Katy Curd, British National 4X Champion for the second year running!

GirlMTNbiker were on hand at the final round of the Schwalbe 4X National Series and British National Champs this weekend to see Katy Curd win for a second year in a row.  


Katy Curd, British National 4X Champion for the second year running! 

Two top podiums in one weekend! A winning combo for Katy Curd as she takes the win at the 4X British National Championships and top place at the Schwalbe British National Series.   

Saturday saw the fourth round of the Schwalbe British National Series taking place at Harthill, Cheshire. Many riders, including Katy, were treating this race as a ‘warm up’ and practice for the National Champs on the following day. Admittedly not racing to her full potential, to save herself for the following day, Rose rider Katy still walked away with the top podium spot- gaining a big confidence boost for the Champs on the following day. 

Sunday saw a dramatic change to the track conditions, with heavy, persistent rain turning the sandy track into carnage, with many riders struggling with the slushy course. However, Katy was undeterred and enjoyed putting her 4X & DH skills to use tackling the track with confidence. When asked about the rain affecting the track conditions she said, “The rain made it interesting, made the racing more fun, I wasn't feeling that brilliant yesterday on the track but when it rained today I was loving it, so much fun sliding around.”

The Final saw Katy placed against Nichola Anderson, Suzanne Lacey and Cara Murray. Nichola got the snap and pulled across from lane 3 all the way into the inside blocking Katy’s line down the first straight. Into the first corner Nichola couldn’t quite hold it tight enough to the inside and left the door wide open for Katy to take the inside line and the lead. As soon as the lead was regained Katy put the power down and pulled away from the other girls to get a good lead and crossed the line in 1st place.

Katy was pleased with the win saying, "I'm really happy with the result. The track was challenging with the conditions and I knew it would be hard racing today against the other girls because they wanted the win as much as me.” 

Beefcake DH 2011

Flow rider Euan put together this short video on his Beefcake DH.  


Not sure on the music though guys!


Euan Hird's 2011 Rose Beefcake up close from John (Bigfoot) Hird on Vimeo.

Kill the Bill 2 - Starring Euan Hird & Rose Beefcake.

On the weekend of the 2^nd and 3^rd of July the focus of the UK downhill MTB scene again became the world cup course at Nevis Range, Fort William for the 2^nd running of Kill the Bill downhill race.  The timing could have been better with Euan’s shiny new 2011 Rose Beefcake DH arriving during the week. What better place to try out a new bike that this long fast and brutal course.

Having ridden the course earlier this year at a Scottish Downhill Series event Euan decided to only walk the bottom half of the course particularly interested in how to the organisers had routed the course over the much talked about ‘big doon’ road gap. To his complete disappointment the gap wasn’t included a all.

Saturday was dry and pretty warm. Euan straightway feeling the new bike was a big improvement over the old one. It may well just have been in his mind but whatever it was, it worked with Euan both enjoying himself and clearly riding fast and well.

Race day stayed dry and not wanting to ruin an error free Saturday Euan chose to do a couple of steady practice runs just to check the track for changes but on the second run, the thrill of the speed got the better of him and he had overdid it coming in to the woods resulting in a big crash.  Confidence only slightly dented he was about to go up in plenty of time for his first run when we spotted the rear gear cable had been damaged and was holding on by only a thread. A quick shop and change saw Euan a little tight for time, arriving at the start gate as his number was called. The extra adrenaline of nearly missing his run obviously helped as Euan really pushed right from the start and reportedly looked very quick on the rocky top sections. The middle section was ‘solid enough’ according to Euan and I can confirm he took the ‘off beat wall’ and the 4X triple as fast as anyone. He crossed the line 15 second up on the previous best and took the hot seat. Not for long though as unknown to us Welsh rider Mike Jones smashed that by a further 21 seconds for the race one fastest time.

Euan went in to run two knowing he could go quicker but not at all sure he could bridge the 21 second gap for the win. Another solid run got Euan safely down to the woods and the scene of his trouble in practice in good time. Unfortunately it all came unstuck here with another big crash. No lasting harm was done to either Euan or his pride and joy new bike so when he got to the bottom he was reasonably happy to still be in a clear second place.

A podium on his first ride on the new bike and at Nevis Range too! Not a bad weekend at all.

WDMBA ROUND THREE, MOUNTAIN ASH

WDMBA ROUND THREE, MOUNTAIN ASH 10^th JULY 2011

This was the boy’s first visit to Mountain Ash, an old Dragon Downhill course that was last raced in 2007. Situated on the southern slopes of the same South Wales mountain that has Gethin on the northern slopes.

