Daleyg3

As some of my friends already know, I’ve decided to move to Wellington in New Zealand in early September this year, on a 1 year work visa (easily extended to 2 years). Several factors came in to play whilst I was deciding to make this big change to my life. Last year I visited the South Island of New Zealand for 2 weeks, to skate and see a Mountainboarding friend. I enjoyed those 2 weeks so much,…

The start to this year has been crazy for me, back in my last blog post I set the objective of getting to a UKDH Outlaw final sometime this year.. having only ever got to second knockout stages before, I managed to get to the Semi Finals and Consi final this time round, at the first event (Fumble in the Valley @ Sheepy) last Saturday. Weekly Winter practice over the last couple of months has…

Happy New Year all! 2016 has come around quick. 2015 was a big year for me, lots of Travelling, improving my skating and making a lot of new friends! I’ve had a lot of time to think recently about what I want from this year and things are pretty clear in my head. One of the more obvious goals is to attend as many Euro Longboard Races as I can. Definitely Lillehammer and Kozokov for a start, going…

End of Season Blues

Last Weekend marked the end of the 2015 UKDH Event (and BDSL league) season with Thrill Hill Winter Chaos in the Lake District. Organised by good friends Lewis & Hermione of Skate to Escape. Lewis won it last time out, back in the dryness of August, but this time proved to be a lot different, with much more hectic racing, due to more skaters attending from far across the country, such as Ben…

Recently I’ve been trying to make changes to how I live my life, a lot has changed this year and made me look at the bigger picture. I rarely, if ever, talk about work or life outside of Boarding to many people, so this might be a little insightful for some. I’m 22 now, but since I was 19 I’ve been working full time in the IT Support Industry. I’ve been very lucky with opportunities and could…

Pills, Spills & Thrills

The last month and a bit has definitely been memorable, a mix of highs and lows, but mostly highs. The obvious big event being my holiday to the  beautiful South Island of New Zealand. I knew before going the roads/tracks would be stunning, for Longboarding/Mountainboarding, but they were beyond expectation. I highly recommend Queenstown & Dunedin for any Skaters wanting to travel out there. 2…

The Future’s Downhill

A lot has changed in the last month or so, moving house/flat, I’m now riding for Never Summer Longboards UK and in 11 days time I’m off on my biggest holiday ever, 2 weeks in the South Island of New Zealand! My biggest news would be the ride for Never Summer Longboards UK. Tom, who runs Never Summer UK actually read this blog and saw I ride a lot of Downhill in the UK, an industry they really…

August has been pretty intense so far, but a lot of fun, with the best still to come, in the form of ‘Tregaron Freeride’ hosted by Brianne Collective in Wales next weekend! Two weekends back (8th – 9th August) I made a big solo journey to Ullswater in the Lake District for ‘Thrill Hill Freeride’ hosted by Lewis and Hermione of Skate to Escape! It was a small gathering of UKDH Longboarders but a…

Decisions, Racing and Anxiety

A lot has changed lately, I’m finally back in Cheltenham for my new job (working much harder than before), I’ve made quite a few decisions about where to go and what to do next year, but not without growing anxiety for certain things.. Next month I’ve decided to invest in some BTR Leathers, something I’ve had my eye on for a while, but needed a bit of job security and spare money to invest in.…

I’ve decided to stop writing blog posts about EVERY single event I attend, partly due to spare time, partly because I only enjoy writing when it’s about something new or technical.

As for the title of this blog post, I recently started a new job (due to redundancy in my last one) and was told I’m very ‘Introverted’, after my first week. A term I’ve never come across before, but after looking it…

Downhill Enjoyment & Experiences

Once again its been a busy month or so of riding, with comp season now not very far away! Since my last post about events, I’ve entered/decided I’m going to ‘Return of: Fumble in the Valley’, the fantastic free freeride/race at Welsh spot, Sheepy, on 11th April. Here’s the amazing footage from the last one, my races are at 3:35 & 6:44: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WSWCnrwmx4&w=640&h=39…

A fun UKDH Fumble

Last saturday, 31st Jan 2015, was ‘Fumble In the Valley’ Longboard Outlaw. An event organised by Tom Campbell, who did an amazing job getting sponsors and most importantly, lots of riders, including myself, to attend.

