JOEY GOUGH

Manchester National Rd 1

2012-01-21T19:12:00.003-01:00

Last weekend was the first BMX national of 2012 and my first national in about 4 years!

I felt a little bit like a fish out of water, a bit wierd having to ride a few laps on demand rather than just sessioning, lots of waiting around that I wasn't used to. I decided to run my flat pedals this weekend as I hadn't had my clips on much so doubt it would have made much difference!

A few dutch riders were over for the racing along with GB's finest, and lucky me I drew them all in my first moto! Not what I'd hoped for. I was 5th going into the first turn when a big gap appeared so I stayed low and shot into 1st much to my surprise. I expected to be passed again, but it didn't happen til the last straight, I finished 2nd so I was really happy with that!

I got a 3rd and a 4th in the next motos so comfortably made the final. I had a really bad gate in the final. Going into the first turn there was a gap again.... I went for it and pulled up close to 2nd, but just ran out of space, lost loadsa of speed and then collided with another rider.... that was the end of that!

I didn't feel at my best all weekend, so I was happy to just find my feet and make the final! It was great to see loads of friendly faces and lots of people coming back to racing, particularly Alex Dick showing the talent he has, 2nd in the super tough Masters on his first race back. Won't be long before he wins one!

Looking forward to the next race in a months time!

Here's the Identiti Team edit from the weekend, congrats to Team mate Jake Power on his first National win!!

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Identiti Bikes announce BMX Race Team

2011-12-29T21:28:00.008-01:00

It's official, I'm back on the BMX race scene!

It's been a long time... I needed the break, but now I can't wait to have fun racing again! I'm not expecting huge things - I'm certainly no full time athlete anymore. I just love riding my BMX and loving the buzz of going fast again. I'll be back on the 4X bike in the summer, but for now I'll be doing my best to rep Identiti on the national scene enjoy it and see what happens... Exciting times!

My Team mates are Martin Ogden, Jake Power and Michael Cummins, with Jordan Lunn, Pete Power and Josh Matthews on the Development Team.

I'll be on board the new Identiti Krisis MX frame with support from
Gusset
Halo
ODI
TSG
Renthal
Time
Foxhead Europe
Drift Innovation
Answer
Dia Comp
One Industries
Monster Energy
Maxxis
Vans
Hardcore Hobbies

Check out the press realease and follow the team on the Identiti Facebook page

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Manchester Indoor BMX track

2011-12-20T18:18:00.007-01:00

Last week I headed up to Manchester to check out the new indoor BMX track. There's been a lot of comments about the track, particularly about the first jump so I was intregued to see what it was really like. The set up is like a Worlds track with an SX 8m start hill and a 5m amateur hill next to it. I have obviously ridden an SX hill before but never the 5m one. It's still pretty fast! I have to be honest though, I couldn't really see too much problem with the first jump... yeh, I can jump it, but that's irrelevant. What I did see was someone worse than 50/50 case it twice, and not look anywhere near crashing, and someone roll it fast next to someone jumping it and they didn't lose much ground. A jump that's a little bit quicker to jump than roll seems about right to me. Of course, if you do crash on it, it's gonna hurt....but it's not a bad jump, it's because of the speed you are going off that hill, the risks are gonna be higher whatever you are taking off at that speed. If you don't want to take those risks it can be rolled fast from what I saw, this may not be the case straight away but everything takes practice, you can always build up yor speed gradually. I can tell you I certainly didn't pedal 100% down a SX hill on my first few goes! I know some people won't necessarily agree or like my opinion, but everyone else has openly expressed theirs, so there you go, that's mine!

Anyway, after passing my BMX proficiency test, I had a good time sessioning the track, particularly the 2nd straight, it's fast and flowy! I didn't think I'd go back quite so soon, but when Jools invited a few of us to join Braintrees club session the following weekend and the temperature was in minus figures outside, I thought why the hell not! This time I started to have a little ride down the pro side of the 3rd straight, but left it a bit too late in the session. I jumped the first two and two on my last couple of goes, but didn't have time to work out what to do next as it was home time! I remembered the SD card for my Go Pro this week and took a few clips in the last half hour. Check it out...

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Braintree BMX

2011-12-04T19:03:00.001-01:00

After the fun we had at the winter regional the other week, Jonny and me headed back to Braintree for their club race yesterday. They have a great set up there and so a good turn out for racing. There was only 6 in our "Formula 1" race, but it turned out that there was also a 25+ race which most riders our age seemed to be in! Didn't matter though, good fun racing and it made us do some full laps. We were pretty tired by the end of the day as we rode non stop for a coupla hours before racing, then had a bit of a big double session in the gap between motos and finals too.

Was good to see Ross Tricker's BMX getting ridden for a change too, it's been neglected of late with all the Cyclocross he's been doing..... Only thing was, he wasn't riding it, he'd lent it to Kyle Evans for the day! Who by the way, was looking super smooth after only just getting back on the bike from a bad wrist break at the Brits.

After racing the club had their end of season presentation under floodlights, so we stuck around for a cup of tea (me) and a beer (Jonny) before heading home. Love the guys at Braintree, thanks for a great day again, we'll be back. If we weren't "Flyers" we'd definately be "Bullets"!

I took a few clips on the Go Pro and made a quick edit, check it out:

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Winter Sun

2011-11-27T20:00:00.012-01:00

So were nearly at the end of November and still the sun is shining on the weekends for us.

Last weekend Jonny and me were up for a bit of racing, so we headed over to Braintree regional for the EA Winter series race. We were a little concerned we wouldn't be able to see the first turn from the gate as we drove through some terrible fog on the way there.

When we got there we were right, you couldn't see the other side of the track! But by the time we faffed about registering, catching up with Jools and co and getting kitted up, the sun was beginning to shine and we were treated to clear blue skies and no wind, it wasn't even very cold.

There was a good rider count with 150 entries. I was racing in 30+ men and it was a good line up with some close racing. I won a couple of motos and was really enjoying it. During one of the breaks in racing Jonny and me took a walk around the track with a cuppa to take a couple of pics. There was some graffiti in the first turn that had been making me giggle every lap. Jonny hadn't noticed it til now, but very much enjoyed it too and felt the need to photograph it. We also discussed 360ing over the last turn and watched some nasty you tube crash videos along with some crazy Frenchy manual vids....we were psyched to get back on the track after that!

Jonny was on a mellow one after not racing for so long due to injuries, but he was just happy to be back racing and he made the A main in 17+. I had a good chance of doing well in my A main, but it was going to be tough! I didn't get as good a gate as I had been and was stuck on the outside of the first turn. Suddenly I looked down and there were loads of riders in a very small amount of space. I thought to myself, this could end badly... and with that, Jools slid sideways over the table and we all piled into him one by one! I think everyone was ok though.

After racing we were pretty done but managed to find just enough energy to jump the big double which we hadn't bothered to do earlier. Neither jonny nor me went anywhere near fast enough really but we just managed to survive haha. Jonny called it a day but I managed to jump it one more time and much cleaner than the first so I went home happy with that!

We had an ace day and I reckon we'll be back soon. We just have to remember we aren't there just to sit and chat to Jools, cause we all kept nearly missing our races, oops.

This weekend I stayed local at Norwich, it's been stupidly windy and blustery but the sun was still shining and there wasn't too many gusts of cross wind... so it was all good. I took a few snaps before the sun went down. Photos are of Jonny, Scooby, Ady and Ferg.

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Tracks, Trails and a Rollapaluza

2011-11-02T21:31:00.003-01:00

The last month or so have been amazing. I've hardly noticed winter creeping in, as apart from one weekend it's been dry sunny and warm! Every weekend I keep thinking it's gonna be the last goodun, so you gotta make it count.

I've been filming along the way with the new helmet camera, trying out different shots and seeing what it produced. It feels a bit old school with no back screen to play back the footage, fun to see how the clips turn out when I get home.

Some of my faveourite clips were with the camera mounted on the side of the helmet pointing side ways instead of forwards, then riding next to someone on the track. I haven't seen any side by side footage like this with the camera (though I am sure it's out there) it was just an experiment, so it was really cool to see the shots turned out good!

Here's the finished edit, hope you like it.

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Go Pro!

2011-10-19T19:50:00.003-01:00

I love making short videos. ...but a lot of the time I ride so much I don't get any film, and it's always at the coolest places, because I can't put my bike down!

So this is brilliant for me. A camera on my helmet... now I can ride and film. We had a lot of fun messing about with different shots at the weekend at the trails saturday and the track on sunday. It was a little difficult as there isn't any playback so I didn't see the footage til I got home. It was pretty good though, maybe a little tweak on the angles next time.

Heres a couple of the clips, I have a few more I'm saving for later. In the trails clip, I was trying to keep close to Scooby... nearly got a little too close over the last set, thought we were gonna land side by side! Gonna have a lot of fun with this!

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Rollapaluza Norwich

2011-10-19T19:32:00.003-01:00

"Rollapaluza is a unique cycle sport. Two particpants battle it out on a pair of custom-built rollers connected to a huge dial, with split-second-digital timing over a simulated 500m distance at speeds in excess of 50mph, accompanied by music, MC and cheering crowds!"

Sunday saw the Rollapaluza come to Norwich for the first time. Held in the York pub, it was packed out with riders and supporters. What a great atmosphere! I didn't enter but really enjoyed the night, cheering on Scoob and hanging out with some good friends that I don't see anywhere near often enough.

There were riders from all sorts of cycling disciplines but it was the BMXers that stole the show. Earlier in the day Stiffler had been jumping over heartsease bowl on his BMX. All of it.

Scoob qualified in 1st place and was on a roll, watch the video to see what went down!

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I love BMX

2011-10-02T19:06:00.004-01:00

This week I got the exam done and dusted. No idea how I've done but who cares for now, I can get back to riding my bike!

Luckily this coincided with Jonny being able to ride again after a broken scaphoid. Good to have him back and it looked like he'd never been away. Except he had much longer hair and big ginger side burns!

The skies were blue the temperature was hot and there was hardly any breeze. Perfect. Every straight was a good session, somehow I managed to sail way past the landing whilst jumping all of the triple into the second turn, it scared me a bit at the time but jonny seemed to enjoy it at least.

Today I went back to the track and started off thinking it wasn't going to live up to yesterday, a little cross windy at times and I felt a bit tired. But the more we rode the better it got, the wind dropped and I didn't want to stop riding! Plus, I'd been trying to manual the last straight rollers up to the table top and got it down by the end of the day. Manuals have never been my strong point but they are really coming together on the deluxe, they've never felt so good!

Me, Scoob and Toby ended up riding til dark, I just didn't want the weekend to end! I'm not convinced we'll get another weekend where the weather is so good, but at least summer was kind enough to give us one last hurrah.

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Redhill NPS 4X

2011-10-02T18:44:00.003-01:00

Well this report is a little late as it's a couple of weeks ago now! But I had an exam to study for so I just haven't had time to write anything til now.

Loved riding the track it was really good fun and suited my style with loads of jumps. Jumping the whole of the bigger triple down the long straight was cool and I loved the step down and the big last jump.

After a bit of over night rain saturday night the track dried out and was running fast again. Until we were waiting for our first moto and the heavens opened! Most of the riders were up there on dry tyres and hardly anyone was getting down the track without a crash as the wet clay was so slippery.

It worked out ok for me with 3 wins and a 2nd in the motos, I was into the semi finals. The first corner was a bit of a lottery and I got swallowed up by it in the semi final. I went into it in second but was to close to the guy in first and got bumped off line leaving the door open, I found myself in 3rd out the 2nd turn. I managed to pull off a good pass keeping tight over the hip and shutting the door over the step up, but in the next turn I got a move stuck right back on me. I jumped the last big jump which gained some ground and chased to the line, it was close but not enough.

A shame as that would have got me 3rd in the series but I still ended up 4th and on the podium. Chuffed with that!

Racing Ralphs

2011-09-11T20:00:00.003-01:00

Bit of a lack of updates since Italy, been busy studying for an exam but also took a few days away to spend riding bmx.

Goose lives within the vacinity of some good tracks so we went to visit him first going for a session a at Birmingham BMX. I love this place, there 3rd and 4th straights are great fun. Moonbay and World No.2 Abi Taylor also joined us, we had a good session seeing what we could do with the last straight after not pedalling round the last turn. I didn't want to stop riding and really paid for it the next day!

Thing was I really wanted to ride a lot the next day as we were going to crewe track and I love it there too! We took a look at winsford track in the afternoon with Paddy and Moonbay which is a cool little play track, I tried not to do too much there though. Later on we caught up with Dogman and Goose at Crewe track the conditions couldn't have been better with hardly any wind at all. I was knackered from the start but I just wanted to jump everything so I had to ignore it! We had a good session on the first straight and then the pro section. Once over the first jump on that straight it wasn't much effort so that was a good option!

Saturday we had plans to ride Gypo trails but the wind put a stop to that. We checked out the new track just down the road instead which was pretty cool, another good job by C&K! I was on a wind down anyway really, it had been a good trip.

Sunday I took a day to chill and watch the DH Worlds. It wasn't great to begin with due to such harsh conditions out there... until Danny Hart came down the hill! Oh my god, I know it's been said so many times but his run was just unreal. In case you did miss it (somehow) here you go:

This week has been all about the Identiti 4X bike. On saturday, I rode 26 miles round thetford forest, hooking up with Toby Parodi to session some of the little tracks. It was pretty good fun I think we'll be doing more of that in the winter. 4XC - it's the future Paddy tells me.

I had put the Racing Ralphs on for Thetford and I popped to the track today for a bit of a solo ride whilst listening to Belinda Carlise for company! The Ralph's were fast...and I came back with such a big smile on my face, I love bikes!

Italy World Cup 4x

2011-08-21T07:49:00.004-01:00

Well nothing went quite right for me here from the start!

Was feeling ill on day 1 of practice, that combines with 30 degree heat wasn't ideal. I did manage to jump the whole pro section though and was the only girl to do it in first practice. I was finding the rest of the track pretty slippy as they had dumped a load of surface on top of the overgrown track to hide the grass!!

