Where the road runs out

Now the wheels of my borrowed mountain bike are kangarooing all over the place, hitting roots and boulders, sliding into muddy ruts, skittering over loose earth and skidding down inclines that only a fool would willingly take on.

Or a mountain biker.

This is my introduction to the course that will be used for the 2010 UCI Mountain Bike Cross-Country World Cup, which takes place in Dalby Forest from April 24 to 26.

It is fair to say that these off-road routes rack the nerves, especially for a cyclist who usually stays firmly on the hard stuff and never mind a vertiginous course with fearfully-named features such as Medusa’s Drop and Worry Gill.

Or Julian’s Jitters.

But it is good fun, even for a pedal-pusher who develops a bit of a nervous tic when the road turns into a steep track with hidden steps. Or a bog. Or a dip deep enough to swallow a bike whole.

My friendly guides for this introductory ride were Martin O’Vaster and Stuart Startup.

Martin is civil engineer for the Forestry Commission and designed the route and is responsible for all the commission’s mountain bike infrastructure. He lives locally and loves to cycle – even up a mini rock face that clearly calls for ropes and crampons.

Stuart Startup is recreation ranger for cycling, a role that sees him spend most of his life outdoors, and part of his job includes managing the mountain bike routes.

Martin and Stuart have a piece of advice for novices. It is this: “Speed is your friend.” All well and good, but it doesn’t seem that way when a rutted path riddled with stubborn tree roots lies ahead.

At such moments, speed looks like the sort of friend who might get you into trouble and forget to visit when you end up in hospital. But they are right, of course, and the lesson is understood, in theory at least.

We go over jumps and down a lane, where a gnarled obstruction nearly puts me in painful proximity with the crossbar. Then off along one of those woodland ruts with tripping roots and steps, at the end of which there is a jump the world cup racers will use.

Well, I say jump, although it looks suspiciously like a cliff to me.

After a brief respite on a proper hard path, it is time to go muddily uphill again, between the trees, over bumps and ruts, before launching off another precipice where my obsession with using the brakes sees me skidding to a shameful halt.

We hit a proper road again. Martin says the off-road route back through the forest is “a bit of a lung-buster”. This is alarming as Martin’s lungs seem to be made of steel.

Instead, we take the road and I bust my lungs on that instead.

Over a coffee later, Martin and Stuart are kind enough to tell me that I did well, without even adding “all things considered” or anything like that.

Martin says the route is shaping up for the big weekend.

“Everything is settling in nicely. People have been riding it and they like it, we are getting good feedback. Two pro riders have been round it for us and they liked it,” he says.

The event will attract some 700 riders from 128 countries; for the men’s elite race there will be about 150 racers hurtling round the daredevil 6.5 kilometre course.

There will be a Dalby Dare on the Saturday, when non-competing riders will be invited to ride the whole course as part of a larger circuit and compare their time ahead of the elite racers.

What weather would suit the weekend? “Any weather,” says Martin. “Warm and dry would be nice, but it’s an all-weather trail.”

On the Friday night, there will be a warm-up event in Pickering, where leading world cup riders will take part in a pro-sprint eliminator, passing through the back streets of the town, including a graveyard and a back garden.

This event has helped to involve the town fully. “Everyone’s really excited and supporting the whole event,” says Stuart. “Hotels and B&Bs are all booked up.”

After the event, about 80 per cent of the course will be open to the public. I might even give it another go myself.

• Julian was attempting to stay upright on a mountain bike kindly loaned by Purple Mountain.

To register for the Dalby Dare or to order passes, visit yorkshiremtbworldcup.co.uk or phone 0844 847 2387

ALAN Eves cycles five miles to the Forestry Commission offices in Pickering, which is fitting, but he doesn’t go off-road. “Although it feels like it due to the state of some of the roads,” he says.

Alan, 48, forestry management director with the commission, lives near Sinnington, and is a keen cyclist who likes to traverse the bumpy stuff in his spare time.

So he is thrilled that the UCI Mountain Bike Cross-Country World Cup is coming to Dalby Forest.

“The arrival of the championship marks the culmination of the work we have been doing in Dalby for five or six years,” he says. The event comes to North Yorkshire following a bid to the sports governing body which was backed by British Cycling, Yorkshire Forward, UK Sport and the Forestry Commission.

It was an earlier, smoother sort of cycle race that brought the forest to the attention of the organisers. The Tour of Britain finished at Dalby Forest in 2008 and turned into the perfect advertisement for the area.

“It ended with a 12-mile sprint finish along the Dalby drive, finishing opposite the visitor centre,” says Alan, whose pride in this end to the race paid off. His own patch of woodland was brought to the attention of national cycling bodies, helping to land the world cup.

Alan is thrilled by the course. “The trail is looking absolutely fantastic and the feedback we’ve have from test riders is that this is a world-class test of skill and stamina.”

The path that led Alan to his job began after university, when he knew he wanted to do some sort of environmental work and ended up working for the commission. And he loved the job, especially as it let him work in the great outdoors.

Mind you, promotion has pushed him indoors. “That’s the way of things. I’m inside nearly all the time now,” he says. Apart from in our picture on the right , of course.