News + Events

More holidays - Les Gets this time

"Hello there, My husband and I run a chalet in Les Gets, France, where we cater for mountain bikers who come to ride in the Portes du Soleil. We have put together a special offer package for groups of 6+, and I was wondering whether this might be of interest to the members of your club.

 For £295pp the 6-night fully-catered stay includes: Breakfast, lunch and 3-course evening meal Accommodation: All rooms are ensuite and offer stunning views overlooking the valley Transfers to and from Geneva Les Gets is part of the massive Portes du Soleil, a vast mountain region in the Alps which boasts the title of biggest MTB area in Europe. With 650 km of trails linked by 24 lifts, it's a fantastic place for MTB enthusiasts, no matter what their ability. Our chalet is in a fantastic position – enroute from Morzine to Les Gets with stunning views overlooking the valley. We have an outdoor hot tub, large terrace and garden, and bike storage and cleaning facilities. What's more, Les Gets is only an hour's drive from Geneva. I am aware that some clubs organise trips away, and wondered whether what we offer might be of interest to those members who are looking for an MTB break abroad this summer. If you were interested in our special offer then I could send you a PDF flier outlining all the details, which is easy to circulate to members.

To find out more about MTB in Les Gets and the Portes du Soleil, please visit the official Les Gets MTB website: www.paradisvtt.fr or our own website: www.puremountainholidays.com/summer/mountainbiking

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. Best wishes, Catherine Barker"

and more - Undiscovered Alps:

"Dear Mountain biker!

I would like to offer your club members a 5% discount on all our mountain biking events and trips or if you like we can tailor make you a club trip at a preferential rate.

Put the UK on the french mountain biking map and participate in the OFFROAD RAIDs - have a look at our Champsaur OffRoad Raid packages on 11 and 12 July from 226€ per person

http://www.undiscoveredalps.com/pages/Champsaur-Offroad-Event

Have a look at our Tour de Lac de Serre Poncon - the biggest dammed lake in Europe surrounded by wild unchartered mountain biking territory! from €455 per person

http://www.undiscoveredalps.com/pages/Tour-du-Lac-de-Serre-Poncon-holiday

Or we can tailor make you a trip including downhilling in the resort of Orcieres with lift access, cross country routes to die for (guided or self guided) and a mix of other activities to give your legs a rest including canyoning, white water canoeing or rafting, climbing, walking, paragliding, caving, via ferrata....!

To register for your club discount or for more information, please reply to this email.
 

Look forward to hearing from you.

Very Best wishes

--
Sally Jackson
Undiscovered Alps"

Leeds Met Uni seeking guinea pigs

"Hi,

I am a PhD student at Leeds Metropolitan University studying preparation methods for exercising at high altitude. My first study is looking into the potential benefits of Powerbreathe training, which trains the muscles involved in breathing, since going to altitude makes you breathless which is uncomfortable and can affect your performance.

Powerbreathe training has been shown to improve sea-level performance in cycling, running and rowing therefore you may benefit from this study even if you have no plans to go to altitude.

If any of your members (and friends) have experienced high altitude, I would like to know if they are interested in participating in this study.

The requirements are that you must be aged between 18-40, have previously been to an altitude over 3500m (revised 2nd April - 2000m)  on at least 2 occasions, have never experienced altitude sickness and have regularly trained for at least 2 years, exercising 3-4 times a week for at least an hour and a half each time (including warm-up and stretching).

You would be required to visit us on a total of 8 occasions over 8-9 weeks. It is important that you are not planning on taking any trips to altitude during this time (i.e. skiing, trekking the Inca trail, mountain race at altitude).

The first session (familiarisation 1) will last approximately 1 hour and you will rest in a room at simulated altitude equivalent to 3000m to assess your susceptibility for altitude sickness. You will then have your body composition assessed and perform some simple lung function tests.