Day two practice was a bit cooler and easier to cope with. I got the pro line done 2nd go really easily and was having fun! Come qualifying it all went wrong though. As I went into the 3rd turn my back wheel got a big drift on and I thought I'd lost it completely... I stuck my foot out and stopped dead at 90 degrees. It was a dip in the track so it was tough getting going again, but I thought I better still hit the pro line to make up for the disaster! Well that didn't go to plan either as I wasn't carrying quite as much speed as I would of and had to sky the first set, meaning when I landed I didn't have the speed for the second. So I had to pull out of the too, slowing me right down and losing any momentum. I scraped through in 15th! Disaster.

Anyway I was through, that's all that mattered. After qualis there was a short floodlit practice session, not that many people rode it was mainly a session of Brits having fun! Riding the track with Identiti team mate Pat C-J and the other guys was so fun, I was starting to love riding the loose turns and looking forward to racing.

On saturday I knew my first round may be tough after qualifying so bad and I would most likely get left with an outside gate having last pick. I knew I was capable of a good gate though after snapping a few lads in practice and shutting them down!

On the start line though, the random drop was a long wait... and I messed up, missing it badly. Somehow I pulled back to the first corner, stuck my foot out and held 2nd out the first turn. I was hoping to be in the lead but after a bad gate it wasn't gonna happen. It was close all the way down and coming out the 5th turn I was held up a bit by the leader, and didn't jump over the logs far enough... I knew i was being tracked close and to be honest I came in to the next turn knowing I needed to stay tight but not really knowing where I was going! Consequently, I rode the turn badly and so turned even more to try and cut off the inside rock line... which meant I slowed down a bit more! I almost had it but just lost it... then to top it of the girl in front lost control and wiped out my front wheel, sending me flying straight into the next lip. Game over.

So that was it. Not really as successful as I'd have liked, it just wasn't my weekend I guess. I made some mistakes and I'll learn from them, but I had a lot of fun riding out my comfort zone again so it's all experience to take with me.

Special mentions to Pat C-J who rode awesome all weekend drifting everywhere and looked like he was having so much fun on the track, making it through to the 1/4's and only just getting squeezed out by Wichman. Also, to junior rider Joe Mallinson, who qualified 48th in his first ever World cup and loved every minute! Awesome.

Right we are getting kicked out of the hotel room, so I'm off to pack up and go and watch the downhill.... come on Moseley!!

South West Extreme NPS 4X

2011-08-17T15:43:00.003-01:00

Had a good weekend racing last week, two third places in the Masters men's class. I got a bit tangled down the first straight on day 2 and nearly crashed, but held on and was catching 2nd place all the way, just couldn't find a place to pass.

Now in Italy for the last round of the World Cup 4X. Track looks good and the weather is damn hot!!

Hope to update as the weekend goes on, so I better save some wifi time!

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NPS 4X Harthill

2011-07-20T20:10:00.007-01:00

After visiting Harthill a few weeks back, I was pleased to turn up and find that the dodgy take offs had been tweaked a little since then. The split lines weren't ideal as they were still too small... but they were much better thankfully.

It looked like it was going to be a washout of a weekend, the forcast was bad. As we drove up from Telford saturday morning it absolutley hammered down. Luckily though, that was pretty much the last of the rain for the day, we just had to contend with some gusty cross winds in practice. For that reason, I decided to leave the pro line alone in practice, it wasn't worth the risk.

I was racing in the Masters men class on saturday, I had a good first moto winning from start to finish. In the second race I wasn't so lucky, getting a move put on me in the 2nd last turn which left me winded and trying to catch my breath at the side of the track and a DNF. I had a tough 3rd moto and wasn't feeling too bright after crashing which resulted in another 4th so I had it all to do in the last moto. I had a good start and and went into the 2nd turn in 2nd, only to slip and see Dave Richardson zoom past me... I kept on his tail and the wind felt like it had dropped, so when the guy in 1st went the long way round I thought I may as well follow Dave through the Pro line! I jumped them no problem, it was only the wind that made it a little worrying before... you could roll into them without pedalling and clear them both. It was so much faster, Dave and me ended up 1st and 2nd and that salvaged my day and put me in the next round.

I thought I was going to have a semi-final and a chance to make the A main, but as it turns out there is some funny rule that means you need a few more riders go to semi finals. So instead of semi-finals, the top 4 moto qualifiers went straight to the A main and the bottom 4 to the B main. This was even more evident in the Elite class, where there were 22 riders entered but they cut straight to 8 riders and the semi finals. That seems a pretty harsh cut, meaning you have to get better than 4 2nds in your motos to get through I think?! This hit Scott Beaumont hard this weekend as he had a crash in a moto and went out. I can't help but think it would be better to run with 3 motos and go the closest next round instead (eg. the 22 elite riders drop to 16 for quarters and 10 riders drop to 8 for semi's). I would have thought most riders would rather have a better of a chance of achieving a place in the next round rather than an extra guarunteed moto and getting knocked out every week? For some riders they are so far off ever making such a harsh cut they may decide it's not worth it somewhere down the line? Just my thoughts though.

Anyway. So I went straight to the B final unfortunately, and had 1 more chance at a shot on the podium! I got a really good gate, but was in gate 3 and got taken on the inside going into the first turn. I was ready to hit the pro line again, and the guy leading rode the pro line too... only he did exactly that, he rode through it! With it just being one line I couldn't jump as there was no where to pass. He told me at the end of the race that he did it on purpose to stop me jumping past! They should have dug a hole out the middle of the first jump at least, cause I think this was happening a lot! Heading out of the penultimate turn, I was right on his tail, and he took a sharp left to avoid the little berm take off... I jumped it and passed him on the inside to take 5th place on the podium after all. Justice was done, haha! ;o)

Sunday morning I woke up pretty beaten up from crashing the day before but I was still up for it whatever the weather. The track was pretty wet as I went up for practice and I probably should have had a cruise down the outside lines to warm up and check it out...but instead I went straight for the inside 2nd turn, washed out over the top of it, over the bars, foot still clipped in and my shin trying to bend itself around the bike. I tried to ride again, but I was hurting, battered and bruised. On top of yesterday, that was the last straw, my weekend was over.

I stayed and watched the rest of the racing, Tricker was unlucky to go down in the first turn after a good snap in the Quarters. My travel buddy Jordan Lunn rode a stormer to pick up the silver medal in Juniors. Katy Curd blitzed the women, Nichola Anderson tried to shut her down after out snapping her but Katy squeezed through the inside and just pulled away. The men's was a bit of a surprise, or was it? Bates called it early in the day that a senior rider could take the win over the Elite riders in the wet conditions. When the final was on the gate I asked Oggy who his money was on... he said it's gotta be one of the Scott's... I said that they would crash out and the senior dude would win! So guess what happened! The Scott's went down in the first turn, leaving Luke Limbrick just about fighting off Identiti's Pat CJ for an amazing win. Due to the weather, most riders who got knocked out had gone home. The crowd was pretty depleted for the finals. But I tell ya, the people who were watching went nuts for Luke! A great finish to the day and something he won't forget for a while. Congrats!

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Team Identiti

2011-07-08T20:58:00.011-01:00

I'm pleased to announce that for the rest of the season I'll be repping Team Identiti!
When I said I was going to have a crack at Fort William World Cup again Matt at Identiti helped me out so I could get my bike a bit more race ready. I didn't have plans for racing any further than Fort William, it was all kind of last minute, but I'm having fun racing again with a different outlook, and I'm up for a few more! I was already riding a Krisis SL which I love, and now Idenditi have hooked me up with a full new bike and a pro deal, thanks ID! I'll be at the last 3 rounds of the Nationals, but the World Cup in Val Di Sole is what I't's really all about :)

Took the new bike for a test ride at the track on wednesday, can't believe how light and fast it is, it's awesome... and the Halo Superdrive hub sounds so sweet!

www.identitibikes.com

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Gate 23

2011-07-04T15:51:00.013-01:00

I haven't ridden trails in a good couple of months. It's been too dry for our place, and I've been occupying myself with racing and riding the track instead. Though after a little bit of rain last week I thought it was about time for some trails action...I miss it! So Ross, Jonny, Scoob and I headed over to visit our friends at Gate 23.

The trails are pretty sandy over there so it's tough to keep them going in the dry, but they were looking as good as ever, really smooth! Both Ross and I were a little apprehensive after not riding trails for a while and spending a lot of time on the big bikes... but it seems we shouldn't have worried, one run and it all came flooding back!

Scoob was testing out his new red Profile mini hubs for the first time, Jonny seemed to like them a little too much.

We were all loving the left hand hip on the main line, Jonny was pulling some sweet turndowns, I was getting the hang of snapping in the old faithful tables and Ross was whipping out on it so smooth and fast MX style I cannot explain. Watching him do that made me smile every time. Brrraaap!

There's a new bigger line running at the moment, though not many people are jumping it. It's a bit like climbing up to the high diving board, as the start is higher up than the rest of the lines. One of the locals stepped up to it and was riding it smooth, so of course Ross couldn't help himself. He hit it a couple of times and all was good, I was tempted as the hip looked good, but the landing looked so steep you'd have to be on the button or you'd be landing flat before you knew it. Just as Jonny and I decided to give it a shot, Ross missed the landing nose in and then reappeared launching out the side or the next lip seperated from bike. Yeah, that's what I meant! With that Ross knocked that line on the head and so did we. Thanks Ross, you took that one for the team!

Big thanks to the Gate 23 locals for having us, was an awesome day, the trails were running so good and you lot are always good to ride with!

Photos, above: Joey on the hip, Jonny getting acquainted with with Scoob's bike
Below, top row: Scoobs, Ross getting sideways
Below, bottom row: Jonny, Joey & Jonny again

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Cross winds and cable ties

2011-06-30T16:11:00.007-01:00

Last weekend we headed up to Telford to visit Goose and Shona. With a van packed with BMX's and MTB's we drove through terrential rain wondering if our planned session at Birmingham BMX track would still be on in the morning!

It still looked iffy saturday morning but whe we got to the track and met up with the Sheffield guys, it looked dry and fast! We were just getting to grips with the track when it rained again... it wasn't too bad and it was really humid, so only the heaviest rain stopped us riding. The sun came out for us after an hour or so and the real fun began!

It's such a good set up there, fully fenced in, a 5m start hill, floodlights, a pro section, canopy over the start hill... it's like some of the euro facilities we have been visiting for years but never had in the UK.

More importantly though the track was great fun. Admittedly, the first straight and a half was maybe a little dull, but not bad. The 3rd and 4th straights was where most of us where sessioning though, cool rhythm sections that are so smooth, and the last corner pings you round it so fast it seems rude not to carry on and ride the 4th straight every time you ride the 3rd. Goose had a good crack at the Pro Section, but the conditions weren't ideal for that.

We hit up Redditch in the afternoon, we were pretty knackered already but it seemed worth a look. It is pretty open there and we were greeted by a bit of a cross wind. I didn't have much energy and the 3rd straight looked the most fun so sessioned that as much as the wind allowed! I loved jumping the triple step up to triple step down. A good step down feels awesome, it's almost cheating the distance, you get more airtime for your money! This one is a good un. A local kid asked Scoob for some advice on jumping the step up.. he looked a little blank, so the kid suggest "pedal and pull up?" Scoob says "yeh pretty much. Oh, and look out for the cross wind!" much to Shona's amusement. Sound advice though, I think you'll find!

There was also a big skatepark next to the track, which had some very odd grafitti art on the wall rides, massive portraits of some blokes called Matt and Antony?!?! I liked this warning as you walked in though:

After a good night out at Goose and Shona's local curry house (5th best in the country apparently!) and experiencing the ruckus that was Shifnall carnival (Shona - " It's normally posh and lovely here, honest!") we set out to Harthill 4X on what was a scorching Sunday morning.

It's a strange place. Mainly a Mountain Board park, it looks like a bit of a dump in places where they have randomly placed Mountain Board obstacles sticking out the grass. On first look, I can't say I was impressed with the track, the top half looked like an old worn out 80s bmx track and the split line jumps half way down had some shocking looking lips. I'm glad to say most of it rode a lot better than it looked and we had a decent days riding. I can't say the same about the split lines though, after building my fair share of lips over the last few years I am pretty good at spotting a badly built one before I've even ridden it. The transitions are way to quick and some then continue into too steep a lip. I guess there's an art to it and if you don't know...well you just don't know. We are hoping these lips will get changed for the race in a few weeks, because at race speed they'll be pretty vicious. If that gets sorted, there's plenty of moves to be had so it should make for some good racing!

On a final note from the weekend. Tip for the day, don't leave a sharp edge when you cut your cable ties off, they'll cut your arm off!

Thanks to Goose and Shona for a great weekend.
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World Cup Final Video

2011-06-15T19:28:00.003-01:00

A bit odd after watching it with commentary, but here's the final video from Fort William with the podium at the end too. I noticed on the second straight there is no crowd, they've all gone to watch the bottom half of the course for the finals - yet I remember so much noise when I lead out the first turn... must have all been from the crowd further down the course, crazy!

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Duncan Philpott Photography

2011-06-15T18:54:00.007-01:00

Duncan Philpott took these cool photos form Fort Bill World Cup. The first two taken straight after my final, one of Jordan hitting the last straight in front of the huge crowd, and the last one of the Men's DH podium - I love this photo, all the photographers fight for the front spot, but the crowd in the foreground makes this shot for me.

Check out his website www.duncanphilpott.com for more of his great work.

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Fort William Race Day Blog

2011-06-09T18:16:00.025-01:00

What a trip!
Sorry it has taken me so long to update properly it's been a bit hectic since last Saturday night!

So going back to where I left off...
Saturday arrived and amazingly the weather was dry again and looked to stay that way for the duration (that's for you Granma - Granma told me off for not saying how the weather was last time! haha). As most mornings we all chilled in the caravan in the morning, drinking coffee and having a laugh.

When we got to the event village, we grabbed some risotto and went for a trip on the gondola to chill for a bit. Other than that my plans for the afternoon were to make my bike a bit more puncture proof. I'd had 3 puntures so far and didn't want to be getting any during racing. Schwalbe were ace, hooking me up with some freeride tubes and a fatter tyre for the rear - I'd been running a 2.1 previously, but swapped it for a 2.25 the same as the front. Those rocks were giving people punctures left right and centre!

