sport: it's about sponsorship and consumption, not participation

While out looking for early evening customers of our "discreet adult entertainment" portfolio, we were disappointed to see that Ashton Court was "out of play" this weekend, on account of a 12 hour mountain bike race.

These people have to recognise that actually participating in sport is not what the sponsors of major events such as the Euro2012 cup or the london olympics actually want.
  
Every pair of buttocks on a saddle is one less arse in front of a TV, watching advertisers, getting ideas of which new consumer goods to buy.
  

Consumer purchases are the key to kickstarting the economy, and these people, by cycling for 12 hours a day, are not doing their bit

The last days of summer at St Georges Park

Contributor "NT" mails us this lovely photograph of autumn sunshine

Hello, I was cycling down Park Crescent adjacent to St George's Park at 5:30pm this evening and saw some inspired parking - I thought you might like to see it and maybe share it on the blog.

Given that the weather is about to go from heatwave to blizzards very shortly I'm sure the driver was just trying to save precious seconds in parking their car properly and walking the width of Park Crescent to reach the grassy haven of the park; this way they got straight into enjoying the last of the unexpected sunshine the second they stepped from their car.

Yes, we think WR58JXK is making the most of the late summer evenings, though we wouldn't park under trees ourselves -can make the roof and windscreen sticky. Better to use the wide green space behind it.

Black Box

One aspect of improving vehicle safety would be to record all the actions of a car to a "black box" in the car itself. Most of the data is being collected, just not being preserved: acceleration, braking and steering decisions, whether they are using the integrated hands-free phone, pressing buttons on the music player, lighting/indicator status, etc. All known, but discarded. A car could collect this and automatically preserve it whenever an emergency braking situation (ABS event) was detected, or an air-bag event occurred. and you could keep a 24-48 hour rolling log which the police could take with a warrant. The data is there, just not being retained. there

We don't just want black boxes for cars though. We want them for pedestrians, recording their iPod tracks and where they were looking, and phone usage. By strapping their iPhone to their forehead they could record this and have a head mounted camera at the same time.

Same for bikes: they could record what they were up to just before the crash.

Here then is an experimental black box recording of someone doing the Ashton Court quarry route and getting things wrong.

They make two mistakes. First, too slow. Second, failing to avoid the vegetation. That green stuff, it is meant to go to either side of the camera.

50 Acre wood: closed for maintenance

The main MTb trail at 50 acre wood is about to close for two months due to forestry work.

According to the trails group:

The trail will close in mid-April (the 14th has been give as the most likely date) and will re-open after 2 months. The yellow "family" trail along the bottom will remain open as a diversion. Trail days can continue over there in the meantime so hopefully when it reopens it will be in better shape than ever.

One might think that doing forestry work during the wet and miserable months would be the right thing to do, rather than when more people are out using dry trails. But the forestry people need nice weather for their work, which only spring provides. Riding the trails during the spring months -the months where, in 2006, 2007 and 2008, we actually saw dry days for weeks at a time, would make everyone complacent and lazy.

What can be done in the meantime is fix those trails up from the winter mud, the next Ashton Court trail day is going to be on Saturday 11th April; they'll be working on the middle section of the Quarry trail. 50 acre wood work will take place on Sunday April 19.

Heartwarming

Someone has been teaching their little one how to do the Purdown Camp DH (non-technical, but steep and slippery in the wet, scary in the dark), on one of the sit-and-steer toddler
cars

This is a brave thing for the kid to attempt, and we are impressed. By starting at the age of four, the child will be ready for speed when they get their first mini-quad bike in a couple more years.

Ashton Court: spring mud

Spring: last time to enjoy the snow before next winter, and in Ashton Court, last time to enjoy the mud before the summer rains return. It's not ideal though.

It's warm and dry enough that a lot of people are coming out, out without mud tyres, instead bringing all-round MTB tyres and the optimistic belief that they can get round without getting covered in mud.

These spring mountain bikers are trying to get round the course mud free, here skirting round the deep puddles.

This is widening the trail. It was tighter during the deep winter mud season; all these people trying to stay clean are downgrading the area. They should embrace mud and set their bike up for Bristol, not dryer places like Wales.

Team Psyclewerx

Who is this small child holding a very fancy looking bike outside Psyclewerx?

He is not just any small child, he is the bike shop's sponsored downhiller, Laurie Greenland, age 12. Recently taking part in the mini-DH races in the Forest of Dean, where he came he is 12 years old and he came 7th in his first race in the 12 - 14 years category

It may look too big from the front, but the back end is sized right for a kid, and the travel at both ends is fairly serious.

We don't know what the sponsorship deal covers, but it does apparently include free servicing. Given that the kid could do a wheelie -and none of us at Bristol Traffic can- we don't expect to get any such sponsorship any time soon. Which is a shame, as those brakes look like they'd be good in the wet.

