Evening all –
Rather than post up some lame ‘Wideopen is closed this week’ style holding message I’m going to stay up well past my bedtime and fill you in on exactly why there’s not much appearing on the site this week…
The truth is, I’ve managed to break out of the rut of being chained to my desk, vicariously living my dreams through Jacob Gibbins’ photos and have actually got out to go on an adventure of my own.
This weekend is of course Peaty’s Steel City Downhill race, up north in tea drinking Sheffield. To make the most of it I’ve piled the new Orange Five in the car, missioned up the M1, done a bit of the day job work on the way up and crash landed at ThisiSheffield.co.uk HQ for some cups o’ tea and bikes with the infamous Joe Bowman.
As it goes – today was a pretty bloody good day. I’ll drivel on about it in the mag but to give you the short version – after a quick stop at quality bike shop 18bikes.co.uk we took to the hills for some proper mountain bike riding. Big climbs, big fast downhills and gob smackingly good scenery. Ok – it’s all a bit MBR – but why waste the day pushing runs when you’ve got the Peaks to tear up?! To make up for the distinctly ‘all mountain’ theme we finished the day hacking down some big scree slopes and snapping photos on some loose, steep, slatey lines. Natural tech riding is 100% what it’s all about.
Tomorrow is digging at Greno Woods ready for the race, followed by an XC ride. Saturday is the big race, followed by a night of Alex Rankin movies, Warner interviewing Peaty and then some ‘quiet’ drinks in the Steel City. Sunday… There’s a dual race planned but we’ll have to see what happens!
So – yeah – sorry it’s a bit quiet this week. We’re out partying with the Northerners and hunting out stories for the mag. See you all Saturday for the biggest mini-DH race there’s ever been!
Check back tomorrow evening for a Gopro run of Saturday’s track…
Cheers to Joe for the photo above of my ass.
