Jan
25
X-Fusion HiLo Dropper Seatpost Review
Following my most amazing Tour de Mont Blanc trip in the summer on my Truth, with a seatpost that wouldn’t drop more than 2 inches and balls bashed to bits, I decided that the time had arrived to look properly at seat dropper posts. I do so much varied riding on that beloved bike – from racing to trail riding at Pitch to mountain riding in Wales and now the Alps, that I’ve been convinced by others that I NEEDED one.
Due to the 27.2 diameter that Ellsworth have stuck with for so long my options were a bit limited, but Father Christmas was feeling generous and sourced me a lovely new X-Fusion Hi-Lo post for Christmas, complete with remote lever.
I’ve ridden the bike a few times since with it and although it took a while to remember to use it, it was about time I did a techy ride and reviewed it properly.
So, with some precious time off work, I headed out onto my favourite local route over Reigate Hill and across the North Downs.
After the first couple of rides I found the post wouldn’t reliably return to its fully extended position, but a quick top up of air pressure soon sorted this. I headed up the hill and got stuck into the first singletrack section, which I dropped the post just a smidge for. I found this option really useful for these trails – not fully down, but just enough to not get hooked up.
Once I’d played about a bit with the lever position it was really easy to use – although being of small brain I did get some ‘finger confusion’ whilst trying to brake, change gear and raise the post all at the same time, leading to an emergency dismount!
It was a beautiful day for a ride, trails mostly dry and air mild, with the sun shining brightly, all things were well and good in my world. The post has won me over totally as ‘a good thing’ and definitely one of those items I’ll wonder how I managed without!
Big Daddy
Jan
25
QECP Trail building – this weekend
Think you know the trails at Queen Elizabeth Country Park near Petersfield in Hampshire? Think again! Massive changes are under way to turn the current orange “advanced” trail into something more comparable with red graded trails around the UK. But all these changes are being done by volunteers with nothing bigger than a mattock and shovel.
Since June 2011 this motley crew of volunteers has added 1.5 km of new trail and will be working hard to add another 1.5km while tidying up and improving the existing trail before relaunching the trail as a red graded trail in the summer of 2012. So far there are lots of berms, which are riding well, a couple of table tops and a few drops and jumps all of which are a long way from the original trail built nearly 20 years ago.
The trail may be short, currently around 7.5 km long, but it will give you smiles for miles and 2 laps of the trail will give you the chance to hit your favourite bits again. The trail building committee (4 men in a pub) have come up with a plan for the next year and a half and long term plans include a green and blue trail, along with skills areas for everyone to use as well as making further extensions to the red trail. If you want to get involved then e-mail qecptrailbuilding@yahoo.co.uk, tweet @eldiablobrewery or get on the QECP trail builders facebook page. If you are riding the trail and want to share you thoughts then please get in touch. If you haven’t been to QE park before or haven’t been for a while then now is the time to see the changes that have been made. The park is situated on the A3 and is only a 35-40 minute drive from the M25 now that the Hindhead tunnel is open.
So here’s a chance to give something back to the local MTB community if you have some time to spare, the next dig weekend is this weekend coming and they would be really happy to get a few volunteers to help with the job in hand.
Facebook event here
Jan
21
StilettosOnWheels 2 and 4 hour MTB Race – WOMEN ONLY 8th of September 2012 – Stamner Park
StilettosOnWheels 2 and 4 hour MTB Race – WOMEN ONLY 8th of September 2012 – Stamner Park
BrightonStilettosOnWheels, a new mountain bike race for women only aimed at creating a greater focus on women in the sport, is set to take place in Brighton on 8 September 2012.StilettosOnWheels’s is for both beginners and experienced riders and aims to get more female riders into the sport and give them an opportunity to compete with and against each other. The course will be designed for all levels of riders, with fun at the heart of the track design. There are Pairs and Solo categories which are divided into Elite and Sport in two and four hour categories.
