This weekend it was not a race! The Helly Hansen - Giant team were attending the first Fat Tyre Festival at the mountain bike mecca which is Coed Y Brenin. Hundred of mountain bike enthusiasts attended. Saturday there were marked rides of 11km and 20km. On Sunday there was a 50km giant loop, these were made up of the tracks that form the three main way marked trails - Red Bull, Karrimor and MBR. If you have been before then they will have changed. They are forever being improved and this winter the Forestry Enterprise trail builders must have been working overtime! The Helly team arrived on Friday afternoon and we set out on the epic 50km that was to be used on Sunday. This was long, challenging and great fun. The biggest climb was after 40km (on the Karrimor loop) this was followed by the tricky descent that is called "Uncle Fester". This is the most technical and steep descent of the ride. All weekend we were giving out the advice that riders should be prepared of this and maybe sit down for a bit before plummeting back down!

The teams involvement for the weekend was to take small groups on instructional rides with as they said "tips from the pros". I quite enjoy doing this as it makes me think what I do - often without thinking. The groups were taken out for about one and a half hours, we gave our tips and rode the sections trying to show how to do it. It is very difficult, as normally there is a wide ability range, so I always approach this problem by going through everything, the basics upwards. We seemed to have some good feedback, so next time why not come along, you might pick something up - or realise why you do something?

Helly Hansan -"tips from the pros" rides (more pictures in the Photo Gallery)

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