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The info:
Marathon Series
KTR are very pleased to announce the dates for the first Marathon
Series, a series of three events to take place during March and May
of 2007. The Series is being organised by Kielder Trail Reavers and
sponsored by The Bike Place in Kielder. We are also very please to
have the support of
Forestry Commission England and
The
Trail Cyclist Association.
Next event is planned for 6th October,
all cyclists are welcome to participate providing they are able to
meet the criteria set out in the event regulations.
Further information regarding all
three events is available from Ian Bell of The Bike Place on
0845 634 1895. Alternatively, you can download the
Event Guidelines or the
Event Entry Form.
HOT TROD, HUE & CRY: (What they did
up north years ago)
Hot Trod was the hot pursuit of
Reivers and was allowed under the Border laws. It allowed for the
ones who had been 'spoyled' to mount a pursuit within six days of
the raid and to cross the border, if necessary, to follow the
raiders with hound and horn for the recovery of their goods. It was
the duty of all neighbours between the ages of 16 and 60 to join the
Trod. A piece of burning turf was held aloft on a spear point to let
others know what was happening. The posse in pursuit had the right
to recruit help from the first town it came to and the first person
encountered was to bear witness that a lawful hot trod was being
carried out. When told to join the hot trod, if a person refused, he
would be considered to be a traitor and to be in cahoots with the
enemy. That person who refused would also be forced to become a
fugitive. The Hot Trod puts one in mind of the posses of the old
American west. Even if a trod was successful, the pursuers could not
relax. They knew that there would be reprisals and then reprisals
upon reprisals. |
IT'S
SUNDAY, SO ITS ANOTHER EVENTS DAY
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~ Bicyclemania Ride ~
We are at Kielder
Forest for the Kielder Trail Reavers 'HOT TROD' the
mtb event kicked off at 09.00am at the Anglers Arms. With the mass
start we headed off straight up hill and onto the Kielder Forest
drive. With a short blast to warm our little legs up before a long
climb into the forest.
We tackled all manner of twists and
turns in the forest including most of the 'Red route'
and 'Black route' (some of that was going -UP)
that was even before we took on the long, long climb up to 'Deadwater
Fell' (569m) the climb to the top was a real killer. Then
can a fast and rocky downhill track to a new bit of wicked man-made
single-track, with all the usual beams, drops and turns to keep us
on our pedals and brakes.
We still had a lot of forest climbing
to take on before the root infested downhill back to the finnish
line. It seamed to us that ever crest we cleared, there was another
leg sapping sod to haul our bodies over. According to the
event organizers, we climb about 6,434 ft. Once we were into the
downhill root run it was hard trying not to have a collision with
all the bloody trees after being so long on open fire roads.
Back at the finnish we tucked into a
big bowl of home made soup and bread and naturally talked about the
near misses, as you do. |
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