All the news from the Cotic team riders...

For 2019, our team riders are Chay Granby and James Swinden, with our previous Development Squad riders Wes Fife and Will Easey moving up to the senior team as well.

Chay has been on board since the team was founded in 2013, since then he's gone from strength to strength, in his first year competing with us, he placed 2nd in Masters overall in UK Enduro, which resulted in an invitation to compete in Elite, which he has done ever since. Chay's podiumed in several PMBAs over the past few years, as well as a lot of success at the Tweed Valley Triple Crown.

James, AKA Swinny, Rocketman, has been racing for Cotic since 2016. His background is in Downhill racing, and he raced at all levels including World Cup. Since racing with us he's made the switch to Enduro, resulting in plenty of wins and podiums. He was overall PMBA Series Champion in 2016 and 2017.

Wes came to our attention as a 14 year old when his Dad sent us a photo of him sending the road gap at Chatel on his BFe! We have kept an eye on him and watched him mature into a great rider and racer. We brought him onto the Development Squad in 2017 to help him make the best of his undoubted talent.

Will Easey is our 'token Southerner'! He can often be found in the forest south of the M4 doing manuals for days and sweet moto whips. An incredibly stylish rider, he looks incredible on camera, which is good seeing as he's a dab hand at making his own films. With speed to match skills he can often be found on the podiums of Southern Enduro and Pedalhounds mini-DH races.

You may know them as Rocketman and Straightline. Watch the 2019 Team Camp video here.

This season Chay, Wes and Swinny are concentrating on the Tweed Valley Triple Crown, with Chay and Swinny also doing the European Continental Enduro Series. Wes and Will are doing plenty of PMBA, Welsh and British Enduros, and Will is flying the flag down South in the MiniEnduros and MiniDH races at FoD, Roegate and plenty more. They're racing The Biggest Little Race at Steel City DH and some other events and one off races like Ard Rock.

The lads are all racing on RocketMAX bikes this season, with a huge amount of help from our sponsors:

• Cane Creek - The amazing HELM fork, DB shocks, eeWings titanium cranks and Hellbender headsets
• HUNT Wheels - All the team are running HUNT Enduro Wide 29 wheels
• WTB - Keeping us sticky side down with the awesome G2 series tyres (Vigilante, Judge and Trail Boss), and saddles and grips for Chay and Swinny.
• Polaris Bikewear - Our friends from over the hill, giving us these super fine custom team jerseys, and supplying shorts, jackets and all our clothing needs.
• Burgtec - The best bars, stems and pedals there is. #flatpedalthunder. Except Will. He likes clips!
• Kingud - Keeping our bikes fresh and clean and running smooth, all in the best way possible for mother earth.
• Lezyne - The prettiest, most functional tools you will find. Keeping the team fully fixed up and getting them out of tight spots on the trail in those self supported enduros.
• Abbeydale Brewery - because everyone should have a beer sponsor. And it's lovely
• Forge Coffee Roasters - because everyone should also have a coffee sponsor too.
• Wild Trail Snacks - Vegan, natural, tasty fuel for keeping us going out there
• Bike Track - Our local trail building masters, building awesome trails and pump tracks all over the country. Their top man Jordan Gould regularly races with Chay and Swinny and gets us vids of the lads in full flight. In return, we help out with exclusive track testing to help them make the best riding trails around.
• Trash Free Trails - Less of a sponsor, more of a partner. It's super important to us (and to you) to look after our beautiful planet, and Trash Free Trails promotes minimum impact riding, cleaning up after yourself, and general Good Things for the places we love to ride

Last Sunday we ran a Cotic CC social ride in the Surrey Hills. I was in the area doing a demo day on the Saturday, and we hadn't done an owners ride down south for quite a long time, so it seemed a perfect opportunity.

