Update: Nick will hopefully be firing all cylinders by the Innerleithen round of the Scottish Downhill Series.
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Wednesday, 18 April 2012
Them's the breaks.....
Alpine Bikes Winter Series Rnd 3, Innerleithen 4th March 2012
Angie:
Another trip to Innerleithen for the final stage of the Alpine Bikes Winter Series. This stage was a downhill race so a bit more familiar to me than the Day/Night Enduro of the last round.
As it was my first downhill race of the year and wasn't quite sure how I would place against the other girls. I'd done quite a lot of training however it has been more cross-country than downhill based and y'know, wasn't sure how that would pay off.
The track was awesome, I love Inners! It started off down the steep stuff at the top, over a couple of drops into some shaley turns which spewed you out over the fire road. From there it's into some nice(!) slippy, twisty roots and tight corners making it hard to get the pedal strokes in. After the next fire road crossing was into the drop zone and then out into some jumps with a hip jump that I chose to sneak along the outside of after watching some of the elite guys take that line during practice, it was much quicker to stay on the ground pedalling like the clappers!
(Photo courtesy of Barry Primrose)
It finished over the infamous bombhole jump however it cut right afterwards into the flat turns and then through the normal finish line. All in, couldn't fault it at all.
The weather was pretty mixed, dry during the Friday's track walk then wet on Saturday morning but it soon dried up nicely in the sun shine later in the day. However this is Scotland! And Scotland being Scotland, well it chucked a heep of snow down over Saturday night so it was tricky choosing the right tyres and adapting your lines for the weather, in the end I just stuck with Maxxis High Rollers and kept my chosen lines.
(Photo courtesy of Barry Primrose)
Sunday came along and my first race run went OK I guess, messed up a couple of lines stalling. I placed 2nd, three seconds off Bex Reilly who was in the lead. I knew I could make up a couple of seconds if I had a good second run mind, I came down six seconds faster and took the win 3 seconds up on Bex who had a crash on her 2nd run.
I was pretty happy to have started the season with a win in an Enduro and a Downhill race - I got the Winter Series Overall Win too. Dead chuffed!
I'm pretty excited for the rest of the year especially once I'm on the new FTW steed but know I'm gonna have to train like a beast to get closer to the big dogs in the British Downhill Series.
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Alpine Bikes Winter Enduro, Innerleithen 30th January 2012
Angela takes over the crib.....
Just back from Alpine Bikes Night Enduro.
After a 5.30am start and riding to the top of Innerleithen six times and then racing four stages split between the day and night followed by not getting home till midnight......well, I think it's fair to say I'm knackered!
The race was spot on though, really well organised and as it was my first enduro I didn't really know what to expect. I don't know why but I didn't expect as much pedalling. The Downhill runs had quite a lot of cheeky pedally sections thrown in and with a mix of wind, hail, snow, rain and sunshine the tracks all got a bit messy.
Night time came and my race runs were just carnage, being used to racing purely downhill and having almost the perfect run knowing the track inside out, these are totally different. You don't know what's around the corner at all, it's all about lightning quick reactions and being ready for anything and everything that is thrown at you, and of course having a LOT of fitness. Oh my god, did I say it was tiring!?
(Night time shenanigans - Photo courtesy of Ian Linton)
Each rider gets timed for each stage and were then added together to give you your overall position.
In downhill if you mess up your run then it's pretty much game over however with enduro it's different as you can grab that time back on another track and the chances of someone else making a mistake too are pretty high.
I was pleasantly surprised to find that I had taken the win by about 3.5mins. Yay!!
All in all it was a brilliant event, the format is pretty much bang-on and I reckon it's something that's really going to help alongside downhill training in terms of fitness and strength. Damn good weekend, but right now I need to sleep!
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Apologies...... no blogs as of late....
Hi everyone, apologies for there being no team blogs lately, I've been caught up in a big house move and to say it's been hellish is putting it politely!
New updates are a-coming.......
Lee.
Wednesday, 11 January 2012
It's that time of year again......
The heaven's open, the rain falls, the tracks and trails turns to gloop ....and then....... as if by magic...... you have a sudden brain wave ....and THIS is the result:
Friday, 2 December 2011
Angie Coates - Star of the Silver Screen!
Our Angie has recently been a very busy bee sorting a show-reel out and I must say it's damned good......
