I got to travel to quite a bit last summer and ride loads of places but there was one place I didn't get to visit. I wanted to give Morzine a miss last year and find somewhere new to ride, but half way through the season I found myself wanting to get out there again.
So I'm pretty pleased that I've got a 10 day trip booked up with Riders Retreat in Morzine. As well as the main tracks I want to explore a bit more and do a day trip to ride somewhere away from the Portes Du Soleil region again.
Here's last years 'chalet boys' and owner Paul Thomas riding some of their favourite tracks:
So, first off that isn't me in the photo, it's the Maidestone Massive's George Amos.
A big group of us arranged to ride Rogate a few weeks ago. But none of us thought to check where it is until the night before. Luckily we found the place and got in an awesome days riding. Rogate's kind of like the tracks at Woburn on steroids. Some proper sweet DH runs and some big jumps waiting for you at the bottom.
The top section features loads of loose, tight and steep corners, then the gradient mellows out and you get to enjoy some flowy berms and some small drops. The photo is of the bigger double at the bottom. You can either cut onto it from another jump or ride a hip line into it.
I wasn't too keen on the early start to get there but I can't wait to ride there again. If you want to give it a go hopefully the map borrowed from Google will help you find it.
This was my first weekend of the New Year (too much celebrating wrote off last weekend) so I was keen to get in as much bike related action as possible. The plan was to ride Woburn Sands on Saturday then help out at the Aston Hill dig day on Sunday. And that's exactly how things panned out.
So, Saturday I was up early and met Mark and Paul at Woburn. It was raining a bit on the way over and when I got there but when it stopped the tracks quickly dried up and started running faster and smoother. With no snow this time we rode a mix of everything, from all lines to new tracks
Amos was the only member of the Maidstone Massive to make it today. He left his at nine but thanks to traffic on the M25 didn't get there till just before three. Like a happy couple picking up their newborn baby from the hospital, Ben and Will spent the day picking up Will's new frame, a Morewood Makulu with a BOS Stoy rear shock.
Talking of rear shocks I played about with the Vivid Coil R2 on the Glory and got it set up quite nicely. Basically just stiffened it up and slowed down the rebound. Makes the bike corner better in tight turns and it jumps a lot better too.
As soon as Amos started riding the pace picked up; everyone started riding faster and jumping higher. I followed him down and did the large road gap, something I hadn't done for a while. I remember on Kona having to sprint like mad into it and getting bucked about on impact. On the Glory though I just had to put in a few extra cranks and the landing was smooth as.
We kept on riding more tracks and sectioned corners until we could barely see, then headed into Woburn itself for a post ride drink.
Still pretty tired from yesterdays riding I got up even earlier today and put a spade in my car along with the Glory, ready for the build day at Aston Hill. I ride at Aston as regularly as possible and it's home to some of my favourite tracks in the UK.
This wasn't the first dig day at Aston but it was the first one I've been able to attend and it felt good to help out and 'give something back' for a change. So I spent the morning doing some maintenance work on the 4X track; getting rid of the grass that had grown on the jumps and berms, moving fallen branches off the track and clearing nettles.
The work was done by about one or two and everyone was rewarded with cake and brownies back at the car park. I thought about putting the Glory together and going for a ride, but in the end I decided to head home so I could give it a bit of TLC in the light. Although I still forgot to sort out the front tyre, but that's another story...
Lazy Journalism. It's not the best journalism but it's definitely the easiest, and at this time of the year you see a lot of it, with everyone coming up with a list of the top events of the year. But rather than criticise I decided to jump on the bandwagon and came up with my top 5 riding moments of 2010.
No.5 - Hanchurch Woods, May
Hanchurch Woods up in Stoke isn't the best riding spot in the UK by a long shot. But this was the last time I got to ride with my riding mates at uni. The sun was out, the trails were dry and everyone was in good spirits. It was a great end to my time at uni, and my time in Stoke.
No.4 - Aston Hill, August
Aston Hill is my local riding spot. It's only about 45 minutes away from my house so I try and ride there whenever possible. On this day I wasn't riding too well and I was a bit put off after an ambulance had to be called out to fix a rider after a horrific crash.
But the whole day turned around when I saw an old riding friend and spent the afternoon riding with him. My riding instantly improved and I had a huge confidence boost when I found I could now keep up with him, albeit on tracks I ride all the tim. With the ride over a few of us went for a drink at the nearest pub. What more could you want?
No.3 - Peak District, April
A weekend riding in the Peak's completely changed my mind about cross country riding. I used to think it was alright, but all of a sudden I found it could be fun as well. Hugely challenging but fun as well!
