Indholdsfortegnelse for October 2016 i Mountain Biking UK

“The shortest day is still a long way off, the trails are still dry-ish and there’s plenty more good times to come!” Summer may officially be over but that doesn’t mean it’s time to get out the mud tyres and put away any jerseys with the slightest hint of white just yet. The shortest day is a long time off, the trails are still dry-ish and there’s plenty more good times to come! This issue’s all about extending that summer vibe, so we’ve been checking out the sun, sea and singletrack in Punta Ala, Italy, finding out just how much you can cram into a few short months with Traharn Chidley and making use of an unusually sunny day in Scotland to head into the Highlands in search of a…

The Keswick Kestrel , Mr Gas to Flat, call him what you like, Adam Brayton is one of our favourite riders to watch. He never fails to live up to his nicknames, sending the biggest lines on any racetrack and always riding on the ragged edge. In the past, his ‘pin it or bin it’ style has brought him more than his fair share of gruesome injuries. Most memorably, a crash at the 2014 Cairns World Cup tore his shin wide open. This year he seems to have put that bad luck behind him, showing that perseverance pays off. At Fort William he put in an unbelievably wild ride to end up fourth and take his first World Cup podium. He’s yet to step back up on the hallowed box,…

FOR WELL OVER a year before the starter’s pistol sounded in Deodoro Olympic Park, the Rio Games had dominated almost every waking thought of the world’s fastest cross-country racers. A chance at Olympic gold only rolls around once every four years and, since Bart Brentjens and Paola Pezzo took the first honours in Atlanta in 1996, it’s been the one they all want to win. In the women’s race, the early pace was set by Switzerland’s Linda Indergand but all eyes were on her compatriot, Jolanda Neff. Neff went to the front briefly but seemed to cook herself in her efforts to stay there and ended up in sixth place. Many thought the technically fairly straightforward track would suit reigning world champ Annika Langvad, but the Dane’s challenge never materialised…

IT’S IN THE OLYMPICS 1 XC is the only MTB discipline to grace the Olympic Games (see overleaf). Debuting in Atlanta in 1996, it’s become a staple of the summer games. For London 2012 a purpose-built track was constructed at Hadleigh Farm in Essex. You can still ride it today – just be prepared to get a sweat on! WUSSES NEED NOT APPLY 2 Racers have to tackle steep, rocky chutes and punishing climbs. Just because they shave their legs it doesn’t mean they can’t send it – Swiss national champ Nino Schurter, in particular, knows how to give it the beans, boosting jumps and nailing descents even with his seat up his backside. THE UK IS XC HEAVEN 3 The best way to explore our nation’s beautiful countryside is…

BRENDAN FAIRCLOUGH This 28-year-old from Surrey is one of the most naturally talented riders on the circuit. When he hit the scene in the early 2000s, it wasn’t long before his winning ways earned him a place on Steve Peat’s Royal/Orange team. He’s since gone on to ride for some of the biggest outfits in the business and be mentored by two of the fastest riders ever, Greg Minnaar and Sam Hill. It’s Brendan’s fluid style that’s made him such a crowd favourite. With unique line choices and some of the best whips in the business, everyone sits up and takes notice when he’s coming down the hill. BRENDAN OFTEN PICKS THE BIKE UP, HOPPING BETWEEN PARTS OF THE TRACK AND FINDING BACKSIDES TO GENERATE SPEED FROM. THIS SUITS A…

1 Phone the emergency services, explain what’s happened and tell them exactly where you are (using the GPS on your phone, if necessary). 2 Talk to the crash victim to reassure them. They’ll probably ask the same questions over and over – keep your cool and answer them. Make sure they’re warm and aren’t in discomfort. 3 If they’ve banged their head, there’s a strong possibility they could have injured their neck or back so avoid moving them unless absolutely necessary (eg. they’re in the middle of a busy road). 4 Is the victim unconscious? If so, make sure they’re breathing and there’s no vomit in their airways. If they’re not breathing and you know how to perform CPR, do so immediately. 5 Don’t remove their helmet or goggles –…

