OUR FINEST LONG-TRAVEL TRAIL BIKE. PURE AND SIMPLE
SARACEN.CO.UK FACEBOOK.COM/SARACENBIKES TWITTER.COM/SARACENBIKES
ARIEL 152 – £3,299.99 ARIEL 151 – £2,899.99 ARIEL 15X – £1,599.99
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contents
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CONTENTS / ISSUE 22 6 - FRESH OUT THE BOX
42 - RIDING FREE IN MADEIRA
COVER
Fresh products to land at WideopenmagHQ.
Madeira is mountain bike paradise - there’s
Manon Carpenter at home in
no two ways about it. Join Mark Scott, Sam
South Wales, photo’d by her good friend Jacob Gibbins. Manon is our
8 - GIMME FIVE
Flanagan and Jacob Gibbins for a mind
Quick fire high fives with Sam Flanagan.
blowing trip.
10 - THE BIG QUESTION
52 - DIGGING DEEP
“If you had £10M to spend on UK mountain
UK freerider Chris Smith shares his latest
biking, what would you do..?”
secret spot.
14 - THIS IS STEVE PEAT
56 - HEAD GAMES
celebrating fast, cool and talented
With the 2014 race season and the launch of his
Learn to control your mind and the rest will take
British mountain bikers.
new film ‘Won’t Back Down’ on the horizon we
care of itself.
Jacob Gibbins
first ever female cover star and someone we’re stoked to have a full interview with in this issue. Male or female - it makes no difference - she’s one of the most talented riders in the UK and is exactly what Wideopenmag is all about,
tracked Steve Peat down for a chat.
58 - IN THE CLUB 20 - MANON CARPENTER
Olly Wilkins travels to Holland for Joost
Manon is without a doubt one of the most
Wichman’s Bike Battle.
talented racers in British mountain biking. Szymon Nieborak and Milky spent some time
62 - R.I.P WOBURN SANDS
with her for a chat about what’s new...
We asked Woburn local and Saracen rider Matt Jones to tell us what The ‘burn meant to him.
28 - HOW I MET STEVE PEAT Cut Media’s Stu Thomson tells us how he met
64 - KELLY MCGARRY
Steve Peat.
Kelly Mcgarry. If you don’t know the name go look up ‘Mcgarry Helmet Cam’ on YouTube.
30 - DRINK TEA RIDE BIKES Home brewed industry with Sam Needham.
70 - PRODUCT REVIEWS We get an in depth look at some of the products
34 - TROND HANSEN
here at Wideopenmag HQ.
Milkpro talks big jumps and big projects with Norway’s number 1 freerider turned film-maker.
36 - A SINGLETRACK CENTURY 100km of downhill single track, the DavosKlosters Bahnentour is one hell of a route.
Wideopenmag is a free quarterly UK mountain bike magazine that’s available in print and online. We’re dedicated to showing off the wealth of talent that the UK mountain bike scene boasts. We are free. Visit our website at: www.wideopenmag.co.uk
THIS MAGAZINE IS FREE
WWW.NUKEPROOF.COM
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Welcome
WELCOME Cheers! A huge welcome to issue 22! You’re no doubt reading this mag (either on a computer, on a mobile device or in print) and eagerly looking forward to the year of mountain bike riding or racing you’ve got ahead. Rather than rattle on about all the amazing content that’s packed in to this issue (and it really is a pretty
WINTER
wideopen UK BIKE MAGAZINE
EDITOR
PRODUCER
RACE TEAM
JAMIE EDWARDS
JAMES HILTON
RICH THOMAS
@jamie_wideopen
@james_wideopen
@richthomas24
DEPUTY EDITOR/
CHIEF MEDIA
@jaywilliamson_
WEB EDITOR
SQUID
MARK SCOTT
JIM SMITH
JACOB GIBBINS
@markscott259
@rideroots
@jacobgibbins
KYE FORTE
DESIGNER
4X EDITOR
JOE PARFITT
JAMES WEBBER
DAVE THOMASON
@joeparfitt34
@jamesmwebber
@wideopen_dave
COPY EDITOR
STAFF WRITERS
CHAZ CURRY
FIONA
PETE SCULLION
@rocketsnrascals
MACKENZIE-GREEN
@pete_scullion
OSCAR JOHN
@fi_mackgreen
LAUREN JENKINS
NEWTON-MASON
@midnight_bliss
@tftuned
JAY WILLIAMSON
dream line up!) I’m going to set you a challenge that you can accept or ignore as you so wish. Think of it as a belated new year resolution. I’m going to challenge you to try and ride more. I challenge you become a faster, fitter and stronger rider. I know, I know - it’s harder than it sounds and you may already ride like hell. But for those that have jobs, kids, commutes, and real-life things that get in the way of bicycles then this is for you. I challenge you to ride once
@kyeforte
SPANNERS
more a week than you do already. CONTRIBUTORS For me the extra ride is at lunchtime - if I’m organised and commute on
JACOB GIBBINS, SAM FLANAGAN, MATT WRAGG, NICO LAU,
my mountain bike I can just about squeeze in a lap of the local trails and
SZYMON NIEBORAK, SAM REYNOLDS, MANON CARPENTER, STU
be back at the day job in 60 minutes. If time is tight I can take the road bike
THOMSON, SAM NEEDHAM, TROND HANSEN, DAVID MARTIN,
and swap smiles for miles.
PETRA ESTERMANN, MARK SCOTT, JOAO FERNANDES, CHRIS SMITH, OLLY WILKINS, IRMO KEIZER, JONNY FINCH, MATT JONES,
Not possible? Ok how about an evening ride? A ride before work? Pump
STEVE PEAT, JOE BOWMAN, KELLY MCGARRY, DAVE THOMASON,
track at lunch time or early morning Saturday before the other half wakes
KAT VANES, PETE SCULLION, PAUL THOMAS, RICH THOMAS, JAY
up? How about doing the unthinkable and swapping Friday night beers for
ROBINSON, CHAZ CURRY
Friday night single track (with a beer afterward of course)? I’m not saying it’s easy. It may not be a change you’re willing to make. After all it takes effort, organisation and maybe some muddy-legs in the office. Try it for me. You will be a faster, fitter, stronger rider by the end of it no matter how much you ride already. Challenge accepted? Good luck and let us know how you make the change - @wideopenmag.
INSPIRATION WOLF OF WALL STREET, NELSON MANDELA, FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH, CAPPUCCINOS, GYM, BORIS THE LION, GOGOL BORDELLO, CHEESE, THE F*CKING WEATHER, WINTER OLYMPICS, THE DOG, SHINEDOWN, NEW ZEALAND, [R]EVOLUTION, SWIMMING IN THE LAKE, PIES, RACE SEASON, THE YURT OF HURT, RAIN, NIGHT RIDES, KOGA, WINTER WEDGES ON VIMEO, MARCUS LUTTRELL.. DISTRIBUTION WIDEOPENMAG IS AVAILABLE IN PRINT AT QUALITY BIKE
Cheers!
SHOPS AND EVENTS THROUGHOUT THE UK. WIDEOPENMAG IS AVAILABLE ONLINE AT WWW.WIDEOPENMAG.CO.UK
See you on the trails!
JAMIE AND THE WIDEOPENMAG TEAM.
FIND US ON WEB: WWW.WIDEOPENMAG.CO.UK FACEBOOK: WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/WIDEOPENMAG TWITTER: WWW.TWITTER.COM/WIDEOPENMAG INSTAGRAM: WWW.INSTAGRAM.COM/WIDEOPENMAG
All rights are reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission of the publisher.The publisher or editor accepts no responsibility for the consequence of any action taken based on any information, opinions or advice contained herein. The opinions and view expressed are not necessarily those of the publishers or the editors. The publishers and editor cannot accept responsibility for errors in articles or advertisements or for unsolicited manuscripts, photographs, or illustrations.
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FRESH OUT THE BOX
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fresh out the box
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THE FRESHEST PRODUCTS TO LAND AT WIDEOPENMAGHQ.
LOOK OUT FOR OUR VERDICT IN THE NEXT ISSUE
Cycleops Fluid 2 Turbo Trainer £284.99
I heard that collective groan - turbo trainers
Gusset Magnum 50mm Stem £44.99
A short, tough and reasonably light stem at a
are not fun. But if it’s chucking it down in the
Leatt Airfit 3DF vest £169.99
middle of the week and you just want to spin
Leatt claim this is the only armour on
your legs for half an hour without visiting the
the market with CE Level 2 protection -
gym, there aren’t many other options. Quiet,
meaning it can ward off twice the impact
solid and a remarkably similar feel to riding
that most armour out there can take.
on the road.
It looks good, it’s super comfortable, it
doesn’t restrict your movement and it’s
super impressive price. The most interesting
designed to be compatible with a neck
thing about the Magnum is the ‘wedges’ that
brace. So far, we’re really impressed.
clamp on to your fork’s steerer tube, replacing
the conventional bolt-up method. It’s neat, tidy and means no bolts to smash your knees on.
MET Parabelum £129.99
MET have been in the helmet game for
ages and it shows with the Parabelum. Its
clear that a heap of thought has gone into it and there’s loads of impressive features
BBB Scope 1300 £199.99
Packed with 1300 lumen the Scope is more
than powerful enough to light your rides. It will last for an hour and a half on full power and
throughout, including a camera mount and a large peak that you can move out of the way to help with goggle mounting. There’s also loads of adjustability. We like, a lot.
Trail42 Nova tech tee £29.00
Just when we thought Trail42 had
perfected their tech tees they went and made them even better by printing the
an impressive two and a half hours on its 800
names of some awesome trails on them
lumen mode. Forget cheap Chinese lights, this
and donating profits to their upkeep. Nova
thing is bright and tough.
is our local trail in Bristol and the pub we drink after every ride.
Bell Super £99.99
The Bell Super unashamedly screams
‘enduro!’. It has 25 large vents to keep you cool and a removable camera mount to capture
the action. At a penny under a hundred notes we’re expecting to see a lot of these about!
SRAM X9 10 speed rear mech £99.99 10 speed, roller bearing clutch, 36T
cassette compatible, 3 cage lengths and
Fox Airline glove £21.99
even 3 colour options. We’ve had mixed
Simple, sturdy, slip on gloves from Fox
experiences with SRAM shifting so are
and a personal favourite of our race
looking forward to giving the X9 a really
team. There’s a lightweight, perforated
thorough, really brutal testing. So far so
palm and sturdy but low-profile back.
good on our kiwi test bike out in NZ!
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gimme five! sam flanagan
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E M M I G FIVE!
SAM N A G A FLAN IB / @ JA CO B G B G IB B IN S PH O TO : JA CO
B IN S
Enduro pinner, bike shop worker, stand-up comedian, consummate mad man and all round nice chap. Sam will be racing the Enduro circuit this year and travelling the world with his brother-from-a-Scottish-mother Mark Scott.
5 words that describe Sam Flanagan?
Kanye West - Bound 2 (Sigma Bootleg), James Blake + Chance The Rapper
Such a monumental raving bellend!
- Life Round Here, Anything offering solid singalong capabilities.
5 words to describe your style on a bike?
Your 5 favorite places to ride right now are?
Absolutely horrendous mostly out of control!
Madeira, the Lakes, Ride Portugal’s Wideopenmag track gnar-fest, Manchester Indoor BMX Track, anywhere with a solid lol-train.
5 things that are awesome at the moment are? Hope Technology, Tinder, Epic TV, Burdz, Rich Thomas’ hyperpipe.
5 people you wouldn’t want to go riding without are? Mini-Flange (my brother), Angry (Mark Scott), Walker, when she doesn’t
5 things that suck at the moment are?
have her freelap poles (Rachael Walker from Hope), anyone who enjoys
Dyson’s, apparently they never lose suction, Greg Callaghan, British
being talked at, Ron Burgundy (Who wouldn’t want to ride with Ron?!)
weather, Seagraving anything* Sedgy-Fergo disappearing off Snapchat. And what advice would you give to your 5 year old self if you could 5 things that you love doing when you’re not riding your bike?
go back in time?
Talking at people, scrolling like a wild man on any social media
Don’t roll Tony Flanagan’s Punto, he doesn’t like it, never listen to J-brov
available, travelling, thinking up whale focused insults for my mate
(my brother), having a girlfriend is so bent, invent Facebook, never drink
Warby’s girlfriend, perfecting the ‘shaft from below shots’ for Snapchat -
cider - or if you do stay away from the Ineson’s laundry basket.
@samfla 5 things you wouldn’t go riding without? The best fun you’ve had in the last 5 years was definitely?
Shoes, unlike Emanuel Pombo, the ladz, the exact jump I am going to case
Whistler, the whole of the 2013 season, Manscene 2K10, Freeride
in mind, wind, cold and or rain, I love them all so much, EPO.
Madeira, they are rad bastards! I hate fun. It’s overrated. The 5 songs that you can’t live without at the moment? Kiesza - Hideaway, Arches - Take Me Higher (Moonlight Matters Mix),
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*T he term ‘Seagraving’ comes from Sam, Tahnee, Mark
and Rich’s recent t rip to Por t ugal. Tahnee cased a jump so hard t hey had to change t he definit ion of ‘case’ to name it after her.
