My first NoSno

On Friday my NoSno turned up and after 15 mins of tearing open wrapping and checking everything out, I’ve got to say I am seriously happy with the purchase. Everything was in great condition and the only niggles are that two of the 9’s have slow punctures and some of the ratchet springs have gone on the NoSno soft bindings – nothing that I cant fix.

Friday night was spent setting it up; which meant swapping out the axles so that the brake is attached and fitting my 9’s & NoSno soft’s (I’ll fix the others later…). At this point I encountered the well know problem of NoSno wheel bolts and tri-spoke hubs… tighten up the wheel nuts too much and they don’t spin freely/don’t tighten them up and you risk losing a wheel. Luckily, a quick question posted on Surfing Dirt and a short time later and it was suggested that I should be using a spacer in the hubs – like what Primo Composite hubs have…which coincidentally were attached to the new 10’s that were included. Hubs all swapped out and it was ready to go!

Hopping around the kitchen (sorry about the muddy tracks GF...) and it felt much more manoeuvrable than the comp 26x, being significantly shorter and despite only being a 10 deck, wasn’t too flexible given my….ample….frame.

You can see in the pics the comparison to the old freeride board (I decided to throw the new components on there for the time being….saves losing them in house somewhere).

Saturday morning I took the new board up to the test track at Longridge Fell for a spin. Not great conditions to be honest, having snowed the previous day and the fireroads turned out to be covered in almost 2 inches of slush/ice/snow.

My first ride of a NoSno...in snow. Oh the irony.

I managed to get a few runs in, but it was pretty uneventful. The slush was like riding through mud and I couldn’t get any speed up. I also learned that my feet weren’t in the right position when I tried my first heelside turn and there was nothing under my heels so I almost fell off backwards. Classy!

I’ll be heading straight back out as soon as conditions are a little better.

Oh – while I remember…I have also picked up some snowboarding boots to try riding in. Now on the lookout for some cheap Flow bindings.

Hibernation and joining the NoSno Owners Club

So there’s not much happening up here at the moment and I have been half tempted to throw up some …*shudder*…filler posts.

I’ve noticed that every year that I’ve been mountainboarding, I end up not doing any riding from November to January – usually because of a combination of family commitments, crap weather and dark nights. This year’s no different – except I also have Skyrim taking over my life hour by hour.

Despite my boards being in hibernation, I’m still lurking around Surfing Dirt and on the look out for mountainboarding deals and possible trails on maps.

I’ve recently turned 30 (the only positive is that I can now enter the ATBA Masters Class) and my goal for the past few months has been to upgrade to a NoSno Downhill Pro (with Brake) in time for the 2012 ATBA Downhill comps. I was either going to do that by shelling out for a new board (£1250 *gulp*) or going secondhand.

I’ve been unsuccessful in finding any secondhand boards or saving a grand for a new one…buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut I have managed to get a bit of a steal off eBay; a NoSno with a 10x770 custom deck, alloy axles and ABS (fitted to a spare alloy axle). There are also a load of other goodies in there for me to play with.

This should be pretty much perfect for my first NoSno and I should be getting it soon and will be able to take some pics.

I’m really psyched and I’ve already started thinking about what upgrades I want to make….(probably a 12x770 deck, composite axles and a Hope brake…which will essentially make it into the Pro Downhill and leave me with enough parts to make another NoSno!).

Obviously the best part of it is that I can now join the NoSno Owners Club!!!

Updates will follow!

Whinlatter Downhill Video

I just thought I would give a quick shout-out to Brennig Hughes who put together one of the best Freeride videos I have seen recently (props also go to Travis “Headcam” Birdsall).

I might be slightly biased seeing as I was riding with them at the time and it’s the proposed run for the 2012 England leg of the ATBA Downhill Competition....but screw it, we need all the good vid's we can get!

Whinlatter Downhill from Brennig Hughes on Vimeo.

Respec!

Five Passes Challenge and Heatsink Brake pad conclusion

This past weekend myself, Roger, Ian, Travis, Brennig, Alan and Dave all headed to the Lakes to ride the best mountain passes that England can offer. And man were they steep! Check out Remolition soon for a full write-up.

