I popped down to Cwmcarn, South Wales the other Saturday to see who was riding the www.cwmdown.co.uk uplift bus.

Here’s a random snapshot of four of the many riders that day.

To book on to the uplift hit up www.cwmdown.co.uk

Name: Andrew Corkill
Age: 27
Job: Motorcycle shop owner / Motorcycle Delivery logistics manager / international man of mystery
Live: Bexleyheath, Kent
Bike: Specialized Big Hit

I mainly ride at PORC Penshurst, Aston hill, UK bike park, Forest of Dean and Europe a lot so the Alps mainly, Les Gets, Les Arcs, Morzine, Tignes, Chamonix etc.

Usually ride with my good mates Jay Shaw, George Randal, Reece Baton, Matt Adams.

On the Big Hit not a lot has been changed that has come from the factory apart from a Mavic Deemax wheel set as France destroyed the original wheels that were made of cheese. Most parts replaced has been changed like for like as I quite like the set up of the bike. I’m only an average rider and not into lots of bolt on bling. I just like a bike that is set up for me and works well.

I’ve just done five runs as I only got here in the afternoon.

I’ve had an interesting week as always. All starting on Sunday heading back from Amsterdam via a epic 2800 mile journey driving through Europe in 3 ½ days delivering motorcycles and parts that involved going through France, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Germany, Netherlands and Belgium. I get back around 11.30pm and straight to bed.

Monday starts by me heading to my warehouse, unloading the van and checking it over sort some paperwork out and book some more jobs in ready for the week ahead.

Tuesday and Wednesday comes and goes with nothing really eventful happening apart from maybe a few collections in Central London.

Dreaded Thursday comes along with a 4am start with another long drive ahead of me via the Scottish borders where I will be delivering two Harley Davidson’s and a Yamaha WR 426 as well as a couple of engines then collecting a few bits and pieces on the way back. This day involved me driving 950 miles in 18 hours and me getting back home at 10pm ish (I don’t quite remember the exact time I was quite tired at this point).

Friday comes and I book another couple of jobs in for myself but this time going Southwest via Bath and Bristol. I collect the motorcycles I need to deliver today and load the van up for the following day. This time thinking, whilst I’m down that way lets call a mate up and see if I have enough time to go mountain biking. Friday night comes I get a bit too drunk and all is good I get back around 12pm.

Saturday: 5am alarm goes off. Arghhhhhhhh I feel like shit and have a hang over, but I must get up. Alarm goes off again at 6am SHIT, I knew I should have woke up when it first went off, now I’m running late. I stumble around trying to find all my riding kit. Get dressed and out the door I go. Pick up my mate Matt Adams, load his bike. Get more diesel for the van and buy Red Bull, go to pick up another mate to find out he also had a heavy night and is not waking up, so we leave him and off to deliver motorcycles. We finish the drops off’s around 11.00am. As we were in Bristol it was a choice of Forest of Dean or Cwmcarn for the half days riding we had ahead of us.

As I had not been to Cwmcarn since January this year and the weather has been a bit wet all week, We decided that was the best place, as I have always found this place is always grippy both in the wet or dry. So we get there have a few runs, around 5 in total, with the last run us being dropped off at the freeride section instead of the down hill run, so we can have a bit of a play on there for a little while and then have a gentle ride down the excellent XC trails and soak in the fantastic scenery that Wales has to offer. We finish the day around 5.30 I think and head back home getting back around 9pm.

Sunday comes and I go to my good friends Jay Shaw’s house to drink tea and try sort out my poorly Honda CRF 250 that I have found has stretched a valve that happened at an enduro I done on the bike a few weeks before. But with me still having my DH bike in the van we decide to go riding and we head to Penshurst to catch up with George Randal and a few others to check out a new run they are digging for the winter downhill race starting on the 25th of nov. Being quite tired by now I just take it easy doing a few runs and just learning a few lines and experimenting with different gearing for race starts and general fun really. We finish ring when it starts to get dark around 5ish and head out for a curry and a few beers again. I get a little tipsy and then go to bed to try and get some rest for another busy week.

(Sorry if I have rambled or this is too long, but I have never put my whole week in words before I found it quite interesting I might do this more often. Also I’m sorry if a lot of this is not mtb related.)

Name: RAF
Age: 39
Job: Carpenter /constuction
Where do you live: Purton nr Swindon
Bike: Mondraker Prayer

I ride all over really , my local spots , F.O.D , Cranham area , Dursley area , Wales , Bristol. Usually with AS, Glen ,Luke, Stu , Sarah , Andy , Simon , Archie, Meg and Harvey.

Today I’ve done one loop of the Twrch trail, one uplift and three half way descents.

Name: Joseph Derrick.
Age: 12.
Job: Don’t really have a job.
Where do you live: Abercarn, South Wales
Bike: Giant Yukon Fx1 2009 model, cross country bike.

I usually ride downhill, and sometimes a bit of cross country to keep the fitness up.

The track I usually ride is Cwmcarn, in South Wales. It has an awesome uplift service, and some insane trails.

I usually ride with my mate Lewis Cardwell and sometimes my other friend from school, Curtis.

I ride clip-less pedals for downhill and cross country, I find it easier for cross country when I’m going uphill to push and pull. They also help on downhill to huck over roots and rocks etc. I run a triple ring on the front, as that’s what came on the bike when I bought it. It’s a cross country bike, and it’s the only bike I have, but hoping to be on a Scott Voltage for 2013.

I tend to run a Maxxis High Roller on the front, (single ply), and a Maxxis swamp thing on the back, (dual ply).

I’ve done about 9-10 runs today at Cwmcarn, being as I missed the 1st run and the 12th run, which was the last run, but we never say ‘last run’ because its bad luck.

I’ve never actually timed myself properly down the course, but it should take about 3 to 4 minutes to get from top to bottom.

My week has just been the same as always. Pretty lame though, beings it’s getting dark earlier now there’s not enough time to go for a blast as it gets dark, but I usually ride cross country in the week after school, so I’ll probably just try to keep fit on the tread mill and the rowing machine over the winter.

I’m going back to Cwmcarn again tomorrow to get out, hopefully some of the friendly local boys will be up there and have a laugh.

Name: Adam Wight
Age: 27
Job: Customer Services (motor trade)
Where do you live: Wareham (Dorset)
What bike are you riding: Various – Spesh Stumpjumper Evo Hardtail (29er), giant scr road bike, Mondraker Dune XR (forward geometry)

I usually ride local trails, Wales regularly and Alps whenever I can mostly out with friends and girlfriend but most commonly Lewis Lacey and Dominic Meacher.

The Stumpjumper is standard with Easton carbon bars. Mondy is Lyric rlc (2 position air) forks, CTD shock, Zee brakes and short cage rear mech, 1 x 10 set up with Race Face turbine cranks and chain ring, Hope Pro 2 evo sp’s with Flow rims and tubeless fat albert tyres, Easton bars and an SDG saddle.

Am running Schwalbe Fat Albert 2.4s (tubeless) and have done 8 runs today, never timed myself though.

My week has been: Monday Trail run with the dogs, Tuesday am gym sesh (kettlebells and freeweights), work and then PM mtb hill sprints, Wednesday work and pm MTB XC ride in the rain, Thursday am gym sesh (TRX trainer – laugh regularly at Lewis moaning like a girl lifting big weights!), work and PM hill sprints with Lewis, Friday work and steak dinner, Saturday am drive to Cwmcarn and a day of uplift, a night in the pod at Cwmcarn campsite, Sunday – carpark 4x dual in Cardiff!