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Freeride Junkie Crew hit Chicksands Bike Park

Tuesday, 23 September 2008

We'd been meaning to get back down to Chicksands ever since our first visit back in 2006 and last weekend it all came together. The weather was awesome and the crew were all well up for it. We were greeted in the car park by a dude on crutches, which was a little worrying, who lightened us of the requisite fiver each for a day ticket. So after losing a bit of weight from our pockets we padded up and headed off to the main attraction for us - North Shore area. After warming up on some of the smaller stuff we decided to give the big swivel sea-saw a bash. After taking a few dives we finally got it nailed after half a dozen goes. Key is, we learnt, was to hit it fast and keep your eye on the exit ladder. Once we'd sussed this we were hitting it flat out and even airing onto the exit ladder...which did get a bit sketchy at times. Once we'd had the swivel teeter our next mission was the ladder step up to step down next to the teeter. This took a bit more bottle as it was all or nothing with this one. After a few failed run ins from me, Stu hit it out of the blue and nailed it. That was it then I had to nail it on my next attempt...so I rounded the banked high level ladder corner and with a couple of bitch cranks too many on the descent I hit it...and landed it. After that we were doing it for fun and even busting a couple of cheeky no footers. The gap step down was also pretty fun and a little testing...it was about a 4ft drop off the ladder with a 3ft gap onto a really tight trannie. You had to time it perfectly otherwise you risked either hooking up your back wheel on the knife edge top of the trannie or landing your front wheel to flat! Neither options too nice. I was on my street bike (DMR Transition) so it was perfect for this kind of stuff. The other guys were on longer wheelbase big rigs so there were a couple of clangs to be heard when they attempted this section.

After fully sessioning the rest of the 'Chickshore' area we headed over to the dual course and dirt jumps after lunch. As I was running slicks (Maxxis Ringworm) and it was so loose and dusty I left the dual and 4 cross to the rest of the guys and had a play on the dirt jumps. Ther set up of the dirt jumps is pretty good. There's a line of small jumps which start with two tables and then go onto gappers. There is then a line of medium and then a line of massive ones. Most people were on the small DJs. Although one guy was hitting the massive ones, even pulling a tail whip about 20ft in the air - sweet as!

All in all we had a great session with only one of the crew having a bad stack (off one of the dirt drops). Luckily for him he was wearing full body armour so main injuries were cuts and grazes with a bit of dazed and confused thrown in as well. Fair play though - after a bit of first aid back at the car he was back on his bike hitting the shore ag

We called it a day aroung 4.30pm and then set off up the M1 for a 3 1/2 hour trek back up north. It's a long way but well worth it!

For more info on Chicksands Bike Park check their website at http://www.chicksandsbikepark.co.uk/