STW Weekender - Lee Quarry Rocks!!

Apologies. Yep, an entirely predictable pun. Having missed the first two, I decided that the third was a definite. Only ... I didn't have a bike with me. My kids and me and some Ernest Press/Bike Maps books were motoring up to join in the festival of riding; three disciplines on one bike. Excellent. STW truly embraces the spirit of why we ride; to get away from it all and push the boundaries ... that and drink beer and make huge bonfires and ...

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Ben and Aimee soon became urbanely feral, in the safe and adventurous surroundings, randomly winning an xtr tshirt!

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Nick Craig and his extraordinarily talented son Thomas out in an off road conga.

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With time penalties from the up and down disciplines of the day before, The traditional cross country race wasn't dogged by a harpsichord at the first hurdle. Riders leaving in order of time penalties meant that racers either set a pace they enjoyed or set out for three laps of a sub-hour lactic fury. Your choice. 

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Steve chose this line.

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So did Nick ...

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Craig and Kirsty Forester have been friends-of-afar for a long time, but the weekender afforded us time to get to know each other properly. Nice. 

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Dave MacDonald (in green, left of screen) of Madison standing 2nd next to Nick Craig. Me: 'The last time I rode with you, you were flying!'. Dave: 'Mumble, well, that was a long time ago and i'm sitting third and my thumb hurts and my sideburns are too long and ...'

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And Steve Webb of Singular. Although Nick Craig could have claimed the overall win, he didn't. He accepted his category win and acknowledged the stunning ride put in by Steve. This is the measure of a professional athlete who is still here for the passion. The fact that winning equaled a full XT groupset didn't sway his decision. Times like this remind me why I love riding mountain bikes and the people who do it with me or, in this instance, way, way ahead of me.

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And then we burnt lots of stuff until it was too hot to stand beside the fire and ... 

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Next year Ben & Aimee fancy their chances on the pump track.

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I almost forgot! 

Steve 'the ringer' Webb of Singular was the only rider to clean the full climb challenge. Driving him back to Sam's, we chatted and reminisced, we put the world to rights and eventually, Steve admitted to having a poster of Nick on his wall as a teenager; the enormity of what just happened seeping into a mid-30's man. 'I had his poster on my wall and he gave me the win ...'.

And finally there are the crew. If Benji and everyone else hadn't worked tooth&nail to put it on ... well. We don't have to worry about that because they have and did and it.was.good. Please do it again next year?