HOW WE TEST THE KIT Starts with a detailed product check in the workshop. We strip and rebuild, checking for any problems. Next we hit the trails… hard! We test in real riding conditions for the complete picture. And finally we re-test with another tester. WHY OUR TESTS ARE THE BEST! Our test team is made up of the most respected bike and kit testers in the world. We have unrivalled knowledge and experience, and spend a vast amount of time making sure we get it right. We tell you the truth and aren’t influenced by PR or advertisers. ABOUT OUR TEST TEAM Our Technical Editor in Chief, Rob Weaver, gets new products in as soon as they’re available and coordinates all the testing through our vastly experienced band of…

FINAL VERDICT We’ve opened our 2017 testing season with an absolutely mind-bending test. One that literally had us going round and round in circles on our test trails to be double-sure that plus tyres really have torn up the rule book when it comes to hardcore hardtails. After weeks of bike and wheel swapping, timed sections and head-to-head races, there’s no escaping the fact that larger tyres on wider rims roll smoother and faster on rougher trails. It’s particularly obvious on hardtails, where you’re also less likely to impact-flat or lose pedalling rhythm, and it glosses over any suspension fork shortcomings too. Going plus isn’t cheap though, especially if you choose premium tyres, and that leaves the Scott with an outdated transmission and heavy steel-legged fork. It’s a superb rolling…

PRO-FILE ANDREW NEETHLING JOB Pro downhill racer CREDENTIALS Riding for the Polygon UR team, Andrew is a seasoned pro who’s regularly cracked the top 10 at World Cup and World Championship races. He started racing over 15 years ago and, as one of most stylish riders on the circuit, is a good bet for skills tips! 01 LANDING THE FIRST JUMP Linking dirt jumps is all about maintaining speed, or even increasing it to get over the next jump. The aim is to land as near to the top of the landing as you can and touch down with your bike at the same angle as the downslope with your weight in a neutral position. 02 IN THE BOWL Once you’re on the downslope you can adjust your position if…

DON’T STRETCH YET! Save the static stretching for at least three hours after your ride. Muscular tone, central nervous system activity and other factors mean stretching straight after intense exercise may not be the best idea. THE BASICS Do five minutes of easy pedalling at the end of your ride, either on the way back or around the car park. You’re looking to slowly bring yourself and your body back to a relaxed and calm state. Add or remove clothing layers as needed. MOBILITY SERIES Doing some mobility exercises alongside or instead of the easy pedal is a modern approach. Try marching cradle stretches, slow lunges and bear crawls. Follow up with some deep breathing while lying down with your back lat – and never mind your friends giggling at…

SYMONDSBURY KITCHEN CAFE The Symondsbury Kitchen cafe (www.symondsburykitchen.com) is very good, with locally sourced ingredients and a varied menu. There’s seating both inside and out, with a woodburning stove for the winter. Serving breakfast, lunch and tea, and dinner Thursday to Saturday, it makes an ideal pit-stop before and after the ride. The Anchor Inn in Seatown (www.the anchorinnseatown.co.uk), on the coast, is also very nice and pretty special, so probably best left until after the ride once you’ve cleaned yourself up.…

1 Wash your bike thoroughly. After hosing the worst of the mud of, use a bike cleaning spray to loosen the grime and dirt before gently scrubbing with a soft brush. Make sure to thoroughly rinse the bike spray of the paintwork. 2 Spray degreaser (also known as ‘chain cleaner’ or ‘drivetrain cleaner’) liberally all over the cassette, chain and chainrings while back-pedalling the chain. Leave it to soak in for a few minutes. 3 If you have one, use a chain cleaning tool to scrub the chain clean. Otherwise, use a stiff brush (or old toothbrush) to get in among the chain links, chainrings, jockey wheels and cassette sprockets. 4 Wash the degreaser of with a hose while back-pedalling the chain. Avoid spraying water directly into the bottom bracket…