WATCH THE NEW 2014 LINE OF GEAR WWW.FOXHEAD.COM/DHFR
: STERLING LORENCE NANAIMO, BC STEVE SMITHX PHOTO
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the big question
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THE BIG Q UEST ION
“IF YOU HAD £10M TO SPEND ON UK MOUNTAIN BIKING, WHAT WOULD YOU DO..?” Si Paton - BDS Race Director:
Tracy Moseley – MTB racing legend:
I would put the money into the British Downhill Series’ bank account
Better access to some of our DH locations, chairlift or some permanent
and withdraw a million a year to invest in the series. There would be
uplift. Access to bikes for more kids, more clubs, coaches and
big prize money, a VIP lounge, a press tent, live streaming footage, TV
opportunities for MTB to be seen on mainstream media. More trail
production and all the top teams and riders in attendance.
development and also open up more footpaths to bikes ! I'd also like to
Can you spare me £50million? If you’ve got that I’ll turn Innerleithen into
buy a big sun making machine so the winter is not so cold and wet!!
Whistler Bike Park. There would be no entry level stuff – just large and technical features. I’d recreate epics like A Line, Dirt Merchant or the
Ed Oxley – Bearded adventurer and skills coach:
Bone Yard and put in all the infrastructure you need down the bottom.
The last thing mountain biking needs is £10 million. It's far too money orientated as it is. Surely the beauty of our hobby is the way it puts us in
Mike Marsden – Borderline Events:
the forest, free from rules, having a blast on whatever we have to hand?
With £10M I could do anything! I would build six National standard
Anyhow, enough of reality! I'd spend the money on drugs and have the
XC, DH and 4X tracks across the UK from the far north of Scotland to
time of my life. However I'd probably get bored of the effect before I
the depths of Cornwall. I would put in place an uplift infrastructure
died, so I'd cash in my chips and move to the Pyrenees where I'd buy
to support the DH and 4X and assure the venues are sustainable,
an abandoned village and turn it into a utopian society. We'd base our
affordable and accessible to everyone that wanted to get involved. To
lifestyle around the cult of the knobbly wheel and just take things from
ensure the venues had a future the profits would be used to develop
there. Sounds like a plan.
and sustain the tracks and services at each site. I’d like to build 10 tracks but think with my £10M I’d be pushing it!
Olly Wilkins - Pro rider and DMR bikes product designer: 10 Million is a lot of money, a lot can be done, an awful lot. First of all we
James Pascoe – National Trust MTB projects guy and Rockets and
appoint me as the dictator. There is one media outlet and no one can
Rascals co-owner:
see what goes on in MTB in the rest of the world. I'm kind of thinking
So let me get this straight you're going to give me £10M? Wideopen print
like a North Korea vibe, except with £10,000,000 in my back pocket, not
is going well then! This is going to be way too dry but I’d spend £2M on a
in the back pocket of that fat Korean kid. We then stop all these silly
concerted legal push on changing England's current rights of way issues,
gangs. The 'Enduro' gang become friends with the 'XC' gang and they
Scotland has already achieved paths open to non-motorised traffic,
become friends with the 'DH' gang. All of the aforementioned gangs
Wales is on the way. £6M would go on 30 urban trails / pump track / dirt
stop looking down on the 'free ride' gang and they are all grouped
jumps at £200k a package, every major city could have an Ashton Court,
together as one. We would call it… I don't know….Mountain biking?
Leigh Woods or Parkwood Springs set up. Last but not least, I’d spend
Nah thats boring, we'd call it FUN. After this has been done we would
£1M on getting a load of shit hot fundraisers and £1M on marketing the
see what budget we have left and make a MASSIVE mountain. I've lost
shit out of how great mountain biking is! Alternatively, I could spend the
track, forgotten my point, I think it was noble to begin with. I think the
lot on a hit squad to deal with Daily Mail reading NIMBYs... I may know
punchline is that I keep the money and move away from this shitty
some people who will come out of retirement for such a plumb job!!
island. You all suck. I WIN!
I would buy out the shit golf course on our only hill near my house and turn it into a bike park with a drag lift up the side with a cafe, pump track and dirt jumps at the bottom. The bike park would have runs for all abilities with a X-Games style BMX track (like they had back in the day) and a big slalom track. It’s not the biggest hill, but it’s all we have! OK so it’s not really going to benefit the whole of the UK, but people have places to ride already!
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“ I’m kind of t hinking like a Nor t h Korea vibe, except wit h £10,000,000 in my back pocket “
Nigel Page – Team Chain Reaction Cycles Team Manager:
GRANITE CHIEF 2 DT 27,5" DT custom-made model 2.478,49 £
CREATE YOUR BIKE There’s a lot to discover on rosebikes.co.uk. Dream bike configuration | huge selection | competent service | assembly in Germany | fast delivery facebook.com/RoseBikes
emulsion / MATT WRAGG
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PHOTO: MATT WRAGG / @MATTWRAGG
RIDER: NICO LAU
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The Enduro World Series kicks off in Chile in April this year. With two months to go before the season, the top riders are all hard at the training preparing themselves to try and wrestle the crown from Jerome Clementz’s hands. Who’s our money on this year? We’d be very tempted to take a punt on this man, Nico Lau. His form at the end of last year was incredible, and with a better winter of training this year, we reckon he’s the man to watch in 2014.
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this is steve peat
THIS IS
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INTERVIEW: JOE BOWMAN / @STEELCITYM EDIA
ST E VE PEAT PHOTOS: DUNCAN PHILPOTT / @_DUNCAN
WITH THE 2014 RACE SEASON AND THE LAUNCH OF HIS NEW FILM ‘WON’T BACK DOWN’ ON THE HORIZON WE TRACKED STEVE PEAT DOWN FOR A CHAT. YOU CAN LISTEN TO THE AUDIO OF THIS INTERVIEW ON OUR HOMEPAGE, JUST SEARCH ‘THIS IS STEVE PEAT INTERVIEW’.
So Steve Peat, let’s go back to the start of the year.
Cool cool, so 2013 was the first year you did a
How do you feel looking back at 2013?
few enduros. Were they a pretty big deal for you?
I think all in all it was a pretty good year. A lot of good
What did you think of them overall?
racing, a few new racers and I finished it on a high
Um …nah, it wasn’t a big deal for me to do the
with a couple of top 10’s.
enduros. It was nice to support the series in its first year and be at a couple of races. I was kind of put
Off the bike –was it a good season?
off with the first one at Punta Ala, I didn’t like the
Off the bike we had a lot of fun – hanging out with you
format and the fact that people had got to cheat and
Joe, filming for ‘This is Peaty’, watching the Rat (that’s
practice there before, it was a pretty unfair race to be
Josh Bryceland – Ed) get up to his usual antics. Just the
honest. But then moving on, I think Val D’Allos was
usual fun times with the Syndicate at the races and
an awesome race. I really enjoyed that and I really
away from the races. It was a pretty fun year yeah!
enjoyed the format. I wish they used that format a lot more for enduro races, when it’s more of a blind
Can you pick any particular highlights?
run than practiced runs. I think that’s the spirit of
Looking back, the one that stands out for me was
enduro when they do it that way! So yeah, this year
doing well at Hafjell, I felt like I could have done well
I’ll probably do a couple more races but I won’t be
the first year we raced there the year before but I just
specialising in enduro!
flew off the track. That was just a bad luck year for me so I was pretty happy to get 6th place and it was the
So you’re not going to retire and become a washed
first time in a while I was in 10th overall. I really enjoy
up enduro rider then?
the track at Hafjell so that was one stand out moment
No! I don’t think it’s a retirement home for
for me. Off the bike I guess it was our trip to Thailand
downhillers!
again.
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this is steve peat
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On the bike then, who were your favourite people to hang around
Australia for Cairns which I’m quite looking forward to. Last time I raced
with in 2013?
there it was in 1996 for the World Champs and I think I might be the only
Easy peasy! All the lads!
rider on the circuit that’s going to race at Cairns this year who raced in 96.
Whey, all the lads! So another big thing that happened recently was the ‘Won’t Back Down’ Premier. Obviously it’s now finished, how do
Bonus fact! So off the bike have you got any particularly cool
you feel about it being done and getting ready to release it?
adventures lined up away from racing?
Ah it’s a big relief for me and a big weight off my mind to actually get the
Yeah we’re just sitting down at the moment and planning stuff, planning
movie out there. It does feel slightly strange in the fact that obviously I’m
where we’re going to take the ‘This is Peaty’ series this year. There are
still racing and still doing ok at the races so I’m not retired yet. I’m stoked
lots of fun ideas and places to go visit but we haven’t nailed a schedule
with how it’s come out though. I think Clay Porter and Jon Lawlor have
down yet so I can’t shed too much light on that for you!
done an absolutely amazing job and it’s not just a movie about me, it’s a documentary about 20 years of downhill racing. I think a lot of people
Watch this space then… So what are your main goals for this year?
will find it very educational, funny in parts and a great watch.
What do you want to achieve? On the bike I want to be consistent. I want to be top ten week in, week
I agree – it is. So moving on to this year - what’s your approach to
out and where I used to be and where I finished off last season. That’s
training been this year? Anything different or the same old?
the big goal for me. And – off the bike – I want to make the ‘This is Peaty’
Yeah it gets tougher and tougher for me to train hard and I’ve definitely
series as fun as possible, enjoy life, spend time with my family and not
got slacker over the years as I’ve got older! This year I feel pretty
be as busy as I have been for the last couple of years. I want to try and
focused, I finished on a high last year and I want to start this season
enjoy my family a little bit more and spend more time with them and
better than I’ve started the last couple - come in a little bit stronger and
just focus on the things that mean a lot to me.
try and be faster at the start of the season rather than build my speed through the season. My training plan has been a little bit different this
So you can confirm that there’s going to be a season 3 of ‘This is
year and I’m working with Adela Carter and the guys at Sheffield Hallam
Peaty’?
Uni to put that all into place.
Affirmative!
So when does it all kick off for you this year?
When’s ‘Won’t Back Down’ going to come out?
The first big event will probably be in March. And then our first World
We’ve got a few tours lined up at different venues around the UK and
Cup – South Africa – is the first week of April I think. It’s going to be a
all over the world actually. And then I think it’s going to be mid-end of
pretty tough month April actually. We’re going to go to South Africa –
March that it’ll be released on iTunes and DVD.
long travel – come home for a couple of days and then go straight out to
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emulsion / SZYMON NIEBORAK
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PHOTO: SZYMON NIEBORAK / @DELAYEDPLEASURE
RIDER: SAM REYNOLDS / @SAMREYNOLDS26
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So this is a spot in the Surrey Hills that I’ve always had my eye on for building some features. There was a bit of an ancient hip jump here built by a few friends but it was overgrown and ruined so me and Daryl Brown poached the run up and built a huge new lip and landing to get some dark airtime. This was only the first session so watch out for more photos from here soon! - Sam Reynolds
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Manon Carpenter
MAN ON CARPE NT ER INS INTER VIEW : JACOB GIBBI NS / @JACO BGIBB LEASU RE PHOT OS: SZYM ON NIEBO RAK / @DEL AYEDP
MANON IS WITHOUT A DOUBT ONE OF THE MOST TALENTED RACERS IN BRITISH MOUNTAIN BIKING. SHE’S A JUNIOR WORLD CHAMPION, SCORED 3RD OVERALL IN THE 2013 DOWNHILL WORLD CUP AND IS THE CURRENT OVERALL BRITISH DOWNHILL SERIES WOMEN’S WINNER. SZYMON NIEBORAK AND MILKY SPENT SOME TIME WITH HER FOR A CHAT ABOUT WHAT’S NEW...
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Manon Carpenter
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So how was 2013 for you? You landed 3rd overall in
a lot of other girls chasing at your own heels. It did make
the World Cups, that can’t have been bad?
for exciting racing though, my closest races to Rach were
I was really happy with 2013 in some respects; I definitely
Innerleithen, Llangollen and Andorra and even though
made my mark as a regular on the World Cup podium
I came second I was buzzing after every one of them
and I was consistent throughout the year with only
because I’d pushed myself so hard.
two races that didn’t go so well. In other respects it was frustrating! Getting 2nd at Fort William World Cup
And you had a new team mate this year, how was
was amazing but then I got another 2nd, and another
that?
and another. I got 2nd place at every National round,
Yeah, we had Sam Dale on the team and I’ve nicknamed
National Champs and at 5 out of the 7 World Cups I
him Grizzly, like a bear! When he’s in a good mood he’s
raced... so after a while 2nd place doesn’t feel quite so
really fun and when he’s not he likes to wind me up. Will
good! Even though it’s still a good result I felt a little
(Madison/Saracen team manager) often says we bicker
deflated when I finished with a 3rd place at Leogang. It
like brother and sister... it kind of makes me think more
did however leave me with a lot of motivation and a clear
of myself and my Dad. I think Sam and my Dad are
idea of what I needed to do this winter.
actually the only people who can make me angry!
