11th September 2007

Photo: Tenacious Doug

It was the uci downhill world championships at the weekend in Fort William and our boy hutch finished an impressive 9th, this guy is now in the top 15% in the world, in his chosen sport, not mny people can say that! Ruaridh never qualified for the world cup here last year, and he is World Champ a year later, if thats any measure then we can say that The Hutch is on it! expect great things from this man, he's a true racer!

16th July 2007

National DH champs, Rheola S Wales

Ok, now i'm writing this after a 1000 mile round trip inside 23 hours, in the p*ssing rain, after attending race day at this event , to support the guys........now thats dedication!

But it pales in comparison to the dedication shown by many riders who braved the rain and wind to pit themselves against what [to be honest] was a kick ass DH track! You can see the guys results here. The track was a 4+ minutes affair for most at a high but gradual elevation, and it was fast, fast, fast!! the track was also really grippy for a quagmire, by the middle of sunday practice, the surface had turned into, hardpacked clay type mud, with about 2-6 inches of thin watery mud on top, but the right tyre choice seen this off and gripped the clay below really well. By the end of practice the track was pretty hammered and a lot of the grip was dissapearing fast, the "star wars" section was torn all to hell and the northshore sections were well shady.

All the guys got down in one piece though, with chris having a small incident, involving a visit to the floor, leaving his washing machine to foot the bill! this was a difficult race, and a challenging one, a long journey for sure and a grimey, wet and cold reward at the end, but as usual, our friends and colleagues soldier on and do the business for our sport. This wasn't the glamourous "flagship" event that the british champs should be by any stretch of the imagination, but the commitment of the guys never fails to amaze me, they just love to ride, regardless of the circumstances, summed up by Joe, on leaving, he was standing in the middle of the road, covered in wet, cold gloopy dirt-soup, having just heard that the next NPS race had been cancelled at the weekend, asking "what are you gonna do at the weekend now?" he replies: "i'll go riding with Fergus (lamb)" "where to"...."i think we'll just shoot over to france for a bit".......................Priceless!

Go here to view more pictures from the weekend.

6th July 2007

LIFE BEYOND THE D2

Ok, now this is a touchy subject, the indiginous population in uk mountainbiking, cant see past the good old D2 right, now i have to admit, i own a custom painted one myself, but over the last months i have had the pleasure to work on another few brands for a change, the best of these being the 661 flight, this isnt a review as such, its just after these bad boys were re-built for our team guys, Brido and Coatsey, we thought they were worth a mention cos' they looked so sweet, with a butch profile, cool accents and rear stabiliser, they just look that bit different, so if you're gonna go and spent a fat wad on a TLD or similar, have a look at the Flight, its awesome!

27th June 2007

Well, its mid season an the downhill callander and things are looking good for our guys, i'd say theyre delivering across the board in this fiercely competitive sport, Joe and Hutch are featuring regularly on the podiums at all national and regional races with Coatesy and Brido improving thier results at every race, gaining a few places with every outing. the last SDA race was on the world championship course at the formidable fort william, which Joe finished an amazing 4th! now...... we reckon he'd have had this one in the bag if if it wasnt for the fact that Peaty, Rennie and Marc Beamont turned up to case the world champs track ahead of the big event, Joes world cup results are undoubtedly getting better, and not for the first time this season, its names like Peat, Atherton, Beamont, and Rennie that are keeping him off the steps. Hutch is right in the mix too, his world cat ranking right now is 13th after Mont Saint Anne. Its easy to forget that Chris is a junior cat rider, with his results steadily getting better in the international field and his regular podium appearances across the board, indeed chris has only missed the podium in one uk race this year (6th) and has not finished lower than 12th in ant international junior cat race this season.

Chris has recovered well from his AE setback to a great 14th place at Fort Bill, grabbing a couple of places at every race, he's gaining confidence on his 224 and loving his racing, whils being totally pre-occupied with filming every run! The same could be said for brian, his consistancy is starting to show now and he too is grabbing back 3 or 4 places every time he hears the beeps, as all the guys get used to thier bikes and kit, i think this will continue, so a great opening stint for the guys, doing the business for everyone who has supported us so far.

