Check out this neat little video from our friend Stu at MTBcut.tv of his boyos riding the awesome new Red Route at Fort William. Giraffe gets his best Sam Hill drift impression on and Joe Barnes tackles it on a Five. I feel a Fort road trip coming on!!

Cheers to Orange Bikes@twitter for the heads up!

For general arsing around riding in the UK it’s sensible to have a decent jacket, and Madison are hoping to plug the gap with a range of really well priced and specc’d options for you to choose from.

We’ve just got a Trail jacket into review, which is a lightweight, waterproof, breathable shell – priced at just shy of £80 RRP.

Hopefully I won’t have much chance to wear it this summer, so expect the first proper test later in the year… although with the UK who knows! I could be wearing it in August! First look in Issue 10 (in production at present).

Round 3 of the NPSDH went down last weekend at Ft Bill with Ben Cathro and Manon Carpenter taking the top spots.  Well done to Ben but holy shit – how good is Manon Carpenter? She’s not even an elite and she beat EVERY elite female and placed 178th overall beating a lot of chaps. 

Cathro at The World Cup in Ft Bill a few weeks before

Looks like young gun Harry Heath wasn’t slowed down by all the naked cocks on his recent trip to Spain and had a scorching weekend. He’s still in the junior cat and took 4th overall – he was the highest placed non-elite rider on the hill. Awesome.

Here’s the top 10:

and the women’s:

Race 6 Women Swiss + Swallow

Race 7 Elite Women Nema Clothing

Check out NPSDH.com for more info and full results here at Mikrotime.

More BMX >>Hit up http://www.fastlanebmxmag.com/ without delay!
Hit up http://www.fastlanebmxmag.com/ without delay!

Hit up http://www.fastlanebmxmag.com/ without delay!

Just got any email from the lovely people at Axo Europe/Spank shouting about they’re new superstar Kieren McAvoy. Despite only being in his 1st season of Elite 4X racing Keieren took the top British spot at the Euro 4X Champs -coming in 7th overall. Team mate Tom Dowie came in 27th overall. The other brits racing were Boom Boom Beumont who placed 14th and Patt C-J who placed 30th.

Men’s results:

Women’s results:

Spank Team – Bike Radar Live and Fort William World Cup from Aaron Bartlett on Vimeo.

Our mate Olly is up at Fort Bill with the Ashton Diamonback crew and just fired over some gorgeous shots of today’s action.

“Spent the day trampling up and down the mountain taking too many photos. It was lovely and sunny, but dark in the valley which gave some cool backdrops. The midges were out in force and we are all tiring of their presence. There was lots of whistle blowing, much flag waving and a few medic calls. There were also a lot of wrecked machines. Kurt mentioned that at over 5 minutes a run the course is so long that you have trouble even remembering what’s coming next never mind your line. Rain is forecast for 1:30 (start of timed runs) so that should be interesting.

Last night we had an awesome BBQ on a remote Loch, and a bit of driving around the beautiful scenery. We came back from the town and had to shoot off down the road again as the midges descended upon us as soon as we exited the van, flying down the road with the windows open blasted them out of the van. On return we sat in the van drinking and summoning the courage to get out again. Eventually we made a run for the tents but Rowan refused to leave the van and slept in there all night. I say slept but from what I can tell he didn’t get much.”

If you could put some shots of the cool van that would be great, and maybe mention that we are road tripping it in a Team Ashton/Diamondback Mercedes Vito Sport (haha, gotta keep em happy).

Don’t know when I’ll be able to send some more from the race day. I’ll edit and send you a nice batch of photos whence I return, for the mag (got some nice flash in the woods shots, know you like those :).

Oli”

Thanks to Oli for the gorgeous photos – you can see more of his goodies in issue 10 of Wideopenmag. I’ll get some results from the actual racing online asap.

Cue further abuse at calling it Fort ‘Bill’.

More Mountain Biking >>

A team summary of our friends at 2Stage Bikes from Maribor by resident video king Mono.

Just spent a very pleasant morning visiting the guys at Fli Distribution in Glossop, just up the road, for a feature in Issue 10. The place has a great vibe and buzz about things, and we finished off the coffee whilst perving over the latest Twenty6 goodies (my god the pedals are amazing) and had a sneak peak at the 2010 O’Neal gear (helmets, protection and riding gear) which looks pretty special.

Picked up a Skad helmet for longterm test in the mag as well – so keep your eyes peeled. It looks awesome and matches the Wideopen race jerseys!

As the dust settles on this year’s Nissan UCI Mountain Bike World Cup in Fort William, the UCI has announced that the Scottish Highlands has secured the event for a ninth year.

The 2010 World Cup will take place on the 5th and 6th June, and once again feature downhill and four cross rounds of the series.

Two rounds of the World Cup will be held in UK next year, with Dalby Forest in North Yorkshire staging the opening competition in the cross-country discipline on 24th and 25th April.

This year’s Fort William event, held on 6th and 7th June, attracted a record attendance of more than 18,500 spectators as well hundreds of world-class riders to the Highlands, and generated an estimated £2.5 million* for the local economy.

The 2010 announcement comes as the award-winning event picked up a further accolade for the 2008 World Cup, being voted the best mountain bike event in the world by the International Mountain Bike Trade Team Organisation (IMTTO) for the 4th year running.

Mike Jardine of event organisers, Rare Management, said: “Everybody involved in the 2009 event is delighted to be welcoming back the Mountain Bike World Cup to Fort William. With huge crowds – visitor numbers were up by 25% on last year – and top biking action, we’ve had a fantastic year and we’re already planning how to top it in 2010 so we can remain the number one event on the Mountain Bike calendar.”

Paul Bush OBE, Chief Operating Officer at EventScotland, the national events agency, added: “2009 was another superb year of mountain biking at Fort William with record spectator numbers and a really electric atmosphere. As with any event it is crucial to build upon this success and, with plans already underway for welcoming the world cup back in 2010, there is no doubt that next year will be even bigger and better.

“The Mountain Bike World Cup brings immense benefits to Fort William, the Highlands and indeed Scotland, filling bed nights, generating economic impact and positioning the country as a leading destination for mountain biking and for mountain bike tourism. EventScotland works hard to maintain the momentum from the World Cup from year to year by investing in an exciting portfolio of cycling events in Scotland which ensure the nation stays on top of its game and ahead of the competition.”

The UCI have announced the 2010 calendar as follows:

April 24-25: Dalby Forest (England) – XC #1
May 1-2: Houffalize (Belgium) – XC #2, 4X #1
May 15-16: Maribor (Slovenia) – DH #1, 4X #2
May 22-23: Offenburg (Germany) – XC #3
June 5-6: Fort William (Scotland) – DH #2, 4X #3
June 19-20: Schladming (Austria) – DH #3, 4X #4
July 24-25: Champery (Switzerland) – XC/DH #4
July 31-Aug 1: Val Di Sole (Italy) – XC/DH/4X #5
August 28-29: Windham, NY (USA) – XC/DH/4X #6
August 31-Sept 5: World Championships, Mont-Sainte-Anne (Canada)