You’ve been out riding all afternoon, you’re home and it’s 4pm and you’re ravenous. You reach for some cheese and onion crisps, a Snickers bar and a coke. An hour later and you’re hungry again, this time you pick up the phone and order a pizza, oh and some chips and while you’re at it, plus another coke. Then it’s Monday and your trousers feel a little tight. Not to worry ‘cos you’re riding again on Wednesday. Sound familiar?

Julia Revitt out on the burn!
Photo © Julia Revitt

It’s easy to think that you can get away with bad food choices because you are active. But you only have to look at the percentage of portly riders at Cannock Chase on a sunny Saturday afternoon to realise that strategy is possibly not working. Strained cycle jerseys are not the only outcome of this lifestyle – think about the strain on your heart or your cholesterol levels. Stop to think for a moment and you’ll come to understand that this lifestyle is not healthy at all.

That’s the bad news but here’s the good: it’s easy to change. Eating healthily doesn’t mean boring, bland vegetables for dinner every night. How does a chicken burger sound? What about a steak ciabatta? Home made chips? Sweet and sticky flapjack?  Mouth watering now?

Here are some simple steps you can take this week that will make a difference to your waist band.

Plan ahead

If you know that you’ll be back from your ride at 4pm, have some flapjack ready or maybe some teacake. This will keep you going for about an hour so have a curry in the slow cooker or a steak ready to flash fry. Planning will stop bad food choices.

Taking food and drink out with you when you’re riding is a great way to stop feeling so hungry that you’ll eat anything. I’ve been there – at the end if the ride when you’ll happily give away a limb for some hot, salty, vinegary chips from the ride centre cafe. But now I make sure I have something tasty in the car ready for my return, my favourite being tea cake – it’s sweet enough to satisfy and contains slow releasing carbohydrates to keep me full enough for the drive home. Then it’s a home made pizza for tea – topped with tomatoes, chicken strips, red and green peppers and mushrooms – all prepared in advance ready to pop in the oven as soon as I’m back.

Moderation

You can have a Snickers bar, but only once a week as a treat. I know what you’re thinking but you’ll really enjoy it and won’t have to feel guilty about eating it as it’s your once a week treat. Don’t go for the double Snickers though, just stick to the normal size, savour it – enjoy every mouthful.

Portion control

Slow down, relax and enjoy your food – we’ve evolved from cavemen who had to eat their food quickly to stop it being stolen from a passing sabre toothed tiger – you don’t have to worry about that! So, slow down, you’ll notice you’ll feel fuller earlier because you’re giving your body time to notice you’ve eaten enough. Don’t be afraid to leave food on your plate – just adjust the quantities next time. Switch off the TV and chill while enjoying your food.

Habit

Change one thing at a time rather than everything at once, that way you’re more likely to stick to the changes. These changes will take a few weeks to get used to before they become new habits.

Here are 5 small changes you could make over the next few weeks:

1      Put some effort in! Ride in a harder gear faster, pedal up that hill rather than push, don’t stand around chatting at the different trail section. Burn, burn, burn those kcalories.

2      Before your next ride, prepare a meal for afterwards. Make sure you have the ingredients ready, that they are fresh and the meal is inviting.

3      Reduce your chocolate consumption. If you’re eating a bar every day, cut it down to every other day. Then next week, cut it down to twice a week, aiming to get to once a week as your goal.

4      Beer. Don’t do it unless you want to look pregnant. Once a week is enough and in moderation.

5      Cross train. Get walking, running, mowing, vacuuming, sweeping, dusting, jumping, skipping – get active at least once a day. It can be as simple as taking the stairs rather than the lift, walking the dog or cycling to the shops.

Have a look at my previous articles on Bike Magic to find out the best times to eat and drink out on a ride and the best foods and drinks. Make those changes and stick to them.

Energy in/energy out

You might be out ‘riding’ for four hours but how much of that was spent pounding the pedals or humping up hills? It’s easy to over-estimate how many calories you’re burning while riding and therefore misjudge how much you can eat afterwards.

The best way to find this out is with a heart rate monitor and software that interprets the results. I like using a Garmin but there are many other options available. Be careful if you choose a phone app for this without using a heart rate monitor as this will probably give you averages rather than actual figures.

Remember, if you’ve burnt 600 kcalories riding – you would have burnt 200 kcalories without moving from your sofa – so you’ve only really used an extra 400.

Check out my website www.findyourbalance.co.uk for some great recipes including the chicken burgers, curry, flapjack and tea cake mentioned earlier. Here’s to happy riding and comfortable waist bands!

One thing that I remember about the UK at the time I left the island was that the seasons were becoming very blurred into each other. You could have a summer’s day in February or a monsoon for all of July and August. Or more the usual steady monochromatic grey overcast dreariness that always prevailed. As a rider I became indifferent to the conditions, I’d always assume the worst whenever I was packing my gear up to go riding and even if it had been sunny and in the mid-twenties for a week with nothing but sunshine on the weather forecast I’d always have an extra layer and a waterproof tucked into a corner of the car.

Raging waterfalls in the alps as the snow from the hills above starts its journey to the sea.
Photo © Soren Rickards

Four seasons 

Since I’ve been in the Alps I’ve reacclimatised myself to what I’d call ‘proper seasons’. Although the mountains are notoriously unpredictable, even dangerously unpredictable at certain times of my year, there are at least some guarantees: In winter it will generally be bloody cold and everything will get covered in snow; this then melts in the spring and flies down the mountain and off waterfalls; the place then goes lurid green as the temperature rises during the summer; then slowly cooling again as winter approaches once more. Sometimes these transitions are like a switch being thrown. There’s been more than one autumn when I’ve been out on my bike in shorts and t-shirt on dusty trails and then the weekend after I’ll have a snowboard on my feet. Instant winter. The seasons are very much part of life here, the tourist industry, farming and simple day-to-day life are all based around these distinct patterns.

In an earlier post that I pledged my allegiance to MTB at the start of the winter and vowed to keep the wheels turning through the snowy months. What I didn’t know at the time was that we were on the brink of one of the mightiest winters of snowfall for eight or nine years! Metres and metres of the stuff came down relentlessly all winter, making for some of the best skiing conditions I’ve ever experienced. However, despite this I kept true to my promise to keep riding. I’m good like that.

