A snapshot of the riders in the FoD on any… well, you get the idea.

A surprisingly dry Friday morning (for this country at this time of year) enticed more than a few people out into the Forest of Dean for a day thrashing their bike, courtesy of FlyUp Downhill.

Name: Dan Murphy
Age: 35
Bike: Commencal Absolut SX
Job: I’m a graphic designer working in marketing.
How long have you been riding Erm… About five or six years, just picked it up again, you know? It was my 30th birthday and my brother was just like “right, let’s try and get a bit active”, so we ended up going to Tenerife with a couple of bikes and that was it, I kind of got the bug.
Where do you ride? I normally ride my local trails, a place called Badbury Clump, but I get up here as much as I can. There are other places – sometimes we do trips to Chicksands or Aston Hill.
Tell us about the bike then. Just recently built it up – it probably took about a month as I had to get a few parts machined and stuff, and it was a few months sorting out what I wanted on the bike. First real ride today, I like it.

Name: Gary Dyer
Age: 38
Bike: DH8 Club Roost
Job: Engineer
How long have you been riding? About 1 and a half years.
Where do you ride? Erm… Here, Afan, Blaenau Ffestiniog, Cwmcarn…
How often do you get out on the bike? About twice a week. I’ve got this and an old Claud Butler hardtail I like to ride.
Tell us about the bike then. I’ve made a couple of changes – I’ve just switched out the back tyre for a Continental Mountain King, and I managed to stop it squeaking! Apart from that she’s going strong.

Name: Carl Cornell
Age: 33
Bike: Orange 322
Job: I’m a freelance chef.
How long have you been riding? Not long, this year. Seven or eight months maybe.
Where do you ride? We (Gary and me) ride all over the place – Cwmcarn, Llandegla, Brechfa, we do Afan – not on the downhill bike, on an Orange Alpine 160!
Tell us about the bike then. I’ve been an Orange man since I got the Alpine, so I got a 322. Had a few issues with the shock mount, but I got a new front triangle and it’s perfect.

So there you have it – the Forest of Dean uplift on any Friday. Click www.flyupdownhill.co.uk to book yourself on the trailer!