We laugh at danger and break all the rules.

29 June 2011

Still trail riding, still coucnil fightin’.

 

MYSTERY!

Yeah, So I have been missing in action.

Basically I went on a holiday. Then in the last few days it’s been raining crazy rain. The trails are copping it but there is really no point in fixing the untill these storms pass.

Here is a bit of what’s been happening before the rain set in.

So Oli, Hooper and a few others sent the creek gap for the first time since it’s been done. That was pretty cool. It also claimed it’s first victim courtesy of some hidden glass – bummer.

After that, Al got married.

After that he went to Japan, things got a little bit fucked up there.

A little before that he had his bucks. He nearly made it through the whole thing. Nearly.

Our favorite Canadian left for home. Next time Steve, next time!

Hooper bought a BMX – I think he still has his big bike. I hope he wasn’t riding the 20inch at inter-schools anyway. It’s a Mutiny something something…..

Speaking of inter-schools. Colonel Sanders also went. He crashed. Apparently everybody crashed. I guess that’s down-ill for ya.

Just some really cool riding has been going on for no reason. Friday’s are almost running out for Summer! Don’t waste ‘em!

Ro-Batt!

He is Greg.

The big kid

Musgrove, Hooper and Fox demonstrate the new sport of syncronised trail riding.

And although I don’t have a photo – Duncan kept on digging.

A few other nick nacks . . . . .

Al found this pretty rad vidoe doco on the Soledad Sands BMX scene.

Mutiny dropped this confirming they are still pumping out the best edits of late:

The surf has been pretty epic around OZ lately (See WA cyclone swell below) – with the exception of Sydney wich is a pretty nasty place in general.

Fox uses power tools in his man cave after 8 Caronas to get firewood or the front yard party fire. Great Human!

Mac is still killing it. I did a whip. Rhi got cold at the light house. The end.

photo credits: Ben Hooper, Rohan Batt, David Fox, Tom Sanders, Al Chapman, Tom Chapman

 

December 13

Oh dear……

 

November 20

So Crash, Al, Dangerous and I agreed it was time for a good old fashioned trail ride last weekend. Well, really we just worked out a way we could link up our 3 favorite single track down hills without needing a car, but whatever. We got an early start to avoid the heat (more on that later) and away we went. All of us on our trail bikes….. unfortunately Al’s trail bike is the same as his DH bike so 8 inches of squishy and 888s up front was his weapon (read: curse) for the day.

First trail was one of our local favorites which is a tight windy technical DH trail with a whole bunch of steep shoots and tricky corners. About 5 corners in I had a bail over the Bars for old time sake on a steep section but managed to run out of it ok. After that the pace quickened and things got moving. A tricky rock slide to ladder which has been known to claim people was negotiated by all incident free. Comedy gold occurred  when Dangerous decided he was going to ride a new section of trail, dropped in, bounced off his bike over the bars and chest planted on a rock. He was winded so badly he was making a sound like a harpooned wale for a few minutes afterwards. Crash and Al where sympathetically laughing at him. Shortly after we realized this new section of trail didn’t go anywhere.

Now for a pretty large uphill battle to trail no. 2 just as the heat arrived. I didn’t check the forecast but I think it was about 1million degrees C. Al and I where both trailing behind Crash and Dangerous who run dual chain rings up front. Cheeky bastards!

Trail two is a much flowier affair than the first one, lots of nice smooth dirt and corners so you can stay off the breaks and haul arse. It has a few nice medium/ small sized drops and gaps in it to keep things interesting. Highlight feature is a cool natural rock/ wallride thing which I missed but I think everyone else rocked. The end of this bad boy was pretty muddy so I was glad I was rocking goggles.

An aside: Goggles with an open face helmet is awesome.

Another big climb to trail 3. It’s getting hotter, and hotter and hotter. I managed to crash in a puddle on a fire trail – Highly embarrassing. Or was I just trying to cool off?

By the time we got to trail 3 everyone was pretty much shot. After pedaling his beast half way across the greater Northern Beaches I thought Al was going need resuscitation.  I had shaky legs and was pretty worried I was going to have a fatigue related bail on the next trail. Crash and dangerous where fine: bastards.

