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A global celebration of classic mountain bikes in action at OWMTBC 2010. In its second year, the Old World MTB Championship is a weekend dedicated to showing and riding classic mountain bikes with fellow enthusiasts, re-living the spirit of those free spirited early MTB weekends. The OWMTBC was designed to give an outlet to the growing fascination with the birth and early years of mountain biking – with the Retrobike forum in the UK having over 9,000 registered members, it looks like it is more than a minority interest group! The OWMTBC weekend, over 2nd, 3rd and 4th September, is all about original bikes, clothes, riders and attitude with points and prizes to be won over the weekend – so dig out your old MTB and head for the hills...

Over a couple of pints in December, a friend suggested we ride the Fred Whitton (the event website describes it simply as ".... a 112 mile ultra hilly (mountainous!) challenge ride over all the famous Lake District passes in a single day ride".). Glowing with festive cheer I readily agreed, confident that with it's popularity that we would never get in. We did. What follows is what happened, as best I can remember. After packing the car in the dark on Friday night, I had a restless sleep plagued with thoughts of not enough training and fear of what the event would bring (not helped by late rider information from the organisers that described poor road surfaces - potholes, corrugation from ice and snow, hairpins etc. - on 7 of the 9...

Last year's Brighton Big Dog was one of the highlights of last year's retrobike calendar. Click here to check the aftermath from 2009. The 2010 event promises to be bigger and better but has sold out already! Fortunately the nice people who run this event have agreed to keep a very limited number of entries back for the Open Retro class (in association with retrobike of course). This year the Open Retro class is open to teams of two and three. If you'd like to enter you'll now need to contact the organisers directly via email, info@brightonbigdog.com . To discuss in the forum click here.

The April 2010 Photo of The Month (P.o.T.M.) contest was won by Wu-Tangled's 'This is Why'. Now taking nominations for the May 2010 P.o.T.M. contest entitled 'The Wheel' here. Click here to see Wu's shot in all it's glory 1. Wu-Tangled's 'This is Why' The

The latest Cool Wall vote has been called. This one has a winner unlike others. Klein, the choice of the Yuppie and masters of oversized alloy are COOOOL. Next up on the vote is Mountain Biking.

The April 2010 Road Bike of The Month contest was won by Shamus' 1984 Colnago Arabesque, which will come as no to surprise to many! The full results are as follows 1. Shamus' 1984 Colnago Arabesque 2. LGF's Orange Dynamo 3. Shogun's Appelby Track bike Now taking nominations for the May 2010 rBoTM here. Click here for more details and full results The April 2010 Road Bike of The Month top three are as follows 1. Shamus' 1984 Colnago Arabesque Click here for the full and detailed build thread. 2. LGF's Orange Dynamo Click here for the Big Cheese's build thread. 3. Shogun's Appelby Track bike

The April 2010 Bike of The Month saw Sinnett177's 1991 Alpinestars Ti-Mega EOS take a well earned victory from some very stiff competition. The victory was Sinnett177's second in this contest having previously tasted victory in the June 2009 edition of this contest. The Ti-Mega will be featured in next month's mbr magazine and Sinnett177 will receive a year’s subscription to the magazine. The full results are as follows 1. Sinnett177's 1991 Alpinestars Ti-Mega EOS 2. pwriter's Ritchey Plexus 3. unospeedo's WTB Phoenix Now taking nominations for the May 2010 'Anodized Special' BoTM here. Don't forget winner will receive a years mbr magazine subscription so get that best Ringle out! Click here for more details and full results The...

May 8th 2010, meeting at 10am for a 10:30 start. 20 mile route which Drystonepaul knows well and it's definitely a great route and definitely suitable for retro bikes. A map will appear soon, but basically it starts at the Coniston Ferry Landing car park on Lake Road just to the south of Coniston. [Grid: SD308970] There's a nice little cafe there too. The route goes up to High Tilberthaite and then across past Hodge Close and then West to Arnside Intake. From Knipe Fold the ride continues on some quiet lanes and to the edge of Grizedale Forest at High Cross. Then we'll join the North Face Trail and follow it down to the Visitor Centre for some food. After that we'll continue around the NFT up to Lawson Park, before taking a great...

Yet another great retrobike ride was had last weekend in the Peak district. The Three Tribes meet saw riders from the Midlands, North West and North East converge on an unsuspecting Peak district and meet up having followed three different routes. Click here for a full aftermath.

Dave Hemming's (alleged) old Fat Chance 'Harlequin' Yo Eddy has just appeared for sale ! Click here for full details, still awaiting confirmation from both Mr Hemming and the seller that this is the real deal.

The nightride aftermath thread is now up here. We had riders out all over the world from Tasmania to Fairfax via Leamingtons Spa & Poland!

Don't forget to get your pics up from tonight's Retrobike Global Nightride here. The first riders are already home in Australia and New Zealand with their pictures up!

Get yourself to the Peak District for this weekend's 3 Tribes meet. Click here for details. The 3 Tribes in question are the Midlands Group, North West Group and North East Group. All will be leaving from seperate locations and meeting somewhere in the middle.

MacRetro into the heart of darkness The weekend of 24th-25th April 2010 saw MacRetro take to the Highlands for what looks like a quite epic overnight Bothying expedition. Click here for full aftermath.

I'm sure by now you'll all have seen the slightly obscure references to 05/05/2010. Now all can be revealed. At 20:00 hours (that's 8pm in imperial) on 5th May 2010 the first ever Retrobike Global Nightride will start. As the clock strikes 20:00 local time we get on our retro bikes for a ride, be it individually or in groups. It matters not where- it could be desert, mountain, moorland, parkland, urban, city canal path, whatever. Even just a 10 minute lap around the park would do. The first riders will be heading out at 20:00 local time in Australia, the last ride's 20:00 local time on the West Coast of the USA. To get involved and see what's happening click here.

For those who missed it MBR magazine joined us at February 2010's Thetford meet. The resulting article was out in last month's (April 2010) MBR. The magazine kindly agreed that we could publish a high res copy once the mag had left the news stand. Click here to view pages one and two and click here to view pages three and four. Click here to see the forum discussion.

The latest coolwall is complete. Kooka, the kings of the wacky anodising are COOOOL. Next up on the vote is Klein - fingers crossed for a good debate ;)