When I get the chance to ride with Steevo and his usual group it’s great as you get to see the Chase from the local’s point of view, quite often they hardly even touch the man made trails that run from the centre at Birches Valley.

I was relishing the opportunity to hit the newly redeveloped ‘Follow the Dog Trail’ and the brand new ‘Monkey Trail’. When this month’s crop of MTB mags turned up at work it was interesting to see what was said about it in the trail centres article. Saying it’s one of the best trail centre descents in the country meant I was gagging to get out there and give it a go….

GPS trace

At this point I would love to show you a load of photos of it, but unfortunately I had so much fun I just didn’t want to stop and interrupt the flow on any of the three times I rode it in the week! A quick description though, the first half of Follow the Dog remains pretty much as it was, good flowy fun. Then you split off and cross the railway line and main road (be careful!) and head off onto the Monkey Trail proper. There’s quite a lot of climbing, but it’s very similar to the Welsh trail centres as it’s mainly switchbacked singletrack, so it keeps you interested and keeps your mind off the pain (just).

Once you get onto the downhill sections you are rewarded with super flowy bermed singletrack, with jumps a plenty. Some downhill sections have rock gardens built into them for added fun. There are also several sections where you get to take a Black Run option too just to give it a bit of extra spice

Back onto Follow the Dog and you find yourself crossing the road at the far point and heading off onto some new trail. Again this is super flowy and has a lot of bermed sections. It all seemed a bit familiar and I realised that it used to be a cheeky trail that I used as a shortcut to Steevo’s from our usual accommodation, only in the opposite direction. Keep your wits about you for the Werewolf’s Drop and rail the final berms before you head onto the Rollers. Apparently there have been a few accidents here, so take it easy!

So all in all well worth a visit I reckon, I can’t wait to go back again now!

Hummerlicious

The new kid on the block is the Six Pack. This makes the MaXx Daddy look a bit anorexic! No mistake the Six Pack is a bigger unit, but if you are looking for that bonkers power output there’s now doubting what’s on offer. I can’t wait to get my hands on a demo unit to give it a whirl……

Little Dog

After last years successful event the Big Dog team wanted to make sure the whole family could get involved in the big day out. Working with the very highly regarded VC Jubilee (http://www.vcjubilee.co.uk) they are putting on The Little Dog in the morning prior to The Big Dog and all Little Dog racers will get the same cotton musette goody bag as those in the adult race too. There are categories for all boys and girls from 8 to 18. Enter online right here: http://bit.ly/d55Tnc

OneDer Dog

Many people have been caught out by the rapid sell out of the 2010 Brighton Big Dog and none so than the Big Dog team themselves. They have been taken aback by the demand for places and so have now opened online entries to the ever popular OneDer Dog category. This is a one lap “race” of the course which you can do at any time of the day. Whether you just want to see what all the fuss is about or you want to have a pop at The Hot Dog prize (that for the fastest lap of the race) your lap will be accurately timed by TimeLaps, so you can now really tell which one of your mates is the fastest (or slowest!). Free with each entry is the musette goody bag and also free tea and coffee. Enter online right here: http://bit.ly/d55Tnc

Limited Edition Event Merchandise

As many of you will know, the Brighton Big Dog is a non-profit race put on for the love of it, so the proceeds of this great clobber will go towards funding the racing and partying afterwards. Morvélo Bicycle Apparel, co-organisers of the event as well as sponsors, have rustled up a great looking limited edition event jersey, t-shirt and mug. Just 50 of the jerseys (http://bit.ly/9KKc5y) are been lovingly made by Vitesse, 100 hand printed SuperFit t-shirts (http://bit.ly/aDuri5) by Morvelo and 250 mugs (http://bit.ly/ar2epq) by the same people that make the excellent Pantone mugs.

Sponsors who go the extra mile

The Brighton Big Dog has a wide range on sponsors who all contribute to making the day a little bit special. Some even go the extra mile like Juice Lubes. Not content with just supplying a few prizes, they have created a limited edition Big Dog version of their extremely popular Chain Juice. For sale before the event here (http://bit.ly/aLBFtg) they are even topping them up for free should you bring your pre-purchased Big Dog Chain Juice over to the Juice Lubes stand on Saturday 14th August!

Old Dogs meet New Dog

Max Glaskin (left) lives in Brighton and was guest of honor at Big Dog last year. His business partner in grime all those years ago (1987-99) running the UK’s races and MOUNTAIN BIKE CLUB was Jeremy Torr. Jeremy since moved to Australia and then more recently to Singapore where he is the managing editor for Discovery Channel magazine. Back in the UK for a rare flying visit Jeremy met up with some old pals at Bike Radar Live. Sporting original T’s from the late 80′s Max and Jeremy were pleased to be photographed next to Brighton Big Dog’s Frazer Clifford. The Big Dog logo was designed by Morvelo with inspiration from the orginal emblem of UK mountain biking, the MBC’s very own Big Dog with shades.