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12th june 2007

Ok, now, i'll work these two in together, and update the whole race thing, through one thing and another i've just have no time to update the site! so i'll start with

AE NPS#2

really its best to check out Chris' blog for this one, as he can put his personal pain into words! as far as rcing goeas, our two quickest fillies done good this weekend, Joe again hogged the hotseat in the elite for a good spell (again) ending up a very impressive 8th place on a 2.18, with names like the Atherton's, Peat, Rennie, Minnarr, lehikoinen and Beamont hanging around the hill, its no mean feat, joe continues to impress everyone with his strength and stamina for this racin' lark, one to watch indeed, again in the fiercest of catagorie (juniors) Hutch's concictancy saw him podium again with a brilliant 5th place with a quick 2.25

uci world cup #2 Champery, Switzerland

Gonna wait for an upatate from the guys for this, suffice to say that hutch is now the 8th fastest junior in the WORLD! and joe is fast starting to mix araound the tiop 50 fastest elites on the planet, as far as we know, this race was plagued by wether changes, which really took its toll on some of the big guns, but hey!......thats racin'

22nd May 2007

We recenty aquired an ACT200 helmet cam from Oregon Scientific and we're officially impressed, heres a quick vid of chris' practice run at Dunkeld this weekend, including his audition for the new movie version of the 80's cult classic "the fall guy" if only we could get him to put it on straight?

21st May 2007

Well, i dont often let myself get too upset, over the last couple of races, Mfxairart endorsees have done more than ok, with over ten podium finishes since the start of the season (including a world cup top step) but this weekend i was really hacked off, as the boys from our Cyclejersey / mfxairart team cleaned up at Dunkeld SDA#2 this weekend. i was struck down with.....well lets say i couldnt go for from home at the weekend, so i couldnt get to the race, so i cant really elaborate much suffice to say that Joe won his first elite race and Hutch won his race also, so happy all round, some facts on the weekend: Joe crashed and STILL! won, Brian Gibb had a hangover on sunday, We all think Oregon helmetcams are cool, Chris C has lots of bruises (apparently), and i've got the hump cos' i was'nt there :-(

There was a catering issue also i believe, so chris had to resort to looking for his dinner in alternative places.

15th May 2007

CHECK THIS OUT!

After some Jibba Jabba with Damien at Dirtworker uk we are proud to be supported by this really cool product.

The dirtworker is a 3.5 gallon 70psi mobile power washer about the size of a briefcase, you fill it up befor you leave, and when your are ready, you plug it into your car cigar lighter and bang, you're off it's a well cool product, saving time, effort and the nagging that inevitably ensues when dragging a dirty bike through the house! you can clean your wellies with it too, in fact anything really, if you want a demo, just ask the guys at the races to show it off, if you want to know about this cool product go to the dirtworker website.

5th May 2007

RODTRIP! the words we all like to hear, today the guys (minus Joe who was working) headed up to good old Dunkeld for a photo / video shoot, i love Dunkeld, i had'nt been there for years and forgot how good it was, its a cool old school DH track with loads of tricky bits to test how brittle your nerve is, the next SDA race is held here soon, so it was also a bit of practice for the guys too, heres some pics and words from the day.

Hers the guys pushing up the back trails, we found a cool wee bit for filming where we werent bothered all day long, the woods at dunkeld are stunning, and the light was fantastic, we'll be back soon i think......Ewok hunting anyone

Below is Mark from Downhillracer mark is a good friend of ours and we ride with him when we can also, you've gotta check out his season review DVD at www.downhillracer.uk.com he covers all things great and good in the DH / FR mtb scene, he's doing a feature on us for his next DVD, He's a real pro, we cant wait to see the footage.

Factory or whit! the guys chewin' the fat at Dunkeld, the little trail we found was amazing, and we could have sessioned it all day, but for the failing light.

A sweaty hutch, if it was nothing else it was roasting, a good day all round!

