Pretty Sweet Mountain Bike Adventure

Enduring

2012-03-04T21:56:00.003Z

Enduro: Mountain biking’s activity du jour. It seems like itmight just be a large part of the future of racing bicycles up and across, butmostly back down the mountains. As normal with ‘The Future’ it has turned upnot a moment too soon, for me at least. Yes, I am clambering aboard the Enduroracing bandwagon, but I’ve been waiting for it to turn up for some time now.Going as fast as possible down whatever trail I can find is pretty much therhyme and reason of why I mountain bike and finally it seems what I enjoy aboutmountain bicycles has been turned into a race. No longer must we compromise inorder to race. No longer must we choose between endless laps of the same XCcourse, or a 20 minutes of fear filled DH time on a bike that is ideal forneither. The days of racing in an XC queue or Queuing for a DH race are over, AnEnduro race is a Mountain Bike Race.

So yes, this is a blog about doing a bit of enduroing(endurage?). If all goes to plan 3 of the UK rounds, a splash of euro action (read:being destroyed by the euro brigade) at a Superenduro and whatever else thebudget will allow. The bike? A 140/120mm Stumpjumper of 2007 vintage since youask, chosen because it is the bike that I own. It’ll have three chainrings onthe front, a nine speed cassette on the back and a normal ‘just a tube’seatpost, because that is what it has. I could pass those of as disadvantages,but this bike has one trick up its aluminium sleeve; It is mine. I ride itevery day, on everything. It is not dug out the shed three times a year, it isthe bike that I ride, the bike that I know. And if I come last I’ll keep the‘no dropper’ card close to hand. Any other preparations then? Aside from thedaily bicycle commute through umpteen sets of lights, the monthly fight clubthat is the local mate’s race and all the ‘just normal mountain biking’ I canfit in, that is a no.

The plan is to race for fun, but nothing makes me questionmyself like finding out how fast I can actually ride a mountain bike. As I sitwaiting at the top of another trail about to twist its way into the darkerparts of a English/Scottish/Welsh plantation hopefully the self doubt will notweigh to heavily on my shoulders. If I can keep my chin up both physically andmetaphorically and keep it together for long enough to reach the fireroad andmarshall at the other side of that particular bit of forest all should be well.Fingers crossed, the lower half of the seniors cat won’t know what’s hit it.Whatever happens, it is better to know where you stand, and nothing makes mepush the limits of what I can do astride a bicycle like knowing there will be afew mates waiting at the finish line, with times to compare. I may not beriding particularly fast, but it is fast for me. Thing is, fast is fun, thereis something good about ragging yourself silly, putting in every pedal strokepossible, that doesn’t seem appropriate on a normal ‘just riding’ bicyclejaunt.

So there you have it, riding fast, for fun, on my bicycle.Sounds like a good way to spend a few Sundays.

Just One Frame 2

2012-02-29T19:57:00.000Z

Tim, Matt & Ian - Strawberry Clough, Edale

Good trails, good company and good weather collided in a perfect way out in the Peaks. We have waited a while for the perfect winter sun conditions to hit in the North West, it has been a damp, grey winter. I had forgotten how good riding in the sun is until we had this one day of wall to wall sunshine in mid february. It is fair to say I have neglected the Peaks, and instead headed north to the Lakes or west to Snowdonia for big days out on bicycles. This was a great ride however, with the trails frozen enough to roll fast, but just damp enough to plaster on the shit eating grins. Some old classics, some secret singletracks, and some 'straight down a field' action to finish. It was good one.

Just One Frame

2012-02-26T18:17:00.001Z

Josh finds a tiny bit of BC

Trails are the reason I mountain bike. New ones, old ones, good ones. Every little trail is different, taking you down (or up) the mountain in its own unique way. Sometimes trails take you somewhere else entirely. Another trail, another mountain range, another continent. Somehow the 400 meter stretch of trail, hidden out on Grizedale Forest's western ridge took us a good three thousand miles. Neither of us has been to Vancouver's North Shore, yet we agreed it felt 'a little bit BC' in that small part of the woods. Perhaps it was because of the North Shore's continuing exposure in the magazines and websites of the mtb world, perhaps the lack of light through a long grey winter caused internal compasses to go awry. Either way, it was a great 400 meters of trail. So great we rode it twice.

Not Racing #2

2012-02-22T14:25:00.001Z

8:15 pm on a friday evening and I am one of a group of 14 bicyclists stood in the fog and drizzle . My bike is somewhere ahead in the dark. We have just walked up a course containing pretty much every mountain bicycle based test known to man. A rocky opening which would be far from charitable if things go wrong. A road bit with a van. A kissing gate, some rock, some root, an awesomely silly 50 meter stepped climb and a whole load of muddy singletrack goodness to the pub to finish it all off. Now we are going to race back down.

A countdown from three and we are off, running in the dark to the space where I think I left my bike. No helmet light, can't see a thing. OK, bicycle found, brief jog through the gap between mounting riders, cyclocross mount and we are off. Third place I think, perhaps Le Mans starts are my time to shine. Right, get pedalling, wait until it is steep enough for gravity to keep the speed up. Fog and the fact that the trail has a stream in it means no visibility at all. Keep the speed up, keep on the locals tail, he'll know the lines right? He knew all the lines, except the one that went round the on-course van. Of the rocky bit in 4th, onto tarmac, get tucked. Slipstream Phil and the aforementioned local. That is second now? Sod it, concentrate. Through the gate, never raced through a kissing gate before, it goes well. Pedal onto the smoother trails. Shiiiiit, the stepped chicane comes up a bit fast, I guess I'll be taking the outside line then. Keep it togetor through the fast bit until the right angled right handers looms up out of the dark.

Right, onto the flatter bit, time to relax a little. A quick glance back reveals scary lights on my tail, but a definate gap exists between us. Rick is gone, way out in front. Time to focus on 2nd. Lets get across the scary duckboard/north shore (delete as appropriate), take it easy until I have passed the three steps without the chicken wire on. Still upright, I'd best get back to racing. The only problem being the race now heads up the climb, the cyclocross section, the completely unridable bit. A slow push and an effort to get my breath back ensues. Check the lights behind me. I still have the gap.

Finally I crest the top of the climb, on the bike. It seems pedalling the 2nd half has given me a bit more time to play with. Never mind that, it is time for the fun bit of the course. Inside line into the trees and onto the off camber, muddy, rooty, oh so perfect singletrack. I have a new plan now though. The earlier 'go as fast as possible' has changed to 'try to conserve your best ever result' (mates racing is still a serious business you know).

Out of the singletrack a few minutes later, still upright, still 2nd. All that is left is a sprint down the very definition of a rocky track. Final corner. Rick's '2nd place, who is this then' is greeted with a frankly ridiculous 'yyeeaaahhhh boooiii'. 2nd place, first of the loosers, all mine.

The Maccavalanche was an awesome little race. Huge thanks to Jay for sorting it out.

1) Rick M 2) Dave M 3) Josh 4) Chris B 5) Joe B 6) Rick B 7) Jay G 8) Paul AJ

Back Covers Are The New Front Covers

2012-02-14T21:33:00.002Z

Never has a truer word been said.

Good new arrived through the online post last week in the form of the 17th Occasional Wideopen Magazine. Even if the guys at Wideopen got a bit sloppy with their timekeeping this year, the magazine they put out is always a pleasure to read. A mountain bikers' mountain bike mag. Highlights have got to be the Enduro Des Nations report (Must do that one day) and the feature on Les Gets locals. Even if you are not into DH, get it downloaded.

The most excellent news of all was news that Matt and I's 8 attempts at getting a good autumnal drifty shot were not wasted, and ended up on the closing page of the magazine. Ok,ok, it is not the cover, but it is the first time a photo of mine has seen print 'just because', so pretty chuffed with that. Getting roosted by twigs and leaves over and over seems worth it now. Hopefully a few more shots will see the printed light of day this year.

So there you have it. Go and read Wideopen 17 here

And while you are at it, why not check out Matt's excellent bike shop Twelve50 Bikes Tell them we sent you.

Not Racing

2012-02-03T15:53:00.001Z

If you ask Dirt Mag what two of the most important things in mountain bicycling are at the moment, I give you any money Mates Racing and Enduro feature highly. With The Woods being a bang on trend sort of place we knew this already. A such Dave W and I headed out into the dark dark woods to represent Pretty Sweet in a bit of Nightime Mates Enduro(TM). Read on to find just how good it was...

And so it was that 10 of The Woods fastest/bravest/most rad riders rocked up on a cold January evening armed with stopwatches and slalom poles. The track was decided; two runs each down the two trails that run down the biggest hill in the area, with 15 minutes to get your shit together and get back to the top. Two friendly pensioners agreed to look after the timing so the rest of us could just focus on going fast. We cannot thank the timing team enough though, they made this whole thing possible.

There was talk of people changing tyres and getting in turbo trainer practise in the days before. Generally most regarded this as unsporting at best, cheating at worst. Generally it seemed the race was between the Twelve50 race team; Rick, Matt & Ryan, with the rest of us just trying to get as close as possible. Hats of to John P for taking on the somme like conditions on V-Brakes - Genius.

So, the tracks. Well to get a 4 minute run on a 100m hill there is going to be a lot of pedalling. Both runs consisted of mad sideways pedalling interspersed with gripless flat corners, one steep bit, some fireroad and a bit of wet grass slalom. Pretty perfect really.

Seeded tenth, and setting of last meant most runs where in the dark and alone, until I caught up with Joe, chain off. Someone get that boy a chain device. 18 months without a race had caused me to forget just how good it is. Gonna have to do some more of that. Basically it was ace, riding fast through the night before chatting my way back up the hill and getting the gossip on everyone's runs back at the start line, before doing it all again.

After an hour or so Rick & Matt proved the 'Enduro is an old man's game' theory by taking a 1-2 for Twelve50. Ryan showed he probably could have won with a ridiculous 1.55 on the final stage. All in all, a bloody sensational way to spend a sunday evening. Dirt are right, this kind of thing should happen more...

Results: 1) Matt 12:29 2) Rick 12:52 3) Ryan 13:13 4) Dave M 15:42 5) Phil 16:17 6) Dave W 16:27

7) Dez 17:32 8) John P 20:01 9) Gaz 21:25 10) Joe 23:58

Yup, 12 minutes and 29 seconds of (mostly) descending for the winner.

BIG THANKS to everyone that came down to race, and to mum and dad for the timing.

There will be another

Home

2012-01-21T16:24:00.002Z

The last six months have been a bit old fashioned in mountain biking terms. Since the end of another Alpine summer at the end of August we have been doing a lot of riding. This year though, the overwhelming majority of rides have started straight out the door. Yep, it is like 2005 all over again. Sure there was one 5 day trip to the Lakes (more on that soon hopefully) but every other bike ride I have been on has been either down the woods, or a short blast down the A55 at the Marin trail. Weirdly though, despite a lack of semi-exotic locations I have done more riding this winter than ever before. Consecutive days out in the woods on bicycles as it went from drifty loam, through slidy mud, and on to frozen goodness. Here are a few photos from the last 6 months spent on our local hills.

Cal at home in the woods during a 4 day riding holiday at home.

No need to travel for a challenge, the woods hides some techy sections. Finally managed to tick this section off as September ended.

There is loam in Gwydyr forest if you know where to look

It was a damp start to the Autumn

Wet loam, wet rock and wet root. A gripless combination.

Standard conditions over the last few months.

Autumn hit. Fastest old man in the North West, Matt gets his drift on.

And then it was proper winter. A rare daylight ride out. Ste getting a good foot of air.

Mid December. Shorts, T Shirts and a few buff trails could still be found.

And then it rained, for days and days. Josh sliding and gripping.

It has been a good winter so far, only a few months left

The Year That Was

2012-01-11T13:15:00.001Z

Cal high above the Otztal Valley on another Alpine morning.

So, 2011, another year of mountains and bicycles. Whilst me may not have followed up last years blogging standards, the riding this year has excelled once again.

The main reason for fewer blog posts, was we had a bit of a race against time getting the 2nd film finished. We came into the year with a few nice segments and a fairly loose idea of what we wanted, however in late spring an invite to premier at this years Edinburgh Mountain Film Festival pinged into my inbox and was to good to turn down. This put the pressure one to get the film finished for late summer. We had the Torridon and Les Arcs sections completed from the previous year, and Ste and I managed to fashion a completed intro section during late May. Thanks to help from Swiss Alpine Adventure, Dave and I spent a glorious week trucking around Graubunden and shot an hours worth of Alpine footage to form the final section, however it was the Lakes section was causing us significant headaches.

I felt strongly that the riding on the Lakeland passes was an important element to the film, however two previous visits that year were thwarted by injury and terrible weather. We had a fairly 'fractured' part, lacking a decent amount of the real lakes gnar we wanted to show. Thankfully Rick and Matt of the ever excellent Twelve50 Bikes stepped in and helped out. The weather finally came onside and despite a terminal mech issue the much needed footage was found. Big thanks to Rick and Matt for trusting that a hike up Stake Pass' wall of grass was worth it, and for the endless patience that allowed us to get some quality shots in the bag.

So far we have had an overwhelmingly positive reception both at the premier, in front of an mostly rock climbing crowd, and online. We have a few more plans for screenings before we roll out the film for general internets release, but the HD two parter on Singletrackworld seemed to go down a treat. nearly 10,000 views and 200 likes on the facebooks was pleasing to see. No one seemed to mind that we said Gnarly this time.

The other pleasing news was Cal and I's Alpine Dirtbags story popping up in Singletrack's 10th Birthday Issue. I reckon it was a fitting piece on what was a sensational trip. Occasional trip based writing and photography is something that we can hopefully do a bit more of in the upcoming year.

Shit things about this year (really minor shit things it must be said, it was a good year) were no racing, and no Scotland. Hopefully both will be rectified, possibly at the same time.

