Filming with Dirt Magazine in the South Spanish Pyrenees

Sometimes the best adventures happen when you just sketch the outlines and let life do the painting. So it was when Mark, (from Reset Films), asked if he could come and shoot in some of the mountain bike spots he’d seen in my photos. The conversation went something like this. “Fecking hell Doug, those shots are amazing”. “Thanks, wanna film here”. “Yeah! Lets sort out the details”. Somehow we never really got to the details.

Clifftop berms, what could possibly be cooler than that?

Some of you may remember Mark filmed FIND here back in 2009 with Rowan Sorrell. This new project is sort of a follow up from that.  Mark took James McKnight, the Euro Pikey, Downhill Racer, Enduro Star, Skills Trainer, Writer for Dirt, Nice Guy, Destroyer of Impossible Climbs, Writer of Books and I’m sure many, many other things. Over the course of a week we rode many trails in the Basque Country and across the route of our South Pyrenees mountain bike holidays. Read on for plenty more photos and a few stories that probably won’t make it into the magazines or films! Read the post »

This week’s mountain bike holidays: Lesley, David and John join us in North Spain.

Lesley, David and John joined us last week for their mountain bike holiday. The weather was changeable, as it has been across Europe for the last few weeks, however we were treated to some fantastic days of mountain biking. Read on words, video and pictures! Read the post »

Marzocchi 55 Ti RC3 Suspension Fork in action during a mountain bike holiday in Spanish Utah!

I have been riding my Cove G-Spot with the Marzocchi 55 RC3 suspension forks for the last few months. I’ve done plenty of mountain biking in plenty of different places and have got a good feel for the forks now. My first mountain bike holiday guests arrived a month ago so I have also guided most days on these forks. That includes guiding some holiday trips to the Pyrenees and some filming with Dirt Magazine, so plenty of fast riding. Over the next few months I will be doing a mountain of riding so it’s going to be a great test for the proclaimed reliability of the Marzocchi suspension forks. I will write a long term review of these forks at the end of the Basque holiday season. Read the post »

Michael and Monika’s Mountain bike holiday as bad weather hits Spain.

Last week we were joined by Michael and Monika (the M&M’s!) from Germany for a weeks mountain bike holiday in Spain. Michael and Monika have been mountain biking all over Europe and it was great to be able to show them our trails on the western edge of the Pyrenees and the Basque Coast. Unfortunately the weather decided not to treat us too kindly during their holiday. It was raining all across Spain, from Malaga to Madrid, and we got the tail end of it. Read on to find out about Michael and Monika’s mountain bike holiday with Basque MTB with (lots) more holiday photos… Read the post »

Osprey Escapist 25: Mountain Bike Pack Review.

Last month I got a call from Osprey asking if I’d like to test out one of their packs for the upcoming mountain bike holiday season. To be honest I hadn’t really been aware of Osprey but after some discussion they sent me the Osprey Escapist 25 pack. This pack isn’t a mountain biking specific model, rather it’s aimed at mountain bikers and walkers. The reason I went for this pack is that as a mountain bike guide I need to carry a lot of equipment so needed the space. Previously I have used a Camelbak HAWK, Camelbak Mayhem and a Dakine Apex (read the review) so I know I need between 20 and 25 liters of carrying space. Osprey’s mountain biking specific Zealot only goes up to 16 liters which, although plenty for most mountain biking, just isn’t enough for the equipment I carry when I’m guiding mountain bike holidays. Read on for my thoughts on the Osprey Escapist 25.

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