Unfortunately “technical difficulties” meant that I didn’t manage to finish Honister and Wrynose pass. As you know from my past few posts, I was testing out some Heatsink brake pads on my ABS – trying and get a bit more braking power out of an already great piece of kit. Initial tests on sections of local fire-track went well and they were definitely grippier than the standard Magura pads that the ABS comes with.

The thing is, my local fire-tracks aren’t 25% gradient tarmaced roads….

I had the first problem on our second pass – Honister. Literally 100 yards from the top; at the first 20-25% gradient section, I started braking and noticed that after about 2 seconds, the brake lever offered no resistance at all. I looked down to see the left brake pad riding up the disk and onto the tyre wall, with shards of brake pad flying off in all directions. I swear some of the rubber shards were on fire as well…. I managed to stop and when I got back to the car the pad looked like this:

Not to be deterred, I swapped out the damaged pad for an old Magura one and we went over to Wrynose pass.

At Wrynose, pretty much the same happened at the first big gradient – after a second or two of braking, the brakes started screaming and when I looked down, the pad was actually deforming and there was smoke coming out of my hub.

After stopping, I managed to have a look at the damage and what I think happened is that the pads were actually beginning to melt and were no longer rigid. The pad was then “squidging” up the brake disk and being carved up by the edges of the disk.

Luckily I had another spare Magura pad and managed to fit it with no problems – but by this point I wasn’t overly confident about taking on Hardknott (in the dark), so sat that one out.

I managed to ride Kirkstone, but the torch I was using (we were riding it in the dark) cut out on a straight. After I had stopped and changed my pants I was able to get the light working and finish the run.

Have you ever had a day where things just don’t seem to go right?

On a brighter note, the next day we checked out the proposed track for the England 2012 Downhill comp and it was sweet!

When I got home I compared the Magura pads with the Heatsinks and the Magura’s were in still in great condition. What I am taking from this is that Heatsink pads designed for Trials riding might not be the way to go – yes, they are super grippy, but apparently not that durable under downhill conditions. I think I’ll be looking into the pads Magura has to offer next.

If you do have some Heatsink pads – I would advise that you get them as fully on the brake disk as possible to minimise the chances of them slipping and I would also be wary about using them under heavy braking conditions….

What squeaks and likes cheese…?

…Not my brakes…

In my last post I talked about getting a new set of Heatsink brake pads for my ABS brake.

Well I managed to get out to the Test Track on Saturday morning to give them a try-out and they seemed to work fine. Admittedly, it’s not as steep or fast as the descents in the Lakes, which made it hard to compare the braking power against the old stock pads.

What I can say is:

• They definitely slowed me down equal to or more than the old pads,
• During harsh braking, I was being thrown forward more than I used to with the old pads,
• They were quiet!!!

Quiet...I know! Who’d have thought it? Admittedly they were a bit squeaky on the first couple of runs, but then they seemed to bed in and were silent. I shot this video to show how quiet:

Note – it wasn’t running particularly fast and I was purposefully braking before every right turn to demonstrate the noise…so I never really got up to a decent speed which is why it looks so slow.

So – all in all they seem good, but I guess this weekend’s trip to the Lakes will show how effective they really are.

I need more (braking) power!!!

Until the day I win the lottery/persuade the missus to let me buy a NoSno Pro Downhill with Hope disk-brakes (*drool*), I will have to make do with my (admittedly rather splendid and quite effective) ABS brake.

I’ve had very few problems whilst using the ABS (I had the mountings slip a little during some extended and particularly vicious braking and lack of power on Skiddaw…which was stupidly steep) and on the whole I think they are absolutely awesome! But then…nothing ever got worse by making it that extra bit awesomer…did it?

In advance of the Five Passes Mountainboard Challenge next week, I thought I would beef up the ABS a bit more, just in case the passes are a bit too steep/quick. Goofymark over on the Surfing Dirt forum first had the idea of looking into custom brake pads for the ABS so I decided to follow in his footsteps.

Heatsink Bikes produce custom Trial Biking braking solutions – specialising in Magura compatible parts. Word in the biking community is that they are pretty good. Since Goofymark first tried out the pads, Heatsink have come up with a few different pad compounds so I dropped owner Steve an email and he gave me some advice on what pads to try first.

Excellent first impression – Steve emailed back with some suggestions on pads and modifications to the brake disks. The pads arrived quickly and turned up with some Haribo! Winning!