So yeah, in short, 2011 was good, I'm hoping for more of the same in 2012

Hats of to EMFF 2011

2011-11-24T20:30:00.001Z

OK, so this post might have wiff of basking in glory about it, but what the hell. The Edinburgh Mountain Film Festival looks like it has been another huge success, which is ace news not only for the reasons on the picture above, but also because it is a film festival that gives little guys like us a chance to tell our stories. Yeah, there are some of the years biggest and best mountain films on the bill, but Stevie always seems to find space for a few slightly smaller efforts. The faith he put in Pretty Sweet 2 really helped it hit home how worthwhile this film making thing can be. It is great news that the festival continues to shine and hopefully will continue to give a few of the little guys like us a chance to show what we are worth.

Cubes In The Woods

2011-11-09T12:26:00.001Z

So earlier this week I headed out into the woods to help Matt off of the ever excellent Twelve50 Bikes make a bit short film about his new bicycle:

Swiss Alpine Adventuring

2011-10-06T17:48:00.003+01:00

Sometimes the internet can be an awesome thing. It was one of those times that saw an email drop into my inbox. It's message went along the lines of 'really liked your film, if you are filming a 2nd one, how about you come over to Switzerland and I'll show you some trails'. That is not really something you say no to.

And so it came to be that Dave and I were booting a Fiat Panda up the steep side of the Malojapass, and probably one of the best riding weeks I've had was about to start. We were returning to Davos, my and Cal's favourite resort from the Dirtbag Megatour before meeting up with Dave (yep, that is three Daves) of Swiss Alpine Adventure. In short it was super awesome. Certainly one of the best weeks riding I have had. As we racked up almost an hour of footage we have very few photos, but what we did film is looking really quite good.

I think what made this trip was the local trail knowledge we were let in on, both the massive descents Dave showed us around Lenzerheide and the smaller trails the super friendly expat population of Davos/Klosters let us in on. (If your reading this Stewart, thanks for one of the best days riding I have ever had, and also, get in touch man) Whilst locals will always know their local trails well though, it appears Swiss Alpine Dave's knowledge extends to every corner of Switzerland. If you want a few days guiding get in touch with him...

Other highlights were the pass camping, the kebabs, the breakfasts and the free lift passes.

A week of Swiss Bliss

Pretty Sweet 2 - The Details

2011-09-18T15:18:00.001+01:00

So this blog has kind of died a little recently. We have had a bit on. Mostly getting this done:

Yep, it is finished. Sighs of relief all round. After Stevie's kind offer we had a bit of a rush on these last few months to get it all togethor, but I for one, feel really quite pleased with how it has come out.

So, the premier:

Friday October 7th, Edinburgh Mountain Film Festival

Details of tickets and all the other good stuff taking place at this years EMFF, can be found on the website; www.edinburghmountainff.com. As for those who can't make it to Edinburgh (It looks as if this list will unfortunately include us), we hope to make a few more film festivals before eventually getting the film up somewhere for all to see.

Cheers

2011-08-29T19:34:00.002+01:00

Yup...

Then The Rain Comes

2011-07-15T22:23:00.000+01:00

We went the Lakes. It rained. Cal and I got one decent day and one showery day of riding in amongst the Dunnerdale fells, and on the silly scary slopes of Skiddaw, but when Dave W turned up and the camera came out, the weather rather turned to shit. Still, all was not lost. Whilst we didn't quite get the haul of footage we were hoping for due to the camera's dislike of the rain, few shots came out nice. The relative shelter of Grizedale was nice, but the trails seemed to loose more grip with every water droplet that hit them, and the one new trail we found kept concentration levels high. Dave's comment that it would be a great bit of trail in the summer raised a laugh, what with our visit coming 2 days after the solstice. The 2nd day had been set aside for a new tilt on Helvelyn, but with rain falling, and thunder on the forecast, it turned in to an out an back up to Grizedale Hause. Whilst it may not have been the ride, or shoot, we where hoping for, new trails were ridden, and walkers impressed. A route for when the real summer arrives.

Classic Wales

2011-06-17T17:30:00.002+01:00

Just like the old days. Classic Welsh trailcenter riding.

So back in the early days, when trips to ride bikes outside the woods where rare, most trips were to the promised land of North Wales and it's man made trails. Shaking ourselves to shit over the rocks of Coed-Y-Brenin was the holy grail of riding back in the early years of this century. But then Coed-Y-Brenin changed. We returned to Gomez et-al armed with better skills and bikes, only to find the classic pieces of trail gone, however away from CYB all was not lost. Whilst the Marin Trail slowly eroded into maturity, and Machylyneth remained as glorious but distant as ever, Penmachno opened some time after the first wave of trailbuilding had swept the principality. However the formula remained unchanged and we got yet more of the man made yet fairly untamed good stuff to ride. Problem was, by the time Penmachno had its 30kms of singletrack going we had moved on to pastures new; pastures up big mountains, with big rocks, and a fair degree of tech. Yeah, the Marin trail remained a staple of our riding, but we where no longer making long drives for trail centres, our attention had been drawn to trails down the side of mountains and glens, that had come into existence through centuries of foot traffic and erosion.

Problem is, we missed out. Due to Ste's desire not to do anything to big before exams, but a desire to get into the hills non the less, we headed to Penmachno for the first time in 5 (I think) years. And it was great. It was 'classic Welsh riding' just as I remembered. It had the slippery rock, the benchcut, the jurrasic park sections, sections that made you think a bit, the feeling of being somewhere remote out in a big forest. As much as I love the Marin trail (and we followed our Penmachno ride with a lap there) it has become over familiar, it was nice to be riding a new, or mostly forgotten about, trail in Wales, almost like back in the day.

Anyway, that was a rather long way of saying Penmachno is bloody good, and hopefully a few of Ste and I's shots from the day will make the final cut. There were not many trails I would have enjoyed riding more than 40kms of Wales purpose built finest.

Not Dead

2011-05-27T12:24:00.001+01:00

So this blog has been a little quiet over the last few months. Not to say there has not been any riding done, just with exams and all that there hasn't been much time to write about it. With summer stretching away in front of me, and Cal, Dave and Ste still busy I got the summer started with a bit of classic highpostin' XC around Grizedale with Dad and Wilf. It was boss. I think I have neglected Grizedale over the years, instead heading for the techy trails higher up on the fells, but the tracks in the woods are such a perfect mix of techy and flowy it is hard not to have a good time.

Dad on slab. Not bad for an old dude. Note Saddle still sky high, this man takes highpost pride seriously.

One decent in particular I wish I had not neglected, as whilst it didn't have the same Height drop as an actual mountain, if you where prepared to pedal it rewarded you with flow by the bucket load. That one is earmarked for a bit of filming in the not to distant future.

Filming huh? Well, plans are slowly coming together and, say it quietly, a film is starting to take shape. The first round of soundtrack requests were sent of yesterday (One is back allready, bless you Message To Bears). This time I think we have more of an idea of the film we want to make, and it is more of a case of shooting to fit the plan, as opposed to just putting all the footage together in coherent order. This puts a bit of pressure on to get footage, but it seems to be going well so far.

Ste in cold, cold North Wales

We got all the winter footage required during a cold day at the Marin trail. That place is a godsend when the mountains are covered in snow and the woods mud is knee deep. Just glorious, lonely, eroded flow in the hills for 25 km.

The now 3 year old tradition of the Lakes Easter roadtrip took place under steely grey skies for the most part. 3 days amongst laybyes and high passes of the northern fells. 4 passes remains a classic as ever, bookended by two days of exploration.

Its all downhill. Slate grey Lakes.

A few good shots where had but I think we all agree a return is needed to stock up the footage, and just to get out on these trails again.

SUMMER

And then the first dry spell of the year came to the woods, right on top the the busiest part of the year for us all. Mother nature can be a dick sometimes. Anyway, many fine nights where had in the loam and dust (now sadly departed) and Ste and I got a few shots in. Hopefully the glorious weather will return and we can get a few more in before the bracken covers every trail.

As for the future, flights, hire cars, mountain lodges and everything else that goes with bicycle adventure is slowly being booked. Switzerland, Austria, more Lakes and a return to Scotland are all hopefully part of the future. I also am pretty keen to try and explore some more of the big mountain potential of Snowdonia, despite previous experience on Carnedd Llewelyn (Just too gnarly). Geograph and the OS seem to show a few 500 meter plus descents lurking in them hills. Hopefully we'll fit a race in as well. Got to hold on to the hard won Tour De Nevis crown. All in all, it should be a good one.

As ever, if you want to get involved with the Pretty Sweet project in any way, feel free to get in touch.

Alpine Dirtbags

2011-03-17T19:32:00.001Z

So Cal and I's Superalpinemegaride made print this last week, and as ever I feel pretty chuffed/stoked/really quite pleased to see our pics/words in print. We even got on the cover this time (Kind of)

I think 'Big Adventures, Little Money' sums up a bit more than just that trip to be honest. Anyway, the mag as a whole is a cracking read as ever, and for anyone with a few minutes spare the Hefty B-roll from our trip can be found below:

Switzerland

Italy

Austria

Making of Film 2 - Pt.1

2011-03-10T20:06:00.001Z

OK, so, we have a deal. Singletrack want a second Pretty Sweet, mostly because they are nice like that. As such we are going to try and make one for them, and I reckon I'll try and blog a bit about the experience. We have a few plans afoot but for now, we'll post a few stories from 2010, and the accumulation of footage so far.

Still no.1 Lakes Gnar

So, what ended up being our first 'shots in the bag' day was a sweltering ride in July. My overiding memories of it now are of major chaffage issues and Dave W pulling of some tech riding miracles. I think we are all keen to get some 'Fell tech' shots into the film as gnarly, but slow, trails are a firm favourite and hence Dave and I headed to the top of High Street with this in mind. After a quick nap upon reaching the summit we set of towards Nan Beild with a few shots in mind.

The Big Gnar Staircases favoured by fix the fells featured, and whilst I pottered down on a hardtail, the ginger one made things look much smoother. Probably due to the suspension and huge fork he is now lugging round the hills on top of the skills he had anyway. Taking the radios made filming much easier, and the reduction in shouting at each other TO GO was nice. Bleep when your ready kids.

After a few shots on the staircases to the West of Nan Bield we headed over to the east side where things kicked up a notch. No staircases or obvious lines on this side of the pass. I was off form but Dave W picked out some gnadgery lines for the camera, and whilst a few didn't go, the majority of lines and shots came out pretty nicely. A few hikers impressed (really should get that on camera one day), we headed homewards.

And this meant riding Nan Bield. Whilst not as full on as the north side, the south of the pass is the classic, allthough a bit flat to make look good on camera, singletrack,. As good as it is, we were having issues. No idea what happened but the chafe was horrendous. Heat, sweat, summat else? Who knows. All I know is when I got home I nearly burn't my riding shorts. Bastards.

After drinking tea for five, stood up, in Wilf's cafe we tried to work out the best way of getting home. Sitting was massively painful and neither of us had alternative shorts. The options were walk it, or drive. Needless to say it was a looong drive back down the M6. Not sure whether the decision not to just drive home with no kecks on was worth the pain in the end....

February...

2011-03-01T18:47:00.002Z

February has been absolute balls. The winter as a whole has been some way short of Last year's high standards, but whilst December and January saw some cold local woods action, we have all just been waiting for February to end.

I may have ridden nearly every day during this past month, but the same commute day in, day out really can't compete with a heavily layered up trip out into the mountains. I could moan about circumstances and what not, but the long and short of it is that no mountain biking just plain sucks. The good thing is, winter is nearly done with and the future is looking promising. Flights booked, plans made, and hopefully a pay off for all those dark nights lost to geograph is coming soon. It may still be 2 weeks or so till the first opportunity for proper mountain bicycles but once that date comes, the summer is on. Hopefully we can make the most of it.

Pretty Sweet 2, The Beginings

2011-02-05T18:04:00.003Z

Yep, we are setting out to make a second Pretty Sweet film. It will be shot in HD and hopefully will be ready for screening at the end of autumn 2011. We plan to stick to the 'Trail/All Mountain/XC/Call it what you will principles of the original Pretty Sweet whilst also moving forward and creating something that is a marked step up from the original. The film should once again be serialised on Singletrackworld.com

If you are interested in getting involved with the project in any way, be it the filming process, screening the finalised film or too see an early edit of the HD footage from 2010, feel free to get in touch

Off Season

2011-01-24T11:59:00.000Z

We don't really get an off season for mountain bikes in our part of the woods. Sure, we have a 'going up big mountains is not so feasible' season, but bikes are still involved whatever the weather. Here are a few pics from off season so far.

Searching out some fresh snow in the woods. Christmas eve 2010

Big hillsides were knee deep in snow at the time. We made do riding new 'lines' down the smaller hillsides of the woods.

Better than mud, that is for sure.

Dave pushes the limits of grip and acceptable facial expressions.

Goggles turned out to be a woods must have on the more overgrown trails, come may they will be priceless.

Not so black lake.

After a few days in the woods, the Marin was a'calling.

The best part of the extra bits

The worse part of the extra bits. At this point we were considering giving up trying to get out of the forest before nightfall/ A bit lost.

Alas, we stumbled across a sublime decent back to civilisation.

Gone For A Ride

2011-01-05T18:41:00.000Z

Gone For A Ride from David M on Vimeo.

So, this is Pretty Sweet 2010. Let us know what you think.

Good Stuff Of The Year

2010-12-29T09:43:00.002Z

It has been a good year. I guess you could call these the best bits.

Best Trail: Eckham, Western Austria,

Deep in the Oetztal valley, on a small unassuming hill there is a trail. Its 400 meter height loss may seem paltry compared to the quadruple figure descents that can be found in the mountains roundabout, but this is the trail from the past year that is occupying my thoughts the most. It was 400 meters of steep, rooty challenge. For the most part right on the edge of what I can comfortably ride, in sections somewhere over that line. With my modest skill it could be cleaned, just, one glorious day, but until that day comes I can only dream. This year has been a good one for trails, both old and new and whilst the north side of Eckham is number one, honourable mentions must go to trails new and old. Achnasellach was worth waiting a year for, a whole heap of trails from the Euro adventure, plus some new lakeland passes in the mix. The Marin trail still has me coming back for more, and Nan Beild will always bring a smile to my face.

