We have just returned from a great weekend in Shropshire, our first training camp that we have run as the SPS. When you join the SPS you get a couple of days training with Steve and other world cup riders. It’s a chance to see where everyone’s riding is at pre season so we can work on improving their skills. We decided to use Hopton as our training venue, its as old as downhilling in the UK and is still a great place to go riding today.

We were contacted by Will at Blazing Bikes to see if we would like somewhere to stay, we jumped at it when we saw what they had on offer. The guys at  Blazing Bikes in Marshbrook, near Chruch Stretton (20 mins south of Shrewsbury) really have got it all going on. Not only have they got a superb bike shop with great staff(and coffee!), they also have camping pods with full shower and wash facilities and to top it off, they have their own pub, The Station Inn. Richard the owner and visionary behind putting this part of the world on the mountain bike world is a great guy and absolutely turned on the works for us, but you got the feeling whether you were with Steve Peat or not, he’d do whatever he could to make your stay as enjoyable as possible. It’s a family business and the whole set-up had a really good feel to it. Get yourself down there; there is loads of riding right off of their doorstep – http://www.mtb-shropshire.co.uk

Friday night started off with the team members arriving and getting assigned a Pod to stay in. For those of you unfamiliar with camping pods it’s pretty simple, its basically a very well insulated shed. Perhaps that’s not a fair description but its is very basic but everything you need, there is a light, a heater and some blinds – you just bring you sleeping bag, mattress, duvet or whatever to make yourself comfy. It was still fairly cold when we stayed but you would not have known it. I woke up a 5am sweating like a pig gasping for air! Top Pod tip – put the heating on minimum and open the window slightly, you’ll sleep like a log. After getting acquainted with the pods we had a fine meal at the station Inn, it was butcher night and there were loads of cuts of steak on offer. Being a connoisseur of bovine flesh, I opted for the fillet – which as you would hope, melted in my mouth. After several drinks we retired and headed into our pods for a good nights kip.

Saturday morning arrived and Richard had set us up with sausage and bacon butties, just what we needed. You’ll never go hungry when you stay with these guys and we loaded up the vans and headed over to Hopton Castle to meet up with Dave Pearce and his crew of uplifters. The weather was spot on for riding and we soon had our bikes loaded onto Dave’s excellent Land Rover and trailer set-ups – these are bike friendly and you are not nervous about your bike getting wrecked using them. The beauty of the Land Rover and trailer combo is that its quick and has a really good turn around time. In no time were at the top and ready to rock. We spent the day hammering out full runs and then stopping to section parts of the track. Steve and Josh showed how it was done and the team were soon pushing themselves and trying to improve their lines and whatever else had room for improvement. Also riding with us was GT’s Marc Beaumont, who really is an awesome rider. Marc executed a sick gap jump, launching off a berm, over some bushes and landed into a pretty sketchy root section –scary.to watch but great to see him pull it so solidly. We were still riding on our old bikes as the team V10s were still on their way to us, it was a shame to not have our new bikes but it not matter to the weekend – we knew they were coming and would be worth the wait. We had such a good time riding we didn’t take any riding photos!

After the days riding we headed back to the Pods and got a welcome shower, loads of hot water and super powerful too, perfect after a days riding. We hung out at the Station Inn again and this time dined off of the main menu, plenty of good solid rider food to choose from. There is some really good ale on tap too, one of which has been brewed for Blazing Bikes – its goes down really easy after a days riding, too easy! We had a really good crack and the riders were given an Evoc backpack each, stuffed with a load of Smuggling Duds underpants – no need to clean your pants for a week now ( they got a weeks worth, I’m not suggesting they wear the same pair for a week but Loosedog probably does) – Again, well fed and watered, we retired to our cosy pods for a good nights sleep.

Sunday was again spent at Hopton, loads of runs and everybody getting plenty of good advice and coaching from Steve and Josh Bryceland. If you want to get some uplift action going on in Shropshire, then get in touch with Pearce Cycles http://www.pearcecycles.co.uk/events – you can even organise your own private uplift, just get a group of mates together and share the costs – its money well spent. By the end of the day, all the team were tired and ready to head home, the first SPS training weekend had been a huge success and will surely be the first of many.

A massive thank you to Richard, Will and the rest of the Blazing Bikes crew – you made us feel really welcome and you have a great set up, well definitely be back.

