Nutcracker rd4

The 4th round of the NE Nutcracker series was held at Swaledale in North Yorkshire amid unseasonably warm weather and on a completely new course.  

Local guiding company and sponsor, Dales Mountain Bike Centre had been tasked with creating the course and they did a fantastic job!

A seemingly endless first climb took riders up to the ceiling of the moor for panaromic views over flowering heather on white slate rock. A brief descent over some tricky double track (yes, I did write that) and a slog into the wind took riders to the top of the final descent.  I could eulogise about that descent for a while as I wanted to stop the lap and push back up for another go!  Rocky, loose and fast up top you then pitched over a dry stone wall onto some steep grassy descending with cheeky off-camber ruts.  That wasn't even the finish, as a bit of technical climbing resulted in a lovely section of off camber roots to exit back into the arena/field.  This course reminded me of the excellent "back in the day" Scottish XC series, where big fireroads were tolerated to get riders to the best parts of the singletrack.  I like.

The nutcracker guys have done a great job of this series and it was a shame to see numbers down with only 2 elites and 5 experts starting but it was good to see some riders from Scotland making the trip down as the course, weather and presumably the ranking points would have been worth it.  Paul Oldham (Hope factory racing) made his usual short work of the Elites while in my category after a lightening start, Tom Bell (leeds uni) succumbed to front mech failure leaving the way open for Douglas Shearer (Innerleithen/I cycles) to take a convincing victory.

There was an excellent turnout in the afternoon masters and veteran's categories, possibly reflecting all the NE riders getting their training plans together for the fast arriving cross season.  I spent a bit of time sunbathing before making the short trip back home.  It's great to have a well organised race so close to home; proper lavazza expresso bests that costa motorway rubbish any day.

I've made it this far into the blog without mentioning my lack of race participation!  Unfortunately after my virus at Bontrager 24/12 and maybe riding at Selkirk when I shouldn't, I appear to have succumbed to a slow recovery from viral symptons.  Although I didn't (and don't) want to hear it, "rest" is the considered opinion, something which took me a while to accept.  So I'm hoping that this, combined with obscene levels of vitamins will have me back racing soon.  Any suggestions for vitamins I've never heard of, are welcomed.

Thanks go to Gary Fisher - still loving those big wheels, Accelerade - caffeinated drinks are the way forward and Exposure Lights.

Niall

Photos from the nutcracker site

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