The P!

Just to save you clicking on the link :) Click to enlarge. Mmmm shiny

New Bike Idea

Am currently thinking about doing something with my XC bike because its shite lol.
Something like a 19" chameleon would be amazing but its getting hold of one cheap.
Have recently been considering this... http://www.specialized.com/bc/SBCBkModel.jsp?sid=07PBikes

The P all mountain bike looks pretty sweet and would look nice next to my Enduro. If I could get the money together I could but my 36's on it and buy new Lyrics for the Enduro. Basically when I'm doing a monster ride (which I want to do more of) I don't wanna be on a bike I hate (Rockhopper). The P would be light and good fun, same size as Enduro and then if I wanted I could add more weight/freeridey stuff to the Enduro which would basically amount to coil springs if anything. I also think having a hardtail is fundamental as it keeps your riding in check. Plus when I go riding with Dad I won't be dying so much lol.

What do you reckon boyos? Am keeping my eye out for a cheap msisle too..

Name change

Me and Jim reckon we need a new name. What does everyone else think? 'AM Riders' is generic and something I thought of on the spot. Let us know of any ideas.
Llandegla tomorrow! I'm well up for some street soon Mr Croxton. The Brooklyn keeps winking at me!

The Chase

Me, Father Jeff and Ian have just got back from the chase. Had a wicked ride, was so quick. Singletrack rode very well. The trailbuilders have put a new jump in near the start (visitor centre) of FTD. There is a tree down across the trail, so they have built a kicker up against it. Some sections really do need rebuilding though. Whats the point in mentioning phase two when they cant look after the original trail??!?!!? We went a different way back. Ended up going past the german cemetary and riding trail that we have ridden up before but not down. Keeps it interesting instead of doing the same route all the time. Did jusy shy of 20miles in total but went round quite quick. Conditions helped loads

We also saw a young lad on a Norco hardtail with 888's on it.................
I bet he loves it

Mr C's Birthday Ride

Great Ride on Friday at Coed Y Brenin (or something like) MBR was a baptism of Fire, 10 meters of flat single track under the worlds biggest folks, then hold on for dear life over the rocks. Really pleased I got around in one piece, also thanks for the warnings on the drops.

Wasn't as keen on the Old Red bull course, apart from the two sections of single track downhill, didn't think it compared favorably to the MBR trail.

Glad there was no injuries but two punctures and two broken spokes on your full susp. Well pleased the Rockhopper does everything it says on the tin.

Great food as well.

Will need to sort out Scotland soon, I will however be buying some body protection from the show next month just in case I meet a camel on a rocky section.

Disc brake pads choice!!???!**?`

I did a bit of research on this last night as I was getting a bit confused.

Metal = Sintered = high heat generation / long life
Semi-metallic = Organic = short(ish) life, but low heat generation

Metal are not recommended for DH, which is why JD might have been struggling yesterday with pump up, but I didnt really equate yesterday's riding to heavy braking / DH type conditions...... Hmmmm maybe JD has the ghost of Kev in his system again?!

This is a useful summary:

http://www.fibrax.com/moreinfo.php?cat=12

I, however, have metal/sintered on mine and they seem to be OK (they do say that can make a difference whose pads you use - I have just ordered one set of fibrax sintered to try from CRC). We will see - got to be better than the 1mm of pad I have left at the moment!!!!

Any other make a supposed to be better than shimano (and cheaper) so I will see. After ordering it looks like EBC might have been the best, but I will see how I get on.....

Llandegla and the weekends riding

Met Mr Croxton at Llandegla today and had a great ride. Conditions were perfect which ment we could really ride hard and rail the turns. Even though I was struggling a bit because I had five hours sleep and had been out, I was still able to pedal hard and just go for it. I think that one will be a memorable day.

Also did marin on saturday which again was perfect because it was so dry. Have been taking Raj (one of Ians hall mates) riding recently. He is a quick learner and I think will be a good rider. Me and Ian were riding quick but also looking for new lines. Found a good selection of wallrides.

On sunday me and Ian did a ride from Llanberis known as telegraph valley. Conditions were not good. It stayed dry but it was very windy. Gusts were very strong, allthough for the final descent the wind was behind us which was ideal. Cracking singletrack descent on the mid-lower slopes of Snowdon. That is what we brought 6" plus travel bikes for. Big mountain riding

My first ride on a road bike

Its ok, I havent lost the plot. I thought that I would give it a go while the sun was shining and I've loved it. I didnt get bored as I thought I would, because it is so fast. So different to mtb-the lowest ring at the front is a DH ring (42 tooth!). Climbing therefore is done out of the saddle and quickly. Got to keep it spinning, flat sections though are so quick. Sections that are mundane on a mtb are done and dusted before you realise you are on them. I did 28km in roughly an 1hr 15mins. Which I didnt think was that bad for my first go.

