Alasdair's 150 Days of Riding in 2012

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Alasdair's 150 Days of Riding in 2012
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Posted: Feb 15, 2012 at 15:09 Quote
(Rides 10 & 11) 11-12/02/2012 DH

It was my first time on the downhill bike since early December this weekend and it was certainly a bit of a rude awakening. Jumping from a 5” trailbike to a 9” downhill bike certainly quickly shows you how slow reacting and lethargic they can be on anything other than the steepest of trails. Still, it was good fun to be hustling it down the trails. Joe Connell taped the track for the weekend and although a lot more open and simple than I would have probably taped it out as, it was really good fun. It was also good to catch up with people after the off season, the guys you never really see away from racing but who are really good mates.

Racing wise it was an odd one, I was happy with how I was riding the few steeper and more technical sections but a combination of feeling really run down and really rusty left me losing a lot of time where I really had no excuse to be losing it. Work required there I think...so it was fifth and last in Elite but on the upside I could at least see where my time deficits had appeared from. It could also have been Saturday night in the pub that accounted for a bit of that time too...

On a slightly different note I’ve been feeling really run down recently, hence the lack of rides and associated stories, so I’m going to go and get some more blood tests done to see how things are developing and if there’s anything underlying. I’m hoping it’s something easily rectified as it’s really beginning to impact on training again which is the last thing I want.

Oh, and seeing as it was a race, that meant photographers...so here are a few pics courtesy of Keith Valentine:

photo by phunkt.com

photo by phunkt.com
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Posted: Feb 19, 2012 at 14:08 Quote
(Ride 12) 18/02/2012 XC – Innerleithen

Another weekend and another race at Innerleithen, this time the day/night Enduro. Having missed the last one of these I was itching to give it a go. I didn’t realise just how much endurance and fitness I’ve lost in the past four weeks so was fairly struggling but it’s all part of the deal. And winter being winter of course, where would a winter race be without winter weather? Sleat and snow certainly made the first few hours of riding a bit more of a challenge. As if they needed anything to help them! The trails were taped by Steve Deas of iCycles so were good although had some horrendous climbs mid stage to really push you over the edge. Ordinarily I’d have said bring it on but I really, really wanted to cry half way up the climb on stage one, it was hideous, especially on cut wetscreams.

The day stages were awesome, even if stage two reminded me that I should have worn goggles when I got a huge chunk of mud in my eye that necessitated a stop to get rid of it, the resultant one eyed riding really not doing me any favours. Night time was essentially a repeat of the day but in darkness. Three lights totalling over 3k lumens may have blinded wildlife but they still weren’t enough to make up for the defecit of fitness and the time lost earlier on. Awesome racing though from the Innerleithen MTB club as always and definitely worth the pain. 2000m of vertical ascent in 23km though, no wonder we all felt dead afterwards!
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Posted: Feb 19, 2012 at 14:12 Quote
(Ride 13) 19/02/2012 XC – Innerleithen

After yesterday I was really feeling rough, althoughas I’ve recently upped the pills that I take I feel like I’m able to get back on track with things, which is good. I wasn’t in any desperate rush to get out the door so by the time I rocked up at Inners it was midday but as the sun was shining and a perfect winters day was beckoning I had some coffee, caught up with news from last nights racing and got the bike cleaned up. Oh, and swapped the cut spikes for my regular Continental Rubber Queens. The difference was unbelievable on the first climb up the hill, the boat anchor I seemed to be dragging behind me last night had disappeared! I rode the fire road climb with the town in the distance before breaking through the trees on a singletrack climb to the moor and water tower beyond. Having not ridden 3G in the daylight I decided I would do this descent from the top.

As it turned out the conditions were perfect, the ground being almost freeze dried, leaving gritty marbles everywhere that were awesome to drift on into the steep turns. Down to the middle fire road, back onto a bit of a climb and then it was time to drop straight off the edge of that and back into some killer singletrack that crosses of the rocky scree that makes up so much of the hill. It wasn’t a big ride but it felt good to spin the legs and of course ride some amazing descents! More good coffee of course finished off the day.

It's worth saying that while the majority of my rides so far this year have been called XC, the reality is a little different. In fact, the only real differences between these rides and the DH is that you ride to the top. The average xc bike round here generally has downhill tyres, tough wheels, single rings, super slack head angles and big forks with coil shocks. Your thouroughbred xc racers they are most definitely not!

