Wideopen race shirt - ART ATTACK

Mono got so excited at the idea of Wideopen race shirts for 2009 that he almost blew his load all over his computer. Once he'd calmed down he got his crayons out and sketched out this masterpiece of fashion design.

Can you do better? Can you design THE race shirt that the Wideopen team will rock across the UK in '09? I hope so. Get your felt tips out, make art, send it to us. If it's good enough we might just use your design. You might even get a race shirt out of it.

Email your magic to 'jamie@wideopenmag.co.uk'

2009 Reverse Components

Click to to BIG!

All new 2009 Reverse kit will be landing at FLi HQ next week and it looks sick. They've got new graphics, new colour schemes and brand new 'Cocaine' saddles, Evo hubsets and 150 front hubs entering the line up.

Better still, if you order now you'll get 10% off all orders.

Go here: http://www.mtb-direct.co.uk/

NPS DH '09 Venue update

Just got the latest updates from Paton and Parr at the NPS Team.

Dates are now confirmed but there's a couple of changes to the venues from their interview back in Issue 8. Rheola is now in and it looks like Llangollen Rd2 is maybe out, to be replaced by somewhere mysterious in North Wales, or Bala if they can't pull that one off.

This years NPS will be:

Rd 1 April 26th -Rheola - (UCI Cat 2)
Rd 2 May 31st - North Wales or Bala - (UCI Cat 2)
Rd 3 June 28th - Fort William - (UCI Cat 2)
National Champs July 19th - Innerleithen (Also XC Champs).
Rd 4 August 16th - Carlton Bank
Rd 5 September 27th - Caersws

Kustom Bikes Old Skool Downhill Race Avill Ball - Round 1

Last Sunday was round 1 of the Kustom bikes race series at Avill Ball down in Somerset. It was Kustom's first ever race and saw a pretty decent 70+ riders on the start list.



Ben Baker took the top spot of the day, followed down by Will Soffe and Micky Boswell. Scannin' the results sheet it also looks like Junior Zak Hurrel and and Youth Moss Macriner deserve a mention bagging 6th and 7th place respectively. Young guns shooting down the old guys!

Full results are online here and we'll have a race repo in the next issue of the mag.

Get your entries in for round 2 on 22nd Feb now - they need 60 entries by 13th Feb so make it happen!

http://www.kustombikes.co.uk/

Break the Cycle: Tom Power & Greg O'Keefe at Comshingaun‏

Tom & Greg Session 2 from Andy Yoong on Vimeo.

News just in from the Break the Cycle team in Ireland. They've just finished shooting a section with Tom Power and Greg O'Keefe. Check out the footy above and then head over to their site for a few more snaps and a great little write-up of the day. Check it out here.

The latest from 2Stage bikes....

Big congrats to our mate Pete at 2Stage Bikes and his lovely wife Sophie who had their first kid over the weekend.

Look out for baby Maddie tearing up the junior cat this season... maybe even some 2Stage kids bikes?

http://www.2stagebikes.com/

Photo of the week 2

Wow Sunday night came round FAST!

Still no camera so still on old photos.... sucks ASS but as soon as I get the camera I will be shooting a lot , and bikes as soon as possible.

Anyway this is a shot of Josh "Miami" Bryceland riding the top corners at the Fort William WC in summer 08. Everyone one was carving in to this turn and getting there bars real low so I set up and got some photos, lots of good shots from this spot but for loads of reasons this one is the best i think , just his focus and body position make it work.

Nikon D50 , 50mm 1.8 , one off cam light...THE SUN!

More next week

www.JacobGibbins.co.uk

FastlaneBMX mag issue 1

I rolled in last night to find a shady looking brown envelope waiting on the doormat. Nestled inside was none other than Issue 1 of FastlaneBMX magazine. I can tell ya already that it's MUCH better reading than the bills and crap that it normally get!

With 2 photographers at the helm (James and Fastlane Dave) the whole thing is rammed with gorgeous snaps and just looks f-ckin rock n' roll start to finish. It's mainly BMX and 4X but there's a few DH shots in there if that's more your thing. There's interviews with the lovely Shanaze Read and Kelvin Batey, loads of race repos, bike tests and even a comp to win a pro bike. I hope they keep it up - it's gonna make for a damn good boost to the UK race scene... and top notch reading on the crapper.

Get over to http://www.fastlanebmx.com/ NOW and order your copy!

Kustom Bikes Old Skool Downhill Race at Avill Ball

This weekend is gonna see the Kustom Bikes Old Skool Downhill Race at Avill Ball. It's a traditional push up, race down affair with race runs kicking off at 12PM. There's also a brand new track and cash money for the winners. Sounds fun!

