Cannock Chase, Freeride Meetup Sunday 29th November - Write Up

Sunday 29th November 2009: A write-up of our free ride day in the West Midlands Cannock Chase featuring LeapB4ULook (LB4UL), Goofy Mark, Mutley and AdeMcC (me). Not done a meeting write-up before, so chronologically seems to make the most sense!

6.20am Alarm goes off.  This is obviously far too early and I stay in bed another 10 minutes.

6.30am Get up, prepare sandwiches, drink coffee, pull out assorted items from the boardroom (cupboard for mountain board bits and bobs but boardroom sounds grander).  Why didn't I sort all this out the night before?

7.00am Leave House.  Its dark, cold and rainy. I wonder if many people will turn up.

7.50am Arrive at Coppice Hill carpark entrance.  Amazing since I had to re-'repair' the satnav the night before with gaffa tape and I forgot to print off maps. No ones there, the gate to the car park is closed and its still raining.  Do mountain boarders shit in the woods? Absolutely! Ooh, car turning up, trousers back on! (don't want to explain myself to local copper)

8.00am Goofy Mark and Mutley turn up.  Introductions are made, we eye up each others toys, the rain gets heavier, we get back into the car.  Where is LB4UL?? At this point would rather be in the car than out in the wet so maybe not a bad thing.

8.20am LB4UL turns up and suggests we try the next car park along.  This sounds like (and turns out to be) a great idea.  We pad-up, look happy and discover that LB4UL was late due to him losing his car key (it turned up on the length of string looped around his neck).

The next 5 hours or so consists of the following runs, all of which can be found on Rogers Run Guide here.

(1) Start from car park at top of hill.  Can only see first 15 metres but on map appears to go right down into valley.  Only way to find out - ride! Path feels more like river bed at times but beats walking and though shallow, gets us approximately 2/3rds of the way down before we lose momentum.  Opposite side of valley looks like there are tracks everywhere.

(2) LB4UL spots tasty looking track to the right, short, not too steep, bit rutted, sharp right hanger at the bottom.  Goes first and makes it looks easy.  Everybody else ignores the bend and ends up in the soft bushes.  For the first time, and for the rest of the day the rain stops.  This is a good sign.

(3) Into the valley and spot track opposite, gravelly, well drained, potential to be fast.  Is fast! Couple of escape routes left and right but otherwise on to the bottom with selection of river, bogs or raised bridge to choose to comically crash into.  Once again LB4UL rides it clean, the rest of us less so, but we're all smiling so we keep on.

(4) Followed the valley North, turned right, crossed the river, travelled perpendicular to river to find grassy track to right with boggy central run with options left and right being bit dryer.  Super slidey and rutted but not too much of an issue.  The sun is shining now and it is actually looking like quite a nice day!

(5) Continued East and found two grass tracks that start and end at the same points.  One straight and fast, the other, longer and twisty.  We each ride each one in turn.  LB4UL gets interest from couple of elderly dog walkers and complains that 'this always happens' and 'why can't the same thing happen with young ladies?'  General consensus that not many young ladies visit Cannock Chase on wet Sunday mornings, and besides, we all stink and look a bit grubby by now.  Mutley suggests naming the runs the 'pair of tits'.  No one objects.

Mark reads the map and informs us that if we continue on this path, we are moving further away from the cars.  A good way in the right sort of direction is back up the hill.

(6) Head right at the track at the top of the slope to find the road leads downwards again.  Best strap in!  Road disappears downwards but LB4UL assures us its ridable.  Everyone rides it clean except for me who landed on my arse. Hooray for arse pads!  Informed by LB4UL that I need more weight on front foot.  Fair enough comment, just feels hard to fight when you can feel the rocks pinging off the front truck the whole way down!  Wonder if I'll get another bruise for the wife to laugh at?

(7) Another track that disappears round the corner.  Mark and Mutley ride first.  All we hear is a shout, then giggling from the bottom.  Giggling is a good sign, so down I go, to be presented by a huge puddle and obvious escape route to the right.  Escape route is a bog.  "Lean back" shouts GM.  I'm going to lean forward; I've got good momentum, its not too boggy and I need to commit more to these things.  And end up face first in the bog.  Hahaha, more giggles, the bogs claimed three victims so far.  LB4UL pulls up short in a very calm and dignified manor.  I suspect that he's done this kind of thing before.

