North of the border, the Glasgow mountain bike club west of Scotland championships are being held on Sunday 5th August. They’ll take place at Dounan’s Centre, Aberfoyle with £2000 in prizes to be won and a new improved course. The course was only set in December 1999 and will be modified over the coming months – so watch out for some of the bogs that will be drained!

This trail will appeal to riders looking for singletrack and a bit of climbing, right up to the elite racers. For more info check out Glasgow Mountain Bike Club’s site or the events section of Alpine bikes.

Also north of the border but of a more map reading bent is the Great Drumtochty Challenge on the 20th of May 2001. The event is a one day mountain bike orienteering competition, which was started in 1998 by the Brechin Cycle Club and sponsored by Alpine Bikes. More information from the Challenge website.

Eastern englanders needn’t despair either as “Evening mountain bike racing is go in the East Midlands”.
From May 4th there are a host of evening races in the Leicester, Northants and Beds area. Fri Night Summer series now in its 8th year of running, a series where each round is hosted by a local cycle club; May 11 – Airfield farm and moto-x circuit near Mkt Harboro – Cats mbc May 25 – Airfield farm again (due to F&M) using different course – Oundle velo Jun 15 – Leicester birstall off road – joint round with the LORC series Jun 29 – Wadenhoe nr Thrapston – Numplumz.com Jul 06 – Daventry Borough Hill – Cats mbc Jul 13 – Irsis offroad pk Corby – Kettering cc Jul 20 – Chicksands (Rowney Warren) – Beds Fattrax Jul 27 – Milton keynes Bowl or Campbell park – Milton keynes c&tc Aug 10 – Lutterworth Rye Fields. Entry £5.50 advance £7.50 on day for cats Senior, junior, youth, ladies and vets. 6 events count for the series. All the details and entry forms available at the Numpluz website. Unfortunately the Downhill/Uphill challenge has been cancelled for now.

Leicester off road club summer series, also on fridays, all at same venue in Leicester at the LORC clubhouse, no pre entrys available. May 04 – round 1 May 18 – round 2 Jun 01 – round 3 Jun 15 – round 4 and combined summer FNSS round Jul 20 – round 5 Aug 03 – round 6 Aug 17 – round 7 and on SEPT 22 LORC hold their 3 hr night race – relay race for teams of two all in the dark. Again all the details you need on the Numpluz website.

Other races include 4 rounds of Sunday racing at two venues near Stevenage organised by Marshalls cycles. Starting on May 6 and Jun 10. Full details again available from – yes, you guessed it – the Numpluz website or from Marshalls Cycles website.

For those who fancy a bit of adventure with their racing, the first ACE Races event in the 2001 Adventure Series is scheduled for The first ACE Races event in the 2001 Adventure Series is scheduled for June 2-3. Fortunately the Peak District has had no cases of the disease to date and the countryside there (and elsewhere) is gradually opening up.

Most of the limited places available for the June event have now been taken, so you are advised to submit your entry as soon as possible if you wish to secure a place in this and subsequent events. More details from aceraces.com.

Way down south Onabike and NACC Events will be re-starting their postponed DH series in two weeks time.

MAY 12th Onabike Winter Downhill Series Final and Remec SuperCup Final. MAY 13th Round 1 Muddyfox Downhill 2001 and Bigfoot SuperCup The rescheduled dates do clash with the 1st round of the National Points Series running May 12th/13th. This is unfortunate, but with that event running at the opposite end of the country we see it as a chance for different riders to win! Online entry at onabike.co.uk.
After the sucess of their visit to the VC Loudeac downhill in Saint Aignon, more trips to Brittany are planned. “The course was short but very, very good, the organisation was superb and everyone made us and the riders very welcome. More trips are planned, including a May day trip (for downhill and Cross Country) check onabike.co.uk for more details.

The series organisers are also offering “very good rewards paid to the landowner and to you for finding it!!” for any potential venue, away from areas of infection, that they could use. Again more details at onabike.co.uk.

Hope that gives some of you something to look forward to, we’ll keep you informed of any more good news as soon as it happens. In the meantime if you know of anything we’ve missed then drop us a line and we’ll let the whole world wide web know.