Trail 3 is like a combo of the first two. A pedally techy top section runs into a fast flowy forest under the trees. This trail rules. Lots of good sized drops and gaps. I think it’s fair to say we limped down the trail as we were all pretty exhausted. Crash had a pretty gnarly over the bars over a drop to flat which no one saw but sounded pretty nasty. The rubber man got up unhurt luckily. The heat was starting to claim victims. The end of this trail in the cool woods is awesome. Life saving.  Switch backs at the end of the trail are high speed goodness.  I was one part loving it and one part praying for the end. We burst out of the undergrowth snuck under the bridge to the car park without further incident.

And there endeth the lesson. Oh – post ride beers and chicken burgers where bang on.  Only one award from this ride goes to Al:

The Dehydrated Man Beast Award: Al, for being a Dehydrated Man Beast.

Post ride chillin’. We earned it.

November 17

One from last night’s trail session….

November 10th

Pretty wet last week or so but a bit of riding is getting done. Steve is leaving for NZ. Sad time, he has been sending everything in sight before he leaves including Vegemite and 747 at Oxy allegedly. That’s large.

Matt in the flash.

Crash’s bike got a mud bath and then a nice wash.

Mmmmmmm muddy…..

I’m getting some new pedals. Pics up soon. But first I’m off to Surf Bells this weekend. Woot! Suckers!

November 7th

Out at Oxy today – Might have a few pics later – but:

Congratulations Crash: He managed to hit a tree, end up with his own tire mark on his back and walk away with both himself and the bike damage free. I don’t know how he did it.

Weekday Session @ Oxy October 2010

Steve G laying it over.

Hooper blasting out of the GV booter.

People getting ceepy.

October Oxy Session

Staring Matt, Al, Steve and Co.

Sorry Steve, this would have been awesome……

October 16

Here some odds and ends from down the trails this month. BAM!

September 15

Edit from a few weeks back.

September 10

Some more playing around in the woods on bikes.

 

 

 

Aaaaaaahhhhhhh…… Drew is turning into some lousy hipster!

 

August 27

A few snaps from this morning’s Freedom Friday. No bell ringers but some good riding in there. One armed photography is a battle.

 

August 22nd

I’ll let the pictures say a thousand words for now. Need a beer.

 

 

August 2010

Al has shiny new wheels! An Astrix Huckster to add to the quiver. Lovely looking bike indeedy! Only time will tell if man or machine will win this epic battle. My money  is on the man mountain. After a little love from Aaron at Manly Cycles it is running smoooooooove! Looking forward to Sunday’s ride to test it out.

Aterix Huckster frame, Manitou Swinger X3 coil shock

Truvativ cranks, E13 guide Sram X9 drive train, Straightline Pedals

Shimano saint breaks, Fun direct stem, 745 Straightline Bars and levers

Marzocchi 888 up front, Revolution Wheelset, Maxxis Ardent Front, Maxxis Minion DH R (Double Walled) on the rear.

So hot!!!!

July 2010

Dangerouse Dave has sold his NS Holy and move on to a 20 inch! Happy days! Here is an update on the build progress. Looks familiar but I can’t work out why.

Also thought I’d post up a mate’s (Matt) Blindside. Pretty nice rig. Looks a little more used these days!

June 2010

Honey moonin’!

Riding Vancouver’s North Shore with my man Jeff. Having so much fun I didn’t take any snaps but this one! Best riding in the world? Just might be.

 

June 2010

It’s been raining for ages so here is a few trails shots I was reminiscing about tonight on the couch.

June 2010

There is no accounting for taste…. I give you Al’s rolling McDonalds (Sunday New Wave)!

 

May 2010

New Breaks…. bike check.

 

April 2010

New BMX Frame for Me! Fly Luna you dig?

 

January 2010

Bike is in! Boooyah!

Really couldn’t be arsed with a spec list but there are some tidy bits in there!

 

Friday 9th October

Just mainly chilling at the trails and doing some digging lately. Choice BRO!

 

Tuesday 16th September

Ohhh…. rides page needs an update.

Well we’ve mainly just be hanging out down at the trails for the last few weeks. I broke my arm last weekend so I’m out for about 6 weeks which is royal fuck stain.  I’m having a few screws put in my arm this morning actually. Lucky me, I’ll be that guy who sets off metal detectors in the airport! FUN!!!