The direct link is here: Angie's Film on Pinkbike
Huzzah!
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Wednesday, 9 November 2011
Northern Areas Downhill Championships, Hamsterley Forest, 28th October 2011
BOOM BOOM POW!
The Northern Downhill Series came to town with the Northern Areas Championships, a big race with a fantastic turn out and, more importantly, held at Hamsterley Forest in County Durham with the assistance from Descend Hamsterley. You may ask why that is so important, well it is for us you see, we have a whole lot of good history with that there forest! So, all in…… bring it on!
Here’s Nicklaus: The course was a combination of two tracks that were least ridden by Nick, starting on the 4-cross, crossing the fire road at the top and then onto the main line through the rock garden. Some nice flowy jumps up top and a gaggle of spectators near the bottom of the 4-cross section watching riders crash their guts out on the triples, bless!
(Muddy good fun. Photo courtesy of Ben Sadler)
A wooden booter threw you over the road into some technical traversing corners and drops then through the rock garden. Saturday was bone dry and a load of fun, got a load of runs in and things were going great, fantastic banter between the riders, nice to see such a good laid back event. Completely forgot the GoPro on the Saturday, I know, I’m an idiot! The conditions were ideal as well. Race day span around and so did the weather, the recurring trend this year, it was foggy and cold, meh! So….apologies for the filming quality as it was a tad dark in the trees. The track hadn’t changed that much, I’d dare say there was actually more grip to be had apart from the rock garden which was a greasy little *expletive deleted*.
My three practice runs which went pretty well, hit the lines I needed to and got into the flow of everything, feeling top notch. Chilled out with my mates after that until the race runs. As I was the reigning Northern Champion from 2010 I was determined to put in a good result, it was a very competitive field.
(Photo courtesy of Richard Easton)
My race run went well although I lost a little time over jumping a few jumps and getting a little carried away in a corner where I ended up stalling on the exit killing the speed needed to hit it full tilt through the rock garden. With that aside a side I was happy and only a couple of seconds off the pace.
With the second run I knew what needed to be done. Loads faster up top, staying smooth, hit the lower corner that was giving me grief earlier and same thing happened, stalled it, bollocks! Made up some time further down the course and came across the line taking the second place in the champs, awesome!
(This Vimeo Link will take you to the video on the Vimeo website - a new blog template is being worked on as I type)
So it’s a wrap for this year’s racing and I want to say a big thanks to Lee Walker and all the support from the Sponsors. The hard work now starts for 2012, it has been a good year however I need to up the ante. Really looking forward to getting the new frame as the FB10 has been beyond awesome….. and I would like to add that it’s the only frame I haven’t snapped! Top work indeed Mr Wadleton!
Angie: Hiya Lee, I'm sat in the van here with Chris and Steve Foster on our way up to Aberdeen and then off on a road trip around the Isle of Skye with the XC bikes. Really excited!
I'm pretty happy I actually got to race at Hamsterley, the beginning of the week was a nightmare as I thought it just wasn't going to happen because of my wrist.
We walked the track on Friday and knew it was gonna be a wild race...starting off on the 4X past the hut and into the main line down all the drops to the bottom table-top by the river. I only had one concern and that was how my wrist would hold up off the hard hits but Helen (Gaskell) gave me a nice metal wrist support which helped loads. :)
Practice on Saturday was good, I had three uplifts but sectioned a lot of bits. Did most of my practice with Sara and The Tea Lady. There was a big wooden booter by the hut over a gap to a landing which was a bit dodgy for me as I wasn't clearing it quite like I wanted and was getting bucked about a little.
After a dry Saturday you almost knew Sunday was gonna be wet! I kept the same tyres on and got two practice runs in in the morning. It well went damned well.
On my first race run, I'm not quite sure what happened really, I will put it down to pedaling a lot more and having a big crowd cheering me on but I managed to clear all the jumps on the 4X track and landed off the wooden booter fine. I got to the bottom with a 1.47 giving me a 10 second lead against the other girls!
Second race run was better overall by 1 second with a 1.46 which is amazing as I messed up a bit of the 4-cross section but let the brakes off through the rock garden, totally railed it. Kept the first place with a big fat grin on my face!
I am the NORTHERN CHAMPION!!! WOOOOOOOOPPPPP!
(Wha-heeeey! Photo courtesy of Reuben Tabner)
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