Rachel Atherton all year? Chasing Rach all year was tough sometimes. When someone is obviously in the best form they’ve been for a long time and dominating like that you really have to try each weekend to see them as any other competitor. If you just concentrated on one person I think you’d lose focus on the race because there are always going to be
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“ I t hink t he only t hing women’s raci ng is lacking at t he moment is par t icipa nt s. “
It seemed like everyone was focussed on chasing
ISSUE 22
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You’re one of the few girls that seems to be fairly good at riding all different disciplines –downhill, trail, BMX etc. Haha I guess I’ll take that as a compliment? I often get into discussions with people asking me what the best training for DH is; MX, BMX tracks, skatepark, XC the list goes on. If you look at a lot of the top guys they all ride different disciplines outside of DH but they all go fast on the DH So it’s obviously the off-season now – what’s been going on? Training has been going really well, I’m actually stronger than I was at the start of the season last year which is really encouraging. At the end of the season you have some time for yourself and so I had the best time ever just doing whatever I wanted, seeing friends I hadn’t seen in ages, going out and riding my bike just for fun. I’d just got my hands on a short travel bike – a Saracen Kili Flyer - so I spent a lot of my time on that revisiting all the local tracks before getting stuck into gym work again. I’m really excited about 2014. I’m not a fan of New Year’s resolutions but a lot of things have changed now since 2013 and it does feel a little bit like ‘New Year, New Me’! My team manager Will Longden and coach Alan Milway have been really helpful and we’ve got a lot of new plans for training this winter at home and abroad, in the gym and on the bike. I’ve just moved out too and have started training at the Welsh Institute of Sport in Cardiff alongside lots of other athletes from different sports. It feels really good to have my own space and independence, I’ve not gone too far from home though and I have already been back with a bucketful of muddy kit! There are loads of good spots for riding nearby as well including my Dad’s newest project Rampworld Cardiff. He’s dreamed of building an indoor skatepark for ages and has finally made
bike. Likewise you could put them all in a skatepark or on a bmx or mx track I’m pretty sure they’ll all be bloody good. It’s all riding bikes and it all helps with general bike skills but I think the main thing is its fun. You can’t ride DH all the time, its hassle and when you’ve been racing all season you want a break from DH but still want to ride bikes. I like riding bikes so I do, in all different shapes and wheel sizes! So you asked me to put a question in about how you – and how other female riders - market themselves in the sport? How do you feel about female riders using their looks and their femininity to promote themselves? That’s a controversial topic. I have made a few riding edits in the last year or so that play on the girl side of things but to be honest it’s mainly just to do something different, and although I like to dress like a girl and wear makeup in day to day life when we’re filming edits the only thing I’m interested in is whether I look good on the bike or not. I read the comments to see what people think and I want ones that say I “look fast”, “look aggressive” and “look like a girl who can ride a bike”. What makes things difficult is when you’re trying to make a living out of a male dominated sport that doesn’t pay out as much to women. I’ve heard of people saying they’ll only sponsor a girl if she’s hot which is wrong in so many ways, but echoes the whole sports industry at the moment unfortunately.
it happen! It’s so much fun and has the nicest jump section ever – it’s just like riding dirt jumps.
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Manon Carpenter
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People often say that women are less interesting to watch than men in DH racing - how do you feel about that? It’s annoying and it makes me wish I’d been born a boy! That would make a lot of things in life a lot easier. I think it depends who you talk to though. Obviously the women don’t go as fast as the guys but I know others who prefer to watch the women racing just because they have their favourite athletes and they want them to win. I for one pay a lot more attention to female extreme sports athletes than male athletes because I love finding girls who can hold their own in male dominated sports, and I think a lot of guys are genuinely impressed by and respect girls who participate in extreme sports as well. I think it’s unfair to compare women to men because we are so different. I can’t think of any sports where the best women can beat the best men, annoyingly! Our bodies are very different to guys’ which is a fact that’s brought to my attention every time I see figures in the gym and from lab testing. It’s frustrating that some of the guys are literally twice as strong and powerful as me. That said there is still room for improvement and I try to focus on bike skills as much as I can alongside training to close the gap as much as possible. I love it when I can hold my own amongst a group of guys! How healthy do you think women's mountain bike racing is at the moment? I think the only thing women’s racing is lacking at the moment is participants. We need more girls coming through at the level of the current top 10 riders to add more competition and mix up the results a bit. Participation is one thing we can’t control as racers; we can go to the gym, get more time on the bike and push our own limits but we can’t pull girls out of nowhere to race. Hopefully with women’s only clinics and coaching more girls will find MTB accessible and get into racing, because I believe the standard of women’s racing is already very high at the top level and I am constantly surprised by what women are capable of in extreme sports. We just need more of us!
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Stu Thomson - “How I met Steve Peat”
WINTER
CUT MEDIA’S ST U THOMSON
”HOW I MET STEVE PEAT” This was one of the first times I’d met Steve (Peat). It was the year 2000
this bar at the top of the hill,
and I’d been racing the European Champs in Vars, France. It was only my
drinking and getting pretty
second race abroad after the Worlds in Sierra Nevada. This was back in
merry. I ended up sat on
the day when all the top boys raced the European Champs. Racing was
some stairs in the bar talking
over and I’d done pretty badly by my standards, nowhere near what I’d
to Peaty, we kind of knew
wanted to do.
each other before but this
Probably the best thing about the race for me was how wet it was at the
was really the first time we’d
end, I remember Mikail Pascal rode this mental line coming into the
had a proper chat. I was just
finish, which I think is on one of the Sprung videos.
a Junior and he was.... well...
Anyway, Peaty had won and we ended up at this after party in a bar way
Steve Peat! I was always
up high on the side of the mountain, a classic Alpine town. We’d gone
pretty nervous around him.
all the way up this really steep road to get there and everyone was in
I’d had a pretty good season that year though winning National Champs and the NPS, and doing pretty good at World Cups, so it was pretty good! Everyone was just sat around getting well into the drink and in the end the bar closed up. For reasons I can no longer recall, me and Steve ended up being the last two out the door to walk back to town. We started staggering down this hill together, behind everyone else who we could see strung out down the hill. Somehow we ended up in the front of someone’s house with these huge industrial wheelie bins, the ones with the four wheels. Next thing I knew, Peaty was lying on top of one, and I’m on top of the other absolutely caning it down this hill! Needless to say we caught everyone up pretty quickly, crashed through them all, flying down this Alpine road on wheelie bins... We ended up getting to the bottom of the hill pretty quickly. My bin ended up tipping over and I hit the deck. I looked up to see a line of French police looking down at me shouting at us, they even had dogs! They went nuts, and for whatever reason, just went mental and started kicking the shit out of me. I forget what had happened to Steve, but while I was on the floor getting a beating, Steve waded through, got me to my feet and got me out of there. We ended up just seal-launching ourselves into the back of a pickup truck that was driving past. I remember flying in with my legs in the air, with a couple of guys who’d been racing that day in the cab. And, that was how I got to know Steve Peat! A few months later my phone rang at my student flat in Stirling. It was Steve and he just said “Hi, it’s Steve Peat. Do you want to ride for Royal Racing?” Stu Thomson is an ex-World Cup racer turned action sports video production legend. He’s filmed throughout the world and recently created his masterpiece with Danny Macaskill’s ‘Imaginate’.
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Drink tea ride bikes - home brewed industry
DRINK T EA RIDE BIKES
HOME BRE WED
WINTER
Since Drink Tea co-founder and talented photographer Sam Needham threw off the shackles of a ‘normal’ job, he’s had more time to invest in his passions with his good friend Robin Puplett. Two of those passions just so happen to be drinking inordinately large volumes of tea interspersed with getting wild on a bike. What’s not to like? We sat down with Sam to get the latest on Drink Tea Ride Bikes.... Now then Sam, what’s all this about the revival of Drink Tea Ride Bikes? Why now? Now then Mr Scullion, I guess it’s not a revival as such; it’s just grown into its boots a little. I never initially started Drink Tea Ride Bikes as a company, the
INDUST RY
name was the birth of a doodle I sketched that was received pretty well by
PHOTOS: SAM NEEDHAM / @SAMNEE DHAM_CO UK
came onboard. Robin and I have collaborated on a few projects over the
INTERVIE W: PETE SCULLION / @PETE_SC ULLION
friends, and so I decided to get it printed on a few T-shirts. I actually ended up giving away most of the stock I had at the time to people who helped me out here and there. The motion of DTRB growing into its boots was kicked off when Robin Puplett years from his days at Altura to more recently drafting in an extra pair of hands here and there on my video/photo projects. After a typically British ride
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and over a good cuppa we decided to take DTRB to the next step by expanding the range and officially launching the brand as a company. We work well together so this seemed a solid project for us to work on. So what’s Drink Tea Ride Bikes about? Stupid question right? Haha, well, there is more to it that its name suggests. Aside from the fact that tea and bikes is a winning combo (fact?), Drink Tea Ride Bikes is all about the good times that come with riding bikes and the little experiences that make us fellow cyclists smile. However you ride, whatever you ride, wherever you ride, if you ride a bike, that’s all that matters. Our T-shirts, prints and tea are all inspired by the ethos we live
You’ve got 3 teas in the range at the moment with all the solid favourites. How do you go about picking new ones to add to the mix? It wasn’t too hard this time around to choose our current three teas. Everybody loves a good old standard cuppa and peppermint and chamomile teas are close favourites too, so our current range seemed a good mix. The initial testing and tasting is easy. Naming the tea is the hard part. By popular demand we’re planning to add a green tea to the mix at some point, but no promises yet.
by.
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What’s your favourite cuppa and why? The best kind of cuppa is down at my local bike shop (Ilkley Cycles). Milk, no sugar and piping hot to warm you through on the chilly winter days and always best accompanied by the lingering smell of rubber and GT85. Outside of the bike shop, I’m pretty partial to our Fresh Ride blend. Can I say I love a morning coffee too… shhhhhh. Who does what at Drink Tea Ride Bikes? The company has a pretty loose structure really, so both Robin and I tend to have involvement with all sides of the business. However Robin officially looks after the marketing side of things and I keep the brand going where I want it too I guess. Like I say, it’s not particularly structured, which works well, especially given we both have fingers in plenty of other pies. Do you and Robin have other jobs, and if so, how do you fit it all in? Indeed we do. As well as DTRB, Robin is pursuing a freelance career as an artist with various business ventures on the go and I’m busier than ever with taking pictures, making videos and designing anything and everything. We’re both flat out all the time, but that’s no bad thing, we both love it… you can sleep when you’re dead right? What’s the masterplan beyond tea-swigging bike enthusiasts? Do you have your sights on world domination? A world dominated by tea and bikes… if only. As far as Drink Tea Ride Bikes world domination, we’ll just have to see. We’re in the nice position of being really flexible as a company, so we can change with the wind if needs be. For the short term the brand will continue to develop and find its feet, grow its loyal following and keep things honest. By that I mean, we’re not a bunch of suits behind a name, we’re people who love riding bikes and everything that comes with it. Where can us regular folks go and purchase some tea and Ts? You can head to www.drinktearidebikes.co.uk for all the goods and find us in the usual social media places.
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trond hansen
T ROND HANSEN INTERVIEW & PHOTOS:
JACOB GIBBINS / @JACOBGIBBINS
MILKPRO TALKS BIG JUMPS AND BIG PROJECTS WITH NORWAY’S NUMBER 1 FREERIDER TURNED FILM-MAKER.
WINTER Tell us about yourself - name, age, where do you call home? Trond G Hansen. 31 years. I grew up in Bergen but currently I live in Oslo. What are the best and worst things about living in Norway? The fact that my friends and family live there is good but the winters are too long. Have you ridden bikes all your life? I guess I have, but when I was 14 I got my first proper MTB and since then I was a bike rider. It has been a bit on and off, sometimes every day, and other times just now and then. Friends and hobbies come and go, but I can say for sure that riding bikes in one way or another is one of the things that stuck with me the longest, and probably will for the rest of my life. Do you do any other sports as well? Yeah I like to mix it up. All board sports and bikes are favourites. Right now it´s bike riding, skateboarding, and snowboarding, but at some point I´ll get back on the MX and surfboard when I get the chance and stoke. I also do some climbing in the winter, it´s perfect winter training for preventing arm pump.
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2014 Is there a good riding scene in Norway?
already know with a twist. It´s the
Yeah for sure. It´s small, and dirt jumping has been pretty underground
same in snowboarding, skateboarding,
the last few years, but lift based DH riding is escalating, and of course
MX and so on.
Enduro is in the wind nowadays. This year Hafjell (the biggest bike resort) had its biggest weekends ever, the first national DH race had a
My friend Makken just made a course
record participant level, and we got Lines of Lofoten on a commercial
in Norway and invited some guys to
channel, so things are going good for bike riding in Norway these days.
come ride it at the Hillbilly Huckfest
Sweet Protection is a major ski/snowboard clothing and protection
festival. Andreu, Kurt Sorge, Aggy,
company based out of Norway, and they´re getting heavily into bike
Nico Vink, Louis Reboul, Sam Reynolds,
riding these days too. Having a Norwegian brand get into it like that is
and Nic Pescetto showed up, and
good for everyone involved, and their products are killer. There are also
they were all digging it. So did I - even
seriously skilled guys in each genre too.
looking at that kind of riding makes me so pumped. Lines like that on big
What level did you get to riding wise?
bikes is the most fun ever, and I hope
Well I was a full time rider for six years, and got a few good results, so
we get more and more of those lines
I would say I got to the point I wanted to be. I got to spend the winters
popping up here and there. The skill and the urge is there now, so I´m
riding my bike in warm places, and won a few pro dirt and freeride
sure we´re gonna see more of it.
comps, so I was stoked. Have you always been interested in the media side of things? Was it good to travel and live as a pro rider for a few years?
Yeah even before riding full-time I made some edits. I guess I´m not
For sure and it has definitely some of my fondest memories. I wanted
the most updated on everything in the media, but I just really like the
to have that lifestyle growing up, and getting to do it was perfect at the
projects. Projects of any kind, like building jumps. The thing I love
time. It was good then, and being able to live that way sticks with you
about making movies is that there´s such a wide variety of professions
afterwards too in many ways. Looking back at it, I´m so glad I went for
involved. From idea, to script writers, to organisers, business people
it.
(producers), camera, sound, music, graphic designers; the list goes on. I just get super stoked on projects, and movie projects especially.
Favourite place you went? Can´t say.