 

In other news My Transition BottleRocket is nearly built up! Drew’s bike is a constant state of disassembly as he us running the Kona and his STP off the same parts base. I think the STP is the one that is running at the moment. Dave’s Reign should have an E13 chain tensioner on it by now if he’s worked out how to fit it. So thinking about it, it probs isn’t installed yet. Al has taken the decision to single speed his Kona and has a new set of forks on the way. He may also be receiving my Merida warranty frame soon. Bad luck Al!

Fox is frothing for some 4X in October and November out at Sydney Olympic park. I won’t be healed for the first one but am keen as for the second one.

I finally gave Dave B his bike back.

That’s about it I reckon. More trails this weekend I would say. I am on camera duty so keep an eye out for a few little edits in the next few weeks. The next ones with more riding I promise!

C U Round like a potato!

 

Sunday 16th August, 4X Series final, Kurrajong

Checkity check the wrap up!

Terry Hills to Oxford Falls DH, Saturday August 1st,

8:00 at TH BMX track. ONWARD! Hmmm we need an update for this one. Maybe a few pics will do the jobbie (really, really poorly taken low quality pics):

 

Wollongong Sunday 19th July!

Danger
6 foot plus north shore drops, pammy sized doubles, new terrain and a healthy serving of peer pressure.

Laughing
1) Tom buried 6 ft in the local lantana wondering where his ear was.
2) D. Fox conducting high impact tests on his new full face helmet whilst filling his shorts on the ‘Uni track”

Q: Why move 100km from Sydney and commute back and forth for work each day?
A: So you could ride sweet action single trails and bomb fast flowing down hills tracks all weekend!

After kicking round the idea of road trippin to Bulli and finding out what converted ex Sydneysiders Nathan and Penny into Bulli shredding locals, we finally got our shit together and did it! And at the end of a downhilling danger filled day i was considering selling up and joining them. The trails were sick!

Clinging to the Wollongong escarpment, are the hard packed clay soils and sweet trails that provide the perfect ingredients for some fast, steep, hella fun tracks. Masterchef’s Drew, T.C and I could be heard ‘w00ting’ round the switchback knee high berms, linking rock gardens to north shore drops then back into handle bar catching tight single track. After a few runs in it soon became apparent that the recent rain had not only loosened up the soil but also our riding. A little too loose at times….. Enter T.C.

Some well linked berms left T.C shooting through the trees, popping over a 10m rock garden, racing into a loosely packed chute and into a tightly packed lantana bush. Need i say more….Once we had located Tom on the bush, the MTB survey began.

1) Are you all right?
2) Is your bike OK?
3) Where is your ear?

Curtesy of Tom’s generosity and safety conscious thinking, Drew and I received full face helmets for our Birthday to protect our ears. See the irony?? Drew had full faith that his helmet would protect him and stayed on two wheels all day, could he be loosing the “crash” tag forever? However, I wanted to test mine out and fortunately two trees offered to help me do this. It works!!!

Needless to say we will be back there riding again soon. We are just waiting for Toms ear to glue back together.

Ay up!!

Edit: Thanks to the good people at Mona Vale hospital for fixing up my ear. T.C.

Terry Hills/ Oxford Falls – 4th July

So we’ve been a while without updates. I will now, in front of you all commit to updating more often. maybe.

This Saturday’s ride was super fun amigos! Firstly a session at TH BMX track from the early morn to the not so early morn was super fun. It must be said that it’s not the most exciting set of Djs in the world but “it ok”. I nose cased the same set 3 times and managed to escape without a face plant which was pretty lucky. Al and Benny both boosted the big table top in the row which takes some doing. Greg watched from the hill….. Boooo!

Finally the MTB session got underway with a cool techy trail from TH to Oxy. Dave Bs upside down chain tensioner didn’t do him any favors on this leg of the Journey.

Crash Archer was back in great form. He slid down a rock face on muddy tires, missed a north shore bridge and tried to face f@ck a massive piece of sand stone. Apparently he took most of the force on his wrists, which are mighty from masturbation. All in all I think it looked a lot worse than it was. It could have been very bad.

Our newest recruit Ben Benny (You cant trust someone with two first names) made the techy stuff look easy. As usual, I made the easy stuff look hard. Greg was fit and riding great off the back of two weeks in spandex xc mode.

