up north at farmer johns race weekender

This is the second time I have embarked on the Five and a half hour drive from Caerphilly in the south wales valleys up to farmer johns bike park, not far from Manchester in the hills of stockport. a lot of people think I am out of my mind for travelling north to south just to race a mountain bike race.......my reply is simply , you don't know how good it is!!!!! the reason it is so good you ask???? its due to the fact there are organisers and volunteers every where and the are not british cycling commisaires, they are human beings who understand yes its very nice to win and be safe while competing but its also about how much fun you have winning and being safe, it is a competitive events with harry heath and sam dale turning up for a skid as well as pro tour 4x rider and orange team rider alex Metcalfe so there is a high level of riders entering, oliver Cullen likes it that much he drove up from Falmouth in cornwall, the only person I believe travelling further than me,

the bike park does not provide and up lift ever, so for proper mountain bikers this is awesome as we don't have to wait for up lifts and the push up is steep at the bottom but gets quite mild in the top sections hence getting double the riding time you normally have , the tracks have north shore type obstacles and bridges every where with some knarly lower woods sections hard enough to test the most experienced riders, pleanty of jumps fly offs and wall rides too. this all added up with the fact you can ride Saturday practice, dual slalom, soap box race, dirt jump jam, downhill night race and the downhill event on sunday for a mere £55 for non members and £50 from members, including camping and music down the social area Saturday night where every one has a few beers and chat about the fasterst growing sport in Great Britain, the question you really want to ask is why aint you going, you also get your custom FJ bike park number plate and official stickers and camping wrist band
I turned up late Friday night after driving up from work, I arrived about 11.30 to pleanty of civilised barrel fire, bbqs and friendly gathering around the 40 or so riders who turned up the night before, after a dry night on the Friday downhill practice started after you signed on and marshals were in place, I was up a little early so made a little edit (video at bottom) of the dirt jumps before practice to show off some fantastic trails tucked away not far off the main downhill track, also to wear my dog out a little so he didn't mind me riding for the day.

after a beautiful bacon sarnie from the m&m catering guys and fresh coffee from the guys in the trade area it was on with practice,



the start was at the top hut by the road so you could cycle up road to top or push up how ever you are inclined, plenty of marshals and the course is about 1.45 seconds on average so not a ball breaker, the track consisted of a ladder drop straight into a table top and then over a north shore into a bridge drop off going through various other features before coming into the dual slalom type turns then over the trademark farmer johns bridge and into the lower wood that was catching the best riders out, the wood were awesome I though, there was tight tech sections with drop offs banked corners, a few north then finished on a rocky/rooty section to finish, the lower woods was quite slippy in contrast to the bone dry fast top section making the track what I believe to be perfect challenging all you riding skills on the way down





After the downhill practice the organisers had a go at running a dual slalom fun race to see how it went, well I can tell you how it went...........awesome. pleanty of riders in all categories riding down a more of a straight rhythm with a turn at the bottom that every on failed to realise as is was that cool no one cared, with every one doing the 2 laps of practice down each lane it was run as eliminator event for fun with rock paper scissors for lane choice, 3,2,1 and get down the hill, no start gate require for the gang, no podiums or prizes just loads of laughs and giggles, favourite park of the track was easily the lorry tyres you had to go over half way down, big up to the 50/01 crew spending time all week getting it ready, plenty of pics and a little video.


the fans were awesome too
NX2 guys out in force with the trademark wheelie bin sub woofer

after the Dual slalom it was onto the dirt bike jam, nice main line trails that were by no means for the faint hearted with 2 larger top jumps at top leading into the main line, pre breakfast they was a little slow but when the jam was on the locals were working on the track to keep it flowing nice and safe for the whole of the jam, some serious riders out there and a few of the youngsters having a go on their downhill bikes bless them, was run in jam format anyone could have a go so really was great fun to be involved with all riders making a good atmosphere you don't always get at dirt jump events,


After the dirt jumps its onto the Soap box race, this is some prize howlers racing makeshift vehicles down a field with a turn and jump at bottom , need I say more, this is the one event you actually got and up lift for any of you park rider only guys fancy a go next year , again just for fun but watch you back next year.......van road gravity goons are already designing theirs for it so watch out



your very own farmer john (john Thorpe) providing up lift for this one

and so it was onto the night race, bottom sections were very dark but good flood lights and a string of light bulbs helping you to see, again a bit of fun so anyone moaning was just ignored by the other competitors, the organisers done the best the can and I thoroughly enjoyed it personally, the big smile on every ones faces and the noise from the now slightly drunk crowd also proved the event was a hit,

terrible pics I know but as a rider I understand that any flash seriously disabilities your vision so kept the pics to a minimum with out flashing any riders, the results are on roots and rain for the night race

https://www.rootsandrain.com/race4069/2016-sep-24-farmer-john-farmer-johns-race-weekend-night-race-farmer-johns-stockport/

so after every one having a good knees up, few beers and a bit of reasonable music volume that ended about 12.00-12.30 we all gingerly headed up to the strat of the hill to practice on the freshly moistened track from the over night showers we had making the bottom section in the woods very loose but rutting up well so was good and bad, some people preferred it and some didn't so it is what it is, cant recall anyone getting injured so that's good,

and that is a wrap im afraid my friend, thanks to john and all the staff for putting on an awesome event for all to enjoy as I was leaving I even managed to grab this pic of the rainbow over the finish of the event,

I have no podium shoots sorry as wanted to get on my way back to south wales as I work full time and wanted a few hours sleep before work the next day all results on roots and rain again
https://www.rootsandrain.com/race4068/2016-sep-25-farmer-john-farmer-johns-race-weekend-sunday-dh-farmer-johns-stockport/

and the video of me on the dirtjumps below, enjoy, see you all on the hill