“Comrie Croft captured my attention like no trail centre has since I irst rode Glentress a decade ago. There’s never that ‘boring!’ feeling of riding between good sections, it just pumps challenge after challenge at you. So many centres could bene it from taking a long, hard look at Comrie before digging the next dull section of hardpack – variety and intensity win out over just distance. It’s one of the most interesting and varied locations I’ve ridden. AND it ends with a dual slalom track and good coffee!”…

Winter is coming... Well, not just yet, actually. Summer isn’t over until the shorts are replaced with trousers, it becomes too chilly to ride in just a T-shirt and your riding kit spends more time in the washing machine than out on the trail. When the cold and wet really hits you’ll regret not grabbing life by the balls and keeping that summer vibe alive right to the bitter end. So why not get out there now, while it’s still sunny and warm(ish)? You can ride manmade all-weather trails all year round, but some of the best natural routes will soon turn to slop and slime. So go and scope out that riding spot you’ve been promising to explore or shred your favourite singletrack harder than ever before. You’ll cling…

GRANT FERGUSON, GREAT BRITAIN Scotland’s Ferguson got the British Cycling call-up late in the day (helpful) but put it all behind him to finish in an incredible 17th position. It’s a result that only serves to underline his position as one of the sport’s biggest young talents. CARLOS COLOMA NICOLAS, SPAIN Wearing the trademark handlebar mustache of his compatriot, five-time Olympian José Hermida, Coloma saw off Frenchman Maxime Marotte to take bronze. CATHARINE PENDREL, CANADA The form book would state that Pendrel, a fan of fast, technical riding, shouldn’t have featured on a power- favouring course like Rio. Add to this an opening lap crash and her ride to bronze was even more impressive.…

1. Gore Power Trail Gore-Tex Active You get top performance from this Gore-Tex jacket – it’s waterproof, breathable and lightweight in a good-looking, slim-fit package. £199.99 www.goreapparel.co.uk 2. Sombrio Wingman Understated enough to look good down the pub, the lightweight and windproof Wingman has a DWR finish to keep showers at bay. £65 www.sombriocartel.com 3. Vaude Tremalzo Made from sustainable materials, under fair working conditions, this lightweight rain jacket is as green as it looks. The 2.5-layer waterproof fabric should see off autumn downpours. There’s an optional hood too. £100 www.vaude.com 4. Helly Hansen Voss Fully waterproof and windproof but light enough to wear all year round, this fisherman-style jacket will stop you getting soggy whether you’re on board or aboard a bike. £50 www.hellyhansen.com 5.…

WINNER! STAR LETTER ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT I did a loop of Coed Llandegla a few weeks ago and the amount of rubbish was horrific. Deciding to do something about it, I took the afternoon o work and filled no fewer than three rubbish bags before completing one loop of the black trail. I found empty bottles within 50m of the trailhead and some spots resembled the local high street on a Sunday morning. I have Shropshire on my doorstep, and local spots such as Hopton and Eastridge don’t have this problem, but then they’re more ‘o the grid’ and are maintained by dedicated volunteers. Are trail centres, given their accessibility, now held in the same esteem as the local McDonald’s car park, with riders and walkers assuming that if they drop…

A JAM-PACKED SCHEDULE OF RACES COMBINED WITH A SERIOUS CASE OF F.O.M.O. (FEAR OF MISSING OUT) IS GOING TO MAKE FOR AN EVENTFUL SEASON! It’s mid-November and I’m blissfully cocooned in a technicolour dream hammock, entranced by the midnight sky above Nicaragua. My phone bleeps – a modern-day interruption that disturbs the tranquility. But I’m not annoyed, because there, sat in my inbox, is the long-awaited email from Canadian immigration. After eight months on the waiting list, my visa application has finally been accepted! And that means the timer has been activated to make my final UK summer one to remember… I’ve got a jam-packed schedule of races planned. Combined with a serious case of FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out), that’s going to make for an eventful season! Even better,…

