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BBC News
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Riding Hardline 'like playing Mario Kart with mates'
One of the toughest mountain bike races of all takes place in Wales next Wales is a part-downhill, part-freeride race which will be staged in Machynlleth on 26-27 to the organisers, Hardline riders "push their limits to conquer a brutal course with massive jumps, drops and technical challenges".Kaos Seagrave, a London-born professional rider who is based in Wales, has many years of biking experience under his belt but says Hardline Wales "is actually the hardest race I've ever done".Seagrave devotes his time to freeride mountain biking having left racing on the World Cup scene after finding races "too serious".Hardline is the only race the 26-year-old still competes in, and also tests for, as he feels it is the only race that gives the racers the chance to have fun while racing."The good thing about Hardline is you get to race and be competitive. It's like playing Mario Kart with your mates," Seagrave he was born in the UK, Seagrave, along with his professional racing sister Tahnee, grew up near Morzine in France - the gateway to the Portes du Soleil area that mountain bikers flock to in summer, and skiers in the siblings were younger, the family often had athletes staying with them."I was at the races all my life," said Seagrave. "Before I was a racer, my family would always be at the races because my mum would cook for some of the teams."The Seagraves eventually left France for Wales, where they have lived and raced for 10 says he "fell in love with the place" after visiting his sister, who had moved over Morzine there was no opportunity for biking in winter, meaning that – unusually perhaps - the Welsh weather was appealing."We wanted to always just ride bikes and you can't with winter out there [in France]," Seagrave said."Here you can ride 12 months of the year. It's just so beautiful."The Seagraves are not alone, with Wales' landscape attracting many elite racing families in recent times."The riding is insane, the amount of hills and wherever you go there's kind of a track there," Seagrave added. 'No spiders or snakes - but I don't like crashing in Wales' The Hardline competitions have only two races, one in Wales and one in to the rough landscape in the Dyfi Valley, the Welsh Hardline is widely regarded as the hardest track in the world."It's just the actual steepness of the hill and the Dyfi Valley," Seagrave explained."And then there is the weather as it's normally wet, so it's normally going to be a wet race, and roots and rocks in the wet are quite sketchy."I think for Hardline, it's got to be the hardest line that there is."If you crash in Tasmania, I know there are animals like spiders and snakes, but normally if you crash on the side, you're not too bad."If you crash in Wales it's just kind of rocky, slatey and it's such hard-packed dirt. I don't really like crashing in Wales."Nevertheless, Seagrave enjoys testing the track in Wales, willing to be the guinea pig - the first to ride the track before a race starts and before any other athlete. With each course getting new jumps and features every year, they need to be tested for safety but also to make sure the obstacles are actually rideable."It's a cool experience but it's always quite scary because obviously you're doing a jump for the first time," he describes testing as a "different gamble" due to the risk involved when trying out the most difficult course on the planet."You're there to do a job but if I don't think I can do something I won't," Seagrave said."I've had a few crashes so sometimes it's better to say change it before it's ridden. But you do want to at least try." However, there has been no testing for Hardline this year as the course has no new Seagrave says there are nerves involved when he is preparing to try a new trick."I'm absolutely in my head just like, 'Oh my God, what if I just go off the side?'" he said."As I get to the top and get on my bike, that's when I'm like, yeah, I'm okay. When I'm going to drop in, those thoughts just go to the side and only thoughts of me landing and doing it are in my head."Seagrave grew up with admiration for Hardline creators Dan and Gee Atherton, themselves professional racers."We always try to get Dan to come back out on the Hardline course but he's always like, 'Oh I'm old now I can't ride it'," Seagrave said."I went to the bike park with him on Sunday, he was dropping us and riding so well. He'd beat most of us - but he says it's up to us to ride it now."After all the crashes Gee has had, seeing him ride is just amazing. They are unique athletes."Seagrave missed out on competing in both editions of Hardline last year after a shoulder injury, but is raring to go again this says the primary target is to "go out there and have fun" as he prepares for a year of freeriding events such as Crankworx and Swatch Nines and also handing in an application for a wildcard spot for Red Bull Rampage.