Come practice, the tyre felt way better. There was no wind at all and I was feeling pretty good on the first straight. I didn't really get much gate practice all weekend, but my gates were ok, and I knew I'd been getting good gates consistantly back home so I just told myself I'd make it count when I needed to. I practiced the inside lines I hadn't yet done but I was finding the corner before the rocks tough. Everyone else looked to be struggling a fair bit too though. It was getting loose.

Round 1 of the men went down, unfortunately Ross, Bates and Jordan didn't have much luck and went out. After 1/8ths for the men, I was up for the 1/4 final. I went for gate 3 as the first roller on the inside sucked and I felt I'd have a better line into the first corner. It worked well and I won the race no problems. I took it steady in 'that' corner though and knew I had to step it up a bit next time. The noise when I came down the hill was immense and I was in the zone! Dan Jarvis the commentator was repping the GB bikes and beers tee to support me too. Psyched!

By the time I got back up the hill it was time to race again. Quick turnaround! I went for gate 4 this time, I just felt confident out there. Anneke, the World Cup leader was in this race so I was a little surprised to find myself in the lead! I won the race, giving myself a bit of confidence, but I knew Anneke had messed up on the first straight and had more to give.

Final time. For the same reasons I went for gate 4 again. I was sat on the gate not really knowing what to expect. I didn't really imagine I could win it. I heard Dan Jarvis announce my name and the crowd go nuts. I just sat there happy to be in a World Cup final and knowing I'd give it everything I could. I had been getting good gates but hadn't really thrown myself at it yet, so I was like, right, this is it!

I got a minter and I could sense Anneke to the right of me, not really knowing what'd happen into the frst turn. I kept moving accross and as I hit the last jump I had the edge and took the lead. Exiting the first turn in first I remember the crowd going nuts and I went faster down that straight than I had before. Going into the next turns I slipped a bit on the old start hill lump, I felt like I slowed right down and knew I'd let Anneke get too close. I went as close to the flag before the rocks as I thought I could, hoping it'd be enough to shut the door but still stay on line, as I knew this was my most vulnarable point on the track. Anneke, having not won in Fort William before, was incredibly determined though and found a gap that wasn't really there, hitting into my shoulder and pushing me offline as she took the lead. She was gone!! My thoughts then turned to oh my god I have to salvage 2nd! I went down the rocks with a foot still hanging off the pedals and managed to hang on to 2nd. As I rode the last straight into the finish arena, the crowd were even more unreal... making so much noise and giving me so much support, I can honestly say that was the biggest buzz of my life.

Anneke and I congratulated each other on a great race. Although we missed most of the men's racing, we saw snippets and heard how crazy the crowd were going. That was the best night of 4x for years and we knew we'd been part of something special. Who said 4x is dead! I have never seen so many people buzzing so much after watching a night of racing.

A few thankyou's I'd like to make for the weekend...
To everyone who cheered that day, you spurred me on for sure and made it the amazing experience it was! Dan Jarvis, Matt@Ison and the Schwalbe guys for the support. Everyone at home who was cheering me on, all your comments have touched me, thankyou! Most of all, thankyou to Shona, Goose, Bates, Ross, Tim and Jordan for such an awesome week, Tim for fixing my punctures, Ross, Jordan and Goose for the tow ins and the tips, Bates for driving, letting us stay at his house and making us laugh so much, and Shona for being amazing putting up with all us riders and still making us dinners, coffees and giving us awesome support in every practice and race session. All we did in return was let her watch Britain's got talent! and we even talked about bikes all the way through, Haha. We love you Shona, you were ace!

3 months ago, when I started to build an MTB just to have a razz about on when the weather was too rubbish for BMX, I never planned to race, never mind race a World Cup. I hadn't ridden an MTB at all since 2007 and never thought I'd race 4X again,yet somehow I rode better than I did years ago and here I am buzzing after leading a World Cup Final. Immense! I do look back on the race now a little frustrated at what could have been, but really, I rode as good as I could and Anneke deserved the win. Still stoked!

More 4X World Cups next year? I hope so!

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2nd at Fort William World Cup!

2011-06-06T08:17:00.005-01:00

From Dirt Mag website:

"An amazing night of 4X racing finishes with a BANG. It started off as a slow burner but ended up with fireworks. Joey Gough was so, so close to taking the win in the women’s 4X. She led out the field in the final from the start, but as she came into the rock garden section at the end of the third straight she kind of got herself in a bit of a tangle on ‘that rock’ (as Buhl). It was enough to let Anneke Beerten through to take the win (her first win here in Fort William), and she will be the first to tell you that she got lucky. Gough managed to hold it together for a very creditable second place, but oh what could have been!"

What an buzz riding down the course with that amazing crowd going wild! A great night for 4X all round! Still recovering and only half way home, so I'll update in more detail when I get home. Thanks to everyone for the support and messages!

Thanks to Jordan for the Photos.

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World Cup Qualifying

2011-06-04T08:45:00.003-01:00

Yesterday was a big day, the start of my first World Cup competition since 2007. Wasn't really sure how I'd fare but hey, I'm here for the fun of it so I was taking it as it rolled!

For some reason I was finding the first straight harder then Thursday's practice, not sure why...I was looking forward to getting on the gate to get a better run up. However, it didn't quite go to plan, as when I got on the gate for the first time, my front tyre went flat. So I walked all the way down to the quad, where our trusty pit crew of Shona and Tim took my bike off me and fixed it so I could have a rest - thanks so much guys! there was a good 20 mins left of practice so I was gonna get a couple of gates in. Or so I thought. As I was waiting for a gate again, the valve on the rear started leaking air! Great. I was ready to trek back down again and accept I wouldn't get any gates, but massive thanks to Mick Beaumont who was up the top and replaced the rear tube for me - appreciated that so much, it meant I got two gates in. After all that I wasn't feel as prepared as I'd like to, and it didn't help when my bke fell off the trailer at the top of the uplift!

Anyway, I was pretty much last down the hill after having no ranking. I didn't get the first or second straights as good as I'd like, but it was decent. The rock section went reasonably smoothly for me, and the big jump before the quad was fun as always! I don't think many girls were doing that jump, but for me it's the easiest part of the track that I don't need to think about!

The support coming down the hill was pretty awesome as always, I crossed the line into 2nd place, the highest I've ever qualified in 4X so I was pretty stoked to say the least! A good buzz to be back and competing with the worlds best... and to think only a couple of months ago I didn't even have an MTB, I wasn't even thinking of racing a national never mind a World Cup.

Today's racing is going to be a lot tougher, I'm under no illusions. Taking all the fast lines in quali's is quite different to protecting your line in racing and there's always an element of luck involved... but I will give it my best shot, and whatever the outcome, I'll still be really happy to have been up there with the best!

Out of the rest of our crew, Jordan Gould qualified pretty well after nearly knocking himself out on the rock gap in practice - he jumped it again in his quali run but I hope he's not feeling the effects too much for racing today. Tricker wasn't happy with his run but was happy to qualify, as was Bates who was left hanging when he wasn't given a tme straight away!

Dogman unfortunately got DQ'd for a flag violation,as did a few other Brits. Everyone was going close to the same flag, I'm sure it was a close call but they are pretty strict on these things. Goose didn't have the run he wanted, clipping out on the first straight, which was a real shame as he was riding good and hitting the big gap which jumped over the rock section - takes some guts to do that, props!

So today is race day, looking forward to it, I'll be soaking up the atmosphere and enjoying it, however it goes. It's good to be back!

I've got a few pic's from Tim to upload, but the wifi is so slow it won't upload them. I'll have to try again later.

Fort William practice day

2011-06-02T20:27:00.003-01:00

Today was first day of practice for 4x. We walked the track earlier in the day, most of the interest was surrounding the rock section where everyone was sussing out possible lines. It's not that long but it was on the steepest part of the course and at a first glance looked like their was a lot of rocks ready to eat you up if you missed your line!

Was a little nervous about that but I wasn't the only one! First go down I jumped the first double off the start hill, wasn't going to mess about rolling that, it's deep. Got it all jumped on the top section, but wasn't worried about perfecting it as it'll be faster with the gate. A few times I didn't even get clipped in till I'd jumped half way down the straight cause I didn't realise my cleats were muddy..oh well!

I moved onto the rock section, watching a few riders, then having a couple of goes following Goose and Ross to get my eye in. It really wasn't that bad, I quite enjoyed it really. The corner before is more of a problem for me to get the right line, the rocks themselves are fine!

After that is the big table/double thing. I'd jumped it on the old track, but now you were taking a more straight line towards it through the rocks and its fast.. I jumped it second go no probs... that bits right up my street!

Last go down and I got a flat in the rocks. Didn't know about it till the berm after jumping the big table tho, just like so many others I'd seen do the same.

It's been a good day, cool to see some people on the scene who I haven't seen for some time, and some more BMX friends from the French road trip were hanging out today too.

Qualifying tomorrow... wish me luck, it's been a while! The sun has even been shining, fingers crossed it stays...

Guest Blog: Ross Tricker on Afan 4X

2011-05-30T19:35:00.006-01:00

Photo: Brotherly love from Tricker and Goose in the Afan Lodge

Right so I've hijacked "windsock" Goff's blog because due to high winds and poor visability she decided to sack off racing the Euro round at Afan. Oh and there wasn't actually a class for her to race in... So apparently I've got more to say about the occasion. So after a wet national round on Saturday, I woke to more lashing rain on Sunday morning. Myself and Jordan (AKA Jordan) took a high-viz'd wander up the course; safety first kids. Verdict? Wet. Same for everyone. Lets go racing.

Mad Dog Bates was looking well turned out during practice, due to the fact he remained under the easy-up for the entire session, a sizzling 40th place in timed qualifying his reward. I hadn't really practiced the last two corners and lost a bit of time there but ended up 13th, happy with that, I haven't ridden against the clock for a good 6/7 years.

Photo: Cool shot of Tricker at Afan by JT Photography

And so onto the knock out rounds. Despite the appauling weather a good atmosphere was beginning to build up on the windswept hillside, fans mainly crowded round the rock section, baying for blood. I managed to get myself through the first two rounds, with a 1st and a 2nd, going into the 1/4's a felt confident a place in the semi's could be mine. I emerged from the first corner well in the mix, but found myself on the back foot chasing down Lukas Mechura for that much needed 2nd place, I was eyeing up a move in the last corner but it just wasn't gonna happen. Paddy wants to know why I'm riding better now than in my glory days. Three letters B M X. I went off and learned how to gate. Oh yeah and clips. Jordan Gould got stitched up after winning his 1/4, they decided to rerun the race as the 3rd and 4th place guys had a tickling match at the back. Luck wasn't on his side for the rerun, no justice.

The final was a close run thing, I guess you'll have to look elsewhere if you want to know the results, some Euro chap won, I didn't catch his name, Beaumont took third. I keep hearing how 4X is dead, I dunno, everyone seemed to be having fun racing their bikes. It is what it is, tracks need be different due to geographical variation, that's what mountain biking is about. How fast and gnarly does it have to be? If it goes big and fast how close will the racing be? The wet conditions made it slower but it was still tricky, people were taking different lines, taking a gamble on gate pick to get cleaner lines. Tactics in the house. Yeah sure we don't want to look like a bunch of penguins but it's definitely more interesting than some 20 minute XC eliminator.

I'm really looking forward to Fort William World Cup this weekend. The crowd is always awesome and the track looks fun. Even if I have just spent two days cleaning bikes and kit and the forecast looks piss-poor I can't wait to get up there. Right, better give this blog back to it's rightful owner...

Ross Tricker

Below: Jordan Gould, hi-vis power slide post qualification run

Wet, Mud and Gears

2011-05-29T07:18:00.001-01:00

I knew it was meant to rain overnight, I thought that would be ok, the track was kinda dry on Friday. I didn't realise how much it would rain, and it was still going when I went to register.

As it was a Saturday everything was put back an hour as the rain was meant to stop... which it did, but what was left was a sloppy mess of a track. One go down and you were absolutely filthy.

At this point it was not enjoyable in the slightest! I raced masters men again with my only goal being to get down in one piece for all four moto's!

The first race I was particulary cautious, and my motivation was way low, the track was still pretty horrendous. After that, the track got better every race, though still really muddy. I had some good races, the top 2 berms were a bit of a lottery but I was able to get on the gas quicker than most and hold my own, leading at times, one race resulting in a 2nd, but in two races I got bumped in the berm under the bridge and ended up 3rd!

So with three 3rds and a 2nd my day was over but I can't say I wasn't happy to go and get clean and dry! This wasn't my idea of fun, but I definately gained something from it in preparation for fort bill next week so it's all good.

It's now Sunday morning and it's raining again... I was gonna race the girls today at the euro round, but with only 4 girls here yesterday it isn't worth another race in that mess in my opinion so I'm having a chill day!

Pic: Paddy ready to rock, he rode good in the mud and ended up 3rd for the day!

Rough and Rocky

2011-05-27T20:45:00.001-01:00

Today was a chilled affair, everyone trying out the track for the first time. Most people were walking about with tires in their hands, changing to something tougher and grippier after one look at the track!

There's nothing too taxing on the track, the corners were the most important thing to practice for most I think, wide and loose, I think there'll be plenty of block passes happening tomorrow.

The rock section is long, but there's not a great deal of lines to choose from what people were riding. Well there are lines, but there's one quick one! I really enjoyed riding the rocks, something really different for me, but I got into the swing of it reasonably quickly.

Later on the wind dropped a bit and the fast guys were hitting the pro line. The first one looks pretty easy but the second not so much.. not with a head wind! If you mess up the first you don't really have a way out of the second, so you gotta be on the button. Good to see Ross Tricker back on it after his collar bone break, one of the first few to hit the pro line, no problems. He was looking super quick through the rocks too. Should do good here!

Racing tomorrow, not sure I'll fair too well here, but it's all good practice for fort bill and will be fun for sure.

On the Road

2011-05-26T17:14:00.001-01:00

Today we set off on the road to Wales, for the first leg of my 4x racing trip. It's a long old journey from Norfolk, we planned to leave pretty early but were delayed a little when my box of goodies from vans showed up! Just in time, thanks guys :)

Got here about 4pm, wasn't interested in riding today just glad to get the journey done and dusted. Went to take a look at the track, it's pretty rough like fort bill so should be good practice, the rock section is long too so fort bill's should be a breeze after that! Really looking forward to riding out of my comfort zone!

