6 Weeks till 'Dave': Round 2, Saturday 18th August

Feeling sad that your favourite 4 wheeled mode of transport isn't being represented at the Olympic Games?  Try the World Alternative Games Instead.
http://www.worldalternativegames.co.uk/events/mountain-boarding/

or as it's better known to the Mountainboarding Community:

ATBA Downhill Round 2, Saturday 18th August 2012!

Just over 6 weeks to go until Round 2 of the ATBA Downhill Series at Esgair Dafydd or 'Dave' is round once again.  Very similar to last years event, and like Round 1 earlier this year up in Whinlatter, Lake District, we can expect to see high speed straights, technical cornering and incredibly close action as riders from across the UK compete to get down this tried-and-tested 1.4 mile, 9-cornered track in the fastest time.

Using the synchronised-watch system of clocking the riders in and out of the start and finish gates, riders get the opportunity to complete the course as many times as their stamina will allow with their fastest time being the one that counts.  Take advantage of the on-site uplift to maximise your riding without compromising on the climbing and make the most of the empty track which will be closed to other vehicles on race day.

All of this can be yours for £10 if you are an annual ATBA members or £20 for Day Members i.e those without ATBA membership who want to join in the fun.  Or get your membership now and save money all over the place!

Located near Llanwrtyd Wells, on the A483 in between Buith Wells and Llandovery, Post code: LD5 4TE, this track is pretty remote for everyone so camping may appeal to those travelling a bit further.  I'll add in some camping details here as and when they emerge.

Want to join in the discussion prior to the event?  The official ATBA Page has all the info and the official Facebook Page has all the discussion.

For those that haven't ridden a downhill event before or want to know a little more about the intricacies of riding 'Dave', read on!

"What are you looking forward to at this years event?"

In all honesty, it's basically a dusty track miles from anywhere.  Why do some of last years riders want to do it all again?

Jay rides noSno and since last years event has upgraded to hydraulic brakes for improved speed control.  He say that he is looking forward to bettering his time from last year on this challenging track, whilst making the most of the uplift and enjoying the friendly competition between riders.

Brennig is an innovator in mountainboarding development and creativity and constantly works on updates to his 'nompa' (Trampa/noSno mashup).  You can read all about his adventures at the 'Where the party is' blog and he simply says that he is looking forward to "actually getting out and riding" and adds that "it's an awesome track".

Chris, author of the 'Freeride NW' blog has switched his Comp 26 from last year to a noSno and hopes to improve on previous times by straight-lining the long section before 'Rogers Corner' (Corner '2' on map) without fear of speed wobble.  He too looks forward to catching up with loads of riders.

"What advice or Dave tips would you give to someone who hasn't ridden a downhill event or Dave before?"

It's a long way to go just to crash out on the first corner so we asked a few of last years riders to provide some hints and tips for the first timers.  So without giving away all of Dave's secrets (we don't want everyone to beat us!), here are some of the responses.

Jay says:

"pad up (of course), bring food and drink, have fun, and have some more fun"

Worth restating to take all of the supplies that you think you may need - food, water, spare equipment.  It's a long way from nowhere if you suddenly get the munchies or a flat tyre!  But above all, have fun - we look forward to catching up with as many of you as possible on the day!

Brennig says:

"Riding Brake-less? Practise your sliding and scrubbing, take it slow at first, you have all day to get a good time and you only need one. Pump up your tyres a little bit more every run and try lots of different lines. If you're going to crash the bushes are your friends.

Riding with a brake? Bomb those straights and don't brake too often, after Rogers corner (corner '2' on map above) try not to use it at all. And don't forget to enjoy yourself."

Its a good point to make that whilst many people will be riding with brakes, many others ride without and the fastest times of last year were all done brake-less.  It was an eye-opener last year to be overtaken on one of the practice runs by Steve Morris who was riding brake-less but who had far better cornering technique.  At Dave, equipment may assist, but good riding technique is essential for a good time.