Snow? Pah

At the height of winter it was utterly pointless to try to get a bike out there. Fun as it was at the start of the winter to go and thrash about in 20-30cms of white stuff, when you start measuring the snow in metres it’s a different story. Besides, I’d prefer to be out snowboarding anyway! So it wasn’t until there was a bit of a lull in the snowfall in February that I decided to get the bikes out again, shuttling some of the summer haunts with varying degrees of success with a number of other hardcore bike riders. If someone had been out on snowshoes and left a trail this would freeze up and leave a nice crust on the top of the snowpack, which would support your wheels enough to ride reasonably normally. Should you stop concentrating for a split second and let your front wheel stray from this tightest of singletrack a very swift exit over the bars would be your reward! As someone was inevitably doing exactly this at any given point of the ride it was virtually impossible to maintain any levels of concentration in between fits of cruel laughter.

Fallen trees and tons of snow made for heavy going over the height of winter.

Other times you’d find yourself trudging for hours through heavy slush, feet soaked to the bone and dragging a clogged up and useless bicycle behind you as you’d ‘underestimated’ the amount of snow on a particular trail, caught out by the conditions miles from home. I call this ‘the spirit of adventure’.

Another sortie involved taking the car up the road to the middle station of the local ski hill before bombing back down the pistes. I still remember the look that a Parisian tourist gave me as I overtook him on a bicycle as he was doing his best attempt at a speed tuck! Riding on the pistes was amazing fun but we really thought we were playing with fire after that one go at it. Although we picked a quiet time to try it the reality was that you can’t exactly stop on a sixpence with a bike on snow and ice, no matter how good your brakes are. We thought it was only a matter of time before we collided with a skier, mowed down ski school or, even worse, lost our lift passes. We thought it better to retreat to the forests once again.

The big melt 

Eventually after one hell of a winter the thermometer started to creep back into plus figures much more regularly and the lower slopes of the mountains thawed bit-by-bit. By early April spring had well and truly sprung and the lower half of the mountain, including some of the bike trails, had dried out completely. Feeling dry, loamy dirt back under your wheels is such a great sensation after months of flailing around on snow and ice.

One of the gondolas took the frankly groundbreaking step of allowing us up the lift with our bikes (either that or the lifty was such a space cadet that he didn‘t notice we weren‘t his usual clientele, this is a highly likely possibility). That’s a funny scene when you have a cabin full of people wrapped up in ski gear and two blokes in shorts with bikes!

Needless to say we milked this opportunity for all it was worth for the last two weeks the lift stayed open, skiing in the morning until the heat turned the snow to mush and then after a quick change heading back out on the bikes.

Time to shuttle

Spring is not the time to be adventuring deep into the mountains though. For the last few weeks the sounds of avalanches and rock falls have been echoing around the valley as the mountains shake off the last of their white winter coats.

It’s time to re-find the old familiar trails, brush up the skills and get your head in gear. There’s nothing quite as intimidating as steep, rooty chute full of mud like chocolate and ruts as deep as your axles when you’ve been used to pristine white slopes for a few months.

Dodgy shuttle runs r us.

With just a downhill machine to play with at the moment the name of the game has been shuttle runs as the local downhill trails thaw. The amount of snow that fell over winter caused significant damage to some trees in the forest that couldn’t support the mass of crystals on their branches, so leading a group out can be quite a daunting experience as the trails are littered with fallen trees and branches. One second you’ll feel that flow again as you start to remember the contours and ripples of your favourite trail and the next you’ve both brakes locked up skidding along yelling ‘stop, stop, stop!’ to the guys behind you as you find yourself careering towards what looks like a giant sequoia lying across the fastest bit of the trail.

Spring greens. Well, onions actually. Summer’s just around the corner!
Photo © Soren Rickards

Which monster peak next?

This little taste of summer has awoken all the thoughts and plans I’d been making in the autumn of things I wanted to do the following summer with my bike, and places I’d promised myself I’d get to. As all the loam and leaves start to brush off the trails and the same old ruts and holes begin to form, that desire to get away and up into the hills begins to grow stronger. More and more I find myself pouring over maps and glancing up at the hills, watching the snow recede exposing another part of the mountains I haven’t yet reached with my bike. That’s just the hills I can see from my window, the lifetime of riding that the Haute Savoie contains is truly mind-blowing and sometimes the toughest choice I have is what or where to ride next….

There are quite a few plans nearing fruition that I’m looking forward to putting into words, it won’t be long now, roll on summer.

Nick Maher at home in the Alps. Stay tuned for more soon.
Photo © Soren Rickards

Another day another discipline. Tracy’s been racing all sorts recently.
Photo by Doc Ward

Mojo Trail Diaries

Straight after the enduro race in Afan I stayed in South Wales and spent three days filming with the guys from Eyesdown films making the next Mojo trail diary video. That weekend was the one when it snowed like crazy, so the first day filming and riding in the Brecon Beacons was absolutely freezing and somewhat snowy under tyre… Although a very cold three days I got to ride in some great locations around South Wales, all within a very short distance from Mojo’s headquarters in Risca. I spent time at Mojo and got to ride with some amazing riders from all different disciplines. Sam Blake from the dirt jump world, Martyn Ashton the legendary trials rider and Tim Ponting, an amazing DH rider from the late 90s. All lovely guys with so much talent on a bike it was a great privilege to spend some time riding and filming with them. I also got to ride with boss of Mojo Chris Porter and a few local guys and staff from Mojo. It was such a fun few days getting to ride new trails and having a great laugh with a lovely bunch of people.

FOD DH Summer Series

From there I had a few days at home (finally) to recover and get some training in for the fast approaching season. As I was heading out to race at the Sea Otter Classic later in the month I thought I should get a little time in riding downhill, so I went to the first round of the Forest of Dean Summer Series. The forest is such a great location now for riding and the choice of DH tracks is brilliant. The race was on one of the newest tracks called GBU. It’s pretty much a jumps, berms and pedalling track from top to bottom, perfect preparation for the Sea Otter Downhill. I took my Trek Slash and decided to use the day as great training not only on the downhill but also some quality uphill work too. I just put on my (Osprey) pack so I could have food and water and was also able to attach my full face helmet to it on the way up and just spent the morning riding up and then back down the hill. I could do runs quicker than getting an uplift. 10 min pedal to the top and then two back down! I did about 6 runs and then I was ready for racing. I forgot to take my pack off for my first race run, so ended up racing DH with my pack on, which caused a stir amongst the DH crew! I am going to have to race enduros out in Europe like that so I guess it was good practice. I had a good race, taking the women’s win ahead of Jess Stone and recording the ninth fastest time of the day. Happy with that and a great training day done.

