Last week saw the latest carnation of our dealer ride camp, Freeride Camp. As you can guess, it was a chance for our dealers to ride the longer travel full suspension platforms in an environment they were designed for. Historically we usually go to a venue that boasts the best and most demanding XC in the country but with Trek now adding a new Freeride bike, the Sctatch, we figured it was time to up the anti and go for full on DH tacks!

We decided on two venues, Cwmcarn and Ae Forest, not only because of their great DH trails but because they have some great facilities and knowing it was most likely to be cold and wet in November a welcoming cafe serving big food was a must. Boy are we glad of those cafes!

With Jez and I coming down with a good dose of flu, the bikes arrived and we battled our way through the huge pile of shiny bikes, prepping them all for the event ahead. One all done they looked great, it was heart breaking to thing of the punishment our dealers were going to give these bikes. The first rides of their lives were going to be wet, gritty and flat out! All the wile we were keeping our eye on weather reports, and they weren’t looking good, gales and floods seemed to be the theme, oh well, we were committed now with our dealers already invited.

Once arrived and set up at Cwmcarn we started to worry that the gales might have put our dealers off coming but no, there they were, on time and kitted up ready to hit the hill and push our bikes to the limit. A brief tech presentation about the new product got the guys up to speed and upped the excitement of the riders, so much so that once outside they couldn’t wait for the uplift and decided to push up for the first run. Heres where the new Sctatch came into its own, they guys could pedal it up the push path but still rip the DH course every bit as fast as the session! Of course thats whats the bike is designed to do and thats what they’ve been told in the training, but some things just cant be believed until you’ve seen it with your own eyes. Maybe it should have been called Ronseal, it does exactly what it says on the tin! (US guys, go google it!)

The revised Remedy was also a subject of lots of discussion and surprise. The fans of Remedy were very unsure of the changes Trek made to the 2010 bike (moving to a 150 travel 32mm stantion fork). After a few pedals up the trails and then down again those worries were quickly replaced with confidence in and even more capable and useable bike. The new carbon Remedy was equally well received with the OCLV carbon armor standing up to a few runs down the DH trails in the hands of Dirts Steve Jones.

With two days of gales over with and a few banners and flags lost in the winds we packed up and headed to Ae forest in Scotland, no wind here, but did it rain some what. Despite two months worth of rain in one day and a particular puddle that came up to the bars opinions of the bikes were the same as in wales; Fantastic bikes that do exactly what they are designed to do and do it better than anything else out there. Nice.

So, now when you go into a Trek dealer you know the staff not only have the training but also the experience of riding these bikes in an environment and conditions that push them to the limit, if they say how well a Trek rides, they say it with experience!

A big thanks to all the shop staff who turned up in the foul weather and everyone from uplifts, forestry and the cafes who helped make a smooth running event. We’ll be back next year!