10 under ben results

The results are up… don’t really want to look though!

http://www.nofussevents.co.uk/event/10-Under-The-Ben/1805/

For those who rode, you know what it was like! for those who didn’t – good decision! In short, cold, very wet, windy, mud bath, leaky tent, long draggy climbs… will I be back, for sure! lessons learned – pack for winter, forget shorts, careful where you put your tent, buy a coleman awning (cheers Ross), book the curry house early, eat less energy gels and more proper food and get narrow tyres and spare disc pads.

A big pat on the back to all the lasted the pace, especially Single Speed Simon and Lindsey who fought to the bitter end in some less than fun weather.

661 Enduro at Ae

Just completed the first in a series of Enduro events held throughout the UK. The first stage was at a VERY wet Ae and saw the seeding on the slippy downhill stage on the Saturday. Most folks entered on a 5/6″ travel bike although I saw some on 8″ downhill bikes, xc and even a single speed jump bike.

I had various mishaps at every stage – Stage 1 – missed my start by 4 minutes as was sheltering form the rain. Stage 2 – punctured and rode section with a flat rear. Stage 3 – adjustable seat post jammed 10 seconds before the start. Stage 5 – seat snapped off the rails and had to ride slippy forrest section with the rails digging into inner thigh.

All that said it was great fun and I came around 85th overall. Looking forward to Inners already…..

iXS MACAVALANCHE 2011

Last Saturday saw the inaugural Macavalanche race at Glencoe organised by No Fuss. Anyone who knows about the Megavalanche will understand the idea behind this event – a mass start downhill race from the top of a snow covered mountain to the lowest lift station below. The Mega attracts 2000 riders from all over the World, the Macavalanche is to be Scotland’s own mini version of this with 100 riders aiming to be crowned king of the mountain. The Scottish event would, however, ace the French with one important aspect – getting to the top for the start of the race would be by helicopter!

With the race being oversubscribed by around three times, the first challenge was to actually get a place. After months of waiting, both me and Lyndsey finally got the emails we were waiting for with our invites (inviting us to part with £112, cough, helicopters ain’t cheap!). As soon as I had paid, I must admit that my nerves started to get the better of me. Coupled with my knackered back brought about from skiing/crashing down the slopes of Glencoe this winter, and reading the who’s who list of entrants, my only aim for the race was to complete it without the need for a second helicopter ride, this time courtesy of mountain rescue. In short, I was crapping myself!

With the weather looking to be perfect for the race we headed up to Glencoe at 6am. Blue skies, sunshine and rows of pro-team vans greeted us on our arrival at the ski centre. We signed on and were told the plan for the day. First thing was to get the bikes to the summit of Meall a’ Bhuiridh 1108m. For this we would first take the chairlift to the Eagle’s Rest, then from there, ride to the Cliffhanger chairlift. As it was impossible to use the safety bar, this second chairlift would prove to be one of the scariest thing we’d do all day – holding your bike on your knee with one hand and swinging around holding the seat with the other (while taking photos) made for a exciting ride! Once back on terra firma it was the long slog up the main basin to the top. Half an hour later we were at the snow covered start line. Perfect visibility gave us great views, but also let us see the task in hand and the amount of rock that we’d have to negotiate on the way back down. Unlike nearly every other type of race, there would be no practice. The walk back down the mountain would give us a chance to scope out the best lines and make mental notes of which rocks and holes to avoid. Great in theory, but after about two minutes and countless jaggy rocks, huge holes and ravines my brain was full!

After an hour of scrambling down the slopes we were at the finish line (still crapping it I might add) and it was time for the race briefing. The cafe was jam packed with top riders who all looked pretty calm and collected about the whole thing! Some of them even looked to be enjoying themselves! I’d just have to out-psyche them with my new basquemtb.com kit on courtesy of Doug McDonald – they’d obviously be very worried about who this foreign dude was coming over to claim the win. NOT! So, off to get changed into my gleaming new kit and set off for the helicopter.

Flight number nine saw five of us, including Rowen Sorrell and Ace the mad metalist from the Hard Tail Nation/Dirt team, set off on our flight to the summit. It was truly an awesome experience. Scotland looks pretty fine from ground level when it’s bathed in sunshine, but from the seat of a helicopter it is surely one of the most magnificent places on Earth. Almost as magnificent, was the skill of our pilot who managed, time after time, to land on a tiny piece of rock at the summit – and surprisingly for me, I didn’t need a sick bag (“if you need it, just use your helmet son”).

