Cheltenham & County and Bigfoot MBC hit Ribbesford

With our two clubs having recently collaborated in trying to negotiate the return of mountain biking to Buckholt Woods we furthered this partnership with a superb gravity riding day at the downhill trails near to Ribbesford (DY12 2TX), just outside Bewdley, Worcestershire on the edge of The Wyre Forest. Bigfoot Chairman Jason Ayres invited me to bring some of our crew along for a joint club day out. Oh yes, this place was a bit special.

Introducing Megalomania

The word megalomania is derived from the Greek words "μεγαλο": megalo-, meaning large or great, and "μανία": mania, meaning madness, frenzy. It is also an excellent Black Sabbath song (see at the bottom) This is a suitable name for the new track at Bushcombe which is a speed frenzy and large open corners.

661 Mini Downhill FoD: Round 2

The second round of the 661 Mini Downhill series was again action packed with around 300 riders and a huge crowd. This time the Corkscrew trail was used for the race with only one new corner at the bottom differing it from  the standard track.

Conditions in the car park started completely frozen (though we did arrive at 8am) but quickly turned to slop as the sun thawed everything. In the woods however it was a completely different situation with the track being damp and consistently grippy all day.

661 Mini Downhill FoD: Round 1

Sunday 4 December saw the return of the 661 Mini Downhill mountain bike series at the Forest of Dean for 2011/ 12. The race, which attracts 300 riders, enjoyed strong participation from a number of Cheltenham-based enthusiasts keen to make their mark on the field. Cheltenham and County Cycling Club were represented by a team of 4 racers.

Forest Saturday

Thinking that winter was on the way a few club members booked on the Forest of Dean Uplift (www.flyupdownhill.co.uk) to get some practice in the wet conditions. Sadly winter was not to be seen and we had to ride dry dusty trails. The uplift service was excellent as usual and it was nice to ride some changes to the trails. The new jump on Corkscrew provided a few smiles and the berms at the end of Sheepskull were amazing if you were brave enough to clear the jumps and not brake into them. 

Special mentions should be made to Barnaby who completed his first ever uplift day (see its not so scary) also to Roger and Tim who missed out on the uplift but rode up to meet us at the top. 

It was also good to meet a few of the members of the Bristol Mountain Bike Club. 

The only damper on the day was my bent crank/ pedal which resulted in an early trip home and a tiny hole in Tims tyre. Sadly I do not have any photos from the day so you will have to make do with a few shots of my rear tyre, it is currently running 8 holes in the tread and 5 in the side-wall (see Tim your hole was nothing!)

Leckhampton Rally - video

Thanks to Barnaby for this great little video from the 90th Anniversary timed session up Leckhampton.

Lecky 90th Anniversary DH rally. from Barnaby Tompkins on Vimeo.

Leckhampton Rally

The Club Birthday DH event was a timed rally up Leckhampton Hill. The format was one hour per track with unlimited timed and untimed practice runs then one official timed run. Four riders turned up for the full event but more appeared to complete in the final stage. The times were recorded using the clubs Freelap poles and timing watches.

Track one was the BMX track from the top, down the chute, taking the long route to the next push path. The finish gate was on the straight before you drop on to the walkers track (so plenty of time to slow down). To those that do not know it so well, this section is all about sprinting and holding speed through large corners. Nothing too technical here just power and confidence! There we no particular problems with this section as everyone knew it well, though I did have an off track moment on the first practice run.

Track two used Dragons Tail, this drops from the middle walkers path to the top of the quarry. We used some tape to force the riders around all the corners then off the main line to take in a drop before finishing just after the ‘tail’ berms. By forcing the corners made this section a lot more difficult especially turning 90 degrees on rooty steps. During the practice period everyone had some off track moment, it was clear that consistency would win through on this stage. Roger deserves special credit for his crash on his race run. I did not see it but it sounded like he smashed through a tree!

Track three used Marshall Law then through the bomb hole in the beeches area. This track is one of the most technical on the hill with a good mixture of speed, tight corners and rough trail. Again everyone knew this track well so everyone was fine tuning their lines to save as much time as possible. First practice runs showed it was going to be close with Rich getting 40.25 and I got 40.24 (and no we were not following each other).

So the overall results were fairly close with Alex M taking the fastest overall and two of the stages. We hope to hold more of these sessions in the coming months, good practice for the FoD mini DH series!

