Another few months have passed so here's a quick update.
I hope at some point to cover 2008 in a bit more detail, including Mountain Mayhem, Sleepless In The Saddle, more of the 2008 NPS XC series and other topics, but for now I'm trying to look forwards and enjoy after an injury hit 2008.
I was in Shropshire for round 4 of the 2008 NPS at Eastridge, taking photos etc. as usual for http://www.xcracer.com and was riding the race course to find some good viewing spots. The local conditions were amongst the most mixed I've seen for an XC event, with rocks, roots and mud all together for a change, plus a number of fallen trees which had been incorporated into the lap.
To cut a long story short, I ran out of a combination of riding skill, front wheel grip and arm strength over one of the fallen trees/logs and went over the handlebars, winding myself badly and banging my wrist. I was in no fit state to continue riding the course so walked the remainder, taking a few photos en route, and went to get checked out by the Extreme Medics doctors, who diagnosed a sprained wrist and bruised ribs.
Still in a bit of pain 10 days later, I went to A&E to get the wrist looked at in more detail, and it turned out I had actually fractured the scaphoid bone in my left (dominant) hand. That destroyed my plans to race Dusk 'til Dawn, and also meant surgery to insert a titanium pin into the bone to improve the chances of successful healing.
24 weeks after I broke it,the bone has healed but I'm still undergoing physiotherapy to strengthen the wrist, and am still not allowed to ride, which is incredibly frustrating. Still, in the hope I make a full recovery, I'm already thinking of Mountain Mayhem and SITS, plus may race at Wild Boar 24 too.
In the meantime, I've been experimenting a little with video hosting sites, and have decided that Vimeo is a better option than YouTube, as although it doesn't get the same number of hits, the resulting video quality is far higher and less grainy.
I re-used my original footage from the 2007 NPS events at Margam and Sherwood Pines to produce some videos for the 2009 British Mountain Bike XC series, and uploaded them to Vimeo. I think they work quite well. See more at http://www.britishxc.com
Sunday, 8 February 2009
Sunday, 19 October 2008
Finally, another update
Well, it's been a few months and quite a bit has happened since I last posted, but more of that in other posts.
Before that, I eventually managed to upload my footage from Fort William this year, or at least the women's XC anyway.
It's a real shame that the UCI have dropped XC from Fort William for next year, apparently because the lap time was 'too long'. I'll not be working up there as a marshall next year as a result, having been there from 2005-2008, but may make trip to Houffalize or Offenburg instead, I hope.
Before that, I eventually managed to upload my footage from Fort William this year, or at least the women's XC anyway.
It's a real shame that the UCI have dropped XC from Fort William for next year, apparently because the lap time was 'too long'. I'll not be working up there as a marshall next year as a result, having been there from 2005-2008, but may make trip to Houffalize or Offenburg instead, I hope.
Saturday, 31 May 2008
Gary Fisher Superfly 29er review and general updates
First of all, apologies to anyone out there reading this for my lack of updates. I'd like to say I've been spending time doing something worthwhile but I've been merely busy.
Anyway, now that's out of the way, I'm writing this with a new slight injury to my right knee which I tweaked while running around a few weeks ago. I went to see a new physiotherapist today, and there's good news and bad news. The good news is that I can still race at Mountain Mayhem in 3 weeks' time, which is a huge relief. The bad news is my body core stability is not great, and as I knew already, my hamstrings, hip flexors etc. are generally pretty tight. My Illio-Tibial Band is also tight, which is what's pulling on my right knee, so I've got various exercises and a large inflatable ball to work on. It's good to know that it can be fixed though :)
In preparation for Mayhem, injured or not, I finally bought the Hope Vision Single LED light I've been after for ages. I've only been out using it once, but I'm really happy so far. It's cable-free, takes 4 AA batteries, only weighs around 240g wih batteries, and produces more light than my old 10W halogen system. Well, at least I think so. Once I've taken some comparison photos, I'll upload them here.