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Continental high roast the pre and post ride blend of choice made in the shop of choice I-Cycles. http www.pinkbike.com forum listcomments threadid 128179
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Posted: Feb 27, 2012 at 15:30 Quote
(Ride 14 & 15) 25-26/02/2012 DH - Innerleithen

Downhill time again this weekend so I pulled the M9 out again for some uplifts with my mate Tom who was up for some ride time on the new bike at Innerleithen prior to the first World Cup in a few weeks. It was good to catch up and do some chasing down the trails again, I can’t remember the last time it actually happened. There were some sketchy moments and a few crashes but it was good to push into turns are part and parcel of that. Trails were a mixture of old and new, although it was nice to ride a trail I remembered hating and absolutely loving it. So good. There were of course some sneaky steep sections on the loose stones thrown in for good measure. After all, Innerleithen wouldn’t be Innerleithen without some off the beaten track riding.

The clientele of the uplift is normally a bit more weekend warrior than racer now but there were a fair few World Cuppers there getting much need time on the bike before South Africa, from Greg Williamson on his new Nukeproof to Brayton on his new Fox 40’d up Banshee. It’s always good to be surrounded by other racers, it just adds that extra competitive edge to things. Next weekend we’ll be back racing at the same venue thanks to the Innerleithen MTB Club who have put on an awesome two Enduro races recently although this time it will be a proper DH event. Interrogation of Steve would indicate that the track should be pretty sick - steep and technical in some parts, flat out and old school in others.

photo
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Posted: Mar 3, 2012 at 13:33 Quote
(Ride 16) DH Practice @ Innerleithen

Just a quick one today after practice for the final Alpine winter race. Sick taping from Steve on the steep top section led into the 39 steps and drop zone before a sneaky insider took you off into a bit of track that I last rode at least ten years ago. Some of the gaps between the trees clearly haven't been ridden since the days of 680mm bars!

Plenty of dirty insiders and grease caked hardpack though keep you honest - there's plenty of drifting going on that's for sure and there were more than a few missed lines before I managed to string a clean one together last thing in the extended practice. It was a cool day of riding and it was good to get a few runs in with DC, Harry H & Josh B to push a little bit harder. A pretty packed elite field should give some incentive to put some effort in come race runs tomorrow...after another 2 mile ride down that sodding tarmac road to the uplift. Ending on a positive though, Carl at Northerndownhill's helping out with the uplift again using his Transits and trailers and once again they're the pick of the bunch. Quick turnaround, quick to the top and zero damage to the bikes which is never a bad thing.

Let the excuses commence...

And with impeccable timing, here's a pic (cheers Keith!):

photo by phunkt.com
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Posted: Mar 5, 2012 at 4:09 Quote
(Ride 17) DH racing @ Innerleithen

Ever wonder why the brits usually do well when the weather sucks? Snowfall overnight left the roads back to Innerleithen white which meant that the top of the hill was similarly covered with an inch of that cold crystallised stuff. After last practice on Saturday the track had finally gelled together but first heavy rain showers in the evening and then the snow overnight left the track cold, wet and decidedly slicker than it had been on Saturday. Fairly standard for an Innerleithen winter series. This is where Danny Hart grew up racing.

Racing wasn’t bad and for the first time this year I actually felt like I was racing, rather than riding. It’s an odd one to describe but it felt good, like being back where you’re comfortable. I made a load of mistakes but then so did most, and the places where I haemorrhaged time are easily sorted with some more time on the big bike. It’s always good to know where you are and whilst nearly twenty seconds down on Bryceland isn’t anything to be proud of, five seconds down on where you’d have been happy with, and knowing exactly where you could have found that does lead to some comfort that things are heading in the right direction. The vast majority of the guys ahead all have significant World Cup experience and although I’ve done a couple, I certainly don’t think of myself as being comparable.

So more time on the big bike beckons. Oh, and sorry to the photographer I nearly took out on the last corner in the first run…
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Posted: Mar 13, 2012 at 16:10 Quote
(Rides 18 & 19)

As the big bike season's fast approaching I'm beginning to ride the downhill bike a lot more, especially as I've barely ridden it since last October. Well, before the past few weekends I hadn't anyway. I go through phases of hating Innerleithen, not because the trails are bad but because you just feel that there's nothing there to push you or that interest you because you've ridden it so many times before. Which is amazing given the breadth of trails on offer, many hand crafted by a small number of locals.
Most prolific is Steve at i-cycles who seems to spend more time riding his bike and digging than he does running the shop. Great for all of us who ride the trails, bad for the shop, but hugely appreciated. That's the enduro type of trails we ride predominantly but a couple of local Elites and ex Elites are also pretty handy with a shovel for the big bike trails. Suffice to say I'm currently loving every ride I have in the valley and am absolutely making the most of it, irrespective of the weather although mercifully that's been pretty good recently.

