Mountain Mayhem 2010

Upgrade were at mountain Mayhem this past weekend (not racing this year - so of course the weather was perfect!!), but our good friends at Morvelo were there as was the KMP race team, who battled their way to 2nd overall in the Mixed category.

More details can be found HERE

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Rich Allen's Oval equipped bike at Wimbleball

Pictured above is Rich Allen's Oval equipped bike at the UK 70.3 Ironman last weekend.

Rich powered his way to 5th spot overall and qualified for the 2010 world championships with a 2:41 bike split on a bike course with 1748m of climbing.

"I felt good for the whole bike and actually enjoyed the toughest 70.3 bike course in the World!"

Picture courtesy of Ian Osborne at Triathlete Europe.

More photos from the race can be found HERE

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Kevin Katinas at Balaton Bike Fest

Balaton Bike Fest - Dirt and Tihany DH Preview from pepemovies on Vimeo.

DMR Rider Kevin Katinas at Balaton Bike Fest - Dirt and Tihany DH Preview from pepemovies on Vimeo

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Hutchinson still on fire

Michael Hutchinson (Reynolds Wheels) notched up a record 11^thconsecutive National 50-mile Championship victory in Hampshire on Sunday.

The London-based rider clocked 1:38:55 to win by 2:15 and break Graeme Obree’s 1993 championship record.

www.reynoldscycling.com

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Green Oil now in stock

We are very pleased to announce that we have stock of the entire Green Oil range.

We also have some attractive stock in deals - please contact your sales rep or the office for more details.

www.green-oil.net

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Go on - you know you want a set.

www.road.cc

"We’ve fallen for these wheels big time. If the truth be told, we’ve gone a bit giggly about them? They’re spectacular."

"Holy moly, Reynolds’ new super-light RZR wheels – they’re claiming the world’s lightest – are fast! Really fast. Like, so fast it’s mental! And for the kind of money that would get you a pro-level complete bike."

www.reynoldscycling.com

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iXS Dirt Masters Festival 2010 in Winterberg, GER

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DMR's Kevin Katinas wins Balaton

As reported on Dirt website:

"DMR just beamed over news of their latest signing, Kevin Katinas. If he’s anywhere near as good as Reynolds and the boys, they’re onto a winner."

Well - HE IS - the boy only went and won the Balaton bike festival in Hungary at the weekend - scooping top spot and a big cheque (hopefully!)

Nice one Kevin - welcome to the team.

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Only in America.........

As reported on Cyclelicio.us

"The town of Black Hawk, Colorado banned bicycles from most of its local streets. And Black Hawk Mayor David Spellman (a drunken wife beater) consistently ranks as the most corrupt public official in Colorado."

To “promote safety”, the casino town of Black Hawk in the Colorado Front Range has banned bikes from local streets. Police have been ticketing cyclists riding through town since the ban became effective last January 2010.

"Mayor David Spellman, incidentally, seems like a real character. In 2006, he was convicted of felony assault after he pistol whipped his wife — beating her several times in the head with a .38 and then shooting three times in a drunken rage — during a domestic dispute. In 2008, the Colorado Bureau of Investigations determined that Spellman personally received more than $1 million in state historical funds that were meant to preserve and restore the historical character of Black Hawk. In 2009, Spellman purchased the local newspaper that was critical of him and fired the editor. Mayor Spellman consistently has topped the “Most Corrupt Public Officials list in Colorado. He and the town he represent seem like real gold mines."

As I said - only in America.

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DMR 1st and 3rd at Kind of Dirt

A few words from the KOD organiser;

"KOD went well, unfortunately I had to do it on just the Saturday as the weather was going to be bad on the Sunday. Ray won again and Daryl came 3rd
Good result for team DMR!"

www.dmrbikes.com

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WINNER! ........ again.

Germany’s Mountain Bike Magazine has awarded the CRV 20 as the test winner of the “tour” category in the July, 2010 issue!

(Knife not included in UK models)

www.lezyne.com

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Hutchinson blasts to National 25 win

Michael Hutchinson claimed his fourth National 25 title on a sticky Saturday afternoon in Boroughbridge, blasting round the course to clock 49-34.

"I'm very happy to win. It was a tough day out there," Hutchinson said. "Everyone has to do the same thing, but you certainly had to cope with the heat."

"Hutch" was the only man to average over 30mph on a day that saw slower times than expected, largely due to the muggy conditions. The gently-rolling nature of the A168 also played a part.

www.reynoldscycling.com

More details HERE

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DMR / Atomlab rider - Dan B (ridestreet.co.uk)

dan bucknall, may 2010 from Dan Bucknall on Vimeo.

Ridestreet (www.ridestreet.co.uk) Team rider Dan B has been doing so much riding of late, and he’s made yet another little video of the best bits he’s filmed in the past month. Witness the sickness:

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Paddy Blake is riding from London to Paris for the charity Mind

Paddy Blake is riding from London to Paris for the charity Mind in September with his father.

Those of you know Paddy may well have already made a donation, if not click his name and you will go straight to his Just Giving account.

We will be looking forward to a report of the ride.

We wish Paddy all the best.

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‘FOLLOW ME’ SCREENS IN BRIGHTON, 26th JUNE. WIN STUFF!!

The ‘Follow Me’ MTB film is doing the rounds of UK cinema’s at the moment, but hell! it was missing out Brighton! So Dom got on the blower and arranged for it to come to the Duke of York’s at 1.30 on Sat June 26th.

Kinesis UK, Morvelo and Upgrade Bikes will team up to give away some choice bike bits and proceeds from draw tickets will go to the Parkinsons Disease Society.

You can book tickets here.

