Is THIS Mountain Biking? + Red Bull Hardline Chat | Dirt Shed Show 542

Let's get ready to go with the Dirt Shed Show. We've got a big question to ask, what is mountain biking? Yes, that's right. We've got some races to talk about. Let's go. Yes, welcome to this week's show. We've returned. Martyn Ashton. And Blake Simpson. Hello, everyone. Right, lads, we've got an important question to ask, but before we get to what is mountain biking, we've got some big races to talk about this weekend. We did, yes. Some incredible ones. My social media was flooded this weekend. I'll tell you what I had on mine. I don't want to know. It was hard. It was hard. Okay. Red Bull Hardline. It was Red Bull Hardline. It was amazing. That race is special. It truly is. The Welsh one especially. Obviously, there's a Tasmanian one in Australia and a Welsh one, but the Welsh one being the original, the OG, it's such a mad concept and it's such a mad track going from humongous jumps, but also the technicality and the weather is what gets people as well. It truly does throw up some absolutely incredible riding and racing. It's not just racing, but the actual riding itself always blows my mind. Now, what I know from looking at the racing this weekend and then thinking about your attempt at urban downhill, you couldn't get down it. You just need to stop talking because you couldn't get down it, but Rich, how would you approach that track? Richard Morton Yeah, because I'd get down it. No. No. You wouldn't even walk down it. I'd get down the tech. I'd feel confident hitting that tech stuff, but I don't do the big jumps. I mean, so, right, you are a rider I admire. Thank you. Is that something you would honestly say you wouldn't do it? Those jumps, no. I mean, I'm happy to admit they are beyond me, but I love a techer's section. I love technical riding. Blake knows that. I feel like I would tackle all that, but a track like that, you would break down section by section and you'd tick off bit by bit by bit and work your way down, which is, for the best part, what most of the riders do there. Richard Morton Yeah. Well, they break it down over there. They have quite a long period of practice. Ollie I think it's two, three days, maybe three days, plus track walk. I mean, if ever there was somewhere to track walk, that's where you'd do it. Richard Morton What do you think? Do you think you could get down it honestly now? Ollie Honestly? No, because I walked it back in 2019 or 2020. The technical section, I'm the option. I could hit the big jumps, test some of the stuff, but the tech section, so spicy. Matt Jones can ride it, and I used to ride with him a lot. Richard Morton Well, Matt Jones went down hard, right? Ollie He did go down hard. Richard Morton I mean, let's just talk about the racing just for a second. Okay, so Ace of Vermeer, he won it. He was incredible. How he just turned up. Ollie Is he a junior? Richard Morton Yes. Ollie And he beat everyone. Richard Morton Yeah, I mean, he is such a talent. The whole junior field is unbelievable. Ollie They should be worried. Richard Morton He took the win, right? There was some amazing riding, but the story of that event is Lou Ferguson. Because why I was asking why you guys could do it is she did a full run of that track. Ollie Well, two, quali and final. Mind-boggling. Richard Morton The risk is so high. I was just blown away by it, and it didn't really matter what anybody else did. I was watching her full run earlier on. I was like, that is- Ollie And she's so cool and calm. Richard Morton She's just trying to get down, but it's so hard. My God. Ollie I think she's the first female qualifier and female finisher, so first Welsh hardline female winner. Quite a mouthful, sorry, but absolutely smashed it. She was a winner just in its own right because she was rider of the week. Richard Morton She was rider of the week. Ollie That is incredible. Round of applause for Lou Ferguson. Incredible. The other racing that was happening this weekend, which looked so fun because we had a few of our guys there. Ferg was there. Neil was there. The PE pub race was there. It was Ardrock. You guys have both done it. What's it like? Richard Morton For those who don't know, Ardrock is a big UK mountain bike festival where literally about 2,000 entrants across all sorts of categories. Ollie It's an enduro setting. Richard Morton Yes, it is. Up in the Yorkshire Dales. It's Yorkshire Dales, isn't it? We've been. We did it a couple of years back with Neil, wasn't it? Ollie Straight after the humongous flood that they had. It was the year after. Richard Morton It's such a good festival. It's a big family fun mountain bike festival where there's literally something for everybody. It's really good. Ollie It is really good fun. It looks like it's really growing as well. It seems very, very busy. We had that really fun evening with the Peaty's little market. Richard Morton The pub bike race where Ferg was on it. James was on it. Ollie