A few weeks ago, I made the journey up to Drumlanrig in south west Scotland for round 2 of the 2008 British National Points Series. I don't drive, so was reliant upon public transport, couldn't take the bike for various reasons, and there were rail engineering works, but it all worked out perfectly. I even managed to get a local bus from Dumfries to Thornhill and then walked the 4 miles or so to Drumlanrig Castle itself. £43.50 in total for a return journey from south west London to Scotland seems good value.
While I was there, covering the racing for the XCRacer website, the kind guys at Trek lent me a 2008 Gary Fisher Superfly carbon 29er to try, which meant I could ride the course. I must admit, I wasn't a great fan of 29ers at this point, although I had never ridden one, as I don't like them from an aesthetic point of view. Nevertheless, I tried my best to be open-minded once on board the £2500 machine, which came with X0 trigger shifters and rear mech, Avid Juicy Ultimate brakes, carbon Bontrager cranks, 32mm stanchion Fox forks and wide flat bars but no bar ends. The Superfly has the Genesis 2.0 geometry, which means a shorter top tube combined with a fork which is further offset away from the headtube, to keep the overall bike long enough. The 19" Fisher frame I tried still felt far less stretched out than my 18.5" Inbred.
Over the regular rocks and roots of the Drumlanrig course, the large wheels rolled really well. Medium and fast corners were a revelation, as a combination of the stiff forks (compared to my 30mm Marzocchis) and the large level of grip afforded by the contact area of the tyres meant the bike could be really cranked over and it would stick beautifully to whatever line you chose. Downhill, the wide bars, high grip levels and short top tube made it easy to attack and left a big grin on my face.
The downside of the short top tube, wide bars and no bar ends was uphill however. The bike felt really sluggish as soon as the terrain went up, and even a stiff carbon frame and low overall weight didn't seem to help. Every climb left me wanting to be back on my (probably heavier) 26" wheeled Inbred. The other issue was slow speed cornering, where turning the Superfly felt like trying to turn a supertanker, it was such hard work. The long stem fitted (necessary with the short top tube) combined with the size of the wheels meant every tight bend became hard work. I'm not sure how Fisher could rectify this, as a shorter stem would leave the overall riding position even less stretched out than at present. I suppose narrower bars and bar ends could make some difference for climbing perhaps.
Overall, I'm much more of a convert to 29ers than I was before riding the Superfly, but I certainly won't be buying one soon, and Fisher maybe have some work to do so that the bike climbs as well as it descends.
Anyway, now that's out of the way, I'm writing this with a new slight injury to my right knee which I tweaked while running around a few weeks ago. I went to see a new physiotherapist today, and there's good news and bad news. The good news is that I can still race at Mountain Mayhem in 3 weeks' time, which is a huge relief. The bad news is my body core stability is not great, and as I knew already, my hamstrings, hip flexors etc. are generally pretty tight. My Illio-Tibial Band is also tight, which is what's pulling on my right knee, so I've got various exercises and a large inflatable ball to work on. It's good to know that it can be fixed though :)
In preparation for Mayhem, injured or not, I finally bought the Hope Vision Single LED light I've been after for ages. I've only been out using it once, but I'm really happy so far. It's cable-free, takes 4 AA batteries, only weighs around 240g wih batteries, and produces more light than my old 10W halogen system. Well, at least I think so. Once I've taken some comparison photos, I'll upload them here.
A few weeks ago, I made the journey up to Drumlanrig in south west Scotland for round 2 of the 2008 British National Points Series. I don't drive, so was reliant upon public transport, couldn't take the bike for various reasons, and there were rail engineering works, but it all worked out perfectly. I even managed to get a local bus from Dumfries to Thornhill and then walked the 4 miles or so to Drumlanrig Castle itself. £43.50 in total for a return journey from south west London to Scotland seems good value.