Madison Zenith £22.99 SO GOOD… The Zeniths’ close fit and soft cuff make them very comfy on the bike, with little bunching of the palm. Wraparound tips on the index and middle fingers are a nice touch, and silicone print helps stop them slipping on the brake levers. There’s a lengthy snot wipe and some padding along the bottom of the fingers and base of the palm to take the sting out of rough trails. NO GOOD… While the palm padding does alleviate some trail buzz it also makes your grips feel fatter and limits feedback from the bar. www.madison.co.uk 7iDP Tactic £24.99 SO GOOD… The thin, perforated palm allows plenty of feedback through and doesn’t bunch, which makes a difference on long, sweaty rides. Though the rubber patches on…

The problem with choosing lights is that there are hundreds of options, from eBay to exotic. But don’t worry if you don’t know your lumens from your lux because we’re here to explain everything you do need to know. First off let’s talk about the lights that aren’t in this test –the ones straight off eBay that claim equal power, battery life and features at a fraction of the price. If you’re lucky that’s what you might get, but if you’re unlucky you’ll get recycled battery cells with barely any life left, dodgy wiring that’ll leave you in the dark or, in the worst case, chargers that’ll catch fire and take your kitchen with them. That’s why we’ve stuck with lights that have a reputable UK distributor to deal with,…

PRO-FILE JOE RAFFERTY JOB Mountain bike coach CREDENTIALS Elite level racer Joe heads up his own coaching business, Pro Ride, and has been passing on his expertise to riders for over 10 years as a full-time skills coach. Your cadence is the number of full revolutions that your pedals make per minute, and it’s important because the right cadence can help you ride more efficiently so you don’t waste energy. Adjusting your cadence can also help you maintain traction where there isn’t much grip. The most efficient cadence is around 90 revolutions per minute (rpm). If you take two equal riders, one pedalling at 60rpm and the other at 90rpm, then the one spinning the cranks at 90rpm will be riding more efficiently and will stay strong for longer. So,…

01 FOCUS Look ahead, not down at the roots. Your natural Jedi-like senses will kick in and the phenomenon known as target vision – looking where you want to go, not at the obstacle you want to avoid – will help pull you through. 02 SPEED Reducing the time your tyres are in contact with roots reduces the chances of you slipping on them. Speed will help you go over, rather than slide along, them. Only go as fast as your ability allows – session a section, building up speed gradually. 03 WEIGHT Unweighting your bike helps – the lighter you are, the less effect slippery roots will have. If you can’t unweight your bike then practise bunnyhopping and manualling on the flat before transferring those skills to rooty sections.…

ViewRanger is an app that lets outdoor enthusiasts discover, plan, navigate and share their adventures on smartphones, on tablets and online. With offline mapping (including Ordnance Survey maps), turn-by-turn navigation and bike computer functions like ride time, ride distance and current, average and maximum speed, it’ll turn your phone into a fully fledged GPS unit. You can also use it to plan or download routes, access guidebook-style information, broadcast your location and track your friends. It has a social platform too, where you can store and share your adventures. ViewRanger is used by more than 400 official bodies, including search-and-rescue teams in the UK and overseas. The ViewRanger app is available to download for Apple, Android, Blackberry 10, Kindle Fire and Symbian devices.…

1 J-bend vs straight-pull Traditional J-bend spoke heads are bent through 90 degrees while straight-pull spokes are, well, straight and fit into specially designed hubs. Straight-pull spokes are claimed to be less likely to break if the wheel isn’t built well, but spares are harder to find if they do snap. 2 Straight-gauge vs butted Straight-gauge spokes are the same diameter along their length. These are the cheapest but heaviest. Butted spokes taper in the middle to save weight where it’s needed least. DT Swiss claim the forging process used to shape them makes double-butted spokes stronger too. 3 Bladed spokes Putting aerodynamic spokes on an MTB may seem silly, but there’s reason behind it. The spokes are drawn out by cold forging to give their bladed shape, and this…