Racing DH at the Forest of Dean.

Midlands XC

From DH racing I then went to XC racing to take part in the second round of the Midlands XC series in Chesterfield. It was a pretty fun little course once you got in to the woods, but the first section was just horrendous. A gradual climb on grass that was as soft as a sponge into a massive headwind. It was so hard just to move forward and it was a tough start to each lap. I found myself in second place fairly soon after the start behind Jessie Roberts who won the first midlands race I did a few weeks ago. I really wanted to try and stay in touch with her this week but I just couldn’t seem to close the gap. Every lap ended with some downhill sections and I felt as though I kept making time, but would then lose it on the climb out of the start. At the start of the last lap I really had closed in and I dug deep to try closing the gap. Slowly as the lap went on I was getting closer and closer and it took me almost the entire lap to finally get back to her and I was able to pass her just as we entered the last descent with about 1km to go. I just put my head down and managed to stay away to the finish line to take the win! I was happy as I had worked really hard all race to stay in touch and definitely got a good work out!

Spot of XC racing for good measure, with a win thrown in just to be sure.
Photo by James Richards

Sea Otter

Straight from the race I drove home and quickly packed my bags ready to leave for San Francisco the next morning. The Sea Otter Classic is a season opener bike festival in America and a race I haven’t been to for a few years, so I was excited that Trek wanted me to be there. This year I was doing something a little different and taking on the cross country, the short track and the downhill race… All good training for the upcoming World Enduro Series, that’s what I was telling myself at least.

Not a bad result then in the Sea Otter DH with most of the world’s top racers kicking about.
Photo by Carol Stacy

The short track race was a short 1km loop around the pit area of the venue with some tight turns, a few rocks and a 50m section of sand to try and ride through. It’s a mass start race and you race for 20mins plus 3 laps. I had no idea what to expect from this, as I had never done anything like it. I had a great start and went from the back of the grid to about 10^th place after the first corner, but soon the speed of the girls was too much for me and within half a lap I had already dropped off the front group and just found myself slowly going backwards and trying to stick to the wheel of the next person that came by me on the flat. I felt great around the corners, but as soon as it opened out they just sprinted flat out. I lasted for about 14mins and 21^st position. It was quite an experience and highlighted just how much work I need to do to improve my speed on the flat for XC racing.

XC racing at a world level too. Tracy is mad for it!
Photo by Carol Stacy

Next up was the XC race the following day. This one was just one big lap of around 20miles, so there was no chance of getting lapped or pulled from the race! Again I had a good start and stayed with the front group until it started to climb off-road and then the pace just increased and I found my legs and lungs unable to maintain their pace. I need a downhill section to recover after every few minutes at that speed! I completed the course and finished 33^rd out of around 45 starters, so I was again happy with that as it was a pretty stacked top part of the field with legendary female road and cyclocross racer Marianne Vos taking the win both days. I actually lined up next to her at the start which was pretty amazing. I just wish someone had taken a picture.

My final day of racing was the downhill. What should be back in my comfort zone, but having spent very little time actually riding downhill this winter I felt a bit rusty. I had only done a few runs of practice on the first day I arrived due to my XC races so needed to get a few more in before the race on the Sunday morning. I managed to take 2^nd place behind one very motivated Jill Kintner, who I think will have a great season on the DH World Cup circuit. I definitely did not get the jumps that good at the top of the course so I think lost some valuable time to Jill there but I was happy with a podium to round out my busy weekend of racing.

UK Gravity Enduro Innerleithen

From the sun of California it was then back home to the rain/hailstone showers and sunshine of Innerleithen for round 2 of the UK Gravity Enduro series. My busy few weeks of racing and travelling finally got the better of me and I spent the weekend with a sore throat and full-on cold, so not feeling me best. Sadly the on and off rain and some freshly cut tracks also made for some very muddy tough conditions just to make things harder for me. It is always going to be the hardest enduro of the year in the UK as the hill at Innerleithen is a good one, so transitions between stages were 40-plus minutes. I set off at 9am and got the finish at 2pm, so it was a big morning out with five tough stages. I managed to be pretty consistent all day, only making a few mistakes on stage 4 and managed to keep my bike running well all day. Continuous mud removal with a stick was the key I think!

Finally a win at the UK Gravity Enduro series to round off the pre-season training… Now to the Enduro World Series which Tracy will be racing at the end of this week.
Photo by Doc Ward

I was happy to take the win and finish the day knowing I could now take a few days off to get rid of my cold and get ready for my trip to Europe for the first World Enduro Series race in Italy, which takes place at the end of this week.

Read my last blog here.

A destination of choice, in the opinion of most people who have ridden there it’s possibly Europe’s best riding spot. It’s got everything you could possibly ask for as a mountain biker and, even better, you can climb off the bike and sit down to amazing food at a fraction of what you’d pay over here.

Richard Williams of Riviera Bike.
Photo © Ben Winder

We sat down with Richard Williams, publican turned events professional turned trail guide for Riviera Bike, to talk how you end up in such a place, what it’s like, and why he can’t go back to his former life now.

Bike Magic: So a bit of background – who are you, how old are you, and where are you from?

Richard Williams: I’m 32 years old at the moment, and I had a bit of a strange upbringing. I didn’t really come from anywhere, as my parents were military diplomatic service, so I grew up all over the world, really, then got dumped in boarding school. So I guess that’s where I’m from, Stamford – I spent ten years in boarding school there, then university and then I lived in London.

BM: What were you doing in London?

RW: I went to university first – I had to spend a year doing art school to do graphic design, so I spent a few years of university there, and then got into the pub trade. I ended up working in nightclubs and stuff – I loved all that life, but I ended up buying a little pub in Battersea and had that for two and a bit years before I sold it. Then basically I got a bit of money from that, so I thought rather than take my parents’ advice and invest it, I’d go and live a little, so I moved out to Meribel and pissed around for a year and learned how to snowboard really well – something I’d always loved but never had the chance to do. I did that as long as I could, then came back to the UK and went back into the pub trade and the nightclub trade as an area manager for Virgin, and I hated it. Being in the great outdoors for a whole year, I couldn’t go back to the office thing – it ruined it for me. But it was the best thing I did really, because it set me onto the path I’m on now. So from there I got into event work – started off just in the summer and became a lackey just working with marquees and things like that. I absolutely loved the outdoor life and that sort of stuff, so I just worked my way through and ended up right at the top, working for quite a large Europe-based event company, doing that for about eight years really.

