Racing for fun - the latest event - the Nutcracker at Dalby Forest

Photos taken by Enigmatic Photography; all photographs of the event can be viewed on flickr. 

Sunday dawned wet and miserable and I was seriously questioning why it had seemed like a good idea to register for Round 3 of the Nutcracker Series a week ago. It wasn’t the weather, it was just one of those days when you know you’re going to struggle and you start thinking do I need to do this? YES, YES, YES by 4pm I was hot, sweaty and feeling on top of the world - its amazing what a bit (make that a lot) of adrenaline can do for a girl.

Anyhow to go back to the beginning. Sunday 13th June 2010 was the third race in the Nutcracker Series and it was at Dalby Forest on the World Cup course. Wow, only a few weeks earlier thousands of people had congregated here to watch the best XC mountain bikers in the world battle it out on this course.and now we were here again with our own bikes in tow. 

First up was Ben at 10am competing in the Juvenille section. Now you have to bear in mind that Ben gets out once a week on a Wednesday night for a quick blast round the North Yorkshire Moors. But like his mother he’s never been one to let a little thing like lack of preparation stop him having a go. I was glad they had taken out two of the more death defying sections of the course for everyone under 16; namely the big drop off in Worry Gill and a hair raising descent known as Medusa’s Drop. Even so I wasn’t completely sure whether I was exhibiting extremely good or extremely bad parenting skills in encouraging him to get stuck in … whichever it was definitely extreme. Just under an hour later and he was back safe and sound after completing two laps of the course. That's my boy!

In the meantime Adam had signed up for the Sweat Monster’s Academy but he was going to need convincing that he hadn’t been fobbed off with a second rate option for little kids. Judging by his demeanour at the end of the session they did a really good job! It was an added bonus to find out that all his hard work paid off with a well earned third place.

The Sweat Monster's Academy started with a skills session, which was a sort of obstacle course on a bike. There were cones to cycle in and out of, a bottle to pick up and put down while on the go and even a limbo pole to cycle under. After plenty of coaching and practice everyone did a timed lap of the circuit with seconds added on for cones missed, bottles dropped etc. Then after a short break everyone reconvened at the bike park for the race session. Again there was plenty of instruction and advice before the flag was dropped and it was every boy and girl for himself as they battled it out to see who could do the most laps in 15minutes. There was some serious effort being put in as the number of laps mounted and kids refused to back down on the pace they had set for themselves. Then when the dust had settled there were free t-shirts all round for everyone who had taken part. It is not an easy task to provide an enjoyable yet challenging mountain biking session for such a large group of kids with such a wide range of ages and abilities but the Sweat Monster’s Academy did a first rate job. Very impressive.

So by midday the kids were done and dusted and we had a couple of hours to kill before my race was due to start at 2pm. The sensible option would have been to take in the atmosphere, watch the elite riders doing their thing and generally chill. However, being a mother I decided there was just enough time to make a quick trip to Whitby and back so that son number one could attend a school production dress rehearsal between 1 and 5 pm. Of course I forgot to take into account the weekend traffic and so arrive back at Dalby with only a few minutes to go before my race started. The women vets opted for 3 laps of the course and not having had chance to do a practice lap I struggled on the first one. Earlier in the day I’d been chatting to a mate who was also cycling and she had talked of a particular slab of rock she was having trouble getting her head round. It was one of those short, sharp verticals that needed total commitment as you didn’t want to find yourself just short of the top and going backwards out of control. Coming round a corner I realised I was on the approach to said obstacle and promptly bottled it, re-routing up the side before being upended onto the slab itself. This was a tad embarrassing given there were plenty of on lookers - still if I was worried about looking silly I'd never get on my bike!

First lap done I got into the groove, the competition was long gone but I got stuck in and as the say 'the more you put in the more you get out'. Finishing just under two hours later I felt like a winner regardless. The support round the course from onlookers and other competitors alike made it impossible not to keep turning those pedals. This is just one of the best places in the UK to race and there is another chance coming up soon as part of the British Mountain Biking Series the first weekend in July. As for the Nutcracker Series, Swaledale on the 22 August 2010 should be earmarked in your diary.

