The Megavalanche has always been on my to-do list and finally this year I got round to doing it. Even the tall tales from people who had ridden it couldn’t do justice to the scale and craziness of the event. Even the start above the snow was bordering on unrideable, let alone with 500 riders breathing down my neck, it was just a case of getting out of there as fast as possible and trying to leave the carnage behind.

Mega Avalanche start

The action started with the qualifying rounds on Friday, with 9 rounds of 200 riders each. The tight gravel hairpins straight out of the gate were the first potential for carnage, remember there are 25 riders per row all going to single file within the first 10 seconds of the race, but I left everyone else to pile up on the popular inside lines, scooting round the slower but safer outsides instead. 25 minutes later and barely able to grip the bars I finished 8th in my round, good enough for a 3rd row in the main event.

popping out at the end of the qualifier

Normally the race starts on snow. Well it did this year too I suppose, but the patch of snow was only just big enough to line everyone up on before it turned to piles of shattered rock which we were to ride along at a 30-degree camber. This was a recipe for disaster and I picked a safe route, it wasn’t fast but I got out of most of the trouble pretty quick. Not everyone was so lucky and as you can see from the picture below it quickly turned into a scene from Dante’s Inferno or perhaps an Orc battle in the Lord of the Rings.

Megavalanche start turns into a battleground

After the rocks the course went back onto the more traditional glacier, followed by the most amazing high Alpine singletrack you could ever imagine. Actually most of the course was singletrack this year, great for riding but not so great for passing and after I binned it up on the snow there was nothing for it but to be patient and wait for safe passing places. Still I got to the bottom in one piece, in 71st place which is OK for a first attempt. I guess I’ll be back for more one day with a load of lessons learned.

Riders spread out across the glacier

Finally we’ve got round to weighing the Maxxis XC tyres.

Maxxis Advantage

Advantage 2.1 Kevlar 70a : average weight 624g
Advantage 2.1 Kevlar 120tpi 62a eXC: average weight 548g

Aspen 2.1 Kevlar 120tpi 62a eXC: average weight 478g
Aspen 2.25 Kevlar 120tpi 62a eXC: average weight 591g

Crossmark 2.1 wire bead, SPC, 70a: average weight 650g
Crossmark 2.1 Kevlar 70a: average weight 569g
Crossmark 2.1 Kevlar 120tpi 62a eXC: average weight 479g
Crossmark 2.1 UST tubeless: average weight TBA

High roller 2.1 wire bead, SPC, 70a: average weight 550g
High roller 2.1 Kevlar 70a: average weight 514g
High roller 2.1 Kevlar 120tpi 62a eXC: average weight 481g

Ignitor 2.1 Kevlar 70a rubber: average weight 580g
Ignitor 2.1 Kevlar 120tpi 62a eXC: average weight 480g

Larsen Mimo 2.0 Kevlar 120tpi 62a eXC: average weight 484g

Larsen TT 2.0 Kevlar 70a rubber: average weight 568g
Larsen TT 2.0 Kevlar 120tpi 62a eXCeption: average weight 496g
Larsen TT 2.0 LUST tubeless: average weight 679g

Monorail 2.1 Kevlar 70a: average weight 559g
Monorail 2.1 Kevlar 120tpi 62A eXC: average weight 502g
Monorail 2.1 LUST tubeless: average weight 657g

Medusa 1.8 Kevlar 70a: average weight 489g
Medusa 1.8 Kevlar 120tpi 62A eXC: average weight 491g
Medusa 2.1 Kevlar 70a: average weight 531g
Medusa 2.1 Kevlar 120tpi 62A eXC: average weight 482g
Medusa 2.1 LUST tubeless: average weight TBA

Rendez 2.1 Kevlar 70a: average weight 557g
Rendez 2.1 Kevlar 120tpi 62A eXC: average weight 481g

JRA Post Bike - Surly Big Dummy

After last years experimentation with the post-trailer we found it wasn’t so easy to use we’ve upgraded to a post bike, the Surly Big Dummy with Xtracycle freeloaders.

We stayed near the Xtracycle people at Interbike a couple of years ago and we always jealous as they loaded up and rode round the carpark with ridiculous things on board.

After a while we went for it and got in the que for the full Surly frame option. Its been in operation for a while now,  its much easier to ride and we can get more post on for buzzing round to the post office.

Just don’t ask ‘whats that?’ if you come in as we’ll unhelpfully say it’s  a bike.