We arrived on Friday night with the idea that it would be less of a rush in the morning giving Isaac and Joel plenty of time to walk the course. We had heard that the track was lengthy and the boy’s wanted time to study their lines before the uplift started.

It rained pretty much all Friday night and we awoke to some wet conditions. Isaac and Joel headed up the mountain at about 7.30am returning at about 9.00am discussing everything they had spotted. Their main observations were that it was long, flat and pedalily. After a bit of breakfast they broke out the Beef Cakes and headed for the uplift.

I think they completed three or four runs before lunch in changeable weather conditions, some intermittent rain and mainly overcast. The best way to some up the track was greasey with running water on several sections particularly one area about a third of the way down where the track passes through a thick conifer wood. There was one spot where riders had to drop off a large wet log that was causing lots of trouble for many competitors.

After some lunch they were off again. The rain had stopped and the ground was beginning to stiffen. Suddenly, their speeds were increasing and the track was beginning to flow. Wide grins were appearing across competitors faces. With that however came the injuries, Isaac took a dive twisting his wrist back and Joel had a strange incident with his over wide handle bars aggravating a previous injury to his elbow. For Joel it was quick change to smaller bars. Isaac just had to carry on.

Sunday dawned after a clear and dry night. The track was now completely different, mainly dry and dusty but still areas of running water in the trees. We bound Isaac’s wrist up and away they went. A couple of clean practice laps each it was time to go racing.

As usual, Hardtails first, some were taking about 6 minutes to get to the bottom meaning at any one time there could be 7 or 8 riders on track. The Juvenile’s were a bit quicker and then it was the Youth’s. Unfortunately, one competitor crashed ahead of Joel and with so many riders on track at one time meant that about ten or so were red flagged and had to head back to the top for a re-run.

So it was Isaac who made a competitive entrance first coming in with a time of 3.57 putting him into 5^th place. Moss Macriner had a cracking time of 3.51 to put him into 1^st place 6 seconds ahead of George Belk in 2^nd. Isaac and I discussed how he could make up such a large gap and we agreed that he would attempt to break the 3.50 barrier in his second run.

Joel and his fellow riders were slotted in after the Senior category. Joel was last man down coming home with a time of 4.19 which put him middle order in his category. No time to discuss anything, it was straight on the uplift to start his second attempt.

The categories were re-seeded and Joel managed to improve his time with 4.13 putting him into sixteenth place. A nice result in a large category and as I tell everybody if he was 6 or 7 weeks younger he would still be a Juvenile and would have finished second. So there is still load’s of time for him to show us his full metal.

Now on to the Junior’s and the times were getting shorter with successive riders crossing the finish line and then out of the blue Isaac arrived with a cracking time of 3.48.68. Billy Matthews and Grant Boyce were unable to get below 3.55 and George Belk and Jay Williamson were unable to get below 3.48 leaving only Moss on the hill. As usual we nervously awaited his arrival which unfortunately for Isaac was quicker than anticipated. Moss posted a time of 3.47.99 putting him into first place.

So, it was close but not meant to be on this occasion but 0.69 seconds is pretty tight. We were all really delighted. Not to mention that Isaac was the only first year junior on the podium.

Absolutely no problems with the Beef Cakes, the boy’s are lovin’ them.

Again, the boys would like to thank everyone at Rose Bikes for all the continued support and are very excited about the National Champs at Llangollen in a couple of weeks, a track that is the complete opposite to Mountain Ash, steep, tight, technical and absolutely no pedalling! Watch this space.

- Duncan Anderson

Triscombe Uplifts

Juice Lubes

Jonny's Granite Chief

Seeing as I'm not at any races or in France this weekend I decided to do some work on my Granite Chief and The Bruce jump bike.

As soon as Fin gave me my Granite Chief for the season I knew exactly what i wanted to do to make it suit my style of riding. Kicking off with a Sunline bar to replace the narrow carbon Syncross and slamming the stem on the steerer tube, the Granite felt faster already. Once aimed down the steep trails at Triscombe I could tell this was going to be a great bike and perfect for the UK downhills.

Next on the hit list was the x0 carbon cranks. Coming with a 3x10 set up as standard this seemed a little overkill for what i had in mind. Fin came through with a 38t MRP chain device which was bolted straight on and given a severe first ride down Fort Bill's red run. The true test came when I was riding my home trails in Bath and had to deal with some serious climbs but we both made it around fine, including the 25% climb.

So thats it for the moment, I'm heading down to Triscombe this weekend to test out the Granite on the slippy roots and mud, I'll let you know how it goes!!

I was also lucky enough to get my hands on a Bruce jump bike to play on. I had only ridden the demo bike last year a couple of times and was stoked to get the chance to build one up to my specs. I'm still working on it so I'll post a photo or two when its done.