The Mary Townley Loop MTB Challenge 2007
Another unbiased report by Graham Heath
Mike Dixon makes it look easy
The Mary Towneley Loop takes in some of the best scenery and off road biking the South Pennines have to offer, traversing the hillsides and crossing the valleys between Rossendale, Burnley, HebdenBridge, Todmorden and Rochdale. This challenge crosses high exposed moorland and is a strenuous and demanding day out. The projected time was seven hours and would cover 47 miles including 6300 ft of climbing.
Well that’s what the organisers said so it was of no surprise that a whole team of Yorkies decided to give it ago. Russell Hepton, Mike Kershaw, Mike Dixon, Mark Hunter, Steve Gregory, Graham Heath were amongst the 300+ others who had nothing better to do on a baking hot Sunday.
Russ has his own theory on how to be a successful cyclist – its called spend nothing and work harder! True to form, Russ decided to tackle the elite sections finest on a third hand bike that he’d never ridden before. The previous owners had replaced the grippy mountain bike tyres with a pair of narrow slicks. Russ convinced himself that he heard there was a road section part way through and that the tyres would be good enough for him (And that he could save £15 in the process!) Needless to say, no matter how hard he tried up the hills, he just got left on the steep gravely descents. He tried to justify his tyre choice but had to concede that those tyre manufacturers might have a point in putting those tready grippy things on their tyres.
Mike Kershaw used his usual tactic of believing that no-one could beat him downhill and managed to coax a whole bunch of followers into a nice Hospital bed. Steve Gregory attacked from the start but once again found that a man in his fifties doesn’t seem to recover as quickly as the surrounding field of younger men, but at least he managed to get round the course without falling off. Mike Dixon had Knee trouble (They wouldn’t go up and down fast enough!) and narrowly avoided a major accident when he discovered his front wheel wasn’t fastened in after seeing his QR lever spinning round on a flat section!. Graham Heath suffered mechanical mayhem and had to walk the last couple of mile. Mark Hunter made his first appearance on the mountain bike scene and without his GPS computer. This was a problem for Mark as he managed to get lost several times and missed the majority of the checkpoints! Mark staggered to the finish looking a bit worse for wear after completing a few miles further than anyone else. It was decided afterwards that we should wean Mark off his reliance on computers and teach him the ancient art of sign reading (Large wooden posts with arrows on them!) Russ took about 4 ½ hours to complete the course and finished near the front, Mike Kershaw was about 35th and the rest of us were littered throughout the field. All in all it was a good tough event and the sunshine made it an ideal training event for the fast approaching Marmotte. On the subject of the Marmotte as anyone heard the rumour about the ex Yorkie who due to his low mileage training program has been nicknamed the ‘Marathon Man’ as he is yet to go further then 26 mile!
Well that’s what the organisers said so it was of no surprise that a whole team of Yorkies decided to give it ago. Russell Hepton, Mike Kershaw, Mike Dixon, Mark Hunter, Steve Gregory, Graham Heath were amongst the 300+ others who had nothing better to do on a baking hot Sunday.
Russ has his own theory on how to be a successful cyclist – its called spend nothing and work harder! True to form, Russ decided to tackle the elite sections finest on a third hand bike that he’d never ridden before. The previous owners had replaced the grippy mountain bike tyres with a pair of narrow slicks. Russ convinced himself that he heard there was a road section part way through and that the tyres would be good enough for him (And that he could save £15 in the process!) Needless to say, no matter how hard he tried up the hills, he just got left on the steep gravely descents. He tried to justify his tyre choice but had to concede that those tyre manufacturers might have a point in putting those tready grippy things on their tyres.
Mike Kershaw used his usual tactic of believing that no-one could beat him downhill and managed to coax a whole bunch of followers into a nice Hospital bed. Steve Gregory attacked from the start but once again found that a man in his fifties doesn’t seem to recover as quickly as the surrounding field of younger men, but at least he managed to get round the course without falling off. Mike Dixon had Knee trouble (They wouldn’t go up and down fast enough!) and narrowly avoided a major accident when he discovered his front wheel wasn’t fastened in after seeing his QR lever spinning round on a flat section!. Graham Heath suffered mechanical mayhem and had to walk the last couple of mile. Mark Hunter made his first appearance on the mountain bike scene and without his GPS computer. This was a problem for Mark as he managed to get lost several times and missed the majority of the checkpoints! Mark staggered to the finish looking a bit worse for wear after completing a few miles further than anyone else. It was decided afterwards that we should wean Mark off his reliance on computers and teach him the ancient art of sign reading (Large wooden posts with arrows on them!) Russ took about 4 ½ hours to complete the course and finished near the front, Mike Kershaw was about 35th and the rest of us were littered throughout the field. All in all it was a good tough event and the sunshine made it an ideal training event for the fast approaching Marmotte. On the subject of the Marmotte as anyone heard the rumour about the ex Yorkie who due to his low mileage training program has been nicknamed the ‘Marathon Man’ as he is yet to go further then 26 mile!