Its been a while but im back

I have not posted much since my return trip from NZ. I had a great time met great people and the mountain biking was great.

I'm heading off to Alp d Huez, France today to take part in the Megaavalanche race which is a moutnain bike enduro epic with approx 1600 riders covering 32km of some of the best terrain you could imagine and add that with some of the best scenery its a winner.

Steve Deas, Martin "Bart" Nairn and myself are heading off from peebles,Scotalnd at around midnight tonight and we excpect to get to Alp d Huez about 11pm sunday night. First thing monday morning it will busy busy!! collecting lift passes and sorting all the gear out for the following weeks riding.

On the the wedensday we have the Sprint Avalanche in Oz en Oisans its a timed DH race seperate from the Megaavalanche there will be some big names there so it will be a tough race. I think there will be around 300 riders and only the top 50 go through so fingers crossed

Keep posted through the week or better still subscribe to my posts and keep an eye on how we are getting on..

Queenstown

Well i have spent the last week in Queenstown with a couple of trips to Wanaka and i have had the best time of my trip so far i have been on the drink with 4 Germans who were staying at the same campsite and we went to a drum and bass night and it got a bit messy as we never got back in till 6am but its all good. The the next night we all had a barbe and got pissed again before they all left for the fjords.

I met up with a lad called Aeron who is a friend of a friend. I went round to his Gaff after he invited me which is just 2min from the centre in Queenstown and had a few beers with Aeron, Eric(HisCanadian flat mate) and a girl called Karen who is his best mate from home and was over visiting all of who are sound people.

After a few drinks we headed into the centre of town for a good sesh. We were all drinking the local beers and ended up staying on a beer called Ragglers for most of the night as this was one of the best, it was a real good night and i ended up staying at Aerons place as we had a few more Bevvy's when we all got back to the flat. The next day Aeron had to go to work so I went to Wanaka with Aerons mate Karen i wanted to check out the Heli Biking over there so hung over we both headed out to Wanaka. I loved Wanaka the place is so chilled out its situated right on Wanaka lake and its an awesome place, we wet into the main centre to get some food and chill out then we headed to the lake front and just sat about getting burned of the schorching sun.

I got myself sorted with a Helli bike ride and was well looking forward to the next day. In the late afternoon we headed back to Queenstown with a quick stop in Cardrona to look at NZ's oldest hotel.

Christchurch

My last 2 days thursday 12th and friday 13th in Christchurch were wet ones so no biking got done as they don't let you on the tracks when it rains as it wrecks them so i met up with the marco and andre on the thursday and we just hung out around town. We ended up going to the local leisure centre and going for a swim, jacuzzi, sauna etc and that passed the afternoon, That night they left for Mt cook via Lake Tekapo were they would stay till friday morning. I stayed in Christchurch for one more night hoping to get 1 last days biking in before i left but i woke on te friday morning to the sound of rain smashing of the tin roof of my camper van..Not to worry though as i had a plan B and it was to go to the Antarctic centre and take a look around. I payed $48 to get in which i tried to haggle down cause i thought that was a bit of a rip off but it was either pay it or piss off so i payed it. Once in i thought the place seemed pretty cool i reached the penguin enclosure at feeding time so i was buzzing to see what a penguin was like ( for no real reason i was just wondering how big they were as i had been told they are as big as 5ft) when i saw the penguins they were about 1ft high i was well gutted and they fedding bit was crap so that was a waste of time. I headed of to the storm room, every 30min for about 4min storm conditions are re-created in this room and if your brave enough you can go in and feel what its like to be in a wind and snow storm at -18 this place was ace i had good fun in there everyone else took off when it started getting to cold. After that there was just a few boards up around the place and some musem bits but for $48 i wont do that again. When i came out it was still raining so i decided to head to Mt cook.

BOS Shocks

When the great excitment came that BOS would be back in the game with mountain bike suspension i was really excited and could't wait to get my hands on there forks and shocks.

It was June when the BOS Stoy hit the uk shores via Tf Tuned and i got one ordered for my socom straight away at a cost of £500. As normal with TF the Stoy came the next day and after i looked at it for about and hour i decided to fit it and give it a go. The shock worked brilliant and i'm not one who you hear talking all kinds of shit about how the bars give better feedback how the tyres roll great and how my new seat post is making all the difference, i mena sioome guy came up to me at the last uplfift at innerleithen and asked my what i thought of my Funn cranks i had on!!!! i just looked at him and said "well there just cranks".

Anyways back to the BOS business the shock did make a difference you could feel the back end hold the ground alot better and it felt grreat on heavy landings so i was happy as larry.

While out in France (3weeks after getting the shock) i cracked my socom and was unable to use the bike or the shock i phoned Intense and they said that the Frame would be replaced so out came the Visa card and i bought an M6 with the intentions of selling my new socom to cover some of the visa bill. Obviously the shock length is ddifferent on the M6 to the socom so i needed to have the shaft taken out the stoy and replaced with a longer one. I phoned Tf Tuned and they said no worries the parts are not in from BOS but they would have the parts to complete the conversion within the month, so i was happy with that and sent the shock down to get done.

Well its now December and the stoy is still sitting on a shelf at Tf Tuned ( No fault of Tf Tuned) the French pricks at BOS have still not delivered any spare parts for the stoy shock's and Tim at TF has been trying his hardest to sort it but has no luck with them.

There was a recent rally report that said Subaru rally team had just dropped BOS because of supply problems and at times had to fix there own problems with the shocks.

I hope this is not a sign of things to come BOS and I will not be buying anything they send out now if this is the kind of customer support you recive from them, its a shame because it looks good and worked well i think il just stick with the main brands in the future.