Quite lost at this point.  I suspect that if this whole thing had been a rouse to take advantage of me by three strangers in the middle of nowhere, then the plan had been highly elaborate and is therefore unlikely.  I don't worry about this possibility for long...

(8) Similar track to last one except straight.  Can see puddle at bottom so we all take it very easy!  Bit too easy, not enough fun and holding back is daft really as I'm already half soaked.

(9) Can see starting point on other side of valley.  Only way to go is down the grassy slope with nice steep middle section and run out onto grassy track which would have run further if not so soggy.

Walk up different track with definite possibility for riding down at later date.  Back to car to expose ourselves to the amusement of walkers and bikers.

1.40pm All leave in one piece uninjured and boards working.  Satnav in two parts.  Bugger.  I head roughly east, hit the A38 and head home.

In summary, Cannock Chase is a fantastic location for boarding.  Yes, the day started out wet leading to the trails being a bit boggy and slidey in places but it certainly deterred the crowds that can get in the way of these things.  In theory, We could return next weekend and the weekend after and still not see everything to do here, or come back in the summer and have a completely different riding experience.  Grass, gravel, woods, short steep tracks, long gentle tracks, long steep tracks and everything in between - there is plenty to keep the average freerider happy.  Consensus seems to be that we'll be back for more soon, so keep an eye out on the forums and next time, be involved!

Big cheers go out to LeapB4ULook, Goofy Mark and Mutley for sorting out the details and arranging for all this to take place, all I had to do was turn up.

Mountainboarders Meet-up Map

Whilst going solo has it's thrills, the freedom to do everything at your own pace and the fun of doing things for your own sake, riding with others ups the game, reveals new lines you probably hadn't even considered and has the added benefit that if it all goes wrong, someone's there to phone the ambulance man.

But many people don't know of other people in the area who mountainboard and get bored as a result.  However, Remolitions Artful Rogers has handily put together a mountainboarders Meet-up map where people can see who else is in there area to contact, or can put up their own details and hope that someone gets in touch with them!  The more people, the better for everyone, and remember, you don't have to be specific with your tag, just something in the right town or region.  This should at least stop the stalkers/burglers from knowing where you live.



View Mountainboarders Meet-up Map in a larger map

Cannock Chase, Freeride Meetup Sunday 29th November

This weekend would have seen a large mountain board meet-up up in the Whinlatter forest, apparently the only mountainous forest in England.  That is it would have, had the rains not left local town Keswick totally flooded.

Still, for those who can't wait for the next big thing, there another meet-up this Sunday 29th November 2009 at Cannock Chase* details through the facebook or Surfing Dirt links and with any luck photos to follow next week.

* - unless it floods of course :(

Brakes and the art of going faster

Jeremy Clarkson as part of the utterly brilliant Top Gear did a challenge a couple of years ago where he attempted to race a Honda NSX around the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca circuit with the same lap time a he could achieve in Gran Turismo 4.
He couldn't, reasoning that at the back of his mind is imagination and the thought "what if a wheel falls off now?" or "what if I press the brake pedal and nothing happens?". It was the "what ifs" that preventing him going all out and it was racing drivers without this imagination that could achieve the best times.

I often have a similar issue in that whilst I love bombing some of the local single tracks, with lovely tight bends, in the back of my mind is always the thought of what if just round this next corner is a walker, or a child, or a dog!??! Funnily enough, its not usually my own safety that bothers me, its that of other, innocent people.

As posted previously, I received in the post a set of Alpine Brake System brakes, customised to fit directly onto the noSno. I rode the new set up for the first time last night and so far, I am very, very impressed. The build quality is superb and the brakes very responsive without the feeling that I was going to lock up and end up arse over tit (to borrow a beautiful phrase from the English language).  I do want to ride with it some more before writing more about it and could do a comparison with both the MBS V-Brake and noSno disk brakes, so if either manufacturer are feeling generous?! : D

Anyway, the strange thing was though that although I had access to a brake, I very rarely applied it and found myself riding faster than I would do normally.  The knowledge that if I absolutely needed to slow down, then I could do allowed me to ride sections faster and scrubbing speed with greater flair.  Additionally, whilst there are a couple of trails that run one after the other nicely in theory, there's absolutely no way you'd want to start the lower section at the kind of pace that you would hitting it straight from the top; the brake allows me to ride both consecutively.