Chris B says:

"Practice your cornering (especially heel sides)(Chris rides goofy). Other than speed tucking (which is beyond me anyway) it seems the biggest thing that affects your time is your ability to take corners at speed. Dave has about 9 of them; alternating heel side and toe sides.


There isn't much difference in time between brakes/brake-less at a high level, but for intermediates, brake boarders seem to have an easier time of things.


Don't try and blitz it early on; if you come off and injure yourself on a practice run or your 1st run its no fun."

Speed tucking?  Roger S writes a little about it here, giving plenty of food for thought and also some related interesting articles on Competition Strategy and Cornering.  Point to note that even if you're not going for a full Brazilian speed tuck, that you will be holding a mountainboarding stance for approximately 3.5  to 6 minutes depending on track times.  Multiply this time by 4 or even 5 times for the number of runs on the day and it soon becomes obvious why the day can be tiring.  Spending a few minutes every day holding a pose may reap rewards on the day, or at the very least mean that your legs aren't like jelly after the first couple of runs.

And Chris' point about not injuring yourself on the first run?  It's happened at the last two events now to riders on the first practice run on the first corner so it's definitely worth a mention.

Anything Else???

Some great responses above.  All that I would add is to try and get a good nights sleep the night before.  It can be a long day and is tiring, even with all of the vehicle up-lifts.

Dave has been described by many as 'the top where you try and limit the speed, followed by the rest where you try and maintain the speed'.  This is because of the long, reasonably steep straights leading to the first tight couple of corners.  However, brake too much at this point and it is difficult to regain speed on the lower, shallower half of the course.  In particular, try to maintain speed on the last corner as it is a relatively long straight to the finish - easier said than done with reasonably large rocks on the apex of the corner!

Finally, for those that just want to sit back and watch some videos, a couple for you:  The official 2011 promotional reel, followed by Travis' on board competition run.

Whinlatter or Bust!...

...a short story where Phill and Ade travel for 5 and a half hours and sleep together in an incredibly cold tent in order to ride for a grand total of 16 minutes* in the far north of England

* Fortunately this was 16 minutes riding in the beautiful Whinlatter forest, for the first ATBA downhill competition to be held in England on a proper mountain.

Starting at the beginning though - Lessons learned from 'Dave 2011': a) travelling the night before and sleeping in the car or b) travelling there on the morning of the comp itself is not the best way to do things.  With this in mind, Phill and I left Derby at 2.30pm on the Friday and headed north with my eldest son in the back seat.  If I was going to have fun in the Lakes, the least I could do is drop him off at Granny and Granddads on the way to take the pressure off the missus back home.  With him sorted, we could speed up the A6, through Stockport and get round Manchester before joining up with the M6 motorway.  Best laid plans and all that.

Unfortunately, all the tourists seemed to have a similar idea with the consequences of this being that we hit Manchester bang on 5pm and resulting in our average speed dropping considerably.  Perhaps I should have gone via Stoke on Trent... Hey ho, onwards and upwards to where the hills get hillier!

Arrived at the campsite at 7.30 and paid just £6.50 instead of the usual £7.50 by quoting 'mountainboarding' thanks to the tough negotiations made previously by Chris 6th Degree - nice one Chris!

Despite changeable and contrasting weather reports, the day was dry, the air clear and the local scenery fantastic.  Plenty of riders had arrived earlier and there was loads of room for everyone plus everyone else due to arrive much later that evening.

With high efficiency we get the tent erected and make the decision to hit the pub rather than eat either Phills or my food rations.  Probably a very good idea - Phill had a good stock of breakfast food and I had the usual rubbish - tinned rice pudding and baked beans.  To my credit, I had remembered a tin opener and a spoon this time!

Going for an evening ride was considered and rejected - it was going to get dark soon; probably get far colder and we could conserve our energy for the next day.  Besides, I wasn't entirely sure where the designated track was and given my current personal circumstances with small children back home, I wasn't going to pass on an opportunity to hit the pub.