Best Trip: Torridon

...was amazing, The trails there were exactly what we were looking for. A wise man once said that. He had a point. Two days around Gairloch bookended by the Ciaran Path and Glentress was one hell of a way to spend a long weekend. Not even the worst camp spot ever could take the shine of those trails

Best Resort: Davos

Cal's and my supereuromegaride was a pretty fantastic experience, however a lot of that was down to gleaned trail knowledge from the interwebs, and past holidays. In terms of the set up at the actual resorts, Davos stood head and shoulders above the rest. Whilst the other resorts we visited had trails aplenty, it was not immediately obvious where they where. In Davos, top notch singletrack was layed out, ready to ride. Indeed a day of lift assisted riding with 10kms of vertical descent is possible. The sensible option is to spread it out a bit though. Cal and I rode most of these signposted trails over our 2 days, so spreading the whole thing over three days would be ace, then there is the riding to the east, complementary lift passes, oh yeah, and this place...

Best Bike Shop: Ivan's Velosport
Broken gear cable. A bit of an annoyance on the third day of our euro adventure. It meant we found ourselves propping bikes outside Ivan's Velo Sport around 3pm. Then the mechanic came out and offered to fix it. Being tight bastards we asked for the bits and resigned ourselves to fixing it. 'It's cool, maintenance free'
And so we discovered one of the best bicycle shops there is. We left with a whole load of out of the way trails highlighted on to our map and some of the crispest shifting I have experienced. It was ace, they have all the normal products, but what stood out was the staff. These guys were so knowledgeable, and clearly loved mountain biking. I ask for no more.

Twelve50
Speaking of good bike shops, a local one has been hard to come by for donkeys years. There are a few ok offerings, but Rick and Matt at Twelve50 have really stepped things up a notch. Awesome service, awesome stuff, awesome guys, group rides in't woods, plus without them I think about 10 people would have showed up for our film night. Top stuff. We have been waiting for this.

Best Tea Room: The Station House, Torridon

Tea shops are important to Pretty Sweet. They should be important to everyone. Forestry Commission leased places at the trail centre can be pretty good, but it is the out of the way places we like. And that brings us on to The Station House. The best tea room I have been to, and I have been to a few. Torridon has some pretty nice trails, and at the bottom of the best of them is a small house, with a husband and wife duo who open when they feel like it. Luckily we had tea, cake and flannels to wash our faces with. Just superb.

Best Event: Delamere Fundraiser

I would pick this, wouldn't I? To be honest, projector stresses aged me a few years beforehand at 10 mins before the start I was saying never again. Then I had a way good night. The decent crowd was great to see, but the best thing was the sheer level of enthusiasm everyone had for riding. It warmed the cockles of my heart. It was great to chat about bike films, bike trails and other bike crap with folk who just seemed to get it. Cheers to everyone that came. Oh yeah, there was two films and a good wodge for charity as well. Have to say that the Tour de Ben Nevis was also great, the best mtb race I have done by a long shot. Hopefully we will be back next year.

Best New Stuff: Osprey Talon

I'll be honest, most of us are not that really into the 'gear' side of mountain biking. Hell, Cal and I ride Rockhoppers and the majority of stuff is fairly aged kit. So yeah, we like stuff that works and lasts. This year was a big year for new kit for me, getting a new rucksack, after a zip explosion, and some new shoes after the soles of the old ones went AWOL. The new rucksack was a definite step up. It is soo dang comfortable, and it survived the over stuffing, zip stretching marathon that was the summer's euro adventure. It is plenty big enough for an SLR and all the gubbins and cake I like to take around the hills with me. So, for being noticeably better than its predecessor, this bag deserves a mention.

Best Old Stuff: Marzocchi AM3
There is a nagging thought in the back of my head that mentioning this fork here will cause it to finally leak, but for now the Bombers are still going strong. 6 years and a lot of riding and what have I done to them? Once put a bit more air in, but that was because I got fat. Seriously, I have hardly touched these forks, no servicing, nothing, and they are still as smooth as butter. Good Stuff

The Perfect Trail - Wideopen Mag

2010-12-23T12:55:00.007Z

8 whole pages of tails of trails from Dave and I's Highland adventure can be found amongst flips and DH action in the latest Wideopen Mag, which is both excellent and free, online. I am well chuffed with the awesome job the guys have done with our photos and words. It looks bleeding excellent. Also pretty cool to see our jeyer antics in amongst all the DH action. It is an awesome mag. Get yerself over to their webber and have a look. Or just click on that doodah above. SuperXCmountaincore page 59 - 67

Pretty Sweet Thankyous

2010-12-05T17:07:00.000Z

So, it looks like the whole Pretty Sweet film thing is done, or at least it will be when all of singletrackworlds hit counters have ticked up to 5,000. Seems like a lot of people liked it, which is awesome, hell, Evans where quoting it for a brief while. Seeing that improved my monday morning last week. A few people didn't think much, fair enough, and a few seemed to miss the point alltogethor, bless em. Anyway, the whole thing has been awesome, has openened a few doors, and looks like it may have opened a few more for a second film. We'll see about that. Anyway, I thought I might take a minute to thank everyone who as been involved. Right from Ste, Dave and Cal for keeping faith in this idea through hell and highwater, through to Dave T and Henry for letting us ruin there holiday, parents for endless support and warm dinners, festivals and the mtb comunity who have thought enough of our film to put it out there alongside some super-pro films, singletrackworld for letting us use the most popular mtb site in the country to broadcast on, and everyone who watched it for taking 20 minutes to see what we made. Cheers

Pretty Sweet on Interwebs (For a Limited Time Only)

2010-11-24T22:10:00.003Z

YOU CAN WATCH IT NOW - CLICK HERE

I love shouting about it

Yup, thats right. Pretty Sweet is going online with a generous helping hand from the folks at Singletrack Magazine. It should be going up on their website (www.singletrackworld.com) over the upcoming week, but due to music licensing restriction, it looks like it will only be up for 5000 views, so you had better get in fast. Well, fast ish. I here those STW fellow run a pretty popular webber.

After the great reception from festivals so far, it should be awesome to get t'film out in front of the wider mtb community.

And yes, before anyone mentions it, we ride like a bunch of complete jeyers.

An Escape To High Places

2010-11-14T20:23:00.006Z

An escape to the mountains was needed. When a date that worked came along Cal, Dave W and I jumped at the chance to head north into the mountains. With flooding the day before we arrived and snow the day after we left, we finally got some karmic payback from the weather and found some damp but awesome autumnal riding.

24 hours earlier we were all in a major metropolis. Cal and Dave chase the light and escape into the hills

After some a whole load of train riding and a pro job packing the polo, we were good to go.

Read an article about the Lakes in autumn. It was bang on

The pain of the climb was ignored. The view was not

Cal and Dave discuss the merits of a Bhuna and our latest decision to snub Kamloops once again.

A surprisingly painless climb. The escape to the hills was nearly complete

The weather gods were kind for the second time in a calendar year.

And so to the singletrack. As with any 'Dad recommended' trail, there was a lot of deep, wet peat to start with.

Once we waded out of the bog we found superb scenic singletrack...

...more superb scenic singletrack & bog...

...some committing scenic drop ins...

...before some beautiful trail round from Angle Tarn to Boredale Hause. This was a spectacular piece of trail. Yes, there where a few walkers, all seemed please to chat or heckle, no one seemed to really mind the presence of bikes, and it is difficult to take the erosion argument to seriously when you see how two days of heavy rain had changed the trails. Mountain biking is fun. Responsible trail use is the future.

And so we took the best drop from the Hause to the shores off Ullswater. Cal finishes off on the steps. A bit dryer this time.

Teashop closed disaster, but the view could not be more lakeland.

And then it got dark. Whilst Cal headed home, Dave and I unfurled the funk-mattress and contemplated the morrow.

Back to Patterdale, chasing the sun up the slopes of Helvelyn

Jaffa loading as we pushed upwards. The climb felt less daunting after 5 previous attempts.

It was clear. The Pennines, Scotland and the Isle of Man where all in view. This year feels a bit like a weather payback for previous wash outs.

On to the frosty ridge. It was cold and icy in the shade, but for the first time in living memory, not a gust of wind up there.

Dave, summit bound

There was a lakeland vista in every direction. Autumn/winter days like this make the passing of summer seem unimportant. Shows how cold the shade was though.

Summit. Coats on. Turn around. Fun

Dave drops in. A peach of a trail perches on the lower man ridge.

Warm sun on our backs. The immediate foreground a rocky serpentine. Beyond that the northern fells.

Just beautiful riding.

A Sticks bound return

Superb singletrack with some new easy access (That is enough Fix The Fells. Its good now ta) dropped us down to the rocky mess of Sticks Quarry

Dave on his way to the now traditional cleaning of the whole thing. It was nice to feel some progress myself. I'm getting closer to cracking it. I'll blame it on the hardtail for now.

Pretty Sweet shot...

And then it was done. Sandwiches rounded of a near perfect weekend of bicycles, curry and Lakes 'big mountain' riding at its finest. This whole winter thing might not be so bad y'know...

Where There Is A Will...

2010-10-19T18:34:00.004+01:00

...There is a way, and I have a way. Filming plans are afoot.

So you may have noticed the '2nd Pretty Sweet' talk, and we are working on that. Whilst a few ideas have been hatched, but I would guess we are still a year away from anything on that front. But fear not, we have some other, shorter film plans, that are starting to come together.

After we got what was our initial break, not to mention some great support from LLAMFF 2010, we all decided, possibly in the car on the way home, that we should try and get something togethor for the 2011 event. And so here we are. In a few weeks the window of filmic opportunity creaks open for 6 days, and we are planning on pitting ourselves against the Welsh November weather. Won't ruin the surprise apart from to say it looks like we may have roped super-pro-real-life-trials-superhero Matt Barlow into our plans and fingers crossed we'll come out with something good. Or a camera full of water. One of the two.

UPDATE: Between hand injuries, broken camcorder screens and severe weather warnings, this plan came to absolutely nothing. Ace.

Travelling Socks: Austria

2010-10-07T14:07:00.005+01:00

Week 3 of Supereuromegaride took us to Austria, and trails we knew. Read all about it

By the time we got this far, the sensational weather window was firmly closed. Things got slippy on the trails of Tirol

Before we arrived in Austria we had to cross the Fimbapass from Scuol. Stocking up before 1600 meters of vertical.

Still not the top

After spending all morning and most of the afternoon just grinding uphill...

...finally made it.

Singletrack awaited. The 'bikepacking' set up was proving you could take it almost anywhere.

We singletracked to the hut. Weissbeir and a whole heap of fried goodness awaited.

After spending a solid 4 hours in the hut, we headed downhill and pitched up. I want to be back there now for sure.

Loading up the next morning before a brief pre breakfast singletrack hit. Warm coffee and strudel waited at the Spar.

For the first time in a while we where back on an uplift, trails like this lay in wait.

Cloudy trails in the Ischgl hills.

Before we took a biblical soaking. The afternoon was spent drinking and contemplating whether to camp. Eventually we sought out the cheapest room in town to dry out. It was ace.

Our only full day in Ischgl was spent on the lower trails. Lap after watersoaked lap.

Did I mention it was wet?

Cal getting cockier on the switchbacks. Bail into the trees to the left not pictured.

The hall outside our room. Some damn good hunters/taxidermist we stayed with. CHeck out the awesome Eagle on Marmot attack scene at the back

And so to the Oetztal, with Mum n' Dad. Mum powering upwards.

Dad highpostin' downwards. The mans commitment to never adjusting his saddle height is commendable. He rode everything.

Your author riding corners with aplomb.

And Cal, taking the 'straight down the hill' line. Family riding FTW.

Another day, another steep loamy forest.

This trail above the village was awesome. Steep, scary and hella gnarly at the bottom. I'll clean it one day.

Cal makes his way towards the super-gnar. Even if it dosen't look it, this trail was so ace, and so testing all at the same time.

The drop in to the super gnar section. An over the slab approach was just to slippy.

Once past the slab you dropped in to this. Steeeeeep loam whilst trying to keep the speed in check for the funnel at the bottom. To gnarly for this year.

Dabbing my way down the slab.

Can't see the wood for the trees.

Another trail further up the valley. You have to pedal to the top of these trails, but the descents are worth it by a long way.

Loamy.

Steep, loamy, techincal trails. Awesome riding. I think some guys made a film here once.

When the weather picked up big mountain trails were there for the taking.

Nearing the end of the last rail of the trip...

...it was a good one.

Before we left for this trip I had wondered if 3 weeks of just riding might get a bit dull. Looking back through these pictures I can't believe I thought that.

By the time of our last ride the dust had returned. It was almost as slippy as the damp. I am going to have to do 20 consecutive days of riding again sometime.

So there you go. An awesome holiday.

Part 1

Part 2

Travelling Socks: Italy

2010-10-03T17:18:00.006+01:00

Photos and largely nonsense words from part two of Cal and I's Euro bikepacking adventure

The first day in Italy. Fully loaded on the slopes of the Bernina Pass. Piz Bernina is the 4000 meter hulk towering in the background.

Earlier that morning on the slopes of the Albulapass. Nice camp spot, terrifying electrical storm.

The day started with a total failure to find singletrack upon descending to St Moritz

Things looked up once we hit the Bernina Pass, having decided to snub St Moritz' predictably pricy lifts and push on to Livigno. I think we may have missed out on some superb riding.

Bernina was a loooong old climb. Despite a mid climb stop for gulaschsuppe we still had to resort to pushing.

The view from the border.

The view the next morning.

Humble abode. Probably says a lot about our mental state and cleanliness that we felt 'stoked' to have assembled this washing line.

Gondola

World champ DH in the Livgno bikepark. Steep fun was had.

We followed a day of DH with the mother of all XC rides. We had over 2000m of vertical to climb once we got off the bus.

But before the climb was the huuuge Poschiavo descent. The cows at the top where cool until they started drinking from my camelback.

