Molson World Team boss Geoff Walker recently visited team sponsors, and one of the UK’s top Nukeproof dealers, Bike Station UK as well as CP and the crew at Mojo Suspension to build an awesome ‘all mountain’ bike for use on training and team demo days, as well as gravity enduro racing in the hands of Rich T and anyone else who cares to have a crack at pedalling uphill and ripping down again… The Nukeproof MEGA frame was used and the bike was built in the Bike Station UK Pro Build department.
We wanted the build to remain simple and effective and I think Big Pat gripped and ripped it on the build with great input from the team to get every part running sweet. We are all super pumped with the final build on the MEGA and testing has gone great. The bike's suspension was simply ‘pressure set’ on the air and it absolutely kills the gnarliest terrain we have tested so far.
The ‘enduro’ market in mountainbiking is growing fast so we are now on board the heavy breathing, hard and gnarley work-train which is ‘gravity enduro’… This side of the mtb sport fits perfectly with the teams philosophy of multi-sport racing and riding on, and in different vehicles, whether powered by legs or engines. With the dirt bike and mountainbike enduro scene’s close to the teams structure now this is another step forward.
Rich T headed to the Gravity Enduro Series round to take the teams Mega to the ultimate test in race conditions. Here is his view on the event and how it unfolded…
First race test for the all new Molson World Team, Nukeproof MEGA, all mountain bike.
In a break from World Cup racing the team decided to follow a different MTB direction on the new steed in the set-up. The Mega was prepped and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it and get to the awesome, 661 gravity enduro series round 4 at Eastridge.
A totally different format to the downhill racing I am used and trained for, in as much as you race over 5 timed stages, and the fastest combined time over the stages will win… all good, however, you have allocated transition times to ride between the stages, so your busting your ass to get to the top of each stage. Amazing fun for the first 2 stages then lactic acid sets in on the tough uphill transitions as well as the ripping downhills….
With a chance to try out all the stages on the Saturday we rode around the 20km loop trying each of the stages and looking at the transition routes, it soon became clear that this would not be a walk in the park. After one lap around all riders qualify to seed for Sundays race, this here on stage 5, so with one practice we set off qualification, this time with some pads and the full face, the stages are full on, bit of pedalling but also very fast, long and technical. Completely spent I set of on a track I didn’t know taking some wild risks, this paid off and I qualified fastest, a complete shock, but this meant for Sunday I would be last man around the course.
After some nice long rest and a few beers it was up for the start of the race, around 10am I set off, and the day was great, a really fun but hard work day, great atmosphere, something new for the team. So much happened over the 4 hours of riding and racing it cannot be put down into words, ups and down, sketchy moments, punctures, getting lost, riding stupidly fast for not knowing where the tracks went and finally a solid 4th place finish in elite men, not bad for a first go in the experienced 18 man field, to get this result I posted 2nd in stage 1 then 6th, 4th 3rd then 4th.
Overall a great experience and well worth the drive, the team would recommend the final 661 gravity enduro to any budding MTB racer at Afan! They really are great fun…. Beside the legs on Monday morning…!
Over and out for now
RT
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