While I was there, covering the racing for the XCRacer website, the kind guys at Trek lent me a 2008 Gary Fisher Superfly carbon 29er to try, which meant I could ride the course. I must admit, I wasn't a great fan of 29ers at this point, although I had never ridden one, as I don't like them from an aesthetic point of view. Nevertheless, I tried my best to be open-minded once on board the £2500 machine, which came with X0 trigger shifters and rear mech, Avid Juicy Ultimate brakes, carbon Bontrager cranks, 32mm stanchion Fox forks and wide flat bars but no bar ends. The Superfly has the Genesis 2.0 geometry, which means a shorter top tube combined with a fork which is further offset away from the headtube, to keep the overall bike long enough. The 19" Fisher frame I tried still felt far less stretched out than my 18.5" Inbred.
Over the regular rocks and roots of the Drumlanrig course, the large wheels rolled really well. Medium and fast corners were a revelation, as a combination of the stiff forks (compared to my 30mm Marzocchis) and the large level of grip afforded by the contact area of the tyres meant the bike could be really cranked over and it would stick beautifully to whatever line you chose. Downhill, the wide bars, high grip levels and short top tube made it easy to attack and left a big grin on my face.
The downside of the short top tube, wide bars and no bar ends was uphill however. The bike felt really sluggish as soon as the terrain went up, and even a stiff carbon frame and low overall weight didn't seem to help. Every climb left me wanting to be back on my (probably heavier) 26" wheeled Inbred. The other issue was slow speed cornering, where turning the Superfly felt like trying to turn a supertanker, it was such hard work. The long stem fitted (necessary with the short top tube) combined with the size of the wheels meant every tight bend became hard work. I'm not sure how Fisher could rectify this, as a shorter stem would leave the overall riding position even less stretched out than at present. I suppose narrower bars and bar ends could make some difference for climbing perhaps.
Overall, I'm much more of a convert to 29ers than I was before riding the Superfly, but I certainly won't be buying one soon, and Fisher maybe have some work to do so that the bike climbs as well as it descends.
Tuesday, 1 April 2008
Hope pro riders and the Olympic XC points race is go!
Following in the footsteps of the team-only red Magura Marta SLs as used by Specialized etc., Hope have been issuing their pro riders with a range of mint green kit, which is now starting to appear in photo such as the above, which is Andrew Patterson's bike.
The amount of kit being provided by Hope varies from person to person, so in the case of Andrew Patterson, it includes mint green disc brakes, external bottom bracket cups with ceramic bearings, stem, headset and seatpost QR it would seem. It goes really well with his white Endorfin, I think. Oli Beckingsale's black/red Giant Anthem Advanced doesn't look quite as good with mint green external BB cups and disc brakes. The ladies, meanwhile, such as Jenn O'Connor, get the same kit but in the light pink which first appeared in late 2007. Hope are also supporting the likes of Trek/SiS and Filip Meirhaeghe, so I'm keen to see how much of the range they end up with, and any horrific clashing colours too....
In competition news, the race to claim one of GB's 2 Elite Men XC places for Beijing 2008 has now well and truly begun. Oli Beckingsale has already won one round of the K Capital Cup in Ireland, and this weekend won at the Midlands XC. Liam Killeen meanwhile finished 9th at the first NMBS event of the year in the US. Any difference in points at this stage is probably irrelevant, however, given British Cycling's typically opaque Olympics selection criteria.
The amount of kit being provided by Hope varies from person to person, so in the case of Andrew Patterson, it includes mint green disc brakes, external bottom bracket cups with ceramic bearings, stem, headset and seatpost QR it would seem. It goes really well with his white Endorfin, I think. Oli Beckingsale's black/red Giant Anthem Advanced doesn't look quite as good with mint green external BB cups and disc brakes. The ladies, meanwhile, such as Jenn O'Connor, get the same kit but in the light pink which first appeared in late 2007. Hope are also supporting the likes of Trek/SiS and Filip Meirhaeghe, so I'm keen to see how much of the range they end up with, and any horrific clashing colours too....
