Another week – another enduro. It’s almost like people think it’s the future of mountain bike racing or something. The mountain bike mecca of Glentress is set to be the location for the POC King and Queen of the Hill, a new ‘all-mountain enduro’ on the Sunday 27 May 2012.
It’s part of TweedLove, the ten day Bike Festival set in the bike-friendly Tweed Valley in the Scottish Borders. Apparently it’s a new take on the gravity enduro format, with riders set to compete to be crowned the ‘official ruler’ of Glentress. No word on whether you’ll get to become undisputed ruler of the Keg nightclub in Peebles after, but we imagine one title will follow the other.
Event organiser Neil Dalgleish said: “If you’re going to be the King or Queen of Glentress, you’ve got to rule the whole hill, which means you need to be decent going up as well as a ripper coming down.”
The course will take riders to near the very top of Glentress Forest’s big hill, and then right back down again, by way of a series of timed race and linking stages, with riders required to have at least one uphill stage included in their overall points score.
The King and Queen of the Hill also features a massive final descent stage, running from near Spooky Wood all the way back down to Peebles, with a big proportion of natural trails along the route.
Neil Dalgleish added: “With no change of bike or tyres allowed during the race, the debate has already started as to the best kit for the day. The final descent is a real challenge with so many different styles of riding on it and no let-up at all the way from the top, right down to the bottom. And with Glentress signature man-made track as well as off-camber roots, natural, tight technical and fast open sections tyre choice is definitely going to be real head-scratcher for all the riders”.
With Alpine Bikes already in place as sponsor of the whole ten day TweedLove bike festival, the organisers reckon they have scored another coup by attracting Swedish helmets, armour and clothing brand, POC, as headline event sponsor.
Neil Dalgleish said: “We’re totally delighted to be working with POC – it’s the perfect brand for this event. This is the first UK race that POC has got on board with. They’re one of the coolest brands in the world of bikes right now, and we’re going to make sure this event totally rocks.”
To find out more about POC visit http://pocsports.com
Another first for the ‘King and Queen of the Hill’ is that it will start and finish in the town of Peebles, in the grounds of the renowned Peebles Hotel Hydro.
Neil Dalgleish said: “The Peebles Hotel Hydro is a beautiful hotel, with amazing grounds all round it – and the trails roll right down to their door. It’s the perfect spot for the event HQ.”
Entries for the race are now open on the TweedLove website – http://tweedlove.com/ – which has more info on the race and the whole TweedLove programme – ten days of good times on and off the bike.
TweedLove would like to thank: Forestry Commission Scotland, Peebles Hotel Hydro, POC, Alpine Bikes, 2pure and EventScotland for their help and support.
Website: http://tweedlove.com/
Twitter – @tweedlovefest
Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/pages/TweedLove/138953616122719
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Perhaps POC should concentrate on getting some product into the country. I’ve been trying to buy some Joint elbows for months!
Race looks good though.