REPORT: ENDURO SIX

Just got word that Matt and Chritian finished third in the Elite men's pairs race. Full report and pics now live thanks to Matt and Rob Crayton.

Both the guys were on ASRs and running the Kenda Karma/Small Block tyres - apparantly they hooked up great on the one dry day the UK has had this year!

"After a week of heavy rain I wasn’t looking forward to racing in six hours of mud but when we turned up on the Sunday I couldn’t believe how dry the place was, even the water splash was a bit of a damp squib.

We set up at the far end of the paddock with the Yeti easy-up which dwarfed all the fishing brollies and makeshift awning to keep kit dry; the bloke next to us was well chuffed that he was going to get some free shelter just in case the forecast wasn’t right and it rained before 4pm.

Christian drew the short straw for the run (thank god) and finished it in a very respectable time and way faster than I would have.

Our plan was to do double laps and we’d already been joking around about who would get the fastest Yeti lap and with Christians second lap coming in at a blistering 0:25:21 I was starting to worry he’d already done it !! As the battle raged on I slipped into the lead of the times battle but amazingly when we checked the time after the event we’d both clocked a 0:24:57 so it was a tie.

For those of you who’ve ridden the course as part of the Enduro Six or SITS the organisers have ploughed a lot of money into making the course more resilient to the elements, they’ve dug out and hard cored the trails through blue bell woods and a couple of other places. Personally I don’t think much thought has been put into building the corners on these sections but as the race carried on natural berms started to appear and track just got faster and faster so be the end it rode well.

All in all it was a cracking race, we had some good banter with our fellow Yeti riders on the trail and getting 3^rd place was the icing on the cake.

I’m taking a few days off the old bike and having a play on the local climbing wall and will get back into some steady mile before going to the Pyrenees with a couple of friends training to do an Ironman (mad fools).

I believe the next event for the Yeti team is round two of the British Mountain Bike Series where our two Expert riders Luke and Christian will be going head to head, that should be interesting ;)."

PHOTO: ROB CRAYTON PART 1

I have been seriously lazy. You'd think having a pro photo guy on the team would mean a stockpile of pics of everyone in their new kit. Alas, that has not happened yet. Luckily, Rob Crayton fired us over some cool shots, and some er... 'unique examples.'

First from the British Mountain Bike Series at Sherwood:

Chris - sans-saddle

Matt

And secondly at Midlands XC R1

Ruth takes the Expert win

Matt hits up the podium

Matt and Chris celebrate with some bromance

TECH: SUMMER TYRES

Just got some fresh tyres through from Kenda which would have proved great on the weekend. Thanks to the great British weather, today they are renderred useless.

Still, they look nice and weigh in light. First up is a Karma 1.95 L3RPRO at 450grams. Then there is the Small Block 8 at 460grams. That tyre really won't see the bike for at least two weeks!

Full details, pics and real reviews to come as soon it dries out and it is sensible to mount these babies up!

TECH: TYRE TESTING 2

After the first instalment, tyre testing has continued. First an update on the Blue Groove. While this is the front tyre of choice on hard surfaces like rock and hardpack it performs poorly on anything loose, letting go spectacularly without warning. And with that, I present to you tyre testing part two.



The Kenda Nevegal Stick-E L3RPRO 1.95 is another condition-specific tyre. As always the Nevegal was used on a Stan's ZTR Olympic rim with yellow tape and Stan's sealant. It aired up fine using a track pump and sealed very well with many less leaks in the sidewall than the Blue Groove. You can ride these tyres from the box, rather than waiting a couple of days.

A central line of ramped knobs keeps rolling respectable, while the outer rows, supported by spider webs on the carcass, resemble a cutdown mud tyre. This design is optimum for riding in loose, dry conditions - if you can pick up the trail surface you are riding on, then this is the tyre for you.

Where the Blue Groove let go, the more substantial Nevegal hooked up in the turns. Roots were handled without problem thanks to that mellow central pattern and soft compound rubber.