I went for Heatsinks Yellow Magura pads (£18 inc. P&P). Fitting them was a piece of cake – wheels off, pop out the old pads, stick in the new ones and put the wheels back on! The pads are slightly longer and thicker than Magura pads, so the brake then needs to be re-aligned.

The easiest way I have found is by putting a 1p piece (or something of similar thickness) between the pad and the wheel and then tightening the mountings up. Knock out the 1p and the pads are a perfect 1mm away from the wheels.

As I said – the pads are slight longer than the standard Maguras and I found that I had a tiny part of the top corners hanging over the edge of the brake disks – but that shouldn’t matter. Rinse and repeat for the other brake.

I took my rig for a very quick test by rolling down my street and the Heatsink pads are definitely more effective than the standard Magura’s and that was in the wet (although they aren’t NoSno brake level yet..). They were also bloody noisy! Hope that stops soon….

I’ll be testing it out properly at the Test Track this weekend, so will post an update on how they do.

Five Passes Mountainboard Challenge

On 12th November 2011 a group of us will be heading up to the Lakes to ride Whinlatter, Honister, Wrynose, Hardknott and Kirkstone Passes in a single day.

This sounds completely ridiculous and I am sure it will mark the end of us all - but check out Rogers blog and Surfing Dirt for more info.

As ever, just speak up if you want to join us on this suicidal/historic excursion.

Scouting Gisburn Forest

I’ve been wanting to check out Gisburn Forest for ages. Mainly ever since I saw this photo floating around online:

Gisburn Forest is one of the best mountain biking spots in the North-West and has had loads of money thrown at it recently to improve the trails.

Looking on an OS map; whilst hardly mountainous, it looked like the forest had some promise for some downhill sections and I just hoped that the best trails would be rideable on a board.

Unfortunately, the best trails are all situated on a the “Red Route” which runs throughout the forest – with the “Black Route” which has the killer berms (named Hully Gully) at the very top (see Gisburn Forest Trail guide). I say unfortunately because the car park is right at the bottom of the forest (marked on the Freeride NW map) and the “Red Route” is approx 20km long…so you aren’t going to be exploring on foot.

View Freeride NW in a larger map

I took my bike out and had a bit of an explore. Most of the forest is made up of your typical firetrack and there are trails running off into the forest. Down those trails are a mixture of all sorts of singletrack; super-tight downhills, northshore style courses, elevated platforms above streams, rocky ascents etc. It’s a whole mixed bag.

I took my bike on a few of the downhill ones and on the most part I think they would be unrideable on a board – at least if you wanted to enjoy yourself. You’d need a NoSno brake and be a good rider to get round them.

The firetracks however were very rideable – they varied from solid rock, to mini boulders, to gravel and everything in between. Most were relatively short however and the longest downhill stretch I found was only approx 0.5 miles (there was no phone signal out there so no 3G for the GPS).

I didn’t manage to get all the way up to the “Black Route” because it turns out I am incredibly unfit when it comes to riding 20km of singletrack – so my current summary is:

Its an awesome place for mountain biking but for boarding it is a bit out of the way and what is rideable isn’t that exciting. It took over an hour for me to get there from Preston – in which time I could have been in the south Lakes, which offers much more.

I’ll post an update when I’ve explored the forest more – but I’m not holding my breath.

Longridge Fell – The Test Track

Longride Fell (unsurprisingly enough…) is located just outside Longridge in Lancs. It’s a hill in the Bowland Forest and well known for being a pretty good mountainbiking spot near to Preston.

Its not an awesome site for mountainboarding as the forest roads are relatively short (0.5-1.0 miles) and the forest itself has a bad tendency for being waterlogged if its rained anytime in the past 6 months… BUT its only 30 mins from my house, making it the closest spot I’ve found so far that has some reliable trails. Oh and there is parking at the bottom of both sides of the Fell – so it isn’t too much of a trek up.

Because of that, I call this place my test track and will pop up there if I want to test out some changes to my rig, or if I only have a couple of hours to kill.

There are 3 main trails I have found that I stick to:

View Freeride NW in a larger map

West Trail

This is a short half mile section of forest road with a couple of corners. It’s good for a beginner to try out downhill riding as the conditions are very similar to the lakes (but smaller). A run will last less than a minute, but it only takes 5 mins to walk back up…

Watch out for walkers and dogs on the 90 degree right-hander...its a blind corner and there always seems to be someone in the track that you don’t see until the last minute – even when its quiet.