In competition news, the race to claim one of GB's 2 Elite Men XC places for Beijing 2008 has now well and truly begun. Oli Beckingsale has already won one round of the K Capital Cup in Ireland, and this weekend won at the Midlands XC. Liam Killeen meanwhile finished 9th at the first NMBS event of the year in the US. Any difference in points at this stage is probably irrelevant, however, given British Cycling's typically opaque Olympics selection criteria.
Wednesday, 19 March 2008
93 days to go....
I'm really looking forward to racing this year, whether as a spectator or actually on course. Despite my initial misgivings about my enforced move up to the Masters class for 2008, I've just had a look at some of my old lap times from National Points Series and Gorrick races in 2005 and 2006, and although I would be nowhere near the front, I would at least have a few people behind me. Of course, I was relatively fit in 2005 and 2006, and not being a hypochondriac about my still not 100% right knee, so I doubt I could repeat those times right now...
On an NPS-related note, I've now rejoined British Cycling after allowing my licence to lapse, so I feel a bit better for supporting our governing body in the UK, despite its many faults.
One thing I could never understand, particularly after working at the World Championships at Fort William in 2007, was why British Cycling seems to make so little use of sponsorship to help support our riders. Italy have Skoda logos all over their strip, Rabobank clearly work together with the Dutch team, and yet all British Cycling seemed to do was use Trek bikes and have a small Adidas logo on the strip. It's all change this week however, with Hope not only working more closely with the XC riders at least, and providing some lovely mint green disc brakes in the process, but also Halfords Bikehut have now joined in too, although I'm not sure if this is for XC and/or DH too.
One thing I hadn't realised when guessing who would be at Mountain Mayhem this year is that the 2008 World Championships take place the same weekend at Val Di Sole. That would explain why there's no Giant team entered, since Oli Beckingsale will be in Italy, and also makes it unlikely that Ian Bibby will be riding for SiS/Trek or Jenny Copnall for any of the teams requesting her as a rider. However, it appears this week that Sue Clarke (formerly Sue Thomas) is making a return to XC after getting married and missing all of 2007's races. She's joined SiS/Trek so could be at Mayhem on their Expert Mixed team, which could now be very strong on the women's side. I had in my head that Amy Hunt was still at Trek/SiS and therefore could be on their team at Mayhem but of course she's at Trek/VW now....
It will be interesting to see how the results of the first NPS of the year go, with Sue Clarke added to the usual suspects of Jenny C, Amy Hunt, Jenn O'Connor, Kate Potter and the like. I hope to be there on 13/04 in Thetford, albeit probably just as a spectator taking photos (badly) and some video footage, but I'll decide that over the next week or so.
On an NPS-related note, I've now rejoined British Cycling after allowing my licence to lapse, so I feel a bit better for supporting our governing body in the UK, despite its many faults.
One thing I could never understand, particularly after working at the World Championships at Fort William in 2007, was why British Cycling seems to make so little use of sponsorship to help support our riders. Italy have Skoda logos all over their strip, Rabobank clearly work together with the Dutch team, and yet all British Cycling seemed to do was use Trek bikes and have a small Adidas logo on the strip. It's all change this week however, with Hope not only working more closely with the XC riders at least, and providing some lovely mint green disc brakes in the process, but also Halfords Bikehut have now joined in too, although I'm not sure if this is for XC and/or DH too.
One thing I hadn't realised when guessing who would be at Mountain Mayhem this year is that the 2008 World Championships take place the same weekend at Val Di Sole. That would explain why there's no Giant team entered, since Oli Beckingsale will be in Italy, and also makes it unlikely that Ian Bibby will be riding for SiS/Trek or Jenny Copnall for any of the teams requesting her as a rider. However, it appears this week that Sue Clarke (formerly Sue Thomas) is making a return to XC after getting married and missing all of 2007's races. She's joined SiS/Trek so could be at Mayhem on their Expert Mixed team, which could now be very strong on the women's side. I had in my head that Amy Hunt was still at Trek/SiS and therefore could be on their team at Mayhem but of course she's at Trek/VW now....