The downsides? This tyre is 554g, 100g more than a Blue Groove. It won't enjoy mud - while able to go through the stuff with some drifting grip is uninspiring because of the central ramped tread. Cutting this line would improve things if you were racing on a track where a significant portion was muddy. My advice would be to run a far more aggressive tyre if you're in a mudbath though. Finally, for racing I'm not mounting this tread on the back anytime soon. It is heavy and slow rolling and generally you can get away with the back wheel getting wild.

Overall, this tyre excells on the front in anything dry and loose, especially loam and copes great with roots too. You'll see us with this tyre at the Midlands XC, Gorrick and Southern XC venues.

Once we're done reviewing the whole Kenda range we'll post a total tyre guide for UK racing. Still to come are tests on the Small Block 8, Karma and Short Tracker.

REPORT: MIDLANDS XC R1

Last weekend the team were in the Midlands and Matt took the first podium of the year - third in the Masters race. Here's his very brief report - he asked me to flower it out a bit but I'll let you fill in the gaps - Matt prefers to let his pedals do the talking!

"I’m pants at writing stuff so I thought that if I passed on some info you’d be able to make it sound good!

Ruth got the win in the Expert women’s, Christian was fourth in the Expert men’s.

Warm weather, cool course, very fast with attacking climbs and fast singletrack which showed the difference between mountain bikers and roadies. Tyres worked fantastically on the dusty ground, Karma on the front and Small Block 8 rear. Standard tyres run tubeless that worked just fine.

Next event for me is the Enduro 6 with Christian (Pairs) this Sunday them I’m off to the Pyrenees for some hill training… good times…

Not at the next round of the nationals I’ll be in the sun, but that is balanced out by the pants weather forecast given for Sunday. Oh well, to coin Christians phrase; 'Win or Die (of hypothermia) trying…'

Finally, in an update from Germany: Dibbers (Martyn) is doing 50 miles each morning and when he isn’t riding he’s climbing grades 5 to 6 out door routes on the local crags… He’s going to come back twice as fast as he left!"

So, that’s the word from inside the Yeti UK camp. Not sure what to worry about more; Brookside smashing the miles in or Fatty off to the Pyrenees. Guess we’d all benefit from turning the pedals hard and therefore avoiding the wooden spoon of slowest rider at the next race!

TECH: TOP TIPS FROM KENDA

Fresh from the factory - check out the blog of our tyre sponsor here and find out insider secrets about the whole Kenda range. Everything from ride characteristics through to tyre cutting is covered with alot more to come.

This year we are all using the Kenda range and getting to grips with a tyre to suit every condition. Soon there will be an update on the Blue Groove Stick-E L3RPRO 2.0, as reviewed earlier and a first look at the Nevegal Stick-E L3RPRO 1.95. Another consignment containing the Small Block 8 and Karma tyres is on the way so before the season is out I'll be sure to detail all of the strengths and weaknesses of each tyre, making your choice at the counter that bit easier.

If you need your tyre fix now, go to Kenda UK.

NATIONAL XC R1

Two weeks of mixed fortunes for the team! I can't really report well on what happened at the first round of the British Mountain Bike Series as I was not there. After resting and coming into form I got hit hard by the sickness bus and there was no way I could race, ride a bike or do anything in public. Our other riders could at least have a go.

Joining me in the ranks of 'unfortunate times to have something go wrong' was Chris who had his saddle fall off halfway round the Expert race. He spent an hour wondering exactly how he'd explain any accidents to the medics. Fortunately that didn't come through and he finished 36th.

It does get better though. Ruth rode well into 7th Expert for the ladies and can't wait for the hilly courses. And Matt got the result of the day with 15th in Masters - otherwise known as the ex-elite category. Don't believe me? The top five had a clear two minutes over sixth place, which Matt was only one minute adrift from...

Next big race is the National XC round 2 at Dalby on May 10 with a host of regional events in between for the mistakes and illnesses to be ironed out.