Maybe ‘Change is good’ but surely you can change in the wrong way, like 50% of your favourite magazine being owned by an asset management company in the city, how can that be good?

What am I on about? Dirt Magazine’s most recent editorial tells of how Dirt have ‘joined forces’ with some other action sports publishers to create a new publishing group called Factory Media. ‘Buy into’ and ‘joined forces’ seem to be popular terms for hiding larger misdemeanors, as investigations show 4130 and its associated titles were bought by Factory Media, a company recently set-up from a management buy-out of Action Sports Media.

The Source magazine reported this buy-out and aquisition as being funded by Electra Quoted Management, an asset managment firm who have a 50% share in Factory Media.

Fears of change for the worse don’t appear unfounded as big company ethics seem to be kicking in already, with subscription reminders awash with call centres and anonymous addresses; we all know Dirt HQ is in Dorset but the letter is footed Factory Media in London, the address on the top is Sittingbourne in Kent, the email address is …servicehelpdesk.co.uk…who?, the phone 0844 (a new non-geographic number, less costly than using a freephone number for your business apparently). Adverts for road and kids bikes and cars have already invaded the pages.

Maybe its because I have a vendetta against Dirt for certain misdescriptions of our product but glossings over only annoy me more. Maybe I stand to be corrected and these sites http://www.electraquoted.com/ are a figment of my surfing.

Will I send them my money? I don’t think so even though I have every issue since 2001 issue 29. I know it’s all been done in the name of progress and going monthly but sometimes its not always in the right direction. Often we see in the industry niche brands taken on by bigger players only to discover that they are niche for a reason and maybe, just maybe there aren’t that many more downhillers out there that will read Dirt.

We didn’t see much of the action as it happens, we were right next to the course but facing the other way showing off all our wheels, tyre sealant and the rest. But we do know that there was some high quality racing going on with Mary McConneloug flying in from the US to win by quite a way in the womens, and a sprint finish in the men’s race between Oli Beckingsale and Ian Wilkinson which was only ever going to be won by “Wilko”. Actually I’ve just checked the lap times and Mary McConneloug would have probably won the Expert or Masters mens race, and would have beaten half the Elite men too. Very quick, probably helped by her special issue 296g NoTubes rims – I had a quick heft of her spare wheels and they were unbelievably light.

Then the rain came down for the Masters/Vets etc and I was glad I wasn’t racing for once, it looked pretty bad from under the cover of our canopy. The rain returned for Sunday and the Marathhon events, and I think it broke quite a few people (and bikes). Will Bjergfelt had to go and buy some shoes as he forgot his (again) but still managed to win, at least that’s what we were told, I’m afraid we’d left by then as the rain came down even harder.

last August we mentioned that we’d been told by the Forestry Commission that we couldn’t use Whancliffe woods to hold a round of the Midlands XC series this summer, infact they wern’t going to allow any more events in the woods at all after complaints from walkers, its to busy and it disturbs the wildlife. After quite a bit of discussion and lobbying from other parties we left it be after being told that “we don’t use Wharncliffe for racing anymore ( apart from a one off charity event).”

Guess what- its not a one off theres another one ! Excellent so some downhillers can have a piss up and ride around in fancy dress (in aid of charity of course) whenever they want but no organised events please. Why wern’t they told to use Sherwood Pines like the rest of us?

I don’t think that this will suprise many people, Forestry are rapidly going down in peoples estimations with irratic trail support and extortionate licence uplift fee and capitalising on other peoples hard work.

outraged of Hillsborough

A quick plug for the slightly nutty event thats just opened on our online entries system, the Raasay Rumble, a new ten hour mountain bike enduro race on the isle of Raasay for soloists, pairs and teams of three. See this months MBR for some pics or the their website for some info, but thats about all we know or just enter here….

Yes, I admit it, I’ve been too busy. The whole cycle industry seems to have expoded into life and it’s a major effort just trying to keep everything in stock, all the suppliers keep running out of the sort of thing you’d think would never run out like spokes and tyres never mind the bigger stuff. It’s all good for us of course but a bit of a surprise what with interest rate rises on the horizon and general economic nervousness but the amazing April weather must have kicked it all off.

Anyway we have been getting out and riding a fair bit, at the expense of this blog, and heading up to Wharncliffe quite a bit as well as the Bole Hills and out in the Peaks. This weekend it’s going to be the Lakes and hopefully this weather will carry on a bit longer…