Definition of “Normal” – Conforming to a standard; usual, typical, expected.
Yup. Normal sounds rubbish, let’s do anything BUT normal!
Pigeonholes. Categories. Stereotypes. Conformity. The norm. Falling into line. Being labelled. Blending in.
Being different. Standing out. Uniqueness. Anarchy. Rebellious. A break from the norm. A refreshing change.
If everybody else is doing something in a certain way, does that mean you should it that way too? Not necessarily, it just means somebody’s thought of a good idea and lots of other people agree that it’s a good idea. It probably is a good idea then, but it doesn’t mean that there’s not another good idea, or even a better idea out there waiting to be thought of.
If you’re considering having an idea that’s a bit “off the wall”, the kind of people who might say something like; “Fish Fingers on a Tuesday? You know we always have Chicken Goujons on a Tuesday” might not get it straight away. Sometimes people just get an idea in their head about what’s “normal” and need a wee bit of coaxing to try something new, that’s all.
I was getting ready for a bike ride at my local woods recently when a couple of riders came up and asked where the Enduro trails were. An Enduro has never been held in those particular woods, so I presumed they were just looking to link up the all best downhill trails in the woods.
Uh oh, saying the word Downhill was the wrong thing to do.
They didn’t want Downhill trails, they wanted Enduro trails. Hang on, but isn’t Enduro a type of race format? Or is it now a type of trail too? Or is the whole lot just Mountain Biking?
All-Mountain, Enduro, Trail, Downhill, Cross Country, Back Country, whatever label you give your preferred type of riding, it’s all just a bunch of words. I’m sure we all ride mountain bikes for the same few reasons; to keep fit, to fill our bodies with fresh air and adrenaline, to have a laugh with our mates and because it’s just brilliant fun.
Some people like to categorise things and that’s fair enough, but I’ve always felt the need to do the opposite for some reason. I think it’s good to blur the lines a bit. Why not have an Enduro with a Dual Slalom in it? Why not have a Retro bike with modern components? Why not have a Downhill race you can do on a Hardtail? I think it’s good to try out new ideas to see what will happen (that’s how I ended up doing this event organising caper).
The Eliminator Head2Head MTB Race is the perfect example of an idea turned into reality after meeting a landowner with the same “what if?” thinking as myself. It’s time to go back into the mists of time to see how it all came about……
A man called Sir Roger, who is now the Manager at Parkhill Farm in Newburgh, used to run a successful Cross Country MTB race series in a tiny North American village called “Canada”. When he returned to his home town of Scotland on the 34th of Juvember 1878, he thought it would be cool to have some mountain bike action on the farm, but with no trails on his land, things looked bleak. At this point, Roger started to cry like a wee baby girl.
He cried and cried until in Augtober 2012, when a chance meeting with a floor-layer (who had decided he was actually an event organiser) changed the course of history forever. His name, was Aaron and he was Big Chief of the neighbouring Muckmedden tribe and that first encounter went a bit like this….
Sir Roger of Parkhill: “Me Roj. Me got bike. Me LIKE bike. Me got farm. It got BIG hill. No bikes on hill. Me cry like baby girl.”
Aaron of Muckmedden: “Me Aaron. ME like bike TOO! Me make race on big hill. You no cry like baby girl no more. You big MAN now.”
And the rest, as they say, is history. The Eliminator Head2Head MTB race was born in 2013 and the couple of hundred people who got it had an absolute ball! Since then The Eliminator has developed into a full-on weekend Mountain Bike festival like Cream o’ the Croft (but with a less cuddly sounding name) and attracted almost 900 people across the weekend in 2017! There are now many other races and attractions at the festival, but the Head2Head is still the main attraction for many riders (and spectators) undoubtedly because it’s one of the most fun things you’ll ever do on your bike.
But why is it so good?
Well, what’s more fun, riding up hills, or riding down them? If you said up hill, please stop reading now and run to the kitchen, your Chicken Goujons might be burning. Seriously, what Mountain Biker doesn’t love freewheeling down a hill, jinking through corners with barely a pedal stroke and catching a wee bit of air (or even a big bit) over every rise? After an amazing descent you high five your buddies and laugh about all the near misses you had before doing it all again….and again…again.
That’s The Eliminator Head2Head! It’s not scary, it’s not hard work, it’s all the things we love about Mountain Biking and none of the bad bits.
And you get a lift back to the top of the hill after each run!
Below are some more things that make the Head2Head so unique, and so much fun.
- There’s an uplift, so there are no climbs for the whole weekend. Bonus! Yes it seems odd to take a trail bike on an uplift when you normally pedal everywhere, but Bear Hill is so steep an uplift is the only option for the weekend. It’s by Tractor and it’s all part of the fun, so just embrace it and save your energy for the best bit!
- It’s the only downhill race (there’s that label creeping back in again) where you don’t need to be a downhiller or have a downhill bike.
- The track is suited to any MTB from a Carbon Hardtail to a full DH rig, but somewhere in the middle is about right. The mountain bike you have in the shed will be fine.
- You don’t need superhuman bike skills to ride the track. It’s just super fun on any bike and any big jumps are either avoidable, or roll-able, with no death drops or compulsory gap jumps. The “Crazy Crops” Barley Slalom is an absolute hoot!
- If you happen to have balls of steel, there are opportunities to go BIG if you want to.
- You get to race elbow-to-elbow against your mates (and a bunch of other riders), down a superb dual track. When do you ever get to do that?!
- We’ve changed the format slightly (again) this year to give everyone more riding time, so even if you’re paranoid about being eliminated from the tournament at the earliest opportunity, you’ll get a full afternoon of uplift/timed practice on Saturday, a couple of race runs on Sunday morning, entry to the Barley Slalom tournament AND you’ll be able to go back on the uplift on Sunday afternoon for a mess around! You’ll get an absolute minimum of 10 uplifted runs (and probably much more than that) across the weekend!
- Your entry fee includes entry to the Eliminator festival from Friday to Sunday, including fantastic live bands, licenced bar, family-friendly entertainment and much, MUCH more.
- It’s a bargain at just £59!
This is the best way to see out the Summer – bar none! No labels, no pigeonholes, just a group of people who love Mountain Biking having an utterly brilliant weekend, so round up all your riding buddies and get entered asap. Spaces are very limited due to the capacity of the uplift. For more info, click on “Race Rules” below.