The 5th film is nearly finished! -allegedly. Being left out from the editing while i'm living in Sheffield means my input to the final cut is reduced to scripting voice overs...

Its not all bad though; i've discovered some hidden singletrack gems right outside my doorstep. Hopefully the mountain sports club, "High Peaks Club" will get their act together this week so we can head out for another ride. The club is pretty awesome i must say, everyone is really friendly, but my involvement has been lacking recently due to always having plans prearranged for the same date as the weekends away! Hopefully that shall change and by tomorrow afternoon i'll be booked onto a trip to the Lake District!

Stuck at uni is also really motivating me to make the most of every opportunity i get to go explore places by mountain bike, a few plans are brewing:
1. Midnight city ride - Sheffield is a pretty hilly place so there should be some good downhill alleyways and steps to mess around on

2. Catch the sleeper train up to Aviemore for a weekend as soon as the snow has subsided

3. Make some epic plan for the summer (possibly involving the purchase of a car!)

That's about it for now.
Dave W

Seen as we neglected to post any of our various adventures whilst we were actually on them, it is time to fill things back in. Here is some banter from the sunny days of June.

Thank various gods. Summer. At last. There is no finer time for heading out on the local trails, getting some riding in and messing around with a cable cam. Ste, Dave and I headed out deep into Phunk county to get capture some evening ripping.

Early summer brings out the best in our local trails. The braken is still pretty low, the trails are dry and dusty and the local plantlife has not yet got a stranglehold on some of the less frequently ridden trails.

We know these trails like the back of our hands so it is pretty easy to film, and nice to be out in just shorts and t shirt. Times like these make you wonder how much we really need to travel when we have all these trails on our doorstep.

...this blog has totally been neglected.

Although i have no pictures to upload because i'm now living and starting a MechEng degree in Sheffield, the Scottish Roadtrip '09 went ahead. And dude was it awesome...

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So i think we want to keep this blog free from product reviews and tests and stuff, however i think once in a while, a bit of a feature on a super cool bike related product would be acceptable. So first up: Virtous

This film is just perfect. 40 minutes of stunning alpine singletrack may not be everyones cup of tea, but in our book there is nothing finer. The Rene Wildhauber segment especially combines awesome riding skill with national geographic landscapes in the most perfect of ratios. I think the highest compliment that this film can be given, is that more than anything else i know, it makes me just want to get out on my bike and ride. Iy you want flipwhips and slopestyle give it a miss, but for pure singletrack joy, this is well worth spending a couple of quid on. So yeah, check out the trailer or head over to Ionate Films and get yourself a copy

There is something I like about riding at sunset. Just feels good y’know? The light just seems to get a load of happy vibes going. Normally this kind of feeling is more of a summer time thing, but on a few recent rides the sunset vibes have been flying.

This winter was top notch for weather, and i reckon that here at the ‘phunk we made the most of it. The new enduro may have helped, but it just seemed easier to get out on the woods trails knowing the singletrack would have a surface of frosty solidness. It was not quite up to summer evening ride standards here in ‘phunk county, but it pushed it close. I mentioned a lakes trip was in the pipeline as well, and it was an absolute beauty. After some initial issues with getting the car up a huge ice sheet on the road up Dunnerdale, we set of up Walna Scar. From the Satterthwait side this is an absolute beast of a climb; not that technical, but at a gradient that just kills you. Cal and I climbed in sections, pushing and riding intermittently, and we soon hit the top. Coming of the shady side of the hill we emerged to a view of golden hills and mist stretching out in front of us. It would have been captured on video, but cals lack of white balance understanding may have put paid to that. Either way the descent was just rocky enough to keep you on your toes, especially with a few patches of ice thrown in.

A quick spin along the main road lead to a tarmac wall, however with the dappled sunlight and views right across Morecambe Bay it didn’t seem to bad. I even kept pace with Cal, near vertical tarmac being his favourite type of terrain. Sweet singletrack took us across to Stephenson ground and at the trail head Cal and I decided we should take a risk and venture out on new trails. I say take a risk, the trail we where adventuring on had been praised by everyone that had ridden it. In previous visits the trek across a bog to get to it had put us off, but this time it seemed like a good call. And it was. Just look at the pictures...

We headed round to the road pass, high above Dunnerdale, with a ribbon of rock stretching out between us and the pub, and the sun setting behind us. That feeling is pretty much what mountain biking is about for me. It’s just perfect...