This last weekend I was on the uplift both days again. Yes, it's expensive and yes, it's lazy, but I want to concentrate on my riding not my pushing and it's a lot easier to just jump on the back of the truck than find some poor sod to drive my van and head off somewhere secret. Saturday I was riding with my mate Bex which was cool, some runs spent following here and being critical (she asked me to be, honest!) and others where she was following me. I don't know if it's just me but I don't think my riding style is anything to be proud of (or anywhere close to 'correct') so it seems very odd to be explaining corners and things to someone else. Is it just that I'm too self conscious? Anyway, it was a good day and it seemed worthwhile which is nice. Sunday I didn't do a full day but for four or five runs in and concentrated on the faster upper trails to get some speed/sprints in and then snuck off into Pete's not so secret 'secret' bottom section that has some awesome, drifty, loose & stony corners along with off camber lines that you have to ride the edge of the tyres to hold on a near perma-drift. Especially the last few turns. Dare I say it was sick? No pictures but then again no shots I'm going to take will do it justice so once the new bikes turn up I'll head down there with the old man for some shots of shiny 2012 gear...
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Posted: Mar 17, 2012 at 16:23 Quote
(Ride 20)

I was hoping to have the new bikes this weekend, or at least the AM rig, but that hasn't happened so it was back out today on the MSC for a trail ride. I've decided to stop calling it cross country because there's no way we can call the Innerleithen trails cross country...so I've finally come round to calling it All Mountain. I don't like it but seeing as XC conjures up images of lycra and 20lb hardtails to most people, AM it is.

It was supposed to rain today so had a bit of a lie in after getting up at 6am every day during the week to head to the gym before work - but of course what did I wake up to? A crystal blue sky of course. f*ck. Still, I was out the house early enough to get on a ride with Phil McGrath (the Glaswegian who works out the back of i-cycles) over on the other Inners hill. It may have been sunny but the trails were mega greasy which, on trail tyres, meant sideways and foot out. So much fun. It was just a quick lap from the shop up to the concrete water tower that sits on the hill above Innerleithen and Walkerburn before cutting down into 3G, up the fire road and then down into another techy trail built by Gary Forrest. A good warm up ride on the wee bike and a reminder that the SDG Ti-Fly is definitely not a trail saddle!!

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http www.pinkbike.com forum listcomments threadid 128179

http www.pinkbike.com forum listcomments threadid 128179
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Posted: Mar 18, 2012 at 11:10 Quote
(Ride 21) Innerleithen

After the relatively chilled out ride yesterday today was longer and I intentionally pushed a bit harder. We're racing here next weekend for the first round of the Fetish Gravity Enduro series which contains five timed stages and, putting it bluntly, it's going to be brutal. Saturday is recce and seeding with the five stages on sunday. In all it's about 65-70km with 5000m+ of climbing. Never does a small hill seem so big!

Today's ride started as ever from i-Cycles before riding along to make the trek up to the start of the Alastair Lees memorial trail which starts close to the main downhill trails. From there it was into one of the day/night stages > Pre-spacker into Interstellar > Minch Moor into Classic. It was awesome weather again with a little frost at the top of the hill in the late morning although it was gone by the time I was back up for the second time. The trails were greasy but being more heavily rutted than the other hill there's something to stick your wheels in to. It's not better, just a different style of riding and generally means you need to be a bit more precise so you don't get cross rutted.

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Alastair Lees memorial trail (upper)
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View from Minch Moor
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Felling work in action, the necessary evil of commercial forestry
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Posted: Mar 18, 2012 at 12:11 Quote
A quick clip from yesterday:

Innerleithen quick clip

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Posted: Mar 26, 2012 at 14:46 Quote
(Ride 22) 23/03/2012 – Race recce of Enduro @ Innerleithen

Well after lots of cursing and swearing at incompetent couriers the new bike turned up with minutes to spare on Friday. Which gave me Friday afternoon to get it prepped in the back of the shop before Col Williams turned up for some pre-race practice on the trails. A play about with the pressures in the tyres and suspension, a quick swap of the brake hoses from Euro to proper (front on the right) and a set of wide bars thrown on courtesy of DC down at Burgtec (cheers bud).

By the time Col actually turned up it was half five so in the dying throes of light we set off up the hill at a bit of a pace which gave us enough time to ride Stage 2 (aka Alistair Lees) before climbing up to ride the latter half of Stage 3 in the… Well, I would say half dark but actually, it was more like full dark. Luckily I knew where I was going and was wearing bright kit so could be fairly easily followed.

For a first ride on a new bike it wasn't ideal but the bike felt great, really comfortable and was quick on the trails I know well.

Pub time…

photo
Man food...