Cal dropping in to a beast of a descent. From glaciers to vineyards.

We just focussed on descending so this one dodgy pic is the only one we got. Super gnarly up top, before turning into a race against the Bernina Express on almost welsh feeling trails.

And then the climb. Nigh on 1600m straight up. Cal approaching the summit.

There was a green grass lined decent on the other side. Fun was had...

...Until the 2nd huge climb of the day. Cal was nearly broken at this point. Some guy told us the other side was unrideable and the trail was to vague.

It was pretty vague, but once we decided which side of teh river we should be on, it was another sweet descent down a lonely valley.

Another climb dropped us in to the top of the bikepark again. This was a huge ride. One of the most epic things I have done on a bicycle.

We followed up one day of mega XC with another, fully loaded this time. We found some awesome trails in the Stelvio national park.

There was just mountains and trails. It didn't feel like the Alps without any ski stuff littering the landscape, more like a massive Scotland. It was lovely.

Cal on his way to Buffalora. I'm going back there for sure.

It had nothing but trails and a cake shop, and a huuge road pass to descend.

We found a trail and headed downwards on that...

...before being forced to take to the road. Cal approaches 88mph on his way to Scuol. This was another 70km plus day.

Travelling Socks: Switzerland

2010-09-29T13:25:00.008+01:00

So Cal and I took a few weeks this summer to go on a most excellent adventure, and bikepacked our way around a small part of the central Alps. Here follows photos of part 1 of our singletrail adventure:

The joy of bikes and aeroplanes. Carboard boxes did a splendid job of getting the bicycles to the continent.

Waiting for the train up to Arosa. I have to be honest, having everything you need on your bike is a pretty cool feeling. At this point singletrack handling had yet to be tested, save a quick ride around the woods. A looong time in the mountains beckoned.

Has to be Switzerland. The greatest train journey of Cal's life. Mostar - Sarajevo takes the title for me.

So, Arosa. Our first night, and the discovery of Prix Guarantee. Swiss Co-op basics. They do everything in a nice pink and white. The lager ain't bad.

So, what would you say was the best thing about this campsite? Wrong, it came with a free lift pass (!!!)

A lift pass for trails like these. Cal opens the Alpine riding account for the summer.

There is trails then? Yes Sir. The opportunity for huuge backcountry in rides in Arosa is there, they could just do with making it more clear, and sorting out the terrifying cable car

Trails like this...

...and this...

...just keep on coming. We racked up nearly 4000m of vertical without really trying.

2nd day. Time to test the frame bags and panniers. They where fine on the opening fireroad, and didn't present much problem on the opening singletrack climb.

Then we got to this. It was a bastard.

Fully loaded singletrack descending. Pretty darn fun.

We struggled to find singletrack on the other side of the mountain as we descended into Davos. Then we found the campsite was 20kms out of town, and a tad pricy. Bad moods ensued.

We decided to head of up a lonely looking side valley instead. Luckily for us it paid off.

Cal gets all Ray Mears. Ask permission if you are gonna do this in the Swiss

Our lonely side valley the next morning. We where off to collect another complimentary lift pass at this point.

And the lift took us to here. Contemplating a few more days of racking up Swiss vertical.

Nothing else to do but descend. 1500m singletrack descent no.1

no.2

no 3. The trails in Davos are top quality, especially the only accessible after four pm trails we where told about to the east of the resort.

Alpine meadows in all there glory. If you find yourself with bicycle in Davos, Ivans Velo Sport (Ie. the specialised shop) is one of the best bike shops there is. Amazing shop.

Cal at the Batcave. Our fears that Davos would be pricy were completely unfounded

You even get some British weather to keep any lingering homesickness in check

Trails and trails and trails

There are only so many was to say supreme singletrack

Afternoon 2 in Davos. If you are prepared to climb for a bit, the singletrack options seemed endless. Cal scratching the surface.

Final Swiss descent. It was awesome. Italia awaits.

A thunder storm was rolling into town as we headed of into the mountains towards the border. We will be back in Davos, of that there is no doubt

Pretty Sweet at Edinburgh Mountain Film Festival

2010-09-14T12:03:00.000+01:00

Pretty Sweet is off to Scotland as part of EMFF 2010. We are really chuffed that Pretty Sweet (or Sweet Trip as the website currently has it) has been included in the line up of '20 of the best mountain films'. Our 'beautiful little film' is first on on the Sunday evening, along with Mark Beaumont. Super awesome news. For more details on the tickets and the full line up: http://www.edinburghmountainff.com/

Looks like an awesome festival in an awesome city.

A Day at the Races

2010-09-12T20:04:00.013+01:00

The only experience i have of the word 'race' would be primary school sports days (those held at secondary school would be spent at home skiving under the façade of ill health). So i mean it when i say i didn't know what to expect from Tour de Ben Nevis, the newest 'race' event to No Fuss Events' repertoire.

It turned out to be bloody brilliant.
Great route, even by my standards the adventure level was high; waist deep river crossings and prolonged hike-a-bike. But, best of all was the great company; so many like minded people to share in the agony. I am positively looking forward to the next season of No Fuss Events - hopefully to contend for the Britain's Best Mountain Biker (unofficial) title!

Here are the thoughts of Pretty Sweet throughout the race:

Dave 'Jaws' Waugh, #28
Pos. 42nd (05:47:13, 27 points)

Wet sleeping bag, memories of being groped in the night; "worst night ever - oh great it's still raining. Go back to sleep. Armour or no armour?"
Riding to the event 'start line' in torrential rain spirits now high; "haha - at least it cant get wetter than this"
Suss out everyone else's bikes/gear; "Sweet, i've got the longest travel bike here. Wait, there's someone else with knee pads!"
Race starts; "Holy shit, i cant do this, i've not trained at all, catch up to Dave, catch up to Dave, this is mayhem. Its on! Sprint! Dude this is easy, i'm taking everyone. Right, best slow down a bit, use these guys as a marker. Use momentum from the downs to speed it up the climbs. Fuck, didn't down shift in time, i've let Dave and Cal through, shit. Push hard don't let them out your sight. Awesome, Dave's had to stop to take his raincoat off, i knew it was a good move to start without. Run out of gears! This isn't so steep, should be sprinting! Damn, why cant i go faster, these guys are over taking me! Right, thats it: i've lost the stage competition bye bye 30pts here. Difficult to keep speed up on this stuff, its so loose and wet. BACK HURTS LIKE HELL! Must ride these technical climbs, its way too slow to push. Yes man! There's some other people here good at technical climbs! -sense of comradeship- Lets take these pushing pansies. BACK HURTS LIKE HELL - dig deep, pain is temporary, glory is for ever! Must catch Dave and Cal before Special Stage 2! Trail is heading downhill, everyone is taking it easy, i'm going to go sick! Shit only just squeezed past those guys on that corner. I'm zoooooooming! Drop Saddle. Dib. FUCKING RACE! GET OUT MY FUCKING WAY! WOAH, DRAINAGE DITCH - he wasn't kidding. I CANT SEE SHIT PAST THIS DOUCHE. GET OUT MY FUCKING WAY. LET ME THROUGH. Shut up walkers i know there's rocks on the corner. Woah, so many people with punctures?!?! These tires are sick. COULD HAVE DONE THAT FASTER, GO FOR IT! SHIT, GET THE FUCK OUT MY WAY! Marshal, what did he say? Oh god did i miss the dib? No? GOD DAMMIT I KNOW THERE'S A CORNER THERE MAN! OSHH, I'M TAKING IT TOO CAUTIOUS! Niiiice line. Road. Where's the dib, where's the dib. WHERE'S THE FUCKING DIB! FUCKKKK. BACK THERE. SMASH! DAMNNNNN, wasted so much time. Hey, good idea Powergel time! This guy is cool, has done loads of riding in the area. Ah there's the guy i over took on the DH better ask him how it went. This climb is easy, though i'm taking it pretty steady. BACK HURTS LIKE HELL. Great, first rest point. What the clock is still running?! SCREW THIS. My breathing has slowed right down, im not even out of breath i must be slowing up. How long is this damn climb! Ah, i'm pushing this - waste of energy wheel spinning in the loose stuff. Its a bit cold up here. Keep looking behind for sight of Dave. Excellent. Just hold on to this lead! Must be another downhill soon to make up time? End of stage! My god that was a terrible effort. Too many people over taking me, why cant i keep my speed up. Stop for power gel, i felt the twinge of cramp. My bearings - too many water spashes - some of these are really deep! Weather is balls. Damn, there's Dave! TO THE FORD, FLEE TO THE FORD! Oh my, it's an actual river crossing, should i take my pads off? Well this is it. DONT FALL IN! DONT FALL IN! If i look at the opposite bank i should be able to balance better. SORTED! Too much bog, this is so stop start, screw it i'm just going to push. Power gel before stage 4. Legend of a guy, thanks for the malt loaf offer. Need to urinate so badly. Damn, how are the Martins so quick at pushing. Everyone is overtaking me here. Cant wait for the descent off this - it should go on for ages! I'll make up loads of time! (how wrong i was). Damn, i'm really loosing it here. Sweet piece of singletrack, this is really beautiful terrain. THE TOP! Saddle down, RACE! ITS OVER SO SOON! Have to push up this. I'm loosing this - dig deeper, why am i going so slowwwwww! Rage. More downhill! OUT MY WAY LOSER! There's Dave, there's the bothy, there's CAL! I'm feeling really good! Should have left the bothy ahead of Dave and Cal, why did i stop for so long. Sweet downhill! Balls, its just a fireroad, i'm out of gears! There's Cal, puncture! Damn, that must feel so bad. This will make him feel better -rude gesture- YES, JUST DAVE TO TAKE! Woah, back end out, opposite lock, rad! i'm cornering sideways! SWEET. OH NO! It's a puncture. FUCK! Oh well, just have to do this faster than Cal. Meh, that's enough pumping. GO! Will never catch Dave now, great i'm overtaking loads of people here! Just stay ahead of Cal. Water has gone! How long left?! Special Stage 5! Ah i'm never in the points i wont go crazy. Woah, saddle is WAY TOO HIGH, darn looked like a douche in those photos. 20mins left, RACE HARD! Out of gears. Want my big ring back! I SEE THE FINISH. People over taking me - i cant peddle any faster! FINISHED! That was easy. Why did i go so slow? Ah, i want another go at that.

Dave M
30th (05:39:56, 9 points)

Pre Race: No idea how this is going to play out. 75kms? I'd be happy with sub 7 hours. Cramped car ride less than ideal preperation
Race Day: Wake up to the distinctive sound of rain on the tent. Crap. Arrive at start line sodden through after only 2kms from the campsite. Could be worse, could be swimming (the super hard Ben Nevis Triathlon was on at the same time). Some nice start line banter, a tad nervous.
Race Starts: Tarmac climb, not bad, Dave shoots off, he wont hold that, pace good. Content. Hit Gravel on the West Highland Way. Rough and Loose. Fast pace, racing everyone, back kills, legs OK, pass Dave and Cal. Feel good, leaving those fools. Stop to stretch back, Dave and Cal straight back past. Screw them, 'go your own pace'
Arrive at start of SS2, the 'DH trail': Goggles on, saddle down, drop in. Feel fast, feel tucked, past two on the opening straight. Class. This is like lakeland, staircases and drainage ditches. 'Coming through mate' Up the inside, excellent. Gnarly bit, walkers watching, they'll expect what with the goggles and all. Aced it, hopping the back wheel. Loads of people with pinch flats, pass a few more. Hit some steep rutted loam. Must be the 'Pro Lines' they mentioned. Goes well, past a few more. Another pro line? Yes sir. Deep rut, off balance. Over the bars, roll through bracken. You allright mate? Yeah fine. Crap, must have lost 30 secs there. Thats racing. Onto the road, stop for cake. Here's Cal, when did I pass him? Leave him to the midges, head up hill.
SS3; heading to nowhere: Climb, bastard, off and pushing, but so are most. Alongside a loch, brutal track, mist, cold rain, massive puddles. This was a low point. Meet someone, we chat, feel better, soon alone again. Reach the river, stop for pie and chat about the Alps. See Dave up to his tits in the river, class. Cal passes me. Seeing these guys makes me feel a whole lot better. Time for a paddle. River up to the waste, allready soaked through, it makes no difference. Slippy and fast flowing, kinda scary. Over soon. Of to the next stage.
SS4: Catch Cal, dib in, push. Catch Dave, push some more. Hit the summit, saddle down to intermediate for the singletrack. Take a few guys, take the steeper lines. Trail is indecisive, sharp climbs and descents. Catch the guy ahead on the descents, fall back on the climbs. Finally get him. This is ace. Short climb, push. Everyone else is doing it. Glance back, see Dave on the singletrack, he is fast. Keep going, no one has passed me, I have passed loads, if I push I could get some points. Rough down, not steep enough, no momentum, got to pedal, short climb, out the saddle. Sprint, Cramp, Pain. Of the bike, sit on the floor, east pie. There goes Cal, there goes Dave, i'll follow him. Dave gaps me on the remaining descent but stops for cake after the stage, I just had my rest, carry on.
Homeward: Landrover track, headwind, climb. Grim. See Cal on a distant crest. Alone. Fireroad turns downhill, the guy from Orange passes me, stick behind one. Repack action down the fireroad, Awesome fun. Christ, I can see civilisation. Someone stopped ahead. It's Cal, it's a puncture. ''You OK?'' ''Yeah'' I'm allready gone. Into the woods. Smooth fireroads. Thank god it is smooth. My insides feel shaken to shit. Should have bought suspension really. Through the woods. No idea how far to go, stop for cake, loose a place or two. Don't care. Need cake. SS5, singletrack, man with video camera. I know, i'll groan then bounce my way down this gnarl. If that appears on t'interweb. Oh God. Finish the stage, felt good. 3 seconds faster and I could have had more points. ''How far?'' ''20 minutes''. I give the marshall my ''you had better be serious'' look. ''It is 20 minutes, good effort'' Class, spin home, tired. Finsh, it is over. Stop. ''Under 6 hours, nice mate'' They finished in under 6 hours? They finished with me? I finished in under 6 hours? Chuffed. Ride back in to town a happy man. 37th. Better than I could have hoped. Awesome. Awesome day, Awesome race.

