Cowled the same yes.

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What you were taught sounds about right. Practice is what you need, it’s all about doing now and not so much thinking!. It’s good to use a roller to help get the bike in the air as well. Pump into it, hop up, rear wheel lift part and land on the downside. Good luck.

Here’s a video of a Basque Country trail

Here’s my 16″ Piglet. Marzochhi 44 Micro Ti forks set to 130mm, 1×10 SLX drivetrain with MRP chain device, Crank Brothers Cobalt wheels, Continental Black Chilli Rubber Queen front and Mountain King rear, SLX brakes, Gravity 777mm bars, Nukeproof 50mm stem, Gravity Dropper, Ragley Saddle, DMR Vault pedals

It’s not about the bike is it? All those bikes are great, I think you need to go somewhere fun and get into riding…..riding any bike. Always a challenge with kids isn’t it?

Slow down so that you can look ahead with confidence. Practice on easy trails to start with. As this becomes more of a habit you can start to speed up again.

Just back from a visit to Basque MTB. The cities in the area are brilliant for eating, mooching about and shopping. Hondarribia is a lovely small town with plenty of great bars and restaurants. San Sebastian is a very cool city indeed and Bilbao combines good food with culture.

Technique, then tyres.

Here’s a pic of the Troof taken by 18 Bikes from the Hotlines show in Manchester.

I’ve been riding a Bagger for the last couple of weeks. It’s really fun for what it’s designed for, but you need to like this kind of bike. If you’ve ridden and liked a Blue Pig then it might be for you. The Bagger is taking the idea further; more travel, a bit heavier, longer wheelbase and lower BB. Great for riding downhill, smashing corners, hitting drops etc. It climbs just fine too, but it’s no XC bike. It’s an alternative to a long travel trail bike, it’s pretty off the wall and you’ve got to want to like it. Not for everyone! I made a video the other day to promote a holiday trip that I’m running and it features the Bagger. It’s on my site if you want to have a look.

I’ve got one and it’s great. Seems pretty accurate.

I like to think that there are not so much hard rules, but rather lots of choices with riding techniques. It’s good to have an understanding so that you have some choices. Also, better to know what you’ve done wrong than to not know what you’re doing!

Do a skills day, pick up some ideas, put it into practice.

I’m loving the Piglet so far. Feels much more like a normal bike than the Blue Pig, but it’s still strong. As well as XC it seems happy being thrown into more technical stuff if you need it to go there. I’m not saying anymore. Wait and see.

Best bike I rode in 2010.

Nice ad Dom. Especially as I was in it.

I’ve had a pair of 55 RC3 Ti forks on test for about 9 months. I reviewed them in Issue 60 and gave them a Singletrack Recommended seal. No reliability issues and top end performance.

Here’s the Ibis Tranny up above Hebden Bridge. Not enough snow to spoil the ride, but frozen hard ground to make it fast rolling.

Booicore – towel changing robe.

I spend most of my time working with people to get better body position.

Cheers for the recommendations. I’ve some courses on in December if anyone is interested.

Cheers Steve. Great to meet you.

There is a 16" Ragley mmmBop at the Dog & Partridge. Ex demo £995. I'm sure you will be able to try it out.

blackdahliaphoto – Great shot of Nial (the kid) 🙂

More great photos here of the Weekender by Denis Oates

http://www.flickr.com/photos/51835591@N06/

More pinners on the DH….

Ali Clarkson

Euan Bugler

photos Jules Bugler

The red was quicker in the end because of the longer exit route from the black. The black is a quicker line to ride.

That's racing 🙂

Nial pinning it on the DH course. No pussy line here.

photo Jules Bugler

A couple of photos from Denis Oates, the Lancs Council's ace photographer, here….

http://greatrock.posterous.com/some-photos-of-the-singletrack-classic-weeken

Yes that was me. I rode that bit in my actual run, never did conquer the slope into the arena though.

didn't have any problems with 'the pussy line' on the Saturday night by all accounts.

Give them sweets to help with the climbs. Gentle words of encouagement for confidence. Tell them to "RELAX HARDER". Don't sweat it on the details, just get them riding.

Thanks for the feedback Baz, or should I call you Jim….it's always good to hear 🙂

Bert was ace. He was one of the family.

There was a route in Issue 29 of Singletrack Magazine that has details of a big ride including Nan Bield as well as the Gatesgarth Pass. In the Mojo Trail Diaries we rode down what is usually the push up to the top of the Nan Bield Pass.

Basically you can park at Haweswater, which is near Shap on the eastern side of the Lakes. Then take the bridleway up to the top of the pass, turn round and come back down. You can also come from Kentmere to get to Nan Bield the way round that we did it.

We've now got some 'learner drops' in the skills area at Lee Quarry which are good for learning and building confidence on. I run courses there, details & prices are on my site which is linked to by clicking on my name. I also use the downhill tracks at Gisburn Forest which have bigger drops (3-4 feet) for people who want to progress to bigger stuff.

Glad you enjoyed the ride. Send me the photo and I'll pass it on.

Very short bit of video with Leon & Nial

Cragg Quarry launch ride on Saturday….

I've been out riding the Singletrack test bike Five as linked above today and it was ace. It's going to be reviewed in the next issue (58). Lots of neat features on it to make a great bike for riding hard,

Some photos here on my blog update as well as a link to more photos of the day.

Get clicky with it

Good to see you all there and see you up there or at Lee Quarry or Gisburn…..we've got so many cool places to ride 🙂