Vito Sport Mountain Bike Blog

The other day I was out riding a local wood, and came up behind another mountain bike rider. This is a pretty rare occurrence on my trails, so I sat in behind him- a little way back- and watched how he was riding.

And it wasn’t pretty.

To be fair, he was just riding a pretty standard, off the peg gents mountain bike, but he’d made an effort to get out on it and ride. Except he was doing more damage to the ground, and losing more control than he really needed to. He could have done with a few lessons in using his brakes.

I remember as a kid, my father telling me that the brakes were the most important thing on a bike. He’d take me to a section of our local woods and would challenge me to try sections off the brakes completely, and using only a front or rear brake- which taught me a hell of a lot.

Even in foul weather, and just using the front brake, I learnt to soften the bikes tyre contact using my arms and legs, and I had to hunt around for foliage for traction in order to avoid locking up. There are always braking hot spots- where the bike is loaded, or you hit a grippy section of terrain- you just need to know when to brake.

Since remembering the lesson my father taught me, I’ve been out in the hills challenging myself to tackle entire descents just using the front or rear brake. And I’m not talking about skidding my way down a hill- just controlled braking. It’s better for your riding and the countryside.

Since taking this on, my braking has been used sparingly, and evenly- actually making my riding a lot quicker. I’m always thinking of where I should use the brakes- try it- it’ll make you a better mountain biker too…

Hoorah, Animal Windfest is back! The south coast’s biggest free action sports festival is returning to Sandbanks, Poole on the 10^th – 12^th September 2010.

For more than a decade now we have seen Animal Windfest transform the tranquil scene of Sandbanks beach into an adrenaline junkie’s adventure playground. And with its showcase of the world’s top freesport talent by day as well as the renowned beach marquee parties by night, it is no wonder that more than 10,000 visitors come each year.

Animal Windfest allows visitors to get a real taste of the most exciting board and bike sports around and this year looks to be more exciting than ever. The showcase already includes windsurfing, stand up paddleboarding, kitesurfing, Animal Relentless Bike Tour, wakeboarding and a skateboard mini ramp as well as much, much more. But what makes this year’s Animal Windfest that little more exciting is that not only do the pro riders demonstrate these activities but the spectators too get to give it a go with taster windsurf and kite sessions being held. And with it being free it’s hard to say no to such a line up!

The Gods of wind will be called upon during the weekend-long event as the battle commences at the National Windsurfing Freestyle Championship Finals which will show us who is the best at windsurfing tricks. And along with freestylers showing off, racers will be rigging their biggest and fastest sails to compete in the Poole Series which is organised by our friend, Animal team rider Guy Cribb, who will also be one of the main contenders.

Alongside legend windsurfer Guy Cribb, other Animal team riders participating at Windfest 2010 include kitesurfing world champion Kirsty Jones Jo Ciastula, windsurfer Andy ‘Bubble’ Chambers, wakeboarder Steph Caller and the awesome Animal Relentless Bike Tour mountain bikers Martyn Ashton and Blake Samson. So make sure you don’t miss out on the poster signing sessions with these guys as it not often that all of these Animal pro riders are in the same place at the same time.

So if you are looking for a reason to wear Black tie and board shorts the Friday night ball in aid of the Richie Keefe Life and Soul Trust cancer charity will be a great night out, as well as a rare chance for you to bring your childhood imagination to life with the Superhero themed party on Saturday night. There’s simply no better way to party than donning a cape and spandex!

For the latest news from this year’s Animal Windfest and more details about all the things Animal visit www.animal.co.uk.

Oh boy, our friends at Animal certainly have been busy! Not only have they gone live with their new Animal Relentless Bike Tour site recently but they have also launched a new Bike Tour documentary too.

As the Tour has shown such positive growth of sponsorships over the years as well as the bikers finding new limits with trials and dirt bike jumps, it seems only right that Animal have created their own page on the annual occasion. The new microsite, which includes new footage, exclusive photo galleries and all competitions and tour dates, invites viewers to read and see the most up to date news throughout the Tour every year.

And with both former World Champion Martyn Ashton and dirt bike jumper Blake Samson featuring in this years competition, the Tour is having its biggest and best year to date.

But not only this, Animal has also found the time to launch the new ‘Hard Graph-T’ Bike Tour documentary as well. The newly formed documentary features Animal team rider and film maker Johno Verity who spends a weekend with the Animal Relentless Bike Tour at NASS and BikeRadar live.

With concerns expressed about a slow-increasing level of audience appreciation, Team Manager Robin Kitchin is on a mission. The video has been filmed exclusively for the launch of the site and shows viewers behind the scenes footage of Martyn, Blake and James doing their stuff on the Animal Relentless Bike Tour. Check it out at www.biketour.animal.co.uk.

Check out Kurt Brain mountain biking down a mega avalanche in Alpe d’Huez. Although it is said to be one of the most challenging DH races in the world, Kurt and his Mission Diamondback never doubted it. The difficult downhill race is seen as one of the most challenging runs because of its 2600m descent from Pic Blanc to Allemont. Although the dangerous run negotiates some of the toughest black ski runs in the area, the annual event attracts over 20 nationalities, a third of which are British.

I remember the day I first discovered mountain bikes- I was riding a local woodland on a totally inappropriate 24in wheel ‘all terrain bicycle’. Far from capable of handling all terrain- it had shamefully weak steel rims, skinny uni-crown forks and big bull-horn handlebars.

I knew it wasn’t the best bike, but when a real mountain biker started talking to me, he told me my bike was more of a mountain bike than my friends as it had cantilever brakes- rather than the flimsy calliper brakes they were sporting.

From that second, my bike was the best- it was a mountain bike.

I started reading the magazines, getting my parents to take me to races and working in bike shops. And it feels like yesterday I was just there. Today I’m staggered in the technology that’s developed so fast, and the riding styles and abilities of the many different people I’ve met.

There’s surely no other industry that’s grown so fast and far in such a short period of time- just 20 years has seen bikes change from adapted touring bikes with cast off road bike products, to fully suspended machines made from exotic frame materials, capable of tackling terrain you can barely walk on.

Many riding styles and genres have also developed- from XC, Enduro and DH to 4X, Dirt Jumping and Slopestyle- not to mention Trials and Freeride.

Take a look at some riding footage on YouTube from just a few years ago and you’ll be astonished how fast things have moved on. It’s a very exciting time to be riding mountain bikes- they’re more fashionable than they’ve ever been and are only getting more popular. The world needs greener people- and mountain bikes are an incredible way of covering a lot of ground and seeing the world we live in.

Where a few years ago calling oneself a mountain biker would conjure up images of lurid lycra and pointless prancing around the countryside, mountain biking is holding it’s head high today.

Mountain biking has people like Olympic Athlete like Oli Beckinsale; Downhill World Champion Steve Peat and Ex-World Champion Trials rider Martyn Ashton.

They’re all incredibly talented and interesting people- and seeing them do what they do just makes me want to ride more. Bring on the next 20 years…