NPS 4x Round 3 at the Edge, Bridgenorth. England.
Sunday May 24th 2009 and what a day. Bank Holiday weekend usually means rain here. Not this weekend! Temperatures soared, girls undressed, not a cloud in the sky, a gentle breeze, sunburn, Rockstar, Hensley, Chris Roberts, The Butcher, Baby Jake, 4x meeting, racing and a 10oz Rib Eye Steak.
Read on to hear about the whole event:Pics by Scott Cartwright of Eggraphy.com. See any you like cross his palm with silver and they're yours.
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Dave from No Limits scared everyone in the car park by turning up in a Hybrid electric car. Green as you like granted, frightening as he drove up to you silently like a stealth ninja, damn those cars are dangerous.
![photo]()
£2 to park and £5 to camp was the sign that greeted me with the man from the gate as we rolled into town. Round two was on Saturday, my excuse from not being there? BMX National Round 2 at Burnham. WOW. That was some racing and a killer track, "Deep and Steep" they said. Loads of old faces including my mate Keith Wilson who introduced me to Billy Stupple. If you ever read BMX Action Bike around 1982 then he was the man, often featuring in "Radness Unlimited", legend.
![photo]()
Back to the Edge, some slight track changes, all for the better I'm sure as it's a mountain board track originally. (Mountain boarders go in the same boat as roller bladers in my opinion, hopefully the Titanic.) Therefore the start gate was placed on the flat and not up on the start hill. Why? As those crazy mountain boarders don't pedal, they hit the first triple and then step up at the right pace. Us 4x racers are full tilt cranking, therefore a handful of brakes before each obstacle wasn't pretty and right.
![photo]()
A super fast second straight in 8/9th gear followed, keep it low they said. The old ski/dead sailor jump followed this time with a landing before railing the last huge loose berm. Divert slightly left and two lines to choose from. Over the huge hip or do like the Buffalo Girls, go around the outside. This meant racing definitely wasn't over and made for some great tactical racing.
![photo]()
With four moto's for everyone you get a lot of "Bang for your buck" at the 4x. Then if your categories are big enough you can go quarters, semi's and still have a B final and fight for 5th to 8th. If you are on top of your game then go for gold in the A finals.
To race in your age categories you will need a current British Cycling license, if not then you can enter the open categories which is still great racing if you are just starting out in 4x.
With practice from 10:00a.m and racing starting at 12:00 and over 120 riders we were in for a good day. Chris did have a few problems with Mr.Babbage resulting in the quarters, semi's and finals all having to be worked out by hand. The weather was very kind to us so the 19:00 finish wasn't too bad.
Vets are down this year with Sean "The Hare" Hanson now on medical duties leaving proud new Dad Jason Brennan to battle it out with 4x new comer and brain train specialist Dave Doig.
![photo]()
Rd5 and the BC National Championships are at Redhill on July the 4th and 5th. Then we're at PORC Kent on Sunday 9th August 2009.
Full results and all the info you need to enter is all here on nps4x.com.
![photo]()
The drive home was great! Most of the racers would of seen the Descent-Gear van parked up just before Bridgenorth on the way home. With her indoors in tow we settled down to a nice steak and chips, even Hensley got some! Avoiding the traffic and enjoying the sunset. Then on the way home the great game of "Bibbing". Even more successful on a Bank Holiday Sunday with an unlimited amount of pissed up middle aged blokes walking back from the pub half cut. My success rate is around 80%, what's yours?
![photo]()
Next week we are at Llangollen for the MSC/Descent-Gear NPS Downhill on what must be the steepest and most technical race course ever seen here in the U.K. Parking and spectating is always free so pop along to watch the carnage unfold. Tap this into your SatNav LL20 8AR but please don't go there before or even after the event or you will get it closed down.
NPSDH.com
Always unclipped!
Si Paton.
Descent-Gear
Boxxer 2010 Forks landing next week
Read on to hear about the whole event:Pics by Scott Cartwright of Eggraphy.com. See any you like cross his palm with silver and they're yours.
Macavoy leads them into the first corner
Dave from No Limits scared everyone in the car park by turning up in a Hybrid electric car. Green as you like granted, frightening as he drove up to you silently like a stealth ninja, damn those cars are dangerous.
First corner railing it
£2 to park and £5 to camp was the sign that greeted me with the man from the gate as we rolled into town. Round two was on Saturday, my excuse from not being there? BMX National Round 2 at Burnham. WOW. That was some racing and a killer track, "Deep and Steep" they said. Loads of old faces including my mate Keith Wilson who introduced me to Billy Stupple. If you ever read BMX Action Bike around 1982 then he was the man, often featuring in "Radness Unlimited", legend.
Multiple Lines..
Back to the Edge, some slight track changes, all for the better I'm sure as it's a mountain board track originally. (Mountain boarders go in the same boat as roller bladers in my opinion, hopefully the Titanic.) Therefore the start gate was placed on the flat and not up on the start hill. Why? As those crazy mountain boarders don't pedal, they hit the first triple and then step up at the right pace. Us 4x racers are full tilt cranking, therefore a handful of brakes before each obstacle wasn't pretty and right.
Three neck braces, Tara will be happy..
A super fast second straight in 8/9th gear followed, keep it low they said. The old ski/dead sailor jump followed this time with a landing before railing the last huge loose berm. Divert slightly left and two lines to choose from. Over the huge hip or do like the Buffalo Girls, go around the outside. This meant racing definitely wasn't over and made for some great tactical racing.
Les Slater wasn't there.
With four moto's for everyone you get a lot of "Bang for your buck" at the 4x. Then if your categories are big enough you can go quarters, semi's and still have a B final and fight for 5th to 8th. If you are on top of your game then go for gold in the A finals.
To race in your age categories you will need a current British Cycling license, if not then you can enter the open categories which is still great racing if you are just starting out in 4x.
With practice from 10:00a.m and racing starting at 12:00 and over 120 riders we were in for a good day. Chris did have a few problems with Mr.Babbage resulting in the quarters, semi's and finals all having to be worked out by hand. The weather was very kind to us so the 19:00 finish wasn't too bad.
Vets are down this year with Sean "The Hare" Hanson now on medical duties leaving proud new Dad Jason Brennan to battle it out with 4x new comer and brain train specialist Dave Doig.
Flat out
Rd5 and the BC National Championships are at Redhill on July the 4th and 5th. Then we're at PORC Kent on Sunday 9th August 2009.
Full results and all the info you need to enter is all here on nps4x.com.
Elite winners
The drive home was great! Most of the racers would of seen the Descent-Gear van parked up just before Bridgenorth on the way home. With her indoors in tow we settled down to a nice steak and chips, even Hensley got some! Avoiding the traffic and enjoying the sunset. Then on the way home the great game of "Bibbing". Even more successful on a Bank Holiday Sunday with an unlimited amount of pissed up middle aged blokes walking back from the pub half cut. My success rate is around 80%, what's yours?
Scott Beaumont - Keep it locked to Pinkbike to see a full run down of Scott's custom Rocky Mountain.
Next week we are at Llangollen for the MSC/Descent-Gear NPS Downhill on what must be the steepest and most technical race course ever seen here in the U.K. Parking and spectating is always free so pop along to watch the carnage unfold. Tap this into your SatNav LL20 8AR but please don't go there before or even after the event or you will get it closed down.
Always unclipped!
Si Paton.
Descent-Gear
Boxxer 2010 Forks landing next week
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no worries though coz rockstar was there!!