Pop over and give 'em a cheer if you're in the area. More info here

Po1ntOne Racing Products now in stock at Hotlines

News just in from Pete over at Hotlines Europe.....

Hotlines Europe now have stock of Po1ntOne Racing products, including the limited edition Nickel plated products. Hurry while stocks last!

“The difference between winning and losing is Point One” www.pointoneracing.com

Proudly US designed and manufactured, seriously cool bike parts, backed up by fearsome adherence to the highest design, build and QA standards. Using the same machine shop as Lockheed-Martin, Hewlett-Packard and the US Military.

The stems come with an integrated top cap and bolt to ‘shrink-wrap’ the steerer tube weighing in at a measly 137g (31.8 clamp) for the Split Second 50 (pictured above in nickel) and 128g (31.8 clamp) for the Split Second DM (Direct Mount). (below)

Ingenious ‘Time Capsules’ eliminate the need to stack spacers on your steerer, keeping the front end slammed. Again, light weight is key with the 35mm version weighing in at 19g (without hardware).

Coined as the lightest spacers ever made, the Nano Second spacers are exactly machined to give a perfect interface between the steerer and stem. 5mm spacers weigh in almost an unnoticeable 1.1g.

Word from Hotlines is that the rather tasty Nickel stems retail around the £140 mark. However, if you don't want to see your ugly mug reflecting back at you they also come in black for £110!

Ben Ineson and Tom Rogers Memorial Fund

The guys at All Terrain Cycles just got in touch with some nice ideas to remember Tom and Ben. Have a read and get involved if you want to help.

We need your help to promote two new initiatives following the tragic loss of Tom Rodgers and Ben Ineson.

If any one wants to pass on a message to Ben and Toms parents, a Book of Condolence has been set up on All Terrain Cycles website at http://www.allterraincycles.co.uk/

These will be printed and bound into a book so the guys parents can get a chance to read these amazing tributes from all round the world for two very cool guys.

The link is http://www.allterraincycles.co.uk/condolence.html

A memorial fund has also been started to honour their memory with the intention to sponsor future events and up and coming riders.

Donations can be done on line at https://www.allterraincycles.co.uk/donations.html

Please give generously so we can give both Tom and Ben a long lasting memory.

Thanks in anticipation for your help

Tony Booth
All Terrain Cycles Ltd
Shed 48
Salts Mill
Saltaire
West Yorkshire
BD18 3LB

Co.Reg. 6536597
Tel 01274 588488

WO Team Blog: Chris M

This January has seen the start of the groundwork for the RLS4X track in Leamington Spa. The plan is to hold regular races along with gate practice open to mountain bikers and also bmx’ers. These events are due to start on the 29th March, For more info check out http://www.rls4x.com/.

The first job was to restore the track to a width wide enough to hold races. Secondly the introduction of the tarmac first berm which is an awesome addition giving loads of grip whilst being extremely resilient to the abuse of the weather and riders.



We have also made some alterations to the first section of the last straight which has made this bit of the track have multiple line choices.



The dirt jump area has also been widened and we are creating an enormous step up perfect for practicing your tricks.



Warwick University has also kindly agreed to let us have use of the four man start gate that the purchased from the Nps4x series a couple of years ago. We’re currently repainting and servicing this ready for use in the coming months.

Chris Mucklow is Wideopen’s team rider and will be flying the flag for the magazine at UK 4X and dirt jump events in ’09. He’s supported by Superstar components, Dialled Bikes and Goodrich hoses. Stay tuned for more from him every couple of weeks here on the website...

Evil Bikes on Litter

Seems like we're all just poaching the news off Littermag nowadays. They're knocking out bangers pretty much every day at the moment, how the hell are they doing it?! I didn't think they were even taking the site that seriously anymore?!

Anyway - Gordo and the crew have got some super bloody exclusive shots of the new Evil DH bike posted up for you to feast your eyes on. Pop over and take a look. Check out the Rach Atherton vid too - all good stuff.

All hail to http://www.littermag.com/

Photo of the week

Right new thing here on Wideopen. Not too sure on its proper name yet so for now I'll call it 'Photo of the week'.

Bascally every Sunday evening I'll post up a photo with a few words about it.

To start us off is this photo of Leo Forte from the 08 Empire of Dirt down in Devon. Leo was getting his whips and tables further than pretty much everyone the whole week and this is the photo that sums up how big and sideways he was going. I love the people watching, his style, his height, the lighting composition, how he jumps out from the background etc etc.

Nikon d50 , 50mm 1.8 , 2 wireless flash guns both side of the jump.

More next Sunday, with any luck I'll have my new camera and will give you some fresh stuff.