How did you get involved with AntiMedia? Well I rode with Niels and Andreas from 2004. We travelled a lot, and
So what made you take riding down a step and what has filled its
made events and did a lot of stuff together. When I went back to school
place?
they started AntiMedia, and I was working on some small stuff with
Well there are a few different reasons for taking it down a notch. I was
them during those years. Last year I moved to Oslo and now I´m at the
mainly paid as a freerider, and there pushing it is the most important
same office and basically spending most of my time working on different
part. I was doing a lot of dirt jump and slopestyle comps, so when
film projects with them. We don´t really spend so much time on bike
I found myself not really motivated to push it and learn new tricks
projects, but Lacon de Catalonia and Lines of Lofoten are definitely
anymore, I kinda figured that I had done what I would do on that side of
some of the projects I´m proud of.
the riding. Secondly stepping away from contests led to doing trail riding photo shoots, and just kinda shooting normal riding, and that definitely
Has seeing it from both sides changed the way you ride at all?
wasn´t my thing.
Well the media side doesn´t really change my riding, but I do ride differently now than back in the days. Back then I just rode and
But I guess the main reason was this. What I was stoked on over the
didn´t really put so much thought into the equipment, I just had good
last few years was building big jump lines for DH bikes. That´s what I
sponsors and knew that I was riding good shit. Now I find myself being
wanted to do the most and we did the ANTI Days of Thunder freeride
way nerdier on my equipment, paying attention to how the bikes and
comp in Hafjell where we build some pretty massive jumps for the time.
suspension works. Sweet also gave me some equipment to test this
That was amazing fun, but the second year it kinda winded out and the
season, and I like it. I like it a lot. I understand how people get really
session didn´t really happen. That meant taking down the jumps for the
hung up on making products now. It kinda makes it more fun, because
winter and waiting for a year until the next session. Making that kind of
I´m paying attention to the riding, then I focus on the suspension, then
stuff takes time, effort, money and that again killed my motivation for
the shorts, then the helmet, and then the grips, and then you almost
keeping the riding as my full time thing.
crash and you realize you need to focus on the riding again. Haha. Change is good for sure.
The cool thing is that now that the sport is older, there are many riders in the same situation I was in. It´s just the way it is I guess. Riders get
And finally, where do you see yourself in 5 years?
over progressing into new tricks when they get older, and then they
Doing what I do now, but hopefully better.
wanna explore new places, or ride different lines, and do the tricks they WIDEOPENMAG.CO.UK
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a singletrack century
A S IN GLET R ACK CE NT URY
WORDS: DAVID MARTIN
PHOTOS: DAVID MARTIN & PETRA ESTERMANN Buildings tower around us, grey tarmac below. As Dave and I sprint down the high street the reflective glare only amplifies the heat down here in the valley. A dull ache has been creeping into my knees and forearms for hours now and it feels as if the soles of my feet are starting to peel off. As we haul in the two roadies ahead I am experiencing precisely zero of the things I like about mountain biking. It is worth it though. This tarmac sprint and its accompanying exploits deep into the pain cave are the necessary evil required to make the 4.30pm lift out into the mountains to the east of Davos, the final crux in a day of riding to the clock that has taken in most of what I love about this sport of riding bicycles in the mountains. Some eight hours earlier we had emerged from a cramped early morning cable car into a cold alpine dawn. 1000 metres above town, we had a rough idea of what we were trying to do, and we knew we needed to get on with it. Pads on and helmets strapped as we stepped out of the cable car, through the lift station traffic and pedalled out into the mountains. We had come to Graubßnden, in the eastern end of Switzerland to ride the Davos-Klosters Bahnentour, a 100 kilometre singletrack mission with 400 metres of climbing and nearly 8500 of descending. Tracks and paths lie across the valleys and ridgelines that surround Davos and Klosters like high alpine spaghetti and in this most ridiculous of days out on a bike we would ride nearly all of them. Ten uplifts, ten descents back into the valley, times were tight. We were in a race against no-one but ourselves and if all went to plan we would be close on 7 hours of singletrack descending. It may be a route with a pretty perfect ratio of climb to descent, but to complete it in a day we had to make the lift connections work and that meant we were in a rush. As the first trail passed beneath our wheels, we quietly got on, nothing but the sound of controlled breathing and tyres scrabbling across the rocky surface. Dave and I didn’t speak much, we just rode; a silent acknowledgement that we both knew the other was capable. And so a morning passed riding at not quite race pace, but not far off. The GPS ticked upwards, the most alpine of singletrack
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a singletrack century
WINTER
“ WE ARE
FOCUSSIN G
ON NOTHING BUT THE
NEXT CREST OR T URN...”
slipped beneath our wheels. Open meadows, rocks, roots and loam filled woods came and went. Each chairlift brought a chance to rest and plough further through a rucksacks worth of baked goods and sweets. Then things went awry. Sometime just after lunch I found myself holding the innards of a brake lever as Dave pieced the mechanism back together. We had been picking and plunging our way down techy singletrack when things had gone sideways. A river, some rocks and an electric fence had interrupted Dave’s fall, but somehow he had come out fine. And on this day of ‘just getting on’ within five or so minutes the brake had stopped pulling to the bar and we were back to it, riding the loamiest of singletrack towards Klosters. The afternoon progressed, the hours and descents passed by. Hands, feet, everything started to ache that afternoon above Klosters. The scale of the day hung in the back of our minds. We tried to ignore it and deal with only whatever trails lay round the next corner. It was singletrack that just kept on coming. Loamy flat turns, bikepark berms, techy moves with a penalty for failure. Sections to hold it open on, to let the shapes of rock and roots carry you, sections of the exact opposite. Yes, we had covered a lot of trail, and on these trails we had covered it all. That 4.30pm cable car I mentioned? It may have been the final crux, our final uplift where time was tight but this day had more riding in store yet. The cable car had delivered us back to the summit of the Jakobshorn, a return to where we had begun some 80 kilometres
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earlier. From the summit this time though we plunged north, a nervous ridgeline traverse leading to 1000 metres of alternating flow and techy moves down to the valley bottom once more. By the time we arrived back in Davos it had the air of a town packing up for the day. Cables cars hung motionless as the bars started to fill. We would be in amongst the punters soon enough, but this most epic of days had one final twist. We arrive at the Fl端ella Pass summit just as the first drops of rain start to crack the dry air. The uplift on tarmac has gained us our final 1000 metre descent and this next singletrack will take our distance into triple figures. This goal goes unnoticed though, as a trail that flows and twists almost perfectly takes all our attention all the way to the bar. We are focussing on nothing but the next crest or turn, the bigger picture forgotten. By the time we roll off the dirt it is done, 100 kilometres of alpine descending. A big day. Dave and I stumble into the bar. Everything aches; sun cream and dust leave a grimy sheen on our forearms. Wheat beer cures all. The Davos-Klosters Bahnentour is one hell of a route and makes for a fairly stressful, and towards the end, painful day of mountain biking. Spreading its 100 kilometres of downhill singletrack over three or so days makes for a great long weekend though, and with trails spreading further out into the mountains towards Chur, Flims and Lenzerhiede, a week of quality singletrack riding can be had. With resorts giving out free lift passes for every night you stay it can be surprisingly reasonable on the wallet as well. The riding on offer varies from high alpine rock and loam hiking trails through to the full-on bikepark style of the B端ndner A-Line. If you are looking for somewhere a little different to go next summer, it ticks all the boxes.
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ISSUE 22
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COOL STUFF 2.
1.
3.
4.
5. 6.
7.
8.
9. 10.
1. DYNAMIC-STYLE.COM / 2. DRIFTINNOVATION.COM / 3. BURGTEC.CO.UK / 4. WWW.STANTONBIKES.COM 5. PASSENGER-CLOTHING.COM / 6. THEFOOTDOWN.CO.UK / 7. FLARECLOTHINGCO.COM / 8. PEDALPROGRESSION.COM / 9. LOOSEKID.COM / 10. PASSENGER-CLOTHING.COM WIDEOPENMAG.CO.UK
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riding free in Madeira
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RIDIN G F R EE IN MADEIR A
MADEIRA IS MOUNTAIN BIKE PARADISE - THERE’S NO TW O WAYS ABOUT IT. JOIN MARK SCOT T, SAM FLANAGAN AND JACOB GIBB INS FOR A MIND BLOWING TRIP. WO RDS & PHO TOS : JACO B GIB BIN S / @JA COB GIB BIN S
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WINTER
Madeira. Heard of it? Ever been? If you just answered no to both of those, don’t worry, it seems that few people have done either. The whole idea of winter sun is nothing new; the Costa del Sol and Tenerife package holidays are all pretty standard but just off the beaten track is this paradise. Lush green forests, huge mountains, and the most diverse and varied landscape I have found, all packed into a tiny island roughly the same size as London. That’s Madeira. Madeira is Portuguese, and just north of the Canary Islands, on the same latitude as Morocco. It’s 20 odd degrees and shorts and t-shirt weather in January, and has some of the best mountain biking any of us have found anywhere. Big statement I know, but it’s true. We took all-mountain bikes with us and they were perfect, although there is more than enough riding to do uplifted shuttle runs with downhill bikes for an entire week. I went with Mark Scott and Sam Flanagan - both are Hope Technology riders and Mark rides for Wideopenmag, having just joined the team for 2014 to race Enduro. They are best mates from up north and are both
We stayed with local riding company Freeride Madeira. Our guide John
amazing riders. Stylish, fast, good company and up for stepping out of
and driver Thiago (AKA Ralph, we kept mispronouncing his name ) were
their comfort zones and working hard to get the shots and footage we
amazing, meeting us at the airport with a smile on their faces despite
needed. Being best mates (and being who they are) made for a pretty
our flight being an hour late. They whisked us off through the hundreds
fun week - I haven’t laughed so much for quite some time. I hate the
of miles of tunnels that encircle the island and took us to our home for
word banter, but that’s what it was. A constant barrage of quick witted
the week. We were greeted by the entire host family - husband, wife and
comebacks, jokes and trying to sum up in some kind of word or noise
their 2 daughters (who Sam chatted up on a boat later in the week haha)
how amazing all the tracks were.
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“ MADEIRA
HAS SOME OF THE BEST
MOUNTAIN BIKIN G ANY
OF US HAVE FOUND,
ANYWHER E! BIG STAT EME NT I KNO W, BUT IT’S T RUE. “
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We spent the whole week riding different tracks, every day getting up around 8ish, having a nice breakfast, getting the bikes in the truck, a shuttle to the top, and then riding all day. Each track we got to, John, our guide would say “This one is ok, you should like it”. Then we’d get to the bottom and just all look at each other in amazement - every trail we came down was better than the last and the first one was better than 90% of what’s in the UK... just amazing. It’s all quite natural with lots of footpaths, but a good load of manmade downhill tracks as well. Everything from sand, rock, pine woods, cedar, open ridge lines, steep, mellow, fast, slow, tech, flat out, you name it and you can find it on Madeira. The food is amazing too, every meal was stunning and cheap to boot. Ordering a real steak sarnie with salad and getting change from a 5 euro note?! That’s like 3-4 quid!
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onto the coast, all in one ride! The food was epic and the guides knew all
some winter (or summer) sun , the best bike trails we have found in
the local spots and all the mind blowing trails which added up to a hell
Europe, good food, amazing company and an all round perfect week
of week! Freeride Madeira managed to wangle us a luxury little villa with
look no further than Madeira.
everything you’d ever need overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. Thanks to Vasco and his family for putting us up, not mention taking us reprobates
Sam’s take on it:
out on his boat! Top 3 things you need to do in Madeira would be: ride
Riding with Mark is always awesome, he is so naturally talented on the
as many trails as possible when you are there, book a trip with Freeride
bike and training with him definitely helps with lines and speed. The
Madeira and get some of the local Poncha down your neck!
guys from Freeride are incredible hosts. I would challenge anyone to get out and spend a week with them and not have fun! We may not
Top 3 things you need to do in Madeira would be ride as many trails as
be allowed back ever due to the fact we didn’t shut up all week and
possible when you are there, book a trip with Freeride Madeira and get
asked numerous ridiculous questions but fingers crossed! The tracks
some of the local Poncha down your neck!
on the island have everything. A particular one we rode from the third highest peak had loose open rocky stuff at the top, tight techy trees plenty of adventuring still to be done over there with paths and trails being discovered every week. 40 minute plus downhill’s are the norm! Jumps, berms, tech, loose, wild, manly, fast, tropical, steep, sea - there is something for everyone! My top 3 tips are 1) Go on a boat for sunset. 2) Drink lots of Poncha. 3) Stay with Freeride Madeira! Mark’s take on it: I didn’t really know what to expect going into Madeira, I was really keen to check it out and after a quick Google search I had a feeling that we were onto something special! The trip itself was incredible, from the first
“
YOU NAME IT AND IT’S ON MADERIA. “
in the middle and flat out cedar woods at the bottom. And there is
day of riding mountains, rainforest and following Sam Flanagan down
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riding free in Madeira
WANT T O GO?
Our trip was with Freeride Madeira who offer everything from full board trips to guided days out. We took 160mm trail bikes and they suited everything we rode perfectly but there are trails for big bikes if that’s more your thing. We flew with Easyjet from Gatwick to Funchal, flights were around £200 return, flying in January. Check out Freeride Madeira’s homepage at www.freeridemadeira.com
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riding free in madeira - Joao Fernandes
Joao Fernan de s
So tell us a bit about yourself. My name is João Fernandes but most foreigners call me John. I am fortunate to be from the island of Madeira. I am a professional mountain guide and partner/ manager of Freeride Madeira.
OUR GUIDE FOR THE WEEK WAS FREERIDE
Why Madeira ? Why would you tell people to come and ride here?
