Having taken part in five of the events put on by the Nelson Cycling Festival I have to say it was an amazing event. All types of riders were catered for, from coffee rides to Elite grade road rides, downhill and cross country (XC) mountainbike rides, as well as an 'urban' short course XC which involved school corridors and steps. The whole event kicked off with a 1km lap criterium around Trafalgar Square which was awesome. But my highlight was probably the 'have a go' track night at Trafalgar Park, where we were introduced to fixed wheel bikes and put in a variety of races to test our new found skills!
A big thanks to Ralph and the guys there for being so helpful and accommodating.

Holly had her first go on a track bike as well as first go in clip ins and was only two seconds behind me on the 500m time trial!... after which she confessed to not really liking it as much as the road ride the previous night!
Paul Michell also did the opening Criterium and Reece Potter took part in the Fringe classic DH getting a 3rd without being able to pedal due to a broken dropout. Then on his 2nd run he managed a 1st place on someone elses borrowed bike!

Plenty of family events were put on over the course of the week and last Saturday saw the Kaiteriteri Beach MTB challenge with a 1,2,or 3 lap option around a specially marked out course through the Mountain Bike Park, through some nice singletrack I didn't know existed!

Stacey on a one lap strategy coming in a little way in front of Pam!

A bit of a shame the Bay wasn't represented as well as it perhaps could have been, but having spoken to the organisers, we may well get an event in the Bay as part of the Festival next year.
Once again a big UP for the organisers, a huge amount of work, and a joy to be part of.