That was fantastic. Maybe worth going just for that. Neil won the vets. Richard Morton Yes, he did. I thought he was like only won one section, but he actually won his- Ollie Well, I mean, if you ask Neil, he'll say he wins everything. He'll say he won. At some point, Neil has won it. Did you know he's never mentioned it? Richard Morton I was bad for that too. It was an amazing event. Great weekend for us because we had loads of action. You can look forward to seeing that on the channel soon. It's a great weekend of racing. What I really want to talk about though, because something else that I keep getting on my social media, I don't know if it's because I just keep liking it. Look at these bikes. It's just made me think, what is mountain biking? Because some of the stuff that I'm seeing- Ollie Go on, let's see because you're looking at some weird stuff as well. I know you are. Richard Morton No, I mean, what I want to show you is something like this. Ollie I've seen this on my social. I follow. Richard Morton You love it. Look, it's got these tiny little 20-inch forks. Is that mountain biking or is that something else? Ollie That's negligence. They were designing a bike then got to the front and then were like, oh, it's beer o'clock. He hates it. He hates it. This is a really good bike. I want to go for a bit. I'll just chuck that bit on there. Richard Morton No, but that's great. I think if we just bolt on an e-bike motor onto that thing and that is- Ollie Look, we're a good spectrum of mountain biking here. He hates it. I think it's fun. You love it. Richard Morton I love it. Ollie What is mountain biking? I'll go further, right? We've seen that one. What about this? Now, wait a second. That's a classic, right? Richard Morton Yes, 100%. Ollie It's clearly a mountain bike, but that's got 26-inch wheels. Nobody's riding them bikes anymore. Richard Morton They're 230 size. Ollie Is that no longer a mountain bike? Richard Morton If that's someone's bike and they're riding it off-road, yes, it's a mountain bike. Ollie It's a pass for you. It's a pass for you. Ollie That's a mountain bike. Ollie Yes, okay. 26 ain't dead. That's good news. That's good news. You can see that bike at Malvern Classic, by the way, if you want to go and see some classic bikes. What about this? This is very controversial. Can I say what I think about this one first? Because I've seen these, I like it. I've seen you ride one. That is mountain biking. That is not BMXing, and they want to tell you it's BMXing on mountain biking. It isn't. It's mountain biking. Richard Morton To be honest, I've ridden that bike, well, a bike like that in the Alps, and it was quite terrifying and scary. Ollie But it's a mountain bike. Richard Morton I was mountain biking, but I was mountain biking. Ollie You said you were literally in the mountains. That's mountain biking. We're getting there. What about this? Now, this one's going to really throw you, because I want to make sure that you get where I'm coming from. Look at this bike. It's gorgeous. He's putting that in there. He's taking that synchro. Look at this thing he's putting in. Oh my God, it's amazing. Now, look at that bike. I'm going to tell you something about that bike. The one thing that bike isn't doing is mountain biking. Richard Morton It is mountain biking. Ollie No, it doesn't mountain bike. It sits in that room, it gets polished, and nothing else happens. Is that mountain biking? It's not. It's not. Richard Morton Well, no, that's a different question. Is that a mountain bike? Ollie I think I found I'm the one asking the question. Next up, I put this one in mainly for Blake. Richard Morton I have watched a series of this the designer of the Bat Bike throw up on acid in the Lego factory. Ollie That was literally a perfect description. I think clearly it's not mountain biking, but it's a lot of fun. Richard Morton The engineers of Lego will run it one afternoon. Ollie He's reinvented the wheel. Ollie Okay, what about this? I think this one is not only is this mountain biking, you're going to disagree. I think this is better than mountain biking. We should be doing this. Look at this. Richard Morton And I think every mountain biker does it. That's mountain biking. Ollie 100%, that is mountain biking. Just a very, very, very, very small mountain bike. Richard Morton The smaller the bike, the better. Absolutely brilliant. What about this? Now, there's a question here, right? What is this bike? Ollie This is a reverse- Richard Morton But what is that bike? It's rigid. Ollie It's a reverse mixed wheel size bike. Is it a mountain bike that he's modded for street or is it a street bike and not a mountain bike? Richard Morton It's not being ridden off-road in the mountains. Ollie That is, it's a 26, 27, 29. Ollie Yeah, you could. It's more, what would you do with that bike? Richard Morton There's a pub on it. Ollie There's lots of ways to do it. It's a pub bike. Richard Morton It's a wicked pub