So now I can attempt longer runs at a faster pace.  As someone wise once said on the forums, "Brake? They should rename it 'the go faster device!'" Yee Haa!

Hillbilly Gloves for Mountain Boarding

Well, mine are two years old now and whilst are a bit tatty round the edges, are till holding together nicely

Hillbilly gloves are available from ATBSports in either 'Half Ass' or 'Heavy Doody' versions, featuring either fingerless/single splint or full glove/twin splint depending on choice.  It should be noted that the splints are removable so it is possible to have a full glove/single splint version should you wish.  Both sets are made by Hillbilly designed specially for mountainboarding so have heavy duty Goat Skin Leather and have reinforced finger protection.

I personally ride with the Heavy Doody version as shown in the photo above with the understanding (I'm not a doctor, please don't sue me) that the second splint ensures that in a really bad accident, then the arm will break rather than the wrist: i.e. simple break v complicated break.  Though having not broken my arm, I really cannot back this information up, but either way, wrist protection is of course far more preferable than no protection.  The very bare minimum I'll ride in is helmet and gloves (and underpants of course).

From the picture above you can see the leather starting to go around the palm of the hand in the area holding the lower splint, and once that goes, new gloves will be inevitable.  All I can say is that when this does eventually happens, I will be buying once again from Hillbilly.

MBS Old School - Deck Specs!

As promised, MBS Boards from yesteryear (2006 ish) as told in pictures!

MBS Comp Series:

MBS Core Series!

MBS Recreational Series!

MBS Pro 16!

MBS Skate Series!

Key!

MBS Mountain Boards - Old vs New

Typical scenario, you want to buy a mountain board but don't want to pay a fortune so buy a second hand MBS board (other manufactures available).  You have a great time and spend all day riding and all night dreaming and so decide to buy a brand new board; but wait - the new boards all have different names and constructions!??! How to compare?  The simple advice is either to a) visit a centre and try out a few different boards that they have on offer, b) ask for advice through the forums, or c) check through the tables below and try to figure it out!

Before we go too far, it should be pointed out that the old MBS naming convention of Comp 16 or Comp 26X referred to the approximate overall board length, i.e. 118cm and 134cm respectively; whilst the new MBS naming convention of Comp 95 or Pro 100 refers to the deck length of 95cm or 100cm respectively.  In a sense, the new naming convention works better than the old as a Comp 26X deck wouldn't be 10cm longer than a Comp 16 deck as a Comp 26X would be issued with 9" tyres as opposed to the Comp 16's 8" 'ers.  Or something like that.....  Confused? Heres a fun table:

Old Board	Length (cm)	Weight (kg)
MBS Pro 16 (Leon Robbins)	118	6.7
MBS Comp 26X	134	10.5
MBS Comp 16	118	6.8
MBS Comp 6*	106	6.5
MBS Core 16	117	7.4
MBS Core 8	108	5.4
MBS Core 1*	98	5.1
Jeep Renegade	108	7
Jeep CJ-5*	91	5.7
MBS Atom	106	5.4
MBS Atom Lowrider	99	3.3
MBS Longboard	112	3.8
New Boards	Length (cm)	Weight (kg)
MBS Pro 100	119	7.26
MBS Pro 95	109	7
MBS Pro 90	104	5.2
MBS Comp 95X	120	9
MBS Comp 95	116	6.5
MBS Comp 90	108	5.9
MBS Core 95	110	6.2
MBS Core 90	104	5.4
MBS Atom 95X	110	7
MBS Atom 95	110	6.9
MBS Pro 95*	109	7
MBS Pro 90*	104	5.2
MBS Comp 90*	108	5.9
MBS Core 90*	104	5.4
MBS Atom 80X*	91	5.4
* designates junior boards

Maybe the following will help.  Below are the 'Board Chooser' tables as supplied by MBS back in the day.  I don't know which day specifically so I'm going to guess at pre '07.  The two tables show similar information but neither are exclusive, so I've included both.

