Back at the mafia.

O, the good old Mafia Trails, it was great to be back up there again today. Hopefully with the clocks changing next week, we'll be up there more often after work in the evenings. I can't wait for it!

Rob H working out a new, fast, line into the tabletop

Ewart, checks out the line

Tom KP boosts one over the table

Rob H gets whippy with it!

Todays mission was build and biking. We set about finishing off a shore line right at the very bottom of the land. The Line had been started by Tom KP, Andy and Ewart, but still didn't go any where. It started with a rising banked corner, before leveling off. The original idea had been to build some kind of step down to finish it, but we decided that you wouldn't be able to generate enough speed to make it work. So after a bit of head scratching we decided on a simple down ramp into a small jump to finish it.
Some time around then, part time Devonian, and (part time!) student Rob H turned up and we got on our bikes and got on with the important job of riding! Rob set about trying a different, and faster line into the table top jump, and the fun began.

Ewart on the opening corners of the dual track

The remains of another expensive chain

Then once that had been ticked off I set about laying out a Dual (duel!) track, some thing we'd all been thinking of for some time. Basically a dual track is two parallel trails, running right next to each other, with two riders riding head to head to get to the bottom. I sketched something out with a rake, and then we started to ride it to see if it worked properly. Within 5 minuets we were racing head to head! The track was a blinder. With limited space between the trees there were two sections where racers are forced into the same space, but also have the opportunity to change which line they're racing on. This caused some carnage, but also some great man-on-man, elbows out, death or glory racing!
Then to round off the day, I broke my chain trying to ride back up the hill to the van. (see it's true, bikes shouldn't be ridden up hill!!!!) and we finished off with a quick jump in the slowly growing foam pit.

Ewart and Tom racing the dual track

Rob, kicking up some dirt

Rob really had this line wired, fast, accurate and with the dirt flying!

Tom Trailing a toe through the dual track berms

Ewart test out the foam pit with a front flip, the outcome; we need more foam!

Oi, Slag!

No no no, not that sort of slag! An industrial slag heap, made of old cinder, slag and crushed rock next to an old mine working, out on the moor. That's where Ewart and I went for a bit of biking today.
There were a couple of flat levels, with a some jumps and some steep slopes that dropped down the side of the hill. The jumps were small and not that great, but we had a lot of fun carving lines down the steep, loose, slag.
We got a bit carried away trying to see how much grit we could spray into the air, but it was a great laugh charging at a loose bank, laying the bike over and trying to carve as tight a turn as possible!

Carving out a line on the biggest, steepest and longest slope

About to change direction, this was a bit daunting at first, but it's actually not hard at all.

Direction changed, let the brakes off and go!!!

Ewart letting the back drift out and throwing some dirt!

Ewart, cresting the skyline and about to drop in

Ewart kicking up some dirt on a smaller bank


Skids are for kids......right?

Foot planted, both wheels drifting, about to fall off!

Ewart silhouetted, dirt flying

Ewart laying it over

A good day on the river, a bad day off the river.

Well with the end of the Dart 'Season' approaching I thought I'd take advantage of this weeks good water levels to make the most of some playboating.
The river was rising quickly and topwave was changing rapidly. But it was all good fun. After getting my fill of surfing I headed off down the river, it was a good level but still some way short of BIG, and the tide line from the previous day was HUGE, about three steps up at newbridge. The wave at Triple was a bit to high to be really playful. But I had good fun trying to surf it. It was fast and surgey, changing from steep and with a shoulder, to flat and shoulder-less really fast. You couldn't just surf and set up to hit the shoulder, everytime I tried the shoulder vanished and I flushed off into the not so fun eddyline!

C arving back into the wave


Launching a blunt

Carving back the other way

Meanwhile though, some lowdown toe-rags were breaking into our house and stealing our stuff. They managed to sneak into the garden and 'let themselves in' through the back door. They then trashed the house and made off with my Laptop, all my film cameras, a digital video camera, MP3 players and most of our bank details and ID.

Suffice to say we are not happy bunnies. Hope fully the insurance will sort most of it out, but time will tell.
Remember don't make it easy for thieves to see what you've got and keep doors and windows locked.

Sidmouth video clip

Just a quick video clip that Mitch managed to take yesterday morning.

Sidmouth dawn raid

Once again the swell, tides and wind were all spot on again this morning for Ewart and I to have a pre-work dawn surfing mission at Sidmouth. It was bitterly cold, and when we first arrived we were bitterly disappointed, there didn't appear to be a wave worth surfing at all. So we wandered along the beach taking taking photos. Then Mitch arrived and started complaining that we weren't in the water. We were trying to point out that there weren't any waves worth riding, when we realised that in the 20 minuets that we'd been wandering along the beach the swell had picked, and it was time to get in the water.
We were not disappointed, perfectly formed, super clean, small waves were rolling in and the sun was starting to shine. What more could we want (apart from the morning off work!) I had great fun on the shops Demo Atlantic Ski, it's just such fun to paddle and surf, and Ewart realised that he'd made the right choice buying a longboard. Mitch even proved himself to be a demon camera man snapping some good pictures and video.

Sun rise at Sidmouth

The first rays catching the pebble beach

On the Demo Atlantic ski and loving it!

It wasn't big, but it was worth getting up for

Cruising down a little peeler


Ewart showing me his moves!

Ewart on a little wave

Mini Road Trip: The 3Bus heads north.

Over the last week I've been on a bit of a mini road trip. With a van bursting at the seams, Louise and I headed north to See family in Hereford and Halifax and Friends in Swaledale.
We took gear to cover a vast range of activities and hit the road looking for adventure.....

First stop was Hereford, where we didn't really do much that could be called 'adventurous' but we did relax, take it easy, and more importantly eat lots!

Next we headed on to Halifax, stopping on the way for a quick bit of very cold bouldering at The Roaches. We had planned to do some mountain biking around Halifax, but the weather conspired against us, with winds so High that water was being blown out of the reservoirs that we'd been planning to bike past! So we spent more time taking it easy. It's a hard life sometimes.....

Then we headed onto Swaledale, the most northern of the Yorkshire dales, bordering with County Durham. On the way we stopped for a spot of caving, in the fantastically named Crackpot cave! At last it looked like we'd have some luck with the weather, so we headed out Rock climbing, taking in some routes at Windmore end and the Hoff in the upper Eden valley. However our weather luck didn't hold and the last day of our holiday was spent relaxing some more. I really must do this more often!

the 3bus in the dales

one finger and barely a toe, shame I was about to fall off!

I did however manage to stick this one on the big boulder in the Roaches enclosure

Lurking in 'the turnip field' Crackpot cave, swaledale

back in the daylight, outside Crackpot

Jon, finding his own way, windmore end

That looks like a nice line, I'll climb that bit....

Louise, seconding grassy crack, windmore end

Me following Jon's line

Jon, didn't fancy any of the routes in the guide, so he made up his own

No hassle, climbing at The Hoff

The incredible Hoff, a crazy little crag in a field!

Secret surf spot, but where is it?

Some time last month I went exploring again, on my never ending quest to find quiet beaches and out of the way surf breaks.
I struck gold this time, although the swell wasn't right to fire up this little spot you could see the potential. It really was a mission to get there, with good navigation a must, and some fearless back lane driving; at times I had both wing mirrors in the hedge at once!
But I'm not going to spoil my fun and tell you where it is, I'm not even going to tell you which coast its on! But if you want to find it dig out your maps and go exploring, who knows maybe you'll find your own secret spot!