In all seriousness though, once all the swearing and pain was done, this was the most enjoyable mtb race I have ever done. Thanks to all at no fuss for making it happen. And I would have been top ten on the DH without that crash. Sore looser? Me? Well there is allways next year.

Cal M
(DQ (forgot to dib entering special stage 3)
( 5 hours 50 mins)

''I was robbed''

Taking It Easy

2010-09-04T19:56:00.002+01:00

Way back last Febuary, Ste and I found a peach of a trail in the Welsh Carneddau. It didn't go anywhere, and super gnarly to the point that we turned around when things got a bit scary. Well Dave saw the pics and wanted a go, so with the idea of getting some more 'fell tech' down on camera we headed back across on a much sunnier sunday and pushed to reach the ridge.

This time we made the ridge. Dave W was the only one to get his bike up there, so he was the only one to ride the techy, scenic trail we found

Dave stood at the top of the uber-gnarr section, this photo dosen;t do it justice, it was near vertical, messy slabs with no clean line, plus a massive penalty for failure. To scary. You can see how much of a peach the lower section of the trail is. 99% ridable from this point down.

Dave thought about it, but when he says no, then it is for sure a no.

Up on the ridge the trail got good again, Dave rode it a few times, hopefully the footage should look pretty good. 'Pretty Sweet 2' is still a pretty loose idea at the minute, but we knew we wanted to get some footage, we have got a year or so to work on it.

Ste and his steady, steady hands harvest some shots on the ridge. This was shortly before a 'shit, he has gone of the cliff moment' which kind of put the fear in us all. It wasn't the kind of place to be dicking about.

Dave drops of the ridge. This was so steep, so exposed. The buys got balls riding it. He got to the walkers you can see, but then things got silly for a while. Still 85% ridable. This was one of the most impressive things I have seen on a bike. Hats of to the lad.

3 Days, 2 Rides

2010-08-18T20:21:00.000+01:00

The Alps is a good place to ride a mountain bike, of that there is no doubt, but the UK is pretty good too, especially trails like this one:

Dave W and I headed to Stavely to scratch a trail exploring itch that had been on my mind for a while. The Highstreet - Staveley descent is a techno corker at the best of times, however the Bridleway to complete the loop is a grassy boggy slog up onto the ridge. After a massive trail had been dug in up to the ridge north of Garburn, I had a feeling this would provide a better way of summiting high street. We were mainly focusing on getting a few moving images in the bag for the second Pretty Sweet, plus I had forgotten my camera, so this is the only image from the day, but as a ride it was brutal. Garburn to the ridge was steep, and the descents of two of the three summits where short but steep, and super gnarly in places. Needless to say Dave W aced most of it. I had a bit of a struggle, especially after my sucess on the Lakes Gnar on the 'Long Steep Road of Trips' Trip. I would like to blame it on going back to a hardtail, but my super tech skills could well have gone backwards.

And this one:

All our riding at the minute is done with one eye on the Tour de Ben Nevis, so Cal and I decided to head out to the Marin trail and get used to just 'knocking it out' again. Felt pretty good, certainly better than the pain-fest in the lakes. 2 hours 15 mins for a lap at 'could do it all day' speed certainly boosted confidence. Anyway, it is good to be back in the UK. Despite how it may feel we have it pretty good here.

Pretty Sweet Hits Canada

2010-08-14T16:51:00.001+01:00

Well this is Rad. Got news today that a slightly shortened version of Pretty Sweet will be included in the Bikeshorts Film Festival Tour

The tour starts at the above event in Vancouver before taking in dates across Canada along with some international showings. This really does look like an awesome night, I mean c'mon, there is bike valet parking. The line up looks great aswell, with a fair few mountain bike films, including Shortcuts from the Bamboo Chicken guys down the road in Llanberis. Their is also a picture slideshow in the interview, and I think we may have a few shots in that aswell. Basically thus is awesome news about an awesome event.

Personally I think it would be great if we could bring this to the UK. If anyone else reading this thinks they could help make it happen then get in touch (address on the Pretty Sweet film page)

Check out www.bikeshorts.ca for more details

We're Going Racing

2010-08-08T18:00:00.000+01:00

Yup. it is all on the line now. In a month or so's time the Pretty Sweet Race Team (ha..) will be heading of to this:

On the No Fuss website it is described as 'The race that took mountain biking back to the mountains' and a 'mountain biking adventure race' which sounds right up our street. As far as I can tell the format is sort of like an Enduro, with both downhill and uphill stages on a course that circumnavigates Ben Nevis. The stages look like they take in some sweet out the way singletrack, plus a stage on the Fort William Downhill Course, and a hike-a-bike section.

Anyway, it looks like Dave W, Cal and I are all going to be there, so bragging rights are on the line, plus it sounds like a pretty good excuse for a roadtrip whilst we are up north. Cal and Dave W are talking of training programs so they should be super competitive. I am aiming to avoid the wooden spoon. The clown is down.

Scottish Road Trip Disaster

2010-08-07T21:36:00.003+01:00

These pictures are the leftovers from the 'Long Steep Road of Trips' story that appeared in Singletrack 58. Dave W gives his side of the story below:

Hope that we could find a spell of dry weather in the Scottish highlands was well and truly quenched by a curtain of spray coming up off the motorway. We were at the border to Cumbria and knew full well that every northward mile took us deeper into a developing downpour. Decision time.

A quick exit from the M6 and a spot of Colin McRae enthusiasm to the large puddles across the roadway (leaving all passengers car sick) saw us abandoning a Scottish trip. Disheartened we consume a substantial quantity of cake and take a quick nap. (Writing this up now with a bit more roadtripping experience, i realise this forms an important rule of thumb; catch up on sleep at every opportunity).

Eventually the weather seemed to relent. Begin Lakeland salvage operation that turned into a bit of an adventure:

Stunning scenery tempts us to brave the elements.

After a quick foray up high, the strong winds pushed us back into the valley away from exposed trails and the risk of being blown clean off the hillside.

I'd often wanted to give the gnarly Northen side of Nan Bield Pass a shot in my bid to prove every UK bridleway trail ridable. We made it as far as the tarn before coming face to face with the wind screaming down the cirque back wall of Nan Bield. One for another day?

Nan Bield - Familiar territory but in reverse. I'd been out of practice at riding such sketchy stuff - stuff later in the trip made this look like a 'blue run'.

Torrential rain and snow-melt turns trails into streams.

Please shut the gate.

Surrendering to the opportunity to stay a night with roof overhead and fire for warmth - we were glad when morning was summoned by the sound of rainfall. Desires to search for gnarled, high altitude trails had to be shelved for another day.

Descending from Boredale Hause

A year on from filming 'Pretty Sweet'

Soggy camera lens.

One of the most favourably placed tea rooms in the country; especially so with a storm brewing overhead.

Again temptation to dry off wet kit is far too great.

More rally driving and nausea induced, to arrive in Great Langdale and fine sunshine!

Half way stop on the first pass of the day - Rosset Ghyll - another one to tick off on our "pass storming" list

Stuff _______ - let's go Lakeland! (fill in the blank)

A* wilderness trail found

Putting on a show for onlooking hikers.

Descent down from Sty Head - definitely a trip fave.

Helmet advertisements. (And incidentally another sweet tea room)

High stakes ascending Stake Pass...

...but we hit the jackpot on the way down.

I've given up trying to maintain an even skin tone on the backs of my legs.

If i ever make it onto "Ready Steady Cook" im bringing smash and condensed milk as primary ingredients.

I was pleasantly surprised by Whinlatter's trail centre offerings

Attack from the black

The Lakes has some of the best roadside camp places going; Newlands and then this at Honister.

Graffiti in the sky

Best sunrise i never saw because i was too lazy to get out my sleeping bag. So begins the fifth day.

Powering up Pass #1, Honister, 30% gradient

Digger? Bulldozer? Either way, we were lost.

Found the trail at last.

Probably the the most sketch bit of trail of the trip; loose rock over a layer of loose rock.

Pass #2, Scarth Gap was a breeze, overtook most of the hikers.

Not a big fan at the time, but there was something magic about descending into an entirely desolate valley.

Up and over Pass #3, Black Sail. Truly humbling sense of scale in a massive landscape. (Spot the rider)

And a damn good trail to boot.

Pass #4, Styhead.

All told, and i think i speak for the whole team, this was defiantly one of the hardiest trips i've ever done. What we failed to clock up in distance we more than made up for with shear vertical ascent, prolonged hiking and adverse weather.

Its the price you pay for primo trails and just the way it should be.

Film Night Thankyous

2010-07-09T14:27:00.000+01:00

Big thanks to everybody that came down last night. £100 quid for Wheels 4 Life and the IMBA is a pretty good effort in my book. Just thought I would say thanks to everyone that helped out and donated time or equipemnt for absolutely nothing in return; Col for the cakes and the venue, Brian & Fabian for the most excellent film, Keith for the projector & speakers, Ali for the screen, Sarah for her patience and helping me out, and everyone that came down and gave their £3. Muchos Gracias. And if you weren't there, what the hell?

Delamere MTB Film Night Fundraiser

2010-06-22T22:51:00.006+01:00

On the evening of the 8th July Delamere Cafe will be hosting a mountain bike film double bill to raise money for Wheels 4 Life and the IMBA.

As the poster says there will be not just the films, about which there is more below, but also food and drink and a raffle to give away some DVD copies of the films, all for a £3 donation to two great charities. The night should make for some ace post or pre ride entertainment. What's not to like?

VAST is Ionate Films eagerly anticipated follow up to the spectacular Virtuous. Here is what they have to say about their brand new flick:

'We're happy to take you on a breathtaking freeride journey. From the foot of the Matterhorn to the urban realms of Berlin, from the Ligurian Mediterranean coast to the overwhelming Aletsch glacier. VAST shows mountainbiking in its purest form at Europe's most beautiful locations'

Support is provided by PRETTY SWEET, a low-fi mountain bike film about pointing your bicycle at the mountains and seeing what you find. It is a film that shys away from huge huucks and DH action and instead sets out to show just how much grabbing a map and heading into the mountains by bike can offer.

Pretty Sweet Teaser from David Martin on Vimeo.

Another Roadtrip Disaster

2010-06-20T22:59:00.143+01:00

This time we were aiming for Knoydart and we ended up in Torridon. Turned out all right in the end though:

Then we just kind of stayed there. Dave 'Pleasuredome' Waugh in action

I badgered Dave to get set of ASAP after work and we promptly got stuck for an hour on a closed M6. Dave contemplates what he could have achieved in an extra hour on No Fear Downhill, the greatest computer game of all time.

Hours later and we hit the shores of Loch Lomond. Dense midge clouds covered the road, and the odd stray deer kept concentration levels up.

This seemed like a good idea at the time. With hindsight it was one of the worst camp locations I have ever known.

The crap camp site did mean we where in the mountains above Kinlochleven by 8 o'clock the next morning though.

Almost worth it. This was the nicest weather I have ever known in Scotland

Across the dam then back down the other side. Third attempt at riding this bit of the trail and the first time we have got to the trailhead.

It started of really quite well. Loose rocks on the open hillside.

Singletrackin' into the woods

The trail alternated between steep and gnarly...

..and pedal heavy flowing bits.

Slabs ahoy

This was the last steep bit before things got flatter, and fairly knackering heading into the back of Kinlochleven.

And so off to Torridon. You've read the mags, you know why we went there. We went there without Dave's helmet mind.

Dave spent the first evening hiking and soul-searching. Having missed out on Torridonian trails once before, I headed out. As usual, Sarah saved our trip, and probably our sanity. The phone call saying helmets could be hired in Lochcarron came through that evening.

Canoe helmets that is. Dave's noggin safety cocoon in a layer of plastic, we headed of into the mountains. Bothy adds to the feel.

The climb continued. This was still early on in what turned into a bit of an epic.

And then the descent began. Seriously. Good. From the Dutch couple at the top, the only people we saw all day, telling us they reckoned it was an hour downhill to the pub, to slabs with the sea stretching away into the distance. Pedally but awesome. The early part defines high-postin' XC riding as far as I was concerned. The lower bit is ace.

Stopped at pub, span up the road for a bit, and found this sweet little trail. Felt like classic Scottish XC to me, tiny trail alongside a deer fence, with a big old bog at the bottom. Most excellent.

Then we climbed back over to the Achnasellach valley on this trail here.

It where a bit good.

We pretty much rode up and back down the whole thing it was so good, in both directions

Sometimes on a ride, I have a 'This is exactly how mountain biking looks in my head' moment.

So good.

So very, very good. It just keeps getting better...

...and then it ends. One hell of a 55km ride. The only thing that could have made this day any better was watching England play out a dour 0-0 draw with Algeria. Oh wait.

Another day, another trail. Or the same trail again, with some extra bits.

Trail center innovation right there.

We gave up on any ambitous plans early on, and decided to see if we could make the ridge and ride a snake like trail we had seen the day before.

Slippy as all hell. Photogenic mind. Dave and the Pleasuredome become one.

Or not. We made the ridge. It was good.

Don't think you could get much fresher than this.

The trail was a beauty. What did you expect. Almost Alpine.

The view from the col. A lap of that mountain is in order next time I think.

And then we went back down. Pinch flats where imminent.

Slab-berm-wall-ride action. The trail had it all.

Including a super sweet tea shop at the bottom. The cakes where damn fine.

We got some decent footy in the bag aswell. Stay tuned for news on that. Dave harvests a last nug before the drive south.

It's like art man.

Roadkillin' Four days, and 1000kms or so of dead midge.

I really wanted to say Glentress was ace. The whole trail centres are rubbish thing seems ridiculous to me. Having said that the Black run and Skills area didn't really do it for me.

It was good, but I couldn't escape the feeling that Gwydyr, Coed-y-Brenin and Laggan all have better trails. Its all bicycles & fun at the end of the day though.

