Mountain Bike Trail & Event News

For the seventh straight year, the Kona Bicycle Company will be the official supplier of mountain bikes to the Whistler Mountain Bike Park in Whistler, B.C., building on a relationship that continues to push the envelope of what a mountain bike park, and mountain biking itself, can be.

As such, Kona will provide Whistler with high-performance mountain bikes for their rental fleet and guide’s use, assist in the expansion of trails and dirt jump courses and continue as the official sponsor of all Whistler events.

“Kona has been more than a sponsor for the past six years,” said Whistler Blackcomb’s Vice President of Business Development, Rob McSkimming. “They have truly been a partner in helping us to grow the Park Riding business, not only here in Whistler but all over the world. We are thrilled to be working with them again for 2006.”

As the official bike supplier, Kona will furnish the Whistler Mountain Bike Park with 210 high-performance, special edition Garbonzo series downhill bikes. The Garbonza series bikes are built around the Kona Stab Supreme, Stinky and children’s Stinky 2-4 frames and outfitted to meet the unique demands guides and park visitors will place on the fleet. The park’s rental fleet will also include the Scrap, Coiler, Lanai, Hula, Makena and children’s Stuff 2-4 bikes from the Kona lineup.

Kona will also continue as the official bike sponsor of all Whistler events, including Crankworx, Huckfest, Mudfest and the Loonie Race series, and John Cowan’s famous Kona Jump Farm will be enhanced with a new section for expert riders in the lower park and an expanded beginner area in the original location near mid-station.

www.konaworld.uk.com

Working in conjunction with Forest enterprise on a long term lease basis, members of the MTB-freeride park have currently just finished 3 days of work, camping on site to get their new "a-line" style trail built at the MTB-freeride park near Blandford Forum, Dorset.

The trail complements the 3 other DH tracks that are used in uplift days but this trail is designed for non uplift days when a quick walk to the top is all that is required to hit the step ups, tables and large berms that have been created. Massive thanks to everyone that turned up to build the trail not least Dazz for driving the digger and Paul for keeping us fed all weekend. The trail needs some bedding in but using the diggers 15 ton of pressure from the bucket and the dry weather, people sessioning the track on Sunday were surprised to find it running pretty well already.

The park started as a few mates looking for a place to ride. This has grown into a fantastic riding area for the predominantly flat south west with over 100 members of the club and a nice local scene that is seeing us push the boundaries of our riding and regular draws people from a 100 mile radius to ride the park. For more information on the Park go to www.mtb-freeride.com or for details on membership please call Ben at Torico on 01258 473770.

www.mtb-freeride.com

As reported last month the MBUK Wrecking Crew made the trip down to Haldon trails near Exeter to sample the new freeride and north shore trails and didn't go home disappointed.

The new freeride area including Jacobs Ladder and the awesome Helter Skelter on the Freeride trail proved to be very popular with the MBUK crew.

The trails have now been officially opened for over month and are becoming very popular destination for mountain bikers.

Haldon now has four bike trails, from the Family Cycling Trail, through the slightly more rugged Adventure Cycling Trail and on to the singletrack and freeride trails. There are two singletrack trails, a six-mile Red Run and a one-mile Black Run including huge drops, seesaws, log rides and the famous Helter Skelter.

There's a huge list of trail builders at Haldon, but a pat on the back should be given to these guys: Mike Teale and Tim Powles from the Forestry Commission and hard grafters Alan Hayes, David Harvey, Mez Davar, Gav Harris, Rich Gray and Russ Inchley.

For full details on the trails and how to get there, check out www.haldonfreeride.org.

Due to popular demand the Ritchey 12Hour Endurance Event on the 10th June 2006 is now officially opening the entry for mixed teams. Up to now only male or female teams could enter the competitive, singlespeed or fun category but due to lots of emails and phone calls we have now added a mixed category.

A mixed team must have at least one female rider and can be up to four riders strong. To enter simply fill out an entry form (one per rider) and write ‘MIXED’ in the green category box. The mixed category does not have a split into competitive, singlespeed or fun – there is only one category for mixed teams.

Further sponsors
Pedro’s (www.pedros.com) and High5 (www.highfive.co.uk) have just secured their involvement in the Ritchey 12Hour Endurance Event.

The guys from Pedro’s will be on site keeping all the chains clean and welled lubed in the hopefully dry and dusty conditions of the Ashton Court course. They will also have a ‘help yourself’ pit area corner where all the basic tools as well as pumps and lubes will be available for everyone that wants to sort out basic repairs without leaving the course - could be rather important for the solo riders on Sunday.

High5 will be back on board in 2006 with providing energy products and keeping everybody fuelled for Saturday and Sunday. They will also sponsor a certain part of the course – but more about that soon.

www.bristolbikefest.com

By Michael Wilkens

Mick Hannah kicked off the UCI World Cup series at Vigo, Spain this weekend with a huge victory taking top honors by winning the pro men's downhill by nearly a second. After a hard crash in practice where he knocked the wind out of himself, Hannah came back hard and set the fastest qualifying time on Saturday and set the stage for Sunday's main event.

Hannah's time was 2.22.942 coming in almost a second faster than fellow Aussie Nathan Rennie. Steve Peat took third after suffering an open dislocation of his middle finger in a practice run, and only just making back in time from the hospital to race. Marc Beaumont and Gee Atherton rounded of the top five.

"I felt great all weekend. Everything fell into place for qualifying and I was pumped to race," Explained Hannah. "During my race run I hit all the corners fluid and perfect. The course was quite technical, but the Judge handled it smooth."

Hannah's next stop is the Lisbon Red Bull Downtown race, where he finished 2nd in last year's event. "I am looking for 2 podiums in a row." Said Hannah. "Lisbon is a great event."

Mick Hannah: 2:22.942
Nathan Rennie: 2:23:800 Santa Cruz V-10
Steve Peat: 2:24.756 Santa Cruz V-10
Marc Beaumont: 2:25.165 Santa Cruz V-10
Gee Atherton: 2:25.295

www.cannondalecommunity.com