Contents 4| Photo: Gary Perkin

7. Editorial Is racing the social glue that binds the mountain bike world together or has Chipps been sniffing too much of said glue?

8. Fell Runner v Mountain Biker Which is the quickest way of getting around off-road? Benji saddles up and does battle with a lean, mean, skimpy-short wearing machine.

16. Red Hot Racing Ed Kenny Herbert finds that, even in Dubai, there’s always a mountain bike race going on if you look hard enough.

20. Spine Lines Take a look at the spine of this magazine (our 50th issue, no less). See that nonsense written on there? Here’s a tribute to all the ones that have gone before.

22. Column: Nature Boy Nature Boy takes a pop at racing and racers. What’s wrong with just riding your bike, eh?

24. Interview - Chris Akrigg The quietly unassuming, yet jaw-droppingly talented all-round bike-handling genius, Chris Akrigg dropped in for a chat. And a mess about on bikes.

30. Blame The Dog Mike Ferrentino looks at the complete lack of measurement standards in the world of bicycles.

33. Bike Test: Carbon Race Bikes Three XC race rigs made from the fantastic plastic. The Cannondale Scalpel, the Specialized Epic and the Trek Top Fuel. Where do they finish on our podium?

42. Man And Boy Ed Oxley waxes lyrical about the thrills and spills, the laughter and the tears and the fear and loathing that goes on when Dads ride with their Lads.

48. Gallery Tony Hart R.I.P.

54. Scenes Chipps goes riding with the ‘Goldtec Massive’ down Stoke on Trent way.

56. Through The Grinder More products real-world tested in slightly less mud than in the previous issues.

66. Grouptest - XC Race Wheelsets A bunch of top-of-the-line wheelsets rounded up and shot. Most are impressively light. Some are insanely expensive.

68. Benji’s One Ton Weekend Benji decides to blow his £100 on frivolous thrills rather than eking it out. A day out for three on an uplift day at Innerliethen.

76. Race Fast Now! Matt Hart’s tips on fine tuning your race-ready body with a race-ready mind.

80. A Day In The Life Of Mountain Biking Somebody somewhere is riding a bike... or racing one... or fixing one... or buying one... or designing one... or dreaming of riding one...

90. Competition – Win £1000 Of Camelbak Win yourself one of ten excellent Camelbak HAWG NV hydration packs.

92. Grouptest - XC And DH Race Tyres We’ve gathered up some skinny skimpy tyres for the XC race set and some chunky sticky tyres for the DH crew.

100. Column: Roly Lambert Roly plays the Kindly Uncle and fixes the in-laws bike supermarket bikes, much to his bike-snob horror.

102. Why Subscribe To Singletrack? Here’s why. And how.

104. Grouptest - XC Race Shoes Stiff. Garish. Expensive. Ratchets and dials all over them. We made like Geishas and did them up to 11, so you don’t have to.

110. Column: Sim Mainey Sim talks nerves and French professionals while doing the Kielder Megavalanche.

112. Long Term Test Bikes An update on how we’re getting along with our machines: Benji’s Cannondale Prophet MX, Sim’s Gary Fisher Roscoe, Chipps’ Orange Blood and Salsa Fargo.

116. Route Guide: The Howgill Fells Benji guides Sim around those intriguing hills that you look at as you pass through the Lake District on your way to ride a Scottish trail centre.

127. Outro Peel slowly and see...