Bit of Freeride, Bit of Garage

Not been a bad week at all.  Work has been busy busy as usual, but it's not stopped me from doing plenty of work in the new place and getting some fresh air.

So, in no particular order, Sunday morning was spend down Hemlock Stone, a great little spot that from my new house now only takes around 15 minutes to get to.  From discussions on the SD forums I knew that other people were arriving between 10am-11am but didn't actually see anyone there.  Wasn't a problem though - the recent dry weather combined with good drainage meant that the main slope from the trip-point to the stone was dry with some nice patches of leaves to do some nice toe-side power slides in.  Riding the noSno with brakes was maybe a little excessive, but it was a great lesson in 'just because it's there doesn't mean you have to use it' kind of thing.  Plus I'm really loving the loose set-up it has right now.  I'm finding loads of extra stability can be gained through a low stance whilst 'keeping your chin up' and the additional manoeuvrability feels lovely.

All in, great little session - the kind where you punch the air at the bottom.  Shame I didn't get to meet some of the SD crowd, but I'm sure there'll be more opportunity as the year goes on.  Worth checking the thread again periodically as Jasper is starting to put up some of the photos from the afternoon session.

Other works going on right now is in the previously mentioned 'Garage of Dreams', a truly magical place where the only limit is your imagination; a bit like Derby really.

Similar to those engineers that spend their time making tools, to make tools, before I make the 'Ultimate Workbench', a temporary workbench had to be constructed.

Fortunately, a lot of the parts required for this and the rest of the bits below were salvaged from parts left in the house by the old owners.  Particularly useful was the old worktop and the 60mm x 30mm timber that was used to make the brackets holding the rear of the bench in place.  The front legs were donated by Dad and are adjustable aluminium poles that rotate to lengthen/ shorten as appropriate.  So all in, pretty quick to assemble and fix in place.

Next up, temporary board rack.

In an attempt to clear the floor of even more space, I needed something rough and ready to keep the boards out of the way.  Again using two lengths of 60mm x 30mm timber with 28mm holes bored every 12".  Curtain pole offcuts are exactly 28mm so no glue was required.  Three 3" screws per side are used into appropriate rawlplugs and so far, seem to hold everything in place.  Again, it's not pretty, but it does the job and will do until I get the urge to do something a little more ornate like pigryder did in this thread.

Plenty left to do.  I'll take some more photos and report back soon.

...In other news

Morning folks, long time no writing....My apologies - I moved house last Wednesday but as yet do not have a working BT phone line, nor did I feel inclined to nip into work to use their connection.  Shame really, as loads has been going on.

Firstly, you don't have to be an eagle-eyed viewer to spot our new fantastic graphics, lovingly created by *WiL* of Decreate and Remolition.  A big, big thank you for your hard work and talent!

A couple of freeride meets in the pipeline, depending on how far you wish to travel - Hemlock Stone this weekend (originally planned for weekend just gone but postponed).  The link takes you to the Surfing Dirt discussion thread.

Alternatively, if you wish for something bigger, Sunday 20th March sees the monthly freeride meet moving to Llantrisant forest, South Wales with good interest already.  The SD discussion thread is here.  If interested sign up on the FB page here.

In the more distant future is the large Allestreee Park meet up with information here, and then not long after, the 2011 ATBA comps start.  It really is quite busy busy!

Back to now though and a quick word about my garage.  In a nutshell, I'm quite excited by the possibilities and potential of the space.  Rough dimensions are 15' x 9' wide with a nice, high ceiling with the only limitations that one corner has to accommodate the washing machine and that I have to leave room to allow the wife's car occasional access.

The jobs to do in no particular order then are to:

• add in extra power points to allow the use of tools in all areas; 
• build a workbench for some of the heavier jobs; 
• build a rack to keep the boards out of the way / display;
• build worktop space for various repair / maintenance tasks.
• generally have some sort of system to keep everything tidy whilst being accessible....

Lots to do then!  Expect a couple of posts in the near future to show updates as and when they happen.

Last, but not least is news that the Derby Skatepark has started already with plenty of digger action taking place right now.  Plenty of news and pictures up on the Derby Skateboard Project blog.

That's all for now...back soon!

ATBA-Membership

Even if you never intend on riding at any of the UK competitions, don't intend on visiting any mountainboard centre, or not really fussed about the scene in general, then you're probably not reading this blog....
However, should the scene dry up and manufacturers stop making spare parts and you can't replace that plastic top-hanger, what will you do then, then?!

Join the ATBA-UK and ensure the manufacturing of plastic top hangers for many years to come!*

Meanwhile, the official benefits of being a member of the ATBA-UK include:
 

Master of the Hill, 2010 in full and in HD

For those of you who haven't seen this yet....


Master of the Hill 2010 Full Version from all4ride on Vimeo.

Way too much fun - Got to go ride!

ATBA-UK International Series 2011

Old news but hey, it's always nice to have a map to see how far away these events are.

Looks as though they are all pretty local this year, for the Midlands based boarder anyway.  Will be nice to attend at least a couple this year.  And compete?  Maybe...

Details from the ATBA-UK website below:

Mountain Board: Derby

Starting up a group, getting peoples interest up and dispersing relevant information to the right people is so much easier these days, especially given the stuff that's available through facebook and other social media outlets.  That's what Mark Sewell's done, creating a 'Mountain Board - Derby' group on facebook. 

http://www.facebook.com/#!/home.php?sk=group_149613061758799 

What this should mean is that anyone out having a cheeky board session at any point can post up the details if anyone wants to join in, or organising larger meets should be easier, or if anyone wants to share their local spot for others to check out they can do so.

It's an open group, so if this is your sort of thing, drop by and say hello and let's get a good representation of mountain boarders in the Derby area!

Be a Better Rider - taking advice from the bikers

Taking inspiration from other sources, I came across these on-line videos produced by the mountain bike magazine, 'SingleTrack', a 'snappily titled new video series where we get bike guides, skills instructors and the great and the good of mountain biking to tell us one thing that'll make you better on a bike'.

Forget the bike and the technical aspects that you normally see on these sorts of things, and concentrate on the core message that is being put across each time and remember that it is often being in the right frame of mind rather than on the right bike, or the most expensive board that will prevent or enable you to achieve something.

I've picked out a couple of the videos that seem most relevant to what we do - hope they help.  They're only short, so enjoy!

In Video 1, Ed Oxley and his most excellent beard talks about 'keeping your chin up', and 'looking further ahead' in order to look where we're going and more importantly, where we want to go.


Be A Better Rider - Part 1 from Singletrack Magazine on Vimeo.

In Video 3, Tony 'Jedi' Doyle of UK Bike Skills talks about drops and why the simple physical action needed to perform a drop-off can be applied to any size of drop - it's all in the head...


Be a Better Rider: Part 3 - Drops from Singletrack Magazine on Vimeo.