Ashton Court: warm, dry and unnaturally pleasant

For anyone planning on taking advantage of the warm weather and heading out the woods near the city, we have an emergency warning that mud conditions are bad. No snow, no mud, no water. We have some photos here of how much better it was last month, so people can reminisce about how good it's been this winter, except for those people still living in denial.

The strangest thing about this Sunday morning's ride is how busy it was. People going round 50 acre wood, the trail by the wall, the trails by the quarry -the latter being fixed up by the Bristol Trails Group as we speak -more help there is always welcomed, Mar 21 being the next work day.

Today, this same path as above is now a pale dusty brown, with lots of people riding round the recommended direction, and a fair few going the other way, though as spring sets in, those people need to recognise that contraflowing is something you can't do a midday on a weekend any more -too dangerous at busy times. Certainly lots of people had to keep diving out the way when we contraflowed it at race speed.

The biggest problem with warm dry weather is that it is so unlike normal Bristol MTB conditions that people aren't going to be geared up for it -even the technique is different, as cornering and route planning changes, and we locals don't know what to do when there aren't knee-deep swamps of mud to land in when things go wrong. You need to take off all the warm clothes, the thick gloves and drop down to T-shirts; you may even need to think about tyre changes, but that's possibly a bit premature.

The last three years, March-May have been warm and dry, but a monsoon kicked in at the end of May, just before half-term, with fresh rain and mud that lasted until September. Presumably those conditions will recur this year, so rather then switch to general purpose tyres for S/W England and Welsh conditions we should accept that this aberration of warm and dry won't last. Just put the mountain bike away for a few weeks, do some road work, hang round the gyms that are now empty again as new year's resolutions have waned, and generally avoid the dry stuff.

What it is good for, incidentally, is evening work. The gate is open until 19:15 even though it's still dark from 18:00, and with almost no mud to wash off, night rides are easier.

Mud: enjoy it or leave

Here are some other people out enjoying the excellent mud-with-snow conditions on Ashton Court this sunday morning

Expressions of glee on their faces, "chaos! everything!" they say, as they sprint past, faster than I could cycle for the last five years.

Leaving nothing but a trail of mud up the back of their clothes as they vanish into the next mudfield.

Elsewhere, over in 50 acre wood, some people didn't seem so happy. One of them pushing their bike up, the others pining for Spain and looking doubtful about claims that these mud conditions are excellent.

While Spain is good, the pound euro rate renders it a premium destination. Even wales is an expensive trip abroad, or a long pedal. Get used to Bristol, get used to mud. Or leave. now. Your weaknesses have been noted. Especially you at the back, pushing. But, you were wearing shorts, which makes up for things. This time.

Ashton Court: Best Mud for a decade!

While Friday's snowfall gets rained away, it is giving way to some of the best mud conditions Ashton Court has had since the mid 1990s. Snow, ice, slush, mud, muddy water -all of it, all at the same time!

Route planning is difficult. Do you commit for the straight through the puddle option, which will have traction problems, swerve left over what looks like snow, but could be a snowbridge, a thin layer of snow over mud, or go for that shallow mud that could be workable, but it could turn out to be a mudbridge, mud on ice on a deeper pool of mud?

There's no way of knowing until you commit: what wonderful uncertainty.

What would you do?

This is why Bristol is a cycling city. Not for the slightly widened St-W to Muller-Road path, but for the excellent mud at weekends and evenings. So we are grateful that on the night of the launching of the Cycling City route, that they managed to organise such excellent mud.

"Wildifying" Kingsdown

For the first few days this week there was a river running through Kingsdown

Not just water, gritty water, giving it a feel of Alpine glacial runoff, or maybe a Scottish river crossing in one of the empty glens, a crossing that would leave your feet numb for the next few hours. When combined with all the other MTB facilities in the area -the steps, the cobbles, the downhills, the water mains leak (for that is what it is) is creating an urban-MTB-fun-area without any mud to deal with afterwards. This is something we should be proud of in our Cycling City.



Since then, someone came and dug up somerset street, fixing the water leak.



All the cobbles are back, the wild feel of the road lost. Never mind, it was good while it lasted.

Spring Hill: Kingsdown's Downhill

Some more research into the mythical Boxing Day staircase race turns out that it was never a race, just a fun ride, through the stepped streets of Kingsdown. That's a tradition to bring back, down Spring Hill. Normally that only gets coverage here at the top, where it becomes gentle enough to allow motor vehicles to park across the road. Further down, it's stepped.

The middle section has some barriers at the top to stop you entering at speed, but then there's a fairly straight run with a dropoff to Dove Street, one with inadequate visibility to be sure there isn't something about to run you over.