BM: What made you give all that up and move to Molini?

RW: Well the Italian government were running a sort of competition because there was a disproportionately large number of females to males up in the mountain villages, so I thought, you know… that’s where I need to be going! No, that’s a lie.

London life wasn’t really panning out how I hoped it would – having had the opportunity to live in quite a few countries, I never really enjoyed living in England that much: it’s very expensive with most of your money going on rent, and what little money you do have left over at the end of the month – and I was on a really good salary running the company – you either save and don’t live, or live and don’t save.

I didn’t really have any ties. I picked up a mountain bike about five years ago as I got bored of snowboarding, and it took over my life. One thing came to another, and I decided to combine the two, and after a few fortunate events with my boss Ady (Aidrian Nash, Riviera Bike owner), I just decided this was definitely the thing to do.

BM: So Ady in one sentence? What’s a mountain bike company owner like…?

RW: Grumpy, Welsh… No, I shouldn’t say that. Ady in one sentence is very hard-working, forward-thinking, an entrepreneur, and my boss. He’s done an incredible job really – he’s really put this place on the map. Before he got here a few locals knew about it – Roberto Vernassa had done the downhill (in nearby San Romolo) and some of the tracks, but he’s really worked very hard to forge it as a destination of choice for UK riders, and it’s testament to him that it’s so popular – we’re booked up all year.

BM: So how would you describe this area?

RW: Very remote, I wouldn’t say backward, but lots of little villages ruled by farming life, high in manual labour and things like that… And a lot of Italy perceive it as backwards, so people don’t really bother coming down here. But to outsiders, it’s absolutely stunning: it’s got amazing topography, an incredible area not just for sport but to relax in. It’s very quiet – there’s not a huge amount of tourism at the moment, and while there’s more in the summer, if you compare it to Nice or Monaco down the road, it’s very underdeveloped. So just a beautiful, tranquil little place.

The riding is phenomenal. It’s the best thing I’ve ever done – it’s just got everything you could possibly want. Twisty, turny, flowy amazing trails through the trees that incorporate pretty much every terrain imaginable. You have to come here to believe it. The return rate for customers is almost 100%. Do I need to say any more?

Here’s a video to demonstrate just how good the riding is around the area:

BM: So is this the dream job? What would you sum your job up as?

RW: Essentially I’m a full-time guide. It is a pretty dream-worthy job in all respects, really. I’ve traded London with its fast-paced life, good money and city living for a completely departed existence, living in a small village with a couple of hundred people. So the change has been a bit of a culture shock, but it is all about the lifestyle. It’s a very simple life – you’re out and about all day every day and you’re not back until about 7, but you don’t really see it as work. I don’t see many people getting out of bed every morning really being able to say they’re looking forward to going to their office-based 9-5… I certainly didn’t.

BM: Could you ever go back?

RW: No, not at all. I came here with a very open mind – I gave it six months because it’s so different to what I’d been doing, I didn’t know how I’d take it. I was pretty certain it would be fine, but I did have an open mind. Within a few weeks I knew this was for me. I went back in the winter just for a few weeks to catch up with my friends in London and it really brought home every reason I moved away. I couldn’t imagine going back – I’m here for the long run.

BM: What’s a day in the life of Richard Williams, pro bike guide like?

RW: Essentially, we have people who come for weeklong holidays. That’s the main structure to what we do. So what I’m doing is guiding people, looking after them and showing them the trails we have in Molini. We’ll take them up in the van or do a bit of climbing and get to the head of the trail, and I’ll show them down and tell them how to get there. It’s a lot more involved than that though – there’s the teaching element, the coaching element, there’s the medical side of things, organising people – it’s all-encompassing basically.

BM: What is the plan for the future?

RW: This is definitely the career path I want to go down in terms of the industry and being out here. With my background in event management, we’ve already spoken about doing events down here and bolstering the pre-existing enduro circuits – that would be a good thing to do.

Also hopefully setting up something more adventure-based, working in line with Ady, being able to do more point-to-point tours, enduro holidays where we take on board all the different areas here rather than just a couple – I think people would really enjoy being able to sample all the Riviera spots because they’re so different to each other.

For myself, I’ve got a couple of ideas – I’d like to create a professional outlet for World Cup teams in this area, I’m possibly looking at the hotel in San Romolo [where many of the downhill teams spend time training], converting it into somewhere with a gym, sauna, rehabilitation room, somewhere where you can have full working with garages and working space… something like that, so that everyone can be housed in one big unit and go out and train together from there.

The important thing is not to step on people’s feet here – Ady’s been very good in taking me on board and teaching me the ropes, and Roberto too… so you don’t want to suddenly set up shop next door and try to compete – that’s the way to do things. Maybe something completely different to something that’s already being done here.

BM: Finally, three or four reasons why the UK rider should come and spend a week out here with you?

RW: For one it will develop their riding dramatically – they will come back a much more competent and accomplished rider*. Secondly, it’s nothing like a resort or a big uplift centre – you experience the local culture, the people here – you feel like you’re part of the village. I really do recommend that people try it – I don’t bother with bike parks any more. It’s better here, it’s cheaper, it’s beautiful, tranquil… and the weather. The coast is right on your doorstep… I could go on but you’re best just coming over and finding out for yourself.

www.rivierabike.co.uk 

*Ed. note: And with more of an understanding of the effects of local Grappa…

Having brokered a deal to produce my first book, The Mountain Bike Skills Manual, in the autumn of 09, I set about gathering images to go in said book. All was going well and I planned on getting the riding shots done the following summer when the backdrops in the UK would be more inspiring.

Snapper Frazer Waller joins me after a successful shoot for a rare appearance on the other side of the lens.

A call from the publisher came in and an excited voice told me that the US had bought the language rights, “Woo-hoo!” I screamed down the phone. Charlotte then paused and continued, “The only thing is…well they have requested an earlier release date.” Bum!