A combination of awesome downhill skills, raw power and some NoTubes rims saw our team rider Dan winning the Ae Forest Avalanche Enduro last weekend. A full report will be up soon, but for now just enjoy the Euro music from the prize presentation…

A short cautionary tale for anyone indulging in X-treme offroad activities in the woods, someone will be along eventually to scrape you up andpack you off to hospital, but it might take longer than you think.

Last Sunday I was out with the normal riding crowd in Wharncliffe and on the first downhill run, dictated by tradition to be the Nemba course, I came round a corner and had to stop suddenly for what was obviously a victim of a serious stack lying on the ground. One of his friends was holding his ankle together (broken tib and fib just above the ankle) while the other had dialled 999 and, being not entirely familiar with the area, was trying to describe where they were to the operator.

Dave the crash victim has a leg splint applied.

> read more…

Avalanche trophy

The Avalanche Enduro was held in Kielder forest on the 25/26th May, it was a good event with decent weather and better than expected trails.

Saturday we checked out the event stages ridding them all twice, there was a mix of loamy bits but mostly trail center stuff which was sandstone based so sandy with lots of loose rocks. The stages were around 4 mins long and most required a fair amount of pedaling to keep the speed up. Stage 4/7 was used on Saturday afternoon as a prologue to seed riders for Sunday, this was probably the flattest stage so was a real suffer-fest but I got down it in a time better than it felt. This result did however mean an early start time on Sunday of 8:40 to head up the hill, the time allowances to get between stages were quite relaxed giving plenty of time at the start of the day and getting tighter as the event progressed, if you had a problem then things started to get interesting.

My first stage was the most fun in practice with sweet dry loamy bends as well as dark greasy woods sections but come Sunday morning it occurred about 2 coffees too early in my day and I minced my way down with lots of little mistakes.

> read more…

just in Dan Darwood reports on the first round of the SDA:-

Scottish Downhill Association

I went racin’ this weekend. It was the first round of the SDA up past Aberdeen at Pitfichie… a long way from anywhere
and once I had some beers I was putting the tent up (badly) at 1:00 on Saturday morning. The course had no uplift but
the push up wasn’t too bad for a 3 minute run, it was dry and dusty and I got a wee bit of sun burn yesterday (doh!)
even though there was a frost overnight.

The top was flattish through the heather with loads of granite bedrock slabs, it then went into the woods where it was
all full of embedded rocks to hit and a couple of sweet bermed corners before a flattish traverse (again with more
embedded rocks) and the final berms and jumps to the finish. Initial practice was hard work but after some lunch I
adjusted my tyre pressures, tried a few different shock settings and put clips on, this plus some additional confidence
meant I finished the day happy that I knew the course and wasn’t riding too much like a numpty.

My first run was a 2:49 and put me in 5th in the Masters, I had made a mistake in the rocks put was pretty pleased. For the second run I managed to hit all my lines reasonably clean but was tired and didn’t pedal as much as the first time down (I had used too much energy in practice and pushing up) but I managed to take a second off my time which was my goal. A few other folks went faster and I got bumped down to 6th, 10 sec off the category winner. I was still in the top third and was pleased with the result, I can see where improvement can be made if I want to work on stuff (bigger forks would have been nice too). Overall it was a very good weekend, top weather, a course in great condition, good folks and a very mellow atmosphere.

Results:
http://www.sda-races.com/sda/viewrace.asp?RaceID=1562

Things seem to have got rolling this year and we’ve hooked up with some good riders and team mates, more results and team updates soon we hope.

Team Just Riding Along

Seb Frost at Pearce Cycles rd 1

Seb Frost – expert DH – riding for us, testing the NoTubes Flow rims on the new American Classic front 20mm and rear 12×150mm in the UK Downhills. Seb was initially cautious about the light weight wheels but has just come back from the Maxxis Cup in Vigo where they stayed straight despite some enthusiastic riding (and the resulting crash).

team jerseys

Jon Webb – master DH – you’ve probably seen him somewhere before. Riding with some Industry Nine Enduro wheels in orange on Flow rims, for their 1750g weight these wheels are about as strong as they come.

Associated riders :

Jenny with her new kit

Jenny Copnall – elite XC – The UK National Champion, now riding for Fisher Outdoor Leisure with our NoTubes Race 7000 American Classic wheelset. At 282g each these are the lightest rims available and the whole wheelset comes in at just 1220g.

The Cycle Jersey Team – DH riders Ben Cathro, Joe Barnes, Chris Hutchens, James Scott and Chris Coates using our Copter Tape on their Orange 224s. Ben Cathro (in)famously rode a rubber skinsuit to 8th place in the World Cup race at Fort William last year and the rest of the team aren’t far behind.