Ballbag dreaming of...

...this. Desk bound and wishing I was back.

The Long Steep Road of Trips

2010-06-15T17:58:00.007+01:00

Any regular readers of this blog (Hey look, some tumbleweed) may have noticed we mentioned a trip to the lakes, but never made anything of it. The reason for that was we sent some pictures and words of to the most excellent people at Singletrack Magazine who, in their infinite loveleyness and tolerance of poor spelling, decided to put our story in their magazine. This one:

So basically, I think you should go out and buy it. It is only £3.50 ish, it is a comletely independant mag - surely a good thing, and this month in particular is a guddun'. Steve Peat, important discussion on cheeky trails, Ben Lomand, an epic story from Siberia, me trying my hardest to write something good at the front and the most thorough fork test ever, if you are into that kind of thing, plus all the banging photos from Mainey, Milner, Barham and co. It is good stuff I tells ya. It is their title, not mine by the way.

Is There A View?

2010-06-14T20:02:00.001+01:00

So the trails on Snowdon are top notch, as, I am guessing is the view. We have ridden bicycles up to the top cafe/building site/nonsense twice before and been greeted with 'thick as the thickest pea soup mist' and howling gales both times. Whilst the mist and wind made for some of my favourite shots of the Pretty Sweet film experience last time Ste and I ventured up, Dave W, Cal and I headed up a week before the summer solstace hoping for still weather and a view of the sun dipping below the Atlantic as we headed down the mountain.

Alas, it was not to be.

We unloaded a tightly packed polo on a fine evening in Llanberis, ears ringing after the motorway game of 'How loud can you tolerate the vuvuzelas on the world cup commentary' went a step to far. Our dreams of watching the sunset from the summit still alive at this point.

Scenic goodness on the way up. Just to the left of this picture was the hope crushing sight of the summit wrapped in cloud.

You could feel the hangover as Dave and Cal rode past.

I feel this picture is a visual representation of trying to ride up a mountain after a few jars the night before.

Dave continues the long slog.

The good thing about Dave and Cals slow progress was it gave me time to get ahead and get some shots. Dave climbs into the mist, sunset dreams thoroughly crushed by this point.

That's the cheesy summit snap box ticked.

8pm on Friday night. Sweeet

No place for a railway bridge this.

Last time I rode the Llanberis I could be heard to say it was the perfect trail for a suspension bike. 2 and a bit years later I am on the Llanberis path again, having just exchanged the full susser for the rattly hardtail. I liked it.

Cal hardtails into the sunset that eventually emerged from the blanket of cloud. Snowdon, top venue for Friday nights.

9pm chip shop arrival...

...before Dave got all 'progressive' on the journey home. It was a great to get out and head for the hills again now exams and whatever else are finished. Summer is rolling round.

Rail 2 Trail

2010-05-23T14:07:00.009+01:00

Dave has been talking about the maze of trails in Wharncliffe for a while. Gnarly, Flowing and Steep seemed to be the most common descriptions. Sounded pretty good, so at 8am on what was to be the hottest weekend of the year, I was stowing my bike on the train to Sheffeild.

After being repeatedly hunted down by a tram on the road ride out to Wharnecliffe, Dave's plan was to ride the excellent DH tracks he allready knew about, and try and discover a few more singletracks threading down the hillside. Boyo was up to speed on the trails he had already unearthed.

Dave amongst the Bluebells on the first downhill of the day.

Foot out. Loamy, shady, singletrack was so nice compared to the the baking sun of the 'out in the open' trails.

Dave heads out of the shade onto the sun baked singeltrack.

Dave '100% Rage' powers through.

Hardtail was fun pinging around the DH tracks, allthough I will admit I was yearning for suspension at times.

'We should get some sweet photos at the top of Fast Track' he said. He was right. Was cool to see Dave pinned on what are now his local trails.

Some guys mentioned a 'kind of alpine singletrack' further along the ridge. Despite the trail being on the side of a 100 meter hill, it did have a bit of an alpine feel.

Berms amidst the ferns. The only things this trail was missing the 1000m height loss and those weird black squirrels you see in the Alps.

After 'Alpine Trail' we headed for one of the steeper trails. Steep summed it up well. Not sure how I would have coped with the roots if it had been wet.

Pre ride texts confirmed it was worth bringing pads along. After a few run ins with trees I was glad for them.

Dave on one of the steepest sections. Steepness combined with inconvenient rocks made it a real challenge even at slow speed. Not sure I would be brave enough to hit these trails at speed, even with a full on DH bike.

We finished things off on the sweetest flowiest bit of trail. Dave called it the definition of singeltrail. Mild heat stroke not pictured.

Was nice to finish things on a more relaxed trail. Not sure what is with the ragefull expression here.

And refresh...

And all for the price of a off peak return. It was really cool to see the trails that Dave had discovered, and indeed uncover a few more. Despite the record temperatures it was an ace day of riding, especially with the lack of a drive home allowing for a few post ride pints of Moonshine and a quick snooze on the train.

I Heart The Woods

2010-05-13T22:13:00.003+01:00

I have been out riding in the woods a lot recently. It has been good. After we got back from the lakes (stay tuned...) trips involving getting in the car and spending a whole day on the trails have been put on hold whilst work/exam/other commitments have been filled. As a consequence the quick two hour ride around the woods has become my main riding fill, and I have been loving it.

Ste riding the woodland moon.

I think May is by far the best time to ride the Endor-like speeder bike singletrack around these parts. A sweet combination of hardpacked buffness and swoopy steep super-loam. I can think of one specific bit of trail that, in my head at least, is almost identical to Star Wars' finest, just lacking the small moon gravity. That would be sweet for huuuuge jumps. If I were an Ewok I would be a freeride god.

Mmmm, ferns

But I digress. Due to an upcoming change in circumstances the woods I have grown up with are not going to be at my front door for much longer. I appreciate that there will be other woods, other trails just beyond the doorstep, won't there? Does everyone have it this good? This is probably just a may thing, as the trails are perfect right now, and come July time when riding the woods will mean a wip-lashing from damp bracken I will look back at this post in awe. But the woods are good right now. I'll miss them when I'm gone.

Times are a'changing, the patchworks of trails in the woods changes every year. The bracken is taking back this new trail through some parched hillside already.

There be spiders in the trees.

Hardpacked dirt and dry powder loam.

The loam is soft, but brambles hurt. Ste stays safe.

Ste puts the hardpack to good effect on 'The Most Unphotogenic Jump'.

Woods + A dry May = Perfect

Dry trail heaven.

I have run out of words to describe how much fun weekday evenings are at the minute. I could have spent hours just lapping the trails, they are so nice at the minute. It is true though, I'll miss this when it is not there, just the other side of the doorstep.

A Good Times Sign

2010-05-07T16:44:00.004+01:00

So I think anyone who knows a thing or two about mountain bike films will understand why this picture made us smile:

No, for once it is not the £4.00 bacon and sausage bap. Mahoosive thanks to all the guys involved with the Dyfi, especially for putting on our little bike film up there with the pros. From the sounds of things the whole thing was an amazing event. I'll have to be quick with the entry form next year.

8am Flow

2010-05-06T22:05:00.001+01:00

A brand new (2nd hand actually, but still exciting) HD camera arrived at Pretty Sweet HQ the other day. As is the way with these things Ste and I got excited and gave it a test drive without reading the instructions. Here is what we made:

8am Flow from David Martin on Vimeo.

So stoked on the number of pixels this thing shoots. It just looks better with four times as many. Not sure of the ideal rendering settings yet as the footage looks so ace when it comes out the camera and above doesn't quite do it justice, but vimeo seems to like these ones so they can do for now. So stoked to start putting together some of our short film plans for this summer

Golden Shred

2010-04-21T22:48:00.000+01:00

As Dave W points out so well below, the dust has returned. The first proper summer dry spell after a long winter is one of my favourite times to ride. Hard baked local trails emerge dry and dusty. The Golden evening shred is on.

4:30 - Leave work - Go Home - Get Bicycle - Woods - Sunset - Tea

Mountain bike fact - Evening light improves any ride. It was glorious out there

The blossom is out. Summer is a' coming

I had some mean good times honky tonk piano stuck in my head all ride. It only seemed to improve the situation.

Ste gets his drift on in the sand. Just look at that dust

I'm getting used to the hardtail again. It rules. There is something I like about the big fork and the back bouncing around. I think a return to the Lakes is in order to test out this theory.

The sun was getting low so we headed for home. Three hours had dissapeared during our 'quick ride'

There is something I like about this whole mountain biking thing. Riding home it struck me that twelve weeks from now hopefully I'l be starting a near month of riding in the Alps. It is a good feeling realising that...

Return of the Dust (released April 2010)

2010-04-17T18:06:00.005+01:00

No, it's not another film by Pretty Sweet; it's better than that: Summer seems to be on the way and dust has returned to the trails.

Today was one of those rare occasions when Wharncliffe is bone dry and you don't have to fear slippery roots or mud-layered rocks. Blasting down 'fast track', the riders up ahead were kicking up a plume of dust and for once i didn't care about the pain of dust in the eyes or not being able to see; it just felt great to be riding such good conditions.

And such good trails now i come to think of it. I'm not a massive fan of what i'll call 'pure downhilling' but what ever your riding style after a few runs your speed really picks up; massive adrenaline buzz, massive fun. Definitely nice to see some XC guys on hard tails trashing the posers on their Iron Horse Sundays.

No pictures unfortunately, i was having too much fun for that! However you should check out the Wharncliffe Collective's webby - it's well worth the trip on a nice day.

Scottish Roadtrip Goes Badly Wrong!

2010-04-13T18:12:00.022+01:00

So we had plans for a bit of a lap of the Scottish Highlands over Easter. Problem was we never got there. 5 awesome days in the Lake District later and I for one am not complaining. More soon.

Shoes smell so bad after 5 days on the road

Pretty Sweet @ howies Dyfi Enduro, Machynlleth

2010-04-12T21:17:00.007+01:00

So the awesome guys at Summit Cycles have agreed to put our lo-tech bicycle film on at the Dyfi Enduro. Great news. Should be really cool for a whole load of mountain bikers to have a gander at the film what we made. Thing is, along with a most excellent ride round the Dyfi Forests finest trails, one of the first European showings of Follow Me will be taking place. We are all pretty amazed that Pretty Sweet is in such amazing company. The Collective films were certainly what inspired us to film, and probably ride mountain bikes. Hopefully we can hold a tiny little candle to Anthill's finest.

So yeah, the Dyfi Enduro is one of the best not-quite-a-race mountain bike events there is, and Follow Me looks amazing. If anyone remembers our little film we will be stoked.

Follow Me - the Teaser from Anthill Films on Vimeo.

At Home In The Loam

2010-03-27T19:58:00.001Z

Loam. Steep Loam. Finding the steepest loam we can normally plays a large part of local rides in the woods especially when we are still waiting for the singletrack to dry out.

Got to get switchback practise in for an Alpine summer. This was the fourth attempt at this particular bit of trail.

Sadly, the 'Slow-mo-footplant-scrub' technique proved ineffective. 6 attempts at it and I only got round it once.

Cal quickly got fed up of such nonsense and we headed of to some of the dryer DH trails. He was pretty on it through the bus stops. On an unrelated note, when I wake up tomorrow it will be summer. Thank God

Fear and Loathing in The Peak District

2010-03-24T21:37:00.008Z

I reckon three things are important for good mountain biking; Good trails, good friends and good weather. Normally when we head out we seem to get the two former. The type of rocky trails we prefer drain well, and even in the coldest, windiest, most vertical rain, we seem to maintain pretty good banter. With university commitments and the like, it is getting rarer that the four of us can head out so when a chance to get out in the Peaks came up we were all pretty keen.

Dave and Ste on Chapel Clough, probably the highlight of the day. With hindsight Peaks trails after rain, on a busy Sunday probably wasn't the greatest idea, but it was cool to be out. Guess we felt the trails just weren't living up to their billing.

Didn't manage to pull of this massive step. I blame the metric tone of High Peak grit stuck to my tyres.

Gritty peaks climbs get pretty tiring. Dave gurns onwards and upwards. I think the crowds and the lack of real mountains made this feel like less of an adventure that we normally like.

Cal hardtailin'. Lack of fitness and maximum claggyness probably contributed to the lack of enthusiasm for another descent. Despite not being the greatest day out riding its all good really, and you have got to take any opportunity to ride. It's all good.

The Planning Is The Best Bit

2010-03-23T18:04:00.004Z

So we have some fairly awesome, if slightly ambitous plans for summer 2010 at Pretty Sweet. If there was a message behind Pretty Sweet I would like to think it is that there are some awesome trails out there, and next summer we hope to take this idea a bit further. The plan is a Bivi-ed/Camping adventure across the Swiss/Italian/Austrian Alps entirely self supported. There will be photos on this blog and there might even be a film (Pretty Sweet 2 anyone?) but it should be ace.

Thing is, we need to get some Bivi gear, and after some top notch recomendations, I forked out £25 whole pounds for one of these bad boys:

Pretty badass, I think you'll agree. Pretty snug when twinned with a sleeping bag

It is a Hammock from DD Camping Hammocks. It weights all of 600 grams and comes highly recomended. My plan is to twin it with a tarp for a super cool lightweight home from home. First impressions are it seems pretty good. Easy to put up, and I hung out in it during a breif shower, and stayed dry. Not quite as compfy as a tent, but a lot lighter when you consider it negates the need for poles and a roll mat.

There is a good amount of space inside aswell. It seems pretty good to me. How can this plan possibly fail???? I think a bit of a test drive in the Scottish Highlands is in order.

If it means I can go to sleep next to pretty flowers it is al good by me.

This Is Not Spain

2010-03-16T18:50:00.005Z

Exploring a new trail under a glorious early spring sunrise was the plan, however an unannounced closure of the A55 meant we spent a sizeable chunk of the morning on the B roads of the Wrexham area. After deliberating whether Llandegla might not be to bad, we persevered and rolled up in Capel Curig under slate grey skies.