4 pints later and we're back at the campsite.  It's cold, but as it's a clear night, the night sky is amazing.  Reports come in that Mark S has been pulled over by the police.  Later on that night he arrives with Jenna in his bright, yellow van.  "How fast were you going, then?", "65" moans Mark.

More is drunk.  People mill around for a couple of hours looking at the various boards on display.  Campfires are lit and the mood is good for a good ride in the morning.

Night-time.  Frog-me*, its cold.  (* - with a 2 year old in the house, self-censorship is almost automatic now.  We have a lot of frogs, sheep and carp on a daily basis).

Next morning and everyone's up bright and early ready to roll! Perhaps everyone else was ready, I was cold and couldn't sleep.  Also wondered why the free-roaming chickens seemed so interested in Eddie's tent??  This became evident much later during packing the tents when Eddie and his late night pavement pizza emerged as a result of dodgy food the night before.  Unlucky one, Eddie :-(

After a fantastic slap-up breakfast cooked by Phill in the boot of my car (the flame kept going out when it was exposed), we were good to go and had the luxury of being able to follow the snake of cars heading up to the Whinlatter Visitor Centre.  We headed out of the carpark and immediately turned left, exactly the opposite way to the way I would have guessed. Probably a good job I didn't try and find it the night before!

Was only a couple of miles or so to the Visitor Centre with it's £6.50 all day parking.  I thought it might have been a bit cheaper up north... Hey ho, it's all supporting the local forestry commission and all that.  Instructions come through: 10am we can start to register with riders meeting at 10.30.

From the visitor centre it was a nice, slightly downward slope into the woods so might as well get on and ride, approximately 300 metres.  At this point, the track split in two with a path to the left going slightly uphill, and a path to the right going steeply down.  Not wishing to climb back up if it's the wrong way, we all sit down and wait for further instructions.  (not that we're lazy or anything....)

Registration took place with a slight hint of rain in the air and two biros.  Everyone signs the disclaimer and promises not to sue anyone and we're given the choice of taking the van up to the top or walking the route.  Having only watched the track on-line walking seemed like a good idea.

Heading up, the rain seemed to stop and the track looked the same as in the video, just a bit steeper.  Walking with Travis, the only person nearby who had ridden the track previously, he kept repeating that the track was "much steeper" than he had remembered. 

The track, a combination of firetrack, gravel path and soft woodland path of just over a mile in length turned out to be not closed off to the public as initially though, but was littered with warnings at every junction to keep the walkers and bikers over to the far side.

Further instructions were given at the top of the hill.  Don't hit the walkers or the bikers, fastest time wins.  Fair enough!  Then it started snowing.  Only at the top though, it was almost sunbathing weather at the bottom.

With everyone in one spot it was impressive to see the range of toys brought out to play with various options on what would be most effective.  Boards included MBSs, noSnos, Trampas, rebranded MBSs, nompas.  Brakes included MBS V5s, ABS, noSno and cable disk brakes, and of course crazy brakeless riders, and tyres included 8 inch, 9 inch, 10 inch and 12 inch as well as the odd large front, small rear wheel combos.

Following a practice run, general discussion seemed to concur that the track was pretty straight forward with not too much to worry about.  In a nutshell, a long-ish straight, a reasonably tight left-hander followed by a reasonably sweeping right-hander followed by shorter straight section passing over another track before dropping sharply down a stoney gully.  Through the woods with a tight left hander to finish with a large digger on the outside edge of the corner, just to focus the mind a bit.

3 more runs over the course of the day and that was me happy.  With decent weather conditions, the track was running well and generally times were able to improve as the day went on.  A quick riders meeting voted to chop off the last 10 metres of the track as it was quite boggy and a big advantage to those on larger tyres.  This made a lot of sense and was implemented immediately.