Results:         BMX track     Dragons tail     Marshall law     Total

Alex H           33.67         28.41            39.26            101.34

Alex M           32.52         25.57            35.65            93.74

Rich D           32.19         30.69            39.66            102.44

Roger S (HT)     36.72         54(crash)        46.31            137.03

John H                                          39.68

Bran                                            36.69

Jake(rear brake only)                           49

Dancing with thorns - updated

Sunday was the first official ride on the new Bushcombe track and what a perfect day with the sun out in full force. The track was dry and grippy which resulted in faster than expected riding and great jumping. People turned out in droves with fifteen different faces, and we have two new members as a result of the work we've been doing up there. There were some photos / videos being taken, check out the Facebook Group for more media.

Club has got one nice track now for our use!

Bushcombe on pinkbike.com

Rich D's Full run from Barnaby Tompkins on Vimeo.

Bushcombe video - first cut

Thanks to everyone who has put in the hard work over winter, just a couple of dig days left now before we can shred the track all summer!

Keep your eyes on the Facebook Group to see what is happening up there.

Barnaby has put together this excellant preview of what is to come...

Bushcombe - first cut from Barnaby Tompkins on Vimeo.

2011 Forest of Dean Mini DH Round 3

Not many photos this time but Rich sent over this nice little report.

The final mini DH of the season saw a return to Ski Run, but with an interesting start because of the forestry works. The new line started off looking nice but with 300 riders practicing their lines it soon turned into the evil child of Mr Rooty! The rest of the track was pretty slick and the mud and roots at the bottom section in particular were on hand to catch out the unwary.

Despite some drunken promises from others at the club dinner that they would be giving the event a go, Rich Dade was the only club member racing this time round, managing to get 18th place in the masters out of 47. Thanks also to Graham for the photos and Mike D for popping along and lending his support to the event.

2011 Forest of Dean Mini DH Round 2 with photos

Another good club turn out at the second round of the FOD mini DH competition this weekend. Corkscrew was the race track (first time it has been used in a race) and it looked to be flowing beautifully, with a whole host of new lines opening up as the racers aimed for faster ways down...

In the masters category (42 riders) both Charlie Williams and Rich Dade competed, the latter on his Commencal hardtail... Charlie came 11th with a 1.04.14, and Rich came 29th with 1.08.07.

Garry Higgins rode in the Vets and came a well deserved 11th out of 26 with a time of 1.05.81

Thanks as always to Graham for the photos and to all those who turned out to support.

Next round is Sunday 20 Feb - the more the merrier! Click here to find out more :  www.minidh.co.uk/

2011 Forest of Dean Mini DH Round 1

Despite the sub zero conditions the club put forward a strong team for the first round of the 661 Mini DH. The classic FoD track 'Ski Run' was used with sections getting cut up and muddy during the practice session. Some of the wooded sections ended up very dark during racing, some riders optted to ride without their goggles!

Rachel just missed out on another podium and Charlie actually crashed at the final corner on his first run so lost several vital seconds. Rich deserves a special mention for consistant fast runs ending up as the fastest club member and 9th in Masters.

Cheltenham & County CC represented by:

Rachel Vicary (Ladies) Best time= 1:35.53 Position= 4th / 10
Stuart Bond (Seniors) Best time= 1:24.98 Position= 46th/ 68
Richard Dade (Masters) Best time= 1:19.88 Position= 9th / 52
Alex Marshall (Masters) Best time= 1:21.77 Position= 16th/ 52
Charlie Williams (Masters) Best time= 1:23.17 Position= 19th/ 52
Roger Smith (Veterans) Best time= 1:35.03 Position= 20th/ 23
Garry Higgins (Veterans) Best time= 1:24.21 Position= 8th / 23


Photos from Graham Haller

Working hard at the FlyUp

A few lucky club member managed to blag a Friday off work to try out the DH track modifications at Cwmcarn, in preparation for the New Year ride of course. Sadly a mini bus breakdown and a lesser known Fabien Barrel meant that the uplift was cancelled. The back up plan was to quickly book the remaining spaces on FlyUp at the Forest of Dean. 

As usual the service was excellent with as many runs as you dared in the low light conditions. I think most people has a few minor off's or moments through the day, including Roger carefully mastering the star-jump dismount and Ian nearly landing on him. We wish a big get well soon to the random rider who had a nasty crash and a broken collar bone. The conditions were a real mix of dry under the tree cover to sloppy in the open areas. The most embarrassing failure was Alex's attempt at a 180 en-route to the trail which resulted in a flat tire and a miserable run.  

I think in total everyone managed a dedicated 13-14 runs, the last few were using the force with the low light. After the bike and body hose down the day finished with a classic FoD cake, perfect end to what is becoming a classic days riding.