Ste unloads in the cold. We travelled Arthur Dent stylee as always

Nothing says adventure like a water board access road. They build those bastards straight up the hill mind, no switchbacks here. Ste grinds onwards.

Difficult to pronounce Welsh reservoir was frozen over. Kind of added to the epic feel of the place.

Ste in max attack, both for the camera and to stay warm. There was a cold old breeze coming of that reservoir.

Ain't nuthin' finer than riding wiggly singletrack below some cliffs. Alas this particular bit of singletrack however, did not go to far.

This bit of singletrack however was a winner. Flowing at the bottom with these slate laden switchbacks higher up. We pushed on upwards...

...until things got a little bit too steep and rocky. I bottled this slab of fear, although I was pretty pleased with my dab heavy trip down the rock garden in the background.

The trail switchbacked up the back wall of the valley. Ste says the steep switchbacks reminded him of Spain. The weather was distinctly Welsh.

Setting out to see if a trail is rideable based on some dots on a map and a picture of the interweb may seem like a bit of a gamble, but we got too see everything as we made our way up the trail, and when things got silly we just turned around. Was a pretty worry free way of taking a bicycle into the mountains.

The inevitable Tryfan / Mordor comment was made. Seems like a fair comparison to me, even though I have never been to Mordor.

'Fell-Tech' is probably my favourite type of riding. Dropping into one of the steeper bits.

Ste didn't take his bike quite as high. The trail below the switchbacks was top notch regardless. The drop to a very icy lake kept concentration up.

Neeeeooowwwmmm. Towards the bottom you could really let of the brakes

'Hey Ma, look where we went'. We where pretty surprised how close to the ridge it was possible to ride. We where only ten meters of vertical off I reckon.

We finished things off with a best of the Marin Trail blast. Still a glorious bit of trail, especially when it was so dry.

Ste keeps it pinned. Despite knowing the trail like the back of our hands, the combination of swoopy erodedness is ace. It was so dry there was even a bit of dust. The Marin is one of the best man made trails. Despite the somewhat crap start to the day, we ended up riding some of the best trails of the year so far.

Pretty Sweet Premier at LLAMFF 2010

2010-03-08T22:21:00.002Z

S,o our folksy little bike film got its first outing at Llanberis Mountain Film Festival this weekend. We felt really honoured to have Pretty Sweet shown alongside some really amazing mountain films and be able to take part in what was a lovely weekend of mountain culture.

We got to look pro for two whole days

A massive thankyou to all the guys involved in LLAMFF for putting on such an ace event, and letting us be part of it. It is not often complete newcomers get a chance to be shown alongside some of mountain cultures leading filmmakers. They put us on straight after Welsh Connections for goodness sakes. Thankyou to everyone that took the time to watch our film, both the big crowd that saw it on the saturday, and everyone who stuck around on the sunday, and especially to all those people who came up to us with kind words. We really appreciate it.

Sadly, even with cool film maker passes, we couldn't pull of the pro look for long. We fit the idiots with a camera look much better.

The excellent Rush Hour Dream beat us to best newcomer, as it really was an excellent film. One of my favourites of the whole festival, along with Birdman Of The Karakoram, Welsh Connections and Alone On The Wall.

Shoddy picture of the crowd at the end of our first showing. I was so pleased that so many people stuck around. Best say thank you to Sarah for hanging out for the entire weekend. She was inspired to try and get into paragliding.

All in all it was a great weekend. Plans are afoot to be back next year...

Dude, Is There A Film Premier Tomorrow?

2010-03-08T21:49:00.004Z

Back in the school days Fridays were the night for riding, along with Tuesday and Thursday and pretty much any other day the sun was out. Things have come a fair way since, and so Ste and I found ourselves out in the woods, on a grey old Friday, on the eve of Pretty Sweet being unleashed on the public.

Not needing lights felt nice as we headed out. Summer is a'coming

We headed for trails we hadn't ridden in a while. I gurn my way through the loam.

The local trails were dryer and faster than they had been in a long while. The woods is getting back to a state where it is a real pleasure to ride.

The goggles were to keep the brambles out of my eyes. The photogenic late evening light failed to materialise. Never the less, it was good to be getting out on a week night again.

Cutting It

2010-02-28T20:19:00.002Z

Llanberis Mountain Film Festival is next weekend. Will we cut the mustard? Who knows, we are so pleassed that our little bike film is up their with the likes of Kranked Revolve and super gnarly climbing films like The Asgard Project. Anyway, they have a trailer with some super awesome footage up:

Should be an awesome weekend. If you fancy a chat we'll be the out of our depth looking guys.

Sorry for the non riding picture btw. When I get a new camera I will take pictures of anything.

Fresh Powder in the Valleys

2010-02-22T18:42:00.001Z

So this whole snow thing is dragging on a bit now. Dry, dusty trails seem like another world at the minute. Regardless, an offer to go and ride with good mates from Imperial Bike Club was to good to turn down, so I fired up das auto and headed for Dolgellau.

So Dolgellau had got snowed on pretty good. Some days i really think all I need is a helicopter and a snowboard to keep me happy. Is that really to much to ask? Anyway, a non going up Cadair Idris plan was hatched over bacon sarnies.

Coed-Y-Brenin seemed like a good idea. Visitor center was closed, but the trails were sweet.

It feels just a little bit like the north shore in some of the darker corners of North Wales sometimes.

The singletrack was good fun, but the novelty of fresh powder on the fireroads wore off pretty quick, especially when the cramp kicked in.

Cadair Idris was looking good. I think earlier plans to head up there with bicycles may have been overly ambitious. No one knew how to sort out the helicopter to the top either.

Fresh powder + singletrack = woohoo

Alan gets his foot out. Flat out as ever

With M83 turned up loud and scenery like this, the drive home was almost as good as the actual riding. Saturdays = Youth

Celebratin' and Ridin'

2010-02-17T21:41:00.003Z

So when we found out we got into Llanberis, the obvious decision seemed to be to head out for a ride. So we headed out with camera see if we could get a few decent shots in.

Everyone loves twinkley lights and a distant sunset right?

Ste heads back up the hill. A million takes and this was the best shot I got. Sky looks nice though

''Shine your light over here Ste, I have dropped everything I own''. I swear some of my stuff is still out there

We ended up blinding each other with the flash gun again. The things you do when you are waiting for summer to roll around again eh? It'll be here soon. 6 weeks till the clocks change. Tick tock.

Pretty Sweet Trailer

2010-02-15T22:43:00.004Z

So amidst the excitement of the Llanberis news, we thought we had better throw togethor a bit of a teaser. It is fairly short, but they say a picture tells a thousand words, so at 30 fps this is a 1.35 million word bad boy. Anyway, hope you like it:

Pretty Sweet Teaser from David Martin on Vimeo.

Pretty Sweet is not the kind of mountain bike film that features the latest slopestyle tricks, the fastest downhill action or the biggest freeride hucks. Pretty Sweet is a film about pointing your bicycle at the mountains, and seeing what you find. It is a film that sets out to show just how much grabbing a map and heading into the mountains by bike can offer. Without any past experience, a broken tripod, an ancient camcorder and some ‘decent talent’ we are really proud of what we have managed to put together, stoked by the trails we found and we hope our low-fi bike film might inspire a few other riders to head for the hills.

Many thanks to the super awesome Brad Sucks for the song Borderline. He is pretty much the coolest man in music, check him out

Pretty Sweet @ Llanberis Mountain Film Festival

2010-02-10T21:59:00.019Z

So some glorious news arrived at Pretty Sweet HQ today. As you may have noticed from that ginourmous banner, our low-fi bike film has been selected for the Llanberis Mountain Film Festival. To say we are excited by this is probably a bit of an understatement. I am stoked of my face to be honest with you. As the mighty banner points out, there will be two showings, and we should be there for both of them, fingers crossed a few other people will aswell.

Pretty Sweet will be on between 'The Liminal Place' and 'Welsh Connections' on the saturday, and after a talk from the super gnarly Steve McClure and before the presentations on the sunday, so if you fancy sticking around that would be ace. Kranked Revolve is also on at the festival for mountain bike fans aswell as a load of other awesome stuff. Full film listings and details are on the LLAMFF website

Looks like it should be a most excellent weekend. We may even find time for a quick jaunt up Snowdon

Uncool Guys Don't Ride at Night

2010-02-04T21:03:00.001Z

Ste and I may be getting a bit bored with the woods nightriding thing, but it is a scientific fact that heading out with remote flashes adds a new light to any activity (Gags!). So it proved, as we headed out to check out our new toy. Needs work, but it wasn;t to bad for a first go I think:

Ste gets blinded by the light. Need to work on focusing I think.

''Ste, slowdown, you are just a ball of light'' Again, I thinkwe may need to work on this a bit. Still made for a good night mind.

''Dude, I think we are pissing off the owls''

Aliens give chase. This kind of works right?

Being blinded by light whilst riding looked so much fun I had to have a go.

On the way back up the hill, Ste got caught up in the making of LifeCycles. Time flew by whilst we were out. I guess practise makes perfect, and we need a bit of practise

This Is Pretty Much Summer Right?

2010-02-01T19:54:00.006Z

So Ste and I have probably pushed the limits of how many times we can go out in the dark around our home trails, the novelty really has worn off by now. The winter was starting to drag and the urge to get out into the hills was to much. Plans were hatched, and after some terrifying motorway escapades we rolled up in the Lakes.

Dunnerdale is the kind of place that only works when bone dry or frozen solid. Seems we got pretty lucky with the weather. Ste on the opening singletrack.

It felt good to be getting out into the back end of nowhere again.

It is only when you realise it is you are on your spare link that it hits home how a whole day of fun depends on one tiny bit of metal. It held strong

The descent to the pub was fast and damp. Lucky I packed some goggles

The Newfeild Inn is a pretty sweet pub. Fine sandwiches, an open fire and Sneck Lifter on tap. We considered staying the night

We decided to crack on. The climb from hell awaited. Ste checks out the snowpack

Gratuitous 'shopped scenery shot. T'was nice

Ste heading for home amongst the Ice Climbers returning of Dow Crag. There was a lot of mutuall scenery love going down

Ste cracking on down the 'Scar. The descent was pretty fast. We were on a happiness high with the sun going down over our shoulders.

Once you get of the steeps, things get fast and flowy. This was one of those 'dang this is good' moments.

Ste takes his interest in abandonned mines to the next level. T'was a good day.

We finally started to run out of daylight and headed for home. Ste casts a mean shadow.

It Is Done

2010-01-08T22:43:00.005Z

I think we can finally declare it to be done. A year and a day after we got the first shots done at the Marin Trail, the thing is finished. And despite having seen it over one million times, I still have a soft spot for what has come to be known as Pretty Sweet. I think that is a good thing.

I think we can be proud of what we made, considering the amount of money we put into it (very VERY little). Yeah, it does suck that we couldn't film it all in Super HD, but i think what we have looks good. Maybee even a kind of cool 8mm film vibe? There is no way it even holds a candle to the Pro mtb films that are being made at the minute, but I like the kind of 'folk music version of mountain bike film making' vibe we have.

I think Dave W describes the whole thing pretty well: "Mountain bike trail centres are fun to ride and are a great way to grow the sport. However we feel that adventure and wilderness are equally as significant in mountain biking as a lifestyle. Throughout out 2009 we filmed some of our mountain biking exploits to show that grabbing a map and just heading out into the mountains by bike has so much to offer. Without any past experience filming, a broken tripod and and ancient camcorder, we are really happy with what we've been able to put together and the experience has definitely inspired us to continue filming. Likewise, we hope we've inspired at least a few newcomers to the sport to stray from the trail centres and into the hills."

Anyway, the master is sitting on Dave W's PC, and I am putting the first DVD's in the post tomorow. Here's hoping other people will like it, and hopefully we will be able to give this film a few public airings. Fingers crossed.

Two Ride | Trail Centres

2009-12-26T14:54:00.001Z

Two Ride | Trail Centres

I liked this for its negative view on the capitalisation of mountain biking by the forestry commission. It sums up trail centres pretty well.

Summer 2009 - Scotish Roadtrip

2009-12-26T14:45:00.004Z

We kicked off the trip in the Cairngorms with Laggan Black/Red followed up with some local-built singletrack and a sweet trail i had scouted a few years back in the Rothiemurchus Estate; weaving its way above a raging river just a steep 200m drop below it was definitely a contender for the best singletrack of the trip (and it was only day 2). I promise you, the flow was incredible and coupled with stunning location even in the rain it was dope.

200miles and a rapid getaway from a psycho campsite owner, we found a lay-by, to pitch our tents for the second night, overlooking Golspie and the North Sea. We made our way to the tourist information centre car park which also served as a starting point for the Golspie Wild Cat trails, but first was the more pressing matter of drying our kit from the previous day's rain. This lead to us holding shoes, gloves, armor under the towns public toilet hand driers; thats improvisation right there. The Golspie Trail itself was nothing special, especially after the stuff we'd been riding the previous two days, the general consensus was that, although nicely technical it lacked flow and didn't exactly encapsulate the 'epic' feeling the road trip sought to find. Queue Torridon...

Everything about this place was epic, including the drive there. We found a sweet place to camp under some trees by a river. A quick trip to Torridon Inn (officially Scotland's best pub) culminated in some funky tasting ale, and the end of day number three. Day four was lashing it down, undeterred by the newfound disability to dry wet equipment on the road we head out straight from the camp. The wind was pretty bad so we canceled our original 50km plans and left it to sessioning some of the trails behind where we were camping. Again, such incredibly good riding. we even found a 50m section of slick rock, slippy as sin in the wet but still looked wild on camera (yeah... i crashed). Another trip down to the Inn for steak and ale pie plus duck fat chips. Damn, that was some good duck fat, i would border on saying it would be worth the trip up to Torridon just to sample those chips.

