http://www.npsdh.com/rss.php http://www.npsdh.com/#Directions to Carlton Bank Directions to Carlton Bank are now online, here Please remember this is a private venue that cannot be ridden outside of organised days Alan http://www.npsdh.com/#Moelfre Race Repo Monster Energy /Halford’s Bike Hut Round 4 at Moelfre in Mid Wales. Mother Nature had a few tricks up her sleeve this weekend and she played them all, including a couple of jokers.. Click here to find out who came up trumps.. The 9th and 10th of August 2008. Before we start there are several Moelfre’s in Wales and this reminds me fondly of the time the Irish lot turned up (Joe Ward the Captain) almost a day late after going to the wrong one. This year it was the Scots turn and Friday evening 21:00 the mobile / cell rings and directions are required. It goes a little something like this: Si, “Where are you?” Scots, “Moelfre!” Si, “Which one?” Scots, “There’s more than one?” Si, “There’s Several” Scots, “F*&k!” Si, “What can you see?” Scots, “The Sea”. Si, “The Sea? F&*k me your miles away”.. They realised something was wrong when they went into a shop and it was selling buckets and spades. Next they stood outside a chip shop and another MTB van turns up, again from Scotland. That’s two vans, six riders both turned up at Hollyhead over 100miles away from the race venue. At last Jon-e Beckett will no longer have to listen to any more Irish jokes.. Friday morning setup and will anyone believe me when I say we had tops off, shorts on and was basking under the sun? It’s true.. The team laid the timing cable and then went up and down to prod 600 poles into the ground for the course tape as there is only one tree on the whole course! The finish gantry goes up, banners, flags and were pretty much done as everyone starts to park up. Fires are lit, BBQ’s smoulder and the sky was crystal clear and full of a billion stars. Saturday a.m and whoosh, heavy rain in what still remains a calm and warm finish arena. Maxxis WetDreams sell out within minutes at the Descent-Gear store as do those RRP Mudguards. It’s going to be a wet one. What nobody realised was the wind conditions up top. In the pits all was calm, then we ventured up the hill VIP style with the UCI Commissaire (it’s a UCI Cat 2 Race) inside one of those huge Monster trucks. At the top it was almost impossible to stand up, 40-50mph gusts meant the Funn MTB E-Zee-Up that was welded down had finally given up the ghost, even after a strong fight. The UCI Comm immediately made the decision on safety to drop the start to a stone alcove some 200 yards further down that would provide slightly more shelter. Practise continued though come seeding at 15:00 visibility was reduced to the end of your nose at times due to thick mist and fog. Therefore practise was extended leaving one race run for Sunday. Saturday evenings entertainment was provided by an impromptu long jump contest. Running along the last part of the course we had a small 3ft kicker to mellow landing some 30ft away. The riders lined up encouraged by some rapidly poached prizes for the winner who was to take all. Steve and myself threw in £40 and that was topped up by Rich from Fenwick’s and Pete from 2Stage Bikes who stumped up cash and a 2stage sweat, a case of Monster Energy and a big blow up pic from Dave Lane at Fast Lane Photography of said culprit in the air. Ben Moorehouse of www.ticket2ridebc.com came in third in distance, if it was a height contest he would of won defo. Mojo rider Ken Bathro without skin suit this time popped his 7ft frame onboard a 14” kids bike and still went pretty big. Sion Whitecross came close but not close enough to MSC Bikes Kieran Mcavoy who went well over 40ft to take the $$$$. Biggest crowd pleaser was Alex Gray aged 6 who went MASSIVE. The pocket rocket attacked the take off like a child possessed by the Devil. Launched the jump and sent it.. O.K so he didn’t land it, his Mom dusted him down and the crowd cheered, he was the real winner! More pit antics with Tinys Steak Cooking Master class in front of a huge audience went down a spell. Scott Mears Dad not one to be upstaged by Paul Hart (Break Dance Inners Champion) at the Winter Series scared us all and got himself a free ambulance ride. Get well soon fella. Other injuries were Martin Crocket who broke his leg on the BC jump just before the finish. Another close call was the lunatic who thought the race/camp pits was a rally track on Friday night at 23:30. We caught up with him, luckily for him he listened to the quiet word we had in his ear. Bike Radars Will Longden was being dragged out of the field in his super-pimp van by a tractor and smashed straight into an out-poking Tranny vans tow ball, “Ouch”. Not good news after he lost both 6x3 E-Zee-Ups at the National Champs a few weeks before. Racing took part on Sunday after open practise with full runs between 09:00 to 12:25, Experts and Elites have 30minutes to themselves from 12:30 to 13:00 to let them have some full clear runs. Then we went racing at 13:30 sharp. The weather on Sunday was so much kinder to us, not to the Monster Energy Wig Wam though that caught a big gust and toppled over with several people holding onto one corner. Luckily the old bag who lives down the valley couldn’t hear the mega sound system we had due to the wind direction. That meant no environmental health officer calling us up this week. She’s had a decibel meter installed to monitor the noise. Can you believe these are the sort of hurdles we have to jump over to run a race? The sun shone and the wind was lighter yet still blowing which meant many riders took off their peaks (DISGRACEFUL BEHAVIOUR) in order to combat the speed destroying gusts that destroyed your legs. I also hear that many riders also cheated by riding something called “Spuds”? Surely this should be stopped, Devil Pedals that is.. The track itself as previously mentioned is 99.9% open to spectators and the elements. One tree on course means this is a high speed shuttle from top to bottom. Rolling grass Welsh Hill side up top followed man made doubles and switchbacks cut into the hill side. Get any of these wrong and a soft landing was guaranteed into razor sharp and prickly Gorse bushes. A huge road gap that only a handful cleared due to the wind