MARIN NEWS & REVIEWS

TEAM Aberdeen Asset Management – Warren Bates, Nick Gracie, Ruth Metcalfe and Tom Gibbs – rode their hearts out at Primal Quest in the searing heat of the Utah desert. Although various body parts showed wear and tear the Marin Mount Visions were up to the challenge. Ruth achieved Supergirl status after a fall that saw her smash her arm. Even this did not make her complain. This is Warren’s hilarious report on Primal Quest – The good, the bad and the ugly:

Travelling to Primal Quest and pre-race preparation was the standard international AR fare. Struggle to get kit to airport, sweet talk harassed airline staff, remove weight from box A and surreptitiously add it to box B to avoid excess charges, get bored on plane, vow never to fly Northwest Airlines again, hang about for a couple of days to complete a mandatory safety check that only proved you knew how to capsize a kayak in a swimming pool, use the climbing kit check to re-learn how to ascend a rope whilst moaning to the organisers about how every single AR event requires a different set up, etc. More »

The new Marin Quake took top honours at the ‘underground’ Squamish downhill event.

All three podium places – for Mike Jones, Shaums March and Kyle Ritchey – came on the Quake AL7 and the stiff competition was simply blown away by the Marin riders who made the event their own. More »

The Professionals

The Marin/Whyte Team came in a highly creditable ninth place after two superb last laps. Team boss Paul Lasenby reviews the SSMM:

It was a hot weekend and they had shortened the laps this year. The quicker riders were getting round in about 35 mins – which is fast and furious. Luke Smith managed a 31 minute lap which was outstanding!

The entire Team worked well all through night with no mechanical problems or punctures. And we won a lot of brownie points by being the only team to offer 24 hour support to ANYONE who needed assistance! More »

Mountain Mayhem came, was seen and conquered all in its wake! The roughest, toughest event on the MTB calendar in the UK saw a great effort from the professional Marin racing team and the ‘almost-pro’ team selected from the BikeMagic.com website. Here are some of the riders’ stories:

Dave Pickering

Receiving the e-mail on Tuesday which said ‘be ready to race at the weekend’ was unexpected to say the least! More »