It will be interesting to see how the results of the first NPS of the year go, with Sue Clarke added to the usual suspects of Jenny C, Amy Hunt, Jenn O'Connor, Kate Potter and the like. I hope to be there on 13/04 in Thetford, albeit probably just as a spectator taking photos (badly) and some video footage, but I'll decide that over the next week or so.
Thursday, 13 March 2008
Confirmation and Crossmarks
It's been a good week in an MTB sense. First of all, my Dusk 'Til Dawn/SITS team mate Andrew and I were out in Swinley Forest on Sunday, and although forecast rain didn't arrive, it was still a little stickier than I thought but I didn't need the TrailRakers. We got some good riding in, managed to find the fun corkscrew section which I had raced down a couple of years ago from Crowthorne and then forgot about, and also some excellently fast bermed singletrack. I'm looking forward to getting back there again for some more training, ideally with my other team mate Roger in tow.
Judging by Sunday's performance, Andrew's winter training has produced some impressive straight line speed, but he was struggling a little technically until he remembered his tyre pressures were really high, let some air out, and was then much happier. While we were out, we heard a PA system nearby, and I remembered that there was a Gorrick race taking place, so we went along to offer some support to the likes of Alex Paton and George Budd. It was good to see some familiar faces, but the event seemed really quiet by the usual Gorrick standards, although it was late in the day and perhaps many riders were at the BUSA Championships instead.
Mountain Mayhem entry confirmations were released in midweek and happily "A Midsummer Night's Team" and I made it into the Sport Men race. It will be our first trip to Mountain Mayhem, and Ian's first race since about 1993, but I can't wait. Some of the teams joining us in Sport looks familiar from Sleepless In The Saddle 2007, such as the Black Riders Of Mordor. The Open Men category seems to contain some potentially very fast teams, now that Elite and Expert Men can only ride in Expert Mixed or Open Men for 2008. Some of the Expert Mixed teams look intriguing too, such as SiS/Trek and Rivette, making another trip across from Denmark after finishing 2nd in Expert Men in 2007, but bringing a number of teams this year. I wonder if Ian Bibby will be riding for SiS, and who their female rider(s) will be? Amy Hunt would seem a good bet, since SiS/Trek is her old team, but we'll have to wait and see.....
Finally, my Maxxis Crossmarks arrived today, and although I haven't fitted them yet, I have had the weighing scales out. Maxxis claim a 530g weight for my 2.1", 120tpi 62a eXCeption series tyre, but my pair came in at a mere 484g and 486g. Either my scales are wrong, Maxxis are wrong, or Maxxis' website is a little conservative, but I'm happy at being able to save weight while gaining grip and pinch puncture protection :) I'm looking forward to trying them out this weekend!
Judging by Sunday's performance, Andrew's winter training has produced some impressive straight line speed, but he was struggling a little technically until he remembered his tyre pressures were really high, let some air out, and was then much happier. While we were out, we heard a PA system nearby, and I remembered that there was a Gorrick race taking place, so we went along to offer some support to the likes of Alex Paton and George Budd. It was good to see some familiar faces, but the event seemed really quiet by the usual Gorrick standards, although it was late in the day and perhaps many riders were at the BUSA Championships instead.