bike. Ollie Mountain biking? No. Richard Morton That's mountain biking. Look, he's got- Ollie He's manualing. All right, this one's controversial. It's a curve ball. It's a curve ball for the end, right? Just before we get to the news, what do you think? I think- Richard Morton That's water biking. Ollie He's mountain biking. Richard Morton Where's the bloody mountains? Ollie He's on a water berm. Richard Morton Where? Ollie He doesn't turn. That's a wave. Ollie He's on a water berm. Look, he turned then. He turned then. I'd say- Richard Morton He's actually pumping. Ollie Right. While we argue this out, whether that's mountain biking or not, let's head over to the news with Tom. Tom What's up, everyone, from the creators of Enduro 2, which you can see Rich and I take on right here on the channel in just two short weeks, the third edition of NZ Rally has been scheduled from the 14th to the 21st of March, 2026. It's a six-day event with 32 time stages and all of your food accommodation and logistics covered. There's 100 slots available and registration will be open August 3rd. The Giro Montero 3 has been fully redesigned. It's got MIPS Evolve Core, a rock clock adjustment dial, a two-position one-hand adjustable visor, integrated sunglasses holders in the front and back, Fidlock, and more. It retails in four colors, three sizes, with a price of £160 UK. Updates to the Orbea Wild, the hard-hitting long-travel e-bike gets the updated Bosch display fitted as standard. Since it's a Bosch Gen 5 motor, you can now tailor the peak torque and power up to 100 new meters and 750 watts, respectively. New Shimano XTR and XT drivetrains, including Free Shift Tech, make their way onto the range of Wilds too. Some sleek colors on those bikes from standard, but of course, you can tailor them to suit your tastes in the Myo system. Canyon have an update to the Neuron On too. There's a new collective edition, which is a touch more aggressive. You can run a mixed-wheel setup from sizes medium to XL, and it runs 160-mil Zeb upfront for a bit of extra confidence when you're charging. Again, that Gen 5 Bosch CX motor is super-tunable via the Bosch Flow app. New suspension from X-Fusion, the Reza XC series are a fork and shock intended to be used in partnership. The fork features all-new fine-cut RCP damper, which has an enlarged piston for increased oil flow, allowing fantastic small-bump sensitivity, whereas the shock specifically aimed to improve upon deep-stroke support and pedaling efficiency. Unlike previous models, you can use volume spacers in both the positive and negative air chambers to tailor the feel to your wants and needs. Both fork and shock can be locked out via the Q-Flip 3 handlebar-mounted lockout lever. Available in September 2025, the fork retails for US$699 and the shock at US$299. Hard line. Lou Ferguson made history twice by becoming the first female rider to put down a full lap of the course in Wales. She rode the track clean and controlled in finals to become the first female winner, absolute sender. The men's race was riddled with punctures, Ronan Dunne's qualifying one meaning he started second and sat in the hot seat the majority of the race. Charlie Hatton put down a stormer to knock him off by just over two seconds. For a bit, it looked like both winners for the first time would be gearbox belt-driven bikes. That was until Asa Vermette kept things fluid, incredibly fast, and super sendy, absolutely flying down to a win with over a second and a half's advantage. Vermette's debut in Wales saw him win a race and also become the youngest hardline winner at just 18 years old. I'm off on my holidays for a couple of weeks. I'll see you mid-August. For now, back to the guys in the shed. Thank you, Tom. It's time for- Hank's Advantages. Hank's Advantages. Hank's Advantages. Incredible. Wow, well done. Best ever. Cannot be replicated. Impossible. Never again. I like that. I like that. Never again. Fantastic. Let's get into this one. First, from Nilsson, it's the classic stick. A stick? It's a stick brake. I wouldn't use that in a million years. What's brown and sticky? A stick. I mean, it's really brave, isn't it? Look, it's terrible. What are we going to give that? A hat? It's a hat, isn't it? It's a bodge. It's not a hat. It's a bodge. He hasn't even cut the zip ties down. It's a bodge. Nilsson, it's a bodge. Yes, scary. It's a scary bodge. I think Nilsson's chance of winning the £50 worth of GMBN merch, or up to the value of £50, is slim to none, but hang in there. Oh, I'll put this down. It's like a little bob. This is from Rising Hours. That's an actual bullet. Is it? Yes, he drilled out the lead and actually threaded it. That is an actual bullet. And I just thought, Rich, I just thought, you know, there's one person in the world who'd love that. This guy. Yeah. You'd put a bullet. I would put a bullet. I used to hang bullets three rounds over my necklace. Simple but elegant. When I was young on the farm, yeah. For