MADEIRA’S JOHN FERNANDES – A SUPER
In 2013 Madeira was considered Europe’s leading island destination and if
FRIENDLY AND SUPER GENUINE GUY. HE’S A
there was an award for Europe´s leading MTB destination, Madeira would have
GREAT RIDER AND A GREAT HOST THAT SPENT THE WEEK SHOWING US HIS SECRET RIDING GEMS AND MODESTLY TELLING US “THIS ONE IS OK, YOU SHOULD LIKE IT”. BORN AND BRED ON THE ISLAND, JOHN SPENDS HIS LIFE RIDING THE AMAZING TRAILS THAT IT HAS TO OFFER – HE’S YOUR MAN IF YOU WANT TO DISCOVER THE BEST OF RIDING IN MADEIRA. CHEERS FOR AN AMAZING WEEK JOHN!
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all the ingredients to win it! The reason I think Madeira has it all is the great variety of riding terrain for all levels of experience spread all around the island, combined with incredible scenery from the highest peak at 1862m all the way to the ocean. The mix of cultural experiences and other outdoor activities, such as surfing, canyoning and paragliding etc makes Madeira a mini New Zealand of Europe!
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Talk us through your favourite trail out there, and why it’s the best. I can`t say I have a favourite trail because each one has its speciality and different surroundings. Changing the riding area from east to west or north to south makes it seem like we have travelled to a different island. Why is Madeira not more well known? Do you think it will be a good thing if it becomes more main stream and better known? In my opinion Madeira is not more known as an all year round MTB destination because it’s only in the last four years that Freeride Madeira together with the local MTB community have been investing more on trail development and maintenance and building a great network. From there our company has developed bike holiday programs and tried its best to promote our work on social media and international MTB magazines and also by inviting foreign professional riders and cinematographers to Madeira to capture some of the best it has to offer. Madeira is an island that lives
What does Freeride Madeira provide for their guests? What can
mostly out of tourism and having mountain biking
someone expect from a week with you and what bike should they
as a new niche will potentially increase the economy
bring?
of the island helping it develop into a super MTB
Freeride Madeira as bike holiday organizers ensures that their guest
destination.
have a high quality service, with flexible programs for groups and always with solutions for all needs! Our local classified guides with
What does the future hold for Freeride Madeira
immense trail knowledge are able to adapt the trails towards the group’s
and the island’s riding scene?
experience, combining culture and relaxing moments at the end of all
Freeride Madeira has a dynamic team full of ambition
rides on Madeira´s hot spots. We have partnerships with different types
who aren’t scared to face obstacles and with this
of accommodations, strategically located, where guests can stay in the
perspective we will keep on working hard every day
city centre, in the country side or even half/ half. The best mountain
to be able to provide all mountain bikers world wide a
bikes to ride Madeira are enduros because then riders will be able to
unique and memorable experience while in Madeira
ride a bigger variety of terrain although there is also a week worth of
on holiday with our team. As event organizers we
trails for cross-country and downhill. If riders have any mechanical
have an objective of bringing a mountain biking world
problems we also have super mechanics that will work hard to have
cup venue to the island, and establishing a label of
bikes ready for the next day of riding. Freeride Madeira´s concept is
quality associated with Madeira.
to unite a group of riders into a tribe in search of the best trails of the “Pearl of the Atlantic” and all it has to offer, exceeding the expectation
What do you do when you’re away from bikes and
of all participants until the last minute. Welcome to the lost paradise of
work? What can people who come to Madeira do
mountain biking!
with a non riding day? I’m always in search of magical spots where I can take my friends and guests. It can be by going hiking or on a 4x4, deep in our tropical forest or on our high altitude mountains. Water sports are also a great option for outdoor activities. Foreign surfers have called Madeira the Hawaii of Europe for many years and canyoning athletes have said Madeira is one of the top spots on earth for the sport. A good night out with friends in Funchal, the capital, is always great fun and safe. There are many bars with different concepts spread by the coast line and also good quality night clubs. This could be a good option to celebrate an epic week of bike holidays with Freeride Madeira.
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“ I ca n`t say I have a favorit e t rail because each on e ha s it´s speciality an d differe nt su rrou ndings. “
Away from bikes and work I like to explore the island,
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Digging deep
DIGGING DEEP
UK FREERIDER CHRIS SMITH SHARES HIS LATEST SECRET SPOT.
INTERVIEW & PHOTOS: SZYMON NIEBORAK / @DELAYEDPLEASURE Chris – so it’s winter – it doesn’t seem to be holding you back. Yeah I love the winter time, asides from the constant rain of late! I like to mix things up through the winter, lots of XC riding, indoor parks, DH and of course all the freeride stuff too. I also ride Moto trials too which is great fun! You seem to be a bit of a lone wolf in your videos – do you normally ride solo? I ride a lot by myself to be honest; it’s always hard to find people in the week who are up for riding. Sometimes it’s cool though as you can be totally in control of what you want to do if you’re by yourself. Sometimes it’s hard to get motivated though and of course there’s always the risk of getting hurt in the middle of nowhere on your own! When I do ride with people it’s usually a big session with all the boys, Pilgrim, Reynolds, the Samson bros, Chopper, Geally, Deakin etc. I also ride a lot of park with my good friend Garry Penman who is an amazing rider when he gets off his sofa!
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ISSUE 22
2014
“ ONE QUARRY I
WAS CHECKING
OUT T URNED OUT
TO BE A PLACE
WHERE THEY
DETONATE BOMBS!
“
T RAIN PEOP LE TO
So we’re at your new quarry, did you really find it from scoping around on the internet? Yeah, for sure. It sounds sad but it’s one of my fave things to do if I’m bored on the computer; Google map, satellite view on loads of new spots, then do all the background work to get the lowdown on the new spot! Then go ride it. So tell us about this quarry we’re in then … Yeah it’s one of my newest finds. I stumbled across the pics on Facebook then contacted the guy and he gave me a location for it. First impressions were really good when I arrived, it didn’t look like anything else in the UK! It’s an amazing location to be honest, just a shame how soft the ground is. I have however found a spot recently that is actually Utah but I’ve been doing lots of research on it in the UK and should be heading up there pretty soon! How many times have you been chased by police or some angry farmer with a shotgun? Never to be fair! I’ve had a few lucky escapes though, one quarry I was checking out turned out to be a place where they train people to detonate bombs! Needless to say I made a sharp exit from that one. So what are your plans for 2014 then? Plans for this year are to head up to all the shows early this year and race a full series of British national 4X again to defend my title from last year. Then race some DH, produce my monthly edits and hit up some freeride comps too, hopefully Rampage. There is a lot of work with magazines and lots of product testing for all my sponsors too so it’s going to be a pretty packed year!
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Digging deep
You obviously focus on freeride. How much has that changed since you started? What keeps you motivating to push it? It’s changed lots to be fair. When I first started out freeriding it was Super Monster T forks, 3” wide Nokian Gazzalodi tyres and a bike that had as much travel as possible! They also used to weigh about 50 lbs, you’d send it off the nearest cliff and hold on. These days the bikes are amazing – they are so light and can take pretty much anything you chuck at them. The style has changed a bit in the true big mountain/dual crown freeride scene too - the terrain has got gnarlier and the tricks have got bigger too. I love it and think it’s the true identity of mountain biking. Don’t get me wrong, I love all the other disciplines too, but if someone says “mountain biking” to me, this is what I think of personally! The things that keep me motivated are to keep having fun on my bike and progressing and generating cool photos and video clips. I also like scaring myself and overcoming that fear, it’s a good feeling!
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head games
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HEAD GAMES
LEARN TO CONTROL YOUR MIND AND THE REST WILL TAKE CARE OF ITSELF. WORDS: CHAZ CURRY / @ROCKETSNRASCALS
I was once told that at least 40% of riding any bike successfully was in your head. At first this seemed a little odd as I was pretty dead set on it being a split between fitness and skill. However, considering that this little nugget came straight from the lips of an ex-national champion it did merit at least a little consideration. And you know what, the more you ponder on that subject the more it rings true, particularly when it comes to riding a bike down a steep and technical decent….fast. Ever notice how riders ‘go off the boil’. This year’s champion is next years mid pack struggler. It’s not like during an off season a pinner becomes a slouch. Hell, physiologically it is simply impossible to lose even 50% your fitness, let alone your ability in just a few short months and yet the phenomenon of a rider losing their mojo has been repeated time and time again. We have all experienced the taste of metal that comes the split second before a crash. You tense up, go rigid and your brain gives you that “well you’ve stuffed up good and proper this time” sideways glance and then you know you really are fucked…..proper fucked. You can’t steer, brake or think. Your whole body goes stiff and despite acres of suspension travel every hollow and bump jars through you like a hammer hitting an anvil. Think about it for a second. We spend hour after hour on physical fitness and skills training but how much time do you spend on improving your mental fitness? Tibetan Buddhist monks have been proven to be able to alter their body temperatures by several degrees by virtue of visualisation and
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meditation techniques. The power of the mind cannot be ignored. Having your brain in gear and under control is an attribute that is often overlooked in our sport and yet to me, it seems almost more important than physical conditioning. Of course they are hand in glove. Look after your body and your head will always be a better place. Look after your head and your body will be far more willing to bend with the demands placed on it. Physical exercise stimulates the body/brain to produce endorphins. Endorphins make us feel ‘good’. Positive action creates a positive response. Racing or riding downhill requires the brain to process and react to information at a frighteningly quick speed. Riders that are ‘on their game’ seem to have all the time in the world despite the fact that they are moving at break neck speed. Riders that are struggling look ragged and on the edge, unable to control their bike and ride the line they would want to. That is the power of the mind. The ability to relax and feel comfortable even when the stakes are as high as they can be is the attribute shared by all champions. Sports psychologists talk about levels of ‘stimulation’. Too relaxed on the start line, too laid back and it becomes impossible to perform. Too hyped or ‘over stimulated’ riders are equally as unlikely to be able to perform. We all know a guy or gal who rips shit up on their local trails or riding with their mates but can’t put a race run together. Or riders who sit on the start line white as a sheet, fighting the urge to throw up.
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PRO T IPS
So here’s five experiments and tips you might want to consider. 1/ Work out what sort of person you are; Glass half full or glass half empty. Do you need waking up on the start line or calming down? Create a structure or routine that is sympathetic to your own personality. 2/ Concentrate on the positives; It is too easy to watch riders doing a section you struggle with well and then become negative about your ability and the ultimate outcome of your efforts. The truth is that the same rider who is pinning it through a section that you struggle with will struggle with another section you have dialled. Ultimately we have no control over what other people do so forget it. Concentrate on what you are doing, learn from others sure, but also take time to think positively about what you are happy with and doing well. 3/ Warm up properly; Like I said physical exercise releases endorphin, this makes you feel positive. Warming up has other beneficial physical effects but it also helps your mental state. 4/ Music; Music can dramatically affect your mood and head state so be careful. Anything too violent will work you up in to a lather anything too chilled and you can arrive at the start line feeling ‘under stimulated’. Think about tip 1. What sort of person are you? What do you need? What tunes always get you in the mood for riding? Is there a particular video sections that makes you want to go and ride your bike? Maybe the songs from that section would be a good choice.
Neither extreme is productive. Both are a slave to their mind rather than
5/ Meditation and Visualisation (be kind to your
having it as an ally.
brain); Meditation, in particular breath meditation, is
To ‘get in the zone’, to be able to get fired up without working yourself into
a simple practice that is used across many different
a stupor is a neat trick and the pathway to that zone is different for every
religions and faiths. It focuses the mind on a mundane
individual. But to find that pathway and to be able to command your own
task allowing you to let go of both negative and
mind, to control it rather than being a slave to it, must be one of the most
positive thoughts allowing you to be in control of what
powerful skills known to man. After all, at the point when you are travelling
your mind doing. Positive visualisation is another
over rocks and drops, through trees and over roots and ruts at full tilt you
technique used by top sportsman in particular
need to, at the very least, be able to make your body behave in a way that is
sportsman who deal with speed. Bob-sleigh drivers
counter intuitive. Simple self-preservation would have you stop right there,
have to apply a very similar set of mental skills to
get off this ridiculous machine and slide down that muddy, rocky, rooty chute
their sport as downhill mountain bikers. Every one of
on your bum. The simple fact that we don’t, tells you that we all have at least
them takes time to close their eyes and visualise the
some control.
track they are about to run. At this point you can also
But the human brain is a tool we have little skill with or understanding of. It
visualise yourself dealing well with sections that are
is difficult, fickle and tricksy. It plays games at our expense, it won’t do what
causing you trouble. Don’t dwell on those sections
we want it to and it is only through conscious effort and training that we can
during visualisation, run through them well and move
persuade it that we know best.
on to the next section of track. Visualise complete runs
One thing is for sure, if you ignore the mind and choose not to look after your
and if the visualisation doesn’t go well, let it go and
head, you are doomed to failure.
start again afresh.
The mind can either be a powerful ally or a terrible enemy. Learning how to be in control of yours may well be one of the most important things you ever do. WIDEOPENMAG.CO.UK
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holland - Joost Wichman’s Bike Battle.
IN THE CLUB.
OLLY WILKINS TRAVELS TO HOLLAND FOR JOOST WICHMAN’S BIKE BATTLE. WOR DS: OLLY WILK INS / @OD UB_2 3 & JONN Y FINC H PHO TOS: IRMO KEIZE R / @IRM OKEI ZER 60
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holland - Joost Wichman’s Bike Battle.
