Downhilling in Wales

One of the junior riders we have been supporting, Will, recently raced the Juice Lubes/O'Neal downhill race in wales, heres what he had to say:


Juice Lubes/O’Neal Downhill Round 4

This was my first race in both Wales and this series, so I was keen to see how
the tracks fared against the northern venues. It was a much larger category
for me this time with 16 entries so I was expecting to be up against some
good riding.
The track was fast with good flow and many features like rocks, roots, jumps,
drops, switchbacks etc. You name it, this track had it. The other good thing
about this track was that it was long – even the tractor uplift took about 10
minutes. At the top the weather was damp and windy with the bottom
section being dryer and looser. The track was amazing, my favourite track so
far in fact and with plenty of good lines to pick up on meaning I could
increase my speed a bit with each run.
The track was dryer on race day and the ground was fast but this track is so
much fun that after a couple of practise runs I didn’t have the usual pre‐race
jitters.
My first run wasn’t great but at least having the right kit means the only
thing it costs you is valuable time, still, I was feeling the pressure to do well
on my second run. I decided to go for it opting for some harder lines and
leaving the brakes alone as much as I dared ‐ I came away with 8th place.
No podium but I was happy with my result in a sizable category ‐ overall a
fantastic weekend, the event was really well organised.
Thanks again to the guys at Big Bear for their support, much appreciated!

The long Paw of the Law

Big Bear Bikes gave the Police a Ticket this week. In fact not just one but nineteen of them! BBB recently beat off the competition for a tender to supply Humberside Police with a fleet of Trek bikes. After some great work by the team at the shop followed by a long day in Hornsea police station car park fitting accessories and Police stickers, our boys in blue (actually isnt it more like black now?) were well chuffed. Thanks to Paul Pickering for his help too.

Awww shucks. A nice comment from some of our customers.

Hi Big Bear Bikes!
Just a note to say how helpful you were on our holiday this half term. We visited your shop three times over the week: twice for new inner tubes and the third time you fixed our bike rack for us with some zip-ties. Ingenious! If you hadn't fixed it for us then we couldn't have driven home with the bikes! Your staff were very helpful and kind, and our biking holiday would have been ruined without you! Thank you!

Big Bears go Nutcrackers in Dalby...

Sunday 13th was round 3 of the Nutcracker MTB XC series held in our very own Dalby Forest. BBB had two entrants as the rest of the team are mainly enjoying themsleves on mountain bikes in the USA!

The race circuit was most of the UCI World Cup loop but without the Dixon's Hollow bit, the 'bus stops' in Worry Gill and the last section of Medusa's Drop over the roots which can be quite slippery if damp (!!!).

Sam B was in the Sports (20-29) category with a four lap race. The weather stayed dry and Sam was running a very strong 8th when he had to withdraw due to a reoccurrence of a knee injury and thought, with his knee rapidly tightening, that discretion was better than valour. However, the phrase 'pain is temporary, quitting is permanent' was heard to be muttered by one of the band of supporters...

Wayne E was riding in the Masters (30-39) category with a five lap race but unlike everybody else he had forgotten to bring any gears on his bike - mad! He was using the race as a last 'speed' training session before doing Mountain Mayhem next weekend in the Solo Single Speed class. During the race, the weather turned and Dalby retrurned to its usual mud-fest but we don't know how Wayne did until the results are posted. After the five lapper he continued on and led the two hour BBB shop ride for us - a very big thanks Wayne.

To see more of the photos check out our Facebook page here

Newbridge Park Group - Bike trails in Pickering....

Newbridge Park Group

A voultary organisation has been set up to develop a range of trails and amenities in and around Pickering North Yorkshire. The Newbridge Park Group are looking to expand their activities locally which would really benefit local riders. If you'd like to give them your support and perhaps a little of your time please join them on facebook or call Claire 07990 964112 or Dan on 07787 102094.

Why not join their Facebook group by clicking here

By Bikers for Bikers

Sunny Newtondale

Not a lot to say about today (the pic says it all) other than a couple of Bears went out on their day off to recce a ride that would be suitable for an advanced guided ride... Cue the catalogue pose and the stunning vista....

