Fig Rolls Canada - Spring Training Camp

It's all been rather silent from this side of the water the past few months. That's because we've been skiing and ignoring our bikes. You could call it cross-training. But do not fear... spring has arrived in BC and the Canadian wing of Fig Rolls Racing has exploded into a frenzy of, err, more cross-training.

Marc, Nikki, Mathilda (the dog) and myself who constitute the Fig Rolls BC Bike Race team drove out to Penticton for five days of intensive riding, rock climbing, and eating. Penticton is in the interior of BC for those who like to picture where things are, and that means it's hot and dry. On the other hand, Vancouver is currently warm and moist so you can see the appeal of going to Penticton. It is entirely unknown what the benefit of climbing is to mountain bike racing, but it's got to help, right?

The BC Bike Race Fig Rollers.

The trails around Penticton are fast, smooth and dusty, which made them ideal for getting some XC action going. Of course you can't take a bunch of riders from Vancouver somewhere and expect them to behave. It all counts as "technical cross-country" though, because I was clipped in.


Each day finished off with a few hours climbing edgy, finger-shredding stuff of Skaha Bluffs and walking off into the sunset.

You can't really complain eh?

Once the remaining Canadian Fig Rolls Paul and Jacek arrived on Friday, we had to step the cross-training up a notch. Jacek and I form the Fig Rolls TransRockies team, so after going for a bit of an XC ride on Saturday... thinking that went quite well, going climbing, and then eating a lot we decided we could happily justify a shuttle ride on "Code 4". It is essential to be able to handle trail obstacles when XC racing, so everyone got ther huck on.

Nikki interpreting the trail.

Me, falling off something.

Other cross-training activities that we got involved in were fighting a small forest fire (we won) and dealing with a suicidal snake that hurled itself off the route Paul was climbing. If anyone has any more suggestions for activities I should plan for the team... please write in. It's going to be a big season for the Canadian Fig Rolls. Between us we've entered four (count 'em) races. Imagine that. Nikki's even already done once race already, which is a bit keen. Stay tuned to see how the story unfolds.

Paul wrote stuff about the weekend (including nice pictures) here.

SSUK08 - UK Singlespeed Championship

May Bank Holiday in Scotland. What do those words conjour up? Correct - rain.

After a road trip via the Yorkshire Dales and Lake District, with a quick bit of biking in Grizedale forest, Claire and I rocked up at Drumlanrig Castle for SSUK08.

Wow. what a venue. The castle and grounds are amazing - the weather was even nice and warm on Saturday. We spent the day wandering around the castle grounds and finished it by lounging in the sun drinking Batemans finest ales.




The pre race preparation was ably assisted by the organisers providing Haggis, neeps and tatties for everyone, as well as a bar and ceilidh band - and Penny Farthing racing.






Race morning arrived and brought rain with it. At first it was not too bad, but as it got heavier the fears of big wet roots on the course grew greater. I made the (as it turns out brilliant)decision to switch to Bontrager mud tyres to have some hope of staying upright, and then it properly started chucking it down. I made my way to the start clutching my cup of tea (i am so rock and roll) and the race began.

Tea anyone?



We then stopped at a field ready for the 'Le Mans' start. All the bikes were laid down, and then jumbled up in piles of 69ers, on-ones, pink ones etc.
69ers are SO 2007!


When Kenny had downed his beer, the race began and we were all off and pushing slowly up the first muddy climb. The course was brilliant if a little wet. Technical muddy and rooty singletrack with only a few horrible climbs, but as it was singlespeed it didn't matter if I got off and pushed. Another great feature that should be more widely introduced was the beer shortcut. This took a good 5-10mins out of the course for the price of downing a tin of beer - a good trade.



All in, possibly one of the best events I have attended. Mega relaxed, brilliant course and the prizes were all awarded totally randomly - the most pleased was the bloke with the 'Oldest Orange' who won a new p7 frame to replace his '94 p7. Nice - but my bike is older;)

More photos here...

Yorkshire Dales Epic

Whilst Joe and Niki were off riding Enduro 6, my Dad and I went up to Swaledale for some 'training' for the 3 peaks cyclo cross later in the year. We Had our maps and a route from MBR and we were all set.


After a few pints on Friday night, we were up and off about 10am for our 23 mile loop that would take in the highest pub in England, Tan Hill Inn, and some 'classic' moorland and rocky downhill. The ride was going well up to our luch stop at Tan Hill, where the landlady decided I should serve my own beer, as well as a couple of other customers and we were also treated to some George Formby style live music. Hmm.



After this, we set off on the moorland section. The MBR article had suggested this may be a little difficult to navigate at first. This was true, but we eventually found the trail. What the article seemed to completely omit though, was the fact that it was actually a bog and almost completely unrideable. This was not amusing, and combined with a couple of other hard to find junctions, seriously slowed us down. To cut a (very) long story short, we found ourselves at the top of Gunnerside Ghyll ready to descend at nearly 7pm! We then set off on the descent, only to realise that 6" full sus bikes might have been more helpful than my Fuel and Dads hardtail. Once past the stupid bits, it was a great descent, but this was then ruined by us not paying attention to the fact the bridleway cut back up the hill, and we went down to the footpath. Too knackered to retrace our steps, we went along the footpath, with stile after stile taking the last of our energy reserves. As the light faded, we found ourselves walking alongside the river on loose rocky ground, falling over regularly. At this point I had a bit of a paddy and started to get a little concerned. However, we made it into Gunnerside just as the last light went, so it was on with the emergency blinky lights for a 3mile dash back to the B&B. We eventually made it back at 10pm! Needless to say, neither of us will ever buy MBR again, nor are we convinced that they ever actually rode the route.

An epic day with several things learnt, however Dad is now very familiar with the pushing style required for a lot of the three peaks, and perhaps has been given the boost he needs to do more training? Have a look at the photos to see how it went from nice and cheery to a bit worried:)