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When I used to read magazines it would
something to be missed. I booked up
always excite me to see photos of riders
my tunnel tickets and then proceeded to
in different parts of the world. I had
forget about the whole thing.
attached a strange kind of glamour to the
‘It’s this weekend’… ‘Fuck!’ The
idea of going somewhere with my bike.
conversation with Sam went something
I imagined Peaty on the Orient Express
like that. These things always creep up
with a tan leather bike bag, smoking a
on me, amazing for someone with such
big cigar, or Palmer flying first class with
an empty calendar. Thankfully Joost had
a new bike waiting and prepped at the
kindly offered to put us up in a hotel for
race track. The reality of travelling to
the night so that wasn’t a worry. The
these events, for many, is very different,
tunnel tickets had been booked during
particularly for my ratty-ass self.
a period of overexcitement though. I
When Joost Wichman invited me to race
had planned to arrive at the race track,
at his pump track race in the Netherlands
race, and leave the next morning after
I was already excited. The guy is a hero.
the party. What I hadn’t taken into
The freshly crowned 4X world champ
consideration was the 8 hour drive to
had literally won the most prestigious
Holland and the fact that the whole thing
event in his discipline and retired the
was based around well… a big party.
very same day. Talk about quitting while
We left England at lunchtime and drove
you’re ahead! A feat well worthy of a
solidly for 6 hours after arriving at Calais.
big celebration. When I found out Sam
Over the duration of the journey my
(Reynolds) was also invited I was… even
Mercedes changed from a comfortable
MORE excited! Combine that with the
space to a war zone of creepy food
fact that the race was being held inside
smells, fart and foot odour. I had myself,
a nightclub and I knew this was not
Sam, 14” Finch, and Adam Dayson to
ISSUE 22
2014 blame for this. After arriving at the club with an hour to spare until qualifying we got pretty much straight into the action. The track was under 4 seconds long per lap. Me and Sam qualified 2nd and 3rd or something like that. The racing was insanely tight. With a mix of BMX racers, 4X racers, XC racers and downhillers the line-up was packed. Tomas Slavik had made the trip as well as some big names such as Guido Tschugg and Johannes Fischbach. The track was so tight that I think that not messing up was more important than actually going all out. It was way too easy to mess up! Racing got underway in a tornado of European fun. Deafening hard house music with a live drummer was mixed with 2 stroke smoke as spectators hung over the edge of the crowd with engines on sticks. I spent the entire time trying to work out when I was meant
and world champ; Joost. He messed up one turn and
to be racing. I suck at racing when I understand
went out. I had got seriously lucky. Thankfully I didn’t
what’s going on, I really suck at racing when I have NO
get mobbed by the home crowd, and I got a chance
idea what’s going on!
to win my B final and take 3rd place. Big ups to BMX
As the elimination rounds went on the crowds got
rider Niels Bensink who placed 1st.
more and more out of control. People hung over
By the time all this had finished it was past 3am. We
the berms with beer spilling onto the wooden track.
got kicked out of the party at 6am and had to leave at
Such a crazy atmosphere, it was fucking wild! The
8am if we wanted to make our train. The drive back
track itself was really fast and REALLY tight. Wet beer
was a real deep burn for me, nothing like what the
patches on the turns were enough to creep you out
young Olly Wilkins had pictured. No Orient Express,
and mess up your exit onto the straight. Sam went
the bike didn’t pack itself and all I was left with was an
down in one of his eliminator rounds and went out.
empty tank and a straight road cutting through hours
Was a shame as he was looking super fast. I managed
of bleak agricultural landscape.
to bumble my way through the rounds until I got
16 hours at the wheel for 20 seconds behind my bars
knocked out in the semi finals. Unfortunately on my
and 1 hour of sleep? Fuck travelling.
way there I had to go up against the hometown hero
But big thanks to Joost Wichman for holding the event as well as Thirty7even for making it happen. Despite my organisational shortcomings it was a killer event and I’ll get someone else to drive next year! Peace!
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r.i.p woburn sands - time to rebuild
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R.I.P W OBUR N SANDS
T IME T O R EBUILD WORDS: MATT JONES / @MATT_JONES 94
PHOTO: JAMES WEBBER / @JAMESMWEB BER
THE ICONIC TRAILS AT WOBURN SANDS WERE DESTROYED SUDDENLY AND WITHOUT WARNING AS WE WERE CREATING THIS ISSUE OF WIDEOPEN. WE ASKED WOBURN LOCAL AND SARACEN RIDER MATT JONES TO TELL US WHAT THE ‘BURN MEANT TO HIM.
WIDEOPENMAG.CO.UK
I’ve been lucky to grow up only a stone’s throw
being passionate about having a local riding spot
from Woburn, a small town with a safari park, an
that was epic all-year round. And thus in recent
outdoor swimming pool and despite the lack of
years the bike park has hosted sessions with likes
big hills, one of the most popular bike parks in the
of Andreu Lacondeguy throwing-down on the
country. I dabbled in all kinds of action sports from
jumps there as well as being arguably the most
a young age, but it was whilst racing BMX much
documented place to ride in the UK, boasting a
further afield that my parents were told about
huge level of media focus and magazine exposure.
Woburn trails being right on our door step, and
One of the reasons that people keep coming back
my twin brother and I were hooked on being there
to Woburn is the diversity of tracks, lines, jumps
after school and at weekends from as young as
and berms that the bike park offers. I remember
ten. Back then, the bike park offered a few downhill
on numerous occasions digging past midnight
tracks with small jumps and log drops, a line of
with Pat and Maz just to get a line finished for the
dirt jumps and Woburn’s notorious ‘road gap’
following weekend. And up on the downhill runs
which attracted a lot of attention at the time. Over
there is something new to shred every time you’re
the nine years that I’ve been riding at Woburn, I
there. And it’s this drive from the locals that gives
watched Sam Johnson and his team transform
Woburn a personality and reaches out to anybody
the dirt jump area into a set of trails that brought
who rides mountain bikes, whether it’s their hobby
riders from all around the country together to ride
or career. And I’m lucky enough to say that Woburn
in a few summer jams; before I joined in with the
bike park has given me a career in mountain
digging and had a big role in building new lines and
biking that’s allowed me to travel and make friends
maintaining the jumps there.
around the globe. And it’s the job of the forestry
It is Woburn that gave me the passion to ride
commission and all the riders that enjoy the bike
mountain bikes and this reciprocated to me
park that made it what it is today.
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KE LLY MCGARRY INTERVIEW: DAVE THOMASON PHOTOS: PAUL RAYNER
KELLY MCGARRY. IF YOU DON’T KNOW THE NAME GO LOOK UP ‘MCGARRY HELMET CAM’ ON YOUTUBE, IT WILL DO HIM WAY MORE JUSTICE THAN I CAN HERE. HE’S A SELF DESCRIBED “MOUNTAIN BIKER AND TRAVELLER OF THE WORLD FROM NEW ZEALAND”, HE’S ALSO THE GUY THAT PLACED 2ND AT THE 2013 RED BULL RAMPAGE AND FLIPPED THAT 70FT WIDE CANYON. BALLS OF ABSOLUTE STEEL AND A SUPER NICE GUY ALONG WITH IT. DAVE T AND PAUL RAYNER MANAGED TO KEEP HIM ON THE GROUND LONG ENOUGH TO GRAB SOME EXCLUSIVE PHOTOS AND A CHAT.
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Kelly mcgarry
WINTER
Yo Kelly, welcome to the mag! It makes sense to start at
There is no other event like Rampage and I was proud as hell to
the very beginning, back when you were racing BMX and
be the only Kiwi to have ever been up there!
downhill. How did you get into riding in the first place? Waaay back when huh!? I started out with motocross really;
So for everyone who has been living under a rock these past
I raced when I was younger then I couldn’t really afford it so I
weeks, in October you missed out on taking the win at the
switched to BMX and MTB. Mostly BMX actually, I was super
Red Bull Rampage by just 0.75 points. In doing so, you pulled
pumped on it and rode a lot with my mates, doing tricks and
off a 72 foot canyon gap backflip. Dropping into that run, was
being hooligans! I started getting reeeal tall when I was about
anything in particular going through your head? Do you get a
18 and I was squashing my BMX so I dabbled in downhill racing
buzz thinking about it, or was it just all in a day’s work?
on my mountain bike and loved it. I raced for a few years in
Ha, yeah it was a close comp score wise!! That makes for exciting
New Zealand than eventually got on a plane and went traveling
spectating which is cool. I was just trying to keep ‘er calm and not
overseas with my bikes.
screw up on something stupid. There is so much to remember when you are taking your run at Rampage; blind drops, lines, soft
You then migrated into slope style competitions - was that
spots, places to pin it and places not to over jump. I would say the
a natural progression or a conscious decision to make the
main thing in my mind at the top was remembering how slow to
move?
rotate while flipping the canyon – there is so much time up there
The first place I flew to overseas was Whistler in 2006. I was
that If you try and yank it around you will either land on your
stunned by the whole scene over there – I heard about Crankworx
head or do a double flip! I managed to get the rotation about
slopestyle and I had never seen anything like it before. I thought it
right, so I was pumped!
was awesome so I signed up! That was my first slopestyle event… What’s it like being a rider at Rampage - is it the biggest I read fairly recently that your career highlight was a 5th
competition in your calendar?
place at Crankworx Whistler. Is it fair to say that Rampage
Yep for me Rampage is the biggest comp of the year; it’s unique,
has now surpassed that?
it’s big and burly, and a lot of people watch it. It’s a pretty scary
Yeah, for sure, Crankworx/Joyride is a massive event and
weekend for sure but I am always stoked to be a part of it. This
definitely one of my faves, but to stand on the podium at
year it was even more important to me as I had never done very
Rampage was one of my all-time dreams.
well before and I was keen as ever to change that.
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ISSUE 22
2014 As I’m writing this, the helmet cam video of your run is about
Nearly there now...I know you’re a fan of less typin’ more bikin,’
to pass 15 MILLION views on YouTube. That’s massive!! Do you
but can you give a few more quick words of wisdom to any aspiring
take any personal satisfaction from stats like that? Is it all about
slopestylers out there? We love a good catchphrase!
winning trophies or are you stoked to just be helping to push the
Haha yes I am a fan of less typin’, more bikin’ but if I had to offer some
boundaries of the sport?
advice to the grommies out there coming up, I guess it would be to stay
Yeah the response to that GoPro clip has been unbelievable. It was
stoked on riding bikes, keep it fun and make it happen for yourself. If
crazy to see it air in so many different countries, on talk shows and
your bike is smashed up and you want a new one or you haven’t got
news bulletins. Winning trophies is always good but it’s pretty cool to
enough cash to get to the comps - get yourself a job, work hard to
know that people out there dig your run!
get what you need, because I think you need to show you can make it happen yourself before anyone will want to help you with bikes and
What’s the Slopestyle scene like over in NZ - is it big enough to
travel etc.
make a living, or do you have to spend a lot of time on the road? The slopestyle scene in NZ is pretty small but growing fast; there are
Solid advice! Cheers. Finally, any last words/shoutouts?
actually some really sick riders down here! Myself and Tom Hey put on
Man, there are so many people to shout out to! I have been traveling
NZ’s only slopestyle comp, the ‘Teva Slopestyle’ which is an event held
the world for 8 years riding bikes and the MTB community is amazing. I
in downtown Queenstown. It’s a silver event on the FMB world tour
have met so many great people along the way, big ups to anyone who
and everyone stokes on it! Last year we got some big names to come
has ever helped me out or let me sleep on their couch! Massive thanks
and show what the international level is so that was awesome for the
to my girlfriend Samantha for sticking by me and thanks to my awesome
grommies to see and drive them to progress and grow the scene down
sponsors who make the whole deal happen! Cheers!
here in NZ. Kelly is supported by: Diamondback, Marzocchi, Gravity Components, When you do finally get some time to chill at home, what kind of
Unit Clothing, Atomlab, Kenda, GoPro, Shimano, Teva, Hope Brakes,
thing do you like to do when you’re off the bike?
Wide Open Distributors, Giro Helmets, Adidas Eyewear, Camelbak,
Haha, I don’t really seem to end up chilling much! With my hemisphere
Yakima Racks and Queenstown Bike Park.
bouncing program, it’s summer time all the time for me! I think this is my 14th consecutive summer. But yeah you do have to get off the bike sometimes so you don’t get burnt out on the whole deal. Surfing is one of the things I like to do in my down time. I like the ocean life and camping it up . We go on some wicked missions to the coast here in NZ and I’m looking forward to plenty of that this summer. Also, I just bought another motocross bike....so hopefully I can stay unbroken!
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BEHIND THE LENS:
PAUL RAYNER Paul is a South African rider, photographer and vagabond that we met out in Portugal a few years ago. He spends his life travelling the world, living in begged or borrowed accommodation and searching for his next adventure. Paul landed in New Zealand just one week before he took these photos. He had no job, nowhere long term to stay and definitely no camera - just the YT trail bike that he won in a Dirt Magazine competition and his bag of kit. Hearing Paul was in Queenstown, NZ and in the same hemisphere as Kelly we asked him to try and make some photos happen. Within 24 hours we got an excited Facebook message from Paul "dude, the shoot with Kelly is on! I went to a party last night in Queenstown and got chatting to some guy about how I was a photographer with no camera. He's lent me a camera to use and Kelly is down for a shoot. This place is amazing!". The shoot took two attempts for Paul and Kelly to get right using the borrowed camera with its lens and no flash.
