2012 Cube Fritzz Pro

The Cube Fritzz was the first bike that opened my mind to the potential of air shocks and proved that they’re not just for the reserve of cross country bikes. I wanted a bike with playful nature, but that I’d also be able to cover some distance on for trail riding. That’s exactly what I got from the Fritzz!

Whilst my Fritzz Pro, might be the lower equipped model, the spec list throws up some rather impressive kit; Deore XT rear shifter, Race Face Respond cranks, Formula brakes, Easton Wheels and a Fox RP23 rear shock. It’s the Rock Shox Lyric RC2P fork that’s really impressed me though. This was my first time using a Rock Shox for other than the Boxxer’s. They’ve been fantastic straight out of the box, and I’m yet to find a single fault with them. 780mm wide bars from Syntace might look a lot written down, but feel great on the trail.

Even in this pitiful weather we’ve been having the Fritzz has been such a joy to ride. The Scwahlbe Fat Alberts just bulldoze through all the mud and sludge on the trail, although once summer finally shows up I’ll be looking for a narrower and faster rolling tyre. That said, as it is the Fritzz still picks up speed pretty quickly, and with a low centre of gravity is great at cornering.

At 14.6 kilos the Fritzz is hardly the lightest bike out there, but with a few little tweaks that weight can easily be shed.

For now though, I’m having too much fun riding the bike to worry about things like that!

This bike is screaming out to be ridden up high in the mountains, so I’m going to focus on that instead…

Aaron Gwin Wins Mont Sainte Anne World Cup

Aaron Gwin has won his third World Cup race of the season taking victory in Mont Sainte Anne. Out the gate Gwin went fastest straight away, and while he lost time in the rock garden in the middle of the long, demanding course, he still crossed the line nearly a second and a half up on Minnaar’s time.

Mick Hannah was having a great race run and looked to be making a return to the form we saw at the start of the season in Pitermaritzburg, up at the first two splits and fastest through the speed trap, but a snapped chain stole his chances of a podium spot. Still, Hannah crossed the line just a few hundredths of a second back from current hot seat occupier Thibaut Ruffin. Brendan Fairclough was also having a greta race, squashing the jumps and skipping over the rocks but suffered the same misfortune of a lost chain.

This was Neko Mulally’s first World Cup race with the American Flag on his sleeve having been belatedly awarded the title USA National Champion title. Having decided not to race at Fort William and to instead rest his injured ankle, Mulally was hoping for another solid top 20 result. But Mulally’s front wheel slid out on the take off to the hip jump and he took a heavy slam and looked to have been knocked out.

After treatment on site by medical staff, he walked away without any broken bones, and is suffering from a mild concussion. He will be under observation for the next 48hrs but is expected to make a speedy recovery. Mulally wasn’t the only victim on this punishing course. Matti Lehikoinen had a big crash in the rock garden that left him with a seperated shoulder.

Gee Atherton knows only too well how hard the ground is here in Mont Sainte Anne. A huge crash in practice left many people questioning if Gee would be able to ride in qualifying, let alone how he managed to ride so fast. Gee obviously hadn’t let the crash phase him and was back to race speed, finishing fourth and earning his spot on the podium.

Brook MacDonald had been looking fast all through practice and after qualifying fourth had been tipped by many to make his return to the podium. Brook was up at the first split and wrestled his way through the rock gardens, but lost time and had to settle for sixth place, just 0.3 seconds back from Sam Hill.

Danny Hart only has one riding style; wild, and that’s exactly how he made his way down the mountain, cutting in to every berm and getting loose on every jump. It’s only got to be a matter of time before Hart wins his first World Cup, but he should be more than happy with a third place.
Greg Minnaar’s c riding couldn’t be more different to Hart’s if he tried. He just looks so clean and calculated. Minnaar is also a more powerful rider than Hart, and was able to put that power down and go up on the second split, carrying the speed down and finishing in second place.