The uplift worked well hauling all 30 riders plus boards plus marshals up in one go.  This would have been perfect if a) I hadn't of felt travel sick after the first go and ended up walking each of the subsequent times and b) if Ben hadn't of ridden into the van during the practice run when the van had to stop suddenly.  I'd forgotten just how travel sick I'd used to be when I used to be a passenger before I could drive and was fine until someone towards the back said 'imagine if someone was sick, and that caused everyone else to be sick'.  Lets just say that my helmet came very close to becoming a little stinkier that day.

After a very satisfying days riding, it was a much faster drive back down to the Midlands in little under 3 1/2 hours.  What a difference not driving through Manchester on a Friday rush hour makes!

So, big cheers to Roger for all the organising for making all of this a reality and for going smoothly on the day, to the marshals for keeping the bikers and walkers out of the way, to the timekeepers who provided us with regular updates on our progress and to everyone else who made it a great weekend!

With great efficiency, the full results were published a day or so later and can be found in full here:
http://atbauk.wordpress.com/2012/04/14/downhill-series-round-1-results/
Congratulations to JC on an astonishingly quick time on 9" tyres and no brakes.

More media can be found below with an excellent write up from Freeride NW here:
http://freeridenw.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/atba-downhill-series-1-write-up.html

Return of the Macc - It's officially Annual!

So, just to start with a little bit of history.  Way back in late 2008, Roger (LB4UL), JC and Joe Gatley hatched an idea to encourage more people to come out freeriding: the plan - meet up in the middle of an isolated forest at the coldest time of the year.  From the subsequent photos and the writeup, it appeared to be a success and the following year, with yet again frost all around, more riders turned up to do it all again.  I wrote about it here, it was a good'un.

Same thing happened again last December.  Not so many riders this time, but still plenty of action taking place and enough of a buzz to keep the spirit alive.  Fast forward to late November 2011 and murmurings were taking place here and there, especially over twitter, suddenly the cool place to hang out.  'Surely there's going to be another Macc event?', these 140 character limited messages requested.  But bar a few reassuring responses, not much was happening - the lead up to Christmas suddenly becoming very busy busy for everyone.  And that might have been the end of the story.....

New Year Stuff

2011 - What a year!  And I'm not the only one with Roger 'LeapB4ULook' and Chris '6th Degree' looking back equally fondly.

But no time to reminisce...2012 is here!  No point making definite resolutions since we're all going to die horribly in several apocalypses anyway, so on the off chance that we survive another 12 months, here's the run down of what I'd like to do.... 

Work less!!  Not ride more, as I do quite a lot of that anyway.  No, I'd prefer to work less so that I'm less tired when I do ride.

Ride more often at Hales Superbole.  I love the 'bole and everytime I go, they've built even more stuff.  Plus Mark's a top bloke.  And the BX gets my heart racing a bit too much (in a good way).

Ride at both 'Dave' and Whinlatter for Rounds 1 and 2 of the new UK downhill Series.  Probably not Dunkeld though, it's a bit far for me unless I can convince the family to have a nice holiday up North.

Freeride at:

• Wendover Woods with the Rem boys, 
• explore more of the Chicksands bike park, 
• ride The Wrekin (remembering larger tires and brakes this time), 
• ride the Lickey Hills (new contract job not far from here, fingers crossed), 
• ride Burton Dassett with Jay (beautiful location not far from M40).
• Macclesfield Forest (easy one this - all arranged here)

In general, I'm going to try and film on a semi regular basis, but not so much as it gets in the way of the riding.  Playing with mounts is fun though so this'll keep it all fresh.

Buy some flexi composite axles from noSno.  If I put away a pound a day, I'll be able afford them by August :-D

Plus, I'd like to ride more with more riders in general.  Want to ride with me in the Midlands or can suggest somewhere awesome new to try out?  Please get in touch! So, unless we all die in the meantime, Cheers and happy riding in 2012!