Chat to Tracy Moseley at Kendal's Mountain Festival
The Kendal Mountain Festival is one of the world's most prestigious mountain festivals, an internationally renowned event that attracts top adventurers, climbers, writers, film-makers and film premieres from around the world. Plus it's a huge tribal gathering - the major social event for outdoor enthusiasts in the UK.
This year's festival (20-23 November, various venues) offers an unequalled range of films, art, debates and lectures from and for people passionate about the mountains. Mountaineering is the central theme - main lecturers include Reinhold Messner, Catherine Destiville, David Breashears, Kenton Cool, Leo Houlding and Chris Bonnington - but there are specialist programmes for skiers and boarders, BASE and parapente, white water and, most relevant to us, bikes.
Thursday 20 November is Bike Night at the Festival, and promises to be packed with lung-bursting, adrenaline-fuelled bike action. The evening kicks off with Pauline Sanderson presenting her 'Longest Climb on Earth', from the lowest point on earth (the Dead Sea) to the highest point (Mt Everest) in one continuous 8,000km cycle journey.
If you want to find out more about the highs and lows of being a professional downhill mountain bike racer, get your questions ready for Tracy Moseley's Q&A Session. Tracy is 2007 UCI World Cup Champion and six-time British National Champion, and with seven years of full-time international racing behind her will have plenty to talk about.
As well as a legendary World Cup race, Scotland is home to the amazingly popular 7Stanes purpose-built trails. Trail builder Andy Hopkins will be telling
Tales of The Trails, offering a fascinating insight into how trail builders create courses that offer riders the best adrenaline-packed singletrack descents.
Plus of course there are the best and latest biking films - uphill, downhill, discovering some of the world's remotest regions. The Festival is a competition format, so submitted short films are whittled down to four or five to be shown on the night. They'll be supplemented by a showing of Seasons, the latest film from the Collective.
All this lot will be introduced by Bikemagic editor Mike Davis, who may well manage to stop referring to himself in the third person, seeing as it's a special occasion.
Tickets for the Kendal Mountain Festival Bike Night are £11. And if you fancy yourself as a bit of a bikey auteur, have a look at the Adventure Film Academy courses running during the Festival week. There's also a vast amount of films, talks and other events covering the whole gamut of outdoorsness - you can find the full programme at www.mountainfilm.co.uk. That's also the place to go for Bike Night tickets, or call Kendal's Brewery Arts box office on 01539 725133.