Not wanting to let down the might of the US mountain bike fraternity and miss such a golden opportunity I boldly, and perhaps slightly foolishly, said, “No worries, pretty sure we can make that happen.” Left with nothing but winter and maybe a bit of spring to pull everything together I conjured up a plan to head somewhere sunny to gather riding shots for the skills sequences.

Spain was an obvious choice and a good friend put me onto La Fenasosa Bike Park as a potential good venue. The maps came out, the van was packed and I hit the road south with snapper Frazer onboard HMS VW T5. As we rolled through countless downpours in the north of France the trusty and allegedly bomb proof T5 decided to have a storm of its own. Upon inspection via Exposure Joystick and dirty knees I found a water leak. Bummer part deux.

An overnight stop in the van followed by map inspection the next morning led into Le Mans. We hit the strip of car dealers knowing that even if we couldn’t find a VW dealer, somewhere in Le Mans would be able to assist. Luck behold, a commercial service centre and some rough translations got us booked in, inspected, fixed and motoring once more.

The kilometres rolled by as we passed more stormy weather over the Pyrenees and into Spain and the long haul down over the deserts and into Valencia seemed to take forever; the most boring sections of road I have ever driven.

Another over night stop in the mighty ‘dub’ and up early to scale a hill and check out the terrain: great trails, great light, but freezing cold. We snapped away. This was a long haul to ride turns and do wheelies and hops but it was worth it. The next day we drove around and found a few more spots before rocking up at a closed La Fenasosa Bike Park. A Spanish speaking friend back in the UK tracked down the owners and they kindly drove out and let us in to spend the night, the following day we were given a guided tour of the site and left to ride and shoot to our hearts’content.

With all shots bagged and just before the rain of the plains in Spain caught up with us from we hit the road, back up through FA land and over the mountains, 8 hours in and sleep deprived we started the toughest game of I-spy known to man. The rules were simple: you had to call the most obvious thing possible, bear in mind it’s pitch black and raining on the Auto Route how hard could it be? (VERY.) Time passed and multiple rounds of I-spy led onto the creation of other road trip games like virtual connect 4 and virtual battleships. We desperately needed rest but our ferry was waiting so we fueled the van and sunk another tasty (not) roadside coffee.

All the rushing about and hard work paid off in the end as the book was finished on deadline. Plus we managed to get some great shots in Scotland after all!

Luckily the remainder of the journey went to plan and night time driving paid off, clear roads and a hassle free lap of the M25 (who’d have thought it?!) linked us to the M1 and onwards North. Back at base Frazer got to work tweaking images while I made us gallons of tea and we hit the deadline. The Mountain Bike Skills Manual made it onto the shelves on time but what a journey it had been en-route to its publication.

Clive Forth. MTBSkills, Transition Bikes.

www.mtbskills.co.uk

Follow Clive on twitter – twitter.com/cliveforth

Christian Newsome of Hit The Hills.
Photo © Andy Lloyd

Does it sound like we’re selling his company too much? The truth is that he has a great set up and most importantly the right ethos – he strives to make a modest living and not to take over the MTB holiday world. Leading a great lifestyle is of utmost importance and that’s why we’re fans of what he is doing.

Ladies and gents, may we introduce Christian Newsome, founder and chief grafter at Hit The Hills: 

Bike Magic: So Christian, where did you grow up and how did you first get into riding bikes?

Christian Newsome: I grew up in “Sunny Rhyl” on the North Wales coast wondering the local hills. I had a few friends at school who were into mountain biking so brought a Raleigh Ti 1000 in 1993 from Halfords for £280 and went out riding with them. They beasted me in the beginning.

When did you really get into MTBs and where/how did you develop your hobby?

Living in a seaside resort with loads of tourists milling about kind of pushes you to seek quieter spots and explore further afield. On the North Wales coast you have two options: the sea or the hills. After doing a few local trails with my mates I started riding further afield to the Clwydian Range and Gwydr Forest in North Wales on the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme. This sparked my love of the outdoors and doing epic days out.

Once I passed my driving test I got a bit lazy on the exploring front and then went to University in Leeds so had less time to ride but still managed to fit loads of time on the bike in when I returned home, I especially loved the Scouse Track at Moel Parc and Coed-y-Brenin.

Over the years I tried a few disciplines: cross country and downhill racing, street riding, trials, hike-a-bike, lift assisted etc. and after spending summers in the highlands, French Alps and Whistler I finally settled on what I guess you would call ‘all-mountain’. To this day there is nothing I love more than wondering round in the hills with my bike, a map and some good friends.

What’s your history in the Alps? Where have you worked and doing what?

After hitch hiking round China the year before I acquired a love of cooking so enrolled at my local catering college and learned how to do it professionally. I got a job in local restaurant and when the summer came they wanted me to work 80 hours a week for minimum wage. I decided to spend the summer managing a Chalet in Morzine instead and got a job for a well-loved alpine holiday company in 2005. It was great; I rode about 5 times a week, got horrendous sunburn and was acclaimed for having “le grand cheveux” (massive bouffon) by the locals.

Christian at work preparing the all-important MTB energy food of choice – cake.
Photo © Andy Lloyd

How did working in the Alps lead you to want to start your own company?

While working in the Alps I realised that there was a market for the chalet style experience in the UK. The set-up worked really well: an easily accessible base where you can ride all the great trails from the door, somewhere to hang out in-between riding, amazing food, like-minded guests and someone working to make sure it all goes smoothly.  All the riders loved switching off and being well looked after and I loved ensuring they were having a good time. I have found that this approach works really well in the UK and all the guests seem to love what Hit the Hills offers.

What does Hit The Hills do exactly then?

Hit the Hills offers guests fully catered weekends in the best locations for mountain biking in the UK.  It’s a base to hang out with your mates, ride some awesome mountain biking trails and let us take care of you. We offer breakfast, packed lunch, afternoon tea, dinner and as much tea and coffee as you can drink during your stay. Each venue has a dedicated host to make sure the weekend goes smoothly and that guests enjoy themselves. There is also a good supply of bike magazines, maps and guidebooks for guest to gander at when not riding. Guiding is also offered at an extra cost as well as other outdoor activities such as white-water rafting, gorge walking and coasteering.

Where do you operate?