It is possible to get the road to run all the way from the top of the Fell which add maybe another quarter mile, but its pretty flat and you need the wind going the right way to get any momentum. Its easier to start from the tree stump (you’ll know it when you see it).

East Trail

Another short trail – but this is FUN! It is about half a mile of forest road, but this starts with a little roll in, into 7 very quick, very tight, technical corners (some real dog-legs) and then straight down to the car park. It’s kind of like Dave, but there aren’t any straights between corners.

This is another good trail to use for practicing corners – which I really need to do…my heel sides aren’t that great :(

Middle Trail

There are tons of little trails on the Fell that a lot of mountainbikers use. Unfortunately it is pine forest, so the trees tend to be very close together and the ground very soft from pine needles. This means that a lot of the biking trails aren’t great for boards.

One of the ones that isn’t too bad is the trail going straight from the trig point at the top of the Fell down to the farm in the middle. It is a pretty wide break in the trees with loads of roots and stumps to dodge and jump.

Cream Teas and Jam; Surf-the-Turf

This weekend (3^rd and 4^th September 2011) Surf-the-Turf is hosting the next round of the BFC’s Cream Teas and Jam series.

I’m not really into all those freestyle shenanigans, but I am going to try and head up for at least one day to check out what’s happening and maybe have a little roll round the centre.

You can find out more at the Facebook events page and the BFC blog.

New toy!

The last month has been pretty quiet up here in the NW. Mostly because of laziness/real life obligations but I’ve also because I’ve bought myself something new to help me explore (and I’ve been waiting for it to turn up)….

I’ve got myself a new Orange G4 mountainbike!

My process for going out looking for new boarding spots involves scouring online OS maps (not during work time of course…ahem) for any trails that a) have a decent gradient , and b) are longer than 0.5 miles. After that, it’s all about getting out there and checking it out.

Against better judgment, I still tend to drag my board around behind me when I go out exploring which often means that if a spot is pretty remote (as they all tend to be up here), I’ll spend most of my time trudging around and could possibly miss something that is just around the corner or down a little trail, just because I can only cover so much ground on foot.

The new plan is to go out in advance with the bike and cover as much ground as possible – tracking as I go with the MotionX GPS app for my iPhone.

I have taken the bike out for a spin at my local “test track” Longridge Fell to check out the final couple of trails I have been meaning to explore. Turned out they were rubbish – but it only took me 15 mins to find that out.

The great thing about exploring this way is that I can completely explore an area in one go and if I think something is rideable, I can freewheel it down to see what its going to be like on a board.

Anyway – I hope to be finding lots of new freeriding spots and posting them up on the blog soon.

Coming soon….a possible 2 miler????

Dave all wrapped up

I have returned unscathed from my first mountainboard competition (the first ATBA Downhill comp in 5 years) and it was awesome!

25 riders turned up to battle it out for top spots racing down Dave in solo timed runs. It was a great day – the track was running fast and the weather was pretty much perfect for the occasion.

Having never entered a comp before, I stuck to the Novice class and ended up coming 2^nd with a semi-respectable time which was a result! Congratulations go to Travis Birdsall and Brennig Hughes who came 1^st and 3^rd in the class respectively.

I can now say I actually have a reason to look forward to turning 30 later this year – entering the Masters class next year!

The comp was ultimately won by JC, who earned his place as August pin-up for Remolition with a scarily fast time. A full list of fastest times can be found here.

The competition was friendly, with riders travelling from all over the UK to compete and ride together and it was good seeing familiar faces and meeting new riders – as ever; mountainboarders are the nicest people you will ever meet.

Thanks and full credit goes to Roger Swannell and Joe Gatley for organising the event. Unfortunately, the sentiment was that a Downhill comp has been sorely missed and more are needed – so they are going to have their work cut-out arranging a follow-up.

Keep your eyes peeled for more write-ups surfacing around interwebs in the near future.

Downhill competition - Dave

On 30^th/31^st July, the ATBA will be hosting its first Downhill competition in years.

The venue is “Dave” a 1.4 mile twisty-turny firetrack in the heart of Wales (near Llandovery) and can be found on the Mountainboarding Map.

