Team Worc rider Robin Seymour won round two of the series at Moneyscalp Wood in the shadows of the Mourne Mountains, this giving Seymour the Elite Mens leaders jersey and more importantly put him in pole position for Olympic selection. IMBRC’s Niall Davis is the only rider who could steal the Olympic place from Seymour, though it would take a DNF for Seymour and a win for Davis for this to happen. A broken shoulder put the other Olympic hopeful, Conor McConvey (McConvey Cycles) out of the opening round at Kilruddery, however the young Belfast rider entered the fray at round two with a superb ride to third place.

The battle for the Elite women is apparently between Mel Spath, Beth McCluskey, Jess Laird (North Down), Ann Duffy (Newry Wheelers) and Ciara McManus (U/A). Best of luck to everyone taking part! I may even take a trip down to have a look…… ;-)

-Aisling-

Image from Irish Cycling of current series leaders.

ZURICH, SWITZERLAND (Team Geared Up) - This first one is probably one of the strangest hybrid devices I’ve ever seen. It’s called the SkidScooter and its an “amphibious scooter”. The idea is that its a device that can help you get across two different environments. It is a kick scooter that will get you acros (paved) land and has built in motors and propellers in the wheels to propell you through the water. Could you imagine this thing being pitched, I’m sure it would have gone a little like this: “Have you ever been in a situation where you were scooting along a road but were suddenly stopped by a large body of water and only wish you had someway of getting across it? That is where the SkidScooter comes in!” Other than people who live near beaches where they might find use for this, don’t expect this to ever leave concept.

All bikers when biking on streets have one common fear. Cars. One thing that drivers hate and bikers have a hard time protraiting is the direction the biker is going to turn. We’ve all been taught when we learned how to ride that we put our arm out to signal the direction we are going.
However that often leaves us unstable and prone to a possible accident as our control of the bike may become hindered when we only have one hand on the handles. This is where this clever device comes in. Designed by Leah Buechley, the jacket has blinking LED lights on the back to show which direction you are turning. Although only a conceptual project now I can see this becoming a reality sometime in the future. The real product will most likely be a thin vest that can go over ones jacket and have a small bluetooth enabled control that sits on the handle bar. Ideally I cool function would be some kinda of modual that could detect when the bike was slowing down and then a red LED will flash on the back to signal the biker is slowing down or stopping. Plus this would be an awesome accessory at raves! (via DVice)

In the comments of a post I did on the Cube foldable bike Robin gripped about the fact that we have amazing colapsable bikes but no colapsable wheels. Reader pointed us to this video. Its a prototype design for a wheel that can be fitted on any bike or wheelchair that pretty much folds in on itself. This along with a Cube bike and you’ll pretty much be able to carry a bike in a backpack in the future.
Last I have the “The Ride” by Ellsworth Handcrafted Bicycles. This is quite a stylish looking bike with a sleek aluminum frame and suspension. But is most exciting about this bike is the NuVinci CVP gear system. Its both a gearless and multigeared system. It is silent, will not skip and allows for a much more fluid change in intensity when pedaling. Check out the video to see what I’m talking about, its really quite amazing!

-Alx-

NEWBRIDGE, KILDARE (Team Geared Up) - O.k., so I was meant to be doing some ‘proper’ work and then this ended up in my Google Reader feed. Shred or Die, a new video site that’s been promoted by skater Tony Hawk, is live and kicking with a pile of extreme sports videos, mainly skateboarding and biking.
I’m avoiding the urge to spend the next hour watching random people land on their head, perform ridiculous stunts, and general adsurdity like above. Can you avoid it? ;) let me know in the comments!

Note: from the couple of videos I’ve watched, if you’re squeamish about blood…..you have been warned!
Courtesy of Mashable

- Neal :) -

LONDON, UK (team Geared Up) - With such a good response to our top 5 mountain biking & snowboard crashes we’re going to continue the series! Today we look at the top 5 helmet-cam (head mounted camera) videos.

5th Place, skiing down the longest escalator in Europe (Angle Tube Station, London)…

4th Place, dropping down some big waterfalls in a kayak…

3rd Place, Red Bull Boys ride down through the inside of a skyscraper (inc crash)…

2nd Place, Speed Riding Down the Eiger…

And in 1st Place, and deservedly so…

-Robin-

(Image Credit: By the Author)

They’ve also, very helpfully, put a very comprehensive list together here of what you’ll need. So all the bases covered, might even give this a go myself….

-Aisling-

Image courtesy of MAD.

LONDON, UK (Team Geared Up) - TrailBadger.com contacted us today to inform us about their site launch. TrailBadger.com is a resource of Northern Irish mountain biking trails.

The site looks professional, is easy to use, and is a pleasure to know it’s an Irish production.

Routes include:

# Co. Antrim

* Antrim Dirt Jumps
* Antrim Hills Epic
* Ballycastle Forest / Coolaveely
* Belfast Hills Epic
* Belvoir Forest Park
* Cave Hill
* Slievanorra Forest
* Tardree Forest
* Woodburn Forest

# Co. Armagh

* Craigavon Lakes
* Gosford Forest Park
* Slieve Gullion Forest Park

# Co. Down

* Big Wood
* Castlewellan Forest Park
* Cooley Mountains (Co. Louth)
* Donard Wood
* Lead Mines / Helen’s Tower
* Moneyscalp Forest
* Mournes Epics
* Rostrevor Forest
* Tollymore Forest Park

# Co. Fermanagh

* Castle Archdale
* Mullaghfad Forest

# Co. Londonderry

* Ballykelly Forest
* Banagher Forest
* Binevenagh
* Cam Forest
* Castlerock/Dungiven Epic
* Davagh Forest
* Iniscarn Forest
* Loughermore Forest
* Slieve Gallion
* Sperrins Epic

# Co. Tyrone

Visit: http://www.trailbadger.com