World Cup Weekend

So hands up who enjoyed the world cup weekend then?? Hmm... by the looks of it and from what people told us, that would be all of you then! Whilst watching the coverage on Eurosport we had to keep reminding ourselves this was all happening in Pickering and Dalby Forest!! The whole area seemed to have a great buzz about it and passing world famous riders cycling along the local streets was amazing. We've got loads more pics to come, which we'll probably post on our Big Bear Bikes Facebook page but here are a few for now..

So now all we have to do is keep out fingers, toes and any other bodily parts crossed that we get to do it all again last year. If you have any pictures that you'd like us to publish, send 'em on in. In fact in an impromptu competition stylee we'll even give away a £15, £10 and £5 shop vouchers to the top three (respectively) as judged by The Bears at the end of May.

Happy Riding Readers!

Demo rides in Dalby

One of our many demo rides in Dalby. This time our Pace 405 medium and Trek Fuel EX9 15.5" got a run out in the April sunshine. The result? Two very happy bikes. The riders were pretty pleased too and came back to the shop, specced out their bikes and placed their orders.
When you're spending your hard earned money on a dream bike you need to make sure it's right. All of our Dalby demo rides are guided so we can make sure you test it properly on varied terrain and we know the bike set up is spot on.

More tales from Whinlatter

Whinlatter, my oh my!

Well that was an experience! a mere 31 miles with just about 5500 feet of ascent, pah, how hard can it be? mistake number one.

so we set off bright and early sunday morning heading up hill towards Whinlatter from sunny Pickering, and it was a sunny Pickering that morning, so we were hoping for the same in the lakes and pleasantly it was. as we drove through the mountains i kept re-assuring mark we had to ride up all of them, and that he was going to love it, which went down quite well. We arrived at Whinlatter and parked up on a rather steep hill and went to registration, back to the bikes and get them all ready and race plates on! Get the biking kit on and off to the start to see what was going on. After chatting to people we knew and a couple of people we didnt know, it was time to head to the start line and get ready for the off!

After a quick briefing, the klaxon went and we were off! and this is where we made mistake number 2, turns out it did matter that we werent near the front, as we were now boxed in up the first climb and consequently stuck at the first section of singletrack for 10 -15 minutes as it all bottlenecked and we chuckled at fraying tempers and lycra flying everywhere. eventually it got flowing, and we could enjoy the singletrack, until i went and threw myself over the bars and had a nice drop onto my shoulder and side, but good ol' adrenaline told me it didnt hurt! so straight back on and off again! on from here it was up and up and sometimes down for a bit, but seemed like mostly up! I also soon discovered that the loose shale when combined with mud and water, was actually quite slippery! time for some fun  so we carried on moving, up and down and around with my first split time being 39 minutes closely followed by mark with 46 minutes, and eventually into whinlatter pass, where it became apparent we were sided by two very large hills... oh lordy. And so ensued a 30 minute climb which even required the granny ring for 80% of it, ouchie! but we now descended back into the forest and began lap two. After several miles i had to stop and stretch out some cramp and take it easy a few miles, where mark got passed gosh darnit, so after a bit more stretching i was good to go again! off into the woods on some tasty singletrack, mark in my sights, some good ol' competition between mates set in and then disaster...  they always tell you not to drive right up behind someone, well this applies to bikes too! before i knew what was happening, the rider i was following hopped over a nice sharp rock which made a good bang as it put a hole in my tubeless tyre. So faced with the choice of getting tubeless sealant all over myself in the process of putting a tube in with only 4 miles left, or coming back for revenge next year, i decided that revenge was always the best move and headed towards the finish to congratulate Mark! 

Well, overall a very tough event, but enjoyed it and will be back next year! my advice can only be to get some long rides in with the biggest/longest hills you can find!

Big Bear seen alive in Whinlatter...

Whinlatter Enduro 2010 by Mark Vasconcelos 

For those of you who normally ride with me, when I turn up on  a Thursday,  you’ll be surprised to know I finished well inside the top half, relinquishing my usual position at the rear to some other poor, unfortunate sole.  With more than 5000ft of climbing it wasn’t the easiest ride but it was a laugh and I’ll sign up next year.  If you’ve never raced before it’s certainly an eye opener, it’s amazing just how fit people can be with the fastest time being 2h 29m 28s.  If you want to know my time you’ll have to do some research yourself though!