Day five saw us heading out to Coulags for the first proper epic ride, even the huge climb-to-be-push up through the glen was pretty sweet under clear blue skies. Unfortunately for Dave M this was the end of the trip due to a leaking break leaver, kudos though for shooting some good footy single handedly with only a front brake. The rest of us summited the head of the valley to find us close to where we had pushed up to the previous day from Torridon, more slickrock and stunning views were had. The descent down was nothing short of epic, the finale had so much flow with so many line choices and natural kickers/rock slabs/burms it was unreal. Definitely the best trail of the entire trip.

We tried a ling shot at fixing Dave's brakes by driving down to Fort Bill but by the time we got there the local bike shop was already closed. Frayed agreement over shelling out a fortune for staying in a real campsite instead of roughing it lead to the group splitting up. Ste and I spent the night in the car at the foot of Ben Nevis and spent the saved cash on a Morrison's cooked breakfast which after eating solely canned food for six days was a good choice. Whipping the reservoir cover of Dave's brakes exposed a broken seal, despite my assurance that i could bodge a fix using a bit of inner tube we took it to the bike shop. Surprise, surprise, no seal.

The plan? The plan was to head back down to the lakes where Dave could buy a new set of brakes and we could continue the trip through the Lake District. I was up for this but having spent the money and effort coming so far north it seemed a shame to head back south so soon. On the way to Glen Coe, Ste and I decided we may as well do the Devil's Staircase ride then follow down to the lakes over night. The climb up Glen Coe turned out to be soul breaking after 6days on the road but the sole descent was definitely worth it, being misinformed about being able to cross a certain dam we found ourselves rolling down a water conduit undoing the last 7km of climb, and to top it off 10km of road back to Glen Coe from Kinlochleven. Hmm. We got a call from the others to say they couldn't pick up any brakes in Keswick so we headed to Glentress spurred on my the possibility of a hot meal and showers at our Grandparents... But first the trip wouldn't be complete without a crack at Ben Lomand! It was approaching 7pm when we set off, knowing full well we wouldn't get to the top it was still an awesome session down through the forrest, some of it very gnarled. The setting sun gave it a nice feel, though shattering after having just done glen coe (and avoiding being smashed by some obviously drunk driver on the drive down)

Day seven saw us riding at Glentress, first the black trail followed by the freeride park right up untill the sun went down. Seemed like quite a few people had the sime idea as us, camping in the Buzzard's Nest car park.

Feeling completely wrecked on the morning of day 8 it was time to drive home.

Awesome time? Yes
Get any good footage? Nah, not enough but it was always a trip about the riding not filming
Where's that Coulags/Aviemore trail? What trail?!
Next year? Thats the plan!

Ice Ice Baby...

2009-12-26T13:40:00.008Z

Freeriding can mean so many things. One of those things is riding your bike over sheet ice.

I set out on my hardtail (my Spesh Pitch is needing a few replacement parts). My hardtail is a bastardised Specialized Rockhopper '05, complete with bodged singlespeed rear mech and slick tyres.

>complete with bodged slick tyres
>slick tyres
>slick

Slick tyres and sheet ice, a combination made in hell.

Turned out it was fun to session even the most gentle slopes of black ice. 360 tricks and hand-plants ensued. Epic freeride. While Dave M was more into the tricks and stuff, i was more in it for the down hill. Having your rear wheel spin out, flipping the bike sideways to direction of motion is a sick kind of thrill, and i was lapping it up like a crack addict on, well crack.

When Dave says I was into the spins, I assume he was refering to my 360 degree double footplant spin to faceplant combination, which took place on an iced over incline with a suitable inpressed, crowd of onlookers. T'was Rad. Dave M

The Sauze

2009-12-20T11:07:00.004Z

There had been talk of lift acessed trails in Sauze d'oulx in a few of our favourite bike mags, so in the depths of a London winter I booked flights, and the cheapest chalet I could find, so we could head out and see what the fuss was about.

Italian mass transport is the greatest. The journey from Turin to Sauze D'Oulx cost a migty 7 euros each. And it went like clockwork, despite dragging bike bags and rucksacks accross the streets of central turin. The chalet was snug, and Cal and I drew the short straw, having to share a bed that could only be described as small. But yeah, the bolognese and pasta was cheap at the local supermarket, and the weather and scenery were top notch. What was not to like?

The lifts were closed on the first day. Despite saving us on lift passes, extra food conumption probably made up for that. Henry having a rest after the first thousand meters of up that day

The down was totally worth it. Cal on the ridge with only 800 meters to descend to tea

Dave found a picturesque place to rest. It was a good four days...

The fifth day of getting bikes back throiugh Turin, was a bit more hectic. Thankfully, Ice Cream shops were plentyfull.

Editing...

2009-12-20T00:27:00.003Z

So the team are all back home and we are determined to get this shit finished. The four of us are sat in a small room, grinding this shit out through the night. We have got all the shots togethor and are trying to get some voiceovers down. Ste sucks at it. Cal is regretting wearing a base layer indoors. Ste will be getting a slap soon. Only seven hours till the dawn heals us.

UPDATE: Dave says the adrenaline rush of recording mountain bike voiceovers is better than the riding itself. There is hope yet.

Foot Traffic

2009-12-19T18:10:00.006Z

For all the trail centers and ski center singletrack that is cropping up all over, there really is nothing better than a couple f hundered years of foot traffic to create some fine riding. The Oetztal valley in the Austrian Tyrol has all the sinous singletrack you could ever need.

Cal and I have been hiking in this part of the world for years now, so we know the trail potential pretty well. To say we were excited about getting our bikes out on these trails was a bit of an understatement. So miniDV in hand, we headed for the hills...

Cal descending from the top of the Timmelsjoch. Thanks to the biker bus that was layed on, this was an actual day of downhill singletrack.

Sometimes this is all you need.

Things got pretty steep and rooty once you got below the treeline. No man rocking a replica Pantani jersey had ever tamed the gnar like this...

... and when the trails took to much out of you, lunch was never to far away. There was no lift access and we climed about 13,000 meters over two weeks. Hungry work

When even the fireroads are an adventure, generally you know it is going to be a good ride. Cal adjusts on the way up.

The final descent of the final day. Time to savour.

Two weeks meant we could be pretty relaxed about shooting. We got some pretty awesome wilderness foootage, and despite the slow, techy bature of a lot of the trails, I think we should be able to get a nice edit togethor.

Of which dave realises some truths about his true love:

2009-12-15T21:08:00.000Z

I've come to the conclusion that my sacrament to mountain biking is not a love as pure as i once believed. There is a third partner. One whom i'd always been subconsciously aware of, yet not realised just how passionately deep it ran as an affair alongside my seemingly integral relationship with mountain biking.

The identity of this third consort? Exploration.

It is with sadness i have to admit, i don't think i truly enjoy mountain biking if it isn't married with some sense of exploration or adventure. The more i think about it though, i realise that this has always been the case, and the reason why i never followed other kids into dirt jumping and the likes. Where i first started mountain biking; dirt jumping, dual and 4x meant i stayed in a small corner of the forest. I wanted to explore it all, find my own jumps and singletrack. Stuff that would change with nature, not because someone with a shovel decided 'this jump needs to be bigger'. And thats exactly how it is today - nothing has changed eight years later.

It can be as simple as the intense green of the bracken in Snidley Moor woods in the summer, or majestic as the towering crags of the Cullins on Skye. Mountain biking just wouldn't inspire me in the same way without that humble admiration and the sense i was exploring somewhere special. Its the reason why natural trails are so much more enjoyable than their man-made counterparts yet i still love some of the trail centres. The Marin trail is a brilliant example; each corner exposes a stunning vista of endless mountains or once managed forest, now claimed back by the wilds. Views i doubt i could ever grow weary of.

Therefore, while out biking the other day, it was with regret that i had to tear my gaze from Howden Moors and Cut Gate beyond, back to the overcrowded peak district. To contemplate how overshadowed the rest of my ride would be, surpassed by that single thrilling glimpse of wilderness. I do recall that one bit of singletrack on the way home though... the one with the marshmallow loam, latticed with glacé roots, that flows effortlessly between toadstool-topped tree stumps. Im also pretty sure it put a massive smile on my face. DW

Good Weather?

2009-12-02T21:48:00.001Z

Generally we seem to allways be out in shitty weather. Almost allways anyway. So there was no way I was gonna beleive that the day we planned for a Welsh double header of trail riding, was going to be the hottest day of the year.

Anyway, we headed of the the CliMachx trail super early, to try and avoid the swarms of 'mature' drivers that inhabit the Welsh A roads. Whilst Cal and I got left by Ste and Dave, on the drive out we reached the car park above Machynleth eventually. Climach is a great trail center and the final descent is up there with the Marin for man made goodness, but we opted to film earlier on, getting some shots out in the open amongst the thousands of foxgloves.

Ste, Cal and I rode whilst Dave W caputred the three of us from various angles, aswell as getting some sweet 'scenery' shots of jet planes, eagles and bin wagons. The final descent was awesome as ever. I think it is the longest man made singletrack in Wales, and is worth the trip deep into the valleys.

We had set the afternoon aside for the trail down Cadair Idris, and the 2nd biggest legal descent outside of Scotland. It may have been the biggest descent, but Christ it was a slog to get up. We eventually made the top, dehydrated and knackered at about 5 o'clock. The views were incredible, and despite the reluctance to film, we got some of my favourite shots of the whole year in the bag on the way down.

8 pints of coke later in the pub, and we set of home, from what was a memorable, but knackering day in the mountains, made even better by Cal and I's shortcuts meaning we overtook Ste and Dave twice on the way home.

This May Be The Greatest

2009-12-02T21:12:00.001Z

May Rules. As does that sweet pun in the title. Our home trails are pretty much perfect at this time of year. Dry and dusty, but not yet overgrown. It is trail nirvana just outside the front door. After a few evening rides, Ste and I headed out to get some shots on the loamiest, most flowy trail around these parts. It was a great evening, and we got a few sweet shots and had an awesome ride. One of those where you don;t actually want to go home. Plus you can just shove your bike away without washing it. Sweet.

Once Dave got a look at the footy, he was keen to get out, so the next day we loaded up the cable cam and set out to get a super cool segment togethor. Ste and I rode the trail over and over and dave got shot after shot. It came out pretty cool. Once into the woods, we decided to gt out the cable cam and get some shots of Ste flowing through the braken. A total misjudgement led to a high speed cable cam crash, which lauched the camera into oblivion. All was well though, despite our best attempts to smash the camera.

We got some pretty nice shots in the end though, despite repeated setbacks. I really need to find somewhere that has a may climate all year round...

Lakes

2009-12-02T21:04:00.004Z

So the Lakes is pretty much a second home to Cal and I. I think we must have been there every year since birth. And it really is one of the best places to ride bicycles on big(ish) mountains. It only seemed natural to haul Ste, Dave W and the trusty miniDV up there to get some trails on film.

Helvelyn in early spring seemed like a good idea. We had made it to the top on rigid bikes in ferbuary many years ago, so despite the weather report being less than favourable we headed up for a weekend. The trip started with Cal and I scoring an ultimate driving win over Dave W and Ste. We knew there was no way going via Penrith was faster, and so it proved. Gave us a nice half hour spell to get ready though.

Once we hit the ridge we realised the suimmit was probably out the question. You literally could fly a bike like a kite in the wind, so instead of the up and over plan, we elected to head for Sticks Pass. Heading of the summit ridge we got some cool shots on the top, beofre rolling down to Sticks Pass Quarry. The trail had been a little sketchy until this point, but once we hit the quarry things got a bit gnarly. The camera was out and we got a few nice shots, admired by the the Duke of Edinburgh kids swarming the trail. We got some real nice footage, expecially of Dave and Ste.

Once back down we headed over to Boredale Hause, to ride the high level singletrack round Ullswater. We also took the time to test out the cable cam rig, and much to our joy, it worked. The trail was super gnarly, and whilst I don't think we quite captured the ganr on film, we still got some super sweet cable and boom style shots.

After 11 hours out on the trails the fish and chips in Grange Over Sands went down a treat, as did the first can of the season at breakfast the next day.

The wind got up again over night, so we called of plans to hit up another Lakes pass and instead headed over to Grizedale. As Ste said, the natural trails there have so much flow, so after getting a few long range pans on the open bits of trail, we decided it was time to get ambitious with the cable cam. Hopefully you can check out the results in the film. I was amazed.

Once we had Ste and Cal's shots in the bag we headed across the valley and got a few shots of Dave and I, before a horse shit laden final descent of the day really capped of the weekend in style. I really didn't think I would be seeing dust this early

Marin County

2009-12-02T20:38:00.000Z

So I guess we had better back fill this blog with some of the actual filming we did over the last 11 months. Jeezus, can't believe it has been that long...

Anyway, we kicked of the year riding and filming wise at the Marin Trail in Gwydyr Forest. Seemed pretty appropriate seen as this was the first trail center any of us ever rode at. Seem to think I had bright blue woolen legwarmer tight things and a rigid spesh hardrock. I remember following a guy with a Yoda backpack down the final descent, Yoda flying all over the place, staring back at me. Mountain biking was way rad back in the day.

But yeah, I think the Marin is collectively our favourite trail center. The singletrack there is so sweet, just exactly how it should be, and it never really gets a revamp, which gives it a cool semi eroded, kind of natural vibe.

We set out to film two specific bits of singletrack on what turned out to be a peach of a day. First up Ste and I got up to speed, whilst Dave W scoped out some angles, then we filmed Dave shredding on his own later on. The light was peachy all day, and hitting up the final descent non stop was a great way to start the year. All in all, a damn fine day.

S'up?

2009-11-24T19:57:00.001Z

Hey. Er... Well, we are a few guys who ride bikes. I guess we want to try and show what mountain biking is to us, and why it is such a big part of our lives. We are pretty big fans of filming and photographing the places we go, the trails we ride, and the experiences we have, and hopefully we can get the good times across through the site. There are many types of mountain biking; Freeride, dirt jumping, XC racing, and it seems like kids coming in to the sport think of mountain biking as just doing jumps and tricks. Cool though this is, I guess we feel like the adventure is going out of the sport a bit, and hopefully we can show why we think it is important that it stays. Anyways, stick with it, let’s see how far we can take this...