You have to cross that road to enter the final descent

This is a number of flights of stairs, none on their own too hard, with some runouts to allow you to change your mid or just drop a bit of speed. It then levels off into a good runout stretch into the dispersion zone that is King Square.

This would be a great place for a Downhill Race, "Kingsdown Technical". The square would be where the finish would be, the audience would get a fantastic view of the bikes coming down at speed.

This is something to think about. It would be an exciting Cycling City event - a downhill run in the heart of town, where anyone can come to see it. It would make for some great photos of the city and make up for some of the bad press it's been getting in the cycling world, with its recent war-on-pavement-cycling. Hold the event on a Sunday and there's no through traffic to speak of; closing the roads wouldn't be hard. And if it can't be done officially, it would be a good night-time event.

cycling city work begins

There's a sign up on Muller road, proud of the fact we live in a cycling city, and promising progress.


The first developments have begun, although this bit of work was planned earlier on. Some of the cash is coming from Cycling City. The path from St Werburgh's (Hopetoun) is being widened to reduce pedestrian/bike problems, and perhaps link up with more improvements of the route north to MOD Abbey wood

Monday was the last chance to enjoy this stretch as a bit of "off-road"; this morning the bulldozer was out and this path was being dug up.

From a commuter perspective this is progress: no thorn bushes to tear holds in your nice waterproofs; no mud to cause problems at either end. From a mountain biker perspective: more tarmac, less fun. Nobody ever takes tarmac away, so this bit of rough-stuff is gone forever. Such is progress.

Incidentally, the Bristol Cycling Campaign was in favour of the development, but felt that without safe crossings of Ashley Down Road and Muller Road, it would be inadequate.

Eismud, Ja?

In between reviewing the parking and transport options for this city, the Bristol Traffic Project likes to keep everyone abreast of the local mountain biking conditions. Because if there is a reason why Bristol is a popular place for leisure cycling, it isn't the hills, it's the offroad and backroad cycling for leisure -although we think FirstBus also have a lot of contributions in the matter.

We also like to invent/introduce new words, and are looking forward to building up a good vocabularly for mud conditions. Today, Eismud, a mock-German word to describe Mud that freezes at night and may or may not be frozen during the day.

If you see mountain bikers covered in mud mid-afternoon, you know they've been to Ashton Court or Leigh Woods, and now have a bike to wash or ignore, clothes to remove carefully and dry out before reuse. Conditions: claggy, not too wet. If that is what you like, 12:00-15:00 is good as temperatures are at their highest.

What if you don't want to do the bike wash, yet don't want problems with bringing something muddy back into the house? What if those shoes/boots are the same ones you commute on, and don't want them still damp and flaking off chunks of mud all the next days? The answer is: Eismud. Mud that turns back into ice once the air temperature drops enough. Once frozen, it's dry and does not stick to you or the bike.

To ride in Eismud conditions, wait until near sunset; head out to A.C on a clear afternoon with lights just as everyone else is leaving. 4pm is good; the gates are open till about half past five. Then ride the trails in near or absolute darkness. The iced up mud and broken bits of pedal reflectors will show you the route, though watch out for the downhill towards the quarry section where the path appears to fork at a fallen tree. Take the left fork, as the tree blocks the right hand path.

The main problem with these rides is the temperature: it is very cold. Even if you dress warm, your hands, legs and toes will suffer. And because the mud is solid, its a hard ride for a hardtail. Stand, or get used to the bumps. But, no mud to clean off -it's a trade off.

It's also a bet: if the day is too warm, you set out at sunset and still get covered in mud, then get frozen at the end and have to ride home cold with a bike that needs cleaning and damp clothes for the next day. There's more risk on cloudy days here, as their evenings stay warmer. Look for the clear skies and the cold nights will follow. And then -Eismud!

On a more technical note, it is worthwhile to consider where these repeated Melt/Freeze cycles impact the consistency of the mud, making it strong or weaker. Certainly in ski/winter mountaineering circles. the impact of Melt/Freeze Metamorphosis, "M/F Met" is considered far more hazardous than Equitemperature Metamorphosis, "ET Met", that being sublimation from solid to gas and recrystallisation within the snowpack. M/F Met creates a crust layer on the snow which resists bonding to layers of snow above, so creating a high-avalanche risk weak layer, which may remain hidden many metres below the surface [source: Staying Alive in Avalanche Terrain, Bruce Tremper, 2001]. If the Eismud layer were end up below the surface there could be a similar risk. Given the level gradients in Ashton Court and requirement for sustained low temperatures, this risk must be considered minimal

Big Air at Eastville

A polite note from one of the Trustees of the Narrows advises that offroad biking round their St Werburgh's wilderness area is not encouraged. Alternative offroad commute options are to be used. Here is one: UWE to Frenchay Park road via the Portmerion estate, and down that track. Over at the roundabout, and then turn right into Eastville park. Which brings you to the Eastville Park Technical Area, here being used properly by someone who knows how to handle a bike: "K".

