Month: August 2009

Thursday Evening Newbie

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Night Riding

Night Riding

I have been lone riding for a couple of years and just recently starting looking to join a MTB group – then happened across Brighton MTB whilst out walking in St Leonard’s Forest.

After chatting to a couple of the guys, I met up with the whole group on a Thursday night ride at Stammer Park. I was warmly welcomed by all & learned that there is a good mix of abilities and ages, with around 10 riders in total (more at weekends).

The group has set up some brilliant single-track trails around the stammer park area, which luckily (I think!) are not well known enough to be wrecked by inconsiderate riders…. The jumps and rolls are enough for intermediate riders to handle at slower pace, but have enough about them to be challenging for advanced MTBers if taken at speed.

No-one was left behind & the advice given about upcoming trails was excellent. I could tell that the experience levels were good, as all the riders chatted about everything riding orientated whilst mid ride (lights through to bikes, through to events) & gave some good tips on techniques and equipment. (Decent lights and a good helmet are pre-requisites for night riding with these guys).

Even with the off I had toward the end of the evening – (I was warned by Sam to mind my head….) I had a cracking time (hope I didn’t hold anyone up!!) and will definitely join up with them regularly.

Cheers Fellas!

Rob

Brighton Big Dog 15th August

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big dog

The weather was its usual sunny Brighton self, Stanmer seems to have its own micro-climate as even when raining and the ground is slippery it is rarely cold.

 

Thanks to everyone who helped out. Lugging boxes, erecting tents or finish lines, directing cars or standing for hours without a break trying to prevent the odd fool from killing themself.

Feedback from those competing or just taking part was very favourable and the riding was considered some of the best on the UK race scene, this is great news as at the end of the day those competing are the most important aspect of a mtb event. It seems us regular visitors to Stanmer don’t know how enjoyable our little playground is and it takes others to point it out. The use of some of our singletrack on the course was also gratifying although we will have to accept that it is no longer secret!  Why did some complain about the wasps nest? be thankful, we  have a section of singletrack called ‘Sting-in-the-Tail’, it wasn’t used but is named after the flying fiends. Some of the descents witnessed chaos and plenty of tumbles, hopefully no was hurt (including the guy from Oxford who we took to first aid and was instructed to go to A&E) and everyone will be back next year.

The high marshal turnout from Brighton mtb was very much appreciated by both the competitors and the organising committee who are planning a show of thanks during the coming weeks so watch this space.

Plenty of the Brighton mtb gang took part (apologies if I’ve missed anyone):

Mark and the ‘Bongo Pedallars’

Pete & Brian as ‘Brighton mtb’

Alex and Rob as ‘Where’s the Beer’

Mr Donne and Gez as ‘Are we there yet’

Sam in the solo event

Jo in the Oneder Dog

Jimbo from Sussex-mtb in the solo event

However, pride of place must go to Gill and her team ‘3 Pedigree Bitches’ who won their catagory, no pressure to defend it next year then girls.

As a first event to be organised by a bunch of amateur mtb enthusiasts the excellent vibe together with unanimous competitor feedback shows that the Big Dog  09 was a great success. The good bits of 2009 will be built upon and areas for improvement have been noted. The plan is to make the 2010 event one of the best experiences on the mtb calendar for both competitors and all those involved in organising and staging the event.

Keep checking the photos as they will be updated during the course of the next week.

Ride Report: Saturday 1st August

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Procession

Procession

3 weeks ago I had some kind of brainstorm about my present physical activities as I spend a lot of time behind a computer and my belly is getting bigger, hands thinner and head heavier. Outcome of that was the decision to buy an MTB! And so it happened.

2 weeks ago I bought my first MTB bike and searched the internet for places where I could go and start learning and riding. I came across Brightonmtb.org and here we go…….. a bunch of enthusiastic riders, who will never leave you behind, are willing to help with everything related to MTB and most importantly doing 3 rides per week regardless the weather. I contacted them and a couple of weeks ago joined for my first ride. I have no skills whatsoever but my first outing with them was a nice fluent ride (in my opinion).

Saturdays are “made” for less experienced people (none in my case) with a focus on practicing technical riding skills rather than a fast and furious ride. We slowly rolled through some hand-build tracks in the forest, practising techniques how to get over simple obstacles like small rocks, logs and fallen trees. The guys took me to a nice spot for bit of jumping practice (one foot high jump). After a couple of demonstrations and words of encouragement I had a go and a few attempts later and I managed to “jump” and land safely on both wheels at the same time. Great, first success!

The whole session took about 2 hours and 30 minutes, the guys were great, the weather was good (at least in the morning) and the whole experience was positive so I am looking forward to next Saturday and possibly even Thursday, to try to add some speed to it.

I also realised that wet roots are not MTB rider’s friends.

Cheers.

Oh and one more thing. It seems to be that right now I am the only one non-UK MTB learner in this group so if there are any more foreigners who would like to join. Just do it (Nike) – no problem at all.

Martin Pelikan