Within the next few days you will be required to repeat the lung function tests and complete an incremental walking test on a treadmill at 3000m. The maximum speed will be 5km/hr and the maximum gradient will be 16% and you will carry a backpack weighing 12.5kg. Following a 15 minute break you will then run to exhaustion at 11km/hr (without the backpack).  This entire session will last approximately 2 hours (familiarisation 2).

Within a few days of this, you will be required to complete the lung function tests, followed by the same walking test and after a rest of 15 minutes, you will run to exhaustion. This will last approximately 2-2.5 hours and will be repeated again 2-3 days after (one will be performed at sea-level and one at 3000m and will be your baseline test 1 and test 2).

You will then be given a programme of Powerbreathe training which you will complete by yourself for 4 weeks (a maximum of 10 minutes daily) and then visit us to repeat test 1 and 2.

You will then perform another 4 weeks of Powerbreathe training and visit us again to perform test 1 and test 2.

Therefore, the study will last 9-10 weeks but you will only be required to visit us on a total of 8 occasions.

If you could mention this to your members and put a copy of the poster on the noticeboard that would be great. If anyone would like to speak to me for more information, I can be contacted as specified on the poster.

Kind regards

Amanda

 

Amanda Seims (MSc)
PhD student"

 

If you want any more details, let me know & I'll pass it on - John

Himalayan Singletrack This May

We hope to find you all well.

A lot of you will be out on your bikes right now. We have riders on
the Cape Epic in S.A, lads and lasses in Singapore still drying off
after a 100km event, people coming unstuck on big gap jumps in N.Z,
pro riders competing on the downhill circuits in the U.K, kids in
Kerala riding hard to become the best in India, and many in Australia
getting in the last few kilometers of trail before they join us out
here in the Himalaya, so good luck to you all. For our friends riding
in not so exotic locations or taking time off the bikes or to get
married and have kids, your time will come again.

We are now on the Himalayan trails in Uttaranchal tweaking sections
and discovering even more singletrack ready to be showcased  in late
April/ May, we still have some availability so get in touch quick if
you want to join us here. Be warned this is super challenging riding.

October sees us  back riding on the Singalila ridge near Kanjenchunga
on what must be some of the most best and scenically stunning  riding
on earth, hats off to all those who whizzed down the 20km plus
singletrack descents,  climbed back up the inevitable 2000 meter
ascents, and still had energy left for high altitude beers and curry
each night.

December and we are back in Kerala with some of the classic MTB
Kerala trails and some new stuff  including routes that take us over
South India's second highest peak over 2650 metres with a 2000 metre
descent on the other side. Needs to be ridden to be believed.


Thanks again to all those who came out this last year and  those who
keep in touch with ideas and encouragement for our team out here;  who
are constantly striving to find riding that is that bit special.


Mike and all at MTBKerala

www.mountainbikekerala.com

For a look at some of the best of our MTB shots click on (its not
wedding shots honest)

http://www.kimandrichardswedding.com/Web%20Gallery/Front%20Page/index.html
 
Find out what goes on in between tours http://mountainbikeindia.blogspot.com/

Have a look at our Pic Galleries
http://www.kimandrichardswedding.com/Web%20Gallery/Front%20Page/index.html

www.mountainbikekerala.com India 0091 9745479921

New online clothing store

Well, they're new to me anyway: in their own words, "UK Based online cycle clothing store, committed to bringing you the best quality cycle clothing at competitive prices"

www.cycleclothinguk.com

Cycle Clothing UK 

Time to book your holidays?

Lake District 

"We write to you in order to introduce our selves and our Guest House to you and members of your group, (see letter attached) in the hope that we can attract you, your members, or as a group to mountain bike in this beautiful part of the Lake District.  We already cater for many Groups and Clubs across the country and indeed worldwide and are keen to encourage more people to experience the stunning scenery and trails that Keswick and the surrounding area has to offer.

 

If you would like any further information please contact us either by phone on 017687 74170 or by email; enquiries@leonardsfieldhouse.com.  

 

Thank you

 

Neil & Theresa,

Leonard's Field House

Keswick."

 

If anyone wants to see the attached letter, please drop me a line at contact@northleedsmtb.com - I'll try not to lose this one!

