Captain Fastbastard Mayhem

yeah. From you bouncin' on your tranny, hitting every.single.gap.

Only problem is that if you own one, your mates can legitimately say "yeah, but Matt rides a tranny every weekend..."

Contact Wyatt Earp for a deal on Spaz goodies and a bloke who knows a shed load re bikes.

@omega - yeah. But then the big bikes don't really pedal well do they? As for the tech bits - was more referring to the big hits and rock drops / gardens etc where every bit of travel helps. Agreed on the tight n twisties though. Can you imagine the way the sb66 must have been able to accelerate out the turns compared to the v10?

Nah. He just cased a landing. His feet remained on the pedals. He just had ALL of his weight transfer to the front of the bike and went OTB. If he had come off the pedals there would have been a far more spectacular stack.

Was in response to DJR's question after he saw the Rainbow arching over Pain or Shine's house...

LOL. He may have had his glasses out for the race run. Something along the lines of "if I can't see it it isn't there, and I can't *** out 'cos of it"

Oh absolutely. And Sick Mick's run was super impressive. The speed he carried into those tables He had to squash them in order to land in the transition zone. Flying! As has been said before - the bike does definitely make a difference, I mean the Yeti would have been better at the pedally sections for sure. But the tech sections - that's where the long travel and slack angles make all that time back. At the end of the day, rider condition and skill (not to mention luck on the day) make a bigger difference than wheel size. Bike selection also plays a bigger role than wheel size.

ROFL. Did you see him pick up a certain MR Hill after that super-stack?

Yeah, those 180mm forks are tough ass mofos. It's purely a case of the rider riding what he thinks may be best for the course. Rapelato may indeed be the spezbitch, but he also needs to make a proper run to get any sorta points on the board in order to keep his ride. If Spaz are forcing him to ride a particular setup, that's pretty short-sighted of them.

Mojo

Can you believe I STILL NEED TO SEE THIS!?

Nope. Was about a year back that it fell.

Sooo true. Take those fingers off yo' brakes, FOOL! I pity da fool who fails to fist his bars when encounterin a technical section!

You mean the one that fell right across the trail, and we had to clear by hand, axe and chainsaw?

What happens is that you inadvertently have the best ride of your life. Riding is best done with a clear mind.

Gladly received. And things are going to go faster now, it seems. Behind the scenes, things are changing. Investors moving in, keen to see a difference. Pain or Shine now in there full time (has been for a few months) and me taking a more active role in the day-to-day as well (after hours, that is) MUCH action is needed after this rain we've had. Oh - and yes, those boards are pine. BUT - we have a source (and funds) for new wood to go in. Just to find the time.

good news is that the bridge is going to be rebuilt with proper (un-slimed) wood sometime soon. The pine that the bridge is made of at the moment is susceptible to slime, which makes it slippery (especially seeing as it gets no sunlight, which would remove the possibility of slime forming on the wood) The new bridge won't be susceptible to slime, and will not become slippery.

It's in the middle. Trying to think how to describe it... It's a bridge over the river, but not immediately noticeable as a bridge. After the initial switchbacks, you ride along a long, fast flat section inbetween the trees, then hit a tight 90 degree right hand corner, flat section into a short sharp hill that has 2 available lines, one of which was recently (last year) converted into a drop. The Right hand line is now the "up"route. After short sharp steep hill, you turn left then right and go into a flat, flowy section, which then leads to the troll bridge. The tight 90 degree turn described above takes you onto the concrete bridge, across the stream. It's a very small bridge.

HAHA! Dude. I was coaching a mate of mine on that bridge. He was afraid of it and we decided that he needed to slay that troll for good. Hit it first time, no problems, though a little jittery. Made it off in good form. Told him to do it again for good measure, to deliver the killing blow. Attempts 2,3,4,5,6 & 7 stopped just before the bridge. No go. Attempt 8 - gets halfway across, GREAT form, then deer in the headlights, for some unknown reason. Elbows clamped. Hands clamped even harder. On the front brakes. Just as he got to the edge of the bridge. I swear, if I had been filming it he could have made it into the Russian diving team, it was that majestic. Into the river, head smashed on root, face first. 19 stitches and a few photo's later, and he's pissing himself at his stupidity. He hasn't yet slain the troll. This was 4 years ago.

Don't you mean only flat pedals and no bar ends?

if it's one of the corners I'm thinking about, it's quite a technical little hairpin and nothing to be ashamed of if you cant make it (the one just at the beginning of the trail, first hairpin, left hand turn) - I've seen my arse there a few times after a badly placed front wheel, bad application of power or just plain bad riding. That, or the troll bridge, or one of the hairpins on the sandy / rocky section.

It's nothing to do with the safety - all technical sections had b / c lines, and it was a DOWNHILL course. A World Championship DH course at that. It's got everything to do with people riding way outside their capabilities, thinking that because they can manual off a pavement, they can reliably smash a 12m tabletop without going outside their abilities.

He must have worn a hard hat. EVERYONE knows proper trail builders wear hard hats. (reference to a british trail building vid where hard hats were listed as "vital safety equipment" necessary to be able to build a trail properly, sustainably and awesomely)

Dude, at the moment I'm so unfit I doubt I could ride any of that section. I'd be busting my lungs just to get up there, not to mention maintain the momentum needed to grapple with the rocky bits. And yes, in certain sections B lines (NOT chicken runs, let's set that straight) are necessary (like over the top, which was apparently extremely difficult for most people, and I can see why) but not around a root that extends 5cm out of the trail...