Well that's it the season is finally over and its certainly been a busy one. Last weekend was the final round of the National Series and whilst Chris headed off the Yorkshire I made the long journey down to Plymouth. I had a quick potter around the course on Friday evening and found it to be really fun, a few steep climbs, a drop, the infamous pipeline descent, two river crossings and one twisty section through the trees. Unfortunately the team I was going to be riding with pulled out of the team relay but this did at least mean I got to chat to lots of people and hang out with the Buick clan.
Saturday dawned cloudy and grey and as I made myself coffee and ate some cereal it was a bit wierd with Chris not being there. I gave my bottles to Sara Flatt and Andrew and went with Imogen to warm-up. We rode up the hill on the road a few times and then joined the massed ranks of female racers going round and round in circles in the centre of the arena. It always feels a bit wierdly ritualistic to me going round and round in circles but it does serve a purpose. It was really exciting listening to the elite women being announced to the line since, this included Gun-Rita Dahle Flesja, multiple world champion and one of the best female racers in the world.
All the usual suspects were there for the Expert race as well as a few folk we hadn't seen before and as the (very loud) gun went off we all charged off the line. We all had the plan of sitting on Emma Smith's wheel I think since she has been the strongest competitor all year. She didn't go storming off as usual but seemed to be taking it steady and I was happy to do the same. Ont eh first hill however, Maxine obviously decided this was too slow and went storming off with Jessie not far behind. I perhaps should have gone with them at this point but decided to stick with my game-plan of steady paced racing since it was going to be a long and hilly one. Some of the masters riders joined us and we managed to keep the front two within sight for most of the lap and by the end Emma had overtaken Jessie with me following closely behind.
On the second lap I took an opportunity to go past Jessie on a slightly lumpy and muddy section and then at the top of the climb before the pipeline had a dig to get past Emma. This seemed to work quite well but I could not quite get enough distance between us for it to really count and on the pipeline she used less brake than me and got ahead again. She didn't get much of a gap on me either though se we continued riding in this formation until well into lap three. At this point I was closing in on Emma again and I was pretty sure I could get past her again on the last lap.
Perhaps I was a bit excited and went for it on the cottage descent but by the time a reached the second river crossing I realised I had a rear puncture. I stopped on the other side of the river and put some air in my tyre hoping the sealant would do its job but by the time I reached the feed on the first hill it became apparent it it hadn't. I stopped and put a tube in as quickly as possible hoping I wouldn't lose too much time. After my tube disaster at the nationals I put in some serious training on how CO2 canisters work and was able to do a pretty good job this time, well after I got the tyre off! By the time I got going again I was in 4th place with 5th closing in so I put the hammer down as best I could in the hope I might just scrape a podium.
Unfortunately I never quite made it back but it was a good competitive race. In the end Maxine took the win, with Emma second and Jessie in third. In the elite race Annie Last (Halfords) outsprinted Kate Potter (Cotic Bontrager) for a well deserved win with new National Champion Sue Clarke (SIS) in third. With so many foreign racers it was great to see the British girls doing so well. Bring on 2010...
Saturday 3 October 2009
Monday 28 September 2009
Ending on a high
Wow, it's the last race of what's been a packed summer season, and it came around surprisingly quickly. It doesn't seem all that long ago that the first of the spring greening was appearing on the trees, and i was riding through the dust of most of the Expert field at Sherwood Pines at the first NPS. A lot has happened in the last six months! So, for my final race of the year, i decided to go back to the three peaks cyclocross. In the twelve months since the last edition, the 46th one since 1961, i've managed to submit a PhD and find a job, in fact i handed in my thesis about three days after getting back from Yorkshire last time around. It wasn't ideal preparation, and my lack of cycling and running, and in fact fitness in general, told on my pretty badly as i crawled over the line in 238th place in 4hrs37. I hoped that this year, with life a bit more settled and a few more running and cycling miles in my legs, things might be different...
Rachel was heading off down to Newnham for the last round of the NPS, on what sounds like it was a fantastic course, and a fitting end to the year with something of a carnival atmosphere, but i'm sure she'll tell you all about that in her own post from the weekend. I, however, had had more than enough of Newnham at 24/12 - don't get me wrong, i liked the course, and it's definitely somewhere that plays to my strengths on a bike, but 14 laps does burn a course profile into your brain rather! Anyway, i digress. Rachel left on friday morning to head over for the team relay, but unfortunately her team from AW cycles pulled out at the last minute, leaving her with more than enough time to get ready. I stayed home and packed my stuff, made banana muffins (i'm getting better, but they're still not up to Fenton standards), and cooked dinner for me and a couple of mates who were nice enough to cycle out from Cambridge to keep me company. A few preparatory glasses of wine (one simply has to carbo load on a chateau la fite, dahling) a lot of food and a new, improved recipe Tescos sticky toffee pudding, and i was ready for my wee bed.
Saturday dawned overcast in Cambridgeshire, and i packed up the last of my stuff, and headed off Northwards at about 11am. After a long, but thankfully uneventful drive, i got to Helwith Bridge, in the beautiful dales, and amazingly not that far from the Lake District (my geography was sufficiently bad, i had no idea of this - shameful eh?). I pitched up my tent by the pub as i had last year, but without Rachel and Mark for company this time, and then headed out for a pootle on my bike to loosen my legs after such a long. On my way out of the car park i bumped into Jerry Turner, so the two of us headed off together for a little trip. Unfortunately, little did we know when we parted way that the bridleway that Jerry was taking would bring him right back to the campsite where i was pitched, so we could have ridden together all the way anyway. I got back, de-kitted, read my book for a few minutes and then made some dinner.
