Singletrack
66
CLASSIC RIDE ULSTER SAYS YES! Ian from Rock and Ride Outdoors shows us round his home trails in Northern Ireland. WORDS IAN BAILEY PHOTOGRAPHY CAOLAN HAWKINS Loosely tracking a section of the Ulster Way, this classic ride skirts the foothills of the Mourne Mountains while linking sections of sumptuous forest singletrack. All done in the shadow of Slieve Donard, Northern Ireland’s highest peak. Summer can be a bit of an abstract concept up here in Northern Ireland, a land not exactly renowned for its temperate climate. All we know is that at some unspecified point between March and October the slop will temporarily subside and for a fleeting moment we’ll smell dust in our nostrils and hear the buzz of tyres on dry roots. Those joyous occasions remind us that we have way more than our share of top-class trails, handily compressed into a tiny geographical area, particularly in the locality of the Mourne Mountains, County Down. Inevitably, mountain biking has flourished here, despite the weather, with several local trail centres developed and a plethora of hidden woodland trails tended by a dedicated selection of local builders. 67
- Page 16 and 17: Building Boris. Our afternoon visit
- Page 18 and 19: Laying up the slices of carbon, rea
- Page 20 and 21: Final holes are drilled, post mould
- Page 22 and 23: Our final stop was to see the sampl
- Page 24 and 25: JASON MILEs PHOTOGRAPHY ED ROLLASON
- Page 26 and 27: TRAIL HUNTER EXPLORES THOSE MUST-DO
- Page 28 and 29: That’s LegoLand down there in the
- Page 30 and 31: Soon to be railing corners on the w
- Page 32 and 33: We climb higher. Al leads the way,
- Page 34 and 35: 34
- Page 36 and 37: Pick a better day for weather, we d
- Page 38 and 39: Balls. The walkers, sensing blood,
- Page 40 and 41: RECOMMENDED HERE AT SINGLETRACK TOW
- Page 42 and 43: TROY LEE DESIGNS RAID KNEE PADS Pri
- Page 44 and 45: TOPEAK RATCHET ROCKET LITE NTX Pric
- Page 46 and 47: WORDS CHARLIE THE BIKEMONGER ROOM 1
- Page 48 and 49: KILLER HARDTAILS Wil and the crew r
- Page 50 and 51: KONA HONZO CR TRAIL DL Price: From:
- Page 52 and 53: 52
- Page 54 and 55: NUKEPROOF SCOUT 290 RACE Price: Fro
- Page 56 and 57: 56
- Page 58 and 59: TRILLION CYCLES PRIME Price: From:
- Page 60 and 61: 60
- Page 62 and 63: VERDICT In a marketing landscape th
- Page 64 and 65: ENDURO BAG “To finish first, you
- Page 68 and 69: Bright coloured photo-gimp avengers
- Page 70 and 71: Bright enough for any weather. 70
- Page 72 and 73: Illustration by BEATE KUBITZ 72
- Page 74 and 75: Mmmm Guinness. We didn’t bother c
- Page 76 and 77: CROWN COPYRIGHT The Knowledge Total
- Page 78 and 79: 78
- Page 80 and 81: KEITH BONTRAGER “Strong, light, c
- Page 82 and 83: Keith, we were talking about the co
- Page 84 and 85: It’s 15 years since we last inter
- Page 86 and 87: 86
- Page 88 and 89: And finally, Keith, you made your n
- Page 90 and 91: 90
- Page 92 and 93: Hangover remedy: A single dose of s
- Page 95 and 96: A Hopton, a skip and a jump. Hopton
- Page 97 and 98: Essential fuel for any aspiring que
- Page 99 and 100: HI-TECH RUBBER James Vincent and th
- Page 101 and 102: STEP INSIDE MY LAB Tyred and Tested
- Page 103 and 104: 102 The tough casing on the TRSr ty
- Page 105 and 106: BEST SUMMER TYRE MICHELIN WILD ROCK
- Page 107 and 108: 106 At 1150g, the Hutchinson Toro i
- Page 109 and 110: BEST ALL ROUNDER MAXXIS HIGH ROLLER
- Page 111 and 112: VERDICT We tested ten set of tyres
- Page 113 and 114: PREMIER DEALERS. Bike shops and bus
- Page 115 and 116: DISCOVER AN EXTRA 32 PAGES OF EXCLU
66
Change language