This little trail is awesome. Some real steep rocky sections, some flowy turns, a few nice drops, some yummy mud. It’s got it all.

The hard tail Heroes Al and Dave brought up the rear as we finished the trail at a little creek crossing. Dave B’s chain dropped again and the decision was made that some running repairs where required when we got to Oxford falls.

A short (read- too long) climb and we where at the top of the oxford falls DH/FR trail. We took about 15 minutes to catch our breath and retrofit Dave’s chain tensioner, which, under the watch of two professional bike techs was done with fantastic results.

At this point Greg left us sweaty and disheveled.

Boom! Oxy Dh was rad fun! Everyone had a crack. Special mention to Ben Benny for hitting a sweet step up first go and the drop to gap jump combo was super impressive.

Hardtail Hero Al Chapman put all the bouncy riders on notice that we need to step our game up. He did everything we did and more. Most notably the wooden North Shore drop which probs comes in at about 6ft. All this on a bike which is held together with twigs and sticky putty. I felt pretty soft. I should do more laughing at danger and less being a fag next time.

After a few more runs we where all pretty f@cked having been riding for about 5 hours. Ben started to cramp up, I was starving and Drew wanted to get home and ride his single speeder. The kid never stops!

So that was it, a hamburger and a coke was a pretty poor choice to recharge the batteries but it tasted great!

That was pretty much it – The prestigious ride awards have been awarded as follows:

- The ‘I can’t believe he walked away from that” award – Drew ‘Crash’ Archer
- The ‘Yeah I can do that’ award – Shared by B Benny and A Chapman
- Hardtail Hero – Shared between D Banham and A Chapman
- Quiet achiever – Greg ‘XC’ Hammer
- The ‘Borderline exhaustion’ award – Tom Chapman

Details of next weeks ride remain a secret but one thing is certain:

We laugh at danger, and break all the rules!

Ourimba – Saturday April 18

A short trip up to Ourimba for some riding turned into a massive tour of the central coast thanks to the Dangerous D. Fox this Saturday. Our direct flight to Ourimba ended up making stop overs in Morriset, Tuggerah and Newcastle before finally arriving for some good old two wheel action. Dave was clearly navigating by the stars or was using his watch as a compass.

Anyway… we finally arrived for some riding and took a loop round the XC track. Seriously fun. Heaps of corners to be hooked into. Loving it!

There has been a few hardware upgrades recently and as a result the pace was cracking! It was good to see Dave B and Al still flying the flag for hardtail enthusiasts everywhere. Who knows when Al’s Kona Roast will finally give in! I expect that when it finally does die it will be sent off with full military honors and a 12 gun salute by the “We Laugh” crew. What a trooper. Fellow antique bike enthusiast Dave B braved the trail on a single speeder earning some serious props and I’m guessing some very sore legs the next day.

On the bouncy bikes, Crash Archer managed to hold on to the Kona this week and came through unscathed. I’m as shocked as you dear reader! We may need to start working on a new nickname for the man! D Fox was solid as always, although I sensed he was holding back a little. Could he be getting more sensible? I doubt it. The Mysterious “Greg” was demonstrating the benefits of having a fully functioning cardio vascular system and was leading from the front. I was puffing away in the back and wondering how long it was going to take for all those overseas beers I drank to wear off. Struggling! We where also joined by a mate of Greg’s whose name escapes me for the moment. I will refer to him as Rider X for now.

After the XC loop it was decided by all that a roll through the DH was in order. So up the hill we started. And up and up and up…… We should have shuttled.

The roll through of the DH trail was mad fun. Super windy fast sections with some cool techy stuff in between. Some nice gaps and drops to keep things interesting. I know we are all keen to hit it up again so we can take on a few of the bigger obstacles. There is certain pallet gap which is plaguing my dreams this week. She will be mine! No crashes to report and no broken bikes which is not bad for a downhill outing with 6 blokes and no common sense.

