Episode 2 of Scottish Scene features the carnage of the 2011 Scottish Championships held at Killin. We then take a trip across to Innerleithen to check out the skills of Joe Connell riding his local trails. Joe has had a great season this year riding for Sunn/Montgenevre (taking the junior BDS overall, SDA overall and becoming junior Scottish Champion to name a few of his achievements…) and it was awesome to spend some time filming him for Scottish Scene.
Christo Gallagher is a 18 year old rider from Edinburgh, Scotland. After several shoulder dislocations, he finally had surgery completed four months ago. We caught up with him for a couple of days shooting for a short promo. A perfect day at the trails in Braefoot was matched with two equally as horrible days at Innerleithen. First it was fog, heavy cloud and the lack of sunshine, then it was the typical Scottish winter with heavy rain, cold temperatures and surprisingly strong winds.
This was the last NDH of the year and was also the North East Champs at Hamsterley Forest. The event was full as it was also double points. A few well known faces came down to the event such as Scott Mears and Adam Brayton, also the World Champion Danny Hart who later took the fastest time of the day and won the Elite North East Champs title.
World Champ Danny Hart
On saturday the track was almost dry with a few wet patches in the forest but the sun was shining! Some riders got in a lot of runs like Liam Little who got 13 practice runs. However overnight there was some rain and some during Sunday thankfully this was only in practice runs and the weather got better for race runs making the track wet but with dry patches to catch them out.
Quite a few riders had some bad crashes in the forest section as the rocks were very slippy! But finding the right tyre PSI was hard as the start of the track was 4x and many riders wanted to go fast on there and finding a happy medium was difficult for some.
Come race runs a big crowd had came to watch and the atmosphere was great! Overall the weekend was awesome and a great last race for Northern Downhill who have gave us a great 2011 season.
Liam Little
A huge thank you to Carl Davison and his team for giving everyone a great year of racing and everyone is looking forward to what is coming in 2012!
By Adam Pagett
Scott Mears
The skies stayed dry over the weekend however the rain during the week had made the track very wet and slippy. At almost every part of the track there was a crash but most people just kept on going. Some riders went for speed but some just tried to get down the hill but at the end there was a smile the faces of all. The fastest time of the day was 2:13.639 set by Adam Brayton who was carrying great speed through the tight, slippy turns. Overall the event was a great Northern Downhill as usual. Big thanks to Adam Pagett for these images!
Adam Brayton - 1st Elite Men
Esther Sands - 1st Woman
Liam Little - 1st Expert Men
Matty Leggett - 1st Junior Men
Sean Kelly - 1st Veteran Men
Callum McRichie - 1st Senior Men
James Pervis - 1st Juvenile Men
Mark Weightman - 1st Master Men
Rory McRichie - 1st Youth Men
Well I think a lot of people will be letting out a collective “WTF?!” at our world governing body after they have decided to drop 4X from the world cups for next year.
Although it’s been hovering in the background with the lack of support and amount of people across the pond that seemed hell bent on getting rid of ‘mountain cross’ from the sport no one expected such a sudden end.
The UCI site states:
Following the publication of the 2012 Mountain Bike calendar, the UCI confirms that Four-cross events will form part of the programme of the 2012 UCI Mountain Bike and Trials World Championships to be held in Leogang, Austria.
However, due to the high costs of constructing tracks and their impact on the environment, the UCI has decided to withdraw this speciality from the programme of events at UCI Mountain Bike World Cups from next season.
As WideOpen’s resident 4X racer, having done my first world cup this year and raced 4x since 2000 I’m personally gutted!
I think most would agree 4X has to be the most spectator friendly aspect of the world cup and it’s a massive shame the UCI haven’t embraced this and used it to their advantage. I started out on dh and still love it but as awesome as it is there isn’t that excitement watching 80 riders on the same sections as you get on a properly laid out 4X track with passing moves and a track that’s a lot more visible from many places!
After what has to be the best years racing on the world cup it’s a sad day for a LOT of people!
As for 4X in general we will see what happens, hopefully guys like Chris Roberts, Scott Buaumont, Zdenec Pol and the 4X alliance will continue with the awesome British 4X Series and Euro Series for many seasons yet!
Mike Preston from www.flashandblur.com sent over a great photo gallery from the weekend, check them out below!
No soft landings here just a noisy crowd to soften the blow
Whip out the airbag and everyone thinks they’re superman
The flying banana?? nope but Simon Roebuck does a good impression
The propane boys where out in force and looking pinned all weekend
Big race or small race you’ll always see an SPS rider flying the flag
He spent plenty of time with those zip ties repairing the catch net behind him, it did the job though!
Anthony Laprell had his own dress code but looked on it all weekend
Wrong race!!
Once again, big thanks to Mike Preston for these.. looks like a great weekend was had at Farmer Johns!
The boys at Ragley have made a name for themselves making solid hardtails, but for 2012 they’ve added a bit of bounce to the range, check it out..
The full suspension range is designed around three frames, each adopting the concept of mismatched travel. In typical Ragley style we wanted to do something new and innovative rather than following the crowds. Shorter travel on the rear keeps the bikes feeling sharp and well connected, a bigger fork up front allows big bump eating performance. All three bikes use a dual link suspension design with floating custom tuned shock. All the bikes will feature tapered head tubes, ISCG 05 mounts and Maxle rear ends.
