A very nice Birthday treat for Dave too, Happy Birthday Lad!

Now in its 7th year, SHAFF Film Festival has finally added it’s first Bike specific night.

John Horscroft and Steve Peat, will be heading up the evening, focusing on the up and coming cycling talent in and around Sheffield.

A chilled out evening, with plenty of beers on tap, to keep things fun.

Tickets are available HERE so don’t miss out!

SHEFFIELD YOUNG GUNS

Sheffield’s Mountain Bike scene is arguably the most vibrant in the country with a wealth of superb cross-country trails in the Peak District, a thriving downhill community and a number of promising young riders hellbent on following in the tracks of local legend, Steve Peat.  So, what better way for the Bike Expert Night to celebrate that scene than to take a close look at some of the young guns making a name for themselves in a diverse range of bike disciplines?  James ‘Swinny’ Swinden, Josh ‘Loosedog’ Lewis, Annie Last and Abbie Taylor are Sheffield hard-chargers with talent to burn.  Local mountain biker, scribe and rabble-rouser John Horscroft and special guest Steve Peat will be asking the questions and finding out what makes the next generation of super-shredders tick.

James ‘Swinny’ Swinden has steadily built a reputation for phenomenal pace in the National Downhill Series and has a huge viral video presence.  2012 however could be the big year for Swinny as he has just joined the Steve Peat Syndicate and moved up to the Elite category in this year’s series.

Josh ‘Loosedog’ Lewis has a similar story to Swinny. Known as one of Steve Peat’s protégées, he’s got big boots to fill. But with a huge personality and a growing profile in the UK scene, he’s another Junior rider to look out for.   There’s every chance we’ll see him moving up the rankings in 2012.

Abbie Taylor is an Olympic hopeful in the newly added sport of BMX Racing. A World Silver Medalist in 2011, she regularly mixes it up with the top Female Elite riders.  She is now receiving help from British Cyclings’s Olympic Development program which could be all the help she needs to take things to the next level.

The Snowy Lantern Theatre (Photo: Noel Hines)

In short, with a lot of help I put together a night of surreal entertainments to while away the winter blues. The line up included the trailer for Peatys New Movie ‘Don’t Back Down’, a video clip contest, an electronic bike quiz, a ManWolf Fancy Dress Contest, GhettoPaloza and the premiere of MachoTailDrop.

Each element on its own work brilliantly but presented in the BackDrop of the incredible Lantern Theatre, with a liberal spreading of booze and a sprinkle of TiS magic, the whole night was out of this world. Beset with problems due to a deluge of snow, late comers were welcomed in but their confused looks took a while longer to dissipate.

The Scene inside the Lantern (Photo: Noel Hines)

The video clip contest was voted for by the Loudest Jeer and won by Deathface (John Alexander) and the 2 metre Penis (Denis Cummings). They took home Enduro Goodies very kindly donated by Si Bowns at 18 Bikes. 2^nd place was Rich Baybutt with another ManWolf themed classic who walked away with a Chromag beanie and Tee gifted by John at Shorelines. 3^rd place on the night was Dave Camus with his clip of him sending an almighty booter on a hardtail. He took home a Kaboom Cleaning kit Courtacy of JE James’. Many thanks to everyone that offered up prizes for the night, it made it such a special occasion.

These are all the entries to the video contest opening withBaybutt and Malcos epic.

The ManWolf Off, or fancy dress contest, was again voted by the public and their voices. The 2 metre Penis was again victorious and deservedly so. His interpretation of ‘The Boss’ was near perfect if not stretched a little vertically. He took home a copy of Steve Peat’s World championship book and a crate of Stella courtesy of the big man himself.

Me and the winning 2m Penis

Drinking the bar dry, Man Wolf style (Photo: Duncan Philpott)

The Bike Quiz was 30 very tricky questions collated by the TiS team. It was won by the unlikely match of the ThisiStockyB boys, Craig and James, with Steve Hardcastle. Who’d have thought it. They were the clear winners with 23 points and took home a 12 month subscription to Dirt plus several Dirt Tees, thanks to Mike Rose. Well done lads.

GhettoPalloza in Full flight, Baybutt vs BarDrag (Photo: Noel Hines)

The last competition of the evening was by far the most arduous for the contestants. GhettoPalloza. Dreamed up to be the mountain bike equivalent of Rollapaluza it was two turbo trainers side by side hooked up to a custom computer program. The turbos were set to ‘Ard and it destroyed many a good rider. The winner, after a protracted battle was Joe Bowman who beat James Crossland in the final. Joe walked away with the star prize which was a brand new bike servicing stand from Edinburgh Bike Company in Sheffield. James won a full set of RaceFace body armour courtesy of James Irwin at the Bike Garage in Bamford.