 

This can be compared to MBS' newest range by going straight to the 'Product Selector' here.

I've got a bit of the old literature originally provided by MBS with their original boards and intend to gradually post the interesting bits here (assuming MBS don't mind???).  I'd have thought its all good publicity.

Edit: Edited sections where I was being an idiot-hole 

Edit 2: Confirmation of MBS naming conventions clarified here!

The Joy of Maps

Maps are great! Plan your route, see where you've been, look for those tightly packed contours that mean slopes!

Up till a couple of years ago, when it came to on-line mapping, I would have advised people who had the money (or the means) to acquire Memory Map, the magic pc software that had not only licensed 1:25,000 OS mapping, but also 3D visualisers to see the whole thing; hills, valleys, the whole undulating landscape.  It was good.  It is still good, if very, very expensive, but with a whole host of free information available at your finger tips on-line, it'd be daft not to look there first.

Road maps, OS maps, satellite imagery, birds eye views,terrain view, street view, route planning and a whole lot more to follow (in no particular order and with emphasis on off road 4x4 wheely boarding):

Multi Map - demo available here

Google Maps

Probably the best known mapping website available possibly due to the ease of adding user information to the maps and ease of integration into other websites.

Best used to highlight points of interest i.e. people, places
Very good satallite imagery
Terrain view: Handy to give rough idea of terrain but only really effective zoomed out or in really hilly areas
Very good road maps in order to get to where you were going in the first place


Bing Maps (was Live Search)

Alternative to Google Maps, but has some great alternative features (particularly after the update on the 12th November 2009):

Contains OS maps at both 1:50,000 and 1:25,000. (very easy to flick between the two)
Alternative Satalite Imagery and Bird eye Views (not all areas).

These two features alone makes desktop trail hunting a lot easier.  From using the OS maps to find a suitable slope, it is a breeze to switch to the birds eye view to see whether that route goes straight through a field, wood, or trading estate.

Of course, there's still the possibility of getting to site and finding that the trail is totally un-ridable, or densely packed with cattle, or just plain rubbish.

Where's the Path

...is genius!  OS Map on one side, Satellite view is on the other.  Moving the cursor on one side is replicated at the same spot on the other.  Paths drawn on one site are replicated on the other!   Always worth a look just in case you suspect that either the map lies, or when you suspect that you are allowed access through a particular piece of ground. 

OS Maps are unfortunately only in 1:50,000 but there if you select the 25k button, then select a spot, then that location is opened in Streetmap at 1:25:000.  GPS logs can be imported / exported accordingly.

Google Earth

Downloadable application displaying satellite views of the world in all its glory.  Has the ability to show the terrain in 3D, though its only accurate to points every 50 metres or so.  This can result for example in valleys not displaying as the 50 metre points span the gap, or in peaks of hills not quite in the right location.

Other maps websites include:
Multimap
Streetmap
Flash Earth
Strangemaps

Hope this information be helpful, though I've got a feeling that I'll have to update it all in 3 months!

Alpine Brake Systems

Arrived today.   And like a wally I've left my tools in the kitchen.  Job for tonight, testing sometime this week (if it stops raining at any point), feedback after.

How to make a mountain board go faster? Better Bearings?

Was reading through random google links over the weekend when I came across some fella on yahoo questions asking about which bearings were the best as he wanted to go faster.  Fair enough!

Bearings, a particular talking point in the skating community usually comes down so some bloke with anecdotal data who swears his mega bucks bearings are fantastic, verses those who advise to save their money on good old reliable cheap (but not mega cheap) equivalents.

A lot of the myths and confusions does seem to revolve around bearing standards and Lush Longboards (whos longboards are non coincidently lush!) do a great job of explaining things here.

If we want to transcribe the data above to mountain boarding, then its probably safe to say that we do not speed as fast as downhill longboards, our wheels have larger diameters than downhill longboarders; therefore it should be safe to say that our bearings rotate slower than downhill longboarders.  In this case, the advice above given by Lush about not seeing the benefit of fitting expensive bearings should equally apply to us.