Finally, on to the race. The start was to be a Le Mans style run up to collect your bike on the snow. This was to prove to be my undoing. After deciding to leave off the painkillers in order to have a clear head for the descent, my attempt at running resembled more Charlie Chaplin than Hussein Bolt. I’m sure by the time I got to my steed I was dead last. On the plus side, I was treated to a full view of the carnage unfolding in front of me. In the far off distance, I could see Joe Barnes disappearing down the mountain. Behind him, I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many folk go arse over tits (outside of the Mega of course). It was great! The snow was murder, most folk resorting to running with their bikes after pathetic attempts at riding. Once on the jaggy rocks it was time to get serious. This was my favourite bit of the race – brakes off, full commitment and go for it. One guy, who I’d already seen fly over his bars on the snow, decided to take the highest line possible through the first section of rock, only to then bin it at the top and pass me Superman style without his bike. The only option I had was to then run him over. If only this was Death Race 2000! On the plateau things got a bit more civilized and it was now a case of pedaling like a madman. Saddle up, saddle down, saddle up, saddle down. The gravity dropper was getting a full workout, but was soon retired as the track changed to steep boggy heather with loads of hidden rocks. Cue more over the bars action from the guys I was chasing down. So far, I’d passed around two dozen riders and only been pass by one guy on a dh bike. When I say guy, I really mean looney, I reckon he must have been doing about 50mph! With the finish line in sight, I managed to get the better of another rider and was greeted by loads of other happy and relieved riders. My final placing was 64th, with no crashes. Yay! A quick dash back to the van for my camera and I was able to catch Ace (81st) and Lyndsey (88th) come in unscathed too.

The honours of the day went to the Barnes family, Joe destroying everyone in sight with an amazing time of around 10 minutes, and his sister Hannah winning the senior Ladies. Neil Donoghue and Danny MacAskill were second and third respectively and my pre race favourite, James Shirley was 6th after getting lost half way down the track.

Thanks to Frazer and his team at No Fuss for putting on such a great event.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-13247838

Flickr photos are here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/markforrest/sets/72157626631151992/

Ace’s report for Dirt magazine:

http://dirt.mpora.com/news/macavalanche-part-3.html

Kinlochleven wilderness ride – Sun 1 May

climbing over pass to Luibelt

Headed up solo to Kinlochleven and joined my mate and lochaber local, Rob to pick a route… too many choices on a day like this. We picked a big loop into some wild country, at the furthest point we reckoned we would be about 12 miles from the nearest road – no place for any problems! We started straight into a huge climb to about 500m – first up the Mamore Lodge road then onto Loch Eilde Mor under the shadow of the Mamore hills. It was a tough, loose surface (getting cut up more by MX bikes prepping for the Scot 6 day trials), the views made up for it and countless big water splashes on the way down to Lubielt were welcome as it was now scorchio! After wet feet (don’t do this ride after any rain) we were on a rather faint trail from Meanach Bothy heading out toward Loch Trieg, and ignoring the detour for the Tour De Ben Nevis route. We passed a rather random family having a wee swim in some rock pools at the most remote part of out route (about 12 miles to the nearest road at least), they did seem to be having fun – not sure if I would have fancied the walk back though!

Looking back to Mamores

The next section toward Creaguaineach Lodge is fun, a wee bit of hike a bike over ditches, but plenty of techy riding a fast grassy singletrack (would not be like this in wet though). There is more than a sense of remoteness though and with this in mind, we elected to ride back where we came from – after a wee spot of sunbathing at Staoineag Bothy.

Techy trails toward Staoineag Bothy

The conditions were good, however the info on the next section back to Blackwater Reservior via Gleann Iolairean and the Ciaran path was hazy (turns out after speaking to some riders in the Pub, the route was mostly rideable due to dry weather and good fun!).

where's the cafe?

Any regrets, just a little for not completing the epic circular route – however we still did the big miles, crossed some rivers and got some brilliant views. By the time we headed back, the trails were being marked for the Scot Six day Trials and looked mental! we felt inspired to take the direct descent via some stunning singletrack to Kinlocheven – got pretty hardcore at bits, and brakes needed cooling a few times – on a big travel bike it would have been a riot, felt a bit fast on the hardtail but amazing fun – and spat us out conveniently at the pub 🙂 good times. A full day of riding, about 8 hours in Scotland at its best!

downhill bliss toward loch leven... to the pub

I reckon the full loop, which would also take in the alterntative Ciaran path descent would be amazing for a GMBC ride – but must be stressed, it’s a very dry weather ride only, we got a fair bit wet even yesterday.

should have brought suncream AND sealskins!