It was super windy and the rain dampened the track down, but the sun's out now and the forcast looks decent. Will update tomorrow!

Pics: Afan rock section and jay the cat who lives in my postie van

Jonny Rankin Video

2011-05-15T20:02:00.003-01:00

Jonny explains how he recovered after a nasty leg injury on the French trip last year. It wasn't a bad crash, but he was in a lot of pain and passed out several times. It wasn't till a week later when he got a diagnosis in the UK that he was told how lucky he was not to have any severe complications whilst in France...

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Scott Shepherd

2011-05-14T12:12:00.004-01:00

Just want to say a massive get well soon to Scott Shepherd. He had a really awful crash at Penshurst last weekend and was airlifted to hospital. The whole MTB community have really got behind him, there are literally hundreds of messages of support, including a very special one from the inspiration that is Stephen Murray (click here for the message). So many riders are running the "stay strong beans" logo and there is a fundraising page for the Kent air ambulance who took him to hospital that day. It's really hard to believe these services are not funded! It costs apparently £1000 for every call out so that's the target that's been set. If you like to donate click here.
If you'd like to send scott a message of support click here.

Here's a cool video of Scott shredding some riding some DH that was posted on the facebook group, hope to see you shredding again soon Scott.

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MTB May!

2011-04-24T15:11:00.003-01:00

I mentioned a couple of posts ago that the MTB bug may have bitten me. Well, I think that's confirmed, I plan to go to Fort William World Cup this year and my 4X bike now looks like this:

Thanks to some help from Ison Distrubution, I've turned my tank into a worthy race machine, and definately the brightest bike I've ever owned.

I never thought I'd race 4X again, as I love the smooth flowy feel of BMX so much. But after giving it a go again, it seems different somehow. Although I raced World Cups before, I never really put much time into learning the MTB skills I needed. Racing BMX at the same time, living in Norfolk and not knowing many people into 4X who lived anywhere near me just meant I would head to a 4X race and just give it my best shot! This time I've got riders like Tricker and Goose to show me how it's done and I feel like a novice learning new things again... but that's why it's fun!

So on the calendar for next month are NPS 4x rounds at my old playground Penshurst, then another NPS in Afan followed by Fort William World Cup. I got really fed up with racing World Cups before as my buddies raced DH and I was bored hanging around allday waiting to ride while they practiced. In Fort William I'm staying in a static caravan with 5 other 4Xers so I'm looking forward to having a great week of bikes and laughs!
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Stunt Double

2011-04-16T09:17:00.002-01:00

You may have seen the Olympic Visa Advert on the TV recently featuring Shanaze Reade. Well at the time of filming Shanaze was out of action with a wrist injury, so she phoned me up and asked if I would be her stunt double!

It was a long day, riding round impossible corners in the wet, getting chased by camera's on railtracks and quad bikes over and over again, with over 70 people working on the shoot. It was a really good experience, I met lots of cool people and Shanaze and I had a right old giggle all day!

Here's the latest episode of the Shanaze Reade Series, featuring me looking very odd in a wig and make up at the Visa shoot. It's like we were seperated at birth...or maybe not! Below that I have posted the finished advert, in case you haven't caught it on TV.

SHANAZE READE SERIES : EPISODE 7 from Shanaze Reade Series on Vimeo.

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4X racing... I'm back!

2011-04-07T19:48:00.006-01:00

In the winter when the weather was terrible, I decided to build up my old 4X frame that I still had kicking about. It took me a while to get it finished, and then, I never rode it. Ross Tricker had been planning a 4X comeback for some time, and built a bike at a simialr time to me. NPS rd 1 at Leamington was just around the corner, Ross was going and well, one conversation later and I'd signed myself up!

I hadn't ridden my 4X bike yet so a few tweaks were needed after a test run. It's not exactly a light race machine either, I built it up as a razz about bike, with parts on it that I could swap to a full suss frame and take to the the Alps someday. So a bit of a tank really.

But it did the job, it felt alien to me to begin with at Leamington, so big! But by the end of saturday I felt pretty good and had loads of fun riding with good friends. This is what I like about 4X, it's really chilled and fun. While it's great that BMX is getting more professional, it's just not really what I want out of a weekend away anymore, 1 day riding and having fun with friends followed by 1 day racing suits me just fine.

Once I got the hang of the bike again, the leamington first straight suited me well. I jump straight out the gate to pedal through then doubles all the way to the first turn. There was a split jump into the first turn, the inside had a deeper middle, it put a lot of people off hitting the inside line so I used this to my advantage all day, hitting the jump and taking them up the first berm!

I decided to race the Masters men's class now that I am 30. The girls class doesn't have many in it and I didn't care less about standing on the podium, I just wanted to have some good racing and in masters I knew there were riders to push me. I spent years racing BMX when I was little with only a few riders in my class, jealous of my brother racing semi finals all the time - he saw things differently though, wishing he could win a trophy so easy as me!

I thought I'd be able to get in the mix in this class but I did better than I thought, winning all my heats and then the semi final. My gates weren't terrific (though still better than my old 4x racing days!) but I was pulling riders on the first straight jumps. In the final I picked gate 1 again to take the inside jump advantage, I was behind, but followed the leader over thinside jump and went from 4th to 2nd in the turn! Unfortuantely I rode the second last turn pretty badly and got passed, but held on for 3rd and a spot on the podium!

This was just a one of 4X race for fun, but the bug may have bitten me, I really enjoyed the weekend. Good riding, good racing, good atmosphere and good friends :o) The only bad thing about the weekend was that Ross crashed only 2 & 1/2 races into his comeback and broke his collarbone. So gutted for him, he was riding so well too. He's been to see Dr Laser though, and plans to be back on it soon. get well soon Ross!

I'll keep you posted....

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Dogboarding

2011-03-27T21:16:00.001-01:00

This is so good!

Dogboarding from DANIELS on Vimeo.

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New Paint

2011-03-21T20:02:00.008-01:00

As you can imagine, our bikes get a bit scratched up in france after a week of being thrown in a van. Though of course my bike didn't scratch anyone elses cause I've got plastic pedals!

This was the colour I was going to do my old standard, but I bought the deluxe instead which came in black, so I stuck with the black for a year. I grew to love that too... but now I've had the respray... it looks so good!

I took it for a spin on saturday with Jay and Jonny at Peterborough and Market Deeping. It was a lovely day, spring had sprung, and we had a great session at Deeping. Was good to ride it properly as I had only been once and it was rediculously windy. Going back soon to ride the 3rd straight!

Jonny was on his new redline, otherwise known as the Shredline. It does look wierd seeing him on a full on race bike but at least it's red and black. Anything else would jsut be wrong. We had a good days snapping and stylin at Norwich on sunday, here are some pics of me and Jonny:

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2011-03-07T18:04:00.005-01:00

I received this message from Greg:

"I just finish to looking the 2010 road trip Edit. Joey your work is awesome. Last year when I see that, I have a big Pleasure, and now with the 2011 edit is the same. Every year when I see your work I tell me " I make the most beautiful sport in the world " but I tell me too " this group are very Lucky to have this spirit ". "Living the dream" no, you create the dream !! For me your group is the better group ever for pass a week in every place in the world !!! And french people must be look into you. So YOU ARE MY HEROES ! ALL the person in this group are my hero. So Please come next year and all the year !!! And the south is magic only in the february !! Only when Thirty peoples come with BMX and beers bottles !!! "

We appreciate your kind words Greg, you have the same spirit as us, which is rare in the world of BMX racing. Greg is definately part of the GB Bikes and Beers crew now!

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France 2011 - Web Edit!

2011-03-06T15:42:00.006-01:00

When I got to France this year I really wasn't feeling the video camera. I'd made the video I wanted to make on last years trip so finding new inspiration was proving tough. So I picked up the camera now and again but had no intention of making a trip edit.

Then on the penultimate day we hit up Greg's track, Carpentras. This track has a supercross pro section, without the supercross hill. Greg was nuts and once I had his 360 on film I wished I'd filmed a bit more afterall.

I had a look through the footage yesterday and I had more good footage than I thought... I had to do something!

Early on in the trip, whilst blasting Pat Benetar's Heartbreaker through the van stereo, out of the blue Jonny sang along in a voice we never knew he had, he was amazing! After a pause for shock we were in hysterics and one night after a bottle of red we got him to do it again for a camera, we laughed so hard we cried. This was without a doubt the theme tune for the trip (for our bus at least), and just had to be the song for this edit.

So here you go, an edit from France 2011, done with no planning and very little effort! I think it turned out pretty good considering!

Living the Dream - France 2011 from joeybmx on Vimeo.

Dan Clifford has put his photos up from the trip, I borrowed his camera for the night at carpentras and snapped this mx treat from Greg, and a sweet table from Al on the transfer.

Below that, Ross is pictured desperately trying to give me a chinese burn to no avail. It's true, it cannot be done! Anyone else wanna try?! Dan also snapped a couple of cool shots of me. Thanks Dan!

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Post France Confusion

2011-03-05T10:29:00.014-01:00

Well that's it. The French roadtrip is over for another year.

I am sitting at home unsure what to do, I have to make my own coffee and there are no pain au chocolat in the house! The best bet so far seems to be to sit on the internet and relive the week with the constant stream of updates on facebook and twitter - so I guess this must be everyone elses plan too!

I'll share some with you...

This is Jonny hanging out with Greg. Greg is Jonny's new hero. Actually he is everyones new hero. Greg is track director at Carpentras and he has built something amazing. It has small stuff for the kids, a SX sized Pro section for the fast guys, a last straight rhythm perfect for getting manuals down, and floodlights so they can train all winter.... it's just awesome. On top of this, Greg is such a sick rider! He rides his BMX like his motorbike, whipping out and pulling lazy one footers and then he twisted the massive Pro section for us all after only trying twice before... I got that on video, so look out for that. Oh and he's now repping GB bikes and beers and Hardcore Hobbies as you can see! We love Greg, and I think he might love us a little bit too. Hope to see you shredding in the UK one day Greg!

Greg, MX 1 footer, stole from his facebook:

Jonny and Jay who had us in fits of giggles for much of the week as usual:

Alec, Dan and some Lithuanian chocolates. I love this photo! It makes me smile:

In French Supemarkets, they make Ross sized trolleys. How considerate of them!

A fish and a dog:

The crew 2011, good times:

One last thing. There was talk of going to look at Peynier, but realistically, taking 30 people to walk about their work of art just seemed rude. One morning, we found ourselves 20 mins behind everyone else whilst waiting for Ross to finish his work on the throne. Well, it seemed like too good an opportunity. I'm sorry that some of you didn't get to see the place, but as a trail builder myself, I know it was the right decision!

The place is nuts. They've had the diggers in and gone crazy. It didn't look finished to be honest but today I saw this video of Max Bimar testing out the new line. It looks big in this video, and looks 50% bigger in real life. Rad.

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Tara Llanes

2011-02-21T18:29:00.003-01:00

I used to race Tara at 4X World cups, she's a legend of the sport and a super cool girl. As you can see from this video trailer she is also pretty damn amazing.... I look forward to the full version of this, it looks pretty special. Check out Tara's website here http://www.tarallanesroadtorecovery.com/

The video also features another amazing athlete, Stephen Murray. I just ordered my new VSW tee from www.staystrong.co.uk, go check out the new stock!

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Splinter or skewer?!

2011-02-21T18:17:00.005-01:00

Here is a pic of one of the riders who crashed in the video I posted yesterday. The velodrome bites! That's one hell of a splinter.

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Track World Cup

2011-02-20T08:56:00.002-01:00

It's really good to see how far cycling has come in terms of national popularity. The track World Cup racing was available live on TV all weekend (although hidden on the red button channel!) and the atmosphere in the Manchester Velodrome this weekend looked really good. Of course, a major part of this is the success of the GB riders, I guess the crowd know they are going to have at least a couple of medals to cheer about! It can't be that many years ago that stadium would have been half empty though...

I do like to watch the track racing but it grabbed me a little more than I expected this weekend, there were only a few of the longer races that ended up being a bit dull. Even the individual pursuit final on friday turned out to be pretty exciting. Always good to spot a few BMXers in there to, Roy Van Den Berg throwing some elbows in his long socks, and Shanaze making her return to track racing. I don't think Shanaze's race went as well as she'd liked but she's not long back from injury so I am certain there's much more power in them legs yet.

If you didn't watch any of it, or you missed it, just watch this one race from last night. Awesome.

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Bikes & Beers

2011-02-13T18:30:00.008-01:00

Lack of updates recently I apologise! Not loads going on, bit of trails, bit or track action... headed to Nottingham for a pre-France session with some of the Roadtrip crew a couple of weeks back, it was a bit damp but a good fun track, it's always cool to ride somewhere different too. It was my 30th birthday that day as well, everyone told me my body would start to hurt and creak overnight and unfortunately they were right! My arm swelled up due to tendonitis, not what I wanted this close to France but I've rested it well and I think it's gonna be ok. Also had a bit of a party for my 30th the following Friday with all the norwich, bury and ipswich BMX boys attending. Was ace having everyone together for beers and laughs! thanks guys! :o)

GB tees are now out, Tim Machin was repping the shirt at the Norwich race today and Jonny has been repping his at burlesque night! I've had a few enquiries since printing them, so if you want one get in touch and if I have enough requests I may do another run. Oh and incase you were wondering the relevence of the bear...it's a Norfolk thing!

The French trip is only 2 weeks away now, I can't wait to get out there. I think there is about 26 riders flying and more driving from the Caen race to join us, gonna be big! So as France 2011 is nearly here, check out these vids from previous years:

France 2010 from joeybmx on Vimeo.

FRANCE 09 from stoney on Vimeo.

And check out this video of French racer Moana Moo-Caille riding at Trets and Peynier, just down the road from our base camp for the French trip:

Straight-Line from Moana Moo-Caille on Vimeo.

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Two thousand & ten

2010-12-22T22:03:00.004-01:00

The weathers still ruining riding, so I've been using the time to watch all my video clips from summer and long for the sun to return. I made a little 2010 edit from some of my favourite clips from 2010, notables being Scott's triple and Billy's flip from france, a lot of big spins at the trails, Spanky's flip thingy, Crewe high jump, and Paddy Sharrock pulling a big turndown over the pro section mid race! Good times!

