A somewhat belated post on the North of Englands Mountain Bike race of the year , Hit The North.

Organised by some of the Singletrackworld forum regulars, this race where all profits went to charity was a great day out. The weather was absolutely atrocious, and parts of the course turned into treacherous mud.

I wasn’t intending to ride initially, having come along to return some borrowed pedals to a friend and watch the race, but the course looked so good, that i went back home to get my bike and kit, to take in a couple of laps.

Not more than 5 minutes from the start of the course and I’d parted company with my bike heading down the bombhole. I’ve sported a rather nice bloody gauge and bruise on my inner thigh as a consequence the past week, though at least I didn’t bust my leg as some other rider did.

I successfully manged to clear the rest of the course and the bombhole on my next ride round which is just as well as Ann and the kids were there to watch.

A great event and a beer tent at the finish.

Nice one boys.

Will and Simon Fox’s youtube movie of the event watch it at high definition for best results.

The time has come to say goodbye to my Surly.

I used to love my Surly Cross-Check, and rode it regularly.  It’s been raced in a couple of cyclo-cross races, ridden over High Street up in the Lake District, and completed the 55 mile Brian Rourke Cat and Fiddle ride 3 times to name but a few excursions.

However since getting my Planet X Superlight some months ago, it’s just sat there neglected.

Seems a shame to have a great bike sat there doing nowt.

If you need a bike that can run as fixed or geared, road or cyclo-cross, or as a tourer then this is the bike to own.

So away to ebay it has gone. Finishes Sunday the 3rd of August here.

The Polaris is a 2 day mountain bikng and orienteering event which has been going for some years. What caught our eye this year though, was the beer tent and live band for the evening.

The weekend’s event was based at Traquair in the Tweed Valley. A mecca for mountain bikers due to the trail centres at Innerleithen and Glentress, and sure enough the riding did not disappoint.

Checkpoints were spread across a 22 x 15km map, and the riding was simply superb. Natural singletrack, mountain top checkpoints and some route choices which allowed a revisiting of the red and black trails at Innerleithen and Glentress.

We discovered the Traquair breweries Bear Ale abv 5% which provided some fuel (and amazingly no hangover) for the riding over the weekend.

Considering our laid back approach to the event we were well chuffed to be 6th at the end of day one in our class. Our final placing being 7th.

Stats Day 1 70K 1900 metres +/- Points 330

Stats Day 2 52K 1800 metres +/- Points 231 (lost 9 for being late)

Thanks to Lisa for doing most of the navigation, driving and generally being a bit of a star.

The next one is in the Lakes in October, maybe see you there.