Took Maggie (previously known as Cooper, but, for various reasons is far more suited to being named after a certain Iron Lady!) out today for the first proper day of DH at the Forest of Dean. Well, not quite a day as we only managed 4 hours before goog’s hip was knackard and I was loosing concentration…..think we’ve both forgotten just how much hard work DH with the big bikes actually is. I’d certainly forgotton just how bloomin fast you can go on a DH bike on bone dry trails!

Maggie is great, although really rather like a thoroughbred racehorse compared to the 222. I had to calm the suspension down as, although I was loving the ‘pop’, especially on the Corkscrew table (see pic below - which I rarely, if ever, cleared on the 222), once I got onto the rougher, rooty trails, the bounce was uncontrollable and I was pogo-ing all over the place. Until today, although I knew suspension set up was important, I’d not experienced just how out of control it can make a bike if set up wrong! One click of rebound on, and one click of low speed compression off, and it felt amazing again – well, at least when I got my lines right! With the 222 all I had to do was point and hold on and it just ploughed over everything….and smoothed out the trails. With Maggie, every root is like a launch point, which is great if I get my timing right, but if I get it wrong, I don’t half know about it. It’s so tempting to try and soften up the suspension a little more, but, if I’m honest, I much prefer it feeling firm and would rather learn how to ride her like that.



Monty also got his first ride – goog was flying like usual, although he also spent most of the morning twiddling dials. Grown up boys like his bike. Obviously the kids much prefer Maggie and her in-your-face colours



Wish they hadn’t of made the end of Sheepskull into a double though. That’s another trail finish made into something for the good riders to blast over, and everyone else to mince through. I’ve noticed it so much lately; everyone keeps moaning about trail sanitisation, but, tbh, the ‘easy’ DH trails seem to be getting more doubles and gaps added. Even the red run at Stile Cop. It’s a shame as there are so many high level trails for the good downhillers already, I don’t understand why it’s so hard for people to make fun trails, or should I say keep the fun trails, for beginners and the not-so-confident riders without big stuff that requires big commitment.

I don’t want to finish this first blog entry with a moan though, so, back to the beautiful babe that is Maggie for the final sentence. She’s ace…that is all that matters