Heels on wheels 1 by www.allimac.dk
StilettosOnWheels is inspired by the Danish MTB series heelsonwheels.dk, which is now running in its 4th year and famous for its unique atmosphere. The event has become a fixed date in many women riders race calendar and races has an average of 130 female competitors of all skill-levels taking part.As part of the StilettosOnWheels experience, before the race there will be pre-ride sessions with elite mountain bike racer Maddie Horton who will share her race experience and give top technique and racing tips to competitors, giving confidence prior to the event.StilettosOnWheels organiser Irene Lacher said: “I know from my own experience that starting to race can be quite intimidating. StiletttosOnWheels was inspired by the desire to make mountain bike racing more accessible for women. Our aim is to ensure all women feel as though they can take part and have a fun experience. For all new starters there will be expert online advice about how to prepare for a race, what to eat during a race, what to wear and what tools to bring. Our pre-ride sessions with Maddie will also make the whole experience even more enjoyable.
Heels on wheels 2 by www.allimac.dk
StilettosOnWheels takes place at 11am on Saturday 8 September 2012 at Stamner Park, Brighton. For more information visit www.stilettosonwheels.com or email info@stilettosonwheels.com
Photos courtesy of www.allimac.dk
Jan
21
Friday Bike Lust – Black Cat Bicycles
Here’s something that looks rather nice – Black Cat Bicycles……
Jan
15
Jan
13
Jan
11
Last Ride of 2011 at Peaslake
We arrived at a damp Walking Bottom carpark early on new years eve. The ground was soggy with a few puddles but luckily the rain held off and I was keen to get out and burn off a bit of energy after vegging out on the sofa for most of the past week. Dobby had organised the ride and we were met by Bobster, Dave, Mike and Andy. Even though we were just going for a normal route everyone seemed excited to get stuck into the mud. There was a good atmosphere as we churned up the track exiting the top of the carpark. The climb up was harder than normal with the sludge providing extra resistance (or it might have just been my extra gut from Christmas!). We had a bit of fun on one of the steep roll-ins and then headed towards the Judge’s seat.
Dobby was on form and riding well, pushing himself to do part of the drop he hadn’t tried before, he landed it with ease. This inspired me to be have a go at the Big Judge to the right- a drop that i’ve been eyeing up for while but hadn’t had the balls to go for. I hit it reasonably well, landed on both wheels a little heavily – on inspection the suspension o-rings showed I’d bottomed out both front and rear – that wasn’t the only ring moved during the drop and so I decided one go was enough for now and we headed off down the great bit of balls-out trail that descends to the road. The trail ran really well- with a puddle at the bottom causing a little front wheel wobble for more than one of us! We headed up the road where Andy got confused by his 29 inch wheels and started racing a roadie.
After a little more singletrack fun we headed down a steep off-camber line which provided a few comedy bails as the trail was deceptively difficult, the slippery dirt was particually good at sniping your front wheel from under you as Andy, Mike and me all found out.
It was time for a pit stop and quick cup of coffee at Peaslake store. We then headed up the other side of peaslake and did a run of Yoghurt Pots which was suprisingly good considering the conditions, so good in fact that I got a bit carried away and really threw my bike into the last berm only to end up on my arse! Time was catching up with us now so we headed over to the last trail of the day – Barry knows best – via some other single track. Barry’s has had a bit work done on it, and is a better then the last time I rode it, still not my favourite trail but it was fun to blast down at the end of the ride.
All in all it was another great ride that reminded me of why I used to ride bikes when i was kid – smashing though the biggest puddles whilst having a laugh with your mates. Makes me wonder why I’m sitting here writing this instead of enjoying the mud with Tuesday night ride!
Josh
Jan
09
Monday video – Webbie show
Well I know it’s not MTB, but Mark Webb’s riding is great, and being an ‘almost local’ to us I always like to watch his videos too.
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