In North Wales: Coed-y-Brenin, Snowdon, Berwyn Hills, Gwydr Forest (Llyn Crafnant). Then also Bamford – Peak District, Hubbeholme & Chapel-le-dale – Yorkshire Dales, Portinscale & High Wray – Lake District, Forest of Dean and the Long Mynd in Shropshire. Hit the Hills is customer led and super flexible; if a group of riders wants a different location it’s no problem as I can accommodate most requests.

Christian Newsome taking some time out in Snowdonia.
Photo © Andy Lloyd

Favourite location? Is this because of the facilities, the riding, the place or all of the above?!

All the venues have something about them, for example our Coed-y-Brenin venue is a upmarket cottage with a great view towards Cadair Idris and easy access to Pont Scethin, and Coed-y-Brenin; from the Snowdon bunkhouse you can ride (with a little bit of carrying) from the door to the summit; the Chapel-le-dale (Yorkshire Dales) bunkhouse is opposite a cracking pub and sandwiched between Yorkshire’s highest peaks and not much else; and then the Gwydyr Forrest venue is super remote, set amongst some of the most stunning scenery in Snowdonia and on the massive Llyn Cowlyd route. Shall I go on?

Are you aiming to build this into a full time living? Do you do other work to subsidise the company and do you have a long-term plan for Hit The Hills?

I am committed to creating a customer led mountain biking holiday company that offers guests an awesome experience every time they come to stay. The goal is to build a brand and become one of the top 5 mountain biking holiday companies in Europe. Hit the Hills is in the second year and after a lot of hard work is now self-funding. The next step is to make it pay a liveable wage so I can do it full time but until then I have a day job to pay the mortgage and for bikes.

Is it just you running the company? It must be a lot of work for one person to work behind the scenes on bookings, promotion etc. and also to do the groundwork?

I run the company and have a few guides, chefs and hosts to help me out when needs be. I am a massive fan of concentrating on what you do best so I have automated as much as possible and I’m getting in the experts to help me where I don’t have the skills. I built the first website myself which got Hit the Hills noticed and then re-invested the profits and updated the website and automated the booking process. I now have a PR company helping with the promotions as well. This is great as it allows me to concentrate on what I do best: finding great venues with amazing riding from the door and the food!

Another day, another epic hike a bike. Stay tuned for a write up of riding Snowdon with Christian coming next week.
Photo © Andy Lloyd

Do you always get to ride when you’re on a Hit The Hills trip? Is that the aim at least?

I tend to ride at least once during the weekend. Sometimes I like to stick around at base to make sure everything is running well and help guest out with repairs, advice on trails and providing vehicle support if necessary. The weekends aren’t about me though they are about ensuring that guests have a great time and if that means I don’t get to ride then no problem.

www.hitthehills.com

All photographs in this article © Andy Lloyd.

Some years back I started racing in mass-start downhill events and enduros, having spent a few seasons cutting to and from the continent I finally got a break and a chance to go on the road full time. I purchased the obligatory VW van and went about doing my own conversion. With the van tailored to my specific requirements of ‘travel fast and light’, I hit the road off on my Euro tour.

Spare tyres to keep me rolling and a van stacked full of goods ready for another Euro road trip.

The race calendar was a pretty hectic one and I would visit Andorra, Spain, France, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Italy and Slovenia. Along the way in between events I was researching potential spots to lay down some roots and settle in the years to come and I also wanted to take in as many riding spots as possible en route to the next event.

The season started early with a Maxi Avalanche at Vallnord Bike Park in Andorra; a snow start was evidence that winter was only just over our shoulder. A trip along the warmer south coast of France and stop off to ride the well know spots linked me to the Southern Alps, I rode some cool spots and it was not long before I was due at another race.

Fruits of a labour (the hours of driving). There are so many bike parks and random hills with lifts to ride all across the Alps that it’s a lifetime’s work to get to them all. I’m trying my best though!

After a couple of events I stopped by to catch up with old Friends Sam and Lyndsey from Bike Village near Les Arcs. I spent some time riding with the guides and Sam himself discovering the delights of that area before hitting the road to yet another comp. My season continued in a similar vein as I worked my way from the South West of the Alps right the way over, along, up and over again (and along a bit more) before cutting back up and over the far end of the Alps on the Italian/Slovenian border.

Once I arrived at the far end I made my return ticking off bike parks and famous riding spots as I passed through, endless days of surfing lifts and riding the finest Alpine single track followed until, eventually, the rain and snow came. With summer well and truly over I headed back to the UK and parked the van up: it wasn’t an endless summer but it sure felt like it, both bikes and myself battered but all the better for the huge kilometers covered, I knuckled down and did some more riding in less favorable conditions.

I’m still rocking a fine selection of cassette tapes…essential for the ridiculous number of miles I clock in my van every year.

The following spring I was truly suffering from post Alpine depression so the logical but slightly reckless decision was made to get back on the road and take in lap 2. With so much ground to cover and a never ending list of events to choose from I’d be mad not to, right?

I found myself back at Bike Village for a stint, friends came and went joining me for various events and photo shoots as I took in another lap of the Alps, ticking off the resorts and roads I missed first time round. I realised the magnitude of my travels one day in Interlaken when I looked in a shop window at a large scale map of the entire Alps, holy crap! I’d navigated the length and breadth of the range twice and there were still so many areas in between my route I’d not visited. Panic set in. How many trails? How can I possibly ride them all?

I’d navigated the length and breadth of the range twice and there were still so many areas in between my route I’d not visited.

Try as we might, the reality is we will never ride them all but I’ll be damned if I don’t give it a go. My quest continues some 8 years later, countless kilometers have been clocked up and I’m still finding the most amazing trails, there are classics in between the classics, its easy to get stuck in the bike park but I encourage you to get out there, grab a map, talk to some locals and go adventure.

I’ll be back here at Bike Magic tomorrow with another tale of carnage.

Clive Forth. MTBSkills, Transition Bikes.

www.mtbskills.co.uk 

Follow Clive on twitter – twitter.com/cliveforth

Words: Clive Forth
Photos: Frazer Waller

Back in the spring of 1995 I got a call from Volvo – our main sponsor on the Cannondale team – they had just made arrangements with the organiser of the Hungarian National Downhill series for us to go and compete in the inaugural Pepsi Max sponsored events, it was a real last minute thing and prep time was minimal.