‘Sheepy’ the hill used for the Outlaw is a stunning location, a reasonably technical road that provides a lot of grip, even in horrific rain, sleet and snowy conditions.

I quickly…

As a bit of a change to the norm, I thought I’d talk about how both Mountainboarding and Longboarding have changed my life, for the better.

I’m not very good at explaining this, but bear with me. I started Mountainboarding nearly 3 years ago now, when I was 18. Before that I had no real passion for anything, but was ok at running long distance, but picked up a knee injury I still carry with me…

Over the last week or two, the dates for UK & World Mountainboard and Longboard events have been pouring in.

The first ‘race’ event is a Longboard Outlaw at the legendary UKDH spot ‘Sheepy’ in Wales, next Saturday (31st Jan)! Very much looking forward to some adverse weather condition racing! With all the practice at steep downhill spots near Coleford recently, I’m feeling a lot more confident…

2014 Summary & New Year Skate Bash

With 2014 now all over, I’ve been thinking about all that I actually did and learnt and there’s lots of it! 2015 is gonna have to be incredible to top it.

Starting with Mountainboarding, in 2014, the biggest change was obviously working with and riding for Kite Mechanics since about April. I’ve been through this change in detail in a previous post, but in short, I couldn’t be happier and truely…

Fuckin’ Good Fun

Last Friday Night until late Sunday was intense, with a Nightride on a new Leckhampton route and the trip to Exeter, for Longboarding, as I mentioned in my previous post.

Billy at Kite Mechanics has also been working hard on his new Mountainboard Composite Truck design and from what I’m hearing, it’s incredible! Robust, turn hard, stable and use standard Longboard bushings for lots of choice!

As…

Since Hogtober, the weather is back to typical UKDH wetness and roads never drying, but rain skating can be fun too! Last year around this time was when I was learning my first slide (Coleman) and I feel I’ve learnt so much since then.I’ve also changed my Rayne Vandal setup to have Sabre 45 degree baseplates, to be a bit more stable and grippy.

The wet this year is the perfect opportunity for me to learn and perfect Toeside Predrifts. So far I’ve only done 3 solo sessions of purely practicing them and it’s a lot of fun!

All being well, I can get to the stage where I’m confident with them, going fast in the dry before Winter’s end. Also, I’m off to Exeter next weekend to skate some longer faster roads, so that should be a good test and a nice change of scenery!

On the Mountainboarding side of things (a little on the sidelines recently), Billy @ Kite Mechanics has been showing me some awesome new inventions. He’s aiming to break into yet another sub market of Mountainboarding parts before year’s end and I should be testing the new bits very soon and able to give some more specifics, but at the moment, it’s still first prototypes. In essence, they will revolutionise ANY NoSno downhill setup and be cheaper, compared to buying New NoSno parts. I think some people will probably be able to guess from that..!

Winter is truely here now and the whole of Team DAD, including myself are on 10 inch tyres and brakes. Clayton kindly gave me his spare set of 10′s and we fitted them one evening a few weeks back, making the floor muddy as… totally worth it though.

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So far I’ve had 1 ride with 10′s front, 9′s back up Leckhampton, that was gnarly as fuck to say the least.. but also Mill Lane up Cleeve Hill on all 10′s. Mill lane felt great and all 10′s really came into their own, bashing rocks out the way and giving me a LOT of grip in incredibly slippy woodland, then unreal top end speed on the road section, hitting 30mph with ease, with the brake slightly on. A fun night, but I could of tested it even faster, if my fuckin’ torch worked as it should.. ah well, next time.

More updates on this to come hopefully next week, if not after I return from skating Exeter! Until then, cheers!