It took me a few miles to get use to the best place to position my hands and I found it hard on my hands as so much more weight is on them compared to mtb. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to get fitter. I was breathing hard all the way round, so I would say it is more cardiovascular than mtb. Give it a go, you maybe surprised

SW Scotland - Better than Glentress / Innerleithen?

It has been suggested by Andrew and his buddies to do a trip to Ae, Mabie, Kirroughtree (basically SW Scots). They (Andrew's buddies) claim that it is better than Glentress and Innerleithen. However, I know that I prefer a different type of ride to them (they are mostly XC orientated - get those saddles down on the DH boys!).

What is the feeling. If I go for a trip (long weekend probably) to Scotland in spring, I want it to be the best it can be. I loved Glentress and would love to go again for the excellent riding AND the play area which was mint. I would also like to go with the AM riders!!!!!!

Who thinks what?

Two Jims Two Patriots

The top of Lyn Colwyd. This is where the route actually became slightly more rideable!

Yes that is the trail! On our way up to the first reservoir - Lyn Colwyd.

Beach!

Jim riding at Newborough Warren.

Lynn Cowlyd and Lynn Crafnant

Alright boys? Me, Jamie and Ian had a cracking ride on sunday. Did 900m ascent (bear in mind Snowdon is 1085) mixed up with one scary road descent and tech descents/singletrack. The weather was very welsh but we stuck at it and Im glad we did. The weather was actually better once we were up by the Cowlyd reservoir as the mountains provided some protection. Down in the valley boyo next to the A5, it was like being in a wind tunnel.
If anyone wants a technical challenge this is the ride for you. I just couldn't get my head round some sections. The rocks around Cowlyd were like riding on ice. I came off twice and Jim three times.
You also need to push on some of the climbs and be prepared for some bike swallowing bogs. The road descent was mental, you lose 400m of height in less than 2miles. Very steep in parts, not one for v's! We ended up finishing on a high with some very rocky terrain. Ian nearly went head first into a bog on this section. I had just previously ridden it, so I didnt tell him how deep it was! I think we will be back but probably in the summer when the rocks aren't as slippy.

Mojo's mistake

I got my bike back today and mentioned to Bob at goldtec the work that had been done on my forks. Straight away he was on to mojo to give me some assurances that the forks will take some abuse. I spoke to Rowan Sorell who stated that you get problems through overtightening the axle pinch bolts and also from them not beng tight enough. I said that I dont overtighten and was aware that you could crack the lowers. Anyway I got home to change my front pads and I noticed that the lowers had been touched up i.e they were the original ones. So I rang mojo again and spoke to Rowan and explained the situation. What we figured is that the technician had put down the wrong part number on the job sheet. I have in fact had new stanchions because they had worn internally, new crown because it had worked slighlty lose (he assured me that this wont break but they did replace it......) and new internals. They have also come back with shims.

So, I am still in a predicament because once the warranty runs out I dont want big repair/servicing bills. The other issue though is that the crown shouldnt of worked loose. Give me bolts anyday

Me at the Marin Trail. Looked fantastic with all the snow on the mountains.

Jim riding the Pink Heifer section when we did the Beast route at Coed y Brenin. Look at that trail!

Fox Forx...........

Well my forx are back at goldtec. Tried to get the service cost for free but it didnt happen, always worth a go! Anyway, I rang mojo and I have had to have new lowers and internals. Lowers were cracked and the internals blown. Fair enough, its all been sorted out under warranty but that leaves me with little faith in the forks. Its not as if im doing cliff drops. So, do I stick with them under the remaining warranty or get something before they fail on me??!?! I will have a chat to kev 2moro. He says that fox always come back with a big bill. I certainly don't want that after the warranty runs out.
So that leaves me with marzocchi z1 (which got 8/10 in mbuk) 66's or all mountains, magura wotan (which has handlebar mounted thing and I am yet to see a test) and the rockshox lyrik. Kev says the bloke at rockshox is cool and he doesnt have any problems with them. Its all a case of deciding whether air is good enough for abuse. The lightweight makes sense for the climbs but judgin by my forks not for the descents or jumping. Its that word again, compromise. Dont you just hate it!

Snow and my forks arent back

I was ready to get up and have a play on my le toy but the snow was wet. So i went back to bed. How disappointing. I bet if I was working the snow would be perfect to ride in.

