31 May Sunday Llandegla & Llangollen NPS

Don't miss this chance to see the country's top downhillers in action. It's MSC/Descent-Gear National Points Series Rd 2 at Llangollen on Saturday and Sunday the 30th and 31st of May 2009.

In their words, round two is going to be off the Richter Scale and will go down in the history books as the hardest track in the U.K to race on. Steve Parr and his trail fairies have officially set the bench mark and completed a master piece.

The course drops 1,000 feet and is super steep. Imagine the steepest and most technical sections from your favourite tracks, Champery, Glen Coe, Mynth Duu, Strathyre, Dunkeld, Goats Gully and Fort William Woods all in one track, without a break and no let up. The only pedalling you will do is three strokes off the start line and that is it.

Read all about it at http://www.npsdh.com/ We'll meet at Llandegla Mountain Bike Centre at 10am for a lap or two of the black route before heading off to Llangollen to see the timed runs.

Night Ride Sun 24 May

Ross has kindly offered to lead us on a night ride on the local tracks and trails. Meet outside the Weaverham shops at 8pm. We'll do the technical stuff before it's too dark; stop for some refreshment; then head home for around midnight.

4-5 recruits so far - so come and join us and don't worry about super expensive headlights - I haven't. But I have got a head torch, so bring one if you have too.

Delamere 16th May

Eleanor shows us all how to do it!

Eight of us enjoyed a bright morning around the forest, topped off with a race up Pale Heights which Gareth won. I've been coaching him on the niceties of racing and he's a quick learner. After tucking in behind Kevan and Jonti into the headwind, he sensed their easing up as the going steepened again and seized his chance, jumping away with a terriffic kick.

Good bacon and egg batches at the station cafe too.

Delamere Sat 16 May

Meet at the station cafe at 10am for a couple of hours or more of fun on the abundant single track. I bet we can show you some new places in the forest.

All abilities and non-members welcome to come along and give it a try. We regroup frequently so won't leave anyone to get lost, probably heading back to the cafe for lunch.

Picture shows Gareth at Lee Quarry 2 May. We have entered the Polaris as a team 13-14 June along with the Underhills. Sounds like it should be a laugh, so anyone else who fancies it see the link under what's on.

Lee Quarry Race 4th May

Thanks to Matthew Hornby for the following report and well done for completing the event. Picture above was taken the previous Saturday on one of the rocky sections.

Monday 4th May started bright and early for Derek and myself - well actually it was very early and really quite damp, a little dispiriting considering the glorious weather earlier in the weekend. No matter, at 7.30 we were on the road to Bacup and the Brownbacks race number 2 in the Hope series. Because the Bank Holiday traffic was fairly light we were there in plenty of time to sign on, have a brew and even a little warm up/practice before the off.

Slightly annoyingly that was delayed by about 10 minutes, just time enough to get really cold standing in the biting wind in race kit, although the first climb up the access road and onto the course proper soon put paid to any worry that we might remain chilly for the whole race. Derek shot out of the traps, and seeing him skipping up the track on the carbon fibre Giant brought to mind the image of a young Himalayan Mountain Goat enjoying the first days of spring. Unfortunately Goat boy was taken out of the race towards the end of the first lap, damaging his front brake lever in an over-the-handlebars accident. Considering the amount of rocks around where he fell, a couple of hundred yards after the yellow spotted rocks, he was lucky it wasn't much worse.

So that left it down to me to suffer on my own, (except at the end of each lap where Derek's exit meant I had one spectator shouting for me at least) and suffering was the order of the day. I'd spoken to Gareth the night before, and read Saturday's Blog but even so the technical nature of the course, particularly the rocky section where Derek had his 'off' were more taxing than expected. I was pretty confident for the first couple of laps, making a good pace and looking forward to making up places as others started to flag, but in the end that just didn't happen. From lap three the rocky areas were becoming more slippy as mud was transferred to them, and just riding over them was difficult, never mind maintaining a racing pace. I've always been pretty poor in rock gardens. Lap 4 was a real struggle, and to really put a hat on it, on lap 5, I also had a minor fall, (by this point I wasn't really going fast enough to have a proper crash) and managed to hurt my wrist. After that it was really just a case of completing to get a place and carry the WVCC colours over the line as I couldn't use the rear brake properly. The last lap took about 2.5 mins longer than previous efforts. In the end I was in 26th place in the Weekend Warrior class, (out of 49, not 27 before you ask) my 6 laps being one less than the leaders.


Having said all that, and in hindsight, I really quite enjoyed the race and the course. The berm-y and jump-y bits were, as suggested, great fun to ride, and the competition was friendly and supportive, those just behind me stopping to check I was OK when I fell. I think I'll have another punt later in the year, and make sure I'm a little better prepared next time. Derek definitely has another appointment with Beswick's Boulder too! Full results are available at http://www.brownbacksracing.co.uk/race_series/1/results.html and there should be links to race photo's there too soon.

Lee Quarry 2nd May

Andy gets some air at Lee Quarry - between Rawtnestall and Bacup in Lancashire. They've made a great job creating a 5km "red" loop (Andy, Gareth and I did 5 circuits) with an additional 2km "black"(bonkers) bit for those who like checking out the ground with their faces.

The red is great, quite a heavy climb then some twisty bits with BIG berms and a short sharp climb before some flowing singletrack with the odd rocky section to brush off the speed. Nothing too technical or menacing. If you want that you just take the black deviation - and it certainly is devious. If you want demanding rocky stuff to test your technical skill and bottle, this is the place! I was just too slow with my camera to capture Andy doing a sidways dismount as he trashed his big ring on a rock and another rider go over the front on a massive 1mtr drop off - none of us even attempted that one.

Lots of trials areas too for balance skills. Great place though and we'll be back. Not sure what the course will be for the race on Monday - mainly the red route I guess which will be fine. Good luck those who are riding it.