The Kinesis Morvelo Project

Welcome back

Oli — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 10:46:21 +0000

Now , that was one sweet ride to work. Running late and lots to do I was going to just head straight to work. The shortest way. Then as I picked out the commuter from the shed, the cross bike, still covered in mud from a month ago, called out from behind the road and mountain bike – "Oi, over 'ere"

Next thing I know I've dusted off the cross bike, lubed the chain, and I'm heading completely the opposite direction to work. Fingers and toes numb within minutes and an icy headwind, I soon warmed up as I hit the first climb. I've never felt so glad to make a split second judgement call and go with my gut feeling. The ride was awesome! Bone dry, super fast, tailwind for most of the way. The winter has trimmed back all the bushes from the sides of the narrow singletrack and I didn't leave the attach position of the drops at all. Banzai!

Now I'm late in and have loads to catch up with. But boy was that a sweet ride in and a warm welcome back to going the long way.

Posted via email from Oli Pepper

Innerleithen Enduro: Just gotta wing it…

Katy — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 22:38:34 +0000

…believe me, after sprinting (well, trying to) through a ridiculously sloggy boggy mudfest, getting overly friendly with a tree and JUST managing to hold on to the handle bars to make it to the bottom of this CRAZY descent being able to wing it comes in very handy!

The Innerleithen 'XC' enduro. What. A. Weekend!! Though, I must say, I think they need to change the name to 'Xtreme' Enduro rather than XC… It was MENTAL! This 'XC' enduro consisted of 3 stages of timed sections of descents, each of which were separated by climbs back to the top to start the following stage (these were not timed thus being the beauty of enduro racing – chilled climbing).

After Saturday practice I was buzzing! Newly aquanted with an XS Pivot Mach 5.7 the vedict was: AMAZING!! If you've not seen it already check out the wee video I put together of it's first ride:

I've ridden similar crazy descents on my hardtail and had fun but, your on the limit the whole way down and it feels like at any given moment you may die! The extra travel and perfect tiny size of the Pivot eliminated this feeling and I was left hurtling down the hill knowing that the only reason I wasn't going faster was because of me and not the limitations of the bike. I was no longer on the verge of death… this, was going to make for a VERY exciting weekend!!

Sunday came and we headed up the hill. After a great nights sleep I was feeling ready to hit the descents full pelt. My dibber dibbed and I was off on stage one. This trail was natural, steep in places and slippy. It was, by far, my favourite of them all! On my hardtail I would have been on the edge of survival, loving it but on edge! Instead I was experiencing the solid ride of the pivot as we flew down the hill! By the bottom I was hungry for stage two, this was SO much fun!!

Stage two required mental preparation. Mainly for the bog. That energy sapping, strength killing, bike sinking bog. Oh my, it was hard!! I made a couple of mistakes before I hit the middle section and by then I was pooped! This high intensity, seat down sprinting business was really hard work! Then Iain Paton, who was on an XC hardtrail nipped past me making things look so easy! Where was my hardtail?? Once on to the steep section I was NOT longing for my hardtail and was LOVING the pivot as it took me flying down the hill over taking Iain again then into a tree… brilliant! Scrambling back up to grab my bike I found a suitable place to mount my bike without rolling down the hill again. However my back break was pointing to the ground which meant no slowing down for the rest of the stage. Jeez oh, winging it to the max! I was buzzing by the end of that stage to: 1. still be alive and 2. be having such a ridiculous amount of fun!!

Before stage three we foze our butts off waiting for poor Stuart who's chain had got completely stuck in his chain gard… We then had to face the HUGE climb back up to the top. The Pivot excelled in stage 3: it took ever dip, bump, jump and corner in it's stride and I was absolutely loving it!! Even though by this point my arms, legs, and whole body were pretty tired I managed to hold on!Seeing stars at the top of the sneaky climb in the middle of this stage I carfully descended until my brain and body reengaged and pushed on until my dibber was dibbed for the finally time.

