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mountain bike rides news

Site news, ride reports, race results, general mountain bike ramblings…

Bestwood

February 2nd, 2010 by Mad Pierre

Sheldon showed Fairy and I around the trails at Bestwood last Saturday. I can’t believe we have such good stuff so close to where we regularly ride and have never ridden it before! There are loads of dirt jumps and some good down hill runs with some nice drops and jumps too. The weather was kind to us as well. The ground was mostly frozen so the trails were dry.

I continued experimenting with my new cameras but still have to sort a few things out – particularly the angle of the camera when chest mounted. Here’s a little clip I’ve knocked up from the day:

Latest version of IMB Bike Mag available

January 28th, 2010 by Mad Pierre

The latest version of IMB is out. Free and online here

Cannock Down Hill Video

January 28th, 2010 by Mad Pierre

Jamie and I went over to Cannock Chase last Sunday. He had a shiny new Mondraker Summum bike to try out and I had my new Sony HD Handycam and Go Pro HD to play with. It was a typical grey and damp January day but it was good to be out on the big bikes for the first time in too many months.

It was also ages since we had visited Stile Cop and we were pleased to see all the new trails that have been built since we we were last there :) However conditions meant that we just had one run down several of the rooty, technical runs, especially as I wasn’t running spikes (UST swampthings already ordered for next time!). Along with most other folk there we stuck to the drier lines with the red run being most used.

Although the weather and light were poor I still manage to record us “getting our eye in” at this DH malarky again. Here’s a quick edit I’ve managed to put together after struggling with my new editing software and my insufficient computer hardware:

The riding and filming is all good practice for when things start to dry out……

First video from my new camera

January 10th, 2010 by Mad Pierre

I got my new Go Pro HD camera on Friday so I took it out for a test on Saturday. Conditions meant that playing around with different mounts, resolutions etc wasn’t really on… so I left it at 960p and tried it on my helmet and also on the chest mount. This is a quick edit of some of the footage taken on the usual Saturday afternoon ride in the Nottinghamshire woods. First impressions are good :)

Look out for the snowball in Ricky’s face! :)

New Year’s Eve ride photographs

January 2nd, 2010 by Mad Pierre

I’ve just added a gallery of photos from the New Year’s Eve ride in Derbyshire. We set out from Hope and went over Ladybower way. It was a glorious sunny winter day with snow and ice under wheel. This meant the riding wasn’t as good as usual but we all thought it made it a great day to be out and the views were stunning.

New Video Clips

December 30th, 2009 by Mad Pierre

I’ve started adding some new video clips to the Whistler video page. These clips are of trails we didn’t record on our first trip back in 2007 but did capture on the 2009 trip.

First up are Schleyer and Drop In Clinic. More to come….

The Christmas Party Photos

December 27th, 2009 by Jamie

Brought to you in association with Just For Men hair products

And the winner is…………

With bonus points for the Subaru Forester there was only ever one man in contention for the Pipe and Slippers award

Like Alfred Hitchcock at the Oscars and Craig David at the Brits tonight just wasn’t to be for Tony the Tilt.

Custom Top Caps Available

December 22nd, 2009 by Mad Pierre

mountain bike rides top cap

I have a very limited number of custom headset top caps available.

Black with silver laser etched web address and logo as pictured above.

For standard 1 and 1/8th headsets.

£4 each (+ P&P if required.)

Get in touch ASAP if you want one? First come first served.

The 2009 Christmas Do & Sherry Run Report

December 21st, 2009 by Mad Pierre

Well what a weekend that was! :)

It all began on Friday afternoon with the “Skivers ride” from Oxton. Five of us enjoyed the frozen conditions around the woods but at about -4 we were glad to get back to the pub for a pint in front of the fire. After that the evening followed the usual format of several of Southwell’s finest pubs followed by one of it’s not so fine curry houses! Shakey got everyone laughing early on with his quality new hair piece! Sorry I can’t post a pic at the moment as the technology is defeating me. I’ve only got a rubbish phone picture anyway! Has anyone got anything better?

Due to Mr Hill’s bad holiday planning the award ceremony was somewhat rushed this year…. Andy Smith was the main man taking rider of the year but wasn’t present to collect his award! Do you believe us now Andy?? ;) Dave Swann looked particularly pleased with “Best Newcomer” – especially as “The Trophy” moved to this award this year after an amazing service whilst in the possesion of Medium Steve. Can someone post a photo to how just how good it looked?

Sunday’s hangovers were cured by a quality breakfast at The Fox & Hounds. Those that acompanied the full English with a couple of pints were in the minority though! :o After breakfast 19 (I believe?) of us headed out for more frozen singletrack fun with some struggling more than others. I can’t think why? Cauldwell Dam was either conquered or avoided by all before everyone dashed home to prepare for The Sherry Run.

As usual we were late getting to The Bridge at Oxton – and by the time I got there they had run out of Sherry! I had to wait for my first at the next pub. The day’s route consisted of (if I remember right?): Ye Olde Bridge Inn, Oxton > The Cross Keys, Epperstone > The World’s End, Lowdham > The Woodlark, Lambley > The Cross Keys, Burton Joyce > The Admiral Nelson, Burton Joyce

I’m not sure how many people showed up in total but it was an impressive turnout including two tandems. Pooley took best decorated bike with tinsel and fully working fairy lights. As usual things gradually got very messy with the ice causing plenty of crashes. It was the ice – not the booze obviously! ;) I believe everyone made it home in one piece eventually but I’m not sure about the coat stand in the Nelson? Comedy Del Boy style moment Choc!!

Merry Christmas.

Stund Season 2 final episode

December 7th, 2009 by Mad Pierre

You can watch the final episode of Stund Season 2 right here:

It’s a “best of” so if you’ve not watched the series you can see what you’ve been missing then head over here to watch the rest.