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ISSUE 22
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PRODUCT REVIEW / Nukeproof Mega TR275 Comp
WINTER
NUKEPROOF
MEGA T R275 COMP
The ‘Comp’ means it’s the cheaper of the two TR versions, appearing with very capable, if slightly less jazzy components than its big brother ‘Pro’ version. The complete bike is yours for £2400 which gets you a very modern bike that rides well and has some very solid parts from RockShox, Nukeproof and Maxxis to seal the deal.
What’s the TR all about then? It’s the brand new for 2014, bigger wheels, not too much travel ‘all rounder’. ‘TR’ means ‘trail’ and it’s got 650B wheels, 130mm travel on the back via a RockShox Monarch and 150mm up front through a Revelation. There’s a 44mm head tube meaning you can run all manner of fork options, a rear maxle for stiffness and ISCG05 if you decide to swap the dual ring/bash setup for a chain guide.
£2399
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Despite the almost identical looks, the TR isn’t actually the same frame as its bigger brother ‘AM’. The TR sports its own lighter-weight hydroformed tubing to keep the weight down; proof that Nukeproof have set out to build a unique bike from scratch rather than just adapt and resell something that already exists. The attention to detail on the frame is great – there’s internal routing for a Stealth Reverb and very tidy X shaped cable guides that keep everything neat and clean. A single sided
2014
Nukeproof Mega TR275 Comp / PRODUCT REVIEW
bolt on the shock mountain avoids the need for multiple allen keys.
the small side. Where I would normally ride a medium I’ve gone for a
So is the Mega mega? Largely – yes, it actually is. It’s a lot of fun to ride,
large and it fits well with a bit of seat post sawing to get the stand-over
it hauls ass and it’s versatile enough for all day pedalling. But before we
correct. Keep that in mind when you’re sizing up your frame.
sign its praises, what’s less than mega on the Mega? The Avid Elixir 3
The RS Monarch R rear shock is basic but does the job fine. There’s
brakes are not mega. They started off surprisingly powerful but quickly
no lock-out for the climbs or platform adjustment for on-the-fly setup
rolled over under the strain of winter riding and were replaced by
changes but it is capable enough and certainly not the worst shock we’ve
Shimano XT’s. We also wore out the DU bushing surprisingly quickly
tested on a bike in the Mega’s price range. Happily it doesn’t wallow
leaving the linkage with a bit of play. That’s a quick fix for a local bike
or blow through its travel as you might see elsewhere. Hit fast, rough
shop and a small bill but not a deal breaker for the bike. I suppose the
terrain or breaking bumps and it starts to struggle but for a 130mm
X7 rear mech has also started to struggle fairly quickly but that’s not the
bike that’s forgivable. The 150mm RS Revelation RLT Solo Air fork is
bike’s fault.
surprisingly good and has lapped up everything we’ve chucked at it – it’s
So what’s good? The bike clearly isn’t aimed at XC whippets but if you
a fairly basic fork but for general trail riding it does a fine job and gives
don’t mind the sit-and-spin approach it will handle the climb from drop-
plenty of confidence. It’s worth drawing attention to the tyres too –
off to drop-in without any hassle. There’s loads of seat post supplied
despite being the bottom of the price list Mega it comes with absolutely
and a 22t granny ring for those leg-burning after lunch laps. On the flat,
brilliant Maxxis High Roller 2 60a tyres. They’re great up, along, down,
surfaced trails in our local woods the Mega shoots along nicely with just
over, through, whatever.
enough ‘trail bike’ in its genes to make it fly on the pedally stuff. We see
The Mega is genuinely a great all-rounder and has really answered my
a lot of heavy, slack bikes that are sold as trail bikes and this definitely
hunt for a bike that I can ride all but the really rough, fast trails. It has a
isn’t one of those.
great blend of trail riding and aggro downhill bike in its genes meaning
The Mega definitely comes alive for me on fast, tight terrain. In the
I can spin up the hill without too much hassle and can ride everything
woods at Bike Park Wales or the Forest of Dean it absolutely flies. The
from blue to black trails on the way over and back down. Factor in some
head angle is bang on at 76degrees and the long wheel base (1168mm
cash for an upgrade to the brakes and a dropper post and you’ve got a
on my large version) and solid 150mm Rock Shox Revelation fork team
super capable, super fun bike that’s bloody great value. If you’ve got the
up to offer loads of stability and confidence whilst also feeling very
extra cash don’t ignore the TR Pro which has an all-round posher build
nimble through tight turns.
and may get over the componentry niggles we’ve mentioned.
A note on sizing by the way – Nukeproof seem to size the Mega on
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PRODUCT REVIEW / fox airspc goggle / leatt back protector 3df
WINTER
FOX AIRSPC GOGGLE Cash money: £40.00
www.foxhead.com
Fox kept us in suspense for most of the 2013 season waiting for the Airspc (no, that’s not a spelling mistake!) but the final product was definitely worth the wait. The Airspc is Fox’s brand-newfor-2014 goggle and marks their split from Oakley who previously manufactured optics on their behalf. Despite the odd spelling, the Airspc is a great quality, comfortable and really well priced goggle that has obviously had heaps of input from Fox’s pro athletes. Fox have increased the volume of the goggle (the space between your face and the lens) by 30% which they claim increases air flow, comfort and peripheral vision. Testing the goggle on the hot, dusty mountains in Spain I was impressed – the thick, triple layer foam soaks up sweat nicely and feels super comfortable, the airflow is as good as Fox claim and I was impressed at how little they fogged up and how quickly they cleared when it did happen. As you’d expect the Airspc ticks all the ‘must haves’. The strap is silicone lined to keep it locked in place, the lens is replaceable and available in various tints (check out the Fox website for a lens simulator before you buy) and there are tabs for tear-offs to keep your vision clear on race day. You can also pick up roll-offs from Fox for the really bad weather. The Word: A great quality and well-designed goggle from Fox. Good price too! Tested by: Jamie
LEATT BACK PROTECTOR 3DF Cash money: £79.99
www.hotlines.co.uk
Every company that produces body armour for riding bikes is on the constant hunt to make theirs lighter while offering more protection to the wearer. Emphasis is on comfort to the rider, flexibility, low weight, a low profile and good ventilation. Leatt have now expanded their range of armour far from the realms of market-leading neck braces and what we have here is the Leatt Back Protector 3DF. Designed to work specifically with Leatt’s DBX braces, this is the lighter weight spine protector in the range. According to the spec however, the spine protector itself is rated to the same CE rating (CE EN1621-2 level 2) as its other spine protectors. The majority of the vest is made up of Leatt’s Moisture Cool fabric that is both lightweight and wicking and it is designed to be worn close to the skin for maximum wicking properties. The full-length zip allows easy fitting as well. 3DF sounds familiar, effectively offering the same properties as the more expensive D3O. It’s soft and flexible when you’re riding, but turns rock hard while damping the impact of a crash. What’s not to like? It goes without saying that there is 3DF padding the whole length of the back, with the uppermost being shaped to fit a DBX brace perfectly. The lower flanks also offer hip protection which is a welcome addition. Leatt’s R&D is legendary and it shows here. The feel of the 3DF is one of quality. Not happy with just making a very light protective garment, this does feel heavier than it looks, but the level 2 CE certification should keep you in one piece even in a very serious off. The pads have been shaped using 3D modelling of the spine for a perfect fit. The pads are also removable so you can send them into the washing machine when they start to honk. This should be high on your list for those looking to race in events like the Italian Super Enduro where a spine protector is a must, but the high sun doesn’t favour bulkier pieces. The figure-hugging fabric also does a good job of showing you how many sit ups you still have to do before race season kicks up. The Word: Serious back protection that is also super lightweight, close-fitting and sweat wicking. Ideal for comfort especially in the heat! Tested by: Pete Scullion
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tsg substance 3.0 / ana nichoola winter star tights / PRODUCT REVIEW
2014
TSG SUBSTANCE 3.0 Cash money: £54.99
www.ridetsg.com
TSG has given the Substance an upgrade to come up with the new 3.0 version. It’s available in a range of jazzy colours and comes with 18 aerodynamic vents to keep your head nice and airy on the move. The Tri-fit adjustment system means that it’s easy to get the fit right and there’s zero movement when it’s cranked up tight. It’s perhaps not the most padded helmet we’ve ever tried and the minimal padding around the forehead was noticeable compared to other helmets - give it a try before you buy to see if that bothers you though. The price is the big one on the Substance, at £54.99 it really is great value for money, especially when you consider that most helmets these days will cost around the hundred quid mark. The Word: A bit more padding up front and this helmet would be well worth the money! Tested by: James W
ANA NICHOOLA WINTER STAR TIGHTS Cash money: £55.00
www.ananichoola.co.uk
The summer Star Leggings were so popular Ana Nichoola have come up with a winter version made from super warm Italian ThermoRoubaix fabric. Not entirely sure why the furry crotch panel is both on the outside and inside, but that aside these are my perfect winter wear. Lightweight, they look great, long enough for giants like me, and they compliment my arse…what more do you need? They’re very durable and I’m looking forward to seeing if they can stand up to abuse as I wear them more through the winter. They are very comfy to ride in and feel almost like a second skin. The high waist band stops them riding down and letting the mud in, for £55 these are great value for riding on colder days. The Word: Like most girls I’m much more excited about style over comfort but with these you get both! Tested by: ‘Lady’ Kat Vanes
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PRODUCT REVIEW / Fox attack glove / ogio dozer 8600
WINTER
FOX ATTACK GLOVE Cash money: £26.00
www.foxhead.com
The Fox Attack glove is a really comfortable, lightweight glove that offers just-enough padding without being ultra-thin. If you like your gloves low-key without being wafer thin then these could be for you. Aside from looking cool they offer a lightweight moisture wicking fabric on the back of the glove and something called ‘ionmask’ which claims to help with water repellency. The palm is very thin, very simple and doesn’t bother with any unwanted padding to get between you and your bars. There are also the usual little features like a micro-suede thumb for snotty noses and a silicone fingertip print for added grip on the brakes.To keep things really simple Fox have given the Attack a slip-on design, meaning no chunky cuffs or Velcro to get in the way and get caught on your sleeves. They do take a bit of a pulling to get on, but once they’re on they stay put and are super comfortable. Annoyingly, tugging them on and off has caused the stitching to come apart at the cuff,
OGIO DOZER 8600
which would be covered by warranty. Aside from that
Cash money: £79.99
The Word: A great, lightweight glove for summer riding.