A blast from the past, this brings back many fond memories of road trip action.

What seemed like a few hours later the bike was prepped then stripped and stuffed in the bike bag along with as many spares as possible. Our BA flight linked us into the capital Budapest and a friendly chap who spoke no English met teammate Stephan Gleed and myself at the airport then drove us to the Stadium Hotel next to the dilapidated Olympic stadium

Eager and excitable Gleed and I got the bikes out and hit the city for some street riding, a tourist style trials lap of Budapest later and back for a night’s rest before our log haul in a Lada the next day up to the Czech border. The drive sucked, a guy who we struggled to communicate with and all of us in an underpowered clapped-out nail of a car crept us through the country on minor roads to our final destination, we just hoped the race was a cut above the car journey.

Another fine eastern block hotel complete with 3 star crumbling concrete awaited us after the eyeball-rattling journey was complete. With time to kill, Gleed and I found huge entertainment, no wait a minute, that thing about what goes down on the road stays on the road… Yes, well all I’ll say is that we were young and less responsible (marginally so) than we are today. And anyway, the call from the lobby put pay to us chucking stuff from the balcony on the 14th floor…

So the following morning we hit the first uplift: a dirty old army truck crammed with riders and bikes hit the streets through town and built speed to a max somewhere around 15mph. Moments later we were stopped by the Police, words and money exchanged before we carried merrily on our way, leaving behind the town, diesel fumes and various viscous liquids. The uplift route had obviously not been used since the harvesting equipment went in some years previously; we dodged and ducked under branches as the truck slipped and span its way up through the forest. Where we are going you don’t need roads Marty!

The course was amazing, a good mix of fast and technical, slow and steep, the icing on the cake was still to come as we discovered the track ran into the back of a sizable theater through the fire exit, it then proceeded to pass over marble floors and descend down marble stair cases before popping out the main entrance and finishing in the town square.

Racing went well and the locals were appreciative of us joining them, Gleed took the number one slot and I took a pleasing 3rd having wrecked my front suspension in practice. We celebrated with pizza and beer before returning to the hotel. The next day was a repeat process of our journey as our driver took us back to the Stadium Hotel.

My XC bike has more travel than my 90s DH rig, I’ve been euro road tripping since the mid 90s and still love life on the road.

Back in Budapest we decided to go out and celebrate once more. Gleed arranged the cab into town and I was to deal with arrangements for our safe return. One dodgy and expensive Trabant ride later we arrived deep in the city, to be honest I can’t remember where or what we ate but I do recall some dodgy bar with the Hungarian equivalent to Paul Daniels and Debbie McGee giving a show.

As we staggered out the place a guy asked us if we needed a cab, “sure thing” I replied, he led us up the street to a BMW M3 and bleeped the alarm, “no way” cried Gleed.

A cab ride like no other ensued, the guy had it pinned the whole way, flat out on wet cobbles, running red lights and taking all manner of crazy lines between the trams and traffic. As for the bill, well it was less than half the friendly man in his pea green Trabant charged Gleed, result!

Before we knew it BA brought us back to the UK and we eagerly awaited round two of The Pepsi Max Hungarian National Series.

Join me tomorrow and all this week for more tales from the trails.

Clive Forth. MTBSkills, Transition Bikes.

www.mtbskills.co.uk

Follow Clive on twitter – twitter.com/cliveforth

Familiar with staging enduro races, having already had three Superenduro events at his beachside resort (Puntala Resort), and having proven to be well organised, enthusiastic and meticulous, Tom was perhaps the obvious choice for the EWS team to choose for the all-important first round of the first ever World Series.

Tom pops up at Superenduro events all round Italy where he rides and races not only for fun but also as a way of gauging difficulty levels for his own events and in order to ensure the constant development and progression of them. There is a lot of speculation and anticipation building but we are confident that the first EWS race is going to be a complete success thanks in part Daddi’s drive and motivation to host a perfect race.

We caught up with Tom last week while we were touring the Italian shores and spoke a little about the experience of setting up the course and the event in general.

Thomas Daddi of Puntala Resort.
Photo © Ben Winder

Bike Magic: Can you explain what Puntala Resort is?

Thomas Daddi: The resort has belonged to my family for a couple of generations, and I’ve started managing it recently – it’s been quite a challenge. I’ve explored some ways of making the area into a different kind of attraction from the usual ‘beach location from mid May to September, deserted the rest of the year’.

So out of those main months of the season, I thought, “what’s possible?” I tried sailing, had a couple of big things going, but while sailing does bring a lot of people for specific events, sailors don’t do too much in the way of visiting spots. So I decided to try with mountain biking.

Myself, I had a background in mountain biking growing up in Colorado – I spent a lot of summers there as my mother is American, so it was a return. I’d left mountain biking because it was all hardtails, which was a bit unpleasant…  When I started again, I realised there were some massive technical improvements between the 90s and 2009, so I’ve really got into it, I’m riding a lot.

So you’ve worked to cater for mountain bikers in the resort. Are the trails around the resort locals’ trails or have you built them specifically?

The network of trails was all there already. The area is very rich in minerals and it’s all covered in forest. In the past, wood would be burnt and turned into charcoal on the spot to transport it out, so there was a network of existing trails from that. Moving through the trees, every hundred metres you’ll find a pitch that’s perfectly level, where in the past they would build a stack of wood and burn it very slowly to turn it to charcoal, pack it down and take it down the hill.

So all that’s required is to take a GPS and map all the pitches, then draw a line on Google Earth and look for the trail that joins them. Next, put tape on trees and chainsaw your way through… All the trails were walked out by mules, which means the earth is really packed down and close to the rock. The water has subsequently washed through them over the years and worn them down further still. It’s really fun riding on natural trails; our work is mainly related to making the riding safe, cutting down dangerous things close to the trails and so on.

Video report from last year’s Superenduro at Puntala Resort

Are they marked trails outside the race times?

That’s the next thing we’re working on right now, it requires careful management politically and a lot of votes come from enduro motorcycle riders – they love finding freshly open trails and tearing them apart, so that’s something we’ve got to be careful of. It’s forbidden to ride motos in the woods, but walkers and horse riders will also use the trails, so the political work is to make sure that there’s strong control over keeping motorbike riders out and making other dedicated horseback trails so we can ride the trails all year round. Hopefully the trails will have signs and from there bring it on.

