down here but just couldn’t quite catch the speedy Sally Evame!

Number 3 was a blinder, wow, this is the stage everyone had been talking about. Should I ride it again? I practiced this stage once and once only from the top to the bottom it required skills, flare and guts taking you down through steep muddy twisting switchbacks.  Once I had unclipped I found it impossible to get back into my pedals and fell awkwardly into a massive bush just past a lovely photographer who was shouting messages of encouragement to me, whoops!

Stage 4 came along and proved to be another absolutely epic stage; tight trees, mud galore, few steep drops before flying out onto a nice flowy trail lined some great cheering spectators, it was time to get a bit of stylish air time on my Orange Five!

Finally stage 5, the seeding run and the final run took place on the Sunday and what a mint trail it was!  It had everything, steep loose rocks, rock gardens, fresh cut loam and a great arena to finish into.

Each climb took at least 50 minutes totalling up to a long day on Sunday, five hours on the bike! This took a lot of guts, however we all fuelled by the great encouragement from fellow riders and all of the spectators, it's an amazing atmosphere.

Many thanks to everyone who encouraged me and cheered me on through the rounds, I ended the weekend further down the field that I would have liked after the mud got the better of me, still had an awesome weekend though.

See you all on the hills,

Robyn x

Nemesis...... Scottish Downhill Series, Innerleithen, 17th August 2014

"Well after not racing since breaking my wrist I have realised that today was a shower of shit!" - Nick Turner, Innerleithen SDA 2014

Nick: Tom and me were back up at Innerleithen for the fourth round of the Scottish Downhill Series, we both had scores to settle with Plora Rig!  This was supposed to have been my comeback race after breaking my wrist earlier in the year and indeed with becoming a new dad, with that now in hindsight.... ha!

It was my first race using the Stan's No Tubes systems and my new Michelin Wild Rock R2’s on the Sun A.D.D. PRO 27.5 wheels .....yes I know the tyres are being marketed for enduro racing, but trust me, they are amazing for downhill!  As you can now tell, I’ve turned to the dark side of the force with the 27.5 set up.

Home grown team pits or bust!

The track walk was eye opening, the course left little to be desired.  Out of all the routes they could have used they chose the one with complete lack of flow and a tonne of flat sections. As I got to grips with it over the weekend it became marginally better, but not by much.  What did you think Tom?

Tom: Racing at Innerleithen never goes to plan for me having had a run of bad luck up there in the past, crashing, getting flats and catching people up.  Have to back Nick up with what he’s just said, the SDA came up with some strange ideas in regards to the course’s design, just no flow.

A brief respite from the pedal fest...

The weather thankfully held together on both practice and race days with just overcast drizzle to contend with, the forecasted rain thankfully held off.

Nick: Track conditions remained pretty consistent and I was feeling confident on the course as the day progressed however like many other riders I was also trying to follow older sections of track and ducking under tapes, it took a while to put the course together in my head.

Tom: But ducking under the tape was kinda fun though, I had a few moments of wondering where I was going in practice…. Where’d the tape go? ....Oh!

I was following Nick on some of my runs and he was picking up a fair whack of speed as the day progressed, it wasn’t long before we were both catching people up which is both a blessing and a curse.  Both of our FTW bikes were totally on it, couldn’t fault anything, my Michelin’s were simply railing, all was good.

Nick: I got one full run in on Sunday morning, scoping the changes in the course, hitting about I’d say 80% of my lines and my confidence was back.

First race run started well hitting the tricky sections up top faster then in practice when all of a sudden I ran out of a corner and punched a tree with the hand I broke. Thought I was in trouble right there but carried on, however I had wasted quite a bit of time worrying about my wrist and was unable to make it up, completely off the pace.

Photo copyright of Ian Linton

Tom: My first race run wasn't going too badly, hit the top section full on and started to get into my stride however overcooked things on the off camber roots further down which lost me a bit of time.  I was disappointed but that’s downhill racing for you, my concentration then switched straight to my second run.

Nick: My second race run was make or break, a bad pun considering, I know!

Out of the gate I went hell for leather, bouncing over the off camber roots one footed into the first corner, Rudolf Nureyev I was not!  In my head I was trying to calm myself down and get back into a flow, which is hard when the voice in your head is screaming “CALM THE HELL DOWN!” and keeping your concentration away from the job in hand!  I made a fatal mistake and ran out of track again, had to pull over to the side and let the next rider past as I didn't want to mess up their run too.

I have never felt so disappointed with a race result/performance. Particularly after feeling so good on the bike in practice, it was almost a psychological problem when it came to the race runs.  Gutted, no two ways about it.  I need a coffee, back over to Tom….

