Racing for fun - the latest event - the Nutcracker

The fourth of April 2010 saw the Lewis family heading over to Camp Hill near Bedale to take part in the the first of six races which will make up the Nutcracker MTB XC series and boy was it worth the effort. How lucky are we to get a mountain biking series on our doorstep with a category for everyone in the family to take part in. All the photos are by Enigmatic Photography and can be viewed at http://www.flickr.com/photos/nutcrackermtb/.

Even our youngest, just turned 11, got to do a lap of the same circuit as the elite men which he was totally up for. As it turned out this was a one off because the organisers hadn't realised that under 12's are in a separate category for mountain biking - thus at the last minute Dad had to accompany him on his lap for insurance reasons. From here on in a Nutcracker Academy has been set up for the under 12's called the Sweat Monsters and a specially created short course will be available free of charge at each of the remaining five races.

The series follows a common timetable which for our family works well with the kids racing in the morning at 10am and the extremely ancient parents racing later in the afternoon at 2pm. Ben, in the juvenile race was the only one of us to suffer with a mechanical - a flat tyre which he got just after the first lap. He walked much of his second lap only to discover when the results came out that he only needed to do one lap anyhow! Better luck next time son!

I was really pleased with my ride. The conditions under tyre were very muddy which made it a physical course but I managed a pretty consistent two laps and didn't collapse at the finish line - always a bonus. Having never been placed in a race before I was chuffed with my third place but since there were only five of us in the female vet category I have to say I would rather come further down the field and see more female competitors - where are you all?

And as for Mark he was a star, having already ridden a practice course plus a race lap with Adam he had a good three laps but was absolutely gutted when he was pipped on the finish line by a competitor racing from his local bike shop. Still there's nothing like a bit of rivalry to keep you motivated at these events.

Such a local event meant that it was easy to pass the word around and encourage people to pitch up at the event regardless of whether they had ever competed before. At least one such competitor was heard taking my name in vain as he completed his second lap of the course and vowed afterwards to be back leaner and meaner for the next race of the series. Unfortunately, the Lewis family can't make the second race, a prior engagement with the Lakeland Loop, but races three to six are already in the calendar - the dates are as follows:

• 23 May at Richmond
• 13 June at Dalby
• 22 August at Swaledale
• 12 September at Bedale
• 17 October at Hamsterley Forest

Hope to see you there!