1st may 2007

Well travelled? oh yes, innerliethen, ae, dunkeld, and now canada, yes, top bike e-zine Pinkbike, have done a sweet little article on the guys, bringing the world of super-fast comedy racing to the masses, click here to read it.

and as if that wasnt weird enough, our friends at dh-zone in poland, have run a short piece on the team, check out Mariuzs' sit its really cool, you can "read" the article here, its currently being translated for all you non-polski peeps.

23rd April 2007

JIBBA JABBA FROM NPS#1 INNERLIETHEN 22 APRIL 2007

Ill is me, stomach bug or something? anyway, some jibbajabba fron NPS#1. A mixed bag for everyone with the guys still getting used to thier kit: "what rotors" "what tyres" all that crap, you know the stuff!, anyway this was the national standard series, with an international turnout, mostly british riders showing out for the big teams. Peaty, the Athertons, G-cross Honda, Mojo, MBUK, Griffiths racing and GT to coin a few, so this was the guys first big test, best catagory result of the day came from Chris hutchens, landing a 6th in junior with a run time of 3.20 a great performance considering the field was so close over the weekend, anything from a 3.06 to a 3.22 had you knocking bars with the pro's a Top ten was a realistic target for this race and Chris did the business, now he's getting used to the new kit, he's looking more comfortable day to day!

Below: Hutch rails the last big berm in the arena

Next best result of the day was joe, yet again this guy was smokin' seeded 30th in elite from Saturday after a spill, his run was an early one, which is always difficult. However he occupied the hotseat for a good ten minutes at the after his run, and but for seven riders in front of him (all of them world cup experienced) his time was right up there, just six seconds off the winner, a truly amazing performance!

Below: Bovvered?......nope, joe lets the pressure wash over him, in the hotseat at inner.

Brian Weighed in with a 28th place finish in the masters catagory, with only a 10 second gap between a top ten place and his placing, not a bad effort at all.

Chris C by his standards had a messy weekend, you can read his repo below in his rider section, he felt all together in practice and seeding but just couldnt pull his timed runs into the kind of run he wanted. he'll be back at dunkeld and raring to go!!

So a good weekend for the most part, thanks to everyone who showed an interest in the guys and shouted them on at the weekend, and we'll see you at Dunk!

16th April 2007

RACE REPO #1 SDA1 INNERLIETHEN:

SDA1 innerliethen: What a weekend for our teams first outing, a great event indeed! the bikes and kit attracted a lot of attention in the pits and on the track, with the guys parading around lookin' Fly!! True to the form we all know they had, they carried this onto the track, inner was roasting, post 20's tempratures and zero sign of precipitation made for a really dry, dusty track and everyone blowing the dust off thier super-tacky's! The guys had been riding all week in one way or another, trying to dial thier new bikes in as best they could before the runs that count, as all the guys had to get at least two practice runs in as this was a UCI sanctioned event, but of course the guys were on the hill at every oppertunity regardless.

On with the racing, and whilst all the guys looked good and comfortable for a first outing, we have to start with joe! i could see he just looked quick all day, Chris Coates is a guy who likes his riding and has been at it a fair while, but i could see it even in his eyes all day when we talked about how quick joe looked, turns out our collective experience was spot on, his first run time put him in second place overall, just 0.4 seconds behind former European dh campion and world cup MOJO rider Julien Camellini, that the diference between the treads on a slightly worn tyre!! (baw hair) second runs saw Joe leave camelinni in his wake by over 2 seconds, but unfortunately the times were slower and it was your fastest run that counted, so second for Joe on the day, no mean feat by any stretch, amazing to have that quality on our team!

Talking of quality, Hutch also made the podium with a 3rd in his catagory! Juniors is fierce, the top 10-15 riders in these cats are all the next big thing, and with the parental support so prevalent now they will only get fiercer, he had a great weekend and looked comfy on the bike, happy with his setup he was aiming for the podium and did'nt dissapoint, the boy is never happy with himself, and his constant evaluations of his performances stand him in great stead for the future, we thought he'd done it with only a few to go, but gump is annoyingly fast these days and of course the boy Bryceland takes some catching.