Mountain Mayhem entry confirmations were released in midweek and happily "A Midsummer Night's Team" and I made it into the Sport Men race. It will be our first trip to Mountain Mayhem, and Ian's first race since about 1993, but I can't wait. Some of the teams joining us in Sport looks familiar from Sleepless In The Saddle 2007, such as the Black Riders Of Mordor. The Open Men category seems to contain some potentially very fast teams, now that Elite and Expert Men can only ride in Expert Mixed or Open Men for 2008. Some of the Expert Mixed teams look intriguing too, such as SiS/Trek and Rivette, making another trip across from Denmark after finishing 2nd in Expert Men in 2007, but bringing a number of teams this year. I wonder if Ian Bibby will be riding for SiS, and who their female rider(s) will be? Amy Hunt would seem a good bet, since SiS/Trek is her old team, but we'll have to wait and see.....
Finally, my Maxxis Crossmarks arrived today, and although I haven't fitted them yet, I have had the weighing scales out. Maxxis claim a 530g weight for my 2.1", 120tpi 62a eXCeption series tyre, but my pair came in at a mere 484g and 486g. Either my scales are wrong, Maxxis are wrong, or Maxxis' website is a little conservative, but I'm happy at being able to save weight while gaining grip and pinch puncture protection :) I'm looking forward to trying them out this weekend!
Friday, 7 March 2008
Not tired of tyres
I'm feeling optimistic that Spring will soon be here after a weeek of sunshine in London, even though the forecast for this weekend is not great, so it's a fond farewell to my Panaracer TrailRaker mud tyres and hello again to my now quite worn Maxxis Flyweight 490s. Luckily they won't need to last much longer, except for the occasional dry hardpack summer race, as I'll hopefully get a pair of Maxxis Crossmarks this week, in their 2.1", 120tpi 62a eXCeption series incarnation.
Granted, it is a 40g per wheel weight penalty from the 490s to the Crossmarks, but I'm hopeful that the larger volume should help me avoid pinch punctures, while still allowing low pressures to be used for grip and lowered rolling resistance. I've only pinch punctured once while racing as far as I can remember, and that was hitting a drop-off too hard while using about 18psi in the rear wheel. Ooops. Judging by the amount of miles of racing, training and road commuting use my 490s have done over the years, the 62a rubber seems to last quite well, so the Crossmarks should be good for a while.
Maxxis have got some new cross-country tyres out too, but not in the eXception series yet. The models are named Monorail and Ridgeline and "offers spacing to grab rough and sandy surfaces, while the stability bars keep flex and rolling resistance to a minimum" and "masters dry trails, offering athletes awesome lean angles with little sacrificed momentum" respectively. The design of the Ridgeline looks very interesting so it will be intriguing to see the first reviews come in.
I'm still awaiting confirmation of whether our team entry has been accepted for Mountain Mayhem, but all those who applied should be contacted by early next week apparently. In the meantime, entries for Sleepless In The Saddle are not yet being accepted, so I suppose I'd better complete our form for Marin Dusk 'til Dawn....
Granted, it is a 40g per wheel weight penalty from the 490s to the Crossmarks, but I'm hopeful that the larger volume should help me avoid pinch punctures, while still allowing low pressures to be used for grip and lowered rolling resistance. I've only pinch punctured once while racing as far as I can remember, and that was hitting a drop-off too hard while using about 18psi in the rear wheel. Ooops. Judging by the amount of miles of racing, training and road commuting use my 490s have done over the years, the 62a rubber seems to last quite well, so the Crossmarks should be good for a while.
Maxxis have got some new cross-country tyres out too, but not in the eXception series yet. The models are named Monorail and Ridgeline and "offers spacing to grab rough and sandy surfaces, while the stability bars keep flex and rolling resistance to a minimum" and "masters dry trails, offering athletes awesome lean angles with little sacrificed momentum" respectively. The design of the Ridgeline looks very interesting so it will be intriguing to see the first reviews come in.
I'm still awaiting confirmation of whether our team entry has been accepted for Mountain Mayhem, but all those who applied should be contacted by early next week apparently. In the meantime, entries for Sleepless In The Saddle are not yet being accepted, so I suppose I'd better complete our form for Marin Dusk 'til Dawn....
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