Glentress mincing

Malcolm Renton

I was up until 5am watching Ricky "Hitman" Hatton take Paulii Malanagi to boxin school in there world title fight knowing that i had to be up at 9am to head over to Glentress for a day's riding.

I looked out the window just before i went to bed and could't belive that it was snowing, it was about 3inches, 3hrs ago it had just been a cold and dull night and now i was loking at a mini blizzard. I got up and it was white i thought about cancelling but decided not to as it had been planned with Malcolm earlier in the week. He turned up and we headed for Glentress. 

Me after the first small black section.

The weather was crap at glentress dull and wet. We set off and straight away i was getting a wet arse from all the wet spray coming up of my tyre i new this was gonna be a wet one. We made it up to the top of spooky woods eventually, Malcolm's fitness almost non-existent Ha Ha (to much letting the girlfriemd ran about after you i think.) 

www.7stanes.gov.uk

We headed down the spooky woods run whitch is like a big boy's bmx train with it's perfectly smooth berms and fast flowing motorways, it's not really what i like to ride but you can't knock it for what it is and it's perfect for beginers or novices (not that im any kind of super rider) or just generally getting out with your mates for a laugh. I was soaking after the first run down and my legs were freezing as we pused back up for another run down. We done 2 loops of spooky woods then headed down the rest of the red/black runs, the 2 run's after spooky woods trail are my favourites because they have some fast rooty/rocky sections in them and you can pick some good flowing speed up. We headed up to the Black run and i showed Malcolm where the north shore (ish) stuff is then we made are way down the black runs, these are good steepish descents and have the odd rock garden tight fast wood sections so you get a good mixture of everything here. Once at the bottom we had to make are way up to the van, a little ride up the road taking about 5min.

Soaking, wet and muddy....Buzz.

We got changed and headed to the hub cafe for a cuppa and a roll, the prices in this cafe have gone through the roof boardering on mental they want £7 for a full english breakfast!! i ordered a takeaway Latte and was handed the smallest takeaway container i have seen smaler than the petrol station one's and was charged £1.60, 2 sipps and it was gone.... Im not going back there again ripping off Bas*@rds. Overall it was a good day and now im knackered going for a shower and heading to my scratcher....

Fort william DH first timer

Date: 12/05/08
Location: Fort William / Nevis Range/ Anoch moorWell today’s journey started at 6:30am and ended at 12:05pm and the distance covered? 190miles. Now in France or Switzerland I can cover 190 miles in approx two and a half hours so why in this country does it not only take 3 times as long and is also more expensive i.e. fuel, tax etc. Ok travelling moan aside I’m about to ride one of the best DH tracks this side of the hemisphere and I can’t wait, finally I reach Fort William. As you drive through the town of Fort William you can’t help but notice how nice the place is with the town on one side and loch on the other its very welcoming and comfortable. To get to Anoch Moor you head out of Fort William heading for the Nevis range its only a 10min drive from the town centre you pick up signs for the Nevis range and turn of the main road passing the pikeys on the way up to the car park and arriving at the Gondola station. Once I arrived at the gondola station at the Nevis range I was eager to get on the bike, the weather is great the sun is shining the sky has no clouds and its warm what more could you want. I meet up with Steve and Kris who have just finished their second run and after paying my £21 pound multitrip pass we head round the back of the Gondola station to get the bikes on and get up the hill, the first thing I notice is the strange way the bikes go on the lifts, you place the front of the saddle through an eyelet and that’s it so If you go up there make sure your saddle is tight on its a good system though as it allows three bikes on and all three people inside comfortably. The lift up takes about 15min but can be longer if there are bus loads of old people there! Be prepared to sit in the lifts a little longer as they keep slowing, starting and stopping for them getting on and off. Once at the top you walk out of the gondola station and have a 2 min push to the start of the DH track. There is a cafe there and the views from the cafe balcony are amazing on a clear day like today you can also get a good look at the top half of the track from there. The start is a wooden platform raised about 1 meter from the ground and it leads off to one of the best downhill tracks going. The ride down has everything that a world class DH track should have, it has rocks roots fast corners technical corners off camber corners , jumps step downs etc you name it this track has it, its physically demanding and by the time you are half way down you start to realise that this is no normal DH track its full on all the way down and there is no rest bite your arms and shoulders are aching with the constant pounding and your brain is on overdrive trying to pick the lines that well keep you flowing and missing the wheel busting rocks. This track is mental it’s just one thing after another DH mountain biking at its best. Dropping down onto the lower section and into the woods you start to notice you’re getting some forearm pump and braking is becoming less efficient but you have to concentrate as you’re in with the roots n rocks and one mistake here could send you into the realm of gravity assisted free fall. Clear the woods over one last tricky rocky section and your onto the fast section now take a breather turn left then right and get hard on the pedals over the small jumps carrying your speed well hit the hip jump and style it big time drop back down and you’re on the pedals again ready for the 2 table tops over them and pedal hard for the hip/double you can clear it but you have to be going good and commit to it, some people come up short but it’s just a heavy landing and it tests your shocks to the max as I found on my first run. Along the final stretch up high over the jump and onto the elevator a steep section that you need to commit too to get the most fun out off, you must be at 40mph at this point, down the elevator over the jump and land in the bowl which is part of the 4X track two more drop offs and hard on the brakes trying to stop before the metal fence. Job done smile and pat yourself on the back because that’s one of the best DH tracks you will ever ride. The whole ride for a pro would last about 4:50 for a good rider it will take about 5:15 – 6:30 and for anyone else it would just be an achievement finishing such a good track.