The 2013 Enduro Bike Build...

So I started my week off with no full suspension bike (as the old Norco had been retired due to cracks) and the first few days were filled with anxious waiting as SouthforkRacing.co.uk started ordering the frame + parts of my new build. All I had ready and waiting were the Answer bars & stem from the Norco, a pair of Saint cranks, tyres & the X-Fusion Hilo SL dropper; everything else was going to be brand spanking new!

So with my other new sponsor, Marzocchi UK, having a warehouse shift about they were unable to get my forks sent out for a few days so I decided to take the trip to Gosport to collect them. It was a beautiful sunny day which made the 5 hour round trip much more bearable and apart from one traffic jam it was a pretty nice drive. Meeting the guys at Windwave & getting a tour round the place was really cool; they have so much Marzocchi history decorating the office! Forks were discussed, Dirt Wars 2013 stuff was talked over whilst tea was drunk and then it was time to return to Devon.

I had been hoping that my new frame would have arrived at Southfork that same day but no such luck. I would have to wait until Wednesday for the frame and rest of the components to arrive, and come the next day, arrive they did. I was like a little kid on Xmas eve!! So Wednesday afternoon I made the drive up to Braunton to find their mechanic, Blake Pond, in the process of building my wheels and my shiny new frame was sat there fresh from its box. It looked lush!! So the wheels were soon together, the headset pressed in, all the components bagged up for me to take home and I excitedly headed home to get her built up with a view to getting out for a ride first thing Thursday morning. How wrong was I?? Below are a couple of pictures of how far I got Wednesday night.



Now I had never experienced tubeless ready rims and how tight tires had to fit on them. This meant I was unfamiliar with the proper technique for putting tires on and during the evening 2 mates and I were almost brought to tears trying to get the tires on! To top this off Nick @ Southfork had bundled me a set of XT brakes into my goody bag but it wasn't until I was home and well into the build that I noticed they were set up with the levers the Euro/American way round. Now anyone who knows me will tell you that generally if it contains hydraulic fluid or oil I tend not to fiddle - previous experience with things going wrong has put me right off. So at 1am Thursday morning Facebook messages were sent to Blake @ Southfork inquiring how busy the workshop was in the morning. Luckily things weren't too bad so back up the North Devon link-road I drove.





I arrived and the tires proved no problem for Nick & Henry, I got a bit of a lesson on the proper techniques of tire fitting whilst Blake swapped the levers round on the XT brakes. A few other bits got finished off and the bike was ready to shred. So off to Haldon Trail centre I went, a nice easy & familiar spot to start setting up the new steed. I had already plugged into the DBAir shock, the base settings from Cane Creek website that they suggest for the Intense Tracer which weren't far off perfect straight away. Apart from skagging a rock and putting a slight hole in one of the tires the ride was mint & Strava was suggesting that the new bike was rather fast (i.e. lots of personal bests on the segments up there.) You can have a look here - http://app.strava.com/activities/41756688

Friday came and went with a lot of bike tweaking and a change from Nick's No-Tubes to Nath's No-Tubes (the ghetto version using a stretched 20" inner tube with presta valve as a rim tape) and although i didn't get out for a ride I was fully prepped for Saturday's ride & bike check filming sesh.

So up to Triscombe on the Quantocks I went to meet my brother who had his Intense M3 with him. It was going to be a predominantly downhill orientated ride but I knew he had to get back for work in the evening so an XC extension to the ride after he had left was on the cards. Tracey (the Tracer) was bloody amazing up there!! never had I ridden such a nimble, fast and responsive bike. Through the tight trees my brother had no chance of keeping up and when pedaling was required I just shot off like a rocket. The bike just worked supremely, both the Marzocchi 55s up front & Intense's VPP suspension system on the back were working in harmony to eat up anything in its way! In the end we did 13 miles round Cockercoombe before my brother left and then I added another 4.5 miles on to stretch my legs a little more. Once again Strava told the story of my new bike being exceedingly fast - 4 more King of the Mountains plus loads of trophies! http://app.strava.com/activities/41975124

And today, my last day of the holiday was spent up on Dartmoor with Derek & George. There was snow, there was sun (at times) but definitely lots of fun was had; and more KOMs on Strava!! (http://app.strava.com/activities/42116190) Gnarly bridleways were the order of the day and if you have been up on Dartmoor you know that they consist of granite boulders, lots of rocks & deep gullys. George was a star in helping film lots of sections to add to Saturday's triscombe filming and you can check my Enduro bike check below; don't worry there's no dull talking from me & plenty of action.



Thanks again to all the guys at Marzocchi UK & SouthforkRacing.co.uk for the support.