The concept behind the navigator races is simple. A mountain bike, a map with 28 checkpoints and 3 1/2 hours to visit as many as you can and get back to the start. It’s like doing an enduro event but you make up your own course as you go. Last Sunday’s event covered classic North Downs biking routes around Peaslake, one of my favourite areas.

Days of rain meant tracks of mud and worse but the sun was beginning to shine as I set off at 9.30am. Climbing up to Winterfold Wood from the start and I’m studying the map. I reckon I can get a clearance if I get the route right and don’t make too many mistakes. After about 40 minutes I’m into the flow, quite literally, as the gulley I’m riding has a river running down it. Submerged rocks and steps have me pinging around and I’m relieved not to pinch puncture on the way down.  

September means one thing for me: the annual pilgrimage to North Yorkshire for the very toughest cyclo-cross race in the World, the Three Peaks.

All other rides pale into insignificance against this monstrous approximation of a ‘cross race. Much as I love the fast and furious hour-long version that takes up the rest of the winter season, it does not compare. Road races, crits, even sportives: all are fine and dandy for the summer months, but they are a means to an end – all preparation for the big day.

For anyone unfamiliar with the event, some bright spark back in the day had the bright idea of stringing together the three biggest hills in Yorkshire – a route already familiar to walkers and fell runners – and throwing a bike into the mix. A 14-year-old schoolboy by the name of Kevin Watson hauled his standard-issue road bike to the summits of Whernside (2,419ft.), Ingleborough (2,373ft.), and Penyghent (2,273ft.) in 1959 and the Three Peaks cyclo-cross was born.