Before the first round of the BDS we introduced the Wideopen DH team. Now, with the first round of the Schwalbe British 4X series this weekend, it’s time to formally introduce the 4X race team! As we said previously, a race team just makes so much sense for us here at wideopen – the team is out there representing the magazine, testing products literally to destruction and travelling far and wide to gather stories to tell that will entertain you. Alongside all this, the racers are the side of the mag that is more than just a couple of ‘nerds with internet connections’ – they’re the eyes and ears out on the trails.

This season the team consists of two riders, both racing on the awesomely quick Orange Miii.

Without further ado:

First up is Dave Thomason; he carried the 4X flag for us last year and is back doing what he loves, racing NPS and Euro 4X. He’s also looking forwards to having a go at the DMR pump race series, and the occasional DH race. Dave’s a 21 year old bloke from Dorset who’s at uni in Bristol, and he can’t wait to see you trackside!

New boy Alastair Keen joined the team a couple of months ago after he really started showing potential at the end of last season, and he’s been building on that speed all winter – we definitely reckon he’s one to watch this season! Keeny’s a 24 year old pisces and he’s been racing 4X for over 10 years now. He works at John Atkins cycles in leamington and spends his spare time riding, racing and being the centre of some friendly banter!

We can’t wait to get racing again. If you see us trackside, come say hi, we’re a friendly bunch! But of course, the team is only as good as the support we get from our sponsors. We’re very proud to be supported by the following awesome companies:

This past weekend, I got together with Alastair ‘Keen Bean’ Keen for our first ride as Wideopen team mates at the new Royal Leamington Spa (RLS) 4X track, to check it out before the first round of the ‘Schwalbe British 4X series’ in two weeks. There were riders from ‘up North,’ Bristol, Chicksands and all over the country checking out the track and generally blowing out the winter cobwebs.

For those of you who haven’t met him yet, that’s ‘Chewy Wonka’ on the left (Apparently Keeny looks like a cross between Chewbacca and Willy Wonka…)!

Nathan Parsons and the RLS crew have made a number of changes to the track since I rode it last year, all for the better. The track is now slightly longer with a lot more flow, four doubles and some rollers in the first straight before a big, loose, fast corner into the big triple.

Most riders were trying to double it up and land in a manual, but the big boys were clearing the whole thing. Then there’s a left hander, double, right hander, two doubles, right hander, table and then the option between a big pro-line (two long tables) or a smaller rhythm section.

(the double in the bottom of the above photo is at the exit of the triple, there’s a right-hander out of shot on the left and the pro-line/chicken run is out of shot on the right!)

The movie shows Keeny hitting the bottom section of the track. Alas all the pro photographers and videographers were off enjoying themselves at the BDS so you have to contend with me and my mate James Lancashire for the photos. Quality will improve throughout the season!

The track has a gravel surface on it akin to a BMX track; if it doesn’t rain heavily before the race, it’s going to be INCREDIBLY loose. A bit of rain should settle it down nicely. We were testing out the Continental X King race tyres over the weekend, with Keeny’s 2.2″ tyres providing impressive amount of grip with a lower rolling resistance than the 2.4″ I was running. The 2.2′s are my tyre of choice for this season. Keeny spent the weekend getting used to the new kit from sixpack – so new he didn’t have time to cut his bars down. This ghetto setup took some skin off my elbows in our many pump races – not sure he’ll be allowed it at nationals.

Here at Wideopen, we can’t wait for the start of the 4X season, I highly recommend you head over to Leamington in two weeks to see the country’s finest battling it out on what is going to be a very open race. Being smooth is going to be the name of the game!

We’re proud to be powered by the following awesome companies:

Right, well, I haven’t had a chance to do a blog for a while (want to know my excuse? I’m an aeronautical engineer, researching a steam engine for use in an aircraft!), but I finally have a spare few minutes to speak my mind, and today’s topic is…do you need to train for 4X?