View ATB Wales Downhill Mountainboard Competition in a larger map

On a recent scouting trip we managed to spend an entire day riding it (thanks to a helpful uplift) and even in the wet, we were finishing in around 4mins 30secs.

The course is great; about a 1/10 gradient with long straights to build up a load of speed and lots of nice corners to negotiate.

The course is definitely rideable for almost all skill levels (and this is coming from a novice rider). I was riding with a brake and by the end of the day was happily bombing it down the straights and killing speed at the last moment for the corners – but more experienced riders were going brakeless and were easily able to control their speed and maintain some very quick times.

The competition starts at 11:00 on Saturday morning and will be solo timed runs - open to brake and brake-less riders. Thanks to an uplift that will be running on the day, there will be the opportunity to get loads of runs in.

There are much better riders participating than me, but I’ll still be competing. This is my first competition and although I don’t expect to place very well, I can’t wait to give it a go and meet up with the other riders.

I’ll probably be driving down on the Friday and stopping until Sunday so I can get some riding in from other nearby spots after the comp – make sure you join us!

Video and pictures by Joe Gatley.

For more information check out the Remolition article.

Join in the discussion at Surfing Dirt or the Facebook event page.

Whinlatter Episode 2: Return of the Osprey

After spending a weekend last year hooning down mountain fire-tracks and dodging low-flying birds of prey (which you can read about here), public demand on the Surfing Dirt forum led to a repeat meet-up the weekend of 1^st July ’11.

Arriving early on Friday night, myself, Mark and Clayton pitched up and decided to hit up the infamous Osprey run that we got booted off last year…in the dark. Luckily, Mark and Clayton are regular nocturnal riders and were able to give loads of advice beforehand about getting the right lights to use for night riding. After a couple of runs we were joined by Roger, Grove and Adam.

Riding continued into the early hours and deteriorated into nonsensical rambling about what a true All Terrain Board should have (a keel and bubble tyres apparently…) and being questioned by Police as to why a group of grown men were loitering in a lay-by in the dark…

An early start on Saturday and after boards were tinkered with, we all set off to ride Whinlatter forest. Having already explored the forest last year, we had a good idea of where the decent runs were, but Roger and Grove managed to discover lots of singletracks hidden in the trees.

The highlight of the morning was bumping into the forest First Ranger, who not only took interest in what we were doing, but gave us an uplift miles up to the highest point in the forest and pointed us in the direction of a good run. And it was a beaut! Descending from about 1460ft to 1040ft and just over a mile in length, the fire-track swept down the mountain, through a pair of tight corners and into a long straight – all the time with an exposed edge overlooking the Lakes.

Roger sent Grove and Adam off on a special mission to investigate if a nearby bridleway was ridable and would actually end up in the nearby village as signposted. The rest of us went to the pub for beer and burgers.

Surf-the-Turf owner Markus joined us for a chilled Saturday evening riding back at Whinlatter, exploring more singletracks and the effects of an axle-nut coming off at 30 mph (the result is a battered and pissed-off Clayton). The fire-tracks were clear but the air was full of a ridiculous number of midges and we were forced into a tactical retreat back to the pub.

On a scorching Sunday morning we were faced with a choice: to find a local spot with lots of easily accessible runs – or try and bag one big run. With it being one of the hottest days of the year, and mountainboarders being renowned for liking a challenge…we started our climb of the fourth highest mountain in England; Skiddaw.

The route down Skiddaw is treacherously steep, covered in loose rock and chock-full of boulders just waiting for your front trucks.

Roger led the way having already bagged the route and after torturous hours of dragging the boards up in blistering the heat, Mark, Grove and Markus became the 5^th, 6^th and 7^th person to ride from the summit of Little Man down to the base in one go; closely followed by Clayton who was plagued by more issues with his board (I only managed the top third…maybe next year…).

Exhausted and sunburnt, we headed back home, but not before popping into Surf-the-Turf and getting a tour of the centre from Markus.

Yet another awesome Freeride weekend hosted by the Lakes.

Check out the chat on Surfing Dirt for more upcoming meets.

Find more trails on the Mountainboarding Map or Freeride NW map.

Pics taken by Markus and Adam.

Whinlatter Meet

This weekend (01/07 – 03/07) is a meetup around Whinlatter in the Lakes for some real mountainboarding!

