MARIN NEWS & REVIEWS

“Last week we headed up to Belmont (a local riding spot) to do some practice and had a load of fun, trying new lines and sections, including a steep technical rock garden! I rode up there during the week on my hard tail, a 25 mile round trip, just to see if it was do-able and am going to make it into my new training route, leg strength from the road riding there, and skills from riding the tracks there.

This week we went to race at the UK Bike Park at their Summer round 3…”

Last weekend was the UKBikePark Summer DH Round 3 race. The last round was the Southern Championships, where Dan came 2nd in the race overall, so he was looking forward to this race. It was being held on a new track that Dan hadn’t raced on before, so with a forecast for a dry weekend, but with heavy rain having fallen on the Friday before, it was looking to be an interesting race.

Dan: “Practice went well until about half way through the day, when I was trying to get a line through a tricky off camber root section, and came in with some speed, hit the line but both my wheels washed out from under me, and I went from full speed to stopped very quickly, landing on my head and shoulder on some roots. The end result of this was a concussion and a sore shoulder – I didn’t ride the root section for the rest of the day, and practised the rest of the track instead.

Sunday didn’t start well either, I tried to hit the root section again, but did the same thing as I had done on Saturday, so decided to slow down and tripod through the section to make sure I didn’t do myself any further damage. I had my lines sorted for the rest of the track, and was feeling good about racing. My first run was not good, I felt like I was going super slow, and I was braking in stupid places and just not flowing well, I think this is down to hitting my head the day before, and just not being able to push hard. My second run went much the same, I tried to push harder, but started making mistakes, and I felt really slow, I took 2 seconds off my first run time, but was still 5 seconds off the pace, a pace that I know I can ride at, but for some reason just could not get myself to.

I finished 4th, which is not bad, but I really wanted another podium, and I know I can ride at the same pace, if not faster than the guys who were on the podium. Next race is the British Downhill Series at Llangollen which I am really looking forward to. My riding has come on so much, and I’m looking forward to seeing where I place at a National on the hardest track in the UK. I am looking for a top 10 finish.”

A difficult race for Dan – the crash on Saturday really seemed to affect his riding speed on the Sunday. I think some subconcsious self-preservation became present when he came near the root section where he had fallen. I was standing two corners before it for both race runs and his approach speed through the sections just before it seemed to be noticeably slower than he had been early on in Saturday practice, and slower than his rivals.

This is being written in the tent at Llangollen, where we’ve arrived for the British Downhill Series Round 3, on the anniversary of his first National level race at the same venue. This time the track is the same one used for the Welsh Championships a few weeks ago.

Tim & Dan.

Call back soon for more details………………………….

Marin’s Mount Vision has been a UK favourite for many years. For 2010 it’s been revised to be more trail-friendly, leaving less of a foot in the cross-country/marathon race camp.

Ride and handling: Awesomely smooth with neutral, confidence-inspiring handling.

Frame: A little lighter and better looking for 2010.

- Bike Radar.

Read more @…………..

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/bikes/mountain/product/mount-vision-57-10-36411

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Buy a copy of the Summer issue of Cycling Plus to see the Marin Ignacio in action.

“On the road, the Ignacio is Solid, with a bombproof ride quality that smooths out the most broken up of city streets.” – Cycling Plus

Come along to the event and see the latest 2011 Marin bikes for the 1st time.

We shall be exhibiting at the expo and will have bikes available for the demo loop.

http://live2010.bikeradar.com/

Marin are delighted to be attending Mountain Mayhem for the 3rd year in a row. The event has an amazing heritage and is always supported by the core enthusiast in big numbers. We really enjoy meeting new and old customers in the unique atmosphere of Mayhem, come along and say hello.

We will be exhibiting at the expo and taking part in the dirt demo where a selection of the latest  Marin bikes will be available to ride free of charge.

http://www.osmountainmayhem.co.uk/

“Well built urban fixer that’s fun to ride and easy on the eye” – road.cc

“Out on the ‘mean’ streets of Bath the Dominican was a joy, the sub-1m wheelbase and low weight making it feel responsive and very chuckable in traffic. The frame gives a good ride, there’s plenty of stiffness for when you’re stamping away from the lights but it feels springy like a steel frame should. It’s not overbuilt and the thin stays and 28mm tyres soak up plenty of chatter from badly surfaced roads”.

……..read more @ http://road.cc/content/review/18385-marin-dominican

http://www.bikemagic.com/event-news/ridgeway-100-midsummer-enduro/8115.html

Last weekend was the second round of the UKBikePark Summer Series, but it had also been assigned double points from British Cycling and named as the Southern Championships – with the top rider from the South/South-West Region getting the title of Southern Champion for their age category.

Over to Dan:

“Saturday went well, the track was very wet at the beginning of the day, but was drying well towards the end. The track itself was very good, it had a mixture of features, a rock garden up top, techy corners through the middle, and a flat out section at the bottom. I got all my lines dialled on Saturday and was having fun on the track and feeling good for the race.

On Sunday the track was much drier, and as a result it was riding faster. Practice was good, I was hitting the track fast, hitting all my lines, and getting loose in the rock garden and the flat out bottom section. I experimented with a few lines in the rock garden just to make sure I was on the best line, and planned to do this with other parts of the course, but unfortunately, due to a rider being stopped on a tricky off camber root section, and the marshal not giving prior warning, I came into the roots at race pace, only to see that the rider was in the way, and had to ditch into a tree to avoid serious damage to both me and him. Unfortunately this ended with my finger being pinned between a tree, and my bike, which resulted in 7-8 cuts on my finger, and a considerable amount of blood spilling down my finger. A quick trip to the medics, 3 plasters and some tape later I was ready to go again. After checking I could still grip the bars I went back to nail my line through the roots.

The first race runs came around, and I decided to take an easy run, to get a decent time and avoid damaging my finger further. I hit all my lines, kept good speed and felt good all the way down. When I got back to the top I was told I was leading the category by 1 second, which I was very pleased with, considering I had ridden conservatively. For my second run I knew I could take at least a second off my time, but was aiming to take 2 off as I knew that everyone else would up the pace and be pushing hard. I rode hard, hitting all my lines and carrying speed where I knew I was loosing it on my first run. I backed off in some places as I really didn’t want to hit my hand again and cause further damage to it. I managed to take 1.4 seconds off my time, but unfortunately someone else went slightly faster and beat me to 1st by 0.09!

Overall I am very pleased with this, I have come away from this race with the Southern Champion title, and being beaten by such a small amount of time, with an injury, is good as I know that if my finger wasn’t hurt, and I hadn’t backed off slightly in some parts, I could take the win.

Next race is round 3 at the UK Bike park on June 20; I am aiming to podium again.”

The rider who beat Dan by 9 hundredths of a second to the overall race win is from the Wales Region, so although Dan lost narrowly for the race win, he was named Southern Champion since he was the top regional rider. The field for the race was quite large, at 38 riders registered on the Sunday morning, a much bigger field than normal for the UKBikePark races due to the Southern Champion title being available.

This was another milestone race for Dan, as it was not only his first Regional Champion title, but also the first time he has experienced leading the race after the first race run, with the added pressure of having to improve for his second run (and managing to do that) and worry about how much other competitors could improve too.

Dan and Tim.