GET THERE From Perth, take the A85 west to Crie . Comrie Croft is on the right, halfway between Crie and Comrie. Use postcode PH7 4JZ. FACILITIES Parking, cafe, shop, bike shop, eco-camping, Nordic tipis, farmhouse and hostel accommodation. You could also get married on-site and then hit the trails! NEARBY BIKE SHOP Comrie Croft Bikes www.comriecroft bikes.co.uk CONTACT www.comriecroft.com WHAT ELSE IS NEARBY? The Trossachs This National Park, which includes Loch Lomond, boasts any number of incredible XC adventures. Dunkeld One of the ancestral homes of Scottish DH racing, with a wide variety of XC/DH riding accessible by pedal or uplift. Dunoon A rising West Coast star, Dunoon is an XC venue that hosts a number of enduros. VERDICT If you lucked into owning a section of Scottish hillside and…

France isn’t short of amazing bike park riding. The problem is that a lot of it is covered with snow for half the year. This is where Evo Bike Park (www.evo bikepark.com) comes in. Inspired by the flowing jump lines of Canada’s Coast Gravity Park, three friends from Digne les Bains in Provence set their sights on creating Europe’s equivalent. The crowd-funded project took them a year to realise and, after six months of digging every day, the park opened in May this year. Building on their experience of competing and travelling, the trio have built a range of trails that can be ridden all year round. There are flowing blue trails through to technical downhill tracks and huge jump lines. If that’s not enough, there’s also a slopestyle course,…

The words ‘carbon’ and ‘a ordable’ are usually mutually exclusive but UK company Ridge Components have launched 650b and 29in wheelsets in various builds starting from just £750, all hand-built in the UK. Pictured here are their Pro Carbon AM/DH wheels, which have wide (35mm external, 28mm internal) asymmetric rims that are laced to own-brand hubs via aero spokes with hidden nipples. Builds on Hope Pro 4 hubs are also available. Our 650b set weighs a reasonable 1,900g (880g front, 1,020g rear). Ridge are confident in the strength of their rims and wheel builds so they’re o ering a year’s free rim replacement plus a two-year crash replacement scheme and manufacturer’s warranty. £825 www.ridgecomponents.co.uk…

For us freeriders there’s not really much choice of contests. There used to be, five years or so ago, but since the introduction of the FMB World Tour and rankings, sponsors seem to be very narrow-minded about what they want us to ride. Sure, the FMB is cool, but for me it’s just not what freeride is really about – getting up in the mountains, exploring and finding something cool to ride. You’d have thought there’d be no way to put this freedom into an event, but thanks to the MTB gods we now have the FEST Series. Made by the riders for the riders, it differs from a traditional contest in that there’s no winner. The jumps are truly monstrous and awesome, and the goal of the event is…

Hope Tech events Lancashire’s finest run regular social rides (www.hopetechwomen.com), both locally at Gisburn Forest and around the country, from Glentress in the Scottish Borders to the Surrey Hills. The rides are split according to ability and you can hire tasty demo bikes. Hope’s goal is simply to get more people out riding. Judging by the numbers turning up to their events, they’re succeeding. Facebook groups for women MTBers Foxy Riders United – Scotland/the North Daisy Chain – Wales Dame Cycling – Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire Birds on Bikes – the South Velo Vie Ladies – the South West…

STANTON SWITCHBACK TI MK II ELITE £4,150 Hardtail bike, full-sus price The titanium-framed version of Stanton’s most aggressive bike now comes in ‘long’ and ‘short’ versions, and a new chainstay yoke lets you run wide 650b tyres or even wider plus-size rubber, while keeping the back end super-short (415mm). We reckon it’s a beautiful looking bike, with its subtle detailing and brushed finish, and it comes with some top kit, including a Fox 34 fork and 1x11 Shimano XT kit. At 11.86kg/26.1lb (16.5in size) it won’t break the scales, but it might break your bank account! www.stantonbikes.com FOX RHYTHM 34 £N/A Budget bounce for complete bikes It may not have all the bells and Kashima-coated whistles of their top-end forks, but the new Rhythm makes Fox’s suspension technology available to…