I was down the local BMX track with a few national 4X boys last month and obviously we started chatting about what we’d been up to, getting ready for the coming season. Their general consensus seemed to be that spending time on the bike is all you need, at least to win at national senior level. However, I’m still not convinced…now, obviously time on the bike is important. Vital in fact! But is it the be all and end all? Should a rider also have a gym regime?

(here’s a picture of me on a real bike, outside!)

So, For and Against:

For: Well, look at the pro’s: watch the Atherton project and see the gym time they put in in the off season. Surely there’s a reason for this? Well, you might say that to be at the VERY top level everyone has a similar ability on the bike so the differences will be down to fitness. Ok, second example: take the season opener at UK Bike Park last year. It was an absolute fitness fest; the mud was so sticky it just wasn’t possible to be smooth and quick like you can be at some races. Most senior races hated it, I quite enjoyed it – because I was making up places down the last straight in every moto, where other riders were tiring out. Ok, so maybe it was a freak race?

Well then, let’s look at the last race of the season. Nathan Parsons stole the senior national overall championship by 1 point because he put in a move in the last corner in the last moto of the last race. It is widely acknowledged that the move was actually after the corner, and he got past because of sheer power out of the corner. This kind of power comes about through squats, lunges, leg presses and various other gym based activities…no?

Here’s a picture of me on a bike in the gym (yes, I’ve changed!)

And so for the other opinion:

Well, look at some of the top senior national racers. Take Tom Gethin for example…he’s ridiculously quick, an incredibly smooth and talented rider yet never frequents the gym. He just spends his winter digging and touring various BMX tracks.

Um, so what’s my point? Well for me the gym is vital. This time of year – being a student who actually does have to do work and not live the workless student dream for 7 days a week – means I start at 8am and finish at 7pm. Not a lot of time for riding my bike, but I can fit in an evening gym session a couple of times a week. But is it necessary for your average rider? I think there’s a correlation between the importance of gym work and the level that you’re riding at. I think senior level nationals is probably where the break even point is, it’s where gym work will start to shine through. Below this level, it’s about bike skills. At this level, it’s about fitness and bike skills, and above this level bike skills are generally comparable between riders so the gym work becomes all the more important.

So my conclusions…if it works for you, hit the gym, but unless your at an elite level of competition…Just get out and ride!

Take it easy,

Dave.

What a filthy weekend. I’ve finally sat down with a cup of tea after hours cleaning the car, all my riding kit and myself. The bike’s gonna have to wait ’til tomorrow!

The first round of the winter series is always a good chance to find out who over endulged over the festive period and see what everyone got for Christmas. Alot of people were sporting bright new kit this weekend, be it helmet and goggles or full new pyjama suit. While others were breaking in new bikes on the first race of the year. New Glorys, Demos and even a couple of fresh out the box Nukeproof Scalps. Even I’ve been getting to grips with a new bike (well new to me), the hardtail is gone and I’ve caught up in inches of travel with the rest of the field.

All this shiney new gear and every rider on the hill were soon covered, head to toe in mud. By the time racing started this morning the track was a like a river in places. It held up well though as Mike and the team behind Borderline Events had done an excelent job in taping out a course that was pretty weather proof. It was also a track that would punish those who hadn’t been riding much in the past few months. The top section was fairly hard work on the legs and by the half way point I’d been pedalling so hard I felt like I was going to cough up a lung!

Anyway racing ran smoothly barr a few riders being late for their uplifts, and despite the weather (it was snowing at the top of the hill!!) everyone had a good time. After race chat wasn’t so much about what lines you took or where you made mistakes, but more “how far did you get before your googles steamed up/got covered in mud/you used all your tear offs?”

Ben Cathro took top honours for the day aboard his MTBcut Orange 225. After a bit of a lie down on his first run he managed to make run 2 stick and take fastest time of the day at 3:22. Just behind Ben were Jack Reading in second and Scott Laughland in third riding his XC bike!

The Junior category was won by Lewis Buchanan, now riding for CRC/Nukeproof, and with a time of 3:24 he looked set to take fastest time of the day before Cathro came down the hill.

