July 4th is coming up, where are you going this weekend?

I'll be promoting/marketing/designing and building for an upcoming slopestyle/dirt jump jam in the FR park I work in. The slopestyle has just had the first bit built which I designed, I was the first to test ride it which was scary even though it's nothing huge, it's a vertical hill roll in, then hit a ladder, the ladders roughly 5 foot high and 18 ft long and then theres a small gap of about 7 or 8 feet between the ladder and the hill, however, the hill which acts as a tranny for the ladder is huge so you can clear 40 foot easily if you really wanted too. Next up is an alternate entrance which will be a north shore curved kicker that kicks you out over the hill, a wallride, a wooden step up step down table, some doubles and a few table tops. If your ever in the uk you should stop by an have a ride!

Riding Monarch Crest & Rainbow Trail this weekend. Woo hoo!

Andy,

Be sure to let me know the conditions! Last time I checked on the absolute bike website there was still snow on the ground...

Walker T

Off the road, on the mind...

Hey Walker,
Indeed the scene has exploded in the UK. Not only that but the authorities such as the forestry commision (they look after all the forests in the uk) are now welcoming us with open arms because we've increased the commisions revenue hugely. In one year, just one visitor centre at one forestry site increased it's revenue by 1.6 million UK pounds which is $29219200.00000. all thanks to the development of a world class downhill track. They now have gone on to build Britains first curved wallride on a way marked trail, two Freeride courses and they've now begun an uplift service. There's basically three centres like the one mentioned within a 2 hour drive. Wales and Scotland are the places to ride. I recently met a Canadian MTB photographer who's pretty well known and he said that Wales and the trails there reminded him of Canada. The afore mentioned downhill track was recently visited by Cedric Gracia and Andrew Shandro, Shandro snapped his forks (so I was told by the uplift driver) and Gracia completely totalled his front wheel. That gives you some idea of whats being built! 30 foot berms, 55 foot table tops, 30 foot doubles, 40 foot cliff hips...all on one course!

It's quite strange really, what were my local trails a year ago where all you would meet is a farmer and his dog you know bump into South Africans, Austrailians and Americans. You have to come ride our little island, I can guarantee you wont be disappointed!

You know, you bring up a good point here. If communities, and the park services, actually did a better job of compiling the revenue from mountain bikers then mountain biking might be looked at with a positive eye. Now, I'm not suggesting that it isn't. But, let's face it the available funds to build trails probably comes up short, every so often. I know a lot of communities realize the intrinsic value of mountain biking tourism, but are they actually calculating those values? I wonder.

Thanks for the post! I'm all about visiting the UK. It sounds like I might even stay there if I took a ride...

Walker T

Off the road, on the mind...