conditions before we scooted around the hill and towards the finish. Natural whoops and greasy corners meant many a comedy moment before we launched off the BC jump and onto flat out wet and grassy corners (Thank God for cut down Wetscreams).. A mach 10 right hand corner, the long jump and a fine Olympic style sprint to the finish. Si http://www.npsdh.com/#Wideopenmag Issue 7 is online NOW! Download now for free at www.wideopenmag.co.uk. It's an absolute monster with 180 pages of UK and international mtb and bmx action including: NPS, Pearce, Fort Bill World Cup, World Champs race repos Bionicon bike test Commencal 09 and 2Stage first look Heaps of products including the Gamut P40, E13 LG1 and '09 Saint Cranks Interviews with the Chicksands young guns, photographer Roo Fowler and NPS4X Champ Scott Beaumont Dan Stanbridge/Mojo skin suit interview We're also super pleased to announce a MASSIVE competition with a Dialled bikes frame to be won. Full details are in the mag or on the webber. Get involved! www.wideopenmag.co.uk Alan http://www.npsdh.com/#Moelfre We have been playing with a few sections at Moelfre!! The NPS course will start off pretty much the same as last year, down the rock drops, then we have put 2 fly off type jumps, 1 smallish the second bigger, then the switchbacks have been altered part way down and go accross the hill more, then turn down in straight line above the stream. This is the do or die bit, there is now a road jump for the big boys and a chicken line round for us mere mortals, it should eliminate that horrible uphill pedal. You then carry on as last year, through the wall and into switchbacks, then into a flat turn before the rock slab. This should produce some comedy moments for the video crews, then on down to the jump and then infamous dry stream crossing and finish. There should another uplift before the NPS so keep em locked to this forum for the date. Steve http://www.npsdh.com/#Series Points Finally series points for 08! 2008 Series Points Alan. Alan http://www.npsdh.com/#Fort William Results This weekend saw a mainly dry NPS rd3 at The Fort, thanks to everyone who helped the event run smoothly from the marshals and commissars through to the liftys and Nevis Range staff. Greg Minnarr from South Africa took the Elite win with a time of 4.50 from Ben Cathro. Another superb job was done by Mike and his team from Mikrotime who have the results live already! These results will be fed into the hi-tec npsdh.com spreadsheet this week and series points will be live by the end of this week. One last thing if any of the photographers from the weekend would like to drop as a line through the contact form we will try and get a gallery together and give credit to you for your hard work on the hill. Cheers alan http://www.npsdh.com/#Dirt Vids from Inners Check out the videos from the guys at Dirt (NPSDH media Sponsor) Winners Interview Ralph Jones Head Cam Alan http://www.npsdh.com/#Innerleithen Results Top Marks to Mike from Mirotime for getting the results from the weekend online, even on the bank holiday! Overall and category results are online over now. Full Innerleithen Results Alan http://www.npsdh.com/#Wharncliffe Weekender 2008 The annual cross country mountain bike event, held in Sheffield has received interest from every continent of the world. The charity event, which raises money for the Weston Park Cancer Appeal Fund is hosted by 3 times downhill world cup mountain bike champion, Steve Peat in his local training grounds of Wharncliffe Woods. In the past 2 years, the event has raised £15,500 for the charity and this year, the management team are hoping to double this total. Recent improvements to their event communications have seen entries in all the top mountain bike magazines in the UK and some very well known mountain bike sites. As a result, their own website is now getting visited by people across North and South America, Europe, Asia and Africa, with over 500 new visitors each week. Steve Peat said ‘We are all truly amazed at the amount of interest this year’s event has attracted. I have utilized all my contacts within the mountain bike world to spread the word and cannot believe how many people have visited the site and are planning to attend the event. Our key focus this year was to penetrate areas of interest for this event with our web, email, poster and flyer campaigns. This is obviously paying dividends and we hope it continues.’ The event comprises of 2 categories. Firstly a fun race for children or the less discerning riders, almost all of whom will be in fancy dress. Secondly, a senior event which is for the more serious rider or fitness fanatic. In addition to the actual riding, there will be camping, food all-day and many other fund-raising stalls and activities. In the evening, things will spice up with a fully licensed bar, marquees, local live bands and DJ’s on their purpose built stage and a pyrotechnics display by one of the James Bond Film set technicians. There are still plenty of places available for interested riders and people who may just wish to spectate or enjoy the other activities are gratefully welcome. The dates for the event are 12th and 13th July. You will be able to download entry and sponsorship forms from the following website and get all the latest info on the race running up to the event. www.wharncliffeweekender.com Directions The race is situated in Wharncliffe forest, Sheffield, South Yorkshire. From the North Come off the MI at Junction 36 turn right towards Sheffield, At the next roundabout (McDonalds on the right) take the A616 towards Manchester. Follow for approx 1 mile once you crest the top of the hill there is a left turn signed Wortley, Huddersfield, Penistone. Turn left then after 50 Yards take the first right on to Woodhead Road. Follow for approx 3 miles. You will pass Rainbow hills Dog Kennels on your left, take the next right on to a dirt track. Follow signs for event parking and camping. From the south Exit the M1 Motorway at junction 35a follow A616 straight over first roundabout then straight over second roundabout (McDonalds on the right). Then follow above signs. Alan http://www.npsdh.com/#Rd 2 Start List The season is in full flow... Rd2 Start List Cheers Alan 2006-7 npsdh.com - Alan Whitelaw