Cheers Adam for the photos.

Corrective Racing: Round 2

To follow on with last weeks timed sessions we will be riding against the clock at Bushcombe this Thursday. You will be glad to hear that I went up on Saturday and cleared all the nettles and grass from the track so no stings or scratches. I modified a couple of corners as well making then a little easier, still plenty to challenge everyone though (and ridable by all).

I hope that we can run the full length of the built track so looking at times around 45 seconds, if lots of people turn up or it is too slow a turn around we can shorten the timed section.

You can think of the times as a race, or just as personal challenge. I find that I ride completely differently against a clock compared to just cruising.

I will be getting there at 6pm to put out a little tape and get some practice in, but remember club members can ride there any time in the week.

I hope to see lots of you up there on Thursday

Forest of Dean video

We have been lacking in DH action recently so here is a sweet video taken at FoD featuring a club member and a few of his mates.

Corrective Racing: Round 1

With the new club freelap system we thought it is a good excuse to start some Corrective Racing. Round 1 started the mini series with the technical track Marshal Law on Leckhampton.


Rich took the fastest as expected, with 26 secs, but Stuart put in a surprising  28, with no chain and on a bike that has not been seen for a year. In true start of series style the timing was not quite up to scratch (Alex really should have read the instructions) but it was good to hit a track under pressure, makes you ride sharp.

Freelap night is what we need  to keep things fresh!

Results:
Rich T - 26sec (hard tail)
Stuart B - 28sec (chainless)
Alex H - 32sec
Gary H - 33sec
Rich D - 35sec
Roger S - 37sec (hard tail)
Pete G - 45sec
Tim P - DNS (but rode the track for the first time)

Practice makes perfect!

We all know that practice makes perfect, but how often do we make the time to actually hone our bike skills? Practising that corner that you find difficult, pushing yourself to go over a slightly larger step/ drop or simply trying a new trick.

Practising also helps with bike set-up as you can repeat a small section whilst making alterations to suspension settings or simply changing the cockpit. It is amazing how much a difference a few degrees of change in brake lever position makes.

No matter what level a rider you are there is always room for improvement. If practising sounds a bit dull then just think of it as play biking.  This play biking is what the Thursday Corrective Sessions are all about, with Lecky and Bushcombe offering plenty to play on.

If you do not already come along join us and see your bike skills improve.

See you Thursday

New MTB Race Captain

We welcome Rachel Vicary as our new mountain bike race captain. This is a new role to support the development of racing at all levels, off road. As a keen racer herself she aims to promote the following:

1) To dissmeniate information about MTB racing events to you all -including XC, 4X, Downhill, Enduro etc
2) To promote racing. While not distracting from leisure riding, ensuring that those wishing to push themselves a little further have something to aspire to and have support/encouragement from the club to do so.
3) To facilitate racing - hopefully by co-ordinating events we can make it easier and cheaper to organise transport, accommodation etc
4) To promote our members' racing achievements - not only within the club but externally too.
5) To build up racing expertise - making the most of local tracks for our own mini practise events and ultimately getting experts into the club for training sessions etc

There are many local Cheltenham riders, young and old, that race but who are not part of the club. Hopefully we can also use this role to reach out to them and bring them into the club. As this is a new role, I am of course, still scoping out what needs to be done.

If you race or have an interest in doing so please email Rachel, or just contact TheCorrective

Moelfre Uplift Day

After the success of Cwmcarn, the next uplift day on the 27th March at Moelfre.

For those that do not know, Moelfre is about 100miles away (so easy in a day trip), the track contains about 1 tree but is flat out and very fun. On a sunny day it is the closest you will get to riding in the alps. You can ride it on any bike, I have been on my hardtail which was only slightly slower than my 224. Uplift is on a tractor trailer and you will get somewhere between 10 and 15 runs.

These uplift days are very low key and open to all, there is no elitism as everyone is there for a good laugh. I have seen 11 year olds on the same trailer as guys who race world cups!

More information can be found at borderline-events


To get you warmed up here is a video of a race there last year...

MTB skills course round-up

Wow! what a day! The skills course at Woburn Sands was a first for some and the second instalment for others. Everyone picked up lots of new skills from the day and Tony was able to point out what was needed to make everyone ride really smooth by the end of the day

It is really great to see the progress of everyone from when we started to when we finished - in fact I was blown away by it. But now I am very tired with my head buzzing full of thoughts relating to todays events. Let's hope I can sleep.

Tony's posted a write up on the day which can be found here along with some photos and videos...