Issue 33

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Singletrack Mountain Bike Magazine February 2007

In this Issue:
Adrian Carter Interview
Winter Boots Group Test
Lake District Route Guides
Riding in the Ukraine

Cover photo: Craig Woodhouse on the Thirteen Steps of Indecision, Calderdale. By Ben Haworth.
Contents photo: High above Chamonix by Patrik Lindqvist
Spineline: The frantic search for gnocchi

Editorial

Don’t worry about the little threads holding you bike together, worry about the threads holding you together

Time for a Change

Ron Hamilton-Smith had a steady life; house, car, wife, steady job. No surprises. Which is exactly why he decided to jack it all in and ride his bike.

What Tyres for Polar Ice Cap

Where would you ride if you knew you wouldn’t ride a bike again for 18 months? Dave Evans had no choice but to find out.

Interview: Adrian Carter

Adrian and Pace Cycles have been around since the pre-history of British Mountain Biking. And he’s still as keen as ever.

Bike test: Namesakes

Four Bikes fom GT, Intense, Marin and Santa Cruz. All with the same DNA as their predecessors, but with some significant generational changes.

  • GT iDrive 5 1.0
  • Intense Spider 29
  • Marin Mount Vision
  • Santa Cruz Superlight

Through the Grinder

Our demon product test section features a couple of steel singlespeeds, carbon forks and what looks like funny lip-salve.

  • Fox RP23 Shock
  • Adidas Hammer Shoes
  • Crank Bros Cobalt SL Crankset
  • Crank Bros Cobalt Ti Bottom Bracket
  • Exped Drybags
  • Ground Effect Ristretto
  • Sugio Dash Jersey
  • Loctite 248 THreadlocker
  • Bontrager Race X-Lite Switchblade Forks
  • Rapha Softshell Jacket
  • Magura Manja Forks
  • Camelbak Havoc
  • Mountain Bike Scotland – Highlands Trail Guidebook
  • Bike Scotland Trails Guide
  • Cannondale Fourteen40 Shorts
  • Genesis iO
  • Orange P7 One

Group Test

A dozen jackets that think they can stand up to the ‘warm, wet, freezing, dry, wet, cold, warm, wet’ of a British winter.

  • Adidas Cycling Trail CP Storm
  • Altura Crosslite
  • Endura Phoenix
  • Fox Trooper
  • Gore Path
  • Howies Drizzler
  • OMM Vail Run/Ride
  • Pace 3×3 eVent
  • Polaris Tungsten
  • Race Face Aquanot
  • Tenn Light-Flo
  • The North Face Prophecy

Column

Philip Diprose predicts that technology will save us all. Or not. One of the two.

Long Termers

Five staff members have a bike each to play with for the summer. What bikes did they go for, what do they reckon so far and what’ll change?

  • Focus Black Hills
  • Ibis Mojo
  • Kona Jake the Snake
  • Trek Fuel EX9
  • Turner Flux
  • Cotic Road Rat

Gallery

More mouthwatering photos to inspire you to get out there and pedal from Steve Makin and Dan Barham.

Bike Porn

It’s either the pinnacle of bicycle design or a bunch of funny tubes welded together. Either way the Jeff Jones 29er is a hot topic.

Competition

Win a team place at one of Patrick Adams’ Classic Summer Races

2006 Singletrack Awards

You nominated, you voted. Singletrack counted. Here are the winners of the biggest reader voted awards in the country.

Propoganda

We have a lot more to tempt you than just magazines and jerseys these days as you’ll see here.

Members’ Club

Singletarck subscribers not only get cheap mags, they get discounts all around the country. Now they get two years worth of digital back issues for a tenner.

Transformers

Dave Smith reveals that the first part of the training plan for our poor guinea pigs and provides tips on how you can get into shape too.

Gallery

We had too many nice pictures to keep in one gallery section, so here’s more from Dave Wilson.

Column

Julian Birch takes us back to hot dusty summertime woodland riding. Sigh.

Fish Out of Water

Ali Chant looks at what actually goes into the qualifications that those tour guides and ride leaders have.

Grouptest

Ten chunky winter and spring boots rated for the cold, wet and the dusty.

  • Adidas Plush
  • Cannondale Roam
  • Lake MXZ-301
  • Northwave Celsius
  • Northwave Gran Canion
  • Shimano MW02
  • Sidi Diablo GTX
  • Shimano MT90
  • Specialized Buzzsaw
  • Specialized Trail 120

The Tool Shed

Just having Allen keys is no longer enough. In a new series Singletrack look at some of the essential tools you need in your toolbox.

Route Guide

The South West Lakes and popularised by the infamous Walna Scar Road and for Ben and Matt a ride in very windy conditions meant that the routes and the rugged beauty they delivered were definitely earned.

  • Easy: 11.9km (7.4 miles), 1 hour
  • Medium: 16.8km (10.4 miles), 1 hour 30
  • Hard: 23.7km (14.7 miles), 2 hours

Column

Stevi Jackson finds that buying a new bike doesn’t make you the master of it.

Riding in the Ukraine

Imagine the Ukraine to be full of empty hills, great trails and quaint old fashioned people? Fortunately that is exactly what it is like…

The Lonesome Crowded West

Jeff Guerrero from Dirt Rag takes a break between bike shows to explore some of the quieter corners of Utah and the quieter bits of his head.

Outro

Silly pictures and socks. Says it all really.