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.