www.madison.co.uk
The Dozer has now been in my charge for a good 4 months, so I think I’ve come to a point where I’ve tested its abilities fairly well. This bag has barely left my side in that time and even now it continues to impress me with its ability to consume my belongings and still have room for more. Let’s start with the basics. At £79.99, this bag is good value for the quantity of things it can hold. A similarly large bag from Dakine for example is well over £100, although that does sport a handle and wheels so the value depends on what you’re looking for. If you need a large bag to sling into the back of the van for weekends away racing or otherwise, then this bag is hard to beat. Colour-wise it’s got all the bases covered from the ‘Stealth’ option, to the ‘Nuclear’ as seen here. Should you feel like using it as checked-in luggage at the airport, you certainly won’t have any issues finding this bag on the carousel at the other end. I wouldn’t be in a rush to fire this into the hold of an aircraft with anything fragile in it though; the iFOM integrated foam liner won’t save your precious items like a hard case would. The larger, more expensive, wheeled Rig 9800 will satisfy those travelling abroad. The helmet end pocket is sizeable, and could likely fit a MX lid in with ease. The smooth, black 600 dobby poly PVC bottom means that it won’t scratch your paintwork when lumbering it into the car if you’ve overfilled it, nor will it allow water to creep in even when sat on wet ground. The outer has held up to a summer of being constantly empted and refilled before being slung back into the boot of my car and other peoples’ vans. So, this is a cheap, durable bag with an insatiable appetite for your gear. Enough colours to match your race kit and all the pocket options you could feasibly need at a race or weekend away. This bag will serve me well for years to come. The Word: Bright, durable and with enough pockets for everything you might need at a race. Great value for money. Tested by: Pete Scullion
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niggle they’re a great, low-profile glove. Tested by: James W
Madison tempest short / madison zenith short / PRODUCT REVIEW
2014
MADISON TEMPEST SHORT Cash money: £54.99
www.madison.cc
As the name suggests, Madison’s Tempest shorts are designed for wet, grotty, wintry conditions. They’re made out of chunky, weatherproof material and feature waterproof pockets, taped seams and chunky zips that work well with cold fingers. The fit is good, they’re surprisingly light weight and there’s plenty of adjustability with velcro tabs at the waist and at the knee and enough room for knee pads if that’s your vibe. They also featured what Madison call ‘articulated legs’ meaning they bend when you pedal which adds to the comfort on the trail. Whilst the material is a bit crinkly and not the most comfortable, it does withstand all but the heaviest of downpours and the water resistant pockets do provide a safe haven for phones and mp3 players up to the point the weather gets properly hardcore. If you ride a lot in the wet and you want to keep your bum dry, the Tempest could well be a good shout. There’s also a ¾ length option if that suits and – impressively – they come with a lifetime warranty. The Word: A decent defence against wet arse syndrome though not fully waterproof and not the most comfortable shorts out there. Tested by: Riders Retreat’s Paul Thomas
MADISON ZENITH SHORT Cash money: £49.99
www.madison.cc
The Zenith is Madison’s do-it-all trail short that’s aimed at - dare we say it - the ‘enduro’ crowd. Cliches aside, they’re tough, comfortable, good looking and work well whether you pedalling, pushing or uplifting . The fit is really good and the 4-way stretch crotch and lumbar panels offer a huge range of movement meaning they’re super comfortable on the trail. They’re also nicely vented so there’s no worry of over heating on those slightly hotter rides. There’s plenty of room around the knees for your pads and the fit is baggy without being so much that they get caught on your seat. There are loads of pockets to store your riding necessities as well as an ergonomic and waterproof phone pocket. I did find that the pull-up-toclose zips made loosing things out of them more likely, emphasised by a lost (and thankfully found again!) wallet The Word: Really great short at an affordable price. Plenty of movement and storage but be careful of putting anything too big in them. Tested by: James W
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PRODUCT REVIEW / Nuflex Muscles and Joints Gels / Sweet Protection Bushwhacker
WINTER
NUFLEX MUSCLES AND JOINTS WARMING AND COOLING GEL Cash money: £11.95 each
www.nuflex-sport.com
As our sport becomes more competitive so too does the strain that’s put on our bodies and the risk of injury. This opens the door for more products to manage injuries and to help with recovery. I’m a firm believer in treating injuries with the old hot water bottle and ice treatment but when you’re at a race this isn’t really practical. Step in Nuflex who offer two really impressive products. We’re all aware of heat and cooling gels and they generally work as well as your mind will let them, they provide a simple tingling effect on your skin that helps to a certain extent. In reality though, they aren’t necessarily doing a huge amount. Nuflex however is doing something different and genuinely works. Unlike many gels which work at skin level, Nuflex absorbs through your skin to reach the stuff underneath. This is invariably where stresses and strains occur and where the actual heating and cooling treatment is needed. It works and I’m genuinely surprised at how good it is. The cold gel can help with pain relief and reduction of inflammation. The hot gel can be used to warm up and draw blood to where it is needed. It’s no substitute for the good old fashioned hot and cold treatment at home … but it’s great for treatment on the move and is a must for any rider’s kit bag. The Word: Great products for dealing with aches, pains and injury recovery. Tested by: Wideopenmag’s pro rider Rich Thomas
SWEET PROTECTION BUSHWHACKER HELMET Cash money: £139.99
www.sweetprotection.com
The strength of the Bushwhacker is how light and airy it is. At just 320g it’s very light and comfortable in even the warmest of conditions, despite offering loads of coverage around the back of your head. Adding to that is the air flow which is remarkably good and taken care of by seventeen large vents and five air channels that run through the helmet. We’ve ridden all day long in the Sweet Protection and been super impressed. Sweet’s own ‘Occigrip’ system is used to adjust the fit of the helmet and whilst it’s not the easiest to use that we’ve seen it is fairly faff free. Where some helmets only allow you to adjust the tightness, Sweet offer three clicks of ‘height’ adjustment to cater for all shapes of head. Our helmet is the £139.99 standard version and there’s a pricier and more highly specced ‘carbon’ version that offers an inmolded carbon shell and the MIPS protection system for around £200. The Word: A little pricey but a great looking and very well designed helmet that stands out from the crowd. Tested by: Jamie
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gusset oxide pedal / 661 rage knee pad / PRODUCT REVIEW
2014
GUSSET OXIDE XL PEDAL Cash money: £89.99
www.gussetbikes.com
Big feet need big pedals and the Oxide XL is Gusset’s extra-large platform for your clown footed friends. Whilst the style may not quite be up there with the latest trend for low profile pedals the XL is a top quality pedal that has stood up to 6 months of abuse, through some of the filthiest winter conditions I can remember. The large platform is perfect for my size 11’s and gives a rock solid footing. There are 10 pins per side and teamed up with my Five Tens they really do give immense grip. I’ve rarely slipped a pedal since using them and can hit the rough stuff confident that I won’t lose my footing. Despite being smashed gracelessly through some of Wales’ finest rock gardens the XL’s are still in great condition. No amount of hammering has knocked them seriously out of shape and the flanged pins are all still firmly in the pedal body where they should be. Maintenance has also been low, I’ve splurged a bit of grease in to them to ward off the winter’s abuse but that’s about it. The arrangement of one needle bearing and one sealed bearing per pedal is doing a great job of keeping grime out and keeping them spinning. The price isn’t cheap and at £90 they are competing squarely with excellent pedals like the DMR Vault or Hope F20. Don’t be fooled by the Gusset name though, they’re excellent pedals that are tough, grippy and low maintenance. The Word: Tough, sturdy, reliable pedals for big footed riders. Tested by: Test pilot Jay Robinson (he’s got big feet and he likes smashing up pedals)
661 RAGE HARD KNEE PAD Cash money: £45.00
www.sixsixone.com
What the Rage lacks in innovative features, it makes up for with its sturdy tried and tested design. You’ve got two velcro straps holding it nicely in place, a breathable neoprene mesh body, soft pads around the side to ward off glancing blows and a hard, plastic cup to protect the knee. You’ve seen it plenty of times before from 661 and others and it works. There’s no ‘does it work?’ smart foam, just a big, hard bit of plastic to keep your tender knees safe. I crashed my brains out in the Spanish sun in the Rage pads, took a big smash to the lower thigh and hobbled away with my knees intact. The pad stayed in place and everything that the Rage was meant to protect was protected. There are two particularly impressive things about the Rage. One is the comfort – it’s designed around a bent ‘pedalling’ leg meaning no bunching or rubbing and I was happy to wear them all day. The second is the price; at less than £50 they’re cracking value. The Word: Great value, comfortable and sturdy. Not the most high tech or innovative but so what? Tested by: Jamie
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PRODUCT REVIEW / jacket grouptest
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WINTER
JACKET GRO UPT EST
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Like it or lump it, we live in a pretty wet place here in ol’ Blighty and despite having fully waterproof and breathable skin, we do need
another layer on top sometimes. We’ve picked out a bunch of different jackets at the full range of price points, avoiding the super cheap binbags that we’ve all consigned to the bin pretty quickly. Which jacket for you? Well that all depends - are you the hardened outdoor warrior perfectly happy to face gales and driving rain in pursuit of your singletrack fix? In that case you’ll probably want something a bit more durable. If you prefer to enjoy slightly drier climes or want that ‘just in case’ jacket - there’s something for you too.
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SCOTT VIKOS
Cash money: £174.99
www.scott-sports.com
Scott’s lightweight, packable, no-nonsense Vikos jacket has become an absolute ‘don’t leave home without it’ for me. It’s waterproof, windproof and is genuinely breathable meaning that I can wear it throughout a ride rather than having to constantly throw it on and off like the army of ‘boil in the bag’ jackets I’ve sweated my way through. The taped seams and waterproof zip on the chest pocket mean that it will hold off all but the gnarliest of downpours and the adjustable hood and velcro cuffs do a good job of warding off drips and cold gusts. It weighs in at just 300g meaning it’s light enough for stuffing into your trail-bag and doesn’t feel bulky on the trails. Reassuringly, despite being lightweight the material feels strong and sturdy and has stood up to loads of crashes, snags and scuffs. Feels like an absolute bargain considering how dry and comfy the Vikos has kept me. The Word: Your eyes might water at the price … but the rest of you will be dry and comfortable. A very impressive – if very pricey jacket. Tested by: Jamie
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ENDURA EMERGENCY
Cash money: £89.99
www.endurasport.com/
The first thing you notice about the Endura Emergency is the super bright colour which can work in your favour when the evening starts to come in. You’ll easily be spotted! Although there is also a black option. You then notice that it is as light as a feather. The material is so thin it makes for easy packing into your backpack or even jersey pockets. The lightweight shell is both waterproof and breathable with an athletic fit. It may well be an ‘emergency’ jacket but the style of it is clean and simple and works nicely as an everyday jacket. Although when I say simple I mean very simple. There are no pockets or adjusters, it is simply a protective shell. The Word: Stylish yet simple jacket. There really is no reason to head out without it. Tested by: James W
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jacket grouptest / PRODUCT REVIEW
2014 3
GORE BIKE WEAR ALP-X
Cash money: £219.99
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www.goreapparel.co.uk
The Gore Bike-X is a serious garment. The top of the range Active Shell
GORE BIKE WEAR FUSION 2.0
Goretex is very breathable and waterproof, throughout the test its kept
Cash money: £199.99
me both warm and dry in the awful weather we’ve had lately. It’s got a
The Fusion 2.0 GT is a great packable waterproof shell, its minimal
www.goreapparel.co.uk
few pockets, all zippered, including the rear pocket - essential for that
design allows it to compress down to about the size of a couple of
pot of lip balm. The hood is roomy but not enough for a helmet to fit
energy bars and it only weighs in at a smidge over 240 grams. Super
inside, rather a hat or similar but you can zip it off too if needed. The fit
light features can have their downside, as there is just the one pocket
is great - enough room to move about when riding but not overly baggy
on the chest with internal headphone routing and one draw toggle at
and still compliments curves, the sizing is a little weird as the XL on test
the back centre where it will get covered in trail cack! On the upside the
is probably a UK12-14 so do check the size chart when buying. The only
cuffs, collar and back panel are shaped to perfection to stop any chilly
downside of this jacket is a big one, the price. However for the features
breezes or unwanted tyre spray making its way inside. The Gore-Tex
you get it matches up with similar jackets designed for mountaineering
Active material is the bee’s knees when it comes to breathability, yet
and skiing - no bike premium pricing active here.
also repels the sky water just as effectively, probably the best of both
The Word: All the jacket you’ll need for UK riding if you can stomach the
I’ve ever tried. Being light makes it awesome to ride in as it doesn’t feel
price tag.
like you are wearing any additional restrictive clothing yet at the same
Tested by: Jan
time the cut is spot on with no excess material flapping around, ideal for when chucking a bike around.
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SURFACE PERTEX
Cash money: £49.98
www.surface-clothing.com
First impressions when this landed were first - that colour! It’s definitely
The Word: I think this would be the ultimate jacket for the Enduro racer who is trying to keep everything to a minimum, always pushing it hard and who is willing to invest in the best equipment. Tested by: Oscar
marmite but I bloody love it, and secondly how thin is this thing?! I’ve had a number of lightweight jackets in the past and they’ve all fallen into the ‘bin bag’ category but this is something else - it’s got proper
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ENDURA FLYTE
cuffs, a nice slim fit and a couple of decent sized pockets, although only
Cash money: £115.99
the chest pocket has a zip. It’s never going to be anything other than
This winter I gained a bit of a fetish for red coats so I was more than
www.endurasport.com
showerproof for its weight but it does this with ease and dries super
thrilled to test this bad boy out. Its a great colour, not one of those
quickly - perfect as a ‘just in case’ in summer but probably a bit out of
reds that can look a bit tacky,and the black and reflective details are
its depth for deep winter!
done well in my opinion, although I’m not much of a night time rider.
The Word: For the money and the choice of colours, this jacket deserves a
The jacket is really comfortable with a high neck to protect from the
place in your bag just in case the skies open.
elements making it than comfortable to ride in and does not feel
Tested by: Jim
restrictive at all thanks to the stretchy shoulder panels. Its light too and folds up really small so great to throw in a bag just in case. The cut is
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FOX ‘DOWNPOUR’
Cash money: £159.99
www.foxhead.com
Calling a jacket ‘Downpour’ can be dangerous if it doesn’t perform, Fox have positioned this right in the middle of the range we have on test and it delivers. It’s suitable for all conditions, with a bit more waterproof ability than the super lightweights but isn’t too bulky either. The 4-way stretch material is super comfy to wear although the cut is very tight so probably not ideal for downhill duties and more of a xc jacket. It’s got a couple of pockets and a hood, the latter I zipped off right away as I’m not a big fan of hoods on riding jackets but it’s there if you need it. I’ve yet to wear a jacket that can cope with the sheer amount of sweat
longer than your average jacket, especially at the back to keep your lower back dry, nobody needs a wet bum! Theres a lower back pocket and one on the breast, both zippered, so plenty of places to put things without the bulk of too many zips. The only thing I personally didn’t like is I’m not a fan of long sleeves except when it’s really throwing it down so tend to roll them up, on the Flyte it was a bit too tight a fit to do this so even with pit zips I get a bit too warm. I would however thoroughly recommend it for a lady looking for both style and comfort. The Word:For £120 you’ll be struggling to find an active jacket that looks and performs this good. Tested by: ‘Lady’ Kat Vanes
my body seems to produce so to find a couple of nice vents under the armpits was brilliant - with sealed zippers just in case it really is hammering it down. The Word: Brilliant quality jacket punching above its £160 price tag, stylish and not too ‘bike’ to stop you wearing it out and about too. Tested by: John
WIDEOPENMAG.CO.UK
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PARTING SHOT: Steve Peat at the Enduro World Series. Having watched him dominate downhill for years it was amazing to see Peaty take on the Enduro World Series and show that he can go up and over as well as down. Thankfully and by his own admission he won’t be retiring from downhill any time soon and focussing on enduro “it’s not a retirement home for downhillers!”. Whatever, we can’t wait to see Steve back on the short travel bike in 2014 for more enduro action.
PHOTO: MATT WRAGG / @MATT_WRAGG
170mm
GENIUS LT 700
THE SCOTT GENIUS LT 700 TUNED IS THE ULTIMATE ENDURO MACHINE. THE TUNED VERSION BOASTS A SUPER LIGHT HMX CARBON FIBER FRAME. WITH A CUSTOM FOX NUDE SHOCK WITH BOOST VALVE, A CUSTOM 170MM FOX 34 FORK, OUR PATENTED TWINLOC TECHNOLOGY, IN COMBINATION WITH TRACTION CONTROL, ALLOWING FOR THREE TRAVEL/GEOMETRY SETTINGS AND SRAM XX1, THIS BIKE IS READY TO TAME ALL MOUNTAINS.