More info and details can be found HERE

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Schwag Grab on Road.cc

Please have a look at road.cc for a great "Schwag grab"

"......possibly the most exotic and certainly one of the most expensive Schwag grab prizes we've ever had, a set of Oval Jetfoil R911 forks worth £449.99 courtesy of our good mates atUpgrade Bikes. If you want to go faster or you'd simply like to feel a touch• more aero this is the prize you've been waiting."

Click HERE for the Oval website.

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Goldern years

Have you ever taken the time to just sit back and reflect upon those golden years when you were just a kid riding a bike? You didn't know much about the sport, and even the smallest pile of dirt, or a piece of plywood and a couple of bricks were an amusement park all in themselves?

Well, I never really did until recently.

I stopped in to one of our local inner city "fix-it-yourself" bike shops here in the concrete jungle known as Los Angeles. Myself, and one of the guys who work there are avid MTB riders, and we both live miles away from any form of dirt or hills. We got to talking about how cool it would be if there were some place we could ride here in the city. Fortunately for us one of the customers overheard our conversation and let us in on a little plot of land that some kids had taken over and had built some jumps and a teeter-totter. Of course we jumped on a bus right away, and headed across town.

When we arrived at the spot, it was full of young teenagers. They were all sporting shovels, and digging so furiously there was a giant dust cloud that the wind was carrying across the street into a busy shopping center. The ground was littered with an assortment of department store bikes, quality bikes, and some were a mix of both. There was even a girl moving dirt with a makeshift wheelbarrow . It was a plastic garbage can filled with dirt inside a shopping cart.

I introduced myself to the kids, and a few of them even knew who I was and were totally blown away that I was standing in their lot. After a few handshakes and what have you, I took a walk around the small plot of property to have a look at what they had going on. Right away I had to ask "do you guys have any water?". Although they were trying to shape everything out, they didn't know the glory of water. It all looked pretty cool, but was pretty much unrideable as it was mostly shaped up piles of sand. One of the kid's says "yeah, we have a spicket right over there". I asked him how come they weren't using any water to build with. They had no clue what I was getting at or why you would do such a thing.

I decided to walk across the street to the shopping center. I picked up about 40 feet of garden hose, a case of drinking water, and bought lunch. I connected everything, made a small mud pile, and shaped a roller for them. Then packed it in and rode it. We all chipped in and started digging. We dug until the sun went down and some time into the night. I went back a few days later, and started fixing all the berms, and added in a bunch of rollers. I got the kids into the idea that a pump track would be the way to go, and from there they could build things bigger and bigger as they progress. That's exactly what we did.

That Saturday I went back to help again. About an hour in the local fire department stopped by with a city official. Apparently we had created what they call an "attractive nuisance". After a little bit of conversation, they decided that as long as we keep the property clean, eliminate the wood structures, and the neighbors don't complain, that they will turn a blind eye. Lucky for us, we've had nothing but support from the surrounding neighbors. In fact, they have been bringing out stereos, helping out with equipment to dig with, etc., etc. There has been nothing but positivity from the neighborhood. Parents are bringing out their small children, We built a very small inside line for the littlest kids.

All in all, it just goes to show that even in gang ridden "less desirable" areas of big cities that people can come together as a community. In this case it was mountain bikes that brought them together. Who would have thought that a mountain bike could be such a positive influence in a place where there isn't a mountain for miles?

LA city pump track from Cycle Jerks on Vimeo.

-Gary Elliot
(A.K.A.) Ratt Bones

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UK NPS 4X HartHill

Great news we hit the podium 3 times over the weekend.

Saturday - UK NPS 4X HartHill

Luke Cryer took a win in every single moto race and then absolutley pinned the finals to take a very comfortable win in the super tacky mud. Luke was super stoked and asked me to say a huge thanks to RNR for the goggles as they really helped keep his eyes on the game! Blue tint is in for sure this season!

Suzy Lacey took some awesome moto races finishing only 2nd to Australian national champion Sash Huntington and then to UK queen of dirt Katy Curd in her moto rounds. In the final there was a huge fight in the female elite races for the win but the two dominant girls shut down any avenue for Suzy to get through - so suzy finished with a very respectable and well earned 3rd place.

Claire Pollard had a great first race aboard her singlespeeded DMR. She placed 3rd in most moto races and took a sly 2nd in one of them due to a very aggressive crash at the start gate. Clairs finished 6th in the end and still beat girls who podiumed regularly last season. Lets see how she does next month when she has some gears on her bike!!

Sunday - Euro 4x round 4

Suzy was our only rider and it was almost a dream come true for her as she begun the day strong and got even stronger as the finals loomed. In the finals she was fighting tooth and nail as she held second place from the first corner to the very last - but alas a very experianced racer dipped in and cut her up at the finish line and snatched 2nd place away from her leaving her pedaless and with no speed letting Katy curd sneak past into 3rd spot and leaving Suzy gutted and still chuffed with 4th spot - even git her a podium and a nasty trophy!

Great start to the season and with strong presence within the series we are sure contenders for national titles this year! Mys houlder is still recovering but im still headiong off to switzerland and france to race in the next few weeks - ill tru and resist anything 4x based until i have raced Mega Avalanche in france early july - but ill be there soon

Suzy is already heading north to Fort william for her first ever World cup race - I dont think we can expect a podium but she will try her hardest to find some aggression outthere and show she deservered her place on the world cup circuit. Dont forget at 17 she is still 4 years younger than any other female rider out there - so she is rocking this boat hard for her age!!!

all the best people!

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www.ridestreet.co.uk video competition

Hey, I've decided to let the video contest on my website extend for 2 more weeks to get even more entries! Please see attached the updated flyer, and here is a recent blog post. Please help spread the word! http://www.ridestreet.co.uk/blog/?p=2756 Thanks very much for your help & support Tim Wilkey RideStreet.co.uk

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