Another awesome mini-dh race went down at the Forest of Dean today.

Harry Molloy took the win for the chaps and Lianne Bartleman for the girls. By all accounts it was an awesome day of racing.

Check out the results here.

Jamie News

So I got into work today to find a glowing green Orange Miii frame sat waiting for me courtesy of the guys at Orange.  The pics seriously don’t show just how bright this thing is…

We’ve got her all season for our new team rider Dave (more on him later) to test out. He’ll be racing the full NPS4X series and finding out whether Orange’s ‘unapologetically expensive’ race frame is as good as they reckon… At £500 for the frame and punted as the “lightest, stiffest and strongest frame around” we’re looking forward to giving the Miii a hell of a good testing to make sure it’s up to the job.

Orange reckon the Miii is “…the lightest, stiffest and strongest frame around. Down at the trails or the 4X track, pump and jump with style. Accept no substitute.”

From Orange:
“The design brief was simple; make a high-end jump bike dedicated to the rigours of trail and 4X riding. This isn’t about cutting costs or building a do-it-all bike, it’s built on pure dedication. From the Monocoque down-tube to the refined quatro box stays, the 6061 Halifax-built MIII is the stiffest, strongest and lightest dirt frame around.

The MIII is unapologetically expensive. It’s a bike built to line up against the best racers in the world. It’s at home pumping through the trails or manualing park benches, but it’s born to race. Its stiffness and agility oozes confidence whether you’re pushing to clear that awkward triple or nose-diving into the backside of a tight landing. Get your snap on, scrub that first roller and leave the rest behind, unleash the MIII.”

Check out the Miii on Orange’s site here.

Jamie News

After the first round was cancelled due to overnight temperatures of -15 degrees freezing the track solid, the -6 degrees last Saturday night felt positively tropical!

Regardless of the temperature racing went ahead on a track that wasn’t as steep as last time and with the tape nice and wide for when (not if) things did go wrong!

Once again first runs down the hill brought miles of smiles but as the day went on and the track polished up the ice began to shine through and brought down everyone at least once over the course of the weekend. Some found it too much and didn’t come back to race on Sunday but just over 200 riders managed to make it to the top of the track for their race runs.

I was on a blinder of a race run until I caught the guy infront of me and binned it into a tree trying to get round him… and then again on the ice as soon as I got going again. 4miuntes 18s and I’d still done enough to take the Hardtail cat win and 59th overall.

Fastest time of the day went to Lew Buchanan in Juniors with an amazing run at 3:26. While Adam Brayton rolled home to take the Elite win after the others decided serious injury was too much of a lottery on the ice.

Expect to see a full race report in the next issue of the mag, with more snaps from Mr V. of Phunkt.com

The Wideopen 2010 team are supported by the following awesome companies:

Steve News, team

Solid Steel Radio Show 5/2/2010 Part 1 + 2 – DJ Cheeba by Ninja Tune

It’s only bloody Friday. To celebrate, Wideopen’s resident maestro DJ Cheeba just sent us a link to his latest Solid Steel mixtape. Hit PLAY above and check out his website here.

Jamie News

Our Irish mate Dan Sheridan just got back from a week of pre-season ripping over in Spain…

Turns out it rained a lot and he forgot the mounts for his Gopro and had to gaffa tape the cam to his lid… but it worked out ok. Despite all that, he managed to shoot heaps of helmet-cam footy which he’s edited up and stuck online.

Dos dervecas por favor!

La Fenasosa bike park, 2010 from dan on Vimeo.

Check out Dan’s site here.

Jamie News

Here’s Dave’s press release:

Due to the massive amount of entries the BDS has decided to increase the number of riders per round

Rounds 1,3,4,5 are increased by 20 rider’s and round 2 Fort William by 50 riders.

So the totals are as follow

Round 1 320
Round 2 350
Round 3 320
Round 4 320
Round 5 320

So far 1,313 places have been fill out of a total of 1,630 leaving 317 entries still available

Here’s how many spaces are left for each round as of today

Round 1   4
Round 2   80
Round 3   69
Round 4   98
Round 5   66

From the 1^st March riders will zero points but a BC License can enter

Enter here http://www.britishdownhillseries.com/events/enteronline.html

Jamie News

Here’s Mike’s update:

Just to let you know we still have spaces available for this weekend at Caersws.

With a new track in there there’s sure to be enough to keep you entertained.

Cost is £23 per day and if you want to stay over Sat night then the cost is £18 for dinner, bed and breakfast – just bring your sleeping bag and airbed.

You can get booked on at www.borderline-events.co.uk

Also coming up we have Descent Gear Clipped In at Moelfre.  £55 for the weekend and £20 for the Friday if two days is not enough.  Free Camping as usual.