The climbs on the rides were so tough, and the descents weren't much easier either. This was like no riding I had done before and it was so rewarding. The moment I got dropped back in Stoke I started the trail guide, trying desperately to recapture the ride, with a smile still etched on my face.
No.2 - Winterberg Bikepark, June
Winterberg Bikepark was somewhere I'd been wanting to ride for ages and the moment I booked the holiday I was looking forward to it. Thankfully it didn't disappoint. The park is home to one of the best downhill tracks I have ever ridden, as well as a host of other amazing runs and courses.
The riding was only half of the fun with Winterberg. The atmosphere in the town was great, as was the food and drink. Plus we couldn't have stayed at a better hotel, with a balcony overlooking the bikepark and all the surrounding mountains. The perfect place for breakfast in the morning and a beer at night.
No.1 Scotland, June
Every now and then a phone call changes everything. At the end of May I was pretty miserable about finishing uni and heading back home but that changed the moment Rou told me the next week we'd be heading up to Scotland for the World Cup at Fort William and to get in a load of riding.
And that's exactly what happened. I got to watch one of my favourite riders, Gee Atherton, win the race which was just incredible. A few days later we returned and had a go at riding the track ourselves.
We enjoyed it so much that when the gondolas stopped running we pushed up the Nevis Range for another go. It took two hours to get from the car park, to the summit and back down again but it was so worth it.
In between watching the action at Fort Bill and riding it we headed further North to ride Laggan Wolftrax, another absolutely brilliant track. At the end of the trip it rained so hard my tent leaked and we both ended up being eaten alive by midge's, but that's not going to stop the roadtrip to Scotland from being my top riding moment of 2010.
So with just a matter of hours left this year, here's to hoping for more of the same in 2011. Happy riding everyone!
Something I love about mountain biking is the people you get to meet through it. I'm sure like many others, through biking I've been able to meet loads of people and made loads of friends. More often that not though these friends end up living no where near where I do meaning I don't get to see them as often as I'd like to.
Recently I've been going out riding on my own, something that might be an alien concept to some riders. I don't really mind it and with biking being such a welcoming sport you soon end up chatting to people and finding someone to ride with.
The weather at the moment is pretty grim. There's a thick layer of snow here and the forescast for the rest of the week is rain and fog. Normally with weather like this I'd stay indoors but whe I got a text from a riding friend saying him and his mates were heading to Woburn Sands there was no way I could say no.
Pete was also home for Christmas so I geared him up with some spare kit I've been testing for the mag, big thanks to Fox and Giro, and we were ready to go. Despite only living 40 minutes away I haven't ridden at Woburn Sands since the start of the summer and I didn't recognise any of the tracks.
I kind of thought that the cover from the trees would mean there'd only be a light dusting of snow but there was still a good few inches of the stuff. You have to completely change the way you ride with snow but it was so fun.
After a couple of runs we had two tracks working side by side for 'dual' racing but no-one was taking it seriously at all; it was all about riding with a smile on your face. The new tracks are great to ride and even in the snow the Maidstone Massive were hitting some of the jumps and drops with speed and style aplenty.
The snow did mean everyone was crashing every few minutes, and I think I found it easier to stay on my bike than I did to stay on my feet. I had a go on Amos's bike and his Wet Screams made a huge difference so a pair of mud tyres are now top of my wish list.
With the riding and snowball fights over we headed to the the nearest pub for some post-ride refreshments, a catch up and of course some rough love from Ben.
Deadline week is now over and IMB is out now! Every waking moment since Monday has been spent getting photos, writing articles or editing videos. Photographer Will livened up the office with his love for Elton John songs.
Getting to interview one of my riding heroes: Cedric Gracia was a real highlight of my time with IMB so far, and seeing it in the magazine was great. With the new issue out it's time to start thinking up ideas for issue 10, and hopefully there won't be such a mad rush to get it finished!
I've just got in from Light Test photo shoot number two and it was so fun. Until yesterday I'd never ridden offroad at night before and I can see it's appeal. Even in the pouring rain or snow it's a right laugh.
And more importantly Will got some amazing photos for the magazine. Check them out below and more here.
Most the time when you tell someone you've got to test some bikes they think you're just going to spend the day riding and messing about on them. And they'd be right; that's pretty much all you have to do, aside from maybe get a few photos and video footage.
Ok, so it isn't all fun and games. It is pretty tough getting the right shot, and there's nothing worse than hearing the words: "That was great, but any chance you can do it again..."
The other day I realised I've been using twitter for a year now. At first I didn't think that much of it but now I love it. It's a great way to stalk pro riders, get all the latest news and shamelessly plug the magazine and forum.
There's a box with my tweets on the side of the blog and if you want to you can also follow me here if you want to. Don't expect it all to be about bikes, there's plenty of random mutterings on there too.