Ta - Jacob
www.JacobGibbins.co.uk

The Search 2009 Website Online

'The Search' is based in Morzine, France and offers downhill mountain bike day trips to other bike friendly resorts in the Alps. They also supported Mono's 'Foot Out Flat Out' movie so we love 'em.

They've just launched their new 2009 website - which you can check out at http://www.thesearchmtb.com/

Good luck to 'em. The new site looks great and there's also a blog you can log onto and check out what's going on over there.

Borderline Events Moelfre Race – 10th to 13th April

News just in from Borderline Events front man Mike Marsden.

They've just got the go ahead for a race at Moelfre, to be held 10th to 13th April.

The format will be:
Friday = Downhill practice day
Saturday = Downhill Practice day & 4X racing on completely revamped track
Sunday = Downhill Race
Monday = Downhill uplift day for those that have something left…..

It's going to run with support from Monster Energy, Southerndownhill, Nakedracing and of course... WIDEOPENMAG.CO.UK. They're also looking for some other sponsors, if you can help drop Mike a line at 'michael.marsden AT uni-travel.co.uk'

Check out their webber here: http://www.borderline-events.co.uk/

More details when we get 'em... photo is by Jim at ftmb.net

FastlaneBMX has LANDED

FastlaneBMX issue 1 is on sale NOW!

You've got interviews, product tests, comps, race repos and everything you wanna see from the world of BMX and 4X. All brought to you by the evil genius of Dave 'fastlane' Lane and James Alexander.

Order today and help these guys make the UK scene STRONG.

http://www.fastlanebmx.com/

Tragic loss to UK downhill

I just spotted on the dirt website that UK pinners Ben Ineson and Tom Rodgers were tragically killed in a car accident last night.

It goes without saying that it's really sad news to hear and the comments you can see popping up all over the net to remember them shows how liked they were on the UK race scene. For what it's worth all of us here at Wideopen would like to send our best wishes to their friends and family. If we can do anything at all to help, get in touch.

There's a few more details here on Bikeradar.

Elbry update 2009

Our mate and pro freeride veteran Elbry just fired over an update on what he's been up to...

KBC helmets are again pleased to re-sign long time UK freerider Elbry Sandland to its sporting athlete team roster for 2009, Elbry has been a member of the KBC family since 2003 and will again feature in KBC helmets cataloge, adverts and posters worldwide and joins AMA road racers, MX racers, Stunt riders and Bobsleighers. Elbry will be using the all new Composite PRO-X helmet featuring ULTRA COMPShell Constructed using the revolutionary “pre-preg” bag molding process, it is lighter and ensure consistency in shell thickness, The PRO-X being the first KBC off road helmet to use this technolgy. For more info on KBC see www.kbchelmets.co.uk
Elbry has also picked up support from Hansen's Monster energy drink company( www.monsterenergy.com ) for 09 and will focus on Backcountry freeride photo shoots this summer working with new up and coming UK action photographer Jonathan Williams ( www.jdwphotography.co.uk ).

co-sponsors; Marzocchi, THE, SIKSPAK, NEMA, ONEAL, GOPRO, O'NEAL, MDE BIKES, FRO Systems, KBC & Monster energy.

Wentwood Trophy Enter NOW!

The Wentwood Trophy race is set for 1st MARCH 09.

It's cheap to enter, the track is great and it's one of only a few times that Wentwood has been used for an official race. We're even gonna be bringing along some bubbly for the podium. Should be a fun day out!

Entries are selling up fast so get your name down without delay!

http://www.simplydownhill.co.uk/

New Outland kit from Raleigh‏

Our mate Gary over at Raleigh/Diamonback just sent over some snaps of the new Outland bars/stem and seat. Think really decent quality kit at prices that won't bust the bank.

Outland bar/stem/grips: 31.8mm bore x 720mm bar, lock on grips and 4 bolt D31Eight stem all in a bright white finish for £39.99. That's bar, stem and grips for 40 bucks. Bargain. White is new for '09 but you can also get 'em in black for the same price.



Mountain Man saddle: Titanium rails, Kevlar rear wrap and profiled design to help you get your arse off the bike. Pretty jazzy graphics too. Let us know in the comments below what you think of 'em. Again, £39.99.

http://www.raleigh.co.uk/

Commencal Supreme DH WC Ltd Edition‏

Look at this bad ass. To celebrate Gee and Rach's double World Champ massacre the chaps at Commencal have put together a one-off Supreme LTD edition. It's as close a replica to their race winning bikes as they can get. That's a no compromise, no expense spared, no mercy World Cup destroyer.

Save your pennies now cos they'll be available in March 09 in super limited numbers. If you aint going fast on this thing you aint going fast on anything!