Happy New Year, roll on summer 2011...

Twothousand&ten from joeybmx on Vimeo.

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Mildenhall

2010-12-19T09:59:00.002-01:00

I made this edit from a day we spent at Mildenhall play track back in summer. A strange little place tucked away in the middleof the forest, it was newly built and heaving with local kids who had been spending every spare minute riding the track....some of them were real shredders too! It was a really cool day it just reminded me of how good it is to be a kid on a BMX.

Turn the lights out and the sound up and be a kid again for a couple of minutes... hope you like it.

Mildenhall from joeybmx on Vimeo.

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Trails at last!

2010-12-12T18:44:00.004-01:00

The last couple of weeks in the UK have sucked. The tracks and trails have been out of the question, we've been snowed in, iced up and following that, it all melted and left a nasty mushy slushy race track, boo!

Finally the temperatures have picked up and a few of us headed over to sudbourne for a bit of trails. Took me a while to warm up into it but by the end of the day I couldn't stop riding and was loving floating through the "drunks line" so much fun. The guys there have done so much work the place is looking awesome, new jumps everywhere and a roller line all the way back to the start! A few guys hit the new big line today, was looking a little soft to begin with but it wasn't long before Tricker was busting out the one foot tables! Nice to see they are paying their respects to the old big line too:

Yesterday I found my old 2nd place trophy from Slagharan Euro race 1989. When I opened the top of the cup, I found a whole load of old medals a Norwich Flyers BMX Club badge and the Semi-final sheets from that Slagharen race. I spotted Anneke Beerten in the other semi-final, I never realised she had been there til now. Who'd have thought we'd end up racing each other in World cup 4X and Euro BMX 21 years later!

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FAT FAVOURITES with Joey

2010-12-04T22:23:00.006-01:00

FATBMX.com - FAT FAVOURITES with Joey Gough. Check it out.

http://www.fatbmx.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=13715

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Joey Gough Web Edit

2010-10-23T08:56:00.006-01:00

You may have seen this about elsewhere by now... but here it is, probably the first and last Joey Gough edit with probably the most un-cool soundtrack for a web edit ever ;o)

Joey Gough from joeybmx on Vimeo.

Thankyou to everyone who has helped me out over the last couple of years, and to everyone who has embedded the video and all the nice comments...I was a little taken back I must say!

Since putting this video up, I've come accross a few cool sites from those that have embedded it... check out this site from Nathan Strieby posting race track orientated videos: http://reviewbmx.com/
One to keep your eye on.

Racers at the Trails went off!!

2010-10-23T08:20:00.009-01:00

The re-schedule turned out to be the right decision. It was a tad chilly, but we were blessed with sunshine and no wind, perfect!

We had racers from Ipswich, bury, braintree, kings lynn and peterborough and had such a good time.

Jools dug out a big old Jive number plate and Zeronine race top especially, and the Mangler brought a whole wardrobe of old TNT and S&M race shirts, it was like the 90's all over again!

Newly crowned British Champ Matt 'MA61' Allen managed to drag himself away from racing for a weekend to bosh out a few wound in x-ups over our back line, rad.

Jon Lillingstone was in full racer mode, full face as well. He was grateful for it after faceplanting the ground a couple of times proper hard and winning the crash of the day medal. He never rides trails, but didn't hang about and got straight on it, getting through the main line in just a few trys. Plus, after he slammed hard the second time, most people would have called it a day. I mean it was a REALLY hard slam....but nope, 10mins later got back on the bike and carried on! We love you Jon! Tough as nails.

A bit later on we were graced with the presence of Sir Alan Hill, who was fully Redlined up and smoothing the backline. Even saw a little table in there!

I took quite a few pics, you can see the rest of them here: Racers at the Trails Photo Album

Great day, lets do it again in Spring! Thanks everyone for coming. Look forward to seeing Moose ride them next time too.

Below, Top-Bottom: Jools, Mangler, Hilly & Matt.

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Racers at the Trails

2010-10-13T19:56:00.011-01:00

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above: Joey @the land

We were gonna have a little get together at the trails the other week, bit different to the norm... getting a bunch of our racer friends to hit up our trails on the same day. No excuses, the race seasons over!

Well, it didn't happen first time round, the weather ruined it for us. Ross still came over for the weekend and we got a bit of a session in, which was really cool cause Ross hasn't ridden our trails since breaking his leg badly back at the start of the year. In fact, he had only any ridden trails once since then, and ridden his BMX only a handful of times.

It didn't seem to matter though, he was boshing out 1 foot tables after about 3 goes round the back line, and after saying he was not doing the mains as it was cross windy and he was being sensible for now, he was on that line as soon as I even sniffed at it. Good to have you back Ross...

Here's a pic of Mr Tricker back on it, and one of Scoob spreading his wings! Ross will be upset I picked this photo because "the greens don't quite match". Well my little Tricker, maybe you should sort out that god awful blue chainring before you start worrying about your shades of green! There. I said it.

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We've re-scheduled the Racers-at-the-trails-jam, but Jonny couldn't wait that long and headed over last weekend. He got his eye in on the mains and is so pumped for the jam I am a bit worried he might explode and never make it. Hold it together Jonny! Check back next week for Racers-at-the-trails updates... there'll be number plates, pad sets, the Mangler in a TNT shirt, maybe some clips, some ugly tweaks...and hopefully some Neal Wood inspired behaviour, check this gem from the 90's captured by Neill Phillips at Slough:

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Did you watch the Supercross from Frejus? Good results for the Brits, with Liam making his second main of the year and Bloomy just missing out with a 5th in the semi. Good stuff. It's so crazy now, There was around 200 riders in the men's qualifying with only 64 progressing to the knockout rounds. To qualify in the top 64 you had to be less the 1.5 seconds off the pace of the top qualifier! It does not seem long ago when Supercross first appeared and non racers such as Ali Whitton & Fuzzy Hall were entering and were in with a shout. Things have moved on so much and it's awesome. If you didn't see the Elite Men's main from the Chula Vista SX round, check it out below... what a race!

Also been watching bizarre sport science on Bravo recently, there is some cool stuff on there, the slo-mo's are good, they normally measure speed or forces or someones heart rate when they get shot in the nads with a tennis ball. But last week was about injuries and there was a horrible horrible ice hockey injury, a guy getting his throat cut by an ice skate... he said it wasn't the memory of the skate slitting his throat that haunted him, more the memory of his blood spurting out in front of him... eeuugh. Here's a version of the video below. While I looked this up I accidentally watched another ice skate to the throat video which was truly vicious...I won't be watching that again in a hurry. Look up "hockey skate slices Adam Burlish neck" if you happen to like that sort of thing!!

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New Rides

2010-09-17T16:03:00.006-01:00

This is the local slag. Everyones ridden her. Honestly, I'm not joking, nearly everyone I know has owned this bike at some point. Now it's my turn. I bike a few miles to work every day and this winter I wanted a single speed for maintenance reasons (read: laziness). I have only been riding it a week but I have got to say it's a lovely bike, really light and comfy. I was going to set up an old 70's bike I got given with a back wheel missing, but it was bigger and heavier than this 80's gem, and the difference in geometry in those ten years is quite considerable. Long live the pink peugeot!

Last monday I headed to thorpe park, I was excited about this as I have always had a love of rollercoasters and haven't been to a theme park in a good few years. Last time I went to Thorpe Park was a long long time ago, when I was really little.... I remember going on a train ride that got getting hijacked by pirates looking for something called the black spot and it scared the life out of me!!

I am glad to say there was no sign of pirates at Thorpe park this year! There was however, a ride and a live horror maze based on the film Saw ... well sorry for being a wuss but I was staying well away from that horror maze! Not my cup of tea. The ride looked ace though so I was up for a slice of that.

As the queue gets close to the ride you go into an old warehouse that's apparently something to do with the movie. You're queing in this dark corridor and all of a sudden this stupidly load gunshot goes off,and everyone jumps out of their skin! Funny stuff. Got on the ride and I didn't realise there was a bit of the ride in the dark! I was a bit nervous now I thought it was going to be a horror maze too! It wasn't really though, just had this really cool drop where you narrowly avoid a saw and can't see more than a metre of track in front. This was probably the best drop as you had less awareness of what was happening so you couldn't prepare for it. Outside you are dragged 100ft in the air, literally sraight up, then you are spat over the top and back down in a drop that is OVER vert! Looked really cool, but to be honest getting dragged up there was more intense than the drop! Slightly disappointing but still good. Not like that detonator ride that leaves you hanging then drops you in a flash... I think my stomach's still at the top of that, love it!

Anyways, I still won't be watching Saw, afer hearing the plot in an attempt to get some background knowledge on what the ride was about. It sounds like a gruesome & deadly version of the crystal maze. They could have made the film even scarier if they had casted Richard O'Brien...

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Tracy Moseley DH World Champ!

2010-09-10T21:30:00.005-01:00

Massive congratulations to Tracy Moseley on winning the DH World Championships last week! I am so so happy for Tracey, this is like the Peaty story from last year all over again... Tracy has won everything but the World Champs for years, she fully deserves this title. Not only that, but she's one of the most down to earth, friendliest, most professional racers out there. Stoked for ya Mo!

Click to read Tracy's Worlds story

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Rankin Returns

2010-09-04T18:50:00.003-01:00

Back in February this year on the French trip, Jonny smashed his leg up good, loosing a lot of blood from the muscle and requiring a long haul of rehab. By August he was racing elbow to elbow with Hilly round the first berm at the Norwich regional... fully back on it!! He was a regular visitor to our trails last year so we have missed him this summer, along with Tricker who also bust leg earlier this year.

Bank Holiday monday may have been a little windy but having Jonny back at the trails made up for that! The mains were cross wind heavy but we had the back line running the best it's ridden in months, so we had a great ride. Jonny and Scoob were boshing tables into the berm, I got a few snaps. Hopefully we'll get to see Tricker back at the trails very soon as well.
The trails are still just about holding enough water from the heavy rain we had to keep digging... the new stuff on the mains is coming on good, we now have a lip after the roller, most of a landing, and a triple running along side the new set which will take you back into the backline berm at speed. I've missed digging, thank you rain!!

In other news, Scott Waterhouse took 4th at Bournemouth national weekend on his return from injury, rocking his new Charge tees...nice one Scott!

Photos:
Top of post: Jonny
Below, top to bottom:
Scoob
Joey
Jonny
Digging
Digging again
Scott Waterhouse

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Bob Fields Grands // Crewe

2010-08-25T21:00:00.002-01:00

I've been wanting to head up to Crewe track for a while. I'd been a couple of years ago but it was before track builders Clark & Kent worked their magic and the lips were all over the place. It still astounds me how many tracks in this country have such terrible lips.. I don't know what it is, because to many, you can just look at a lip, or failing that ride it and see that it is wrong. A smooth transition can change the way a track rides and I am not talking about building steep lips either, at speed that isn't what you need... just a smooth transition with no aggressive kick at the bottom and one that doesn't roll over half way up!

Anyway, C&K know how to do it, Crewe is rad. So fun to session, I rode as much as possible friday night even though I was tired from driving there, then on saturday it was like the old days, the track was open to ride whenever nothing official was going on. At the end of the day and just as the rain kicked in, the high jump comp was held over the pro set. There was a moment where I thought fellow French trippers little Dylan Foster and Tuffs were gonna win, but last years winner and local shredder Ash Davey snatched the money with a massive 12ft 8" !!

Sunday was race day so I left the bike alone and got the video camera out (my footage is in storage for a long term project!). There was some old faces back racing, my faves being Shaun Fry who's been off the bike for 7yrs but looked right back at home, and Alex Dick who was still pulling out the classic moves... 5th to 2nd and someone got a pimping over the 2nd turn in the process! I miss watching Alex race! He really reminds me of how the Murray boys used to race, it was never over til the finish line.

Which leads me on to the special part of this weekend, the return of Stephen Murray to the UK for the first time in 3 years. For anyone reading who doesn't know Stephen's story click here. It was awesome to see Stephen and his family all back at a uk race. He's been an inspiration from when he was a kid on a Titan pulling 360's, to winning x games gold medals, and now staying so amazingly strong since his injury. Great to see you Stephen. www.staystrong.co.uk

Check out this great edit of the weekend by Corinne Walder:

More BMX Racing Videos >>

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Wisley Jam

2010-08-14T07:54:00.005-01:00

Headed back to wisley last weekend for their annual fund raising jam. It was pretty cool, a chilled affair, didn't have to queue to ride and a good mix of big wheels and little wheels. Did a little bit of riding, and a little bit of filming, collecting footage for the dvd I'll be making next year.

Stuck some new pedals on my bike last week too....odyssey finally made hot pink pedals!! My chameleon pink pedals faded so I had to have them! :o)

Finally had a lot of rain this week, the trails have been bone dry and dusty since the beginning of April, I'm so excited we can go and build something! Not to mention they'll ride a damn sight better aftr some rain.

Next week is the Bob Fields Grands at Crewe, the raddest track in the country. Can't wait, heading up friday to session the track til 10pm under floodlights!

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2010-07-25T20:44:00.008-01:00

Last minute decision last weekend. We'd been planning on heading up to sheffield sometime for a while, but it just hadn't happened. Heard a bit of a Bolehills jam was happening on the sunday... so why not eh! Headed up for the day and it was well worth it. All the local crew were there, even DC back from NYC. It was almost a french trip reunion.

The newly changed 2nd straight was getting sessioned, it's really floaty, good fun. RB was pulling some big x-ups, Moonbay & AT were on the money flowing with style, and Paddy did the whole straight for the first time - and twice more to make it count! There's just something about the place... and I am pretty sure it's the vibe of the locals.

This weekend, kept it local. Ace day at the trails saturday, was nice to get over there a bit earlier in the day this time. Recently, it's been too hot or too windy in the afternoons, so evenings at the trails have been more sensible. The rain that we have had has made absolutely zero impact though! Today was a road bike day, rode out to Hunstanton from Wells in a nasty headwind, but it was still alright I suppose! Stopped for a much needed coffee and cake and hammered back along the coast road with the tail wind... now that was good! Felt like half the journey on the way back!

