LONGTERM RIDES

Team bikes ridden hard for a year

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There are some good eggs in the bike industry, and Jake Ireland from Sprung Suspension is one of them. He's always keen to help with my suspension-related woes, working his magic on my longtermers' forks.

I went to the British Cycling DH National Series round at Llangollen in August, just to spectate and soak up the vibes - no showers, portable toilets in the middle of a field and a poor night's sleeps in a van, what's not to love? Luckily, Jake was also there, to support racers with their suspension, so I decided to ask for his help yet again and tick off the first part of my plan to improve the feel of my Merida.

I felt bad asking him to tune the fork to suit my light weight, knowing he'd be super busy. However, despite the fact he'd been up since 3am and had had a long journey to get to North Wales, where he was facing a huge list of DH forks to fiddle with before the race, he happily headed into his trailer with my Fox 38 Performance Elite.

Although it’s always a pleasure to chat with Jake, part of me feels that I shouldn't have had to ask for his help with a brand new bike. In my view, a lighter suspension tune should come as standard - or at least, as an option - on smaller bikes, to accommodate lighter riders like myself. But perhaps it's logistically hard for brands to offer this. Some, such as Merida, are heading in the right direction with a lighter shock tune on smaller frames, but I'm yet to see this replicated on the fork.

The next day, with my bike sorted and the event over, half of me left Llangollen inspired by the speed and skills of so many riders, but the other part was wallowing in self-pity about my own comparative lack of competence (thankfully, Mint Sauce has some wise words about this on p98!).