Access Rights

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.

That Was Ace

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.

Into Switzerland

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…

Crash and Burn

It’s hot in the Alps at the moment yesterday I succumbed to heatstroke and sat out the last downhill run back into our current village, Samoens. The previous two days had seen us based in Morzine and sampling the Singletrack trails on the surrounding mountains, including an excellent day riding out of Champrey, including it’s mind boggling UCI downhill course with an average gradient of 38% (aka the Hill of Death).

Today we ascended the valley to the chairlift up to Les Vagnys and from there tackled loose gravel and steepness to make the tough climb to the shoulder of the valley. The descent after lunch was fast and loose and after launching off a rocky drainage channel the landing turned out to be an unforgiving rock garden. There was no chance to scrub off the speed needed to straighten up.

Next thing I know there’s been some unscheduled tree hugging (in a bouncing off kind of way) followed by a good couple of seconds hurtling through the air before tucking into a ball for the impending crash landing. The commando roll degenerated into a desperate bid not to roll of the mountain all together.

Fortunately mother nature had conveniently placed a rather substantial tree in the way which provided an effective, but uncomfortable stopper. After a few seconds working out where I was in relation to the rest of the world, I was back on my feet. After ascertaining that all my limbs were a) attached and b) still working, I started looking for the bike.

Everyone else had by this time twigged that I’d had an off so there was quite a welcome party to ensure that I was okay. The bike was some 15m higher up, but still way off the trail and once I’d lugged it back up onto the trail it emerged that I’d twisted the bars and buckled the front floating disc rotor spider.

Straigtened up it kind of went through the calliper and it was a final tentative descent with a front brake that needed constant pumping to the bottom. Here we really had a chance to take in the massive cirque known locally as the “End of the World” with its stunning waterfalls and panoramic views. On the way back to the Chalet, Wally was unlucky to have an errant rock rip his rear mech off his bike and we ended up pushing him home.

For those with any energy left the final run of the day was true alpine Singletrack. Exposed drops, roll ins drop offs, jumps, rocks, roots and a ribbon of trail snaking its way through forests and meadows. It was a chance to prove the bottle for this riding was still there and enjoy a cool beer or two at the bottom. Chamonix tomorrow, it’s going to be ace!

Transcend

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.

Playing with Spanners

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.

New Mountain BB is different width

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.

Marta SL Calliper modified for 180mm Hope floating rotors

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!

Close fit, but enough

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