aener

All day long...

Where abouts and what type of riding? There's quite a lot to go at for both rocks and street, but not a huge number of people to ride with. Leeds, Bradford and Huddersfield are the go-tos, with Sheffield, Hull, Manchester and Doncaster all pretty close. Then there's smaller places like Wakefield and Keighley dotted around. For rocks there's Shipley Glen, Harden Moor, Addingham Moorside and Flappets quarry. Lee Mill Quarry is really good - just up in the hills in Bacup, and just off to the south there's a huge amount of riding in the Hathersage hills. I've been starved of riding company for a long time, so if you're up for a ride sometime I'll snatch your hand off at the offer I'll PM you my number.

I sadly understand what you're saying about feeling the actually-non-existent-pressure to outdo yourself, and I appreciate this may be you being candid but the sentence I've quoted just really upsets me. I really don't like that, even the people that try to give off the impression, or have a reputation for being innately progressive and good can only do it because they want notoriety. It's a tricky parallel to draw but plenty of people refer to videos they really like as "art". I'm not entirely sure on the point but it takes enough of a semantic root in me that I'd roll with it. Where are all the Van Gogh's that basically didn't show anyone a picture during ten years of practice and only really appreciated posthumously? And bought paints and canvases instead of food when the money was almost out. Obviously, with today's standards of living that extent isn't really necessary, and I'm not for one second you shouldn't strive to better yourself/your abilities, and the more people that CAN see it the better so don't pointedly not broadcast your efforts, but I find it most distressing that almost no-one does it in the avant garde sense and that now the market is flooded with... mercenaries. (Note that this isn't specifically directed at you - your sentence just summed up what seems to be 90-95% of peoples' approach so succinctly that I was kind of taken aback by it.) Sorry - I think I'm going to regret posting that, but I'm going to click Submit anyway as it's a point that's been floating in my mind for a long while. Edit: With regards to the vlog thing... I tend to not enjoy them as they're mostly filled with stuff I'm not that interested in. 20 minutes per episode seems to be the going length, but I feel that the majority of them could happily be condensed to 5 and be more enjoyable to watch as a result. ...But then I appreciate I'm not the type of person they're aimed at.

I'd be very curious as to where you got that statistic from Whether more are sold or not, I used to ride with varying groups of people on Saturdays and Sundays, and often mid-week, and felt hard-done-by if there was less than four other riders on any given ride. Now I consider it a treat when I get to ride with ONE other person once every three or four weeks.

I think it's high time people remembered Ben Travis has been really f**king good for a really f**king long time. Edit: Holy crap. This prompted me going on an old-video-binge. I really, really miss trials being about having fun on bikes, and there being other people around to do it with. And by all accounts it was already in decline by the time I started, so I never experienced it at its peak! It's really sad.

Never seen a mod stem? Bit less extension out the top of the headset, granted, but way more leverage overall.

I thought that was largely going to be a piss-take. Really refreshing to see someone actually giving it a proper go and seemingly getting quite into it Well impressed with how they managed. I dare say only a very few actual trials riders would fare much better than they did on those bikes, not to mention in the wet. Really fun watch!

Only if they went full BMX look (bars and stem with appropriate geo changes to accommodate). I'd be on board for that (it's actually something I suggested at one point, but nothing ever came of it) and agree that would look nice, but then that'd be because it would look like a nice BMX The mod bar-and-stem with a saddle is the worst looking combination I've ever seen on a 20" bike, and the day it happens to the Alias will be the day I stop having any input or affiliation with them

I enjoyed that. Sidehop to front and over was fun, especially by landing on the far side of it.

.doublePost.

I 100% expected that big grey wall which I think is in the uni to be a hook. Looked so, so weird when you rolled it straight up to two. Ace

So much love. I guess it's because they were to thin walls so you were more worried about accuracy, but you look like you can sidehop to rear higher than to two wheels! Outrageous! Also: Portishead <3

That first bit was nearly enough to make me quit watching, but I stuck it out and it turned out to actually be really cool. It's a bit too footjamwhippy for my taste, but there's a lot of really cool, novel and downright funky lines in that! (Some of which included footjam whips. I don't dislike them - I just feel they're a bit overused.)

I made this yonks ago. I'm not sure how everyone else does it, but this seems to work for me. Hopefully you can understand it This is specific to bunnyhop hooks too - the theory might work the same for pedalling, but I've not tried them. The smoother the rise of centre of gravity (solar plexus region for most people), the easier it seems to work. If you go too slow, you have to jump UP to the hook position, and then UP from the hook to switch. For me, speed is king. It means you have to take off further back, but you can get a nice gentle rise that can continue from the switch onward. Speed also means you have more momentum, which carries you up on to the top. Hitting the wall is always going to suck a certain amount of momentum away from you. Obviously this gets trickier as you get to your peak height, but then you can start wrestling. Just do ones at comfortable heights until you get the idea of them enough to start wrestling/improvising. Key pointers, in my experience: Go fast - faster than you'd approach any other technique, and possibly faster than feels appropriate/safe. As Ali said, get the front wheel in just the right place. Ideally it will go up and just touch the top of the wall. Difficulty exponentially increases with the distance your front wheel moves down from where you put it to the top of the wall. Lean forwards. A lot. Doing all that at once is tricky, but there's a knack to it. Once you've got it, hooks aren't actually that hard.

Got a spare room here in Leeds if you want to make a trip of it

Thanks for reminding me how much I used to love crank flips

I started filming almost immediately after finishing the last one, but then decided filming is something I just really don't fancy doing right now, so here's some tech nibbles from the past three rides.

Really enjoyed that. Potentially the graphics could have been a little less "makes it impossible to figure out what riding's happening" on occasion, but it's very refreshing to see someone actually succeeding at making a quirky video. I wonder if there's a link between it's "goodness" and it being a video of two trials riders, riding trials, on trials bikes, making a video that isn't just a direct copy of someone else's idea?* *Actually, I don't wonder at all.

I think that's exactly it. I was expecting a hefty up to front and instead got a completely gross gap to splat into the side of a wall. It wasn't funny; it was ridiculous, in such a way that the only response I had was to laugh it off.

That gap-hook at Hull's Redwalls was absolutely hideous in the best way possible A genuine "lol" moment! Whopper.

You've definitely hit turbo-mode since I was with you last year!

Supercalafragilisticexpialidotious. Loved it Hop-90, crank-flip, ET-drop-off was just delicious.

Fandabbydoozy :3 So jealous of that power and control. Hooks to die for.

I was amazed I when made it through more than a minute of a video you made. Dumbfounded I was entertained for the full fifteen! Infinitely better than your other style, and just generally fun to watch riding

You'd "get it" even less if you felt how his actual bike is set up. It's huge. Makes other peoples' Hexes feel like Skyes. I hate it The things he can make it do are ridiculous.