Gonna set aside next saturday avo for a BBQ and the BMX Worlds on freecaster, then Norwich regional on sunday.

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We Love the Mangler

2010-07-11T09:02:00.005-01:00

Jay and Jonny headed over to Norwich friday night for a track session in this summer heat. 7 o'clock, still 29 degrees, clear skies and very little wind.

An extra treat in store when we arrived at the track, the Mangler had heard our plans and wanted a slice of the action too!

The third straight was sessioned hard by all, the sun beaming down behind us. I took the opportunity to take a few snaps as the colours were so vibrant.

Jonny joined mangler in a fitness session at the end of the evening, 3 full laps was the intention. I think Jonny managed 1 & 1/2 before he opened up is cooler bag and cracked open the strongbow! Now that's preparation...

Jonny and Jay dropped by on the way home for some food. With Jonny's new found MTB status ("I am the 4th Atherton sibling") I educated him into the MTB World with a viewing of the old Sprung 5 DVD. Will have to find a vid with some Ross MBUK Tricker footage (avec affro) for next time, he'll enjoy that.

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Back to the coast

2010-07-05T17:18:00.004-01:00

With the weather being so beautiful we took another trip to the coast. Starting at Cromer again, we decided to ride out the other way towards Walcott. We got a bit lost from the planned route but it was really quite pleasant, riding through the "quiet lanes" as they are called. Stopped at Walcott for a drink but it really isn't a patch on Byfords at Holt or any of the North Norfolk coast... a bit tacky really! We rode back to cromer along the coast road a bit faster, the coast road really wasn't anything like as nice as Cromer to Blakeney, but oh well!

We hit the beach again cause it was still pretty warm. Just as were leaving, we did a double take as what we thought was a dog walking in front of us, was actually a muntjac deer. It pegged it straight up the cliff, it was unbelievable, it got up so high so fast... but the very top of the cliff was vertical and there was no way it was getting up there. The poor thing slipped and fell down the cliff hitting rocks on the way down and resulting in a hell of a thud at the bottom. Amazingly, it got up and climbed half way back up and just stayed there... someone made a phone call so I guess it got rescued. Pretty mental.

Finished the day off with some more Mary Jane's fish and chips (I'm not a massive fan of fish and chips but these are something special!), then a bit of tacky prize winning on the 2p machines! good fun!

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North Norfolk Coast

2010-06-30T16:30:00.006-01:00

On monday we had a day recovering from the trails-heavy weekend, chillaxing at a local private gym and pool thanks to a guest pass from Scoob's Bro. Actually felt like I was doing the normal holiday thing for a while there... sunning meself by to the outdoor pool and hanging out in the outdoor hot tub. We tried to spill energy drink on the hot tub electrics and be transported back to the 80's but to no avail...

Tuesday we planned a different type of cycling. We headed up to the North Norfolk coast equipped with a tent and road bikes. The day had started with a rain shower, but by the time we got out on our bikes it was clear blue skies and glorious sunshine.

First off we headed towards Holt for my first ever "earned" visit to Byford's cake shop! Mmmm, coffee cake and iced latte.

Refreshed and ready to ride, we headed to Blakeney through some small country roads, some lovely scenery and spotted a few nice looking beer gardens on the way through. At Blakeney we joined up with the coast road and followed this all the way back to cromer. It really was an enjoyable ride, we had a view of the sea for some parts, the sand dunes for others, but even when you couldn't see it you could always tell you were next to the sea, just from the smell and the feeling in the air. So glad I have invested in a road bike, on my MTB to go at a reasonable speed I'd always have to be trying hard. Now I can cruise at a good speed and enjoy the ride!

We had planned to stop for fish and chips at Cromer but we were still full with cake. So we headed back to camp, picked up the van and went down to Cromer beach. By this time it was around 7 pm, so there was only a couple of chumps with metal detectors left on the beach. It was still 20 odd degrees with the sun beaming down on the sea, it was beautiful, and we had it pretty much to ourselves!

The sea was a bit nippy, but you got used to it pretty quick. We went for a swim, in the calm deserted sea, at 7pmin the UK....it was so lovely. I haven't been swimming in the sea for years. The water is even pretty clear in Cromer! We threw a rugby ball about on the beach to dry out a bit, then went on the hunt for fish and chips... Scoob got slightly distracted by the 2p coin machines though and managed to win himself a set of World Cup erasers...yes!! Then we spotted the air hockey - I forgot how brilliant air hockey is! Especially cause I won... haha. I lost on the Basketball hoop game though I must admit. Ok, even stevens it is then.

We finished the day off with some really good Fish and Chips on the pier as the sun went down. What a fantastic day :o)

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Wisley

2010-06-30T15:59:00.005-01:00

Sunday was supposed to get up to 30 degrees... pretty sure it did in wisley, it was HOT. If it wasn't in the trees I don't think I would have managed to ride.

I love going to Wisley, Gareth and Digs always make us very welcome and we have a great days riding. The big line wasn't running this year because it's just been too dry for the guys to make the changes they want to, but the jam line was running good with the addition of a new transfer landing of the left of the 3rd lip, a new set following that, then a lip back into the old 5th set. This transfer wasn't enough for Jimmy Pratt though. He had been transferring from the lip of the old 4th set to the lip of the new 4th set -I would have loved to have seen that (check the pic above from a few weeks back by a guy called "cookiemonster"). Unfortunately, Jimmy had crashed the week before trying to transfer the opposite way and broken his wrist. He was still at the trails though, diggin one handed... impressive!!

We met our French trip buddy Scott Waterhouse there too, he is always so fun to ride with, like a duracell bunny, he just can't stop riding. He was manualing from the start, up to and through the 4 rollers before the first set. Silky smooth.

A bit later on a few more locals showed up, it was good to see them session the transfer line, boosting it in true Wisley style. Local rider Seb had been racing at andover in the morning, I think he's been bitten by the race bug recently. He showed up still in high speed mode, absolutely bombing round the s-bends, and then turning all his speed into height on the jam line.

We headed off home absolutely knackered after 2 days of sun and trails, but with a big smile on our faces! What a treat to find a starbucks at South Mimms services...mmmm mocha frappachino to finish the day.

Here are a few photos of the day from my trusty nikon D40. Top to Bottom: Scooby, Scooby, Joey, Scott WH

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Holidays!!

2010-06-30T15:22:00.005-01:00

I'm on holiday this week and the weather is ace!

First off, Matt had arranged a little jam and BBQ at city trails for saturday. Loads of out of towners showed up, mainly the melbourn crew, and ripped the place up! I got to see Wildhair twisting the red carpet set on my beloved old blue Standard bike nearly every run - I know I didn't teach it that! Matt Priest was a treat to watch as usual, twisting the last two sets and landing in a manual after the hip, all the way till the next set.

Matt was struggling with a back injury, but still pulling some of the most clicked turndowns I've ever seen. Tucker was back at the trails for the first time in ages after being chained to his desk for months. We'll let him off though, cause he did get a 1st in his degree - well done Tuckerpea! Was good to see him flowing the trails again.

Spanky of ilikebikes.co.uk headed over later on after work and went nuts, trying barrell rolls over the trick line, I got lots of footage of that!

All in all a great days riding in the sun. Enjoy some of the photos taken by Tim Wood. Top to Bottom: Spanky going big, Matt Knights clicked, Wildhair 360.

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Road riding and MX

2010-06-19T18:31:00.011-01:00

Got my new road bike last week, never thought it'd happen but there ya go.. added a couple of vans stickers to make myself feel better ...ha. Had a good ride out on it last sunday, Scoob and I rode out to lyng to watch the British MX race. It was a great sunny day, and a nice chilled ride out there. The MX was awesome, so good watching it for real. Good standing at the start .... the noise of the engines revving and then when the gates drops...brraaap...love it!

Rode a bit faster on the way home as it looked like rain. Got rained on for about 5 mins, kept heading south for as long as possible as we could see a big black cloud hanging over to the east. Worked out pretty good, cause it was so wet on the roads when we got back... avoided that nicely!

The beasting of rain we got after that was desparately needed at the trails, it has been dry for so long. It was a little bit too heavy though and washed the silt out of the jumps a bit. Nothing a few hours shovel work didn't fix . Haven't managed to get to ride them since though as the winds have been strong and northerly. This is bad news for us.... it means the wind blows right accross the field for a nasty cross wind at the trails, and also pretty nasty accross the track.

Today we had the pleasurable company of Jonny, Paul and Evan from Bury. Jonny and I managed to train the 3rd straight in the cross wind a couple of times, but it really did suck. So we headed to the city trails, tidied them up a bit and had a little ride safely surrounded by trees. Jonny hadn't ridden trails for a long long time, what with busting his leg up in france and not being able to ride for months. Good to have ya shredding again Jonny! I think he will be back very soon! :o) Photos are from the trails today, of Scoob and Jonny.

On the subject of trails, check out this video, which feature some of my favourite things... PA Woods and Brian Foster! Yes!

Photo Update 2 - South Vs EA regional

2010-06-06T11:10:00.003-01:00

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Photo Update

2010-06-06T11:05:00.003-01:00

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Gates, tracks and, ummm, road?

2010-05-20T17:04:00.004-01:00

Ok a while since I posted and funnily enough it isn't because I have been at the trails non stop. In fact I have hardly been at all. The trails have been so rediculously dry, the wind has been the wrong way, and my riding buddy has been injured.

All sounds pretty crap eh. Well, not really. The summer started to arrive and I really got into riding the race track again. I really hate the track in the winter, it's freezing and windy as hell. Quite handy then, that the trails are so good for riding in the winter and not so much in the summer! I had real good fun thrashing about the track with Becca, Scoob and Ady, finding myself choosing to ride every straight against the wind in a very unlike me fashion. This sparked my interest and I decided to head to Codham regional with Becca to do some riding and hang out with the HH crew. Oh my, I haven't pedalled that much in ages! I loved doing gate after gate (even though I wished I'd brought some metal grippy pedals instead of the stupid plastic pink ones), the second straight was really fun to jump (though i think most would disagree!) and it was great hangin out at a race again for a change. Jay killed it in masters and Becca once again exceeded her expectations getting a brilliant 6th in masters. After the racing Becca and I headed for play on Braintree's track too, where I rode til I couldn't ride anymore. Ace!

Since then, things have really taken a bizarre turn. Somehow, last sunday after 2 hours of gates and razzing about the track in the sun, I ended up on a ride through the country roads of norfolk, in search for coffee and cake. Mmmm, cake. One thing led to another, and now I seem to be doing the Norwich 50 road ride ..... draw your own conclusions.

Last thing, watch this animation created by an old friend from school, it really is ace. Check it out!

Mildenhall

2010-04-22T16:45:00.004-01:00

In the wake of the olympics there are tracks popping up all over the country, seems everyone wants a piece of the pie.. there are new tracks photos showing up nearly every week. Good stuff.

Mildenhall is a bit different. It's a play track - a bit different in design to a normal track, more lines, smaller and no gate. Oh and it's in the middle of the woods. A BMX track in the woods you say?? Yep, it's like having a track, in trails surroudings. I like!

Jay @ hardcore hobbies is so stoked on having this track 18mins and 12 seconds from his house you cannot put it into words. So we headed over to join him and the locals for a ride.

It took us a while to find, it is literally in the middle of the forest! But the setting was awesome, especially as we picked a warm spring day with a clear blue sky. The atmosphere was really chilled and fun, there was loads of local kids shredding, and the were damn good too!

Here's a couple of vids...

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Nose bonks and city trails

2010-04-13T21:44:00.005-01:00

Although it was lovely and sunny on saturday, it was a bit windy at the trails in the wrong direction, so we sacked it off and headed to the track. Strangely, it seemed less windy at the track and really summery... good vibes!

There was a bunch of local kids all lining up to jump the tabletop on the last straight. There were some crazy looking contraptions kicking about! Although not entirely practical, I got big respect for these kids who obviously pulled together whatever they could find and made it work just so they could have some fun with their mates on a bike.... and these kids often get their bikes running a lot sweeter than the kids with proper bmx's! Skills!

Anyway there was a girl riding with this big group of boys, she was a natural (and naturally colour co-ordinated too might I add, pink forks and bars and a pink checked shirt!) She cleared the table top before most of them, and one of the lads shouts... "Woo yeah!! she cleared it did you see that?!!! ..............bitch!!!" Ha ha, love it. Keep it up girl.

We were having fun riding the last straight, when I picked up for the table before the rhythm and accidentally nose wheelied it. Don't think I've ever nose wheelied anything ever. Not without it ending in faceplant. The Euro vids from last year came flooding back to me and I had the urge to try something new and had some fun messing about with it on the rhythm!

Sunday the wind direction looked much the same but stronger... so we gave Matt a bell to see if he wanted a hand putting the finishing touches to the city trails to get them running. With Tucker away on tough revision schedules, Matt snapped up the offer! There was a lot of work to be done but after 5 hours between Matt, Scoob and myself the mains were ready to rock for the first time in 2010. Matt took the first few runs through and a grin appeared from ear to ear! We rode for another 2 hours, until we were pretty shot to pieces. It was a long day but well worth it. :o)

Pics: Matt - 1 foot, Scoob - Table, the shovel rack

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My Likes...

2010-04-08T21:09:00.002-01:00

As you know, I like to use Vimeo as a base for my video edits. In the time I have been using vimeo, I've come accross loads of cool trails videos and have built up quite a good collection on my "likes" page. Well Worth a look if you've got some spare time.

This is one of my faves so far... the hip at the end looks so sooo good! Shady run in or what! and not to mention a start hill at the trails... love it.

Andalucia Part Three from FoxHeadInc on Vimeo.

Weathers getting pretty nice now, I'm so happy to ditch my thermal helly hanson for the year, I thought it was never gonna end. Trails have been riding good, and we've been busy tweaking the mains. We beefed up the last set... chunkier lip so it holds up much better, made the set a foot or so taller and a couple of foot longer. Not too much bigger to look at but now even when you stay low on it your pretty high! We also decided the 4th set was still not long enough, we were squashing it and fighting the lip. Pulled it back another foot and mellowed it out, floats like a dream now. Check out Scoob testing it out:

Had a few visitors and old faces show up lately, good to see Dave and Donny back at the trails, and the unrelated "Allens" Matt and Jools taking a break from the race tracks to come and visit us. Good to see them, both had a great time and have there eyes on the mains... see you again soon boys! Thinking about having a BBQ get together for our racer friends at the trails this summer.... number plates, pad sets, full face helmets and goggles will be the order of the day. Red card for any clips that show up though, that's just not cricket!