CTV News
6 days ago
- CTV News
Suspect arrested following viral video of Whistler, B.C., mountain bike toss
A man has been suspended from using the Whistler Mountain Bike Park after throwing a teenager's bike off a bridge.
BBC News
7 days ago
- Sport
- BBC News
Jersey's men win Island Games mountain bike gold
Jersey's cyclists have added another gold medal to their tally at the 2025 Island Games after winning team mountain bike cross country squad of Liam Cadoret, Jay Cracknell, James Dilks, Jacob Mauger and Ben Richards all finished inside the top eight as Jersey's riders dominated the race ahead of Isle of Man and won individual silver as he finished almost two minutes behind Shetland's gold medallist Grant Ferguson. Dilks took bronze 1:14 behind Mauger while Cracknell was almost two minutes further back in fourth place. Richards finished seventh and Cadoret eighth as Jersey won their fourth cycling gold and their second team mountain bike title - the island were team criterium winners on Tuesday. Jersey are top of the cycling medal table having win four gold, two silver and two bronze medals. Another medal for archer Perrett Meanwhile Jersey archer Mollie Perrett won her fifth medal at Orkney along with Fred Crosby and Tony Vardon won bronze in the team recurve head to head. Having lost to Guernsey 6-2 in the semi-finals the trio recovered to beat Shetland 6-0 in the bronze medal play-off. It was a first bronze of the games for Perrett, who has won mixed and women's recurve team head to head knockout gold and women's 1440 recurve also won a silver in the single 1440 recurve team event. "I didn't think I'd be coming home with anything, so to win gold on the first day and a silver was fantastic," Perrett told BBC Radio Jersey."Winning that gold on the first day definitely helped, it boosted my confidence that maybe I can do this."Having that team around you and seeing that other people are here to support has definitely helped."Perrett's medal came as Jersey's bowlers won their third medal of the island's men's triples side of Josh Band, Kevin Le Long and Michael Rive won silver behind hosts Orkney.
BBC News
15-07-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Mountain bikers bid to conquer 'deepest, darkest Wales'
Gee Atherton attributes Wales' landscape as the most "impressive and intimidating" for building the Worlds hardest downhill racing track.A former World mountain bike downhill champion, Atherton is co-founder of Hardline – widely regarded as the hardest mountain bike race in the Hardline returns to the Dyfi Valley in mid Wales for its eleventh year on 26 JulyThe event see's the top female and male riders from around the world battle it out over two days to become the Hardline year Irish World Cup racer Ronan Dunne took the win and will be looking to defend his victory again this with his brother Dan, Gee Atherton designs and builds the track each year and also participates in the race, which he won in 2018 after a few unlucky years of mechanical faults on the track, had prevented him from finishing the race. "Every year I would be there and I would be close and either mechanicals or crashes or injuries," Gee Atherton said."I realised I was almost pushing too hard and I wanted this win too much and I almost had to kind of step back and calm myself down and think about it slightly differently."I managed to get my head around it and managed to take a win but it's not an easy event to win by any means, there's very few people that have won it multiple times."The event is often regarded as the hardest course in the World with only the top athletes invited to take part each event has one competition in Dinas Mawddwy, in Wales and one in Tasmania, with the Welsh clash known to be more challenging than its counterpart race."I mean, we've been all around the world riding and training and racing and looking for venues for these kind of events," Atherton added."And, you know, we've never found anywhere as impressive as intimidating as where it is here in Wales."I think it's that unique kind of feel you can only get from when you're in, you know, deepest, darkest Wales."Everything from the climate, the venue, the mountain, you know, everything is terrifying. So it's the best spot in the world for it." A competition so extreme, it must be difficult to test its safety?Mountain biking at this scale, built to test the very top of the worlds talent can only be tested by the riders themselves, as the only people with the skillset to complete the may be the only sport in the world that the guinea pigs are its own professionals right in the heart of a World Cup World Cup brothers, Dan and Gee will build and test the course before inviting other riders to test