Despite the fairly late notice, we had 13 Cotic riders including team racer Will Easey for a great ride. All set up and ready to roll, and the heavens opened! A warm up lap of Barry Knows Best had a certain 'Pacific North West' feel to it, with the rain falling through tall pine trees on the lush green bracken. After a steep and soggy climb and another trail or two, the sun eventually came out and jackets were stashed.

Plenty of the riders who came had never experienced Surrey's plethora of excellent trails before, big thanks go to Dan from Hunt Wheels, who came along on his Flare and took us to trails I would never have found. It was a muddy one, but the trails still rode fast with plenty of grip. There was a great mix of bikes in the group from Souls to RocketMAXs, including a lovely SodaMAX dripping in Hope bling. We've got plenty in the pipeline for Cotic CC events, keep an eye on the mailing list to be the first to hear the latest news.

Meanwhile James Swinden AKA Swinny AKA Rocketman and co-team rider Wes Fife were out racing in Innerleithen. Despite injuries, crashes, tight transfers and the relentless Scottish climbs both boys got stuck in and came in the Top 10, they quite rightly came away smiling. Well done lads! Here are their race photos...

After a late night drive, leaving Surrey at 9pm to get to the Minehead BEMBA Enduro Series Rnd 3, I finally arrived at the venue at 12:30am. I pulled up and didn't want to make much noise so I parked the van literally on the entrance. I thought everything was fine until it came to about 2am and realised how uncomfortable it is to sleep on an un-level surface, the van was at a severe angle meaning I was rolling out of my bed...

The race went great, venue was amazing and I will definitely be going back!! DUST!!! Managed to only get in 7 runs in, but stoked with a 2nd place and FTOTD on stage 7!

Keep up with how Easey gets on with this race series on his Instagram, link below.

Steel City DH, better than Christmas? The biggest little race sees hundreds of racers take to the popular hillside at Grenoside, Sheffield. Cotic has the same spot every year by the infamous bombhole, and we soak up the buzzing atmosphere, as well as the great coffee and beer on offer.

The Cotic Factory Race Team were all racing this year, it was great to have everyone in the same place, everyone was feeling good and keen to get out there and race. Wes Fife (racing 17-18 boys) had a brilliant practice and race runs, couple of mistakes on the corners didn't bother him, he really enjoyed the race - and that's what matters! He finished in 5th, and only a second off the podium.

More close racing for Will Easey racing in Seniors. The crowd was loving his stylish riding, getting plenty of cheers! He finished 4th with a fraction of a second off the podium. Steel City always sees incredibly tight racing!

Swinny AKA Rocketman was flying on his new RocketMAX, finishing 12th in the Pros. In other Rocketman news, Swinny has kicked off his European Continental Series campaign with a really strong 16th overall in Spain the other weekend. The Continental Series are a new set of races from the Enduro World Series where each Continent runs a series of EWS level one day races as a stepping stone from National to International racing. Having won the PMBA Series twice in a row in 16-17, Swinny was looking for the next challenge, but the level at EWS is so high and the races so arduous these days that those took their toll last year. The ECS gives us a chance to put together a whole series, without the massive 4 day race format often used in EWS. This is a great start and we're looking forward to seeing how this works out for the rest of the season. Bets of luck to him, and keep watch on his progress!

Big ups to ambassador and friend A-Line Coaching Gaz, who finished 3rd in Masters. He's loving his new Rocket, and has been working hard to get it set up perfectly for this race, it clearly paid off. Well done Gaz!

HUGE congrats to Team rider Chay Granby who won Vets. You earned that! Amazing result, what a great start to the season. Well done Chay, we're so proud. Thanks everyone that came by the stand and cheered our team on this year, much appreciated. So, that was another 'Better than Christmas', see you next year Steel City.

A couple of weekends ago we got our new full race team and all the staff together and headed up to the Tweed Valley for a Team and Staff Camp. We headed to the infamous trails past Innerleithen Gold Course, and packed the 29-irons to play a few holes!

The full race team. James Swinden, Chay Granby, Will Easey and Wes Fife.

