I was lucky enough to be riding with a great bunch the other week, including Danny Macaskill, Rowan Sorrell, Joe Barnes and Aimee Dix, as part of an MTBcut video shoot for Mojo/Fox suspension. You can see the first part of the video with footage from Lee Quarry and Calderdale over on Singletrack World:

http://www.singletrackworld.com/2010/04/video-mojo-trail-diaries/

The photo above was taken on the descent from the Nan Bield Pass in The Lake District. I’ve done the usual Nan Bield loop a few times before, but this time we rode down what is usually the push / carry up. Proper ace, proper hard, proper tech, proper pass storming. Everyone apart from me was riding Orange Fives, proving how good the current 140mm trail bikes are and how they really can go anywhere. My trusty Ibis Mojo has stormed a few passes and yet again it took the whole trail in it’s stride. With a Fox 36 fork on the front it makes a true all mountain bike. Footage from that day will be in part two of the video, out any day now…

I’ve written a new ‘Digger’s Diary’ blog on the Singletrack website about Cragg Quarry. It’s really fun to ride up there and great for developing skills, especially flow, cornering and pumping the trail.

I’m running a Flow weekend skills course on 21/22 August where I’m planning to use Cragg Quarry on the Sunday (see the Flow tab above). If you want to book a private one to one day or group day at Cragg Quarry please get in touch.

Get out there while the trails are dry and get your golden shred on……

Some photos from Saturday’s ‘Stop Crashing’ course at a very sunny Lee Quarry. We started in the pump track and built on the skills we developed there to ride berms, drop offs, climbs, steep slabs and rock gardens.

Click here for more photos….

To launch the new mountain bike trails at Cragg Quarry in Rossendale, Lancashire, we are having a launch ride out there on Saturday 1st May.

The idea is to meet at the Buck Inn, Cowpe at 10am. We’ll have some coffee, do a bit of pre-ride faffing and then roll out and up the Mary Towneley Loop to Cragg Quarry. There will be plenty of time to put in a couple of laps, at whatever pace you fancy, on the excellent new red grade loop before heading back down to the Buck Inn for beers and food if you’re in the mood.

Here’s a link to a map, showing the location of the Buck Inn.

The new trail uses the former quarry landscape and makes the most of the flowing, rolling lines of the place to make a fine example of ‘flow country’ riding. There are plenty of berms, rollers, ups and downs to pump and pedal to your heart’s content. The trail complements what is already at Lee Quarry. It is also a little bit different. I think it’s really good. Please join me and see for yourself.

The trail has been designed by Rowan Sorrell and been built by his company Back on Track. The Cragg Quarry trail is the latest development in the progressive trail building project that is taking place in Lancashire.

So are you coming or what? Let me know on this Singletrack forum thread.

Nick came for a one to one skills day today. He has just bought a custom built Ragley Blue Pig and he came up to Whelpstone Bikes, the new bike shop at the Dog & Partridge pub at Gisburn Forest, to collect his new bike and come out for a day of fundamental skills on the excellent Blue graded trail. We spent time getting his bike set up just right for him and also went through how to do some essential everyday maintenance tips and trail side fixes.

The Blue route is a great place to learn bike skills with plenty of opportunity to practice all the foundation skills on a trail at just the right level. Body position on the bike, looking ahead, braking, relaxing and breathing, cornering and gear changes were all on the menu.

We finished the day riding the final section of berms on the Blue route. Nick made great progression through the day and by the end he was riding smoother, with better line choice, letting the bike move around and carrying more speed in a controlled way.

Whelpstone Bikes have a demo mmmBop and are in the process of building up a demo Blue Pig. Anyone coming on a Great Rock skills day can try out one of these bikes for free. Just get in touch with me….