Newly built KTM Bark 20 for Innerleithen Gravity Enduro. Thanks to Col Williams Fli distribution.
The new bike courtesy of KTM - 30lb, rides well, good spec.
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Posted: Mar 26, 2012 at 14:51 Quote
(Ride 23) 24/03/2012 – Enduro Race Seeding

A fairly chilled start to the day in the mist and haze but it was clear it was going to become a scorcher. We signed on, grabbed some breakfast (and coffee) and set off up the hill to practice the stages we hadn’t ridden on Friday night (basically most of them). We therefore started off with the top of stage 3 before cutting across to ride stage 4 and 5. We were going to do stage 1 after seeding on stage 5 but when we saw our start times (half four and half five) we decided to go back up after a bite to eat. And after seeding we were very glad that we’d done so, neither of us being overly keen to get back on a bike. Stage 5 was the back of the quarry, into the tunnel (scary in a piss pot and on a trail bike when you’re used to a bigger bike and more gear), cut onto the fire road half way and then sprint along that before dropping into singletrack which took you to the lower half of Caddon bank. In the dry conditions it was fast rolling but still mega hard work and you were certainly feeling it by the time you crossed the line.

Pub time two… The amount of food that was consumed was fairly obscene on all levels but having spent most of the day riding and covering 38k, 2500m ascent and being out for 7 hours it seemed entirely reasonable. Early night…

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Man food part deux...

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This weekend broke so many...
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Posted: Mar 26, 2012 at 14:57 Quote
(Ride 24) 25/03/2012 – Enduro Race Day

Moving from GMT to BST overnight meant that a precious hour of sleep was lost but nevermind. Up early and ready to race so back down the road it was. Despite being twenty degrees the previous day, it was just three degrees on the drive down. Some swing. Luckily the same haze looked ready to burn off and unearth some heat for the day. How’d racing go? Well stage 1 featured a crash which isn’t ideal. Stage two I just over-rode and made loads of mistakes on. Lesson to be learned, don’t blow out corners and get too excited. Stage 3 was rad as always. Long, techy and fast with some awesome turns through the trees. Stage 4 was the lung burner but still shorter than the stage we raced in previous enduro’s. Pretty sweet run though and I was pleased with it despite some mistakes and some hefty missed short cuts. Then there was the climb back up to stage 5…what a bitch. Stage 5 itself was a repeat of seeding and brought you back to the carpark. It was good to feel strong on the bike and although 14th in Elite was a little off the pace, I was made up with the difference I was feeling in just six weeks, and the field in front was basically 90% World Cup or ex World Cup riders.

It was an awesome weekend and credit to both Steve Parr and Adrian Bradley (Bud) for putting it on. Yes there were timing issues but they can’t be avoided. Now to see if I can fit in the next two rounds…

Repo to follow once the pics come through.

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Start times...best not lose these
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Posted: Apr 2, 2012 at 14:58 Quote
(Rides 25 & 26) 30/03/2012 - Llandegla & The Marin Trail

Do two seperate rides on the same day count? It was my mates stag do this weekend so there were a few of us in North Wales. Mainly for drinking but there was some riding on Friday too. We all met up for a lap of Llandegla first. Now it may be a cardinal sin to like a trail centre but I do love riding there when I get the opportunity. There are some sneaky jumps which may be intentional or otherwise but are fun nonetheless, especially with a few of you chasing each other down. Dirty T-bones aplenty in the corners too. Llandegla is reasonably flat but the One Planet Adventure guys have done a great job with getting the most from the place. Some may say it's a bit man made but it's honest and a bit of a hoot - they put the effort into keeping the necessary bits groomed and it's nice to ride a trail centre with some proper jumps rather than the usual ultra safe mincer specials that you get at most of the Scottish centres.

For the second ride of the day we headed along to ride the Marin trail on the edge of Llanrwst. The first two thirds are mainly climbing with some sweet wee descents (pigs might fly being really drifty in the unnaturally sunny welsh weather). But getting to the top rewards you with a near fifteen minute descent back down to the town. Not strictly a kosher part of the trail it's rad and fast. Rocky too. I really don't spend enough time down in Wales, and the rising fuel price isn't likely to make it any easier, but I love it. The scenery is amazing, the riding sick, and loads of the guys I love riding with are down there. Pics to follow...
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Posted: Apr 2, 2012 at 15:26 Quote
(Ride 27) 02/04/2012

My original plan had, hangover dependant, been to race Moelfre on the Sunday. It's not a difficult track and the uplift's quick so I knew I could get up to speed before racing despite not being there on Saturdy. So a reasonably restrained night on the booze in Manchester and I was ready to get up at 6am and drive the hour and a half back down to north wales again. Unfortunately, my cackberry decided to shit itself overnight and leave me with no alarm...waking up to a room full of sunshine when you're expecting it to be well, not that bright, you kinda know something's not quite right. 9am was just too late to head down so I made do with heading back up the road and riding some laps of Innerleithen en route with the new wee bike. A real shame as the weather looked sick and the track freshened courtesy of Fionn Griffiths. Fingers crossed for a more successful attempt at racing next weekend!

On a seperate note, get well soon to all those who needed blues and two's from Innerleithen - three ambulances and a helicopter over the course of the day isn't a good start to the decent weather but the trails get very loose when it's dry and can bite...hard!

 


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