before the competition gets underway."It's difficult really, Dan and I, we've got this kind of agreement between us and we know how each other works and I'll suggest something and he'll say no that's too far, or that's a great idea," Atherton said."Often he will build something and I will have to test it so there's a lot of trust there between the two of us." I think we work well together, sometimes I'll have to test something that he's built and I'll have to trust that it's going to work 75% of the time it does and occasionally it doesn't."You're building the hardest track in the world, you're guinea pigging some of the biggest features anyone's ever hit on a bike, so it's very difficult to then decide yes this is okay or no we've gone too far you know we have to push the sport."We have to challenge the riders we have to be at that kind of that pinnacle that's forefront of what you can do on a mountain bike so each year the riders turn up and there's a new feature that's bigger and more difficult than the previous years."If you go too far with that, you know, if you push them too far, then the riders can risk getting injured, which, you know, does happen sometimes in testing. But at the same time, you know, you have to be ambitious. You have to push the sport along. And that's where that balance comes in. And you have to walk that very fine line."The three Atherton siblings are arguably mountain biking's most impressive family,From their own bike brand to a bike park as well as Gee, Dan and sister Rachel's vast World Cup winning records. The three have been in Wales since 2004, with Dyfi Bike Park established in 2010, creating a destination for mountain bikers from all of the world to test their skills."The talent that's developing, that's coming out of this area is incredible, riders onto the World Cup scene with quite impressive results," Gee Atherton said."We've been here a long time, we've developed a Bike Park here in Machynlleth which has helped put the area on the map."It's turning into one of the UK's biggest bike parks and getting busier and busier and it's just this huge mountain of the most unique, intimidating daunting, but incredible fun to ride trails."There's very few places you can find this kind of landscape and this kind of terrain that suits mountain biking so well."
Yahoo
26-06-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Get Your Kiddo Shready Ready With This New Mountain Bike Child Seat
Get Your Kiddo Shready Ready With This New Mountain Bike Child Seat originally appeared on BikeMag. Okay, so hucking in the bike park with your baby is generally frowned upon. But when you want to go for a chill cruise with your family or are ready to introduce your child to the first flowy thrills of mountain biking, the new Shotgun Pro EVO child seat from Kids Ride Shotgun keeps your downhill beast in play. Claiming to be the first-ever convertible mountain bike child seat, the Shotgun Pro EVO is a child seat that attaches to your rig and fits kiddos 9 months to 5 years old. 'Most child seats weren't built for mountain bikes,' Kids Ride Shotgun says. 'The Pro EVO is. Its game-changing level of adjustability means no more restricted turning, frame contact, or bulky adapters. Just a seat that integrates with your bike, not interferes with it.' Designed by mountain bikers specifically for mountain bikes, the Shotgun Pro starts with a five-point harness setup for babies and toddlers 9 to 24 months (2 to 33 pounds). When your child turns 2 and can support themself, the Shotgun Pro transforms into a kid's seat with tiny handlebars and stirrups so your child can ride with you until they're 5 (26 to 60 pounds). The seat attaches to your bike's stem and seat post, sitting above the bike's top tube with no frame contact. Quick-release attachments allow parents to quickly set and remove the system. Bikes need to have at least a standard 1 ⅛' steerer tube, at least 10mm of headset space, 14mm of seat post space, and front suspension for the seat to fit. For Children 9 months to 5 years 15-second quick-release mounting No frame contact eMTB compatible 5-point safety harness with sternum strap Fidlock magnetic child-proof buckle Fully adjustable seat position and angle, footrests and harness Meets EN 14344 and ASTM F3641 safety standards for front-mounted child bike seats ICR Adapter Kit available separately for bikes with internal cable routing The Shotgun Pro EVO is available for pre-order at Kids Ride Shotgun and is $439. Orders will ship from Utah in September. Seats also come with stickers and a temporary tattoo for your future sender, if you weren't already sold. This story was originally reported by BikeMag on Jun 26, 2025, where it first appeared.