The prestigious Nobel riding prizes where awarded as follows, some multiple winners this week:

Hardtail Hero (good to see this award back) – Al Chapman
“Have you seen my backpack” fitness award – Al Chapman
Award for quality navigation – David Fox
Triumph in the face of adversity (single speed) award – Dave B
“I think I want a downhill bike” award – The Mysterious “Greg”
Haunted by pallet gap related regret award – Tom C
Buffalo Bill Rodeo award – Crash Archer (for managing to hold on this week)
Superior fitness and riding ability award – Rider X

Next ride is TBA – At this point only one thing is certain.

We laugh at Danger and break all the rules!

Ride free citizens!

RedHill Freeriding – Sunday Jan 18th

The return of group updates! Wooooohooooo!

Well Sunday was eventful! Crash and I ventured out to Red Hill’s super secret technical downhill taking our downhilling Pals Nathan and Penny with us.

Push up trails and hot days are a fairly unpleasant combo but we pressed on all the same. Did some good riding too. Nathan managed to hit all the big obstacles with in his first few runs which was impressive. Penny and I shredded the B lines like it was no ones business and Crash did what comes naturally!

We also did a little trail maintenance along the way. You can’t make friends with sandy berms kids!

The day ended with a face-plant from Crash. Attempting a nice double drop section lower on the trail he came to grief. He’s done the line 100 times before! Was it the heat? Was it the hangover? Was it a sudden shift to the left in the earths gravitational pull? Most likely the latter!! But none the less, he is now the proud owner of scratches and bruises courtesy of some Hawkesbury Sandstone! He’s fine now though. A bit of food and beer and hey presto!

The coveted ride awards where distributed as follows:

The Reflex Paper award for ripping – Nathan
Commitment to quality (crashing) award – Drew
The Queen B (Line) Award – Penny
The “Is your fork stanchion missing a bolt to save weight?” award goes to moi – Tom

Till next time my fellow eagles of death metal!

Ride free Citizens!

-Tom-

NEXT RIDE SAT August 7th – Details TBA

A bit sluggish on the updates!

Rides have been happening through out July but no records kepts. Highlights:

Crash Archer – Crashes Again
David Fox – The bleeding from the lungs incident
Moi – Drive chain fail to handle-bar slam to blood
Mountain Goat – Still sturdy as!
Cutty – Still all style – Guide of the century

Also;

New DH located – but not shredded quite yet
Dirt Jumping practice at the farm
Crash and I did fastest lap of Manly Damn ever (probably)

Later Heros!

-Tom-

NEXT RIDE: Red Hill 8:30am July 5th

8:30am Manly Damn Saturday 28th
Hard Tail Hero, The Moutain Goat and Myself hit up Manly damn on Saturday for a spin. There are no photos of the ride but it will live on in the hearts of children every where for ever. Hard Tail Hero and I loved the trail so much we did it a second time!

‘Till next time team!

2:00 pm Red Hill, 2pm, June 21.

MOUNT-A-BIKING!

The three stoogers (Foxy, Archey & Chapman-ey) made a triumphant return to the spiritual home of the influential “Cromer MTB Scene” this Saturday, with a late arvo roll through Red Hill. The group was rounded up to four with the inclusion of a shodowy figure known only as “Greg”.

The usually technical Red Hill trails where made even more so by the last two weeks of steady rain. Luckily I fitted a periscope and snorkle to the Kona before the ride. We took the ridge line through to Drop zone dodging as many water hazards as possible. Then we took a new trail into the wilderness and back. This new single trail was hella fun! In the dry it would be sweet action! We now know to ride it west to east though. The other way is mainly up hill and “I don’t do up hill”.

Then we hit Drop Zone again where a small photo shoot took place. I have been riding this trail for about 10 years and it is still soooo fun! The more erosion there is the sketchier it gets!

Then it was back to Chap-Central for a hose down and some Red Dorritos! Best!

There is movement at the station, for the word’s been passed around That the colt from old Regret will be hitting up Manly Damn this coming weekend. The weather is supposed to be dry so it should be quick and fun. I will confirm the details later but keep Saturday morning clear.

8:00am June 14th – Oxford Falls

Hi-Ho All!

Terrible turnout for Saturday’s morning ride, Just three! Softness must be contagious.

Ride was pretty sweet though! The pace has picked up considerably now that we know the Oxford Falls trails better. Lots of shredding down Nursery Rhymes through the winding bottom section. It’s pretty quick when it’s a bit dryer. Did that a few times. Then we got lost taking that trail off to the left. Not much going on down there except for a super steep shoot which I rode/ran/crashed down! The others did it with much more style and finesse. I need a rear disk break so baaad!