Tom: I was back up in the start gate and ready for my second shot hoping this one would be better.  It wasn’t to be, came off on the off camber roots, jumped straight back on the bike wasting no time, despite the crash I was going quicker this time made some little mistakes further down the course but I felt good.  Crossed that finish line in tenth place which although could have been better I was happy with considering.

Photo copyright of Ian Linton

Our next race is Fort William where we’re both sure the bikes will come into their own.  I’m heading back to Keswick and getting out in the Cumbrian Mountains.  Nick wants to do a shout out, Nick?

Nick: Aye, Innerleithen completely kicked my ass, come Fort William I will be back up to full fitness with a huge thanks to Crossfit Jacana in Durham which have had me blowing out my ass three to four days a week since my wrist was fixed. Their head coach has been a massive help with rehab from my injury, a big thanks going out to them.

See you all on the Aonach Mor.

Punk ain't dead!

UK Gravity Round 2, Innerleithen, 27th & 28th April 2013

Seagull's 'ere!

So I guess this is a little late for the write up (Lee: yep.... been tapping my foot impatiently here!) but life's been getting busy for us both this year with the big house move!  Finally got around to it though, here's our take on round 2 of the UK Gravity Enduro Series. 

(The selfie!)

The race took place at the legendary mtb venue of Innerleithen.  This crazy hillside has been a favourite of ours for years, it dosen't seem to matter if you're crashing your brains out in the mud or spitting up dust in the dry!  It's actually claimed many injuries for both of us over the years, from broken wrists to dislocated fingers and torn ligaments. I first raced there on the back of The Development bus back in 1999 (back in the 'Teesdale Development' years!) if I remember correctly, but shit, that makes me feel old! Nonetheless the point is the place still totally rule the roost! It's fast, dangerous and damned fun.....

(Copyright of Steve Wyper)

Arriving at the venue on the Friday was an exciting time; last year's race totally favoured the downhillers with steep fast technical tracks, we expected more of the same again.  For me though it didn't really live up to the expectations, it seemed the emphasis was more on fitness than fun, not that there is anything wrong with that, it's just not really how my lazy arse does things!  They had three tracks I really loved though so I came home smiling any how!

(Copyright of Ian Linton)

It was great weekend regardless, it was challenging and that's what it's all about.  Results wise we were both pretty happy with how it turned out considering how physical it was.  By her own admission, Angie found the race demanding, she pushed damned hard though and put in some awesome times. She didn't finish as high as she'd have liked but she wasn't off the pace by a long chalk just a smidge back from the big dogs up front, she's putting up a good fight in the Elite women's category.

(Copyright of Ian Linton)

I struggled with the pedally tracks as usual, but dug deep and did my best, staying clean for most of the day.  Track 4 made the whole weekend for me, it was a blend of everything really, trail centre type stuff with an awesome natural start and finish, muddy as hell down a steep shoot!  My arms were battered but I was laughing my arse off the whole way.  After a long day I finished up in 16th position out of over 140 entrants in the Master's category, not too shabby. 

(Copyright of Steve Wyper)

Overall it was a tough weekend racing for us both and probably everyone else, but it was also good one too racing with our weapon freinds and being treated to huge curry on the saturday night made all the difference, thanks for the hospitality from or little flapjack-making friends!

Curry night; the lovely Tracy B at the back next to the Segull and Angie then T-Mo and James Richards

Oh, and I forgot the main thing, big thanks to the team boss Lee Walker for sorting us out in time for the race, not only with all the product support but if it wasnt for you Big Dog I wouldnt have had my bike ready in time to compete.  Big thanks for pulling some strings to get me sorted. :)

The Weapons! Seagull, Sarah Newman, Helen Gaskell, Angie Coates....muddy as hell and loving it!

Next up is round 3 or the Gravity Enduros at Hamsterley Forest, our local wrecking ground... We're both buzzing our socks off for that one!!!

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Into The Woods..... Scottish Downhill Series Round 1, Innerleithen, 21st April 2013

Sorry to keep y'all waiting out there, I'm so outta practise with the team blog shizzle, it's Nick here.....

First race of the year, so I was pretty excited, neither Chris nor me attended the first round of the British Downhill Series the week before as it was held at Combe Sydenham which is a very long way to travel for what is in effect a flat as a pancake pootle through their woods!  A controversial comment there, I know!  So this weekend was the first opportunity to gauge myself against the other riders.

This was the first round of the SDA's at Innerleithen which is a superb venue with some great tracks.  Got to the pits really late in the evening and didn't have time to walk the track.  In hindsight, after the first practise run on Saturday morning, I wish I had taken a torch and gone up the mountainside as there were so many lines to choose from. 

