H.T.N. !

John
Thanks for the zoomed in pic of me on my back wi feet in air :-)))))))

Sundaysport photo of meMy first ever “race”, I pootled round while you lot flew by. Stopped to provide a chain link and tools for No 212, who very kindly came to find me at the end to thank me. I can barely walk today 🙂
you can put a face to the poster.

I appear to have an altercation with some brambles yesterday. Or at least, my arm may have been mauled while I was sleeping. Not quite sure where that happened but i am a ball of tingles today.

My arms and legs are absolutely shredded as well Greg!

Mrs Binners comment this morning… “Jesus! You look like you’ve been self-harming!!”

Indeed

I’m so glad to see that

A) many, many other people also
went OTB on that descent

B) I’m not the only one who looks like they have put their arms and legs into a wood chipper!

Nice jersey Snotrag

Yeah binners my legs are a bit shredded too, and my back is killing me, although don’t know why :-)))))

Results

Whoop!
112th = not last = target achieved 😀

Next years target = top 100 and no injuries 😯

johnclimber’s crash video is awesome. One bloke’s OTB is so slow you could time it with a calendar. Tears rolling down my cheeks.

2nd from last. I’ve achieved my ‘not last, this time’ dream! Boom!!

Dead last, get in!

If I can do it, anyone can.
Chase your dreams, people.

I thought I was only lapped once? Am confused.

Either way, good times.

Thank you and well done to the guys that organised the race. It’s the first 1 in 23 years for me. I really enjoyed it and managed 4 laps. Even made it into the 6 best crashes photos above.

72nd, which I’m really pleased with on my massively unsuitable bike! Do people generally carry their bikes a lot in Manchester?

Do people generally carry their bikes a lot in Manchester?

only when we’re nicking em

Spot the rider 😉

Thanks Bregante, like that pic

Get your HTN5 t shirts here http://www.twisted-head.com/product/hit-the-north-ts/

A limited edition so limited they don’t exist yet!
And they won’t if nobody bothers to order them.

Someone has ordered one 😉

A lesson in racecraft, if you are going to stop as you can’t manage another lap, do it before the finish line, at least then you’ll get classified…

there will be another chance to put your lesson into practice Tom. Soon….

I’m fairly pleased 71st position, might have made top 50 if I didn’t spend so much time on the floor rolling around in the dirt

i’m in the same boat as tom there; no classification due to my stupid timing (and shit knees/lungs).
still had a great time though, so there’s that!

Third from last! Does that mean I’m ready for the Monday night pub rides 🙂

Ooh terrahawk, you tease…

Quite? happy with 58th place.
Roll on the next time!

rossendalelemming – You’re ideally qualified. You’ll still be having to wait at the top of every climb 😀

As I couldn’t ride, I’ve just been looking at pictures, (love that one of the orange clad CXer going OTB) and the Strava route of the new course, and inadvertently I’ve stumbled on what appears to be a 1/2 lap shortcut on a riders Strava.

Shop or not?
Dob or don’t?

I know it’s a relaxed race and it’s not a podium botherer, but it’s definitely not cricket. #whatwouldbinnersdo

Stop and have a chat with absolutely everyone, wait for me to catch up, wait another five minutes ‘to let the fast lads and lasses to go through’ and then wobble down the fun bits.

That’s what Binners would do.

I adopted his approach of ‘not really bothering’ this year with great success.
It hurts much less and you get to meet the nicest people.
🙂

Heh, good point.
Did Sue marshall again? Did she have Vimto? Perhaps these are the important questions of the day.

She did.
🙂
She’s moaning because she wasn’t at the bottom of Mt Doom.
Missed all the carnage.
😐

Recognised loads of the marshalls from previous years, very, very funny and a top job as always.

I guess etiquette depends on your perspective. For me riding slowly at the back then I was pleased to find that the ‘elite’ were pretty polite this year as they piled past me. Not a great deal of arrogance from the ‘riders’!

For them I guess they would be more concerned about how quickly the elderly lard asses got out of the way and if I can speak on belhalf of the MNPR collective then I hope they found us very accommodating!

With regards to the ‘cheating’ I guess you pretty much only cheat yourself, but if your prepared to cheat then you take the risk of being caught… name and shame I say (or at least post a link to a strava activity for independent verification!).

Finally, anyone dumb enough to go through the start / finish had to bypass the ever increasing hoard of lurkers and deserves a ‘no placing’ for their schoolboy error! 😀

inadvertently I’ve stumbled on what appears to be a 1/2 lap shortcut on a riders Strava.

Get the pitch forks, there be cheats in the woods

Yes, the marshalls are just one of the brilliant things about HtN.

I managed to drag myself recovering body round into 44th place, so considering the amount of antibiotics and other pills ive consumed in the last 4 weeks I’ll take that.

Big thanks to Jason for all the work as it was ace and to the nice Karen lady for looking after my jacket / phone / keys.

Oof, just noticed Louis faceplanting on John’s video.

Hope you’re ok fella.

The half lapper may be me… But if it is it’s actually an EXTRA half lap – somehow managed to miss a turn not far before the end of the first lap (just after the twisty drop through the trees) and ended up doing half of it again!

I’m no threat to the pointy end though so it wouldn’t make much difference either way. 😆

52nd place. Pretty pleased with that. Never done a ‘short’ race before and I start slowly and didn’t get much faster or slower.!! Great course. Managed to ride the big uphill every time and only stopped on the downhill as a couple of guys pressed eject in front of me!. Massive thanks to Jase and all everyone involved including all the other riders.

It’s not you Dingleberry, (unless you use a very different name on your Strava account to your user profile on here) but following the route round it seems mystery rider did the same as you. Which leaves two points.

1. Hard luck mystery rider, (and you Dingleberry) you’d have come higher up the placings but for your mistake.
2. Discretion really is the better part of valour, I’m bloody glad didn’t go charging in feet first and make myself look like a right arse. 😳 Sorry.

I was one of the people who went wrong. It certainly wasn’t cheating!

In the cut and thrust and tunnel vision of the first lap I (and some behind me) followed a chap I was chasing the wrong way after the ride down the boggy stream descent (failing to turn left onto the “trail centre” singletrack) and ended up doing an extra loop before arriving back on the course where we had left it.

Annoying as I must have lost a fair few places, as others around me were going at a similar pace.

I ended up in 26th.

I passed Binners twice, at exactly the same place each time.

Make that 27th, not 26th! D’oh.

Grrr.