We visited here last year and it was great – awesome scenery, long rides, a pub near the campground…. You can read a write up of it here.

This year we are planning a spot of night riding on the Friday night to bag the Osprey Run that we weren’t allowed to ride last year.

After that, I am sure we will exploring the mountainbike trails at Whinlatter Forest and there is always the option of visiting centre Surf the Turf.

Everyone is welcome and if you are interested in joining us, check out the thread on Surfing Dirt or the Facebook page.

Freeride NW Map

I am creating and will be updating the Freeride NW Map with locations of trails that I have scouted and a few notes on them.

View Freeride NW in a larger map

This is very much inspired by the Mountainboard Ride Guide compiled by mountainboarding-guru Roger Swannell et al.

View Mountainboard Ride Guide in a larger map

I hope to do something similar, but focus it just for the NW area.

Other tools I am currently testing out are iPhone apps Outside and MotionX.

Outside is a free map resource app that scales from UK wide road networks down to OS level detail. The App seems to work pretty well using 3G and can be used as a GPS.

MotionX is priced at approx £1.50 and also doubles as a similar GPS device. MotionX allows you to record your track – recording your path against the map, and details distance, average and top speeds. It seems to have everything I need and I will let you know how it’s faring after more testing.

Grindleton Fell - Fail

I spent this morning scouting up at Grindleton Fell in Bowland Forest.

It was a bit of a dud. On the OS map it looked promising; a nice piece of woodland with a mile long single track descending about a hundred metres.

It didn’t start off well… I parked at a nearby quarry approx a mile from the top of the forest. According to the map (and nearby signs) there was a footpath that led across a mile of moorland to the forest. Unfortunately this path cut you right through the middle of a bog. I managed to skirt round the bog as much as possible – but it took an hour to even reach the forest, by which point I was knackered and soaked.

When I finally reached the forest, I found the track and it was a bust. Approx 18 inches wide, waterlogged mud, ankle breaking potholes and large boulders down its length. Annoyingly the gradient seemed nice and meant that it could be rideable in better conditions – but not today.

I decided to call it a day at that point. Annoyingly, whilst adding it to the Freeride NW map, I noticed an access road that leads directly to the forest – making the approach much easier.

Summary – probably not worth the hassle for just one track, but I might check it out again if there’s a drought and it completely dries out.

Public Service Announcement on bogs – they are very dangerous and should be avoided at all costs. It is better to walk miles round one than cutting through one. Bogs are like mossy/muddy quicksand. You can suddenly come across them in the middle of moorland and the depth can vary drastically – from a couple of inches deep (which is annoying and might end with you losing your shoe) to metres deep, which is deadly.

Whilst skirting round this one today I slipped and stepped out of place – my entire weight went on my right leg which sank to my thigh. Luckily it was only one leg which I was able to pull out. If it had been both legs, I wouldn’t have been able to. If you fall in one – don’t panic! Spread your weight out over the largest surface area by leaning back (or using your board for example) and try to roll yourself to an edge, where it is more solid and you can heave yourself out – don’t kick or struggle or you will only sink more.

Welcome you dirty dirty people!

Hi people and welcome to Freeride NW – this blog is dedicated to my mountainboard antics ‘ere up north.

Don’t know what mountainboarding is? Then check out the links below for more info (especially the ATBA-UK one) and get riding!

Know what mountainboarding is but not freeriding? Then you’re a heathen and must be schooled!!! Freeriding is a non-competitive way of riding – its all about the way you get from point A to point B (and then point C if you aren’t great at stopping)…be it down a mountain, through a forest, on roads, across a golf course or around a park. Or all of them at the same time.

I’m based in Lancashire and really need to get away from my few local spots and start finding some more hidden gems. I say “hidden gems”…but there are hills all around me that I haven’t stepped foot on – let alone start exploring the Lakes.

I hope the blog will get me out exploring more…maybe inspire other people to get out riding and exploring more and hopefully become a bit of a resource for any riders up here (or anyone who’s half interested).

The mountainboarding community is great…but spread a bit thinly. Riders and resources are out there – but can take a bit of finding. So, I’m going to try and focus on highlighting new riding spots, advertising any upcoming meet-ups/events, sharing the knowledge and anything I end up rambling on about.