Another quick update from Keith. “I woke up this morning in Andorra to rain. It’s supposed to rain Friday too & maybe even snow sat/sun up the mountain. I got my waterproofs on and walked the 4x track  this morning which is much the same as last year’s – soft like a sponge in bits. It should make for an interesting practice this evening. As with most 4x the race will probably be won on the steep, wide, first corner (good photo ops) although the soft conditions may catch a few out. There’s an unusual end to the track too with a jump, a turn, a wee bit of grass and then the finish. Don’t count on an energetic training session from Guido Tschugg after his birthday celebrations in the podium cafe last nite! phunkt.com“

WORLD BMX SENSATION AND OLYMPIC HOPE SHANAZEREADE GEARS UP FOR FORT WILLIAM 4-CROSS

- Reade officially enters 2009 Nissan UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, presented by Shimano -

Female cycling star and GB Olympic 2012 hopeful Shanaze Reade has officially thrown her hat in the ring to compete in the gruelling 4-Cross (4X) event at the 2009 Nissan UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, which is being held in Fort William on the 6 -7th June.

The Fort William 4X will be the first foray into professional mountain biking competition for 20-year-old Shanaze, the current UCI Elite World BMX Champion, as she prepares for a shot at the 4X World Champion title later this year.

The multi-talented cyclist already has world track cycling gold to her name, which she won along with Victoria Pendleton in the women’s team sprint in 2008.Shanaze, originally from Crewe, is set to appear at the UK leg of the Nissan UCI Mountain Bike World Cup alongside around 350 other professional riders from around the globe.

They’ll take to the scenic slopes of Aonach Mor and the Forestry Commission Scotland’s Leanachan Forest for the most gruelling, high-speed events in extreme freesports – Downhill (DHI) and 4X.

The 4X event takes place over a 400m-long course, twisting and turning down into the main finish arena, delivering great gladiatorial battles in the knock-out format, all in front of Fort William’s huge, noisy crowd.

Shanaze will begin the race along with three other riders who battle down a custom built course of beams, jumps, step-ups and other testing features. The two fastest proceed to the next round, knockout style, until the ultimate winner is crowned.

Shanaze says she’s excited about her competitive mountain bike debut: ”I’ve always loved mountain biking but this will be my first real test competitively.  I want to prove that I’m versatile and I’m really going for a big year – aiming for BMX and mountain bike titles. I’ve heard great things about the course at Fort William – it’ll be brilliant fun but a major challenge too. Bring it on!”

Mike Jardine from Rare Management, organisers of the Nissan UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, Fort William, adds “Shanaze is a great star and an inspirational competitor, so it’s fantastic news that she’s chosen Fort William to make her 4X World Cup debut. She’ll add to the large group of British contenders in both downhill and 4X so there will be even more reason for bike fans to make the trip to the Highlands this year, to cheer on some home winners.”

The 4X competition will take place on Saturday 6^th June at 7pm.

Photo is taken from http://www.shanazereade.com/

Round 2 of the Caersws Cup went down last weekend with Jack Reading taking fastest time of the day and Mark Jenkins winning this round’s Asterix Havoc frame.  Our boyo in the Midlands Tim Morgan reckons it was a s a top day of racing in bone dry and dusty conditions. Full repo in Issue 10 of course!

The next round is on July 11/12th and is also the English Championships.

Full info on everything to do with the Caersws Cup is at http://nps4x.com/joomla/

Every now and again we get some goodies through the door that just make sense. They aren’t super posh or high tech, they just add up to a nice little product that’ll make your riding or your bike a wee bit better. Juce Lubes ‘Incredible Fork Juice’ might just be one of ‘em!

First of all, I should point out that I’m so happy with the complete smuttyness of writing about LUBES in WIDEOPEN. If you’ve accidentally found this site ‘cos you were googling for internet grot then drop us a message below, we’re very happy to have you.