SPS rider Nathan Vials tore the field apart at the 1st round of the British Nationals in the expert class, seen here getting a prize for the biggest winning margin in any class over the weekend. Nathan scored enough UCI points to gain entry for the Pietermaritzburg round with his win. If you look at the times, Nathan would have finished 7th overall in Elite – pretty impressive considering, like the rest of the SPS, he only got his bike the weekend before. Also representing the SPS will be Americas Mitch Ropelato, who like Nathan, is an absolute ripper.

Nant Gwethryn is rough, rocky and has a lung busting final third – the track is gnarly! This last weekend saw most of the SPS family get up to North Wales for a pre season race at an all new venue. Nant Gwethryn was once a granite mine, standing on steep slopes of rock and nestled next to the Irish Sea, it’s a hell of a venue. These days the miners cottages are bed and breakfast rooms and people come to Nant G to learn the Welsh language, good luck to them I say, have you ever tried to pronounce Welsh words! Thanks to the guys at Simply Downhill, Nant G is also host to a great new downhill track that’s seeing a whole new group of people making the most of this beautiful venue. There is an awesome uplift road, tarmac, steep as you like and likely to induce vertigo on the way down it – just ask Billy Matthews dad Graham, he had to make blinkers to drive the motor home back up!

The only riders not at Nant G were Jack Read who was down at the Forest of Dean and Ally Simpson was at an underground race in the Inverness area. Peaty was off riding at a Stephen Murray charity event, gutted to not be there for the weekend with his team but happy to be raising money for his friend Stephen. Jenny beesley had no downhill bike and manager Tristan Tunstall road his Nomad but would rather forget the experience! So how did the boys get on? Nathan vials showed his firepower with a win in the Expert class that put him in 2nd overall, beating plenty of Elites. Nathan is fast, watch out for him this year – riding on the SPS could be the stepping stone he needs to get to the next level. Dale Russell knocked out a top ten finish, in tenth and looked strong all weekend – Dale won his previous race at Innerliethen and is warming up nicely for the start of the season. Tom Kelly is the final rider in Expert and had a mixed weekend, plenty of crashes in his practice and race runs left tom going home to Scunthorpe with a score to settle with the Nant G track. The Juniors put on a good show, Billy Matthews being top of the crop romping home in 2nd place and doing his travelling entourage of family and friends proud. Also on the podium was Freddie Oxley with a solid 5th place, Freddie and Billy ride together a lot and Billy might have to watch out for Freddie at this rate! Ben Humphries had a steady weekend in the junior class, consistently getting down the track with only one second between each run, Bens in fast company and will no doubt pick up new speed from his Junior counterparts in the SPS. Josh Lewis is the final SPS Junior and had a couple of crashes in his race runs, he was fast in practice and enjoying himself – a clean race run eluded him this weekend. Masters rider Chris Griffiths was riding good and looks like he can be a podium rider throughout the season, it’s a highly competitive class and a 3rd for Chris was a great way to open his account.

Overall it was good weekend for the SPS, good riding and good fun. It didn’t rain either! Roll on BDS 1, the first national is going to be crazy!

The team are currently waiting for their 2011 Carbon V10s, lets hope they turn up for the first national!

The SPS team’s custom Royal kit is here! Fresh from the Royal Racing factory, Nick Bayliss has come up with yet another winning design for the 2011 team. The jersey is the same one used in the 2011 Royal Blast jersey; this design is latest evolution of Royals race line. To give you an idea how long Royal has been producing killer kit, this is the 11th descendant of the jersey that started it all. We think it’s a worthy successor to its predecessors. As usual, the jersey has great venting, a drop tail and sewn in elbow pads to keep a bit of skin on should you take a dig.

The custom jerseys are going to be worn with SP247 kit which will have custom SPS logos printed on to finish of the factory look, with some riders choosing pants and some shorts. The riders hands will be taken care of by the all new 2011 Blast gloves, these awesome new premium gloves look to be the best yet and ready to take the rigours of downhill racing. The palm has no unnecessary padding – just .8mm perforated Clarino with embossed Silicon fingertips and roll-over fingertip detail. The back of the hand features 3D primo mesh for maximum flexibility and comfort. A microfiber thumb-wipe is a great added touch, as are the direct-inject logos which provide great flexibility without compromising comfort. A TPR wrist closure and low profile hook and loop closure complete the profile. Again, these are possibly the best Royal glove ever.

Peaty is pumped to see the new shirts, “It’s awesome to see the shirts are on the way, everything is falling into place and looking great. I’m very excited to the least about the coming season and al the good things we have going on for 2011.”