Longboarding Video - The Magic Rolling Board

Spotted on the Lush Longboards Blog....


...The insanely entertaining 'Magic Rolling Board' has been transferred from 16mm film to youtube.
Thrills, spills, dogs and babes,  the next 13 minutes will blow your mind!

Now, if someone could transfer 'us and friends' to the interwebs, that would be truly magic...

PUATB Tear Up Allestree...

Follow up from here...


Derby 10-10 from Simon Neck on Vimeo.

Nicely done lads!

New 2010 Master of the Hill Video Trailer

Video trailer available here:
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=167344596611379

With full version coming soon they reckon
Hopefully you don't need to be logged into Facebook to see the video.  I'll post a link to the vimeo/youtube versions if/when they emerge.

Find out more about Master of the Hill at: http://www.masterofthehill.com/  and see previous videos here and  here.

Plymouth University ATB in the Midlands

http://www.puatb.pixeldistort.co.uk/

I'm a big supporter to going out and riding with other people at other people's spots.  It's good for riding new terrain, broadening your horizons and meeting new people (obviously!).
It's also great when new people come and session your local spot.  It's very easy to get stuck into riding similar lines over and over and sometimes looking at what you already have with fresh eyes can really add new life to a location.

So it was this weekend when I heard that Mark, Morgan and Simon from PUATB were in the area and could I suggest some local spots.  Hmmm, always tricky when you don't know peoples skill level, expectations or riding styles  - "one mans awesome is another mans lame" and all that.

Allestree Park was suggested.  It is local, easy to get to; has a couple of ramps and drop off's for those who like a bit of air; it has the golf fairways for beginners or those that like big carving sessions with a few bunkers thrown in; and for everyone else, it has the woods.
Now, I like the woods.  It has a distinct lack of golfers, and has lots of lines for you to shake a stick at.  Fortunately, the Plymouth lads liked the woods too and watching the three of them riding three different lines down was a joy to behold.  I was less impressed with the three bikers straight-lining it from top to bottom, brakes screeching all the way.  Gah!  Though what they made of us speed-checking and interlacing through the trees without brakes, I don't know.

It's a shame I couldn't stay out longer than an hour or so.  Not only was the mother-in-law over (yes a good excuse to stay out, but it looks suspicious if she turns up and I immediately go out boarding), but I'd only padded up lightly assuming incorrectly that the lads would do what the majority of the locals do and stick to the golf course.  Daft really as I can't resist a bit of freeride and bashed my knee in the process.  Idiot!!
Hey ho, nice little session, great to meet the lads, and I understand their plan of action was to carry on up into the peak district for a bit of riding / camping / riding. Hope this all worked out well!

We had a bit of filming in the woods that may or may not turn up in the future.  In the meantime, if you want to check out some of PUATB's recent exploits, then I suggest you check out their website:
http://www.puatb.pixeldistort.co.uk/
which has plenty of videos to be getting on with.

Proper Planning and Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance

Had my eye on  tonight's route for a while now.  Running in at approximately 1250 metres in length, it's a gravelly single track used for service vehicles to gain access to one of the very posh golf courses north of Derby.

 

Fortunately, there's a public foot path right that cuts 90 degrees to this track, allowing good access under the cover of darkness to the mid section. Then, with a bit of luck the gate will be left open.  This allows you to take the track up approximately 400 metres till the gradient really rolls off and there's no real gain in going further up.

Riding down, there's a couple of spots where it flattens off a bit but with the 10" Primos on I was able to roll through with a bit of tick-tacking and I reckon with a bit more confidence on the top section, should be able to take the midsection with a bit of speed.

Further down there's a large right-left s-bend; over a speed bump (drainage perhaps?) before the track feels strangely sandy under wheel (?!?), dropping down back towards the golf club car park.  Just as momentum runs out there's another public footpath on the right should the green keepers (who live in the buildings situated half way up the track) be hot on your heels...

Certainly worth a return visit, especially as I can be there in 15 minutes drive, (plus 15 minutes walk), and although not the steepest track, is of decent length.  If I can't be in the Alps, I can ride this in the dark and pretend that I am, even if a stair-lift is out of the question : (

Huge Edit: I wrote the title (the 7 Ps) as I had intended to list 'what went well' and areas that required 'room for improvement', but then promptly forgot, meaning that I've got a night write-up with a completely different title.

