Less than a week to go until Escape to Gisburn, the first enduro race to be held at Gisburn Forest, it will be the first enduro race I've tackled, I'll let you know how I get on!

Just under a week to get our 15% Early Bird Discount on a guided ride or skills ride in 2013.

Magicshine MJ-872 Review

An e-mail dropped into my inbox recently, from Rob at Magicshine UK, asking if I'd like to have a test of one of their range of bike lights. Like most, I'm always keen to get my hands on some shiny new kit and see how it well it performs; and that's how, a day or two later, UPS came to be handing over a Magicshine MJ-872 at my door.

It's been great to see the nights starting to lighten over the last few weeks, but it's still plenty dark enough that lights are a necessity when riding later than about 6:30pm. A quick call to a good friend and fellow MTB guide, Nick Holt, and a blast out around Arnside and Silverdale was on:

Fitting the light was a doddle, a rubber O-ring attaches the light unit to the bars in seconds and a substantial velcro strap fixes the battery securely to (in my case) the underside of the top tube, a welcome additional strap allows any spare cable to be neatly secured out of the way, a nice touch.

We set off into the gathering dusk with the lights switched to minimum, so that we could be seen on the short road climb which takes us to the first technical off-road climb. Switching on the light involves a quick press of the handy illuminated switch, which also serves as a battery indicator and enables the light to be cycled up and down the power levels. It's easy to do with gloved hands, certainly there's no faffing or fiddling to find the switch in a hurry. Up the first climb and into the woods and the 'up' button sees action as the remaining light fades and increased visibility is required, I'm pleasantly surprised with the available light from the claimed 1600 Lumens available, and I've not asked for full power yet.

The first descent is twisty through the trees and then a nice flat out blast down a rough trail, at the top the light is up to full, and the power and shape of the beam are excellent. The pace of the descent confirms this, there's plenty of light for flat out riding and the shape of the beam gives good visibility in the twisty corners, even with the light mounted as it is, on the bars.

 The rest of the ride is good fun, a bit muddy in places but otherwise just how a good night ride should be, cold but clear, with good views and the light doing its job as it should.

The light is on for about 3 hours, switched to low on most of the climbs / road sections and up to high on the descents. The light indicator dips into the red on the last descent, but has recovered back to blue after the last section on the road, so I guess it's more of a guide than a definitive indicator but it's still a handy feature and at the end of the ride the indicator on the battery itself is still reading at about half-full, which I'm sure would allow for most people's night riding requirements.

The light itself looks like it's well made, although with just a one ride test I couldn't vouch for longevity of course. The only minor niggles I found were that, although the O-ring fitting is quick and simple, the light does vibrate fractionally at speed (compared to my regular light which is on an aluminum bracket); and where the cable exits the light is very close to where the O-ring sits, which makes it more fiddly than it could be and pushes the cable to one side in use. The current helmet mount also needs revision, I couldn't get a satisfactory fitting on either of my xc lids (Giro Xar and Feature) but as a bar mounted option the light works extremely well.

Overall, I was pretty impressed, the beam power and shape were great and the light was easy to use. The cost is certainly very competitive as well. Big thanks to the guys at Magicshine for the loan of the light - much appreciated!

Vouchers

Vouchers are now available for Sublime Rides guiding and skills courses, get them in time for Christmas - see the website for details.

Some great guided rides and skills rides so far this year, including some people making the most of the glorious weather we had recently. We have good availability at the moment for July and August, so if you're looking to brush up on those skills or experience some new routes in the Lakes with a qualified guide then drop us an e-mail to info@sublimerides.co.uk

5% off discount code now available for SingletrAction members and customers of Dales Bike Doctor (minimum spend limit applies). Click here http://www.sublimerides.co.uk/contactus.html to drop us a message for details.

Access, 'the right to approach or make use of.'

Once we swing a leg over a top tube in England, we don't actually have much of it! As mountain bikers we have access to just 22% of the Public Right Of Way (PROW) network in England, predominantly bridleways and byways, with the addition of the welcome permitted ways of the trail centre.

This bothers me a little, predominantly because I can't see any good reason why we shouldn't be able to go on our mountain bikes to the same places we can go on foot. Sure, there are paths in areas so environmentally sensitive they probably ought not to be explored on foot, but the other commonly touted arguments are usually down to perception rather than reality.

In Scotland the situation since the 9th Feb, 2005 has been rather different, with cyclists having legal access to almost all open areas under an 'Access Code'.

I think the situation in England could be changed for the better. Health and fitness is still up there on the political agenda (mainly because it cuts the health service bill!), sport and cycling also have a high profile. The current The Times 'Cities fit for cycling' campaign is doing very well, with a parliamentary debate moving things along nicely (interestingly the opposition party embraced all 8 points, to the government's 7 http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/public/cyclesafety/article3329890.ece) and demonstrating the 'draw' of cycling. The petition currently running on the government website asking for increased access for mountain bikers http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/3508 has just 3623 signatories. It needs to get to 100,000 to get a similar parliamentary debate.

If we don't fight our corner and sign the petitions to improve our sport in the uk, in all its forms, then we may find things heading in the opposite direction. The Country Landowners Association (CLA) have just released a report on their view on the PROW network http://www.cla.org.uk/policy_docs/Access15060212.pdf, and it makes for disturbing reading. Taken at a glance the document calls for common sense, simpler rules, well maintained and signed access - objectives I will certainly hold up as being extremely worthy. However, reading into the detail reveals the unsurprising reality; that the CLA is actually interested in reducing access (where there is the slightest plausible excuse); preventing new rights of way being established; and moving towards permissive access (i.e. where the landowner decides where you can, or can't, go). This new document moves, as if a pre-emptive strike, against the accord they held until recently with organisations such as the Ramblers Association http://www.ramblers.org.uk/news/Latest+news/The+wrong+way+forward. It is narrow-minded, thinking only of the interests of the Landowning minority, and should be recognised as the restriction of our rights which it would represent.

It should also be recognised, however, that the government's 'red tape review' is currently riding rough shod across many of the measures which have been put in place to ensure our countryside and special environmental areas are protected, without thought of our right to enjoy them. Lets not let our limited access rights be next...