 In the last 11 World Cup races there have only been two winners; Greg and Gwin. With Greg already in the finish pit Gwin was on his way down to claim his eight victory, thus extending his lead in the overall standings by 135 points. Speaking about his win in Mont Sainte Anne, the track he debuted on in 2008, Gwin said: “It feels amazing! I kind of made some mistakes towards the end, but the rest of the run was good enough. This track is hard from the top to the bottom, you really have to work for it!”

Elite Men’s Top Five

1 Aaron Gwin 4:14.022
2 Greg Minnaar 4:15.329
3 Danny Hart 4:16.162
4 Gee Atherton 4:17.082
5 Sam Hill 4:17.631

Full results can be found here.

Racing continues in Windham next weekend where no doubt Gwin will be looking for another victory on home soil.

IMB Issue 18 Goes Live

IMB Issue 18 has just gone live and features a photo taken by me as the front cover! The main feature this issue is 'The Spanish Inquisition', mine and Will's adventure to Spain with Pure Mountains. This was easily the best riding trip I've been on and was so fun to write about. Plus Will's photos are pretty amazing!

Big interview this issue has to be the Anthill Films talking about their new film 'Strength In Numbers', which hails their return to the top of the game. This issue I also interviewed Swiss Cross Country rider Ralph Naef who races for the Multivan Merida Team.

Naef's been having a great 2012 season and after his podium finish in La Bresse was selected to be a part of the Swiss Olympic mtb squa. Cross country riding isn't my usual field of expertise so it was cool to have to do a bit of research and find out more about what it takes to be an elite rider. Definitely an eye opener and a great read.

Anthill Films - Strength In Numbers

The Spanish Inquisition

 Ralph Naef

Aaron Gwin Wins Fort William World cup

Aaron Gwin has claimed his seventh first place finish having won the third round of the UCI Downhill World Cup in Fort William! Gwin laid down a flawless race run in less than perfect conditions.

 Having crashed twice in his qualifying run Gwin, testing new tyres, relied on being a protected top 20 racer to secure his spot at the top of the mountain, meaning he set off for his race run a lot sooner than he’s used to. Gwin joked afterwards that this was the longest time he’d ever spent in the hot seat, and as a Californian native was starting to feel the cold!

Steve Peat suffered a nasty crash in a practice run that left him with a torn hamstring and unable to do anything more in his qualifying run than too simply roll out the start gate to reserve his place in the race. Unfortunately though Peaty’s injury was too much and after the first section was forced to simply roll down the hill, clearing the track for Gwin and Transition’s Sam Dale, who finished eighth, his highest ever World Cup finish.

There’s a lot of history at Fort William and last year Brook MacDonald played his part in it finishing third, but today a crash in the woods dashed any chances of a repeat success so instead the Mondraker put on a great show for the crowds, turning on the style and whipping all the new tabletops on the motorway section and the famous Fort William archway. Cam Cole is another kiwi who has done well here in the past, but today tenth place was the best he could muster up.

Sam Hill has had a rough past two seasons, but a seventh place in Val di Sole last week and a fourth place finish today means one thing. Hill is back, no doubt about it. Greg Minnaar has won here more than any other rider, but today wasn’t his day and as he crossed the line it looked like he had to nurse home a mechanical and he finished in sixth place.

With conditions worsening and the top section of the track almost a white out conditions were not too dissimilar to those in Champery last September. If one man was going to excel in circumstances like this and knock Gwin off the hot seat it was going to be Danny Hart. At the first split Hart was up on Gwin’s time and the pit area was getting wild, but Hart lost time in the middle section, and hard as he tried in the final section he crossed the line just eight hundredths of a second back on Gwin, his first World Cup victory still eluding him.

Gee Atherton was also up on Gwin’s time at the first split, but if there’s one thing Gwin is known for it’s finding time where no-one else has, and that’s exactly what he did here in Fort William, with Gee slipping back into third place when he crossed the line. It’s all about context though. Just a few weeks ago it was questionable whether Gee would be able to even make it to this race, let alone stand proudly on the podium.