Photo copyright of Paul Mears

I am waiting for my new Team-Issue FTW Industries 'FB10' downhill frame to arrive from the 'States before fitting all of the new kit so sent my Boxxer forks off to the guys at TF Tuned for some TLC.  As usual they came back working as sweet as a nut, thank you so much guys, you rule!   The bike was running damned good and the course's conditions were only a tad moist which made for a nice change as of late.  Track wise, well it had a bit of everything to put me and the bike through its paces.  Some real nice tight technical sections, some big jumps and some flat out sprints.

Photo copyright of the awesome Ian Linton

Unfortunately due to the good old Post Office being so incredibly efficient (quite!) I was unable to collect my new DFender mud guard which would have been a great advantage however my 100% goggles and laminated tear offs did a great job of keeping the cack out of my eyes!

Photo copyright of Steve Wyper

My last practice run was going well, I was riding fast and hitting most of my lines bang-on.  Coming into the last jump section near the bottom of the track there were a load of spectators indicating for me to slow down, which I did, one of the trackside marshalls told me to carry on so I started to pick my speed back up.  Due to being out of sync with the track I hit the first jump awry, usually I was hitting it perfectly lined up and flat out.  It went all to hell on landing and my head took the hard brunt of it, very grateful to my Urge lid for protecting my youthful looks!  I was feeling pretty dazed so left it at that for the day.

Photo copyright of Steve Wyper

Race day hit and there had been a bit of rain over night so the track was a little slicker.  In the morning's practice session I was a little more cautious, pulled back a fair bit, but I guess that's understandable though.  Having said that I was feeling darned good for race runs.  On the first run I washed out across one of the fire roads which costing me a little time, that really hacked me off as I was on it.   Took that annoyance into my second run and really tried to nail it, shaved off 6 seconds, that's not too shabby but I was off the pace.  The crash in practise gave my confidence a hit.

Next up is the first round of the Northern Downhill Series at Kidland, I will be on it!

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Borderline events, Innerleithen, 24th February 2013

Chris Foster takes over the crib: Well I arrived fashionably late at the venue (around midnight) to find something reminsent of an old NAMBS race.  A few fires and a few daft arses keeping the campsite awake.. for once not me though!  It would have been rude of me to ignore the atmosphere so a few rums were necked and I was off to bed.

Up for an early morning and a brisk track walk.  Quote of the weekend goes to newby racer Peter Woods for 'You could hang a hoodie from my nipples', it were a wee bit cold y'see! The track was simple, fast and a safe option considering the weather at this time of year, it was taped by Lewis Buchanan, and he sure knows his stuff, so yeah, Mike Marsden got himself a good track. 

Practice was kept to four runs for me, having not been on the bike for a while I wanted to stay fresh.  It was slow going at first but started to get there by the end of the day, the track was enjoyed by most and it was great to see a lot of first time racers there.  All seemed pretty stoked to being part of it, if not a bit nervous.  We had an early night and found the party folks from the previous evening must have learned their lesson as it had all thankfully quietened down.

After another cold night, up early (for me anyway) and out for a practise run, just the one as it's a long ride along that Inners road, especially in the bleedin' cold weather.  Got my race lines all sorted I had a wee walk up the bottom of the track for a little entertainment... only to find I would spend the next hour looking after a potential spinal injury, great!

Racing soon got underway and the times rolled in as most people stayed warm in their cars. The track was hard up top for my race run but grippy as can be, awesome... if only my riding was too!  Had a sketchy first run, trying too hard to put a good time in after so long off the bike took its toll and I hit the deck, not far from the end of the track. 

(Photo copyright of Ian Linton)

Second run came around quickly, as I spent the most of my time trying to sort a brake that failed on the first run.  Big thanks going out to Jamie Johnson for taking some time out to get that sorted for me,  Boshed on up the hill with my bruised arse and to make matter's worse I fell out of the uplift bus and bashed my arse again, bugger! 

(Photo copyright of Ian Linton)

The plan for run two was to take it easy, conserve energy and get all my lines sweetly dialled in, that was a conscious effort not to pedal aside from the start and finish straight.  At the top of the hill light was fading fast and we were blessed with snow, this made for some interesting possibilities on track.  I found it really good though and managed all that I wanted, absolutely class!  Well apart from the brake which I guess has to go back to Hope, It's new and just doesn't wanna work!  So yeah, steady as planned and not too bad a time considering.

(Photo copyright of Steve Wyper)

The race was won by Lewis Buchanan, with an awesome time, Jack Reading second followed closely by Adam Brayton and then Pete Williams who are both coming back from injury.  So good times for them two. Dave Wardell put in a stonking time in Masters, showing all the young lads how it should be done and indeed showing that the old school are still shining!

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