So to rectify, What Went Well?

Firstly, the previous recce meant that I had previously walked the track and had removed a couple of the larger rocks.  I also knew the approximate location of a handful of potholes to avoid.

Walking up the route at the start meant that I knew that all the gates were open and that there was very little activity to get in the way.  On some nights the local dogs are known to roam the course.  No signs of this tonight.

Having two torches to hand turned out to be a very good idea when the head torch decided to turn itself off unexpectedly half way down.  New batteries should hopefully sort things out.

Room for Improvement?

Having not ridden the noSno for approximatley a month, I really should have given it a good going over before leaving the house rather than at the top of the hill.  Trying to adjust truck tension, tire pressures and generally tighten the whole thing up with gloves on and by torchlight is not the best idea.  It's only going to get colder as winter draws in and the less hanging around, the better.

I'd love to download the gps trace off the blackberry to google earth to get some nice route overlays.  I would if I could find the right cable.  Why so many usb cables that look similar, but just won't quite fit?  It annoys me as the cable is probably in a 'safe place' : (

The hardest thing about using a mountain board brake is learning not to use it.  Yep, a little less caution next time round will go a long way.

An afterthought is that perhaps a local headcam rental service would be a good idea.  I'm not fussed right now to spend ~£300 on a rugged helmet cam, but the opportunity to have occasional use of one to record tracks like this would be handy...

The Weekly Catchup*

* disclaimer - may not be weekly.....

2011 ATBA-UK Series Dates Announced!!

Round 1 - 21st and 22nd May.
Hales Superbole, Harthill nr Tattenhall, Cheshire, CH3 9LQ .

Round 21 - 8th and 19th June.
The Edge Mountainboard Centre, Much Wenlock, Shropshire, TF13 6PP

Round 3 - 16th and 17th July.
Out To Grass Mountainboard Centre, Malvern, Herefordshire, WR13 5JW.

Round 4 - 20th and 21st August.
IRONSIDES Court Farm Mountainboard Centre, Tillington Herefordshire HR4 8LG

No official word yet on the 2011 downhill course, but a first look has been reported at Remolition here.

New Gear!

Turned 26 for the 7th time last week.  Got a lovely new Protec helmet from the wife (moss green, yum, yum), (little bit tight but hoping it's going to ease in a bit), and some new Hillbilly gloves from Mum and Dad.  One of the issues with the old pair was that towards the end of their life, the palm splint would occasionally fall out.  Hillybilly have addressed this issue with a large rivet that appears to attach splint to glove.

More New Gear!

Like the Hillbillies but don't like the colour?
http://www.mbs.com/productcart/pc/vi...?idProduct=384
http://www.mbs.com/productcart/pc/vi...?idProduct=383
You can purchase them in all black via the MBS website.

New Routes!

I've not shown labels on this map due to wishing to keep it on the hush hush as practically the entire route is private land.  Scouted it out on foot last week, will ride it this week and report back.  Biggest worries are a couple of flat sections mid route, but if the momentum can be kept up, I've got a 1300m single track route literally 15 minutes from my front door.

Weekly Quiz!

To work on most building sites in the UK these days, you need to produce a CSCS card which is gained from passing a test every 5 years or so.  Fortunately, the test is multiple choice and the level of difficulty is similar to those viewers quizzes found at the end of most TV programmes these days.
I'll give you a sample question from the revision book provided....

3.2    Look at these statements about illegal drugs in the workplace.  Which one is true?

A: Users of illegal drugs are a danger to everyone on site.
B: People who take illeal drugs work better and faster.
C: People who take illegal drugs take fewer days off work.
D: Taking illegal drugs is a personal choice so other people shouldn't worry about it.

The test doesn't get much harder than this.

Be safe folks.  More next week! (no guarantee of this)

Wendover Woods, in pictures

All those photos from the Wendover Woods freeride session talked about previously here, have now been uploaded and are on display in the latest Remolition exhibition entitled "Mountainboard Noodles: Super Tasty Organic Autumn Spice flavour".

Hopefully my original article makes a bit more sense and I can have to thoroughly thank Dan, Roger, Daz and John once again for a most awesome nights riding.  More soon hopefully!