By the bottom I was dead but so happy! Usually after a race I am happy if I win and not so happy if I don't. But, at this point I had no idea how I'd done and, to be fair, wasn't too fussed! I had had such an insane amount of fun that over ruled everything :D

It was an amazing weekend of riding!!! Chilling on the climbs then smashing it as fast as you could down the hills! That's just a dream format of racing, I loved it!

Here is the bit of paper I got given at the bottom with my times:

That time saw me win the women's race! That was the icing on the cake to a fantastic weekend! Big shout to everyone who raced here is a link to a great wee round up on Descent World click here and a nice wee picture of me on the Pivot! Also massive thanks to Innerleithen mtb racing, alpine bikes and all the marshals for a great event!!

Now, back to training! Keep riding people,

Win tin tin

World Champs

Hannah — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 21:45:29 +0000

Tomorrow im off to belgium to the World championships… unfortunately only to watch though. Would have loved to have had the oppurtunity to represent GB but not this year, so thats my aim for next season.

Going to enjoy a few weeks off the bike now! Then I might have a go at a bit of road racing :)

First ride on my full bouncer: VIDEO! ((Tags: MTB, Random)

Katy — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 13:33:26 +0000

So a full bouncing Pivot mach 5.7 bike arrived at the weekend and I got out on my first ride yesterday! Papa Winton did some filming so I popped together a wee edit check it out:

This bike was SO SO SO SOOO much fun!!!! It’ll be put to the test this weekend when I race the innerliethen Enduro!! Can, not, WAIT!! So excited for it :D

Massive thanks to Tom at Upgrade for sorting me out with this awesome wee bike!

Keep riding folks,

Win tin tin

National Trophy Rd 6 ((taq: Cyclo cross))

Hannah — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 09:57:34 +0000

I went into the final round of the National Trophy series in the lead knowing I didnt even need to finish to win it overall. I’d had a cold the previous week and wasnt feeling great before the race so it was good to know I didnt have to do much to finish my season with another National title. I still raced, just because it was the only chance i’d had to wear the yellow jersey all season.

I crossed the line in 6th which was the worst result of my season but it was enough.

Photo’s by Lisa Branmbani

My season has finished now. Just a few local events left which wont be taken seriously.
Its been a hard but rewarding few months and ive defended both of my National titles. Next season will be tough because i’m no longer a junior but i’m up the challenge.

Thanks to everyone for all their support.

WHAT MOUNTAIN BIKE ‘INDUSTRY INSIDER’ – FULL INTERVIEW.

Dom — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 14:22:40 +0000

Matt Skinner from WMB mag. was kind enough to ask me for my views on a whole load of subjects for their regular ‘Industry Insider’ article. You can see it on P.30 in the Feb. 2012 issue.

I got carried away and wrote far too much, so they could only manage to shoehorn a small part of the interview onto the page. If you have time on your hands and would like to read the rest, grab a coffee and click HERE.

Posted via email from Dom Mason

This week was no ordinary week… It required PICTURES!

Katy — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 21:53:23 +0000

It also involved A LOT of hours on the road and the mountain bike! However, I was joined by some quite astonishingly good weather for January in Scotland!

Take a look, this was Monday's ride… there is even a shooting start in the left hand corner:

HA, made you look! That's a plane, silly :P

The next two rides weren't that exciting, but this was:

Yum, apple crumble made by me! Watch out Mary Berry (for you folks that don't know it's the woman off Great British bake off) ;)

It was then time to burn that all off and head out again on the road. It was a beautiful day and I just couldn't help myself the views on this ride were AAA-mazing:

On my way to st. Mary's loch…

Said loch:

It was then up the hill to Talla (a well know VERY steep hill in the area) here is the view from the top:

Luckily I had my sensible head on and didn't go tearing down the steep side because, well, look:

Could have been the end of me! Once at the bottom the sun was shining and the water was SO still it was like glass! I couldn't resist another photo:

Look!! There is a hill in the water! :O

Next was a mountain bike ride up Glentress. Now, after all this ridiculous wind (AKA hurricane bawbag) we've been having it was a shock when I quickly snapped these photo's that 1. There was no wind AT ALL and 2. It was actually silent. No sound at all, no birds no people, no traffic, no nothing! I was slightly eerie:

This was on the black climb, time to keep climbing…

It was then down to the top of spooky, SUN SHINE!!

