Contents 72

Cover: Chris Akrigg on Ilkley Moor baht ‘at, wit ‘lmet. When it came to picking a rider for the cover comeback kid Chris Akrigg seemed the right man for the job. After a massive fall which broke his leg Chris is back on the bike and once again pushing his limits. As Chris says, “You want to kick my arse? be quick,I’m getting stronger!” Photo by Sam Needham.

Opposite: They look quite normal from a distance, don’t they? The East Lothian fat bike posse adopted Steve Makin for a weekend’s riding back in January. With snow mostly off the cards, these folk spend their time roaming the beaches of Scotland and Northumberland; a nicer bunch of evangelists you couldn’t hope to meet. Photo by Jenn.

9/ Editorial. Chipps poses as the Vicar of Dribbly.

10/ Subscribe to Singletrack. Do you like the new magazine? Subscribe now and you’ll beat the cover price rise.

12/ UK Riding: Wet, wet, wet. Jenn and Benji ride in England’s wettest valley, where (of course) it didn’t rain…

24/ Column: Stuff That Matters, And Stuff That Doesn’t… Our newest columnist, Steve Worland, puts forward a controversial couple of ideas.

26/ Stat Of The Art. This issue we find out how many of you are thinking of buying a 29er this year.

28/ Jewels of the Isle: Tebay. We celebrate a little corner of Britain that you must visit. And not just for the riding.

30/ Column: Rad Science. Roly gets out the stopwatch, the modern MTB and the Hybrid of Doom. It’s science, OK?

34/ Bike Tech Corner: An Angle On Angles. Geometry exploded. Sim looks at the difference a degree can make here or there.

38/ International Travel: Queenstown. Matt Wragg rides in New Zealand’s most progressive mountain bike town.

52/ The Big Feature: We Are Family. Does having children mean the end to your mountain biking? Mark investigates.

64/ Classic Rides: The Preseli Hills. Little-known hills in the corner of Wales that need exploring. Benji is your guide.

76/ Interview: Annie Last and Manon Carpenter. Two of the most successful young women in British mountain biking, brought together to chat.

86/ UK Riding: Time And Tide. Fat bikes: snow bikes or beach bikes? A bevvy of them take to the Scottish coast.

98/ A Question Of Fitness. Answers to your queries. Racing, dieting and riding with tunes, all covered.

102/ Bike Lust: Dream Bikes. The editorial team pick their ultimate dream bikes. What would you choose?

110/ Through The Grinder. Eight pages of real world product testing from the grittiest time of the year.

120/ Grinder Bikes: Lapierre Spicy 916 and Norco Shinobi 1 Updates on Sim’s big-wheeled bulldozer and Matt’s long-term love affair.

130/ Grouptest: Pedals. A dozen clips and flats, ridden and written about.

140/ Premier Listings. Have a Premier Members Card? This is what it gets you...

146/ We Just Work Here. Who does what, how to contact us, what helped this issue on its way and who we’d like to thank.