Last month's ride

So get yourselves down to Quest Adventure in Broadwater on saturday at around 09:45 to roll out at 10:00 (or when my capuccino cup is empty, whichever happens first!). Thread here. Facebook here.

As ever all are welcome and helmets must be worn.

Cheers,

Hummerlicious

I think people were worried that those who had historically used the XC trails in the area would end up having to pay to ride there. However the consensus from the FC was that as long as no singletrack trails were ‘modified’ with any new trail features the current set up would stay in place.

So for those of you who use the DH trails there you will now have to either join the CTC and the club if you intend to ride there regularly or purchase a day pass on site if you just want to go and check it out. I’ll post more details when it’s all been ironed out, bearing in mind that last night was the inception of the DH club and lots of details still need to be sorted out.

So good luck to all the DH guys and well done for getting together and sorting legal trails to ride, I’m looking forward to seeing what you build and maybe giving some of it a try

Details of club web sites and contacts when I have them…….

Jimbo

Ride 1: Titus FTM carbon

Titus FTM carbon

I was keen to try the FTM carbon, it’s a similar beast to the Marin Attack Trails that I love so much, so the comparison would be interesting. Obviously it’s a bit unfair to compare the two as they are at somewhat different ends of the price spectrum, but they are certainly very similar in terms of travel and aimed at being good all rounders.

You notice the smooth carbon lushness first, then the low weight. This bike was pretty sensibly specced with XT stuff and yet on the climb it felt like I had a giant hand at my back pushing me up the hill! This bike flies uphill easily and smooths out the trail beautifully. The front / rear balance of the suspension was good and it tackled the sheep trail with ease.

Dropping back down through the golf course down the steep chalky descent it was no drama at all, I kept the brakes off and got to the bottom with a big grin on my face.

So as I said at the top, only a really quick spin, but first impressions were good. This is a light, capable all rounder that climbs well and descends well too. However the frame on it’s own does cost almost as much as an entire Marin Attack Trail 6.8, so obviously you’ve really got to want one. But then if you’re considering a frame like this price usually isn’t your first concern.

Ride 2: Whyte 19 steel

Whyte 19 steel

At nearly £500 cheaper than the Whyte 19 the 19 steel could be seen as the poor relation, but I think that is more than a little unfair. Componentry aside they offer two different ride feels for sure. I rode the 19 trail a while back and absolutely loved it, it’s an absolute trail weapon, it’s light weight and fantastic handling make it a great bike for round these parts. The aluminium frame is not harsh at all, but some of you out there may be looking for that famous steel ‘zing’ and a more comfortable ride. This bike delivers big time, I absolutely loved it. It just felt comfortable and well connected the whole time. The fact I was shouting at the guy on the El Guapo to get off the brakes on the downhill should tell you something

So don’t think of  it as the poor relation to the 19 trail, it has a character all of it’s own and is great fun to ride, why not give it a whirl?

Ride 3: Titus El Guapo

Titus El Guapo

This was the bike everyone wanted to ride, it was specced to the absolute max with the lushest kit you could possibly imagine on it! Obviously the first thing you notice is the weight, yes not nearly as weighty as a Marin, but then it costs a lot more too. It uses the same horst link configuration as Specialized and is pretty active, you can see this as a positive or a negative really, but if you put the pro pedal on for climbing it’s not really a handicap. The plus point is of course that when you get to the top of the hill and turn round to come back what you have is a super plush machine that tracks the ground perfectly and gets you where you want to go, quickly.

This was the only bike that I did the downhill by the golf course without braking, it feels as solid as a rock, firmly attached to the terrain.

There will be a more thorough review to follow, because I liked it so much I bought one

Ride 4: Genesis Alpitude

Genesis Alpitude

I took the Genesis Alpitude as an ‘old faithful’ at the end, I’ve put in a few miles on this bike already and it’s good fun. You can read what I though here.

So there you go, the demo day was good fun, unfortunately the weather was less than fantastic and the numbers suffered a little bit. But we all got some rides in on the bikes we wanted to try and I ‘accidentally’ bought one

Hummerlicious (or Guapalicious!)

The current list can be found here.

You could try the Lush Whyte 19 trail:

Or how about a Marin Attack Trail….

Hopefully with a little less snow!

Don’t forget you can play on the north shore too….

North shore fun

Last month's ride

February rabble

So get yourselves down to Quest Adventure in Broadwater on saturday at around 09:45 to roll out at 10:00 (or when my capuccino cup is empty, whichever happens first!). Thread here.

As ever all are welcome and helmets must be worn.

Cheers,

Hummerlicious

The time has come to close out 2009 with our annual awards ceremony, dress as Santa and have a few beers too. So get yourselves down to the Thomas a becket pub tomorrow night. Festivities commence at 20:00, don’t forget to wear a Santa suit.

Last year