Good bearings can be bought straight from ATBSports from here, £10 for 8.  I've looked previously online for equivalent bearings straight from the manufacturer, best I could do was £2.50 each plus p&p.

So, going back to the original question about making a mountain board go faster, I can think of the following: (feel free to add your own!)

• Pump up tires - more pump = more umph!
  
• Steeper slope - let gravity do its magic!
  
• Smoother slope - tarmacs quicker than deep grass!
  
• Dryer slope - don't get stuck in the mud!
  
• Wear Lycra - you perv!

Edit: thought of a couple more....

• Fit larger tires - 9 or 10 inch or even larger
• Make sure your axle nuts aren't too tight - hand tighten and then release by quarter or half a turn or so.

And by stating the obvious, heading straight down the hill will be quicker than cutting across it.

Ps the resolved Y! answer was 'Kite buggy bearings'....

Pps, need more pictures, I can never be arsed to add pictures : (

Shed Security

One thing I like to do when I'm lucky enough to have a bit of downtime, is to trawl through websites of various sports that I wouldn't normally participate in - for example Mountain Biking.  Whilst the direct subject matter of bikes may be less interesting to me, these guys share exactly the same mentalities. For example the rush of a swift decent, the joy of discovering a new trail, the realities of riding to the limit and forgetting for that moment the job, the mortgage and other lifes grinds.
And also the grim reality that you can put your all into a hobby, only for some arsehole to break into the shed and steal your custom setup with the 'bugger to get hold of specialist parts'.

Bike Radar have done a couple of nice articles on How to Toughen Up Your Shed part 1 and part 2 with great advice at relatively low cost.  Certainly low compared to the cost of replacement anyway.
The only problem that we have as mountain boarders is that we don't have a triangle of metal to slip a chain through to secure the board directly to ground or something heavy.  I'm not sure how best to overcome this part so any comments to this appreciated!  I've gone down the route of storing everything in a shed that is moderately secure, but is also so overgrown, that most people don't realise its even there.  Its worked so far, touch wood..... In an ideal world the wife would let me keep the boards where they belong - in the kitchen, but so far, for some reason, this is not an option.

There's plenty more good advice not only on Bike Radar, but plenty of other similar websites, so look beyond the obvious, we're not so different from other sports at all.

International ATBA-UK Mountain Board Film Festival

Of course, it's not just freeborders who are making films, and this year from the 16th-18th October (which goes to show just how bang up to date this blog really is!!!) saw the first International ATBA-UK Mountain Board Film Festival.  Absolutely the best write up appears to have been done by the Remolition lads, so click the link here (full of direct links to the top three films).

Freebord Best Submitted Videos - 2009!

Every year Freebord invite their forum members to produce short two minute videos to show off their skills, be it in terms of high production values, skills or just pure entertainment. These videos get judged and the top 10 selected before being whittled down further.
See all ten videos here or if you're gagging for more, last years top five are here

Brake Lights for Boarders?

Spotted via the ever interesting (if totally unrelated to boarding) website hackaday, where clever people do clever things to other things in a geeky, yet fun way.
The bike brake light senses you slowing down is clever in the sense that it is activated via deceleration measured by the accelerometer, rather than mechanical means, and thus could be utilised by a boarder without any mechanical alterations whatsoever. 
Who would use it?  I'm thinking maybe a longboarder for the benefit of traffic, or for mountain boarders where it is not obvious if the guy in front is applying the brake or not???
Perhaps the bigger questions are where would a brake light be mounted, or whether more investigation should be made into headlights, particularly as its getting dark around 5pm these days!
A direct link here with video.

Down and Dirty (2001) - Mountain Board DVD

Just a quickie, Down and Dirty, released in 2001 and before my time - free to download direct from MBS.

From good old wikipedia:

"Down And Dirty (VHS) (2001 - USA) Journey from Canada to Colorado all the way to the beaches of Southern California with mountainboarding's most progressive riders as they show you high speed descents, spin tricks, handrails, and flowing rhythm sections; this movie pushes the limits of mountainboarding way beyond what most will believe."