me, it's a bit aggro. For me, it's a bit aggro. No, I like it. Well done, Rising Hours. I think, hands down, this week, we've- Who's he? I'm in so much trouble with these guys this week. I've just got to keep them in reign. Every week, we're giving away a prize up to £50 worth from the GMBN shop, but this week, we've got a definite winner and you're going to be stunned by it. From hands down. I like that one. It's from Jacob Devlin, which has got to be a made-up name. Can you see it? Is that a huge gusset? He is welded. Oh, yes. Is that a huge gusset? Isn't it insane? Oh, my gosh. No, but hang on. Hacks and bodges. Is it welded or is it bolted to the bottle cage and the store? No. What is that? It's so- An envelope holder. So crazy. It's brilliant. He said, I mean, I've got to say, Jacob, the warranty is over. Wow. That is the coolest one ever. Jacob, well done. You are this week's winner. That's insane. Brilliant. One of the best hacks and bodges I've seen. Team issue as well. If you've got a hack or a bodge, you'd like to send it in. Send it in to the GMBN uploader and you could be winning a prize worth up to £50 next week. Get involved. Try beat that. Time for some things we like this week. Two things I like this week. These guys. One thing I like this week. One thing. There's two of us. Yes, don't answer that. Right. Tell you what I did like. Have you seen this move? Have you seen this move? It is from Ivan Makushev. Look at it. Could you pull this? No. We know why. It's in reverse. That's AI. Why do we know you can't do it? Because Blakey can't fakey. That's why you can't do it. It does actually make my brain a bit hurt on how it's just how to do it. It doesn't. It's AI, man. Ivan is a great follower on Instagram, by the way. Next up, we've been seeing everywhere, but this is so good. Can you imagine that's just been made up by a computer? I know, it's ridiculous. What he's saying, it's just so like, oh my God. Do you connect? It's us. Are you connecting with us? Yes, I'm connecting with this Sasquatch. It's incredible. So funny. That is good. It is cool. Actually, I remember- That's why AI was made. I think, I'll tell you what, right? Just look at that helmet and the goggles. He actually looks cool. I want to grow my hair. I went out on my bike with that. Yes, me too. Next up. I'd like to grow mine. Yes, I'd love some at the front. This guy, I love Tanner. Tanner's good. Tanner Bouchard. Look at this. Brilliant. Comedy. 720 downwhip to windshield swiper. I feel like I could almost do that one. Yes, well, let's just watch him again because he does it very well. There he goes. That's so brilliant. Oh, Bridge, you're a genius. He's too good. He's throwing it around. He's too good, brilliant. Well done, Tanner. Something else I like this week. Oh, okay. Phil Atwill. Oh, he did that? Giant of mountain bike downhill and just steez. Rode Red Bull Romain X and finished. I think he finished just outside the top. Oh, he finished P36 in the silver category. Amazing. That's just in the prologue. That's just the prologue. The bit they do in town, the show bit. I think overall, he finished even higher up than that. Before they get up into the mountains. Oh, my God. Tough guy stuff from Phil Atwill right there. Yes, he's sending out signals to the rest of the downhill racers there. I need to get on my bike and spike more. Oh, were you busy doing hard line? I did this. Wow. He calls it hard air line. Yes, hard air line. Very impressive. Literally hard air line. Well done, Phil. Friend of the channel. He is a friend of the channel. Last one. What the heck is that? Now, is this- Where's his yellow jersey? An unbelievably big guy or is it a small bike? Massive, dude. Massive guy. Imagine if there was a guy that big. Oh, watch out. Yes, a little bit of trust. In the big deep dish wheels. If I'm ever going to say how much I don't like to tell you guys, but I like road bike riding and I like it even more when it looks like that. This is also like, hey, I want to say how much money I can waste without telling you of this thing. Brilliant. How much did it cost you? Hey, give it to me. Some great stuff that we saw this week. I hope you enjoyed that. Right. Should we do caption contest? 100%. Time for caption contest. Bingers, look at this picture of you. What's wrong with your face? No, no, no. You look like the weird rapping from Ice Age. It's a really weird face. The wind changed. Look at the state of the guy. We've got some good ones from it. Starting off with Sam Weston who said, Blake trying to make his welds look good on his home bike. The winner. That's the winner. It's true though, it's true. Stephen Russell. After 32 attempts, Blake finally got that face plant sorted. That's when I was trying to fake you. I was trying to learn to fake you. Chug Birthday says, when Blake finds out that Rich is back on the Dirt Shed show. I put that in on purpose to cause a ruckus. Yeah, Rich. Yeah, come on. No, lads, calm down. Calm down. I think