Video Footage of the final of GhettoPalooza, Bowman Vs Crossland (Video: John Paul Jones III)

The final gift of the night came from Brant Richards of On-One fame. He liked what we had planned so much and was so gutted that he couldn’t be there himself, that he bought everyone a pint out of his own pocket. Can’t thank you enough Brant, you’re a legend!

All the Man Wolfs! (Photo: Duncan Philpott)

The night finished as this post will, with MachoTailDrop. More details of that in Dirt #122.

It was a night to remember and never forget… the first of many we hope.

Nick

To begin the festivities the first dual back after Christmas was dedicated to this landmark. To mark the occasion we were lucky enough to high tail it over to Farmer Jacks farm again and use the dual track the Chegs’ (and others) built. I’ve written much hyperbole about the tricky but grin bearing berms on the exposed hillside near Wharncliffe so I won’t bore you with the details again. However, its perfect. Its not easy and takes a while to learn. It’s caught out the world’s best on occasion but is short enough thatan assembled crowd can heckle the whole way down. That night it was a little damp but very grippy once it’d been bedded in.

The Flood Lit Scene (Photo: Rich Baybutt)

Being the first dual back and a special occasion we drew a big crowd and not just racers. Over  40 riders chucked their money in the pot and at least 20 spectators gathered around the fires to keep warm. Jack rolled his tractor in to the field to illuminate the middle of the course and Peaty brought his Disco in to do the lower half. He also brought a selection of building lights and a Genny so bike lights were just used to fill in the gaps. Peaty set up his van at the top for music and shelter which is where Wendy set up her food stall. Supplying hungry racers with hot drinks, stew and soup she did a booming and welcome trade. Many thanks Wendy.

Chrissy P and ThisisStockyB (Photo: Rich Baybutt)

Keen to crack on there wasn’t much practice time before Qualis. I’m thinking about making it so that only the first 32 to turn up can actually race… seems harsh but Qualis are a pain in the arse. Maybe next year, let me know what you think. The one shock result and exit from the race was Team Tandem. Stars of the Wharncliffe Weekender and THE tandemers to beat on a dual track, Farmer Jack and Dan Barlow didn’t make the cut.  As the stars were out and the wind was cold it was straight in to the first round using the new randomisation system, white board and magnetic numbers. Our timing Angels, Izzy and Mari, were on hand to ensure that proceedings ran smoothly and accurately once again. Danger valiantly supplied them with their own fire later on in an uncharacteristic display of chivalry.  Cheg’s had a nightmare in the first run coming off and being put out by Danger. I had the pleasure of racing Penis Cummings and unceremoniously dumping him out of the competition. The old King of Dual, Del Wilson, actually turned up to race (seeing as it was just around the corner from his house) with a bike built especially for the occasion. However, drawing Timmy in the first round he didn’t really stand a chance. Ruari was cursed and managed to snap his newly fitted mech hanger against Dual Virgin Chris Napalm.

Team Tandems Steed (Photo: Rich Baybutt)

Second rounds featured a couple of nail biters. Joe Bow was drawn against Gordan Jould and beat him by only the narrowest of margins, 0.04. Timmy and Luke Meridith battled it out and peddled to the line but it was Luke that moved on to the next round. Chrissy P and myself were also divided by only the narrowest of margins after Chris made a couple of uncharacteristic mistakes. However, he shut me down, just.

The quarters matched Swinny and Joe Bow in a TiS showdown. Joe cocked up his second run putting SwinDog through uncontested. Craig Evans bade farewell to Chris Pearson in his characteristically berm smashing style. Semis then pitted him against Peaty and although it was close, there was no beating the big man on his home turf. In the other semi Swinny saw off Luke by the closest of margins leaving it once again to a Peaty, Swinny Big Final. The home turf advantage managed to edge out the Girlfriend on Timing duties advantage and Steve took the win by 0.08 to the usual barrage of heckles.

