FORUM CONTACT |
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FORUM CONTACT |
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| On a
sunny Autumn afternoon in October TIMBER’s John Gould and Dave Tortoishell
had the pleasure of riding with Scott’s legendary rider Nick Craig,
also known as “the Nicest Man in Mountain Biking”. |
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| The
“Tightrope Time Trial Challenge” back at the start of the month
had marked the official opening of the new section of trail with a good
crowd of competitive riders turning up to set the pace over a timed circuit
taking in the mini-Shore and Tightrope features, amongst others, to win
the coveted title and trophy of TTT Winner. Unfortunately, due to other
commitments, Nick hadn’t been able to make it down to have a crack
but after discussion with Paul Hill, of the Bike-Art bike shop at High Lodge,
a Scott dealer, we arranged for him to ride the trail during a planned Scott
technical advisory visit to the shop and after a National CX Race at Ipswich. Turning up at High Lodge in the early afternoon the weather couldn’t have been better with bright sunshine bathing the forest in dappled light – a perfect autumnal afternoon for Thetford riding. Nick and his partner-in-crime Russ Masters arrived shortly after and Nick very quickly explained he’d be unable to have a go at the Time Trial circuit after an injury but he’d still like to have a go on the trail and give his impressions. So, while Russ sloped off with Paul to talk tech, Nick, in his jeans and riding shoes, John and Dave, both in lycra, headed off in the direction of the trail. A short blast across the car park and through the taxi turning circle we chatted about the peculiarities of Thetford riding. Nick and Dave, both brought up on tough, gritty Peaks hill climbing, had been surprised at their first rides around East Anglia – often described as flat – back in the early 90’s for Nick and as recently as last year for Dave, but that old saying “don’t judge a book by it’s cover” never rang truer as both had learnt that Thetford’s trails demanded just as much effort, if not more, than hilly Northern riding with the constant pedalling required to maintain any speed or momentum. Moving on to talking about the trails Nick extolled the virtues of the flowing singletrack of Brandon and High Lodge, it’s ability to cater for all abilities with the technicality coming from increasing speed. But he went on to say that some more specifically technical sections of trail wouldn’t go amiss to give East Anglian riders an idea of what was out there at the Welsh and Scottish trail centres. Arriving at the entry to the Tightrope section we paused briefly to talk about what to expect before Dave led off into the tight, twisty first section before darting over the mini-Shore, through the berms and over the logs out to the intersecting fire road. Another brief pause and we sped off through the more open second section, through loamy trails and dappled sunlight and back round to the start of the Tightrope. Pausing for a bit longer this time we talked about the trail and what Nick thought of our first attempts at building. Although not a trail builder himself, he has still been involved as a consultant on many loops and circuits and so has a good eye for what makes a good trail. He highlighted a few points that we hadn’t spotted ourselves where there was room for a little improvement but went on to say how much he’d enjoyed the mini-Shore and Tightrope logs, that they were something different but welcome for Thetford and how he felt we’d made a good start and were taking things in the right direction. The opening section was a bit too tight and twisty but the trail features and technicality built well from it’s opening culminating in the balance beam logs of the Tightrope, with the intervening berms just right to maintain speed and flow. After Nick’s initial comments we then went on to session the main section a few more times before leisurely making our way back to the shop whilst chatting about our plans for the future using the Tightrope section as an experiment to learn what worked best, from features to surfacing and building techniques for longevity. Back at Bike-Art Paul and Russ had finished with their techno-waffle. We gathered to talk about TIMBER’s role in developing the trails in Thetford Forest and our vision for the future before getting a few happy-snaps with Nick and saying our goodbyes. Nick agreed to come back in the near future to ride the Tightrope and our other new sections of trail to set a standing timed challenge for anybody fit/brave/stupid enough to have a go against one of the UK’s most respected, and nicest, cyclists. An afternoon well spent… |
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COPYRIGHT © 2006 TIMBER. All rights reserved. |   |
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