YOU CAN SEE HIM CRADLING HIS HEAD AND THERE’S BLOOD ON HIS FACE. HE’S SEEN BY MEDICAL STAFF, YET GRABS HIS BIKE AND CONTINUES HIS RIDE Picture this. You’re an up-and-coming rider, progressing through the ranks. You’re performing well at Elite level events, you’ve attracted sponsorship and support, and you’ve got a bright career ahead of you. You’re living the dream. Now imagine going from that to waking up each day to face nausea, dizziness, blackouts, headaches, light sensitivity, tiredness, depression, problems with memory, difficulty finding words and more. You can’t ride your bike, you find focusing on text or writing emails hard, and the pain at night often stops you sleeping. This isn’t fiction, it’s fact. It’s what happened to Swiss rider Lorraine Truong as a result of a…

JIMMER’S ORANGE FIVE PRO £2,800 Jimmer gets the Orange ready for the ’Ard Rock and learns the importance of checking tyre pressures This year’s ’Ard Rock Enduro, set among the brutal hills of Swaledale, Yorkshire, was to be the proving ground of the Orange Five Pro and it coincided nicely with some changes I’ve made over the past month. First up, I fitted a new wheelset. E*thirteen’s TRS+ hoops are tubeless ready and, with a 28mm internal width, gave me the chance to try out a wider rim. I slapped the same tyres back on – the stock Maxxis High Roller II EXO TR out back and an upgraded 3C Maxx Terra version up front. Foolishly, I forgot to check the pressures. Hitting the first rock garden in practice with…

TESTER SAYS... “THE CRAZY POWER FOR PRICE RACE HAS CALMED DOWN AND RELIABILITY IS MUCH BETTER ACROSS THE BOARD” Gemini TITAN (6 cell) £289.99 Weight 144+317=461g Run time at max 1hr50 Quoted lumens 4,000 Gemini’s TITAN shows it’s not just what power a light packs – although it’s very well endowed in that department – but how it puts it on the trail that matters. It’s basically three Gemini Duo lights side by side in a shared housing, with the six LEDs pumping out up to 4,000 lumens. The wide spacing of the LEDs creates an astonishing blaze of broadly spread but extremely far-reaching light. Because the multiple sources don’t suffer from cable shadows and overlap on the ground, the quality of trail detail you can see is…

PRO-FILE MAX DARKINS JOB MTB route planner CREDENTIALS Max loves travelling up and down the country, searching for the best routes for you to ride, and he’s the man behind www.roughrideguide.co.uk WHERE ARE WE? DORSET This county in South West England is home to rolling green hills and the spectacular Jurassic Coast. Some 40 per cent of its countryside is designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It o ers some great, if not overly technical, riding, mostly on bridleways. www.dorsetaonb.org.uk IT’S A STEADY GRIND UP ONTO CHARDOWN HILL WHERE WE’RE REWARDED WITH A VISTA OF THE HILLS, CLIFFS AND SEA. OUR BEST REWARD IS YET TO COME, THOUGH A LONG, FAST DESCENT Today’s destination isn’t somewhere that features on most mountain bikers’ radar. Symondsbury Estate, near Bridport, consists of…

SPEC SHOOTOUT Q I’ve been looking at purchasing a Canyon for some time now and have narrowed my choice down to two models – the Spectral AL 5.0 and Nerve AL 8.0. I’m not an extreme downhiller or anything like that, I mainly just ride trails like those at Sherwood Pines. Both bikes are very close on price, but which offers a better spec for the money? Clio197, BikeRadar forum A In a simple spec shootout, the Nerve’s brakes and drivetrain (Shimano SLX and 3x11 XT) trump those of the Spectral (Shimano M447 and 2x10 Deore), though the latter bike does come with a dropper post, which makes a world of difference on the trail. But simply comparing parts doesn’t paint the full picture, because these bikes are designed to…