Morzine

Message from Flow MTB:

"We are running a special offer for bike clubs looking to organise a club trip away and thought you might be interested - let us know if so!

We love what clubs are doing for getting people into mountain biking and helping more people to enjoy the sport. In recognition of what clubs like yours are doing for cycling we are putting together a special holiday package for bike clubs.

For all club groups of 8 or more staying for a week in Morzine we offer a 10% discount. This brings the cost of a July or August stay in our luxury chalet with accommodation, breakfast and afternoon cake each day, and a three course meal with wine/beer on six nights down from 530 euros each to just 480 euros per person. For the same package in our more basic chalet the cost is reduced from 415 euros to 374 euros per person. Other options such as B&B or just a few evening meals are also available, and even cheaper rates are available in June. We also give anyone on a full week stay a free flowmtb tee, which you could also get your club logo added onto.

As another special extra for clubs we will give the group leader (in all groups of 8 or more) a free lift pass, to recognise all the work you do in arranging large group trips. And we will arrange passes for the rest of the group, along with any guides/instructors you want and transfers.

Have a look at FlowMTB - Morzine and get in touch to find out more and let us know what you want so we can sort out a package to suit you and your club members. Hand over most of the hassle of organising to us!

We look forward to riding with you soon.

Sara and Guy"

Morocco

I've just received this email from Trailbrakes, which may be of interest to some of you...

We would love for some of the girls and guys from clubs around the UK to join us in Morocco this October (between the 11^th and 19^th) because quite frankly from our experiences you lot have been the best fun of all the groups we’ve worked with! The trip itself has been developed over the course of this year with the help of a well established trekking company in Morocco and myself.

You can find full details of the trip on our website (http://www.trailbrakes.co.uk/output/_new_morocco_trips.asp)

The last time I was there in May I really didn’t want to come home. The trip explores the high Atlas mountains far to the East of Marrakech as opposed to the bit that’s south where most of the tourists go. We didn’t see any other mountain bikers there last time and the trails – oh the trails! There are miles of off road trails from mammoth climbs (we reached over 3000 metres!) and huge descents on rough piste (freewheeling for an hour) to dried up river beds, donkey tracks to explore, huge gorges and snow capped peaks. The cultural interest is fantastic too and more hospitable people you couldn’t hope to meet. Over 300 days of sunshine per year, great food, a full day to explore mad Marrakech – man it just rocks!

Because of the terrain and cultural issues we are running this trip as a fully guided and supported trip with back up vehicle, cook, mechanic, etc etc. The options to explore are massive here and we’d be easily swayed to take any tasty looking trails! Morocco is still pretty cheap so we have managed to get a great price for the trip but as Chris Tarrant would say – but we don’t want to give you that. We would like to offer each person who is associated with your clubs a 10% discount on the price and if 4 or more of you book from the same club then we’ll make that 15%.

That means individuals would only pay £440 and groups of 4 or more only £416 per person for 9 days (8 nights)!

This price includes

• Airport transfers

• 6 days exciting biking

• 3 nights Hotel Marrakech

• 5 nights Gite or camping

• Baggage transfers

• Guiding – one Berber guide and one UK guide

(Languages spoken: English, French, Berber and Arabic)

• Vehicle back up

• Mechanic and cook

• All meals whilst cycling

 

It Does not Include:

• All meals in Marrakech (before and after the cycling trip)

• Flights

• Drinks on the trip

Ok I don’t want to  bang on but please please pass this offer on to anyone else in your cycling club who you think might be interested. We already have a couple of people booked on the trip and will just take bookings on a first come first served basis – so be quick!

If you have any questions at all just drop me a line.

All the best for now and hope to see some of you in sunny Morocco soon!

 

Kind regards"

 

Pete Corson

Trailbrakes

www.trailbrakes.co.uk

pete@trailbrakes.co.uk

+44 (0) 7922 653327

MTB Racing in Northern England

British Cycling would like to facilitate more group/club based Cross Country Mountain Bike racing within Northern England and are requesting your assistance. The racing can take on a number of forms.  Whether its grass roots racing, one off endurance, XC short course racing or even a series of races...anything goes.  Similar initiatives are happening in other parts of the UK, this one is primarily aimed at Northern England. 