Ragley Ten Four
The Ten Four is a 100mm rear travel 140mm front travel bike. Ragleys take on a full suspension trail bike. The 7046 series aluminium frame is designed around a 67 degree head angle with typically Ragley long top tube to allow for running short 50-60mm stems for better handling.
Ragley Big Ten Four
The Big Ten Four is a 29 inch wheeled version of the standard Ten Four. The geometry and suspension kinematic have been adjusted to suit 29 inch wheels. The Big Ten Four offers 29 inch wheels to those riders that like to have fun whilst riding and aren’t necessarily looking for a XC race bike. Like the standard Ten Four the Big ten Four will have a maxle rear end and bolt through fork, hinting at the riotous capabilities of the bike.
Ragley G-6
The G-6 is the bigger brother of the Ten Four. Designed as a heavy hitting All Mountain bike the G-6 has 130mm rear travel and 160mm on the front. Using the same dual link suspension system as the other bikes in the range but with a slightly less progressive curve the G-6 is the perfect bike for Alpine days out or big Back Country rides.
Final samples of the new bikes are undergoing rigorous testing both in the UK and abroad as we speak and we expect the first stock to arrive early in the New Year. Pricing on the bikes is yet to be confirmed but we can guarantee that it will be in keeping with the rest of the Ragley range, great value!
Check out the Eurobike video:
The rest of the tour has a great line up of venues, so if you are looking for some liquid hot live mountain bike action, make sure you get along. Check here for tour dates.
The Animal Bike Tour is an awesome fusion of the UK’s legendary top mountain bike stars: Former World Champion and Guinness Book of Records holder Martyn Ashton, and international dirt jump star Blake Samson. Visiting venues across the UK for over 40 days of shows at high profile sports events, music festivals and city centres, the show mixes the incredible skill, control and balance of trials riding with the spectacular aerial style of dirt jump riding.
Mercedes Vito Sport Vans and an array of ramps, jumps and trials equipment, create a custom made rig for the boys to show off a whole new bag of tricks. Watch Martyn drop from the air with slick precision to crush cans, wow you with the ‘side hop’ over impossible heights and front flip over massive jumps. Blake is one of the best freestyle bike riders in the world and just back from training in the USA, he has some ridiculous new moves to prove. Watch him superman through the air, throw huge corked flips and pull 360 whips with his bike, way above your heads. Insane. And of course, keeping the riders under control and the live entertainment and music pumping, MC James Thorne will be getting the crowds involved and giving out some sweet Ltd edition Animal Bike Tour merchandise. Keep up to date with everything that is going on and stay on top of venue updates and competitions on the Animal Facebook page and Twitter.
Blake Samson
AND how mega is this this?! If you love The Animal Bike Tour ?! Why not WIN it! The Win The Animal Bike Tour competition is now live! We’re giving one lucky person the chance to have the Animal Bike Tour for a day, at the event of their choice. Whether it’s at your school, party or youth club, Martyn, Blake & the crew will come along and do a show just for you! Maybe you’d like to see the show at your summer fete or you just have a big garden and want the team to do a private session for you and your friends. We have always wanted to do a wedding reception and so far have not been booked for a Bar Mitzvah!
Needs no intro - Martyn Ashton
The three finalists will also receive a KODAK PLAYSPORT pocket video camera, to capture their own action shots in full HD 1080p. With an insanely tough design – we’re talking shockproof, dustproof, and waterproof (to a depth of 3 metres) – and built-in image stabilisation to help smooth out the roughest rides, the KODAK PLAYSPORT is your opportunity to show the world your most extreme moves.
Check out the guys (and special guest Danny ‘Megastar’ MacAskill) at Goodwood Festival of Speed:
And the Olympic test event:
There are opportunities after every show for the audience to meet and chat to Martyn and Blake, plus loads of giveaways, brought to you courtesy of Animal, Kodak Playsport, Mercedes Vito Sport, Muc-off and MBUK.
Wow what a race, congratulations to Aaron Gwin and Miriam Nicole for taking the win on the day, but congrats also go out to Aaron Gwin once again for the overall win with a record FIVE World Cup wins in one year?! Danny Hart pulled together an unbelievable run to take second, I truly believed that he was going to be on the top spot until Gwin pipped him to the post. Gee came in third in what will be a disappointing season for him.
Tracy Moseley took the overall win in the Women’s category – can she do it again in Champery for the World Champs? We’ll find out in a couple of weeks..
Danny Hart had a great day 2nd in the race and 4th overall
Jill Kintner on the mega dusty track
Marcus Clausman up the top
Mens podium
Remi
Ruaridh Cunninghams wheel (practice)
Amazing location for a 4x track!
Gwinning machine..
Token XC shot
Will Rishbeith at the bottom in finals
Big thanks again to Jacob Gibbins, we’ll see you again in two weeks!
Qualifying today and another day of bangers from Mr Gibbins, top honours today went to Aaron Gwin and Floriane Pugin for first places in qualifying.
Joe Smith at the top of the track
Matti pinning it in a pan!
Nick Beer, the man with the perfect name (Rob Warner)
Can Rat Boy put it together on Sunday?
We <3 roost...
Steve Smith, hanging it out for second behind Gwinner!
There are a lot of brits out here all trying to make the cut, Harry Molloy of Madison Saracen was one of the ones who did..
T.W.A.T co-anchor Emyr Davies qualifies 32nd!