Girls on Tour: the C2C road route Penrith to Rookhope

On paper day two of the C2C was easier because we were cycling fewer miles but it was the day everyone knew would test us the most. We had all seen the route profile and there were some serious hills to climb; names like Hartside, Garrigill and Black Hill were to be forever associated with some serious thigh burning effort. I had failed to drink my allotted volume of fluids the day before and so signalling my intent to give it my all on the second day I drank the remaining litre of water from my camelbak complete with delicious energy powder before even getting out of bed ... yummy! Topped off with a Full English there was going to be no stopping me.

We couldn't even leave Penrith without a fairly abrupt ascent and descent to get us in the mood, however, today we were determined to fit in at least one coffee and cake stop to keep both our energy levels and our spirits up. The plan was for everybody to cycle at their own pace and then regroup in Long Meg at the Watermill for refreshments before the long slog to the summit of Hartside at 560 metres. We never did quite work out how we missed our stop but before we knew it we were strung out along the length of that never ending road to Hartside cafe. The sun came out and the views opened up to create a fabulous panorama of Lakeland beauty as we toiled onwards and upwards.We had certainly earned our lunch by the time we reached the summit and I think I even managed a date slice to finish off with.

We had heard rumours that, although Hartside was high, the next climb, Garrigill, was tending to vertical and the rumours didn't exaggerate; what hadn't been made clear was that even after the gradient eased (a little) the climb kept going and going but the scenery was still fabulous and more than made up for the pain. What goes up must come down and the descent into Nenthead was awesome and made even more satisfactory by an impromptu stop at The Miners Arms for a quick half before we ...yes you've guessed it ... went up again.

This time we were headed for Black Hill and the highest point of the C2C at 609 metres as the route crosses over into Northumberland. The legs seemed to rise to the challenge and felt strong as we powered to the top of yet another very satisfactory climb; it really felt like we were making progress as we entered a new County. The route had fallen into an almost hypnotic pattern of ascent and descent which continued through Allenheads and then along yet another glorious descent into Rookhope which was fast and furious as the end of the days cycling beckoned.

We had struggled to find accommodation for the second night and were booked into Rosehill Farm B&B just outside of Eastgate which was slightly off the beaten track. There was a near sense of humour failure when we arrived to discover that the approach along 'half a mile of well surfaced track' was as vertical as Garrigill had been earlier in the day. I was saved the pain of cycling this last hill by a timely puncture at the bottom. It was as well that the owners had offered to transport us back to the Cross Keys in Eastgate for our evening meal otherwise there might have been a few hungry people by morning - no one was too keen to cycle for their supper!

Girls on Tour: the C2C road route Workington to Penrith

On the first day of the C2C we were like a group of kids set free from school. It was wonderful to be responsible for nothing more than a bike and getting to Penrith by night fall. Fee's map reading got us through the more built up areas of Workington and Cockermouth and it was decided to take the C2C Guide's suggestion to avoid the off road section via Wythop Mill since the majority of the group were on road bikes. I was happy to go along with the decision knowing that I would get to bike that section the following week as part of my Lakeland Loop trip. The detour included cycling down a wide 'gutter' which ran along the side of a short section of the A66. This was interesting since receding flood water had left a deep swathe of debris over the top of any wide gutter that may once have existed! Wythop Woods was a delight after the proximity of the A66 and before we knew it we were speeding through Braithwaite and then into Keswick itself for a much needed lunch at a convenient cafe off the main car park. One of the most picturesque sections of the first day was cycling out from Keswick and through the Greta Gorge towards Threlkeld. This included crossing a host of different bridges, some of which were quite nerve racking for those not so keen on high open spaces.

We wanted to make Penrith by 6pm since we had booked a table for 6.30pm at a local Italian restaurant called Giannis and it's amazing what a bit of exercise can do for your appetite. The afternoon was a mixture of quiet roads and bridleways, there were glimpses of the more isolated aspects of the Lakes interspersed with pretty villages and properties. As we spun into Blencow the sight of Blencow Hall to our left was truly unexpected with its modern glazing covering the V shaped cleft in the first of its peele towers. However, our final destination was the much more modest Acorn Guest House in Penrith which was described as 'very handily placed for C2C cyclists being located only 5 yards from the C2C route itself'. Perfect!