Showing The Old Ones How It’s Done

 

Went up the Hafren on Saturday with Kev and dad on very windy and wet day, we did several tracks and the splashes lived up to it’s name with a lot of big puddles, when we got to the top of false flat I said I would like to have a play in the old quarry and ride down some of the scree slopes which was great fun.

 

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After I had a play in quarry we made our way up to descent 1&2, on descent 1 there were several big puddles and by now we were soaking wet, on the last big puddle you can go up the bank on the left, as I went up my front wheel washed out and I came off nearly falling into the puddle I was trying to avoid, but dad was right behind me with nowhere to go and fell off as well,  just as Kev came round the corner to see us all diving off the bikes in different directions, we were all soaking wet and cold feet but a great spin around the Hafren.

Dan Up The Hafren

A Very Big Thank You

 

A very big thank you to everyone who’s helped me out this season, I really hope I have a chilled and fun season.

Rapid Racing Products For keeping me clean.

OKO Magic Milk For keeping the tyres rolling

Also for a change I’m trying Maxxis tyres to see what I think of them, so I hope I stay rubber side down Maxxis MTB Tyres

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Yes Boy A Bit Of GMBN Fame

Well a bit of GMBN fame for me and Perry at Coed Y Brenin skills park, January sender of the month, quite nice to see Blake and Martin looking quite impressed.

You can see there video here GMBN January Sender Of The Month

Slip & Slide

Cracking day at Pearce Cycles Brindgewood with James, weather wasn’t to bad but there was a lot of rain in the night so by looking at the car park it was going to be muddy, we got kitted up and had a roll down the track and boy was it slippery for the second run we let some air out of the tyres to see if it will help with a bit of grip and no it didn’t.

we tried a few different tracks to see if they were any better and again no they weren’t the track we raced last year was like it was covered in ice it was that slippery, we did run after run and the more we did the better it seemed to get, I don’t think the tracks were any less slippery just we were getting more in tune with the bike.

We stopped for lunch and dad had cooked us cheese burgers and after all the runs they tasted real good, there’s set of jumps just above the car park which seemed really weird I had been doing them in the morning but so many people were getting wrong, dad said he had watched one fella try them and go straight over the bars in a big way, looking at them the main problem was you went down a big ish drop onto a bomb hole which was full of mud and you had to the line spot on where the mud was compressed or you would slide or lose momentum, the other thing was not go down the drop with too much speed or on the jump out it would buck the backend up, by around 3.30pm the heavens opened and we called it a day all in all it was a good day learning to slip and slide one thing was really noticeable compared to many other people bikes was the amount of mud build up on the down tube but with the Rapid Racing Products mudguard the difference is amazing.

Pearce Cycles Brindgewood Ludlow

Rapid Racing Products Testing

 

Pearce Cycles charity up lift at Hopton today, conditions were cloudy and the tracks were muddy/sticky which in a way I was pleased about as I wanted to test the new RRP mud guard on the big rig,

I think I did somewhere between 10 to 15 runs and all was going well bar for knocking my rear tyre off the rim and loosing all my Stans fluid, dad had been out for a trail ride and when he came back mentioned “haven’t you done many runs” as my bike was so clean and his down tube was covered in sticky mud, dads guard isn’t as long as the RRP but his bike was covered right up to the steering head.

Which was quite surprising so at the end of the day we looked again and fair play the mudguard had done the job, I’ve tried two other makes and none of them had kept the bike this clean, we will have to see what it’s like in real wet conditions, but so far spot on.

Bit of a Go Pro from today from Pearce Cycles Hopton Up Lift

Rapid Racing Products

Big thanks to Rapid Racing Products for hooking me up with this mudguard going to need it this time of year the mudguards look very strong and well made looking forward to testing it out on Saturday at Coed Y Brenin so as soon as I have given them a real good ride I will let you know how well they work.

Will try and get the bigger mud guard on the DH rig the weekend and see what it looks like.

Up date on the RRP mudguard on the enduro bike, fair play it works spot on keeps the crap out of your face and eyes, I went up Henblas the last couple of days and it’s really wet and soggy, instead of my mud splattered face I have kept quite clean and it also kept my new Go Pro lens clean so keeping the images clear, so again RRP thank you very much for all your help.

Testing RRP Mudguard Up Henblas

Good Bye Old One Hello New One

 

Well my old DH bike is no longer as it’s gone to a new home ( which is quite sad really had some amazing times on it ) but instead I have swapped it for a Giant Trance 2 with some nice up grades, Shimano XT brakes and 11 x 46 Shimano cassette to help up those hills, so looking forward to getting out and doing some shredding / training.

Flying Solo

I would just like to say a huge thanks to @caersws_dh_bikepark for the past season. Decided to go solo for next season and just chill cheers malc for all the help.

Hopefully I will get loads of help and advise from others as well, be nice to chill and have a laugh with the boys in the 2019 race season.

Well That Was A Tough One

Last round of Gravity Event DH Series at Rheola south Wales, we got there on Friday and the weather was quite good but by the time Saturday arrived it was rain and more rain so it was time to get the waterproofs out and give the track a few slow runs to see what it’s like and it was very wet and slippery, roots and rocks everywhere also one of the longest tracks I have ever ridden.

After two runs I felt a little more confident on the bike and started pushing a bit harder and things felt good even in all the rain, I had to stop on one of the fire roads for a break this track is really physically demanding, after a few seconds I carried on down the track my main problem was a section called Star Wars rocks, roots and ruts every where I stopped a couple of times to look and see if I could find the best line through this section.

Down at the bottom of a track one of the local riders told be the best line to go through Star Wars which was straight through the middle, I had already been using this line but it was a hard ish line to take so back up to the top and practise practise and more practise, it was really frustrating as I would get it right and then the next run it would all go wrong, it was getting late in the day and I was getting frustrated and dad said call it a day, but no one more go, think I should have listened as over the bars I went and grazed all my shoulder and it really hurt, mid nearly every muscle in my body was hurting.

I couldn’t stop thinking of how hard it was to get through Star Wars clean and mom said I was even talking about it in my sleep !

Sunday dawned and yes it was still raining, I kited up and had two practise runs one was clean and the other not so good but there was nothing I could do know as it was time for race runs, two things kept going on in my mind Star Wars and I still hadn’t done a full run, it was time to get on the uplift and head up to the top for first race runs.

As I started of the start line my heart was in my mouth, the run was going well and here comes Star  Wars it was going well and then the bike stopped dead I nearly went over the bars but saved it and kept going my feet didn’t even come off the pedals, as I got near the bottom of the track I caught up a slower rider but he didn’t really slow me down and my body was aching so much I wouldn’t have even wanted a re run, I was  really pleased to get to the bottom, but then a red flag had come out and the race was stopped I then heard it was Toby and he had come off really badly and had to be rushed to hospital, really hope you get better soon dude, It was a super hard track and after Toby’s accident I didn’t want to do my second run so I handed my transponder in and called it a day.

But I was really pleased when the race finished as I had come third in welsh Champs and also 3rd overall in Juvinile for the season, so not to bad.

Pearce Cycles Up Lift Hopton

Cracking day at Pearce Cycles up lift at Hopton Woods, weather was dry and warm and the track was running sweet, dad had been playing with the suspension trying to get it spot on for me ready for the up and coming Rheola race next weekend and all seemed good.

Dad had put a new Conti Der Kaiser on the rear to make sure it was fully seated and ready to go for the weekend so fingers crossed we are all sorted and get a good result at Rheola.