Brian was a little annoyed with himself cos he wasnt battling at the top, but he's already given his intent to battle at NPS1 next weekend, he did however give his endorsement to his new kit and said his bike was balanced perfectly, watch out for him shouting the word we all like to hear........ RIDER!!!

Coatsey finished mid table in his catagory, but never stopped raving about his kit all day, he's looking forward toward the season as a whole, travelling, setting up, practice, he loves the whole experience, a true bike fanatic! in fact i got a "kid in a candy shop" type text message last week from him, "i cant wait" etc.....encouraging indeed!

In summary, the unexpected heat was debilitating for even the fit guys, the track was tricky and dusty, making it slippy as hell, organization and uplift went well and there was a great turnout, catch some pics of our guys here.

SPS roll into the sleepy borders next week with thier NPS1 roadshow, best of luck to them, we'll be there...........with bells on!

10th April 2007

Just had a Q & A with top geezer Elbry from NSF website its up now for all to see, there are no pictures of me on it, so its safe for the kids, there are some of hutch though, so mibbe not! he was asking about the guys aspirations this year and some questions about the trials and tribulations of forming a team, and theres some team kit photos to drool at too!

Check it out here

3rd April

Brian looses his mind on "laborious fire road training run" A spokesman says:

"Brian is especially excited about the upcoming season. In previous years he is sure that his bike has let him down as he out grew it many years ago.
We're sure the 224 will fit better!"

29th March

Getting there, started the helmets today, nothing too fancy, just nice, bold graphics so you'll see the boys comin'

25th march 2007

Chris and brain have been out for the first time this weekend on thier new bikes, suffice to say, they look the bollocks, check out the pics below, the initial feedback is good, they are well balanced, lichter than the average and the handle great, check the pics below, hutch also raced his this weekend at the maxxis, race report coming soon!

CHRIS C

BRI.

New bikes, with custom livery!

9th March 2007

Spy-shots..........taken from a shady lookin' guy with yellow camper van, the third button down on his staypessed shirt looked funny, so i tackled him as he left, but this is all he got!

Shame on him!

Also, a pile o' helmets arrived today acouple flagship model 661 flights for Chris C and Brian along with a couple of TLD D2's for Joe and Chris from Si Paton at Descent-gear, time to get sanding!!!

Pure Dead Brilliant!!!!!

8th March 2007

We recieved one of our secret weapons all the way from new zealand today, this piece of kit should help our case no end............stay tuned!

6th March 2007

Well i opened them today, 4 sets of fox 40 downhill forks, containing a truckload of mojo stickers, its a scary sight to see all this gear stacked up, bikes, shocks, forks, parts and stuff, its coming together at quite a rate now, soon be time to unleash the thunder!!

5th March 2007

You know its funny, here we have a bunch of full grown men that ordinaraly are sensible about the normal things in life, but suddenly, a load of shiny parts form a steady stream to thier door, and they all turn into wee boys, its hilairious. Anyway, hutch thought you'd all like to see what a naked 2007 Orange 224 looked like, not even a day out of the factory, FEAST YOUR EYES!

2nd March 2007

MMMMMMMMM, Juicy.......Fox 40's arrived this morning, Brian was already in our car park in the mirth-mobile unloading these lovelies, thanks to mojo for the help and support, looking forward to fitting these over the next couple of days to some freshly painted Custom built orange 224's

22nd Febuary 2007

Well we've been to orange, got the bikes, in the middle of painting them just now, custom hot-rod metal flake red (pimp) fox 40's are coming tomorrow and the brakes are on thier way, www.justridingalong.com sent ust the ultimate helitape the other day and mma have given us great terms for 661 and maxxis stuff, so full steam ahead!

On the other side of it all, Mark from www.downhillracer.uk.com  was in getting all arty the other day, filming the process and getting some chat, with andy macandlish in tow for a well known magazine, more to follow......