Aston Hill - hotter than the sun

Today all of us except Pete braved the blistering heat to ride at Aston Hill. We rode the usual tracks and messed around on the 4x jumps before chatting to Rich and finding that Gee Atherton rode and enjoyed the red run. 

If the current downhill world champion enjoyed the track then we had no excuse for not riding it. The top section does involve a lot of pedaling so it's easy to see why some people may not enjoy it but the bottom half is great fun to ride.

A mix of big berms, tight switch backs, chutes and the odd little jump make it a top track to play about on. If you're a bit cheeky, or lazy, then you can always miss out the top half of the track by cutting in next to the push up. 

Woburn Sands

Apparently yesterday was the hottest day of the year so far and it definitely felt like it in the small patch of woodland that makes up Woburn Sands.  

Myself, Peter, Mark and Colver made it to Woburn bright and early and after a warm up on the hip line we headed over to a kicker near the dirt jump area. 

The good weather meant the trails were as dusty as ever which made it great for filming. It made it less good for riding without goggles. All the photo's from the day can be found here.

Rich Abbott

At the end of April the CTC, Britain's national cyclist organisation held their annual awards and Aston Hill Chairman Rich Abbott received an award for his contributions to Aston Hill Mountain Bike Club.

I went for a ride at Aston and hoped to have a chat with Rich but was told he was busy with a new shovel building a new corner on DH4.

Luckily I was able to catch up with him at the end of the day and found out a bit about what he does for the club and what the future holds for Aston Hill.

"I was always mad about riding as a kid and never really stopped. I used to race endurance XC and started riding Aston Hill during the foot and mouth outbreak as it was the only XC venue still open."

In 2007 it looked like Aston Hill would be shut down but Rich decided to put up a fight: " I approached the FC about forming a club to run Aston and Ian Warby who ran Aston Hill for years put my name forward.

"Now I spend about nine hours a week working to keep the place open. There's loads planned for the future of Aston Hill.

"I want to rebuild the 4x track and give it a start ramp. Some dirt jumps would be nice and I want to re surface the XC track.

"There's plans for a new DH track and extensions on the XC loop. We may even hold a race series in 2010."

It's pretty cool to get an award from the CTC. It's nice to get a pat on the back every now and then."

2 parks 1 bike

Me and Mark managed it this week. Chicksands and Woburn Sands in one day. We called in at Chicksands first and rode their for a few hours. Nothing seemed to really click though until we rode the bull run, my favourite trail at Chicky that I couldn't ride previously because I was whining about a bad back.  

With a drop and two pretty big jumps the bull run is really fun to ride. And to make it even better the trail ends with some short, sharp berms. 

After midday we packed up and headed over to Woburn. Straight away we saw more evidence of building there. The landing to the second hip had been built up slightly and the berm at the top of the hip trail had been re-enforced. 

We had a great time up there playing cat and mouse chasing each other down the trails into the final ski jump. Before we left we found a way of making the mini-road gap link to the final jump, making the gap more worthwhile.  

Here's a video I put together of the bull run. I've edited to have a black and white effect. Let me know what you think. 

Woburn Sands Video

I spent a bit more time editing this video from last weeks ride so it's a bit better than most the others I've posted. Hope you enjoy it. 

May Day at Aston Hill

It was a bit of a weird days riding today. Me and Pete started in full waterproofs, switched to shorts and t-shirts then by the end of the day were back in waterproofs. The joys of the British summertime. 

When we arrived it was just starting to rain so we headed over to the 4x track before it became too slippy to ride. I didn't attempt the road gap as I'm not great at it at the best of times, let alone in the wet and without Alex to guide me in.   

After the first costume change we headed down DH4. Pete wanted to ride in front and coyly said "I hope I don't slow you down", before setting off at a blinding pace. We rode the track later in the afternoon, after another change of clothes, and change of weather but had to be a bit more cautious and couldn't match the pace. 

DH3 is always fun to ride in the wet but the weekends birthday celebrations caught up with us and we had no energy for the sprint start and ended up just pumping most of the track; still good fun though. 

As per usual the AC's were out in full force but I also spoke to 'factory Joe' who I met at the BUCS, and Greg, who I met out in Morzine last summer.