Have rung goldtec, forks aren't back from mojo yet. With the weather though and how ol' blighty can't cope with snow its hardly surprising. I will be ringing again in the morning so fingers crossed.

Im not surprised that Llandegla is closed. Shame though, was looking forward to a play in the snow. Trouble is everywhere else is going to be wet. Wouldn't of minded a play at Delamere but I think we need a better day for that.

Anyway as soon as I get my bike back I will let you guys know so we can plan a ride.

Weekend of leadership and fun!

Hey, Im now back from a pretty exhaustive two days off training under the SMBLA scheme. Learnt some games which will keep us amused on the otherwise boring parts of trail and learnt some interesting skills. Limbo anybody? Have also met Emily Horridge and her dh mate John, was cool to ride with people who race. Was also good to see how my skills compare to theirs. I can trackstand like a demon, useful for the games. Need to practice that limbo though.

My bike is hangin (scuse the phrase), Swingarm is possibly loose at bearings, forks are chuffed, gears are terrrible, rear brake is lever that likes to touch the bars and its just ready for a 12month overhaul. would look at the gears myself (now iv got better adjusting skills) but seeing as though its all under warranty Im going to take it to kevin clewless, have a natter, pick it up, see what hes done wrong and take it to rourkes to get it done properly.

Llandegla in an afternoon

Hey, been to degla with Jamie today. Was great, hardly anybody there. Which is a rarity. Anyway I was right about being able to loop back and do the new black again. Me and Jim rode the new black twice. Takes 3-4mins to get back to the start. Brilliant! Had problems with my back brake again. So I perservered and did my front braking before the berms. I was going round the berms faster and leaning over more, so its not all bad. Forks had problems with rebound today, think a service is due.

Past week of welsh riding

Hey, just got back from an unplanned week of riding throughout Wales. Rode Penmachno, Marin and Coed-Y-Brenin (cyb) with Ian and Llandegla with Matt.

Did Penmachno last saturday which was crazy. The high winds had brought trees down onto the trail and the trail was generally in a mess. I think their resources have been used in developing the second loop which is due to open shortly. I don't think I will be back anytime soon. Repairs need to be done.

On monday we rode the marin trail and it was cold. Me and Ian actually brought skull caps to wear under our helmets! Got some good photos of the snow.

On wednesday me and Ian attempted the beast at cyb unaware that there was a trail diversion. We should of read the notice! Its a tough trail. Imagine the mbr and then havin to go further, to a total distance of 24miles. We realised though that it would be posssible on either the mbr or the beast to do the pink heifer section twice. Worth noting for future excursions. Did have a few braking problems though. my back brake had pumped up that much that it was nearly stopping the wheel going round! Anyway when I got back to the cottage i noticed that the pistons were being stubborn and the pads were low. So I got the WD out and a screwdriver and got the brake temporarily working. Allthough a tiny bit of fluid came past a piston......

Today me and Matt have ridden Llandegla (twice!). Can't get enough of the new black section. Like the mbr you could do similar and loop back to do the start of the black and have another go. It was a bit of a scary day. Due to loosing some brake fluid I wasn't getting brake pump up but I was having to pump up the lever to get the brake working. Just what you need when you are flying into a downhill berm!

Machynlleth (mach 3 trail)

Been out today to mach' to do the mach 3 trail (18miles). It was proper mountain biking. Over 1000m of climbing and the 'chute' descent to look forward to. The wind was blowing hard, real hard. It blew dad of his bike and I came off twice because my rucksac was catching the wind, just what you need when you are riding narrow ruts. No surprises for guessing how I fell off. The notorious chute is mad. Iv never seen such a warning sign in the middle of nowhere. It was v steep and v loose with some tricky turns. The trail consisted of welsh slate, it was like riding down a ffestiniog slag heap. You couldn't ride it fast because there were loads of random steps which would soon have you over the front if you were going too quick. So slow and steady was the way. Arms soon pumped up from dragging the brakes. we lost a lot of height quickly. The best thing was we saw nobody accept a local farmer in the feeding his livestock.

There is a video of the chute on this page: http://www.mtbbritain.co.uk/machynlleth_mach3.html
It isn't as rough in the video as it was for me and dad and we also didn't crash.

Also, my forks were playing up. Talas was difficult to move and they locked out. Great considering they don't have a lockout. Brakes are dragging and gears aren't great. Ahwell!

Fox Forx (not Muddy Fox Mr KamioRed!)

