Nutcracker Mountain Bike Cross Country Race - Dales Bike Centre

Round 4 brings the Nutcracker home to the Dales Bike Centre at Fremington in beautiful Swaledale. This has been the jewel in the crown of the Nutcracker series in previous years, so we've once again upped our game to bring you a full weekend of MTB fun and festivities to celebrate the end of the 2012 series.

Racing takes place on Saturday for this event only, with an evening BBQ, bar and disco at the Dales Bike Centre where the Series Blowout & Presentations will be conducted. Camping will also be available adjacent to the Dales Bike Centre to enable you to sleep off the beer and join us on the Sunday morning for the Hangover Rides - a series of non-competitive rides through Swaledale, Wensleydale and Arkengarthdale. Different route options will be available for different abilities.

Following the success of the single start format for this event in 2011, we'll be using this again for 2012. Watching 150 mountain bikers depart from the Bike Centre all at once was an emotional event for Stu Price and we're hoping to reduce the big soft lad to tears this year with an even bigger field!

Using a much extended course the race will now be a single event with all categories racing at the same time. Starting from the Dales Bike Centre, the race will feature reverse gridding to ensure a smooth start.

With a neutralised start from the Dales Bike Centre, you will be regridded at the first off road point a short distance from the start. From here its a quick shove up Fremington Edge before breaking out onto a singletrack section leading down to the Grind. You'll be needing the granny ring here. "The Grind" sorts the men from the boys as the course twists and winds its way up onto Fremington Edge top. Then it's a fast blast on a shooting track across the Grouse Moor before being rewarded with the descent – this makes it all worth it! You'll be faced with a stunning view of Swaledale as you teeter on the edge of the technical descent. The course weaves its way through dry stone walls and across fields before dropping straight down to pick up the tight, technical singletrack back to the finish field – but, it's not all plain sailing. The "Wall of Death" stands between the singletrack and the finish and tests the technical ascent ability of even the best of riders. This truly puts the Mountain back into Mountain Biking!

Entries are priced at £5 cheaper in advance over on-the-day prices. For advance entry and further information, visit www.nutcrackermtb.co.uk