Over 600 competitors, including Olympians Oli Beckingsale and Liam Killeen, plus a whole raft of international riders including New Zealander Rosara Joseph and Australian Kate Potter will be converging at Sherwood Pines this Sunday to contest the opening round of the British Mountain Bike Race Series. Riders will be battling it out over a compact but exhilarating 8km circuit that will weave tantalisingly through the event arena, giving spectators a taste of the action as it unfolds.
Course designer James Hampshire gave us a brief description of what he has in store for riders:
“The circuit I’ve designed for Sherwood is an evolution of the popular 2009 course, using some new trails and retaining the arena return for multiple spectator cheering opportunities. This is Sherwood Pines at it’s best, condensed into a modern, XC-short, 8km lap: flat out fast racing, lots of warp speed singletrack, cool jumps, big ring climbs and two wheel drifts round the sandy, pine needle covered trails. There’s a few short sharp up’s to attack on when you’re feeling fresh and a spiders web of tree roots to send you tumbling when you start flagging. I’m sure there’ll still be lots of sprint finishes though!”
If you fancy having a go you can come and race in the Open category, be careful though you might just get hooked! For the younger element there will be a free under 12’s children’s race Sunday afternoon, so all our budding XC wanna be’s can also get a taste of the action on a shortened version of the course.
The weekend also plays host to the second of the UK’s biggest bike Demo series with a plethora of bikes ready to be ridden FOC all weekend from 8 of the UK’s biggest bike brands; Giant, Yeti, Merida, Specialized, Trek, Gary Fisher, Santa Cruz and Genesis, while nutrition brand Accelerade will be offering free tasters of all it’s exciting line up of products, Osprey will be in on the action providing riders with the chance to try out one of their fabled Raptor backpacks with plenty of room for hydration. With over 200 bikes on offer to try, including specific women’s models there certainly will be something for everyone. What a great chance to try out some of the best bikes in the business in the fantastic setting of Sherwood Park and what’s more it free! All you need is 2 forms of valid ID: Passport/Driving licence and a credit or debit card and you can ride as many of the bike you want all weekend.
If you want advice on what’s best for you come along and chat to the friendly and knowledgeable staff that’ll sort you out a perfect steed. You may also be lucky to grab a few words with World Downhill Champion Steve Peat, who’s is popping over to see what all the fuss is about.
Saturday night will also see the explosive Team Relay event get under way, so why not stay around and watch 10 teams of 4 riders in a giant game of tag as they pedal furiously to grab the top podium spot and with it a handsome reward.
So why not come along and spend a few hours soaking up the amazing mountain bike atmosphere? With over 25 teams and exhibitors on show, masses of bikes to pour over and ride and for those not wanting to exert too much energy you can take a seat outside our catering tent and watch the activities whiz past whilst you sup a lovely cuppa.
For full details of this weekend of mountain bike heaven please visit www.britishxc.com
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Hopefully its dried out since last weekend as it was like a $hitty pond 😉
Fancy reminding everyone about this event, it’ll be packed now and i am going.
I was very sad to find that they have managed to find our secret trails (Someone blabbed) that me and my riding buddies have made and been using for about the last 4 years. How they found them I will never know. They are now ruined… 🙁 These trails only ever where used by us and where kept natural, dry and technical! They now look like the rest of the man made crap around the pines! Bad times B-(
More to the point someone is going to be in a lot of bother due to the fact they didn’t check the course and then let Hundreds of bike riders on a section of the course which was put through part of a heritage site of the 95 year old first world war training trenches. Total disregard or is it Ignorance of the environment and a place where 30,000 men at a time trained in trench warfare before being sent off to the war almost certain death. Disgusted! timax 🙁