Just got my Fox's back from LL. Looking mint. Like new. Also have an extra 1cm of travel compared to before I sent them in. Hmmmm now measure about 155mm of stantion showing. Also the "click" of the talas seems to have changed. Far more precice now and defined. They claim to have only changed a seal, but I think not - seems like there was a talas problem in 05 that they have sorted (like you mentioned J).

Anyway chuffed to bits, not only have they cleaned them they have touched up, with Fox Brown paint, the bit of cable rub I had on the legs. Mint. I love Fox again.

No charge and they definately changed the oil so wont need to service for a bit longer at least.

Big :) from big hands.

Shimano riding shoes

Anyone tried those Shimano shoes (I know that Jim was going to at Rourke's)? Reason I ask is that some sizes are reduced on Chainreaction.....

Lynn Brianne and the Doethie Valley

Have been out all day. Long drive but def worth it. Rode very near to Llantwryd wells (or however you spell it). We were a long way down, were actually in Carmathenshire! Anyway the ride.... Me and dad rode, started from the reservoir on forest tracks until we came to an old road. when i say road I mean in the loosest terms. It was too steep to ride and you would need a landrover to go up and over it. Anyway, we pushed up the steep incline and across the top and soon started the descending. The view was breathtaking, you could see miles of nothing but my gaze was soon back in front of me as the descent became more technical. We soon deviated off the old road and onto singletrack above the river doethie. This section is amazing, the scenery is superb and the trail is a narrow ribbon set against the towering hills. It was very wet with alot of river riding and crossing. Some sections were unrideable but I didnt mind because they were only short. The riding was very technical but that gives the impression of rock gardens. This is not the case. The trail as mentioned previously was v wet and narrow. It was also off camber in places and due to it being sodden, v slippy. To break up the tricky singletrack there were the odd bedrock sections and also the river crossings to mix it up. The terrain was very steep and dodgy in places as there is nothing to stop you going right the way down into the river. Dad did slip off at one point on a wet climb. I also collapsed a river bank and ended up on my front. Eventually you come out onto a double track some 3.7 miles later! You soon ride up to a farm and get attacked by collies with crazy wild streaks before a climb back out of the valley in the direction of the reservoir. I punctured here and it was chuffin' cold but nethertheless we were soon back where we started some 3hours and 15miles later.

We also had chance to check out Coed Trallwm as it was just round the corner from where we rode. Looks ok just needs some longer sections of trail putting in. Not reallly worth the journey yet for what it has to offer.

Llandegla improvements

Hey, just got back from riding at 'degla with Ad. We got soaked but it was worth it. He hired a bike and gave it a good seeing to. "nothing corners like a hire bike" (shawn denny-drop in tv). There are now alot more black sections. If you have ridden the black section which opened in the summer (the downhill which was stupid slippy but occasionally brilliant with the climb back up to the red trail), then you are in for a treat. On the climb back up from the dh black you reach a junction with timber stacks around it. If you go left at the T you see signs for the new black sections. The 1st section is similar to the previous black dh but quickly flattens out and sends you up onto a north shore style ladder bridge thing which is about 10ft high. The good thing is its also a metre wide but its still a little disconcerting at first (there is a pic of somebody riding the ladder on the gallery section on coedllandegla.com). After riding the ladder theres a quick climb which puts you back on the fireroad. You carry on for a short while on the fireroad before you drop back into singletrack. This section is similar in style to the black dh but hasn't got any tricky off camber parts. The jumps are also slightly bigger but all still rollable. This carries on for a good way and is so much fun. It really flows and is very smooth, there is hardly a need to pedal, ideal! You get the feeling that theres a climb coming and luckilly its not that bad. You soon get up the singletrack climb before you are going downhill again. The new section finishes with a climb back up to the red route which you join after the steep climb and before the original black run. I spoke to jimmy in the bike shop and they are revising the trail map shortly. Give us a shout if after reading my description you are a bit lost, Im well up for goin again soon.

Happy nu year

Well thats xmas over for another year and another year of riding to look forward to. Already planning the next excursion and it looks like we are going to Scotland. Found plenty of accomodation in and around peebles. Be good to get bruv round glentress before he goes back to uni. Am going to have to get out riding soon, done far to much drinking and eating recently and the riding withdrawal symptoms are kicking in. I'm sure you all feel the same so Im going to suggest does anyone want to ride this weekend? As you will of noticed, I have given the site a new template with more colour to cheer us up when we are in front of a screen instead of in front of our handlebars.

Heres a link for when you are bored at work http://www.mtbmovies.com/ Its always good for a laugh! look at the vid titled '1.5m drop'.