In a fit of user incompetence picasa managed to delete the video, where he described his bike -Specialized Hardrock- with some nice uprated Marzocchi Bomber forks. With the way he was getting the bike over the jumps, those forks are earning their keep more than most of the MTB suspension forks taken round our city. Nice riding, and a reminder that there some excellent places in-city to push a bike to its limits.

A very muddy christmas!

Thursday December 25, 2008. A day to celebrate.

Thursday: Thorsday. Thor - the Viking God. A good of thunder and thunderstorms. And what do thunderstorms bring? Rain. Which, when mixed with soil, produces Mud.

Thor, then is the Viking god of mountain biking. Let us celebrate him by getting out there and covered in mud.

There are long-whispered rumours of a secret downhill race in boxing day, one down the various staircases of Bristol. More details on this would be welcomed. If it doesn't exist, then we should organise one. For now: Ashton Court golf course cafe, 10am, boxing day, with whatever Santa brought you.

Winter Urban Commuting

A lot of people have been coming off their bikes on the railway path or other parts of the town this week. Special mention to Fraser, Sarah, Jenny and Caroline for all coming off on the RP. Remember: tarmac gets slippery when covered in ice. But mud, mud gets crisp and crunchy and barely sticks to you or your clothes.

Here is the view from the Narroways. The railway line goes over the M32, and is what could gain from having the North Fringe Expressway on it. The appeal of this route is it would be free of traffic, traffic lights, and hill climbs.

Sadly, that will mean no downhills either, which would be boring. We suspect Josh's lack of decent brakes on his runaround is affecting his judgement.

Being bitterly cold, most of the dog walkers are having a lie in. This leaves it nice and quiet: a little bit of up and down track in the heart of the city. That's St Andrews in the distance. In the foreground, a flight of steps with a steep dirt option to the side.

Down the steps, theres a frosty bowl of frozen grass, followed by a fun downhill to St Werburgh's. This is the kind of commuting to enjoy on a winter morning. An empty trail on a crisp day.

Once down in St Werburgh's, there's a path on to Muller Road. This is going to be part of the cycling city North Fringe route. Josh thinks that the railway bridge should be used to avoid this road, on account of it being the busiest road in the area, but the council does not yet have a plan to deal with how the crossing at the existing endpoint of the path.

Of course, that is not an issue right now, as the Muller road roadworks have taken this path offline. It is not clear what paperwork is required to formally close a route, and whether any such paperwork has been filled in. What is clear is that if you go to the end of the St werburgh's-Muller Road path, you have a bit of a climb back up again, at least for the next week or so.

Mud conditions: fresh winter mud on a solid base

After last week's anticlimax at Ashton Court, due to inadequate mud for the time of year, it's good to see a week of heavy rain has brought conditions back to what they should be for early December. Fresh winter mud on a solid base.

There's lots of puddles, and around the puddles 1-3 cm of slippery mud; very liquid and hard to gain any traction on. Beneath that there's a more solid layer that tyres may get a bite into. Gate closes at about 17:30; the suspension bridge is open to all traffic.

It looks a bit frostier this morning, which may turn the upper layers of mud and water into something crustier. There is a risk here, the "mud bridge", in which you ride onto what appears to be a solid layer of mud only for it to break under your weight and drop you into the pools beneath. Follow mountaineering best practises for glacier work here and send the heaviest and most clumsy person out in front.

No Mud?

Ashton Court is the official home of mud. Even if you dont go there you can see the people returning, get a feel for conditions, just by looking at mountain bikers on their way home.

Its disappointing, therefore, that Sunday's cyclocross race seemed to choose a mud-free route.


Down the "non-technical" side of the woods, a bit of a zigzag in the trees, then uphill

While not dry, it isn't mud. Not like 50 acre wood or even the entrance to Ashton Court itself. And as for Leigh Woods, well, that's something to fear.

While its more fun than, say, a sunday morning road ride out in that biting wind, it's not really Cyclocross. Here, for reference, is a video from a recent event in Oregon, a video by my friend John "Mud Bath" Wilson, someone who has the luxury of a hot water tap in his back garden so he can hose himself and his bike down after such events, all in one go.

That's what cyclocross is about. Watching grown men wallow in mud. Perhaps at the next event on the schedule things will be better.

Fresh Winter Mud!

It's been a bit dull out there recently -no good rainfall since August, leaving mud conditions in Ashton Court/Leigh woods a bit boring. Summer mud that was collecting into ruts

But here in Bike! is someone bringing the good news that with this week's rain, we've got fresh winter mud to get out and enjoy

The CX races begin at 10:30 am for the sprogs, later for juniors and grownups out by the quarry. Conditions will be ideal.