£ TBC
Sizes: S/M (42/16.5) L/XL (44/17.3)

Spec:
Frame – New Supreme DH
Rear Shock – Fox DHX 5.0 (Atherton Setting)
Fork – Fox 40 RC2
Headset – Chris King 1” 1/8
Stem – Sunline V1DH Direct Mount
Bars – Sunline V1 Low
Grips – Sunline Logo Lock-on
Brakes – Shimano Saint 203mm/203mm
Shifter – Shimano Saint r/h
Chain Device – E13 LG1
Rear Derailleur – Shimano Saint short cage
Bottom Bracket – Shimano Saint
Crankset – Shimano Saint
Chain – Shimano
Cassette – Shimano 12-25T
Wheels – DT Swiss EX1750
Tyres – Maxxis High Roller 26 x 2.5”
Seatpost – Thomson Elite
Saddle – SDG Fly RL Titanium

Dig more trails

Spent the day down at George's pump track today helping out with some spade work. It's a crazy little spot just down the road from my house that's chockablock with smooth flowing lines. The pump track is an endless mix of hips, doubles, berms and even a new bowl which is going to be nuts. If you can hack 'em there's also some BIG trails. After a couple of hours we got a berm fixed up and a new take-off on the go. Summers gonna be good.

Cheers to George and crew for their hospitality and to Emily for the excellent carrot cake. Here's a few snaps... look out for more in the next issue of Wideopen.

Secret Track...

Chances are you've seen this already on Pinkbike but if not... give it a whirl. I bumped into Sam in our local woods a few months ago and everytime I see him he's working on a sketchy new line or a bloody massive gap. Super keen rider, fast as hell on his hardtail, works in the local bike shop. Lives for bikes i'd say.

The trails in this vid here are his latest effort and are hidden away somewhere in the South of the UK. Nice work mate.

Back to School...

First night ride of the year for me was rewarded with a frozen beard

Happy new year one and all - hope your Christmas was jam packed with food, drink and bikes!

Wideopen HQ is now open for the new year and we're cracking on with Issue 9 - it's gonna land early March if we can get our arses in gear. We're slack beggars at the best of times but '09 is going to see more issues of the mag, more updates to the website and maybe some deadlines being met. We'll see how that one works out...

We're also going to be keeping the website updated everyday with heaps of junk. Videos, pics, mini-interviews, articles, comps. You name it. Hopefully it'll be some quality stuff that you won't see anywhere else so stay tuned.

That's all for now. If you aint read the latest issue yet you can check it out here!

Rennie and Delfs on Morewood

Just saw this over on the Dirt website, which was seen on the littermag website....

Gravity Group is pleased to announce their partnership with Morewood Bikes as bicycle supplier and co-title sponsor along with Kenda Tires for their World Cup Team.
...
TEAM KENDA MOREWOOD will be represented by two of the most famous names in downhill racing:
Nathan Rennie (AUS) and Mitchell Delfs (AUS).
27 year old Nathan Rennie (AUS), a former overall UCI Elite World Cup Downhill Champion and Junior World Champion, is a regular World Cup podium visitor, multi-time high-class events winner and is a pleasure to watch on the bike. After several World Cup podiums in 2008, with his highlight being 2nd place on his home turf at World Cup number 7 in Canberra, Nathan Rennie is a definitive contender for podiums in both the 2009 World Cup series and the 2009 World Championships in Canbera, Australia.
...
Nathan’s compatriot, 19 year old Mitchell Delfs (AUS) is still one of the young guns on the World Cup circuit. After a good performance during the 2007 World Cup in Mont-Sainte-Anne, Canada and a 4th place at 2007 Junior World Championships, Mitch was given the opportunity to participate in his first full World Cup season in 2008. Mitch has progressed from race to race and after 2 top 10 finishes in the second part of the season he has become a contender for consistent top 10 results in the 2009 season.

The Morewood Makulu will be the downhill weapon of choice for TEAM KENDA MOREWOOD in the coming season. Nathan and Mitch will also use the Mbuzi, Shova and Ndiza for off season training and selected events.


...
Richard Carter, MOREWOOD BIKES Marketing Director/Co-Owner. Racing has always been a core value of the Morewood brand, so for us, the formation of a professional race team is a natural progression. It also further demonstrates Morewood’s commitment to Downhill, and our commitment to further developing our products at the highest level of the sport.
Gravity Group has a reputation for running one of the most professional teams on the circuit, so the opportunity of forming a partnership with them was something we just couldn’t pass up on, despite current economic sentiment.
I believe we have one of the most competitive packages on the circuit. Good bikes however are nothing without great riders, and we feel privileged to work with riders of Nathan and Mitch’s caliber.
...
Further Team News including Team Co-Sponsors and Team Schedule will be announced shortly.

For the full length press release head over to www.littermag.com

P.S. Happy new year everyone!