As well as the usual great features, reviews, competitions and free gift in this month’s Mountain Biking UK magazine, four of the UK’s best mountain bikers are put to the scientific test.
In a laboratory in Sheffield, in the North of England, the four sweat it out to see who’s the toughest. So, who are they?
- Steve Peat representing downhill riders
- Grant ‘Chopper’ Fielder giving props to dirt jumpers
- Ben Savage bigging up the trials massive
- Oli Beckingsale maintaining for the cross-country folks
Click play below for a video to whet your appetite for the full feature. Here each of the riders dedicates their performance.
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Only one can triumph – which style will win?
When mountain biking first started it was all about speed, so you knew who was best just by looking at the race results.
These days, however, there are so many riding disciplines that incorporate technical ability or self expression that it’s much more difficult to tell who the best rider is out there. In theory, the best rider is the best all-round guy.
A downhill rider like Steve Peat (Santa Cruz Syndicate) must have fitness, strength and guts. But pro cross-country riders like Oli Beckingsale (Giant) need guts too – to enable them to cope with the physical hardship of long races – not to mention endurance and fitness.
Trials riders like Ben Savage have to create explosive power time and time again throughout an entire day’s riding. Then there’s the enigma and style of dirt jumpers like Grant ‘Chopper’ Fielder – they put their lives on the line at comps across the world.
SheffieldHallamUniversity wanted to find out who was best once and for all, so a day of tortuous testing was arranged and we got to see the real differences between these four guys, all of whom are at the top of their game.
For the rest of the feature, buy MBUK issue 21, out now.
