Rogate DH Take Two

Work a three day week? You must be mad! I did what so many other people across the country did and booked them off and headed out riding. So on Wednesday me and Pete loaded up the car and drove down to Rogate.

I absolutely loved it there last time and it was eve better the second time round. A lot has changed since my last visit, not least the weather. All the tracks are now taped out making them, and the push ups much more obvious. The bottom doubles have also been turned into tabletops, making them more accessible for those new to jumping. Although it did make them look a lot tamer in photos...

The top section at Rogate is so exposed and had dried out so much it was like riding in a sandpit, but rather than complaining we just stuck to the tracks that started at the fireroads. Some of the little drops and jumps caught us out on the first run down and later on I managed to set myself up on a proper sketchy line!

As well as the two main tracks we tried out some of the tighter slightly technical runs. I had a go at seeing how far I could get down without using my breaks, almost doubled up two drops and then wiped out on a berm. I'd seriously recommend giving it a go! Maybe not the crashing though.

We had the whole place to ourselves all day which meant we could mess about with the camera without getting in anyone's way. Can't wait for the next visit!

Transition TR250

I've got this on loan from Surf Sales for a few weeks as a 'first ride' test bike. Only been out on it a few times but it's as good as it looks! Plenty more riding planned for as long as I've got it. Check out the 'first ride' review here.

Pietermaritzburg World Cup

What a start to the season for Trek World Racing with Aaron Gwin and Tracey Moseley both taking the win at Pietermaritzburg, South Africa!

Peaty set the standard for the day smashing his qualifying time and looked more than comfortable in the hot seat. It was so good to see Peaty back on form and back on top, especially after the trouble he had last season.

Devinci's Steve Smith came close but just couldn't catch Peaty's time. Sam Hill was up at the first split but lost time in the unforgiving flat section where every pedal stroke counted.

But it was Aaron Gwin who put together the run of his life and destroyed Peaty's time by nearly seven seconds! Gwin didn't even look out of breathe as he stepped off his bike.

Fabien Barel was the next man down with a brilliant comeback to racing but didn't have it in him to nudge Gwin off the top spot. Even a new line on the hip jump from Gee Atherton didn't turn out to be enough.

Cedric Gracia had made a brilliant return to form at Pietermaritzburg with the fastest run in timed practice and qualifying in fourth, but on race day he just couldn't get it right and ended up finishing 16th. Fellow French rider Julien Camellini also had trouble putting a solid run together and couldn't match Gwin's time.

All eyes were on Greg Minnaar as he set off. Pietermaritzburg is his hometown and the crowds were out in force to cheer him on, would he be able to secure another win on home turf? As hard as he tried Greg would have to settle for second place.

The only man that could stop Gwin now was GT's Mick Hannah, but a crash early on soon ended Hannah's plans for a victory, and Gwin secured his first World Cup win.

1st Aaron Gwin - 4.08.634
2nd Greg Minnarr - 4.08.875
3rd Gee Atherton - 4.10.555
4th Fabien Barel - 4.12.880
5th Steve Peat - 4.15.443

In the women's race it ended up being a British one two with World Champion Tracy Moseley winning and Fionn Griffiths taking second place. They were joined on the podium by French trio Emmeline Ragot, Sabrina Jonnier and Floriane Pugin. Madison/Saracen rider Manon Carpenter managed a top ten fnish and crossed the line in eigth place.

Check out the full results and press releases from the teams here.

IMB Issue 11 Goes Live

IMB Issue 11 went live yesterday morning, and it's one of the best ones we've made, with the Kielder Trail Guide, Merida trip to Mallorca and a big feature on the World Cup.

Deadline week is always pretty tough, and this issue was no exception. By the end of it you're pretty ruined. Lack of sleep is probably the worst thing, but my knees started giving up from being sat a desk for so long, and my shoulder felt like it was hanging off from leaning on said desk for so long.

A bit of casual seep depravation is the order of the day and the more tired you get, the worse your language becomes, to the point the worst words you know become the norm. That always takes a bit of adjusting to when you break free of the office and let out back into civilisation.

But after seeing what Karen's done with all the text and photos it all seems worth it. So here's to hoping it won't be as bad next issue!

There are some breaks from writing though, and sneaking out on a bike is the best way to use them. On one such break Will came along with his camera and one of his shots of me ended up on the cover. Will is a great photographer and he's also seriously fun to work with.