Peaty Out in front (Photo: Rich Baybutt)

As usual, the prize pile was as varied as it was wonderful, with double tinned fish this week (thanks to a re-entry from a previous ‘win’). Massive thanks to Jack for letting us use his field and for setting everything up. Equally to Peaty who worked his Syndicate Socks of setting up the race and tidying away the aftermath. To Chegs for being born 40ish years ago, Izzy and Mari, Wendy, everyone that turned up to race, help out on the radios or brought a light or tided away a pole. Another brilliant evening of racing.

Fastest Lap

fastest combined lap

Gnarpoints

overall after round 4

And yes… thats a VOD and POD each month of the year so far… can we keep it up?

With fear of sounding like the miserable student people expect me to be I will now show you what fun I had once I finished my exams; starting with some cheeky xc photography with Ruari. Tomorrow will see loam and snow with Joe.

Venturing off the beaten track Ruari spied this steep chute with no room to roll in, ideal. After a sighting it up the first attempt proved fruitless!

Second attempt: success!

Maxle took a beating :

Moving on we followed the rock face looking for a photogenic part of the trail, this small “bus stop” like feature fitted the bill. Despite the slow sketchy run in Ruari managed to make it work:

Now it was time for me to get a little close to the edge, looking down from the top of the rock face!

With a few shots on the card we met up with a couple of other riders from the University of Sheffield. It was one of those rides where an appetite for finding new trails led to returning home in the dark, hungry and out of water… Great fun by all accounts!

You can view the photos larger over at Duncan’s website: http://www.duncanphilpott.com/blog/

Some Tickets are still available for purchase here and the remainer will be available on the Door. There is a Map to the Lantern Theatre here but the address is The Lantern Theatre, Kenwood Park Road, Sheffield, S7 1NF

The action starts at 7, doors open at 6:30. Don’t be late! They’ve got a well stocked bar and we need to try and drink it dry. Bar closes at 11 and we need to be out by 11:30.

Films

To go along side the MachoTailDrop première we have a couple of additional treats for you.

Progression: Alex Rankin’s own Montage of the complete Sprung and Earthed Series. Originally edited for and shown at Shaff, after the SteelCityDH  last year. This is another exclusive.

Dont Back Down: Clay Porter has sent over the trailer for Peatys Film which is out later this year. We saw it at the 3MG premiere at Fort Bill last year… EPIC!

There’s another iron in fire… which will hopefully be a surprise on the night…

Dirt Magazine

Dirt are fully behind the night and will be featuring it in the Mag in the coming months. If you want to get your face in there, make sure you make some effort with your costume. They are also sponsoring a couple of the contests.

Prizes

The prize pile is coming along nicely.

• 12 month subscription to Dirt plus TShirts, Stickers and Banners
• Peaty has sent along a Signed copy of his book plus a crate of Stella!
• James Irwin at the Bike Garage has offered up a set of Raceface zero body armour
• Edinburgh Bikes in Sheff have sent over a £90 Work Stand and a couple of other bits
• John at Shorelines will give a Chromag Bobble Hat and Tee in your size
• 18 Bikes will be bringing a goody bag.
• JE James have given us a Kaboom Bike Cleaning Kit to give Away.
• Plus many random bits of goodness

Video Clip Contest

Entry closes midnight Friday 3rd Feb

How to win prizes? Why not enter the video clip contest. The audience will judge the best clip and we have 3 categories with a prize for each and a maximum clip length of 30 seconds. Its not an edit contest, just clips.

• Funniest #lol
• Best Crash #ooo
• Raddest Trick #rad

You can send us a  link to your clip in 2 ways:

• Twitter @thisisheffield #TisMTD with the your category hashtag added
• Email thisissheffield@gmail.com

The prize will be given to the owner of the clip, so don’t send in other peoples work unless you want them to get the prize.

Example

This is a great example of a #lol entry… its one of ours, and we’re not afraid to win our own contest (as voted for by the public naturally).

http://vimeo.com/15691407

Free Beer!!

Brant Richards of Shedfire Fame is gutted that he can’t make Saturday night. As you might imagine, its right up his street. To remain part of the action and fuel the fire he’s made the unprecedented move of Buying everyone a beer at the bar at the interval (well the  first 60 people to get there on the night). Big cheers to Brant!

GhettoPalooza

The bikes and computers have been prepped. Flat pedals only, lots of resistance. Its too late to train!

Best Dressed Manwolf

The best dressed ManWolf on the night will receive a great prize and their photo in Dirt. Here’s a couple of logos for you to decorate your costumes with.

Its going to be a night of randomness and fun, make sure you’re part of it a get your ticket bought here .

A Quicky with Swinny on pinkbike.com