R O T H A R . C O M

Mountain Biking is supposed to be a low impact sport. You know, take only photographs, leave only tyre tracks.

Reading 32sixteen today it appears that Mike Ferrentino has been discovering that some of his fellow Americans are in fact stupid assholes who leave litter all over the trails. It not only detracts from the natural surroundings, but many forms of waste have serious ecosystems implications that Mike doesn’t go into. It’s interesting to look at the case study of the Himalayas:

Litter is a very recent problem in the Himalayas. It is only since the arrival of tourists bringing non-biodegradable consumer items from India, China and the rest of the world that the concept of litter has begun to take hold in the high mountains. Neighbouring countries may contribute a small amount of wind blown litter, but most of it comes in the backpacks and pockets of the many visitors. In all it has resulted in a situation today where it is a serious problem. In the past most packaging and containers were made from biodegradable materials or continuously recycled. There was little or no waste.*

What everyone needs to do is simple. Don’t Leave Litter. When riding it’s no big deal to have an extra bag in which to put all non-organic litter. You can even repack items before leaving for a ride to avoid reduce packaging. Picking up other peoples litter as Mike mentions is very helpful and sets a good example to others.

Don’t assume that there will be places that you can leave litter. The solution is simple – if you take it out, you take it home.

*Edited this paragraph for clarity

On Sunday the car was loaded up with bikes and pointed in the direction of the Peak District. It was a good day for a ride with a spot of sunshine and warm weather. An easy ride ended with a nice beer in Hayfield. It’s one of the best aspects of mountain biking – getting out riding with people and having a great time in the countryside.

I’ve been looking at new WordPress Themes recently for a little something that I’m working on. As part of my searching and testing I’ve discovered the Creative Synthesis themes developed by MIT’s Media Lab. It appears to be the work of researchers Matthew Hockenberry and Ernesto Arroyo and the basic principle is that they’re carrying out a bit of on the fly experimentation.

As they say in the theme page, it’s not just in design, but in experimental methodology, sharing and process.

The license the the theme is offered under is not a creative commons, gpl, or anything that you are probably familiar with. The recycled learning license is a little different, and deserves some explanation.

Essentially if you use the theme you agree to install a wordpress plugin that collects some data and sends it back to us. Mostly we’re after mousetracking data – the x,y coordinates that your visitors send their mouse tails to. For more information about this, see Ernesto Arroyo’s short paper on the mousetracking tools. This data is completely available for anyone to see (including, unfortunately, unscrupulous types like advertisers – although commercial uses are technically forbidden by the terms of the license).

The intent is to use this for academic research in how people share designs, use blogs, and a variety of other purposes. It takes a few minutes to sink in, so please read the license details before you click download.

After seeing a pair of Nomads in Switzerland I’m tempted, but the car has to go to get one. As a result I’m dropping it off on Monday to get the ball rolling on the warranty work it needs doing to the body. It’s the bubbling under the paint on the roof gutter that Jed spotted last summer and whilst it hasn’t become any worse, it still needs to be done.

Cyclingnews reports that for 2007 the TransRockies Challenge will reverse its traditional northerly direction, and will travel south for the first time. After starting on August 12 at Panorama Mountain Resort in the rugged Purcell Ranges of the Rockies, the 600 participants from 25 countries will face 600km of riding with 12,000 metres of climbing over the course of seven epic days before finishing in the historic downtown of Fernie on August 18. During the week on their bike, the nearly 300 teams of two riders will travel through the 3,000m peaks and steep valleys of the spectacular Kootenay Rockies. The the complete preview is available here, but I won’t be riding it any time soon.

Nope I’m thinking about something far closer to home, but probably just as tough: The Lakeland Lugger. I’d always wanted to do a big ride in the Lakes. I don’t think it gets much bigger than this…

Headline from The Times online 4th August: Walking to the shops ‘damages planet more than going by car’. It sounds like a rubbish title and the rest of the article is just utter crap. It’s propoganda science to make the Chelsea tractor owners feel good about getting in their HumVees to go to the corner shop for a pint of milk.

On a lighter note, I’ve added a selection of my photos from the Cape Epic race to the photos section. Slightly different to those published in Singletrack, so they’ll give you a different feel to the race.

I’m back from a mind blowing week of riding across some of the most spectacular places I’ve ever been. A top trip with a great group of riders, happy to be photographed and loving trails that pushed everyone to new levels.

The Post via Email function seems to have broken with the latest version of WordPress (2.2.1) and despite an attempt to fix it, it’s still not working, so the post from during the trip (now shown below) didn’t work. It’s something that I’m sure I’ll find a way to fix soon.

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…