Sixty-Nine Degrees North
Staff Writer Ed Thomsett pounced at the opportunity to go on a once-in-a-lifetime adventure around Norway's fjords last summer. Far enough north to be in the Arctic Circle, Ed used a boat to travel between some fantastic, little-known riding destinations in some of the most backwater places in Northern Europe. Flick to page 56 to read all about it...
True grit
Tommy Wilkinson suffered a life-changing injury after an innocuous crash on his bike back in 2013. Now several years on after losing the use of his right arm, Tommy's still 100 per cent committed to having fun on his bike and travelling the world shooting the sport he loves. We caught up with him at the location of one of his first ever DH races to find out more.
California Dreamin'
Tracy Moseley, former DH and enduro world champ, heads stateside to ride the Downieville Classic, a two-day cross-country and downhill race in California. Head to page 70 to find out how she got on at this legendary event.
Breaking Ground
What makes a great trail? We quiz three influential trail builders in europe’s mountain biking epicentre, the Portes du Soleil, and then jump on a chairlift to find out for ourselves. Chances have it that you've either ridden a trail, watched GoPro footage of someone else riding a trail or have fantasised about riding a trail built by one of these three men. Flick to page 76 to find out about how Ben Walker, Gaëtan Rey and Gary Guyard do their work.
Ae Forest, Scotland
We make the pilgrimage to southern Scotland and Ae Forest, one of the 7stanes trail centres, and find the riding – and cake!– is well worth the long journey. Local brothers, Frazer and Callum McCubbing, showed the MBUK Wrecking Crew around the cracking trail centre loop and downhill tracks at Ae. Grab a copy of the mag to find out more.
Biketest, how to and much more
We review sub-£2K, full-gas 29er/plus hardtails to see which semi-rigid turn slapping, flat out rig you should be spending your cash on.
In our How To section, we lift the veil on riding techniques such as airing out of a quarter pipe with Manon Carpenter, hitting rooty drops, laying a flat table with Tom Cardy and drifting berms like a master.
Not only that, we've got our hands on our 2018 long term test bikes, tested 15 soft shells and six goggles, plus Max Darkins, our route-guru, goes on a Big Ride around the Surrey Hills.
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