So this will be the first round of the Enduro World Series this year. How did you come to be holding it?

There’s partly down to a relationship built up with the organisers. I don’t think Puntala Resort was being considered at the beginning – there was more of a central European market to consider, so something closer would have been ideal – but at the same time the organisers had to rely on an organisation that had experience and they had seen that I had been willing to throw resources into it and that my events had always been a success. We’ve seen the numbers for Superenduro races here grow from 100 to 200 in the first two years, and for the 2013 event it was sold out in the first 48 hours – 450 people, and we’re trying to open that up to 500.

You must feel pretty proud that you’ve got the very first Enduro World Series event?

Yeah, personally I’m very proud of it. Having been awarded this event means being considered up to standard with international events as well.

So can you give us a description of Puntala Resort then?

Yeah, we’re talking about a resort and an area, a horseshoe of hills inland for about 30km. The hills are almost 600m at some points, and the valley ends up in a beautiful long sandy beach. The resort is at the north side of this in the pine woods – it’s pretty big, enough for 3,000 with restaurants, supermarkets, entertainment and facilities…it’s a family-friendly resort. At the same time it’s an infrastructure that’s left under-used in the shoulders of the seasons – so organising a big event at this time of year comes quite easily. It has a very particular area, which is an open space in the pine woods where we will host the event, catering to teams, journalists, expo industry members… Yeah. The resort is on the beach, so sleeping there you can hear the sea. I sleep very well there! And from there you can walk to the first singletrack.

When the Enduro World Series event takes place, the season will have barely started. It’s a month into the season, so there’s four weeks beforehand for riders to come and test out the trails while enjoying the seaside.

So on setting the event up… What’s it taken to set the course and stages up? A lot of planning presumably?

I’m backed up by some very passionate riders and co-workers, which makes things much easier, and being into the fourth year of the game, organisation is almost automatic. The only thing at this time is pinning the right type of layout for the expo area, the team area, getting the press room up to standard…that’s the greatest challenge. As for the event itself, the hardest thing is transfer times – not getting them too easy like the first year I held a Superenduro race or too harsh like the second. I’ve asked the pro riders about and got the feedback to finalise the numbers, then given them to the Enduro World Series. The riders will be on different stages at different times [as there are so many racing] – when the first rider hits the mid-race time check after stage two, the last rider has to have left the start gate. And when the first rider finishes, the last rider has to have come through the time check. So that’s tricky.

What kind of stages can we expect? Physical, rocky, pedally, sandy, hard?

I’ll leave that to all those riders who will be able to ride in the month beforehand – we’re leaving four weeks to ride the trails before the race (the stages were announced this week). So I’d say come ride them for yourself. They’ll be mapped with indications out on the trails too – we won’t tape the stages, but it’s easy to follow the trail down.

Expect plenty of rocky trails!
Photo by Superenduro.

Are you finding it a lot of pressure and stress, or enjoying it?

I’m really glad I’ve built up a solid team at Puntala and I’m really grateful for the help I’ve been able to rely on from this team. Thanks to them I can enjoy the pressure of running this event, it’s just like being at the start of a race, I enjoy that feeling of pressure too. I used to row for the Italian national team, when at the start of those races you’re under a lot of pressure, something that I really quite enjoy. So I enjoy equally the pressure of running a business and especially organising this event.

How many races have you had there previously? Three?

Yeah, three. All Superenduro Pro series, and I rode the second one to see what the vibe was like. I learnt from that and I feel like this year will be the best yet.

You really get involved yourself then? You go to other events too don’t you?

Yeah, it’s definitely necessary and what I find especially useful from riding other races is judging the transfer time. I use my own capabilities to calculate the transfer times, and I must say that’s not always the right way of doing it, so I needed to do other races and see what time I had left over.

The first ever Enduro World Series race will be held at Puntala Camping Resort in Punta Ala, Italy on the 18th and 19th May 2013. With a stacked field of pro and amateur riders the event looks set to be one of the most anticipated in the sport’s history.

Click over to the Enduro World Series site for more information and to the event website for directions, camping information and more.

Puntala Camping Resort website

This is the sixth and last article in my series about what to eat and drink before, during and after riding. So, you’ve been out having a great day riding, the sun’s been warming your back, you’ve eaten your flapjack and got a smile on your face! Hopefully, when you’ve returned home or back to the car you won’t have a headache or raging thirst. Congratulations, you’ve nailed your hydration technique. Now you need to rehydrate…

Hydration after riding.
Photo © Julia Revitt

You’ll need to sip water, drink tea or juice until your urine returns back to clear or pale yellow and you need to urinate regularly – this could take several hours or even several days if you have miscalculated your fluid requirements. If you take vitamin supplements they could affect the colour of your urine so you will have to judge hydration by volume and how often you need to go.

You can drink too much water, which is actually dangerous but this is quite rare – as long as you sip rather than gulp, you should be fine. Hyperhydration is only usually a problem in the ‘weekend warrior’ who is a bit unfit, sweats a lot and diligently drinks a lot, or the plodder who has been out all day. He thinks he’s doing the right thing but he’s drinking water faster than his body can make urine. Water sloshes around his stomach and is not comfortable. If he carries on, it can lead to hyponatremia if his blood sodium levels drop too much. If this sounds like you, cut down on the amount of fluid you consume while riding and recover with an electrolyte drink, which will replace those valuable nutrients.

An electrolyte drink is a good idea for anyone who has been out all day, especially if you’ve been sweating a lot. There are lots to choose from but as ever, the golden rule is not to try anything new before a long ride – you don’t want stomach problems while in the middle of nowhere.

Watery foods such as apples, melons, soups and smoothies will help to hydrate you too and can also help replace lost electrolytes. This can help if you just can’t drink any more water – go for a chicken soup and a glass of orange juice instead.

Some sports drinks manufacturers make a recovery drink which may help you to recover quickly.  The idea is that you drink the recovery drink after your training which delivers just what your body needs when it needs it so that your recovery time is reduced. These contain some protein to help your muscles recovery quickly and will replace the need for food after the ride – follow the instructions on the bottle. I personally have problems drinking recovery drinks and can only face water after a strenuous day. For me water and food works best but experiment to find out what works for you.

Click here for Julia’s previous lesson
www.findyourbalance.co.uk