I’m very proud to have won the Best Singletrack Magazine Feature for 2009 as voted by the readers of the magazine. I wrote the story of me and my son Nial and how we have made riding mountain bikes one of the most important parts of our father and son time. Thanks if you were one of the people who voted. If you haven’t read the article it is in issue 50 of Singletrack Mountain Bike Magazine available in print or to download from the online shop.

http://www.singletrackworld.com/shop/acatalog/singleissues.html

Best Singletrack Magazine Feature

Winner: ‘Man & Boy’ by Ed Oxley

“This was the closest category with only a handful of votes separating the candidates. Ed’s feature must be one of the most genuinely moving pieces of writing in a mountain bike magazine for quite some time. The best man won.”

Here is the boy himself in action yesterday on the frozen downhill tracks at Storthes Hall near Huddersfield

Nial on the Ragley Ti from Ed Oxley on Vimeo.

I picked up the Ibis Tranny test bike from Singletrack today. Like the Heinz soup it comes in several varieties! It’s in a singlespeed/dirt bike build at the moment and I’m looking forward to taking it up to my usual playgrounds to see how the hardtail Mojo rides. Fox 32 100mm bolt through fork and Atherton Pro finishing kit are all looking pretty sweet.

Just in, this lavishly decorated Giro Xen. I haven’t had a helmet this funky since I had an Etto in the early 90s.

For the record mine was black on purple. I imagine the Japanese tattoo derived colour fest of the Giro will look as much ‘of it’s time’ as this nineties head case does today.

Ian was one of my first clients. Coming from a road riding background, he wanted to race off road and so came for a one to one day up at Lee Quarry. Following that day he raced the Brownbacks cross country series in the ‘Have a Go Hero’ class. He did rather well, winning a race and finishing second in the series overall.

As part of his winter training he’s coming back for more skills training. We’re doing regular 2 hour sessions up at Lee Quarry to develop his technical off road skills. We’ve been working on pumping the trail, using the jump line to perfect timing and body position.

Going back to do it again

I haven’t worked at Lee Quarry for a couple of months and it’s really good to be back up there. Look out for open group days at Lee Quarry from spring 2010 and please get in touch if you want to book a private day. If you’d like to come for a half day (3 hour) or a 2 hour session, I am taking bookings on weekdays only.

Look out for more collaborative weekends in the future. In the meantime here’s Nigel hitting a road gap in Delamere Forest on a ride we had there recently.

Pagey’s Gap from Ed Oxley on Vimeo.