"I reckon that'll go that." Chay Granby, upon seeing this near vertical quarry drop.

Ford UK came through for us with a lend of an extra Transit Custom and a plus Kuga ST Line to help ship all the bikes, people and sponsor swag up to Scotland.

Lucky lads! Thanks to Cane Creek, Hunt Bike Wheels, WTB, Polaris Bikewear, Burgtec, Wild Trail Snacks, Forge Coffee Roasters and Abbeydale Brewery (yes we have a coffee and beer sponsors!)

Snow on Sunday up at Innerleithen. Once we were above the snow line conditions were just lovely. Tweed Valley, we salute you!

The final race of the season for the senior Race Team was the Enduro World Series at Finale. They spent a week in Italy building up to the race and Cy tagged along for riding, support, gelato, pizza and waving a GoPro around.

After a few crashy races recently, Development Team rider Wes Fife managed to stay on his bike for this one and won the race! Here's how it went down...

Wes: It was a cold morning and spirits were kinda low as the forecast was saying that torrential rain was forecast and the news that one of my favourite stages had been pulled from the loop in view of the forecast. My legs were still a bit stiff from the 45km loop on practice day and I knew I’d have to start using them soon for the 15km liaison up to stage 1. Anyway, after a big bowl of cereal we set off up the beautiful Coquet valley to the 1st stage of the day.

On paper stage one was pretty simple; flat out up top then back off but keep flow when you get into the woods. Realistically though, there was much more to it than that. Some of the corners had loose rocks, roots, and some pretty blown out off camber sections which caught me out a few times. Turns out I rode the stage much better than I thought and got my first stage win of the day by 4 seconds in my category! After the winch back up the “kidland killer” climb to the top of stage 2 stoke was pretty high. I’d really enjoyed stage 2 in practice day and had a few good lines to get me down. Stage 2 went ok, and even with a few mistakes I still held onto the overall lead in the U18’s. Then it was onto stage 3 which I knew was going to be my attack stage. Fast, tight, techy, loose - all very much like what I was I was used to riding back home in Guisborough. I knew if I put a solid run down I could do make some good time against the rest of the field. So, I attacked and it payed off. I won the stage by 3 seconds in my category and got the 5th fastest time of the day behind some big names!!!!

By now the weather has turned a bit and we were getting some of the rain that was forecast. Me being the intelligent person that I am... had forgotten to take my waterproof jacket. After the cold slog back over the Alwinton hill to stage 4 I just wanted to get riding. Stage 4 was probably the most physically demanding of the day with a big grassy sprint over the top of the hill, then dropping down and traversing across over the rocky off camber Northumbrian screes. To make matters worse there was a howling headwind blowing head on up the valley. Morning aside I got down the stage smooth and gave it my all, getting the 7th quickest time of the day which cool I guess! There was only one stage left and at this point I knew it would be close between me and the other Guisborough lads I was riding with. I knew I would have to put down a solid run. I was having waayyy to much fun to even think of a podium. So stage 5 approached and I dropped in. Round some flat corners and down the slalom. It was at this point that I caught my back wheel on a rock and put a tiny hole in it. Thankfully I only lost about half my pressure before it decided to seal again and the race was back on . I drifted my way down the bottom of the stage. Narrowly missing a dog that had somehow managed to make its way onto track! I knew I hadn’t had the best run down the last stage but I knew my other stages had been strong and consistent. I rolled back and handed my transponder in, waiting my result...

1st in U18 men!!! I couldn’t quite believe it! Then to find out that I was the 9th quickest time of the day!! It's my first top 10 overall at a big race. Wow! I will definitely be back for more next year and I highly recommend to anyone to race it! Big thanks to Tommy Wilkinson and the Descent World team for putting on such a good race and to Matt at Kingud for keeping my bike looking clean all weekend. Cheers!

