It’s Grip Up North – new Lancashire MTB Festival

Enjoy music, riding and most importantly beer? Then you’ll probably be interested in the Northern Grip mountain bike festival amongst the picturesque Pennines in Ramsbottom, Lancashire.

The festival officially begins on the 23rd of July – although a “pre-party” in a Ramsbottom pub has been organised – and ends of the 24th.

Here are the full details from the press release:

July 23rd ­- 24th

A party in the Pennines to celebrate everything that’s great about riding mountain bikes. Riding during the day. Entertainment throughout the night. Plenty of excellent food and drink.

Hills, thrills and bellyfulls.

THE RIDING

There’ll be riding during the day. Some way-marked, some on­-a-­map, some DIY. All taking in the best that the hills around Ramsbottom have to offer.

We’re especially pleased to say that we’ve got the National Trust on board with the event and they’ll be opening up some usually­-off­-limits trails for riders during the festival.

There’ll be no racing, no timings. Just riding for fun and thrills. Well, there might be the odd challenge trail thrown in… maybe. There will be surprises thrown into the riding… definitely.

AFTER THE RIDING

This is the USP of the event. This is the thing that other bike events often lack. It’s not called a festival for nothing. After the riding is when the celebrating and socialising begins. What are we celebrating? Simply, the mountain bike and everything it bring into our lives.

Music and food will be a strong focus for the festival. Local bands, local food, local drink.

Ramsbottom has all of these in abundance and it’s this aspect that’s as big a draw to the area as the terrain and riding is.

There’ll also be film screenings, trade stands, bike clinics, Q&As with interesting bike bods and much else besides.

This entertainment side of things will be taking place inside the Ramsbottom Civic Hall bang in the heart of town. Easy to find. Good sound system. Handy film screen. Licensed.

WEEKEND TIMETABLE

Friday 22nd July:

Join in the opening pre­-party in one of Ramsbottom finest independent pubs with DJs from Manchester’s Funkademia.

Saturday 23rd July:

We will have a full day’s MTB themed programme in our Festival Hub on Saturday, starting from 10am and running through to the small hours. There will be:

• ­ Chat and debate with industry bods and extraordinary riders
• ­ Showcases and demo bikes from Kona, Cotic, Giant and Sonder Bikes from Alpkit
• ­ Trade stands and pop up shops
• ­ On site mechanics from our friends at Cooksons Cycles
• ­ Exclusive MTB films
• ­ Bike setup tips from the pros
• ­ Proper Northern food and drink (you’ll deserve it)
• ­ Great live bands
• ­ DJs from Manchester’s Funkademia club night

Throughout the day we’ll be encouraging you to get out onto the hills and ride your bikes (or a spanking new demo of course) where some special events will provide the perfect excuse to stop for a breather.

Sunday 24th July:

Breakfast will be available back at the Festival Hub, then a Big Group Ride, showcasing more of the area’s riding to wake you all up and shake it all off.

TICKET INFO

Tickets are limited to approx 200 people. Tickets are on sale now priced at £25.00 via northerngrip.co.uk

The first 50 ticket buyers will receive an exclusive goodie bag full of cool schwag from the event sponsors, the exhibitors as well as some “I Was There” Northern Grip merchandise.

SPONSORS

Team JMC: ­ “With a shared passion for the joys of mountain biking and the fabulous riding available around Ramsbottom, Team JMC is proud to be the headline sponsor for Northern Grip 2016. We are really excited about the event and looking forward to hitting the trails, eating cake and drinking beer with everyone.”

Kona: ­ “”Kona UK are delighted to be supporting the inaugural Northern Grip MTB festival. With bikes, beers and riding on awesome trails with amazing scenery this is the perfect event for Kona. We will be in the event village with our latest bikes and out on the trails… swing by and say hello.”

Alpkit: ­ “An opportunity to spend time with like-­minded folk, to ride bikes, to talk about bikes and to drink good beer and proper food. We’re looking forward to new trails and showing folk what we’ve been up to at Alpkit and Sonder.”

National Trust: ­ “We are excited to be supporting Northern Gripl. We are opening up some great trails for the weekend and we look forward to meeting and chatting with MTBers about their experiences cycling on or through the Holcombe Moor and Stubbins Estate.”

RAMSBOTTOM?

Location, location, location. It’s rural but not remote. It’s got wild spaces but it doesn’t take ages to reach. Or get back from. The town’s long gone industrial heritage has left a network of tracks and trails over the adjacent valley sides and fell tops.

It’s got loads of bars. A healthy amount of interesting independent shops. Plenty of excellent places to eat. Ramsbottom is getting a reputation as something of a foodie destination.

It’s a town that thrives on putting on events. Rammy residents love to welcome people into their town. The real mystery is why it’s taken so long for there to be a mountain bike festival based there!

 

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