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.