Schiehallion Epic Cross Ride Report

Away from the GMBC norm I proposed the Schiehallion Epic Cross ride.

The route took riders out of Kenmore toward Schiehallion Road that lies between Loch Tay and Loch Tummel in Picturesque Perthshire Countryside. This was a ride that was to introduce Bob Mersey, Lyndsey Carson and Flickr friendly Mark Forrest to the best of the areas tracks, remote B-Roads, woods, streams, ascents and descents over 120 km of riding.

And the experience? Illuminated by glorious sunshine, it was a little piece of heaven, despite some tough, long uphills on remote B-roads, small climbs through forests, and fast descents along gravelly open tracks.
When you were pegging it along the flats, admiring the stunning views, hands on the flats with your weight on the pedals and eyes bouncing around from point to point, you felt like you discovered a land quite unique.

Cross Bikes were best adapted to the conditions given the forest singletrack that leads through and out of Rannoch Forest, onto the ancient track that crosses high ground between Innerwick in Glen Lyon and Carie next to Loch Rannoch. All this is set in the shadows of Carn Gorm, a neglected piece of adventure cycling that I’ve explored in years past, but on the mountainbike.

There were no serious accidents, barring Lyndsey’s bent derailleur in Rannoch Forest and my puncture on the long descent into Glen Lyon. The descent seen Mark crowned Cross Bike Downhiller despite stopping to take photographs!

Note to self – Get Flat bar mounted brakes for the Cross bike!

Into Glen Lyon, and Lyndsey and Mark decided that after 70K of cycling they would cut short the proposed 100ish K route and head back to Kenmore via Bridge of Balgie and the road that passes by Ben Lawers—no lesser the route or stunning views…..Lyndsey was running on limited gears and Marks sore back was getting sorer despite the medication…but first a cafe stop before parting ways at the BofB.

Sonic Bob and I headed out along the glorious B-Road towards Loch Lyon Power station that runs parallel to the River Tay. The setting is reminiscent of the Lake District where the slopes begin to tower above you and walls of stone line the hill.

From the power station we took the pot hole strewn 650m climb that took us appox 20 mins to ascend and a similar time in which to descend into Loch Lochay…with the wind at our tails we were no sooner into Killin with no lesser the scenery.

From Killin, Bob thought he was on a 16 mile time trial and after several attempts to keep me on tow along Loch Tay, Cancellara opened up a sizeable gap with one or two small ascents to go.

As we amassed back at the Courthouse at Kenmore, Bob recounts his time trial experience to Mark and Lyndsey whilst remarking on the comeback from his worthy adversary.

Suitably tired, we all headed into back to Killin and the Killin Hotel for some worthy top notch grub —- 4 Steak and Ale Pies with the trimmings please.

As we recapped, it was definitely the best Cross ride done to date….and one for the records.

Garmin Link here

Mark has posted photos as usual….

http://www.flickr.com/photos/markforrest/sets/72157626400988951/

Ride Report- Coire Grogain, Arrochar

Well, it may not have been the epics others did last week, but myself, John, and Barry stayed a bit closer to home on a lovely sunny day.

Ride was dead easy to navigate, in fact it is a walking route, and with it being the holidays, quite busy! Most bikers we met were going in the opposite direction, missing out on the long single track decent.

as Neil said, we opted to do the Cobblers route swtichbacks, then onto a long fire road climb. No water in the crossing, so dry feet not a problem. Fast and loose fire road descent, then headed up to Lock Sloy for a wee look and some grub, then blasted back on the single track.

All in all, a  really nice wee ride if you don’t have all day to go too far. A quick stop at the pub for a isotonic shandy, in the sunshine topped it all off.

Sam

half way around

Rides This Week (w/c 11/4)

Hi Folks,

Here’s a note of the rides this week ………

Tuesday ride: Local Ride, meet at St Andrews Hall Car Park, Milngavie, 7pm

Wednesday ride: Mugdock & Vodoo Hill, meet at St Andrews Hall Car Park, Milngavie, 7:45pm

Thursday ride: Road ride, meet at St Andrews Hall Car Park, Milngavie, 6:30pm prompt. Duration: 1.5 – 2hrs – Simon can’t make it this week so please mail round to see who’s going.

Sunday: Local Ride, meet at St Andrews Hall Car Park, Milngavie, 9am – or, alternatively, suggest a ride for Sunday.

Event: Scottish Bike Show On Sat 16th & Sun 17th

Skiddaw – ride of the year so far!