Worth a watch? Well, its only 113 Meg in size for just under 12 minutes of entertainment in easy mpg format and a good nostalgic look at mountain boarding 8 years ago.

Grab it here whilst you can and big cheers to McCarver of Surfing Dirt for the heads up.

Pump Review - BikeHut Suspension Shock Pump for Mountain Board use

After 18 months of use, my BikeHut Suspension Shock Pump finally gave up the ghost, that is to say that when using, tires deflate quicker than you can inflate. This appears to be due to washers that have deteriorated rather than anything physically breaking or wearing out so, if I can get hold of some replacement washers, I will.
Still, seems to be a good time to give it a review as any so here we go!

I bought this specifically for its small size - around 6 inches, and the handy gauge that purports to go up to 300 psi... I don't know how accurate the gauge was, but at least it did mean that I could inflate to the same amount each time for each tire. The screw on valve attachment was also handy and easy attachable compared to some of the bulky quick release versions that couldn't fit to the valves being so close to the rims. The pump also has a decent bleed valve for further adjustment. Seems to be solidly construct with metal shaft and housing.

On the downside, inflating even an 8 inch tire to 40 psi took time and many, many pumps which was knackering, took a while to use and I suspected was the reason for the pump wearing out quicker than it would normally. Also, although the pump was small, it was still too large to fit in my camelbak and so would typically remain in the boot of the car.

20 quid from Halfords here so about midrange price range and I do intend to repair, if I can track down the right size washers. I did need a pump though in the meantime, so with size out the window, I've bought a Top Joe Blow Sport Pump here, review to follow in about a year, or if it breaks in the meantime. Just for those that are curious about my links, I am all for supporting my local bike shop, but I visited a handful in and around Derby and the selection of pumps was terrible!

Mountain Board Trails Map

Remember the Mountain Board Trails map I created and linked to a few months back? No? Good, because there is a far superior version available:

View Mountainboard Ride Guide in a larger map

With 385 locations currently listed in the UK and abroad, many with the routes drawn on, this should be your first place to check for trails if new to an area, or new to the sport. Particularly interesting to the lazy middle-aged-midlands based boarder are the spots shown above in north Derbyshire around the Edale, Castleton and Lady Bower Reservoir region, and pulling my finger out to check a few of them out is mandatory!

Credit where credits due, but I've no idea who was responsible for collating the data above, so I'll just say that the original link was obtained through the ever reliable Remolition website.

Edit: Thanks to Smilie below we can give full credit to artfulroger - what a resourceful / well travelled / well informed chap!

Alpine Brake Systems

Exciting news as I've finally got round to placing an order with Alpine Brake Systems.

The intention is to to fit it to the noSno (which I fully intend to write about soon) which should be a doddle given the circular axles and existing 10 inch Primo composite hubs. My main concern has always been not for my own safety, but that of others, particularly on some of the tighter local tracks. Plus it would be nice to have the option of monster off-road which doesn't happen very often, but is possible here and certainly abroad, though it doesn't always go to plan.

Research into this kind of thing showed two other braking systems on the market made by MBS (generally regarded as a slow-down-device rather than a brake, but cheap) and the hi-tech, very expensive, and highly (if not too efficient) disk brakes made by noSno.

I hope to be able to write a positive review soon.

Who knows, maybe one day people will send me stuff to review! ; D

Freebord Tetris - The original and follow up....

I don't freebord enough, hence the very few musings about the subject, which is daft cos freebordings ace, if a little misunderstood by the masses (those who are in the know anyway). Anyway, a recent marketing project featuring freebords and tetris shapes seemed to make its way through the interweb tubes and crop up in plenty of random places.
Freebord Tetris and probably on vimeo and other places.
Im not a marketing guru and wasn't entirely sure if not including a web address in the video was a good thing, and certainly, other freebord links have impressed me more in the past, but this one seemed to grab peoples attention.
Following from this, freebord have released a behind the scenes vid, which doesn't show much more, but hey!
Behind the scenes!
So, is the message here to market your product along with classic video games? Reproduce Donkey Kong on a mountain board? Mario on a longboard???