Author: Cris Bloomfield

In my post from the Alps, I mentioned the Hill of Death. This is the UCI Downhill course that was carved out of a steep mountain side for the Swiss round of the series, in the resort of Champery. There is a summary of the race weekend on Steve Peat’s website which gives you some idea of what the course and conditions were like:

‘STEEP’ is the word to summarize this downhill track which twists it’s way through the trees down a serious, slippery slope. Even in the team manager’s meeting it was brought up that one risked breaking both ankles to attempt to walk the course. In fact, during a walking inspection Greg Minnaar slipped and dislocated a tricky shoulder, so it was no joke. The only way to get injured riders off the mountain was to pluck them off the mountain with a helicopter, which was fondly called “Carcass ‘Copter” and “Yard Sale Collector”.

Peat says, “The track is easy for half the field and hard for half the field. I like it, a lot of people don’t, but I liked it from the first practice. If it rains it will be a horrible mess. If it stays dry it will be good to race. The turns are blowing out now, and when it comes to finals tomorrow we’re going to have to be a little cautious. (Saturday afternoon brought a heavy rain shower).

“It’s a tough track and you need to relax in practice but that is tough because it’s steep and you don’t know the track for the first few runs. It’s a good track and it challenges everybody. It’s good the guys clipped in can see the advantages of flat pedals. Yesterday a bunch of guys ran out and bought 5 Ten shoes and trained on flats,” said Rennie.

Tire changes happened each run as riders tested the traction and they ran bigger rotors for better stopping to manage the steep track. The sounds of the beating helicopter blades were heard repeatedly though the day plucking up course casualties.

It’s a beast of a course. Certainly the steepest thing I’ve ever tried to ride (it wasn’t much of it). In the dry it was difficult to walk down most of it so god only knows how the top riders raced down it in the wet. Hang on I’ve found the answer on You Tube – many of them didn’t. Helmet Cam footage of the course (dry weather run) in this video.

All the best highlights from the photos from the week of Alpine Singletrack are now up on the website. Ch-check’em out and leave some comments…

Mountain Bikers currently have less than 90 miles of bridleway and byway access along the 2000 mile English coast and much of this is under water at high tide. DEFRA are now consulting on access to the English coast and for once, IMBA have been told that if a cycling need is demonstrated, then the politicians could for once be positive… A brief e mail would be great making some of the following points:

• IMBAs preference would be for an open access corridor based on the Scottish Land Reform Act provisions
• Cycle clubs and Local Authorities could work together to identify suitable “core routes”
• Much of the coastal downland is very suitable for mountain bike journeys
• Ideally cyclists should consider what is appropriate for them to ride
• IMBA would at least want Local Authorities to have a duty to consider upgrading appropriate footpaths to bridleways

So drop an e mail giving your views to: coast.consultation@defra.gsi.gov.uk
The full document can be found on www.defra.gov.uk

Meanwhile in the USA, the future of the trails that form the heart of the Great Divide Race are under threat. IMBA is calling all riders to help save bike access to the 3,100-mile Continental Divide National Scenic Trail, which is truly a unique resource for the mountain biking community. Running the spine of the Rockies from Canada to Mexico it appears to be in danger.

The Forest Service just released a draft rule that would encourage land managers to kick bikes off existing routes, and not include us on future segments. Riders can make formal comments with the Forest Service and IMBA’s simple form makes it easy. Comments have to be received by 13 August.

Back from the Alps. Words can’t begin to describe the quality of the riding in France and Switzerland with friends and the group from Lancaster known as the Passouts Ltd over the last few days.

Words can describe trying to be clever on a bike after six pints of Stella and a day in the hot sun: stupid. More photos over the next few days…

I’m leaving the rain and the gloom and jetting off to the French Alps and the delights of Morzine singletrack.

From: Ride the Alps Ltd
Subject: Trip

Hi Cris,

Finally, it’ s hot and sunny! And due to be all next week :o)

Trails pretty muddy and soaked though but they’ll dry up fast.

See you tomorrow!

Mary

Not so long ago a fairly interesting suggestion was put to the everyone in Harry Halls when David Webster from Transcend Trail Academy dropped in to promote his new venture. Based in the Tweed Valley, they’re offering training and coaching to riders of all classes and abilities on how to become a bit more accomplished. Sometimes it’s not just enough to be out riding, there’s a need for that bit of help to make the step up to the next level. Transcend are looking to help make the jump check them out.

It actually stopped raining long enough recently to get into the hills and catch some much needed sunshine. It was a chance to test out the new DMC-FZ8 and it seems to have much better colour capture than the Sony it replaces.

Last Saturday I invested some time into the best bike shop in Manchester. It was a chance to catch up with the staff and some old friends and customers, including Conrad who is currently testing computer games and Chris Hamer who is recovering from having his jaw broken in a scuffle and and subsequent beating in Hulme on his way home from Sandbar.

One of the Manchester based bike paramedics dropped in for the mechanic to give his bike some attention. The Ambulance station they’re based at is at the Sport Village and they cover the entire inner city of Manchester. The bikes have to carry a horrendous weight and they hammer bike parts. On average the crew cover 100 miles a week, but all have reported losing up to 2 stone sweating it out in their distinctive yellow bike gear.

In preparation for the trip out to the alps in a few weeks I’ve replaced my cranks as it was only slightly more expensive that a full new set of rings and the old one have certainly served me well. The new XTR cranks and BB are a fairly different design, but I had thought that the bottom bracket cups had remained unchanged.

This turns out not to be true. Previously you could save a bit of money by running Dura Ace Bottom Brackets and suitably swapping spacers and internal sleeves. I’d had Tim at Sideways upgrade mine to Phil Wood Bearings too, so I was loathe to take them out and put something of lower spec back in.

After much faffing it became apparent that I really should have checked them out more closely. As you can see in the photo above, the shell casing of the new unit is about 1.5mm narrower than the predecessor and it just does not fit. the only conceivable way of achieving this is to solve the issue with some narrower shell spacers.

The second task was to upgrade the disc rotors to floating rotors. I am a big believe in these after their sterling performance last year on the transalp and had a spare 180mm rotor to get me started. The rear is a 160mm rotor which with reshimming the calliper to frame mounts went on a treat. Not so the front 180mm disc. The rivets that hold the steel disc to the alloy spider were fouling the calliper body.

After a closer look out came the file set and after some careful work it was possible to cut away the necessary material on both sides of the body. About 2mm needs to be taken off in total as the photos show the fit is tight, but having been tested works fine.

In all a fairly unique setup with the Magura Marta SLs and Hope rotors, but I was interested to see if it could be done and now I know!

I’m really looking forward to getting out to the Alps again now the weather here is just too damp…