Fancy a trip to the Lakes?” read the message from Ross. With stunning weather forecast, I was in. Marky Mark took no persuasion either meaning the three of us were on the road at the crack of a sparrow’s fart heading down to Keswick to do the classic (and ever so slightly cheeky) Skiddaw and Ullock Pike ride. The trip down was the usual heady mix of terrible patter, Ross’s “interesting” musical choices and the odd missed turn off. Reaching the trail head at just gone 9, we were met by my mate Pete, ace web expert for Planet Fear and dab hand on a bike and his good mate Dave, ace snapper resplendent in a Troy Lee top that made him the double of Dennis the Menace.

The plan was simple, head up Skiddaw on the bridleway then take in the cheeky trails avoiding the walkers on the way down. With Pete promising a particularly tricky descent off the summit, we were itching to get going. The climb itself is something of a Lakeland test piece. Recent improvements to the trail mean that it is possible to ride from the bottom all the way to the summit. Despite coming off the back of a nasty bought of gastro enteritis, I was feeling good in the sunshine and decided to go for the non stop approach. It was all going really well until a walker and his dog on the way down took the line I was aiming for and the inevitable dab happened. Gutted but it didn’t make the climb any less enjoyable as it gave me the excuse to take a few pics. Meanwhile, the guys were all making good progress up the mountain with Pete definitely getting the hardcore award of the day for hauling his Sunn DH bike replete with Boxxer World Cups up the mountain.

The sun beat down on us as we crested the shoulder of the hill and stopped at the gate below the lower summit of Little Man. As I relaxed in the sunshine and soaked in the scenery,  I got talking to a friendly walker who told me all about his caravan and his regular trips to the Lakes. It sounded like he had his priorities straight and even managed to make caravanning sound like fun! Kicking back, I was soon joined by Ross who despite having a bit of a light headed moment on the climb which nearly knocked him off the bike, had stormed up the mountain. Mark, Dave and Pete joined us in quick succession thereafter. Bumper packs of Fruit Pastilles, Haribos and Randoms were tucked into as we contemplated our next move. Up the bridleway or take the steep footpath onto Little Man. Opting for the latter, the path proved too steep and loose to ride up making for a two minute carry to the summit. Hitting the cairn, we were treated to stunning views in all directions – Derwent Water looked amazing as it glistened in the sunshine while to the west we could see the hump that it Ullock Pike beckoning us over while the lower path looked like a surefire way of squeezing a second big descent out of the day. From Little Man, a couple of short descents and climbs saw us reach the summit of Skiddaw and earned us the usual good natured comments from walkers wanting a backy down the hill and asking if we had ridden our bikes up. As young Pete and I reflected at the summit, it’s very rare these days that mountain bikers in the Lakes will be at odds with walkers when out on the fells. The demographic has definitely changed over the last few years with mountain bikers being regarded as just  another group of outdoor enthusiasts enjoying nature at its finest.

With a light breeze for company, the summit was the cue for the scoffing of sandwiches and various crisps and sweeties. Self praise is no praise but I reckon my home made bacon and sautéed mushroom toasted Panini (with brown sauce accompaniment) followed by a tangerine custard pastry was contender for lunch of the day award. Having truly stuffed our faces, Dave led the way to a descent I had never done before. Cresting the summit, we arrived at a cairn where he pointed down. Pete and Ross set off first with me behind. What didn’t even look like a path turned out to be an absolute peach of a rocky and loose, slate covered switch back descent. It was all hands on the brakes as we plummeted down the side of what at the bottom looked like a ridiculously steep scree slope. It managed that almost impossible feat of looking even steeper from the bottom than it did from the top and even after having ridden it, we were hard pushed to distinguish the trail from the bottom.

Regrouping at the small tarn below and after having taken a lot of photos, we were ready for the main event – Ullock Pike. I have to be honest and say that this has to rate as one of the finest descents I know. It has everything you could want – proper ridge line singletrack, rocky drops, chutes, jumps, fast and flowy sections intermingled with slow speed hop the back wheel tech. Coupled with exceptional scenery and great weather, there was no place I would rather have been on Saturday. With saddles dropped firmly into frames, we were quickly off and riding. Following each other down really brought the trails to life – oh for a head cam. Even two pinch flats in quick succession didn’t spoil the fun. Rounding a corner, we came across the chute of much steepness. This had proven to be my undoing last time round – a steep, off camber chute that I had gotten down but then stopped dead at the apex as I couldn’t hop my wheel around. This time I was determined to nail it. Pete led the way with a simple straight line at speed approach while I went for the slightly slower drop in and hop approach. At least, that was the idea but as I made a repeated arse of the line going in, I knew today wasn’t to be the day. England 1 – Scotland Nil. Gutted.