(so many people take photo's of this view but it is so lovely!)

And finally today, manage to survive another long road ride!

Homeward bound…

… to the Valley in which I live:

Ah so nice but SO COLD today!

So that was it! It has been a hard week of training but I couldn't ask to do it in a better place – road rides with beautiful scenery and an awesome selection of mountain bike trails with equal beauty right on my door step… So lucky! :)

Keep riding people!

Win tin tin

p.s. Thank you parents for moving here, best decision you ever made!

This week was no ordinary week… It required PICTURES!

Katy — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 21:53:19 +0000

It also involved A LOT of hours on the road and the mountain bike! However, I was joined by some quite astonishingly good weather for January in Scotland!

Take a look, this was Monday's ride… there is even a shooting start in the left hand corner:

HA, made you look! That's a plane, silly :P

The next two rides weren't that exciting, but this was:

Yum, apple crumble made by me! Watch out Mary Berry (for you folks that don't know it's the woman off Great British bake off) ;)

It was then time to burn that all off and head out again on the road. It was a beautiful day and I just couldn't help myself the views on this ride were AAA-mazing:

On my way to st. Mary's loch…

Said loch:

It was then up the hill to Talla (a well know VERY steep hill in the area) here is the view from the top:

Luckily I had my sensible head on and didn't go tearing down the steep side because, well, look:

Could have been the end of me! Once at the bottom the sun was shining and the water was SO still it was like glass! I couldn't resist another photo:

Look!! There is a hill in the water! :O

This was on the black climb, time to keep climbing…

It was then down to the top of spooky, SUN SHINE!!

(so many people take photo's of this view but it is so lovely!)

And finally today, manage to survive another long road ride!

Homeward bound…

… to the Valley in which I live:

Ah so nice but SO COLD today!

Keep riding people!

Win tin tin

p.s. Thank you parents for moving here, best decision you ever made!

Defending the Stripes

Hannah — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 21:21:37 +0000

Sunday was the biggest race of my season, the race i’d put hours and hours of training into, the race i’d sacrificed a lot for, the race that really counted!
So I needed to be completely focussed and ready to give it everything i’d got.

The start line is always a scary place, i’d put so much time into the preperation for this race, and I had 40 minutes to make it show.
The gun went, my foot was straight in the pedal and I put the power down.The course sort of suited me. It was dry but the corners were techinical and there was a lot of time to be gained on them. 2 laps in and I was still feeling good. Beth Crumpton was on my wheel and I was trying to make her suffer, cornering as fast as I could and powering it down the straights. Eventually I got a gap and I knew I had to go for it. I could feel the burn but I remembered the feeling of taking the title last season and I wanted so bady to defend it.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Me and Beth locked together.

The finishing straight was in sight and I knew i’d done it! It was a feeling of relief, knowing my hard work had paid off and knowing that i’d made my family, friends and team proud!

Well done to Beth who took 2nd and Becky Preece 3rd.

So all thats left to do is to take the series title tomorrow in Shrewsbury. Im in the leaders jersey going into it and im up for another fight to keep it.

Thanks to everyone for all their support this season. I couldn’t have done it without them.

Defending the Stripes

Hannah — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 21:21:33 +0000

See the full gallery on Posterous

Me and Beth locked together.

The finishing straight was in sight and I knew i’d done it! It was a feeling of relief, knowing my hard work had paid off and knowing that i’d made my family, friends and team proud!

Well done to Beth who took 2nd and Becky Preece 3rd.

So all thats left to do is to take the series title tomorrow in Shrewsbury. Im in the leaders jersey going into it and im up for another fight to keep it.

Thanks to everyone for all their support this season. I couldn’t have done it without them.