2011 TEAM NEWS

First things first, Happy New Year! It's been very quiet on here for a few months since the end of the 2010 season but behind the scenes it has been very busy indeed.

The Bike Mechanic racing team is to be re-branded for the 2011 season, and along with an exciting sponsorship and support agreement with Loco MTB Suspension Servicing and Tuning, will be reborn as Loco BM Racing.

A huge thanks goes to Simon, owner of Loco, for the time and support he's giving the team. Simon comes from an engineering background and has worked in the industry for over 10 years. During this time he's spent several years as a Fox Racing Shocks technician and has a wide knowledge and experience of other major brands. Loco Tuning is based in New Tredegar, Gwent, South Wales, and comes highly recommended.

The Bike Mechanic will continue as normal, but I felt, with the continuing success of the team at events in 2009 and 2010, it was a good opportunity to set the team up as a separate entity, whilst keeping a close link with The Bike Mechanic.

The team also has support from Clee Cycles and their KCNC range of products, Harris Active Sports for our sports nutrition needs, as well as training plan support from Chris Eatough, professional mountain biker and 6-time 24-hour Solo World Champion.

Joining us for 2011 is Dave Buchanan, bringing with him his rugged good looks, humour and valued friendship. He's also pretty good on a bike too. On March the 22nd 2009, Dave became the pioneering rider of the first offroad Welsh Coast 2 Coast ride (WC2C). A fully unsupported winter ride that took 22hrs 24min and 49secs.

This wasn't enough for Dave so for 2011 he plans to attempt "The Hobbits' Tale", a massive and scary undertaking which should be the longest ever non-stop offroad ride. The Guinness World Record™ will be for "The greatest distance covered on a mountain bike in 48hours." The official guidelines are based on flat distance and ignores height gain. It's also suggested that it be done on an athletics track.

So...

...This will be a solo ride (supported by his friends, sponsors and believers) through Wales' toughest singletrack and climbs. The data collected indicates that it is a 630Km, 22300m ascent, and it *should* take 48-52 hours.

Also joining us will be Jonny Williams, from Beyond925 fame, already half a member from previous years, and Scott's partner in a few pairs events last year, but now has officially joined us.

2011 should be a very exciting year for us and we are already entered into a number of events, some as early as February.

This will probably be the last team entry here, and further team news will be posted up on the Loco BM Racing website at www.bm-racing.co.uk once it is up and running.