Full results are already up on RootsAndRain.co.uk, and as I type this Mr Keith ‘Phunkt’ Valentine appears to be uploading his whole weekends set of photo’s to the site too. The few snaps above come from the lens of Michael ‘Orange’ Bonney who, along with the other photographers out today, looked pretty cold and wet by the time he got back to the car park. So big thanks to them, and also the marshalls, medics and guys from Borderline for braving the weather and putting on a great race to kick the year off.

If you hadn’t already heard, We’re looking for another 4X rider to represent wideopen this season.

What can we offer you:

• Brand New Orange Miii frame.
• Race shirts
• FREE Naked Racing race entries (that’s the NPS 4X, Mini DH and more!)
• Any parts you need at trade price
• You get to ride with me!

What we want from you: Email us a ‘riding CV’ with who you are (name, age etc), your results from 2010, and the races you plan on racing in 2011.

Interested? Fire this info across to dave@wideopenmag.co.uk AND jamie@wideopenmag.co.uk ASAP as the deadline for applications is midnight on TUESDAY 25th JANUARY. Get on it!

Happy new year one and all!

I’m now thoroughly back at university after a good break and I guess it’s probably about time I updated y’all on what’s been going on…as that was kind of the objective of this blogging lark!

I was back home in Dorset for my 21st at the end of December, good times all round and it was definitely one of the places to be for fun in the snow. Just driving around you could hardly avoid getting sideways, and on the bike it was so much more fun. Every day I went up to the woods the snow would have changed/frozen making the conditions different from the previous day which was brilliant fun and brilliantly challenging.

Then for new years I went up to Edinburgh for a spot of Hogmanay. Brilliant fun! And then it was back to Bristol and back to work.

This time of year I spend most of my training time in the gym, working on base fitness and core power, then when it eventually dries out I start getting back on the bike more and more. I managed to get up to the BMX track before this most recent deluge, and did my first gates of the season, it was a bit rusty but I’m looking forward to getting it all back again.

One of the most exciting parts of this time of year is that the new kit from sponsors starts turning up – Massive shout out to THE helmets for this absolute beauty that turned up recently:

Only had a chance to ride it once, but from what I experienced, it truly is a brilliant helmet for a brilliant price! More to come on this one.

As you may have noticed on the front page, we’re currently looking for another team rider to race alongside myself this season. If you’re interested, get in touch!

And that’s about all for now! I’ll write again soon.

Dave

Hello all.

I’m Dave, the Wideopen Team 4X rider and I’ve finally been given some space on the site to chat to you about the rigours of racing a season of Euro/national 4X!

I’m not going to lie, at the moment I’m sitting in a lecture messing around on my laptop, hence why I actually have time to write something! A quick bit about me: I’m a 3rd year Aerospace Engineering student at Bristol uni (not UWE!!), whilst also doing a research project at Rolls-Royce. I’ve been riding for about 5 years, racing 4X for just over 2 (1 with Wideopen) and I race senior at the NPS. My bike of choice is an Orange Miii with Fox 831 forks and a full XTR/Saint groupset. You can’t miss it – it’s the fluorescent green one with the spangly glitter based limited edition paint job! Those boys at Orange certainly know how to make a fine bike.

The plan for this blog is to just talk about the various highs and lows of this coming season, as and when they happen. It’s certainly not going to be a twitter like fest where I update you every time I breathe! For now, my course is pretty full on, pulling around 55 hour weeks (I know, I’m a student, it’s wrong!) So my riding is limited to 6.30am early morning starts up the BMX track. The ice certainly makes it more interesting, and riding in -6 degrees definitely keeps you moving! Apart from that, it’s just gym work and turbo training for the next couple of months, then I’ll start doing some gate practice come February time, in preparation for the season start in April. I can’t wait!

Christmas holidays are in 2 weeks and that’s when the hardcore training begins.

I’ll probably write again sometime around then!

Dave