There is
nothing I like better than sitting at home with a cup of coffee trawling the
net for new and interesting events I can travel too... I don’t let geography
limit my selection of what I want to go and ride and I am constantly amazed by
the creativity of events in their format and location.
With this
desire to ride new events all the time its no surprise that I very rarely go
back to the same event twice .. this is no reflection on how good these events
are its just that with finite time and money and a ‘must do’ list of events
ever increasing its difficult to ever repeat anything.
There are
however a few events that I will continue to go back to as long as the
organisers give up their time and usually money to put these events on ... Hit
the North in Manchester is one of these events.
Hit the
North falls early in the year in February .. the weather can be blizzards of
snow or glorious sunshine ( February in the UK is a strange one) ... the course
on the whole remains mostly unchanged ( this is no bad thing) and the format is
very simple ...you race for 2 hours and you ride a CX bike or a mtb or if you
are fancy you have both just in case.
The course
is so devised that the split between whether a CX or Mtb is a better machine is
a close call and it literally comes down to the weather on the day .. if its
muddy the CX boys will love it.. if its dry then the descents will favour the
Mtb riders.
I went to
the event this year with no expectations .. I would of normally had a season of
cyclocross in my legs but as I am going to Trans Iowa and it falls relatively
early in the year I have concentrated on just being on my bike as much as
possible for as long as possible.
The start
line gridding is one for riders honesty .. if you genuinely believe you are ‘Nick
Craig’ fast or actually Nick Craig then you take up the first few rows .. then
the speed of rider filters back .. I decided first half of the pack seemed
appropriate for an unknown level of fitness.
The race
started as I was casually looking the wrong way not on my bike with a jacket in
my hand J Not
exactly textbook. All that meant was
that I had a lot of people to ride with for the entire race.
The course
was perfect for the Salsa El Mariachi singlespeed ... alot of flowing stuff
with a few short sharp climbs which weren’t too bad ... I felt great flowing
round just picking up places as I went ... even the horrible muddy ‘field of
dispair’ .. a long muddy push ... allowed some mid race banter between riders.
There is a
lot to be said with racing with no expectation or goal .. it was a very
enjoyable experience and I think my final race position benefited from my
relaxed riding ... as I looked to eat a gel at what I though was an hour in I
had been racing for 1:50 Hours !!
I was
caught and lapped by Nick Craig 500m from the line on what was then my last lap
.. no shame as the man is getting nothing but faster and is a total gent while
racing.
Final
standing was 21st from 240 finishers and a fantastic day out on the bike was
had.
Huge thanks
to the race organisers for yet again putting on a fantastic event and I will be
back next year ... and the year after ... and the year after ... J