Will and Rich, our mechanic and marketing man, raced the Intro race on the Sunday morning. The Intro takes in stages 4, 5, 6 and 7. Here's how it went down…

After an already hectic weekend including over 1500m climbing on the demo loop alone and our bodyweight in beer on the Saturday night, we braved the Intro round on the Sunday morning. Thinking the best way to shake the pounding in our heads was to pedal a bike in the sun with your pal. Just like everything else with the event, the registration, route finding and marshalling was a breeze which made up for the fact that the stages and transitions were as tough as old boots. All of the stages started with a sprint then got steeper and faster, so we decided that Will would go ahead and I (Rich) would follow and try to keep up! I could heckle on the pedally bits and then Will could tow me along when it got fast. This seemed like the best plan and long story short, it worked! Every stage was 100% blind - we hadn’t even ridden them last year so we were completely wet behind the ears, (though that was probably sweat). We only caught up a couple of people. Will drank from a stream and didn’t die of dysentery. I cleaned the steepest hill up I’ve ever ridden - had steps cut in and everything. We spent the day with Jack from Hunt wheels who was awesome company & one of the soundest guys you’re likely to meet. We had a much needed coffee and flapjack from Boost Coffee Co who were parked at the bottom of stage 5. There were zero crashes but many close calls. Contrary to suggestion, you most definitely CAN’T pull up off every lip on stage 6. Flat pedals win medals and it turns out, you’d be faster on a hardtail: Will won.

The rest of the weekend was just as enjoyable - so many friends, many demo laps on our phenomenal bikes, so much lovely beer from Abbeydale Brewery, sun, smiles, the Foo Fighters tribute was rowdy, the food was unbelievable, the mood was high and as John Fife said, we had the needle bending on the stoke-o-meter! Ard Rock is without a doubt the bike festival that sets the bar (very high). Thanks to everyone who made it possible and so much fun. See you next year for sure.

The owner's ride out was a great success. A great bunch of people out riding with the Cotic crew, including our team rider Chay and ambassador Dave and Downtime Podcast Chris. Lovely to get out riding with so many Cotics out on the hill, beautiful light and good vibes.

After squeezing in an entry to the Intro race last year and breaking his racing retirement, Cotic's Paul was eager to race again this year. This year he entered the Sprint race which takes in the stages that the Intro doesn't, so now he's done them all! He absolutely loved it and got a great result. No doubt he'll be racing again next year.

The fastest girl around Mel Fife did it again. What a race! She's on the top spot yet again, proving that you really are faster on a Rocket. Huge congrats to her, we're so pleased for her.

Thanks again to the organisers, marshalls, demo riders, Cotic owners, ambassadors and people that came over to say hi at the stand. What a great weekend, we enjoyed every second. See you at Ard Rock 2019.

This weekend saw Chay's first coaching venture, Sam demoing on the dry dusty singletrack in Peaslake, Swinny being Rocketman in Le Thuile and Will Easey in 2nd place...

Last week Chay called explaining how he'd like to organise a women's coaching event. After doing bits of coaching with his girlfriend, Hannah and coaching Cotic's Hannah around the Ard Rock Enduro course last year we jumped at this opportunity to get women riders coached by Chay and out on the local trails learning different skills and techniques.

15 riders turned up, we were thrilled with the response we got for the event with so many riders interested that we had to limit the numbers! It was great to see so many women getting involved and out on the trails. Chay went through different skills including body position, track stands, berms, pumping, line choice, bike maintenance and always looking ahead!

It was so much fun, cheering each other on down the trails, watching other riders, asking questions, sessioning parts of the trail and chatting to other women riders. Huge thanks to Chay and his glamorous assistant Lee for all their time and help, it really was such a good day out.

This weekend was also a busy one for Demo man, Sam who took the demo tour to the ever popular Peaslake, Surrey. The demo saw riders new to Cotic and current owners interested in trying out the new bikes. The trails were running dusty and fast, making for some great action shots and some wide smiles.

Congrats to Will Easey for placing 2nd at Tideworth racing this weekend!