Again book on at www.borderline-events.co.uk

Cheers

Mike

Jamie News

It really is a lovely looking bike. This is the same build as those cheeky shots we got at Cycle 2009 last year, and the sleek oval top tube really does look amazing. The mahoooosive forks (160mm travel, 35mm tubes) are perhaps a touch overkill for the average UK trails but Cy assures me they’re a hell of a lot of fun.

You can pre-order one (the production frames are due in mid March) at Cotic’s site here…

£370 gets you a 5.4lbs hardcore hardtail with lovely finish, quality tubing, British design and great pedigree. The BFe was a burly development of the classic Soul. The production frames will feature slimmed down regular tubing on the rear seat stays to add a little more give to the rear end – it’s shaping up to be a real beauty.

Check them out at Cotic – and read all about her in Issue 12, due out in early March.

James News BFe, Cotic, hardtail

2009 NPSDH smasher Tom ‘meat’ Deacon just fired over a snap of his box fresh new Banshee frames -

Tom and Adam Brayton will be riding the Mythic Legend Mk2 and Spitfire frames in 2010… Adam’s frame turned up in time to race Innerleithen but the courier in charge of Tom’s kit has been buggering about all week and only just dropped them off this afternoon.

When I spoke to Tom first thing this morning he’d just seen the delivery van drive past his house and got a call off ‘em saying they’d got lost, broken down and given up. I think he chased them down on his road bike and dragged the new frames out of ‘em kicking and screaming!

So on the left you’ve got Mythic’s Legend 2 – here’s the schpeel off Mythic’s site:

Compatibility
B/B width = 83mm
D/Outs = 150 x 12mm MAXLE
S/Post = 30.9mm
F/Der = N/AH/Set = 1.5″ (One Point Five)
C/Device = ISCG 05
B/Mount = I.S. rear disc
Cabling = rear derailleur and disc brake hose
Shock = 9.5″x3.0″ coil
Tires = 26″ x 2.5″ maximum

And on the right is the Spitfire:

- The SPITFIRE is Mythic’s brand new, 5″ travel, virtual pivot trail suspension frame with adjustable geometry
-Built for aggressive trail riders who demand a twist-free, tough frame that will let them power up the steepest climbs, hammer the singletrack and blast down the rough descents
- Spitfire is unusual in that it offers adjustable geometry that in conjunction with 130-160mm fork options, offer head angles from 66-68.1 degrees, seat angles from 72.5-73.6 and bottom bracket heights from 12.8″-13.6″

Check out the Mythic site here and check out Tom’s rootsandrain profile here.

Jamie News

It’s random question generator time again!

This week we’ve got Jack Hudson, he’s 17,  lives in Southill and is a Chicksands local.  He rides for the new 44 Racing Talent Team, Last Bikes and Funn mtb. You can see him in action this year at the NPS4x. Let’s go:

How are you feeling right now?
Pretty good though really need to ride a bit!

Type of music you like most?
Anything really, although I’m enjoying a bit of Biffy Clyro at the moment

Berms or flat corners?
A bit of both but I do enjoy flat, loose, corners the most.

Can you barspin?
We’ve tried to learn during free periods at school though havnt had much luck.

Can you wheelie?
Yes…I used to ride a bit of trials and that was mostly all I could do.

If you could change something about your home, without worry about expense or mess, what would you do?
An extra bedroom and a pump track in the garden would be pretty cool.

If you could eat lunch with one famous person, who would it be?
Valentino Rossi

If you could meet any one person (from history or currently alive), who would it be?
Donald Campbell

Type of music you dislike most?
RnB

What are your worst characteristics?
Going into way to much detail when describing a situation.

What Inspires You?
The hope of being as good a rider as Pedro from Napolean Dynamite.

What is on the walls of the room you are in?
Not much really, just a few pictures.

What was the last thing you bought?
Well my friend Luke Stanley always goes on about how he needs a race kit different from everyone else’s. I decided to pick him up a Leopard print Mankini for this seasons racing :D

When did you last step outside? What were you doing?
A few minutes ago to go out for dinner.

Which store would you choose to max out your credit card?
Chainreaction Cycles…I already spend most my money there!

Who sent the last text message you received?
Hatch…sorting out about riding last weekend.

Who was the last person you ate dinner with?
My family

What’s your current Facebook status?
Jack Hudson had an awesome day of gate practise :P

Send us the most recent photo’s someone tagged of you on facebook:
Two photos from Steve at English bay (posted above).

That’s it! Thanks to Jack  and good luck for 2010!

Thanks also to Steve at Englishbayphotography.co.uk for the awesome photos.

Jamie News random