Gee’s teammate Marc Beaumont was the last man down, qualifying fastest in very different conditions. No doubt Marc wanted a repeat of Val di Sole and to be up on the podium with Gee once again but a crash on the boardwalk at the top of the track halted any chances of that. Marc wasn’t the only rider to have been caught out by the slippery boardwalk. Steve Smith qualified fourth even with his hand injury, but also wiped out on the top of the track.

With Marc down victory went to Gwin and he reclaimed the series overall! Gwin said: “That was a hard run! I was hanging out by the bottom and didn’t have much left to give. I just tried to conserve it at the top and I can’t believe it paid off! The fans here are just taking it to another level so thanks so much to them for making it so cool for us!”

Elite Men’s Top Five
1 Aaron Gwin 4:48.210
2 Danny Hart +0.834
3 Gee Atherton + 2.516
4 Sam Hill + 3.532
5 Josh Bryceland + 5.056

Full results can be found here.

CRC/Nukeproof’s Joe Smith and Matt Simmonds finished seventh and ninth respectively, which along with Sam Dale in eighth meant there were six British riders in the top ten. I’m no mathematician but even I know that’s 60%! That’s a big turn around from the kiwi domination here last year. Must be all the jubilee celebrations!

Aaron Gwin Wins Val di Sole World Cup

Aaron Gwin has just blown the competition out the water, winning the second round of the UCI Downhill World Cup by nearly eight seconds. Gwin is now tied with Greg Minnaar, who finished second today, in the overall standings. In the women’s race Rachel Atherton made an incredible return to World Cup racing winning the women’s race on her new GT Fury.

 
In fact it was a great day for the GT team, with every member of the team earning a podium finish. It’s crazy think it’s four years ago since Gee Atherton won the World Champs here back in 2008, and today, having only been off crutches for a few weeks, Gee finished in third. Adopted brother Marc Beaumont is no stranger to success here himself, winning here in 2010, and today he stepped onto the podium again with a fourth place finish.

Loic Bruni had a fantastic race run with a time that would have seen the junior rider qualifying second. Richie Rude, another junior rider also had a brilliant race, only his second at World Cup level, oozing speed and style but unfortunately lost time dabbing his foot and finished 21st.

Devinci rider Steve Smith hasn’t really had much luck on this course, breaking his foot here at the final race of the year last season, and broke his hand here in practice. Smith opted to skip qualifying, not a problem for the top 20 protected rider, and raced today with his hand taped up and knocked Loic off the hot seat, and ended up finishing tenth.

Danny Hart just missed out on a podium spot to Cameron Cole in his first World Cup race this year after breaking his arm at the World Champs. Josh Bryceland was on a great run until his foot bounced off his pedal, and spun his bike into a nasty crash. New father Sam Hill made a return to form with his typical loose style seeing him finishing seventh.

Gee Atherton was already up on current leader Cameron Cole by three and a half seconds at the first split, lost time in the lower section but had done enough early on to take the hot seat. As usual Minnar’s smooth style saw him so composed and unphased by anything the course threw at him and he crossed the line half a second up on gee.

But Gwin somehow managed to find time where nowhere else could and just like he did in qualifying, finished over seven seconds ahead of the rest of the field. Gwin said: “It was a good solid run. I felt good here all weekend so all I had to do was put everything together. I just tried to focus on riding and not that it was a race run”.

 Elite Men’s Top Five

1 Aaron Gwin 3:10.577
2 Greg Minnaar 3:18.427
3 Gee Atherton 3:18.970
4 Marc Beaumont 3:19.514
5 Cameron Cole 3:20.320

In the women’s race Rachel Atherton, Myriam Nicole and Emmeline Ragot looked to be in a different league to all the other riders, and their times proved it. Tracey Hannah admitted that the course didn’t suit her riding style, and Manon Carpenter had to sit this race out with a shoulder injury. Rachel came back to World Cup racing with a bang, taking the win with a comfortable four and a half second lead over Myriam Nicole.

Elite Women’s Top Five

1 Rachel Atherton 3:49.438
2 Myriam Nicole 3:53.921
3 Emmeline Ragot 3:57.519
4 Florian Pugin 4:04.822
5 Morgane Charre 4:09.737