Anyway – back to it. Juice Lubes ‘Incredible Fork Juice’ is a neat little solution to the problems we all face in trying to keep our bloody expensive forks running nicely. They get gunked up with dirt, the stanctions get scratched, the seals get worn away, the seals feel tight out of the box. Lots of things that you don’t want when you spaffed a grand on a set of forks and certainly won’t help you win any races.

Fork Juice is simply a quick drying, fork friendly lube that you spray on your stanctions and seals. The guys at Juice reckon that with regular squirting you’ll keep your forks running sweeter for longer, protect the seals, protect the stanctions and beat off the dreaded stiction. Another neat point is that it dries with a non-sticky finish meaning you can squirt it on your frame and forks to add as a frame polish and mud-repelent. Might shave off a few grams mid-run you never know!

We’ve still got to give it a proper try but the idea certainly adds up. Forks are expensive. Fork servicing is expensive. Anything you can do to save yourself some dosh and keep them running sweet has got to be a bonus right?

We’ll pop a writeup in Issue 10 once we’ve had a chance to give it a proper testing. 

For now check out http://www.juicelubes.co.uk/ and go get yourselves lubed up.

Dynamic Style Clothing appeared in WO#9 and we really liked what we saw. The company is born and bred in the UK, the designs are fresh and they’ve got a heap of grassroots team riders flying their flag.

We liked Dynamic’s kit and we want to help them show it off, so to give them a bit of an extra boost we’ve asked DS boss Pete to send us a bit more information on what’s going on with the company for ’09.  Take a look and drop by their website if you like what you see:

“Dynamic Style is a clothing company with a difference. The aspects of life the company takes influence from include Art, Street and Extreme Sports. The designers used all have their own unique styles and aspirations and so the uniform image of Dynamic Clothing is constantly changing and evolving. This will therefore provide something for everyone.

2009 Is going to be a big year for Dynamic-Style! I have already hooked up some real good mountainbike riders like Matt White, Stephane Karle and Sam Reynolds, Sam has already done really well at 3 comps this year! He came 7th in the Vienna Big air, 1st in the La Clau bikepark comp and he won the first round of this years King of Dirt series also the Slopestyle and 4x comp down at The-Track. Dynamic-Style might be sponsoring the King of Dirt series this year so fingers crossed things go to plan!
 
D-S also have sponsored a new Mountainbike Dirt – Street video called “Everywhere” which you can see a review in next months WideOpen magazine, There is a sale on at the moment for the DVD so make sure you get to check that out too! 
 
For more updates about Dynamic-Style clothing go onto the website and check out the blog!
 
www.dynamic-style.com”

Here’s a sample of their designs

Press Release April 2009: The Search Daytrips and Long Weekends

The Search is returning for the summer of 2009! We are proud to announce that along with our popular downhill daytrips we will also be offering long weekend breaks!

We’ve been looking for a suitable partner to offer trips with accommodation for a while now. Finally, The Search has teamed up with Chalet L’Oreade in the picturesque French alpine village of Sixt-fer-a-Cheval to offer downhill weekends that take in some of the best riding in the Alps.

We offer a plush chalet with what is effectively it’s own lift accessed downhill track, situated an hour into the mountains from Geneva airport, perfect for a long weekends action packed downhill riding. During the four days of riding we will cram in two daytrips to different resorts for lift-accessed riding, back-country shuttle runs and sessions on the local track. We are determined to show you the best riding we can with these weekends, so its action from the moment you hit the ground until the moment you leave!

On top of that, one of The Search’s Team Riders will be on hand (race schedule permitting) to give you pointers and improve your riding. We will also film your weekend on the trails with state of the art helmet camera’s from Snowcam.co.uk and give you DVDs to take home, so not only do you have a permanent record of the awesome trails you ride but the opportunity to sit down and analyse your riding every night with experienced racers.

Full details are available at: www.thesearchmtb.com

A huge thanks as ever to Stu and the team at MTB-Cut.tv.