Not massively sure how I feel about being on the cover of the magazine. We needed a photo of someone in a half-lid and we couldn't find one so the best thing to do was to make one. It's a bit of an achievement but I'd much rather see a pro rider who isn't pulling a stupid face on the front!

Mondraker Kaiser

Jealousy is a terrible thing, and that's why I'm trying my hardest not to be too envious of Pete's latest purchase, a 2011 Mondraker Kaiser. Not only does it look pretty stunning but the spec and value for money is spot on too.

Fox Van R shock, Boxxer Race forks, Sram gears, Formula brakes and a sweet Race Face finishing kit. You see how it's missing a set of pedals? That's to keep me from riding it!

Aston Hill Black Run Race

No bike meant no racing for me, but I guess that was a blessing in disguise as in meant I got to brush up on my photography 'skills'. These are my first attempts at getting some riding shots for about a year. Last time I gave it a go I hated every second of it but this time I actually enjoyed taking photos!

I found a few nice spots, chose a favourite and waited there for my friends who were racing to come down so I could get some cool photos of them. What I forgot was they'd seeded quite high so I ended up with about 200 images of the same corner! Oh well, lesson learned.

Anyways, pretty happy we a few of them, and pretty keen to get out and try it again sometime. Enjoy.

Life Without a Bike

Sucks. Or at least that’s what I thought it would be like. It’s been a few weeks since the Glory was sent back to Giant and I haven’t got round to sorting a replacement yet, and if I’m honest, I’m not really in that much of a rush.

It’s still not massively warm here yet and it still rains quite a bit so the trails haven’t fully dried out. Or at least that’s what I’m telling myself as I sit here almost trying to convince myself I’m not missing out on too much.

When I had the glory I was riding pretty much every weekend and if possible sneaking out for a mid week mess around. So not having a bike has changed pretty much everything.

With all this extra time I’ve got my social life back. At the weekends I can now go out and not force myself to have an early night because I’m going riding the next day. I’ve even managed to find the time to get myself a girlfriend. Mental.

As I’m not driving around all over the place at weekends my car seems to have a never ending supply of petrol. And with that costing a bomb it means I’ve got money in my pocket for the first time in months!

So do you really need a bike to be into biking? Thousands, if not millions of people across the UK are into Formula One, and I’m willing to bet good money that not one of them owns a formula one car. I’m still following all the latest news and watching all the newest videos so I know what’s going on in the world of mountain biking.

Of course every time I watch said videos I’m reminded how much I miss going biking. I need to sort my life out…

Kielder Trail Guide With Scott Bikes

Fun times this week heading up to Newcastle to have a look round Scott Bikes' new warehouse, ride on of their bikes and get shown around a brilliant track up at Kielder. It was one of the funnest trail guides I've done and once I've got a bike sorted I'll be keen to give it another ride, after all, it's only four hours away!

Rou got some great shots with his new 7d, although I'm pretty confident these ones won't get used as I'm not quite in focus and there's some serious fly catcher mouth action going on. Right, time to make a start on the write up.

Six Pack in Six Weeks

Also just spotted over on Rou’s blog that his next challenge is to get a six pack in six weeks. There’s roughly six weeks until the next IMB deadline when I’ll be down staying at his and working in the office.

Everywhere you go on the internet these days you get bombarded with adverts offering you to get ‘super ripped’ or ‘mega hench’ in a few weeks and I’m convinced it can’t be done.

So while he’s dieting and counting the calories, maybe even watching some ‘how to’ videos on youtube, I’m going to continue eating bread, pasta, potato’s and cakes. Come deadline week we’ll compare and see who’s got the best ‘abs’.

I’m not really sure this is going to prove anything, and I’ve lost where I’m going with it; I just like to winding Rou up. Plus this is great motivation for Mission 365!

Mission 365

February’s come to an end and with it so to has Rou’s ‘Mission 28’. For 28 days Rou set himself a challenge that everyday he had to ride a bike, kitesurf, or workout. Even with two magazine deadlines and a few press launches he managed it so fair play to him for that.

But 28 days isn’t really that many. I mean, February is the shortest month of the year so it’s an easy option. With that in mind I’ve created my own challenge, ‘Mission 365’. It’s a bit like Mission 28 except instead of all the faffing about with riding and exercising I just have to get out of bed everyday.

Obviously starting a project like this in March is a bit dumb so I’m going to back date it to the start of the year making today day 59 out of 365. I’m pretty pleased with myself that I’ve made it this far, and I’m quietly confident that I can use this momentum and build on it to wake up tomorrow.

Things are looking up for the rest of the year. Mission 365 is go!