On the plus side, there was a whole heap more trail to enjoy which finished off with a truly fabulous section of grassy singletrack that I spotted and decided to take a gamble on. The gradual descent and drop to the left made for out loud laughs as we freewheeled down with the compressions making for a real sense of speed and flow. Marvellous! Reaching the bottom gate on the Allerdale ramble, Dave’s chain jammed up in his chain device while my rear tube finally gave up the ghost. As it transpired, Dave’s chain set was 2 bolts short of a set of 4 – oops! A quick repositioning of the remaining bolts meant he was able to continue the ride and balance was restored to the Force. Catching up with Ross and Mark as they enjoyed some welcome shade from the 22 degree sunshine, I spotted a trail heading up above the tree line. What would be a perfect singletrack climb was marred by the close proximity of a fence meaning that bars would catch the unwary. A wee bit frustrating but it cut out a long drop to the valley floor and subsequent fire road climb. As we broke clear of the trees, Pete pointed out two DH trails plummeting to our right. “Shall we give them a go?” I asked. Pete was definitely not keen, Despite being a Whistler Season veteran, he was very much of the not without a full facer and body armour opinion. Fair enough. One for another time.

Spinning gently along the fire road under Dodd, we soon reached our next objective of the day, the steep ( and I mean very steeeeeeeeeeep) descent to under Skiddaw. However, having spotted another path off Ullock Pike earlier in the day, Pete, Dave and I headed up a rocky footpath to join it while Mark and Ross opted for a welcome afternoon siesta. With bikes shouldered, we made short work of the climb up to the white rocks outcrop high above us and the main path up. Though not particularly steep, the combination of water bars and loose rubble made for tough going for the kilometre or so push for the summit of Ullock Pike. Dave and Pete soon opted for the sitting in the sun approach while I pressed on. “I’ll just be 5 minutes” I shouted down to them. 15 minutes later and I was back at the white rocks. Having spotted a grassy singletrack descent off the main path, I opted for that instead of the straight line approach and it proved to be the right option. A perfect combination of gradient and trail conditions made for a terrific descent and a slightly bemused pairing of Dave and Pete as I shouted up the hill for them as I returned to the white rocks. Dropping down the rocky trail to rejoin Ross and Mark, we followed the wall line to the next descent. No sooner were we past the first steep rocky section than Mark and Dave both succumbed to punctures. Doh! With the sun still beating down on us, a relaxed approach to puncture fixing was adopted. Despite the next part of the trail being perhaps my favourite of the day, I was content to sit and chill. Tyres and tubes fixed, we continued the descent. Rocky, hard packed drops, step downs and tight switchbacks were replaced by considerably steeper, loose, rocky dirt path. This was back of the saddle, delicate slow speed tech riding at its very best. Stop and you would struggle to get back on – go too fast and you were looking to tumble a very long way. Having ridden it before, I led the way picking my line down, the odd back wheel hop making for an extra bit of sauciness. Reaching the grassy slope at the bottom, I looked round to see Pete straight lining towards me while Mark, Dave and Ross were a little further back making good work of the trail. Ross looked to go off trail onto the grass in an Andrew Arendt style ( we still remember Ben Lomond, Andy!) but insisted that he had stuck to the path as I gently ripped the piss. A stupidly fast whizz to the gate below and the descent was over.

Feeling remarkably fresh after the best part of 5 to 6 thousand feet of climbing on the ride, we headed up the country lane to do the final descent of Latrigg that we had climbed up earlier in the day. Though not in any way technical, it is a cracker of a descent and one that spat us out beside the cars. It had been a truly memorable ride and easily lived up to the expectations I had created for Ross and Mark having harped on about doing it with them for well over a year.

As with all good rides, it wouldn’t have been complete without post ride food and drinks. The usually reliable Loose Box Pizzeria proved to be a major disappointment – closed for a refurbishment. However, we came up smelling of roses as a short walk round the corner located another pizzeria which I reckon was easily a match for old reliable. Sitting by the shore of Derwent water with your mates in the early evening sunshine looking up onto the fells that we had just ridden  and eating some great pizza, does it get any better than that? A truly brilliant day out and a reminder of just how good the technical riding in the Lakes can be. Magic and worthy contender for ride of the year and it’s only April!

I should mention that you can see Mark’s pics on his Flickr account. Some really terrific shots there which capture the ride perfectly.

Photos:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/markforrest/sets/72157626343966377/