Wednesday 19th May 6.30pm at Lee Quarry.

As part of our build up to the Singletrack Classic Weekender we are putting on a free guided ride around Lee Quarry with Ed Oxley. He’s the guy with the beard who was part of Rowan Sorrell’s team who built the new trails in the quarry. He also runs skills courses up there with his www.great-rock.co.uk skills training company and so he definitely knows his way around.

Fresh Goods Friday 692 - The Farmer Johns Bike Park Edition

Share

Watch on

The ride will include all the new trails in the quarry as well as older sections. It will be a great chance to ask questions about the Weekender event, as well as getting an insight to the trail building process from someone who was up there in the snow with his shovel. All in all it will be so awesome that when you get back home, you’ll probably want to sign yourself up to take part in one of the best events of the year!

Everyone is welcome no matter how fast or slow you are. In fact the ride will be like the Weekender itself. It’s about riding bikes and having fun and there will probably be a beer at the end as well.

On Wednesday evenings, from 26th May there will be guided pre-rides of the proposed Weekender race courses for the cross country, downhill and trials sections. These rides will be for people who have bought their tickets to the Weekender and who want to get the insider information on the event.

Meet at the car parking area behind the Kingfisher Centre in Bacup, Lancashire to set off riding just after 6.30pm.

Getting There: – Easiest way of getting directions is to Google (or key in to your SatNav) the following:- Kingfisher Centre Futures Park, Bacup, OL13 0BB.

Singletrack Classic Weekender, Lee Quarry, Lancashire, July 3rd-4th 2010

• 3 different races
• 1 bike
• The ultimate “all rounder” event

A weekend of Trials, Dounhill and XC racing. One entry fee – all three events.

What makes this event different from any other on the calendar?

The idea of the event is a light hearted competition to find the best all round mountain biker and for riders to work out where they stand in a test of skills, speed and endurance. The aim of the Singletrack Classic Weekender is to have a fun weekend of bike riding, good natured racing and a lot of socialising…

The disciplines:

There will be three events in the Classic Weekender that will lead riders to an overall position. It’s roughly based on old skool races, where one entry fee got you entry to three disciplines. The only difference being that in this event, all your performances count towards a final, overall position.

Classic Trials

Modern trials riders are fantastically skilled, riding impossible obstacles. However, this event is aimed at mere-mortals. There will be five simple, taped off, sections to ride, resembling ‘normal’ mountain bike obstacles (with a couple of ‘modern’ additions – things like ‘a log to ride along’ and ‘some jumbly rocks’). Once ‘on course’ you have 15 seconds to ride each section. A foot down, crash or leaving the course is an instant ‘kill’. A clean ride between the tapes is a ‘clear’. For every ‘kill’, you will earn a time penalty for the following day’s cross country race, added up after the five sections.

Classic Downhill

Downhillers, again, are fierce riders, capable of clearing huge gaps and big drops. The downhill race at the Classic Weekender will be for more mortal riders, and doable on any bike from a hardtail to a monster DH bike. Just remember that you’ll have to race whichever bike you choose in the following day’s XC. Smooth all-round riding will get you a better time than just being fearless. Once again, the penalties won’t be too severe, and the penalty for not doing a discipline at all will be far stiffer. Even crashing or puncturing will get you a better score than not turning up.

Classic XC

The Sunday will host the cross country race. The start will be handicapped so that riders with perfect scores from the Saturday will start on time, followed a minute later by riders with a minute’s penalty, and so on until the riders with the maximum penalty score bring up the rear. The race then goes on for four laps or so, with the winners of those races being crowned as the overall champion of the event, and the best overall mountain bikers in the land.

Weekender Ticket: £35.00.

Your one entry fee gets you entry to all of these events. They MUST be competed on the SAME BIKE.

ENTER ONLINE HERE.

Ben Haworth

Orange Switch 6er. Stif Squatcher. Schwalbe Magic Mary Purple Addix front. Maxxis DHR II 3C MaxxTerra rear. Coil fan. Ebikes are not evil. I have been a writer for nigh on 20 years, a photographer for 25 years and a mountain biker for 30 years. I have written countless magazine and website features and route guides for the UK mountain bike press, most notably for the esteemed and highly regarded Singletrackworld. Although I am a Lancastrian, I freely admit that West Yorkshire is my favourite place to ride. Rarely a week goes by without me riding and exploring the South Pennines.

More posts from Ben