Got new project up our sleeves, decided to make something completely different. My imagination ran wild and I came up with what Scoob has dubbed the "death channel". A high speed run dodging the 4th lip by a few inches in a channel/berm dug into the ground in the middle of the 4th set, straight into a twisty lip and a cool transfer... then where?? who knows!!! We'll work that out later on. Got some ideas though. Just don't let me drink too much coffee before you ask me.

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Scott Waterhouse

2010-03-26T07:06:00.000-01:00

Scott Waterhouse from joeybmx on Vimeo.

Scott Waterhouse is fast...a BMX racer on the surface but a BMX rider at the core. He loves going fast, pushing his limits and having fun. Oh, and he's an incredibly nice guy who smiles a lot too!

Spring has arrived!

2010-03-21T22:34:00.014-01:00

I have been so happy this week. The sun has been shining and it's been a beautiful 13 degrees or so all week. I've been enjoying cycling to work so much this week I wished I lived further that a 5 minute spin away.

I took friday afternoon of work to make the most of it and because the Mangler made the trip over to ride our trails. Always good to see the Mangler! Asyou can see from the photo, he was loving it, never stopped smiling as usual!

The main line was running a treat, you could ping really high it was so fun. It made me smile a lot too... I popped the first x-up in months and the first on my new bike and also managed to table the right way... yep you heard that... the RIGHT way!! Finally after years of being a bit odd, being able to table goofy but not regular, I layed a few flatties on our right hand hip...stoked! Photo evidence too ;o)

It rained pretty good over night, so Scoobs and me headed back to the trails and got some digging done. Got some new stuff tidied up ready to ride, fixed some holes, and then we pulled the lip back a good foot or so on the 4th low set as we'd been overshooting that for a while. You'd think that'd mean we couldn't ride for a while. Errm no. We built it in about an hour and rode it 10 mins later! Winner! It worked great, absolutely motoring through that now so we started digging up the last set, it's going to get BIG!

Poor Ross is still in a cast from his motorbike accident, so saturday night scoob and me headed to ipswich to visit him again. A fun night of curry family guy and MX vs ATV on the PS3. The PS3 session continued the following morning till lunch time, as Ross said, we had a riding session with him, with out him having to ride a bike! So fun. I was pretty crap at it to be honest, I kept coming last in the races. BUT I could do bigger mx whips than either of them and thats all that matters in my book haha! brrraaaapppp!!!!! I haven't been interested in computer games for some time, but I have to say, that game is awesome. I still have no interest in any other computer game... but this is so good!

Well after dragging myself away from making motor bike noises, scoob and I had a little look at snape for the rest of the afternoon. They lads had built another hip since last time we were there and I loved it, big floaty left hander, perfect for the old faithful - opposite tables! Scoob was so fun to watch on the "hangover" line, a line full of twisting and hipped sets - big floaty kickouts on each set. Always good fun riding with those guys. Thanks!

Great weekend. I'm tired now, bed time!

Here's another pic of the digging work, and a sneaky x-up! ;o)

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RB.com France photos & Norwich regional

2010-03-11T21:52:00.006-01:00

These are quite simply amazing. Check them out.
RB's France Photos

Also, check out this Aussie BMX shop site, who posted my video from france. Cool little blog they wrote about our trip :o) (might have to scroll down a bit)
http://hellonwheels.com.au/shop/

Had an awesome day today.. the weather seems to have finally turned, spring is coming! There was a race at norwich today, so I had a bit of a razz on the 3rd straight and did a few gates for the first time in months... obviously out of practice, I smashed my knee on my bars first go!! Oh dear!!

Did a bit of finish line judging for the racing, which was pretty amusing as Hardcore Hobbies Jay and Jonny were on the mike... kept us entertained! Racing finished up nice and early, so got over to the trails to finish the day. Was a bit windy when we got there so had a play on the backline, but soon enough the mains were running and with the recent facelifts they were running damn good! Can't wait to finish it off and make the hip massive now.

A pretty good day I would say.... bring on the long summer days. It's so close I can taste it...

More France 2010

2010-03-07T20:12:00.002-01:00

Here's a pic from a restaurant we went to in Montelimar. It was the most bizarre restaurant experience of my life. We were served by a crazy lady with a scary grin, whilst her baby followed her about in a baby walker screaming. When it screamed too much, she handed it to the closest person too her, she didn't care who. She forgot half the drinks, and took all our orders again after we'd finished eating to create the bill. We were all a little freaked out, there was NO ONE else in the restaurant, it was run by just her, an older bloke and the baby....

We got out alive though, with no food poisoning and we laughed so hard that night it was ridiculous. we are still laughing now. Mental. Just mental.

A group photo or two with the lady and baby seemed obligatory!
Photo by jonny. L-right: mangler, hudu, screaming baby, scary lady...

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France Crew 2010

2010-03-04T21:35:00.004-01:00

Pascal from Montelimar just sent me this photo through.... thanks Pascal!

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France 2010 - The Video

2010-03-04T07:14:00.005-01:00

An amazing week.

I took a ton of footage (with a little help from a few others, thanks guys) and here is my finished edit. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making it. The footage made me smile so much. So many laughs, so many cheers, so many good memories. It's what BMX is all about... I've tried to get the vibe accross even to those who weren't there, I hope you get the feeling! So yeh, grab a grande cafe au lait and sit back and enjoy the sunshine....

France 2010 from joeybmx on Vimeo.

(Play in HD full screen if your computer will cope... let it download fully before palying and it'll run better)

Just under 2 weeks ago, Jonny was in a panic. Thinking he was killing 2 birds with one stone, he went to the post office to buy his Euro's and handed over his passport to apply for a visa for his upcoming trip to India. Thursday night pre-french trip, he realised there was something missing from his checklist.... A frantic trip to Hayes later and a lucky encouter with a friendly indian with a penchant for ginger beards, jonny returned to bury passport in hand, looking rather drained but ready to rock!

A crazy start to a crazy trip... particularly for Jonny. On day 2, he pulled this out the bag:

Yeah, that's a berm he's airing out of....so good!

Thing was, in the excitement of his radness, he somehow catapulted himself over the bars whilst rolling out of it. It was a silly crash, we thought all was good. Got to the next track and he was struggling, but a good nights rest and he would be fine.

How wrong we were.

Fast forward a day and he's flaked out on the floor in a restaurant, blue lights on the way. Medics gave him the ok and gave us directions to hospital if we wanted to take him. Good job we did, he flaked out again half way there.... cheers Jonny, my first day of driving and I have to race you to the hospital! ;o) After getting a bit lost and following a kind frenchie who took the opportunity as an excuse to test his rallying skills, we made it to the hospital. 2 hours later after listening to a crazy drunk guy shit talk about us in french cause we wouldn't speak english with him, Jonny returns... "it's not broken" he says. Relief... "What did they say about your fainting?" Jonny: " oh, I didn't mention that, was I meant to?" .....Our heads in our hands said it all! But he looked much better so we headed back to the hotel.

Since he's been home, he found out he fainted as he lost a litre and a half of blood from his muscle. He was told if he wasn't so fit he would have suffered far worse consequences in France... so perhaps we should have marched him back in there.... but he's still with us, he's ok.... it's all a story to tell right?!

fix up soon Jonny!

More France 2010 posts soon...

France!

2010-02-19T11:02:00.002-01:00

Right-o , I'm off to france tomorrow for a week on our yearly roadtrip. Hitting up some of the best BMX tracks in the world, and hopefully in the sun!

Check back in a week or so for updates, I'll be taking my video camera this year instead of the stills camera, so a vid is in the pipeline too.

Au revoir for now

The 'Swich

2010-02-16T23:02:00.003-01:00

Change of scenery last weekend. My good friend Ross Tricker has bust his leg pretty bad in a pit bike accident, so I went to visit him in Ipswich with Scoob, had some curry, hung out, talked laughed and watched Chopper on dvd. Keithy's done himself a mischeif! I'd been wanting to see that vid for ages.

On Sunday since we were over that way, we headed to snape. It's always fun over there, the locals are a good bunch. They've been working hard this winter, eveythings been squared up and looking good. The straight line through the middle of the trails has always been my fave and gets a bit longer each time I go. The sun was out and kept the temperature up a bit from what we've been used to, and with the bury crew turning up too it eneded up being a good session. The best/longest days riding I feel I've had in some time. I actually felt pretty knackered on the way home. Really got to grips with the Deluxe too, it felt so good pinging high off that middle line!

Took a few snaps when I was having a rest. Featuring Bury crew and Snape locals... check em out. Click

Oh and we popped over our place on ssaturday, here's a couple of pics I took of Scoob riding the berm to rollers on the new back line.

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New Deluxe frame

2010-02-08T20:52:00.007-01:00

I've been thinking about changing my frame for a while. I love my Standard 125R but I've been liking frames with a lower BB recently, it just feels nice and stable. It's a challenge to find the perfect frame though, after riding for so long I have very specific ideas of what I want in a frame. I was looking for a chromo frame with v brake mounts, a BB height of 11.5" and a chainstay length no longer than the standard. Add to that, I didn't want to go too light and I wanted the brake cable to go all the way through in the housing. Hmmm, that narrows it down slightly! I thought there was nothing out there without going custom, until I found the Deluxe frame in a ltd edition v brake version. It has a slightly slacker head angle than I am used to and a shorter chainstay length, but now that I am all about the trails, the lazier geometry suits me!

I built it up a gave it a ride at the weekend on our new line at the trails and loved it. It felt fast but stable and really flickable, the short back end took me by surprise to begin with! The detail on the frame is really cool, the way the seat stay and chain stay tubes have been finished off is so neat, and the brake cable guides are spot on....you can run the cable all the way through in the housing (like I wanted), under the top tube out of the way and the guides are central so running my brake lever on the left sets up just as good as a right hand lever. The frame has a spanish BB which looks a lot slicker than a euro with my profiles, loving that, plus with it being a new frame it's got an integrated headset which is so much easier and simple.

With it being a new frame I topped it off with a few new parts, I got a full aqua profile set up, the 40 stem was an accident but I'm loving it now, looks great! I added a girly touch with the pink cable and grips, so it looks like a 90's racer colour scheme now! I switched back to the DTH race tires front and back in preparation for the french roadtrip which is less than 2 weeks away now (woohoo!) but they ride a treat at the trails too, light and smooth, couldn't ask for more. So my bikes pretty much ended up as some sort of trails/race cross breed of a machine which just about sums me up I guess.

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Snow don't stop me shredding!

2010-02-02T16:45:00.002-01:00

Just needed a bit of a sweep that's all! Thanks to Becca for the clip and the cool sequence shot she put together.

I also went to the track at the weekend for the first time in months. My god it was wet, all the snow had just thawed out... the first straight was the worst so I avoided that, but Jay and Ade are commited to training and had a full on gate session.

I thought i wouldn't bother riding, I swept some water of the 3rd straight which wasn't so wet. When I was done it rode pretty good, with a bit of a tail wind the whole straight was on and me and Jessop had some fun sessioning that. I had a test ride on a new frame at the track too... could be a new frame on the way for france, keep your eyes peeled!

French road trip is less than 3 weeks away, can't wait!

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....and the backline is done!!

2010-01-25T19:42:00.007-01:00

Yep, after weeks of digging we finally finished the backline on saturday. By sunday Scoob and me were riding the whole line and it was damn good if I do say so myself!! A lot of fun. Success. Now for the mains...

Above is a video of Scoob flowing through the fresh new backline, then a pic of me of the new 3rd set, follwed by a cool overview pic that Becca took.

Really looking forward to summer now, the french road trip is only 4 weeks away and then when we get back it's the count down to spring!!

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"Hard Knocks" trailer

2010-01-25T19:27:00.002-01:00

Hardcore Hobbies have a new vid in the works and yours truly stars in the first web teaser... smashing myself up! This was the crash that knocked me out last summer. I'll be hooking Jay up with some of my footage from last year to feature in the vid too. Keep your eyes on www.hardcorehobbiesHQ.com for more web teasers and news.

Summer 2009

2010-01-19T06:54:00.002-01:00

In the height of winter, I've been going through my old footage from last summer. Here's a little video of some sunny days...mmmm. Roll on summer.At least I have the French Roadtrip coming up in just over a month though, can't wait.

Summer 2009 from joeybmx on Vimeo.

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Snow!!

2010-01-10T18:29:00.011-01:00

Well not much riding or digging going on with all this snow... what is going on?? I didn't know what to do with myself. That is until I remembered how fun sledging was! Well... I say sledging... I mean that in the loosest of terms. We had a couple of broken bits of sledges and a toys r us carrier bag. They worked better than anyones proper sledge though! You could get youself wrapped right up in the bags and you were flyiing. We did some trains that ended in carnage, rode the bumpiest parts of the hill and took off ramps we didn't even know were there! So much laughing... I don't hate the snow quite so much anymore!! I think it's disappearing now anyway, the hill was getting a bit bare today. Still damn fast though, especially in the lid of a bbq some kid nicked off his parents! Stiffler was the only one brave enough to try it!

Here's a video of some of the fun that I captured on my mobile phone today, and below a few clips becca took on saturday. Click here for more sledging photos!

Snow fun from joeybmx on Vimeo.

Sledging from joeybmx on Vimeo.

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Brrrr....

2010-01-01T17:48:00.003-01:00

The weather here has been pretty mental recently, hence the lack of udates... however somehow the trails are still dry now and we have got in plenty more digging and even some more riding in the snow! Just a bunch of photo from the last few weeks....

Bit of a new years jam with friends tomorrow should be good.

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Rollers

2009-12-06T16:27:00.002-01:00

Rollers were the order of the day. Scoob and me continued the re-vamp...

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Magic Dirt

2009-12-01T22:53:00.003-01:00

Here's a little video from the weekend. We had some really heavy rain, but still got them rideable. Crazy. We did some more digging and rode the new line and it is working already! It still needs a lot of riding in but when it goes solid it's going to be so fun, you'l really be able to pop out of those little sets. The berm jump was worth 3 attempts at a lip as it puts you just in the right place.