we're the clear winners. Yeah, the first one. The first one, absolutely. It's very true. Well done, Sam Weston. Blake trying to make his welds look good on his homemade bike. How does impossible look? Right, here's this week's caption contest photo. If you would like to win a prize worth £50 from the GMBN shop, just like Sam Weston did, then give us a caption in the uploader down below and you could be on the show next week. Right, time for Bike Vault. And we've got a controversial start. Where's the bell? Oh, yeah. We're going to need it now. Hang on, got one. We got three. So, here's the bell. First bike. Here we are now from earlier. This is a Saracen. I know someone who's pretty happy about seeing one of those. Oh, yeah, we don't see them very much. You've got... Oh, he's super nice. There's an old sponsor of mine. That opinion doesn't count, apparently. No, I don't need to be here by the looks of it. No, get out. Hold that bell. Next up, we have Alex Perkins. That was a good bike. You proved it. I had literally that one. Give her a ring. He said it. He'd ring the bell for that all day. He's a Leogang as well. Look, there's a bell on. He is a Leogang. That is Alfie Bolton's Vitus. But tell you what, look at the helmet and the goggles. It looks like the Sasquatch has just put his helmet on. Doesn't it? It looks like the same guy. I'm a good Vitus. I love a hardtail. Great Vitus, great Vitus. You're getting a bit triggered. No, I'm not. That's brilliant. He's getting belled. I go Vitus. Right, Chris Powers now. He's flipping super nice as well. Look at that. You can't not... Where is that? It's a Yeti. Oh, I mean... It's Bigfoot. Bigfoot's bike. Sorry, were you expecting bike knowledge from... Oh, yes, good point. That's a super nice. It is. I do quite like it. I'd say that's ridiculously nice. Miami issue. Yes. Too much colour? No, it's not the turquoise. I'd always get the turquoise. Next up, Alex Ruddy. Is that a giant? He is on a giant, yes. And it is... Shouting bucks out. It's a giant. Is it an orange? No. Is it an orange? What do you think? Give it a nice. That's nice though. Nice. I think he's been doing a lot of climbing, so I quite admire it. Look at that seat angle. He's been going up on it. Yes, it's a saddlebag. I mean, I've got some admiration. And he's got a bell. Yes, a bell. That might have undone it. Let's say... Nice. Hey, Alex, it's nice. That's really nice. Next up, we have got... Specialized. Specialized from Zachary Yul Verano. Nice. Non-drive side, I'm sorry. I was just going to say that. I can't give it to you. If it was drive side, you would have got a super nice, but it's non-drive side. It's got to be drive side. I mean, I'd go down the hardtail route all day long. Yes, man. Me too. It's a... Zachary, it's a rookie mistake. Send it again. You've got a chance. And last up in the bike vault this week... Oh, no. What we just said. We just said it. And that's a good picture as well. And a cool bike. Oh, man, come on. You can't. You can't do it. We'll be hypocrites if we did this one. And I'd slap you. Forench letter of charge. We're hypocrites. Come on. Damn it. I tried, dude. Is that the torque, isn't it? I tried. The torque is good. Yeah, you're talking. Yeah, I think it is. Unlucky. Spin it round. It would have been a super nice. Is that a chairlift? Yeah. Right. Thank you for sending your bikes into the bike vault this week. There was a lot of love that came out of us there. There was, yeah. Until we got to the non-drive side. The last two. If you've got a bike, send it into the bike vault and you could be here seeing your steed getting all the love it deserves. Go for it. Go to that uploader and get involved in the show. Thank you very much. Right. We've just got time to talk about what's on the channel this week. Putting the mountain back into mountain biking on GMBN. I climbed the highest rideable peak in the UK, or did I? Or did I? No spoilers there. Where was it? Cairngorms, Scotland. Yes, of course you did. And Ben McDewey. Yes. I was able to see the route being designed in person and I'll tell you what, it was not an easy day. It was a gnarly day. Was there a lot of pedaling? So much. And hiker biking. Do you want to know why I was up there? Because me and this guy rode Grin Grinduro. Grindaduro. I'm still going to pass it. We're gravel riders. That is coming out this week as well. I went on a bike ride and we laughed too much. It was brilliant. Speechless at the moment. Yes, and over on the tech show, we've also got a number of ways to get the key component wrong. That's something you don't want to do, so you need to know that too. Good start. What are the key components? Well, that's the whole thing. You've got to watch the video, guys. You've got to watch the video. The bike? That's the key component. The rider. Oh, I don't know. Right, guys, that's all we've got time for this week. I'm going to try and get these guys to go and get a cup of tea. We'll see you next time. See you.