Squatch Diaries - Misty Grenoside | 05.11.22 | 15.12.22

For the second instalment of The Squatch diaries, we loaded up the van and made the short trip to Greno woods in Sheffield with team rider Matt Crewther for some winter hardtail laps! Greno had a £30,000 rebuild over the summer and it’s the perfect place to give the Squatch another proper run out.

Matt is a racer through and through, with some seriously impressive results on the Enduro circuit this year. After such a busy season, Matt likes nothing more than grabbing his Squatch and heading out for some fun party laps, away from the pressures of timed runs. Matt’s race bike is a Santa Cruz Megatower, however when winter rolls around he swaps the complicated linkages and bearings for the simplicity of the Squatch hardtail - the bike is super easy to maintain when out grinding through the British slop!

Greno Woods has been home to mountain bikers for as long as mountain biking has been around; it hosted races up until 1994 and provided the training ground for World Downhill Mountain Bike Champion Steve Peat. The place has been hugely popular over the years and the massive amount of traffic eventually took its toll and it became pretty run down. Back in April this year after a final round of fundraising by Ride Sheffield, work began to finally make Greno great again - and what a transformation has been completed! The seemingly endless berms, rollers and lips snake their way down the woods, ending on some pretty sizeable doubles. Matt has ridden here many times over the years, even getting a 4th place at the Steel City race in 2017.

The beauty of Greno is with a relatively short push up you can session the trail all day long - which we do! Matt’s speed on the trail is something to behold, scrubbing and whipping his way over the rollers and shark fins. During a quick lunch stop Matt finds a bench for a jib or two, showing off the fun versatility of the Squatch. After a few hours and many laps, we call it a day with the light fading away behind the woods.

Right now only the Steel City Downhill trail at Greno has been completed, however the work continues on the second trail, DH3. This should be finished just after Christmas and there are planned upcoming dig days, so head over to the Ride Sheffield website to find out more and get involved!

Matt’s Squatch of choice is a medium Pro Build, which he runs pretty much stock. Being bang in-between sizes, he sized down to keep the bike playful and agile. The 130mm short offset fork takes the sting out of over-cooked landings, with the zippy Maxxis Recon rear tyre providing maximum rolling resistance. Matt runs clips on his Squatch - he is far too scared to ride flats on a hardtail! The Squatch is the ideal bike for the flowy, sculpted Greno trails - no rear suspension paired with the compliant steel tubing means Matt can pump and pop his way down - the bike lets you push way past your limits!