New issue of MBUK (351) is out now featuring an epic Arctic Circle boat and bike adventure around Norway's fjords, the Downieville Classic with Tracy Moseley, the lowdown on the guys that build the most popular trails in the Alps and we speak to photographer, writer and bike rider Tommy Wilkinson about adapting after a life-changing injury, plus loads more!
Staff Writer Ed Thomsett pounced at the opportunity to go on a once-in-a-lifetime adventure around Norway's fjords last summer. Far enough north to be in the Arctic Circle, Ed used a boat to travel between some fantastic, little-known riding destinations in some of the most backwater places in Northern Europe. Flick to page 56 to read all about it...
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Exploring the Norwegian fjords by boat is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Credit: Andy Lloyd
True grit
Tommy Wilkinson suffered a life-changing injury after an innocuous crash on his bike back in 2013. Now several years on after losing the use of his right arm, Tommy's still 100 per cent committed to having fun on his bike and travelling the world shooting the sport he loves. We caught up with him at the location of one of his first ever DH races to find out more.
Tommy Wilkinson doesn't let a life-changing injury get in the way of fun! Credit: Tommy Wilkinson
California Dreamin'
Tracy Moseley, former DH and enduro world champ, heads stateside to ride the Downieville Classic, a two-day cross-country and downhill race in California. Head to page 70 to find out how she got on at this legendary event.
T-Mo's always wanted to ride the famous Downieville Classic. Credit: Patrick Cavender
Breaking Ground
What makes a great trail? We quiz three influential trail builders in europe’s mountain biking epicentre, the Portes du Soleil, and then jump on a chairlift to find out for ourselves. Chances have it that you've either ridden a trail, watched GoPro footage of someone else riding a trail or have fantasised about riding a trail built by one of these three men. Flick to page 76 to find out about how Ben Walker, Gaëtan Rey and Gary Guyard do their work.
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Gaëtan Rey rides the Vink Link at Bikepark Chatel – he's been instrumental in creating the feel of the trails in Chatel. Credit: Andy Lloyd
Ae Forest, Scotland
We make the pilgrimage to southern Scotland and Ae Forest, one of the 7stanes trail centres, and find the riding – and cake!– is well worth the long journey. Local brothers, Frazer and Callum McCubbing, showed the MBUK Wrecking Crew around the cracking trail centre loop and downhill tracks at Ae. Grab a copy of the mag to find out more.
Frazer McCubbing leads out the MBUK Wrecking Crew at Ae Forest. Credit: Tommy Wilkinson
Biketest, how to and much more
We review sub-£2K, full-gas 29er/plus hardtails to see which semi-rigid turn slapping, flat out rig you should be spending your cash on.
We put four 29er/plus bikes head-to-head to find out which one comes out on top. Credit: Mick Kirkman
In our How To section, we lift the veil on riding techniques such as airing out of a quarter pipe with Manon Carpenter, hitting rooty drops, laying a flat table with Tom Cardy and drifting berms like a master.
Learn how to drift berms like a boss! Credit: Andy Lloyd
Not only that, we've got our hands on our 2018 long term test bikes, tested 15 soft shells and six goggles, plus Max Darkins, our route-guru, goes on a Big Ride around the Surrey Hills.
This month's big ride is in the gorgeous and leafy Surrey Hills. Credit: Russell Burton
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Alex Evans is BikeRadar’s senior mountain bike technical editor. He started racing downhill at the tender age of 11 before going on to compete across Europe. Alex moved to Morzine in the French Alps at 19 to pursue a career as a bike bum and clocked up an enormous amount of riding. Hitting those famous tracks day in, day out for eight years, he broke more bikes than he can remember. Alex then moved back to the UK and put his vast knowledge of mountain biking to good use by landing a job working for MBUK magazine as features editor. Since working for MBUK, Alex’s focus has moved to bike tech. He’s one of BikeRadar’s lead testers and knows how to push bikes and products to the limit, searching out the equipment that represents the best value for money. Alex is also a dedicated eMTB rider, and still dabbles in racing of a sort, doing his best to top the Strava leaderboard on the steepest, gnarliest and twistiest trails the Tweed Valley has to offer – just for fun, of course. Alex is also a regular on the BikeRadar YouTube channel and BikeRadar podcast.