True to form Drew had a bingle washing out at a reasonable pace and eating the dirt. Gave himself a bit of a rattle but was pretty much unscathed.

Back out on the DH Fox was keen to hit some of the bigger gaps and drops on the course. See Facebook group for photos. He was charging. I was feeling inadequate but will not be defeated again! Not to be out done Drew also threw himself into some pretty sizey stuff. I was very impressed.

So us three amigos had a pretty sweet ride. Did you enjoy your Saturday sleep in ladies?

Locations of this Saturdays ride is yet to be confirmed (Red Hill or Cascades maybe?). Stay tuned!

-Tom-

6:00am June 13 – Seaforth

Fox and I (Tom) hit up Seaforth for a short ride before work this morning. We got to the trail at 6:00am and found it was way too dark to ride! So we hung about for 20mins waiting for the sun to come up.

The trail is a fun little technical jaunt with lots of ups and downs! Fully Sick!

See you for Saturdays session!

-Tom-

8:00 June 7th – Oxford Falls + June 8th – Seaforth

Yep, weekend was wet and mad fun!
The traditional awards ceremony goes as follows:
The Ayrton Senna Equipment Failure Award – Matthew Henry, after being punted over his handlebars for the last three weeks running, was informed, by the friendly staff at Bike Addiction, that the lock-out on his front fork was stuck on and that his forks needed to be sent away for a re-build. Heroic!

Hard Tail Hero Award – Having stolen a far superior bike from his little (big) brother, D. Fox went about reducing Oxford Falls to mere rubble. Special mention of his technical drop-off on the DH must be made. It was not so much the size of the drop that impressed me, but David’s complete disregard for the razor sharp rocks that littered the landing. Truly Inspirational.
Most Improved Award – The most prolific crasher in the group “Drewbert G. Archer” managed to maintain a death-grip on his bouncy steed all daywithout incident. He made up for this the next day with a doozey. See the video attached (Video (003) is the one)!

Was he on the Ride? Award – Goes to me for just rolling along without incident. Boring! I would appreciate some peer pressure directed my way in future.

Sunday saw Cutty, Drew and I do a short ride on the other side of the Parkway from the Manly Damn entrance. The trail is short, technical and fun. Thanks to peer pressure Cutty did a few sections he wouldn’t have usually attempted, and came out unscathed. Large smiles all round. The attached videos for more on that one!
In other news – I have rebuilt my forks now so I’m pretty keen to hit some bigger stuff this weekend (now that I’m comfortable they are not likely to explode). Manly Damn will definitely be closed. The DH at Cascades is illegal so if we want to ride it we should do it real early. If we are starting off at 8:30 this weekend I think another session at
Oxford Falls or Red Hill would be the way to go. Either will be pretty fun the second time around.

Coolio?

-Tom-

8:30 May 31st – Red Hill

I think those trails at Red Hill have seen better days. It was pretty frustrating with all the stop start stuff. But hey…. better than work!
Fox’s photos are on facebook.
I awarded the following medals of honour for the day:
D. Fox – Best Cinematography/ Largest Gonads/ Hardtail Hero
D. Archer – The most crashes/ Best Photo/ Best Wall-Ride
S. Silvester – Bravery in the face of Bar Ends/ Best New Come-er
M. Henry – Smelliest, Dirtiest man to attend a chiropractor appointment
ever
T. Chapman – The purple knee/ face plant award
Fox and I are keen to ride next Saturday again. Mash, would you be keen to take us down to Morgan Road? We haven’t been there yet. What’s it like?

See you soon Men!

-Tom-

8:30 May 24th – Manly Damn

Cheers for the super-fun ride on Saturday Fellas! It has re-instated my love for the old MTB!
I spent about 4 hours on Saturday repairing my one and I think I can bring it back from the dead! Had to replace a shifter and use about a megalitre of WD40 but I think it’s going to pull through!
Fox and I are proposing to ride this Saturday morning again! If everyone agrees we’ll hit Red Hill this time. The trails are longer so we’ll
probs start about 8:30 and go ’till 10:30-ish.
Let me know if you are keen!