With the trails drying out quickly and the vegetation doing overtime the conditions out there getting better by the minute. Only a couple of days now before the second round of the Merida Bikes MTB Marathon round kicks off at the new location in Crickhowell, Wales, on the 16-17 May.

Preparations are in full flow on the four mountain bike courses on offer. As usual we will have the Mini Marathon (35km with 950m of climbing), Half Marathon (50km with 1400m of climbing), a Middle Marathon (70km with 2100m of climbing) and the Full Marathon ( 80km with 2400m of climbing) course options to choose from.

John Lloyd has been working hard on the four new courses and is rather pleased with the results. The four loops are a perfect mixture of swoopy doubletrack and singletrack which run primarily on mountain moorland and stony tracks. Besides being fast riding and fun packed they are also resistant to a little bit of bad weather and hard wear.

If you missed out on the first round in April and you are looking for a great mountain bike challenge than wait no longer and send your entry in now. You can find all the details on the Crickhowell round, including profiles on the event page.

There are still lots of places available for the Crickhowell round as well as the other remaining rounds of the Merida Bikes MTB Marathon Series 2009. You can still send your entry forms in but please make sure that they arrive at our registration office no later than Friday. Alternatively you can enter via the online entry up to Friday lunchtime. If you can’t make up your mind then you can also enter on the day, but there’s a £5 surcharge.

The event will be open from Friday afternoon onwards all the way till Monday morning. The event village and the registration will open at 12pm on Saturday. The registration will close at 8pm and reopen from 7 – 9am on Sunday morning. The rides start at 10am – all categories and courses start together. The pasta party will start around 6pm on Saturday.

The event is based at the Glanusk Estate just outside Crickhowell. Crickhowell is a thriving market town snuggling between the softly rounded Black Mountains and the dramatic Brecon Beacons, in arguably the most beautiful valley in the National Park.

Title sponsor Merida Bikes will again draw five riders just before the start of the ride and ‘reward’ them with a ‘50% off any Merida Bike voucher’. The only thing you have to do to be included in the draw is fill in the questionnaire which you can find in your signing on bag and put it the collection box before the registration closes on Sunday morning. Good luck!

Official clothing sponsor Gore Bike Wear is giving riders the chance to test out some of their gear for free. Gore Bike Wear and its retail partner Wheelbase will lend you a jacket, shirt, vest or gilet to test and give the once over during your ride. Then simply hand back what you’ve tested at the end of your ride. Take a look at the new stock for this season on www.gorebikewear.co.uk.

Enter now and find out more a www.mtb-marathon.co.uk