The opening round of the 2008 National Demo Series at Glentress simply couldn’t be better- the weather was amazing and hundreds of people flocked to test ride the bikes of their choice.
Round two promised much the same on paper, although setting up on the Saturday, we got a soaking as the wet welsh weather took hold. Fearing that people might be put off by the horrendous weather, we were soon reassured by the girls in the fantastic visitor centre, who told us that Coed-y-Brenin receives around 100inches of rainfall a year, and it really doesn’t make a blind bit of difference.
Sure enough, on Sunday morning people flocked over to the Bikeradar stand to sign on, but things were noticeably slower kicking off with the rain taking an irritating horizontal hold for the morning. But slowly the sun came out and hundreds of people were shredding the excellent demo track that had been laid out by ranger Tony Griffiths.
With a good mix of steady fire road climbs, technical and rocky sections and fast and flowing downhills, it’s fair to say that every single demo bike had a pasting. There were muddy faces everywhere - 300 riders braved the weather and hit the trails- making for about 800 Demo’s over the day.
Team MBUK/Santa Cruz rider Neil Donoghue enjoyed the day, he said: "It was great to see so many riders turning out and what a great opportunity to take any bike and have a good thrash."
Next stop for the fantastic Demo Series is Aston Hill near Wendover in Buckinghamshire. I’ll be there with the great Demo Crew, so be sure to call by for a chat, or catch me out on the trails for a session.
Over and out.
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