Becca got right on the new line, jumping the fist set in no time at all. By the end of the day she had a crack at the 2nd set... I couldn't quite understand what happened as she looked to be carrying plenty of speed, then she dropped out of the sky and came up short! On closer inspection, she'd hit the lip about a foot away from where Scoobs and I had ridden it in... Scoobs wasn't having any of it though, he still marked it a zero! ;o) Becca will be through the line in no time...

Magic dirt from joeybmx on Vimeo.

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A scary movie for Millsy!

2009-11-22T19:30:00.003-01:00

A scary movie for Millsy... from joeybmx on Vimeo.

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The Digging Continues...

2009-11-22T18:45:00.004-01:00

We are still finding some dust... but it's getting better every weekend! Have been beating the crap outta the first few jumps this week to try and get them in a ridable state. It's definately getting there, bit more rain to help them settle that's all. Set 4 is well on the way, but we are on lip Mk 3 already, seems we are quite indecisive! It's just a bit confusing to work out whats best, it's a jump to berm and getting the shapes right to hold speed and hold up well enough in summer takes some thought. Think we've got it now though, gangsta leans are the answer! Which meant the 3rd set landing is on Mk 2 now, but it's looking good.

Vans hooked me up with some stuff this week (thanks guys!). How cool are my insoles!! ;o)

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Digging season

2009-11-15T22:01:00.004-01:00

Yep it's finally here, I've been waiting for this for a while now. Though would you believe it... we STILL found dust - lots of it! Oh well, the rain will get to it eventually. I am not complaining, I can't htink of any other trails that ride all winter.

We have started work on revamping our smaller line, which starts small and then winds round the back of the trails into a twisty tech-ish line. Basically the first 2 sets have been really small, allowing Becca to progress and get her confidence up... so now it's time to step it up a notch! In 2 days we've built 3 completely new sets from scratch, all a little bit bigger but much better, far bigger landings and take offs. They really are like mini versions of the main line jumps, I think they'll be popular with people who aren't up for riding the mains! I don't think they are going to take too long before they are riding either, we've already packed them in good (except the dusty second landing) and they are feeling reasonably solid.

Scoob and I got to work on the 4th set just before dark which is the old jump to berm set. It's still going to be a jump to berm but a new and improved version! Bigger, better and the line into it will be wider too, so no trees to worry about and hopefully it'll take some pressure off the berm and it'll survive the summer easier. After that there is going to be a big roller made for scrubbin.. and then all the old sets are going to be beefed up.

Digging is so good.

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Halloween Madness

2009-11-03T22:42:00.006-01:00

Halloween from joeybmx on Vimeo.

After a warm sunny week stuck in the office, it peed it down saturday morning. Gutted. I was so up for riding! Jay and Jonny had planned to come over and hit the track first. Wasn't sure they would, but there they were, bang on schedule to the millsysecond ;o)

We met in maccy d's for a mccoffee while the rain eased, then headed over to the trails. It was still raining, but unbelieveably the trails were pretty dry, hardly a puddle to be seen! With the protection of the remaining leaves from the rain, we fixed a few jumps on the backline and gave them a sweep and like magic it stopped raining. Admittedly, it was hard to tell if it had stopped as the rain was still dripping from the trees, but we were good to go!

Ended up having a great day. The weather was still pretty crazy. Mist accross the fields, warm and perfectly still in the woods... Autumn leaves everywhere and the rain still dripping from the trees. I liked it. It was dark and gloomy but hey, it was halloween and it was cool.

I like it when those guys come over! Always fun!

To top the day off it was wet enough to dig a little so we finished off the last two sets on the right that fork off from the mains.. hopefully ride them next week, I have a left hand hip to do some tables!! not that that's what I was thinking about when I was building it..... ahem

Above is a short edit of a few clips from the day.

Autumn Trails

2009-10-27T21:39:00.003-01:00

Dark nights suck, but Autumn colours are great...

check out this vid from PA woods.

autumn sessions part 2 from woods on Vimeo.

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Perrier Quichante - BMX track video

2009-10-04T20:47:00.002-01:00

Needed to share this with everyone. Love everything about this video, the music, the setting, the filming.. and the manual to nose manual to manual to jump at 02:56... awesome. Oh I didn't like the bit where he manuals with his lid on top of his head seemed a bit pointless, but oh well. Enjoy..

Perrier Quichante BMX

EA Champs Norwich

2009-10-04T08:38:00.003-01:00

How lucky did we get with the weather?! Nearly october and it was like a hot summers day..and no wind to boot! This was the last race of the season and it was a good un. A great turnout with some riders from the midlands joining in the East Anglian fun too. The 17+ plus final was awesomw, I've not seen a regional final that close since.. well.. I can't even remember one. The manual comp got the crowd going and as usual the day finished with the annual EA club relay.

Check out my video below for highlights of the action!

EA BMX Champs 2009 from joeybmx on Vimeo.

Cheddar

2009-09-24T20:22:00.007-01:00

Last weekend was the British Championships in Cheddar. I wasn't racing but spent a few days there riding and filming the racing. I headed to Cheddar on Thursday with Scooby who was racing in what must be only his 2nd Brits. I never thought he would be competitive but it's getting him, he was nervous and everything!

We were camping but the weather couldn't be better and we were camping in luxury as much as that is possible.. we had an electric hook up so we took a kettle, laptop & DVD's and our cooking pal George Formby. It was good to be out in the fresh air, camping is underated!

Practice was fun on thursday, not too many people, I like the first straight at cheddar and enjoyed doing gates. Friday was much busier, so after a few laps I knocked it on the head... On saturday me, scoob, becca, jay and joe decided to go and check out one of the other local tracks in Bath. This to me is what regional tracks should be like, the jumps were flowy and well built, just smaller than your average track. We had a lot of fun and from the second straight you always found yourself riding the track to the end as it rolled down hill.

Sunday, well, what a day. I really enjoyed watching for a change. There was around 700 riders showing the numbers are increasing all the time, the numbers showed in the crowds too, it made a great atmosphere, particularly come final time. I made a little video, you can hear the amount of noise! Not too much happened in the semi's which was strange, but the finals really went off, just watch the video... if you think racing is just follow the leader these days you thought wrong! The passion and determination of the riders was awesome, pushing their limits, never giving in.

British Championships 2009 from joeybmx on Vimeo.

After all the excitement on sunday, Scoob and I did the touristy thing and hiked up a nice steep hill to get to the top of cheddar gorge. It didn't look that steep from the bottom, but when we got half way up we kinda realised how wrong we were! Still, it was worth it, the views are amazing, and we came across a few random goats. On the path back down (we stuck to the proper route this time) you walk down all these log steps in the trees, it's really cool, and there was a little cave in the woods too. We would have liked to go in Gough's Cave but at £16 we weren't so keen. Did try using my name for a discount but they weren't buying it... we were content with a coffee and a big slice of fruit cake at the cafe anyway before walking back up the gorge to the van.

Our trip almost over, we had one more stop on the list. Keith and Renee kindly put us up for the night and headed to Wisley with us on Tuesday, thanks for the hospitality guys! It was a great day, all the lines were running and were so fun, massive sets, hips, steep berms, we rode till we couldn't ride any more. Big thanks to Gareth for having us, was a great sesh!

Here's some random Cheddar Gorge pics:

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I have nothing more to say about this..

2009-09-24T20:20:00.002-01:00

Team Goff BMX Training Session from joeybmx on Vimeo.

Ady Warden

2009-09-06T20:34:00.004-01:00

Just a little edit I did of Norwich BMX local and 40+ race champ Ady Warden, sessioning Norwich BMX track on saturday, also starring Jonny STD!

Ady from joeybmx on Vimeo.

Murray Jam 2009

2009-09-06T20:31:00.003-01:00

Great day for a great cause, good to catch up with some old friends and make some new ones!

Check out this vid of the day by Will Evans

Murray Jam 2009 from Will Evans on Vimeo.

Trails in Slow Motion

2009-08-24T06:27:00.006-01:00

Scooby & Joey - Trails in Slow Motion from joeybmx on Vimeo.

Got back into a bit of video editing this week with some footage of Scoob and me riding the Land in 50 frames per second standard definition. Expect some HD footage soon. It was wierd, I was following Scooby and I can't count the number of times I seemed to subconsciously copy his exact movements... you can probably notice in the video. Obviously not the tire grabs and the tables, we knew about that! But just the style on the other sets, kicking out the same... wierd!

I did get a little to close to him a few times and thought I was gonna land on him ... and it can be a little scary nosing into a landing looking down on someone landing with there foot way off the pedal!! It was windy too which added an extra element of surprise at times. All good fun!

below: Scooby and Joey...close!

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Interview on MarthaHucker.com

2009-08-21T15:30:00.004-01:00

Click here to head on over to marthahucker.com and check out the interview I did for the site. Martha Hucker is a site dedicated to girls MTB and BMX riding, you'll find all the race and freeride event news along with a variety of interviews, photos and videos. It's a great idea and I was pleased to be asked to be a part of it.

Last weekend I got back on my bike after a week of feeling off. Turns out I knocked the crap outta myself a little bit when I hit my head, it took me a week of recovery and I felt pretty week and tired riding at the weekend. I've felt better as the weeks gone on though, had a few good rides at the city trails with Matt and a few others. It's a getting dark a bit early now to get over to our trails in the week now, by the time we get there it's almost dark in the woods.

We were messing about doing some trains and stuff last night, Phil took a few pics... the idea was to get 2 riders in the air and one round the berm but it didn't quite work.... yet!

Photos by Phil Chaplin
top: Joey jumping over Stiffler
bottom: Scooby and Stiffler train

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Head banging

2009-08-14T18:37:00.003-01:00

I've been kind of slack here I know. I would write report about Braintree regional I did the other week but it's kinda been and gone now! I had some good races anyway, made the semis in 19+ and ended up in the B main, got pretty stuck in. I was 5th out of the first corner but as I jumped the double I almost landed on the Mangler! A fun day anyway, that's what it's all about. I was lined up for the B final with a gate almost full of my friends! At the end of the day we made plans for a big BBQ and session at our trails the following Sunday..

Normally our plans end up being ruined by bad weather, or people forget they had something else to do etc etc... but for once everything came together, Jay, Jonny, Joe and Paul from Bury, Ross from Ipswich and the locals - me, scobby, stiffler and tucker. It was a great day we had the trails running better than ever, with the dry weather they were rock solid but we had been watering the surface every time we rode so that it was silky smooth! They were running so fast you could pull up super high on every set. The backline got sessioned a lot, it's small but more tech, and since we made the bowls deeper last winter it's floaty and fun. We had some 6 man trains going on the mains, they were so fun, things were getting a bit close at times! Lots of laughing.. but that's when my days riding ended... I was following Ross through the mains with Jonny behind me, went to do a table on the 3rd set ( like I have done a hundred times before) but got my bars caught in my t-shirt straight away somehow, and they weren't coming out. Hence an " ohhh crap" from me, I landed with the bike still sideways and well that's all i remember until I got rudely awakened from a nice sleep I was having!! But really, thanks guys for taking good care of me. I was a bit confused and had a stinking headache for the rest of the day, couldn't even manage to take any more photos really. Still, I enjoyed the BBQ and watching everyone else rip up the trails. I had an ideal view of the third set, Ross pulled a perfect one foot table, tucker was over clicking turndowns and Scooby was just waaay up in the trees!

Anyway I had a bit of a chilled week this week after that, my body needed a rest...I'm so bored though! What do people do who have no hobbies? seriously??! I'll be back on my bike this weekend I reckon.

Photos: Top - Tucker, below - the run up

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BBQ'd Fish Eyes. Yum.

2009-07-08T20:22:00.008-01:00

BBQ's at the trails are great, no burning food cause you're too impatient to wait for the coals to be ready, keep on riding and it's good to go before you know it! Went for spicy bean burgers and cooked tomatoes in pitta bread this time, but becca stuck to the beef burgers. Not quite sure what the cows just the otherside of the barbed wire thought about that. Becca got round 2 more jumps on our tech backline, awesome. Only 2 more to go! Scooby got no handers at our place for the first time and I finally learnt to table the right way round!

I picked up my semi fisheye lens that I had for my video camera too, thought it might be fun to play with holding it in front of my stills camera. Becca and me both had a crack at it and got some cool shots. Here's a few, click here for the full album. Top to Bottom: Scooby, Joey, Becca, mmmm spicy bean burgers

Over the weekend Scooby and I also made big digging plans... what started with us innocently filling a rut in the first lip, ended up with us making big plans to build a line to the right of the mains involving numerous hip and transfer combinations. We got right on it the next day when the rain fell, building up the first set, 2 more lips, a new landing, digging out bowls and shifting a shed load of dirt. The old first set is now a little taller and it worked a treat today, going slower and higher over it even though it's a tad soft. Brilliant.

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EZO Wisley Edit

2009-06-25T06:27:00.002-01:00

Check out the full vid featuring Jimmy Pratt, Sam Reynolds, Mike Smith, Gareth Howell etc...

More Mountain Biking >>

Wisley

2009-05-31T09:49:00.002-01:00

Last weekend I went to visit Dave in Eastbourne.

On the saturday we ended up dropping by Spooks to have a look. There were some guys down there riding and chilling and they said come and ride! So we went back and grabbed our bikes and had a fun session. The big stuff at the bottom wasn't running but the rest was really fun and felt like a roller coaster at times, twisty lines where you'd all of a sudden pick up crazy speed.

On sunday we trekked up to wisley. Little bit of a trip but really worth it. It was a cracking day, Gareth and Digs had the BBQ on the go and were making pizza's in with there dirt pizza oven! awesome!

Jimmy Pratt, Sam Reynolds and Mike Smith turned up, they were a treat to watch, they seemed to be having so much fun when they are riding it just makes you smile. Also I never fail to be amazed by how much higher Jimmy goes than everyone else!

I had so much fun that day I rode till I couldn't ride anymore. Thanks to Gareth, Digs and the other locals for letting us ride and making us feel welcome!

Here's some footage Tom Wheeler took of me riding there. There should be a full video about soon with footage of Jimmy, Sam etc so keep your eyes peeled for that one, it'll be worth watching!

More BMX >>