For this to work, it will need the support and involvement of both groups and individuals. The objective is to have a number of events, but this will be dictated by the number of groups and willing individuals involved.

What will the British Cycling will provide:
British Cycling will facilitate the meetings and provide a location suitable for the number of attendees.  British Cycling will support the events by providing organiser training as well as assistance with obtaining race equipment if a series can be established.

What’s needed from the group?
The group will need a person, preferably the event organiser, to attend an initial set up meeting.  Please don’t be put off if you are not part of an established group, you can attend as an interested individual.

When?
The goal is to have an initial meeting in December with all interested people, including promoters, clubs, groups, course providers and anyone interested in getting involved.

What’s next?
If you are interested in being involved then please contact me via email to confirm your interest.  It doesn’t matter if you are not part of an existing network, just let me know you are interested and I’ll set the ball rolling.

I look forward to hearing from you.  Please feel free to forward this information on to anyone you feel may have an interest. 

Best Regards
Roger Wilbraham
Coordinator for MTB and BMX
0161 274 2022
www.britishcycling.org.uk
mtb@britishcycling.org.uk
bmx@britishcycling.org.uk

Insurance

I received an email earlier from a guy called James Agus, from Combined Insurance Company of America, offering to sell us team/individual sports insurance. I didn't want him to waste time coming to one of our rides in case there were only 2 people there, so I offered to post his information up on here - if anyone is interested in this kind of insurance, you can contact him on the number below.

"We deal with alot of sports teams in the area, providing them with accident and hospitalisation cover.We specialise in day 1 accident and hospitalisation cover.....Now this is something we do for all the Leeds Rhino's lads, Leeds united academy,The yorkshire rams,all the local football and rugby teams, and im now trying to get it known in the cycling world too, as i feel it would benifit you grately, as im sure you agree MTB/cycling is a very high risk sport.

The cover does cover you from day one and does cover you for any accidental circumstance,so not only does it cover you in sport, but also at work...home...at play....or for any other accidental circumstance. Basically you are covered for anything, with no restrictions.

Please read the following as i feel you will agree the cover is excellent. The cover: Any accident £140 per day hospitalisation (pays from day 1 and will pay upto a lifetime if need be) £980 per week £4200 per month £100 per day convalescence (at twice the number of days you were in hospital) £700 a week £3000 a month £1000 any major fracture £200 any minor fracture (fingers, thumbs, nose, or toes) Fracture benefits are payable in addition to hospital, convalescence and hospital surgical procedures benefit. £500 any surgical procedure £20000 loss of life

Example of how policy works: say you had a bad break, was in hospital a month and needed 2 operations. We would pay you; £4200 hospitalisation £6000 convalescence £1000 fracture £500 for each operation (total £1000) TOTAL PAID OUT: £12,200

WE COVER ANY ACCIDENT: for example...

• Should you be struck,knocked down or run over.
• Or whilst driving or riding in any car, van, bus, taxi or lorry
• Whilst driving or riding on any motorscooter, bicycle, motorcycle or moped
• At the hand of a burglar, mugger or robber, or by personal assault -Injuies caused by fire or suffocation by smoke or by drowning
• Or playing any sport or taking part in any recreational activity.

It also covers you in all european countries, the United States of America, Canada, Australia or New Zealand.

The cost of this policy is just £4.78 per week. If possible, i would like to come down to one of your meets to tell the team about thecover we provide, and if anyone is interested i will take there name and no. and see them in there own time. That way i wont interfere with any of your training. I would be very gratefull for this. Would this be posible? If so please would you email me, or contact me on 07525809432. Thank you. Yours in sport James Agus"

Please note: NLMTB has no policy on insurance. While we do not require it, if you wish to take out an insurance policy, please feel free to do so.