Yannick Granieri at 26Trix 2012

Long-standing dirt jump comp 26Trix will be taking part at Bikepark Leogang this Saturday, as part of the Out of Bounds Festival.

Thomas Genon will be returning to defend his 2012 title, with 11 nations represented across the rest of the rider line-up.

Swedish big gun Martin Söderström will be in attendance, and Canadians Brett Rheeder and Darren Berrecloth are also on the line-up. Of course, UK eyes will be on current tour leader Sam Pilgrim and Sam Reynolds.

It’s ranked as a gold event on the FMB World Tour, and will be riders’ last chance to compete before the diamond-ranked X Games in Munich on 30 June.

Watch 26Trix live on 22 June from 6:30pm CET at www.fmbworldtour.com or www.redbull.com/bike!

In the meantime here’s some highlights from 26Trix 2012

To enter simply take a snap that shows how stunning your ride is or make a 30-second video in which you outline the best bits of your ride. You can post your pictures and videos on Cycling Plus’ Facebook page or email them to cyclingplus@futurenet.com.f your route takes the plaudits you’ll win a Boardman Performance Series road bike courtesy of Halfords. We’ll also have prizes each month for the three best rides submitted – £150 of Halfords.com cycle clothing, accessory and parts vouchers and a Muc-Off bike cleaning packworth £38 for the month’s top ride and a Muc-Off bike cleaning pack for two runners up.

You can follow Cycling Plus on Twitter at twitter.com/cyclingplus and on Facebook at facebook.com/CyclingPlusMagazine

The UK’s number one cycling exhibition will take over the NEC offering something for fans of all two-wheeled pursuits. An outdoor demo track will be set up to test the latest mountain bikes, or you can sit back and watch how the pros do it with dirt jumpers and trials riders in action.

Simply head over to www.cycleshow.co.uk/book and enter the discount code WMB to get a ticket for £11.50, instead of £13 in advance.

Now you get to ask the man himself. To celebrate the premiere of his new Imaginate riding clip, Danny will host an ‘Ask Me Anything’ session on Reddit on Tuesday 18th June from 5pm (GMT).

If you haven’t got one already, sign up for a Reddit account http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/, and get involved.

You can see the teaser for Imaginate here http://imaginate.redbull.com/, then tune in on the 18th to see the final cut.

The Cycle Show is going to be better than ever this year! It’ll be held at the NEC in Birmingham is your chance to see brand new gear from the top mountain biking brands.

You lucky MBUK readers can get into the show for cheap too! Simply head over to www.cycleshow.co.uk/book and enter the discount code ‘MBUK’ to get a ticket for £11.50, instead of £13 in advance.

As part of our massive 25th anniversary celebration, our latest issue came with a free guide to the 100 Most Amazing Bits of Bike Bling Ever.

Putting it together was a real labour of love. There were key bikes or products that we agreed on instantly, but there were others for which discussions dragged on late into the night, and calls for last orders demanded a quick conclusion to our booze-fuelled arguments.

Our struggles didn’t end there. Not only were we limited to 100 items, but we also needed a good balance of bikes, components and clothing to show off what’s been achieved in such a short amount of time. Not easy, eh?

Here’s a few products that only just missed the cut…

Cube Stereo 650b

Marzocchi Super T Pro1

Pro Stop disc brakes

Shimano AM40 shoes

Mavic Singletrack gloves

Troy Lee Designs Ace shorts
Rampage Pro Carbon helmet

What do you guys think? What have we missed? Whittling down just over 250 items to 100 inevitably means we’re bound to have dropped a gem or two, right?

We opened the question up to our Facebook followers, who came up with the following products that they felt were glaring omissions!

Girvin Flexstem
GT LTS Lobo
Renthal Duo stem
Bear Trap pedals
Yeti – the whole company
Specialized Big Hit
Amp B4
Onza bar ends
X-Fusion Velvet fork

Keep your suggestions coming! Either have your say over on Facebook, or post your comments below.

And don’t forget that you can still get your hands on our anniversary issue – it’s in the shops now!

This year´s massive 228-page official programme comes packed with detailed maps and profiles of each stage, stats for every rider, interviews with the stars, expert analysis and a lot more.

In addition to the official programme the souvenir pack also contains:

You’d be forgiven for thinking we’ve got competition crazy here at MBUK at the moment!

But Monster Energy wanted to help us celebrate this important milestone, so they gave us a ton of Monster kit to give away, along with a pair of DMR Brendog pedals.

For a chance to win the lot, head to www.futurecomps.co.uk/MBKMONSTER, enter your details, and we’ll be in touch if you win!

By heck, what a difference half an hour makes; the sun was out, the sky was blue, and we were skimming along a stony Yorkshire Dales trail, on a virtual Three Peaks recce ride. Just 30 minutes earlier we’d been huddled in a steamy corner at the Three Peaks Café in Horton-in-Ribblesdale, peering at the rain through the condensation on the front line windows, safely protected by sausage butties and tea.

It was mid summer, and so, of course it was hurling down and howling like a banshee outside. These incessant rains had accompanied us on our entire journey over to the Dales, but being as Rob Jebb is a full time working man and a father the luxury of hanging around on standby for a “good day” wasn’t an option, so come rain or shine we had to make the most of it and crack out this ride into the territory he knows all too well.

With crusts all chewed and the tea strained to its last drop we stepped out into this darkening and daunting whirlwind, which appeared to be coming from the shadowing Pen-y-Ghent mountain, the famous last ascent in the Three Peaks race, a race that Rob has won more times – eight – than anybody else.

Luckily for us we were heading due north, pretty much as the race does its self, and the only direction that showed any cracks in the blackening torrent above us. Some of the actual race route is not permissible to ride, as it passes along footpaths or permissive rights of way, some of which only open up once a year to allow the race to take place, so we’d knitted together a mash of trails and roads to replicate the route – only without the ultra steep bike carrying summit pitches

We hadn’t even had chance get muddy and the state of play had changed; the sun came out, glisteningly glorious. It’s a long and steady slog to start the ride, which could have put a real dampener on the day had the Dales gods not have been with us. Spirits and enthusiasm lifted faster than the clouds – “I love being up here…” grinned Rob.

Back on track and the open Dales views were amazing as we headed up to Cam End, which is accessed along a permissive bridleway (of which there are many in the Dales). In the distance we could see the iconic Ribblehead Viaduct, a famous landmark on the race route, and being as the weather was good early ride enthusiasm dictated that we took in an extra out and back excursion to see this mighty stone structure. It was well worth it, although I would pay for that extra climbing later in the day which, I guess, is like blaming the last drink for a hangover.

This is an opportunity that Mint Sauce fans will not want to miss.

Here’s your chance to own a piece of one-off original Mint Sauce artwork, hand-drawn and painted by Jo Burt.

To enter the competition, you’ll need to have watched the ‘Making of Mint Sauce’ video we posted last week. You’ll also need photographic evidence of how much of a Mint Sauce fan you are.

For full details, and to enter, head over the competition page now: www.futurecomps.co.uk/mbk25mint/

MBUK’s 25th Anniversary issue is on sale now.