Post-food, or actually really during food, Jerry returned, and we headed to the pub with him and a chap i'd met in the camp site, my neighbour in canvas, and one of the guys Jerry was looking after during the race. A nice chat and a pint of the local micro-brew, and of course a quick fuss of the Clarke's rather sweet springer spaniel, and again i was ready for some shut-eye ready for the next days antics. I slept pretty well, and awoke a bit snotty (pretty standard for camping) and then got about the busy business of getting ready. I had my usual super-strength pre-race coffee, kitted up, warmed up, pumped up my tubs nice and hard (60psi i reckoned, i'm not that heavy after all), and before i knew it it was time to head out behind the pace truck.
I lined up on the 4hr line, with an ever-increasing number of people trying to squeeze in in front. Once we'd started to roll out, Owen and I ended up riding together in the slightly terrifying 500-strong peloton where there were almost constant braking waves, including one that very nearly had me off as i locked both wheels to avoid the guy in front. This continued until the pace began to quicken through Horton-in-Ribblesdale, and out the other side in antipation of the start of the offroad that leads to Simon Fell, Unfortunately, a bunch of motorcyclists decided they simply couldn't wait for the group to disappear onto the farm track, and decided to overtake all 580 of us behind the pace van - after last year when a guy on a motorbike broke his leg and had to be ambulanced away in the middle of the race, you'd have thought they'd have learned. On we went, and up into the offroad section.
Straight away, the difference from last year was noticeable - i rode much more of the run in, and even when it became a walk, i was able to keep a good pace, and put in the odd burst of a few steps of running - what a difference a year makes. The wall of grass on the way to Simon Fell wasn't quite such a shock this time, and i enjoyed the opportunity for a chat with the other guys around me, one of whom was wearing a bright red pair of sidis that got him the nickname Dorothy! The new widened stile was a nice suprise, and i was even more chuffed to find that i'd got to the top in pretty much spot on 1hr in 100th place. Things were looking okay! Down to Cold Cotes, and my lack of descending on a cross bike really showed, i felt very amateurish and unconfident, whereas i usually really like it when the course points earthwards. I suspect the dodgy brakes that i hadn't fixed properly (the springs are way too strong, which makes them really difficult to apply, even with suicide levers) and skinny tyres didn't help matters though. Onto the road section, i got into a nice little group that worked all the way to the foot of Whernside, where we were greeted by the dulcet tones of the commentator, a 3 peaks institution in his own right! So this is what i'd missed the previous year - mid race commentary. I got a bit of stick for belonging to a team with "Over the Hill" in the name - not appropriate for a team outside yorkshire apparently, and carried on up towards where the climbing starts on Whernside.
Surely bad brakes make you go faster, right?
The water station at the bottom was a nice surprise, as were the amazing number of people out to cheer - the support this year was second to none and really made you feel so great out on the bike, even when your legs were screaming at you to stop! I hiked on, still feeling good, and picked up a few more places along the way. There were a few people who didn't like being overtaken on the walking sections, and one particular guy sticks in my mind - every time i picked up the pace to pass him, he'd match me, and then walk alongside me poking me with various bits of his bike. This happened three or four times along the way, until i got thoroughly pissed off, and decided to take off at a run - when i got to the summit of Whernside, i couldn't even see him in the distance, so he obviously didn't have it in him to match me all the way - phew! Down the back of Whernside, and again my descending left a little to be desired although i was getting more into the swing of it, and occasionally getting carried away and slamming my poor tubs into the rock slabs - oops! I did have one spectacular "into a ditch" moment i front of a cheering family, who thanked me for the show, but made it to Ribblehead largely unscathed. Zipping along the road at the viaduct, surrounded by hundreds of spectators has to be one of my favourite memories of the whole year. And i remembered to take the man's line down the rock slabs too....
Along the road section i saw Jerry, and waved to him as he sat by the roadside taking photos. I still felt pretty good, probably in no small part thanks to my caffeine gel, and was well up for Pen-y-Ghent. This is probably the scariest of the three hills to me, as the riders near the front are hammering down at a great rate of knots whilst mere mortals like me are trying to hike and ride up. I saw Neal Crampton zooming down at warp speed, and clearly on for a great ride - i later found out he took up the last space on the podium after Nick Craig and Rob Jebb, closely followed by a largely wheelbase chasing bunch! It was a bit of a struggle to get to the top of PyG, but still not as bad as last year, although with my poor pumped arms, and naff brakes, i wasn't looking forward to the descent much. I made it down in one piece, and hit the road section, determined to leave it all out on the course, and dashed back into Helwith Bridge like my life depended on it - the timer on my watch had stopped and i hadn't a clue how close i was to making my aim of under 4hrs.
Still smiling on the way up Pen-y-Ghent - amazing!
In the event, i needn't have worried, as i made it back with 10mins to spare in 3:50! I was still 10mins off the pace of the first singlespeeder though. I have to admit, i don't really understand the mindset of entering events on a singlespeed, even if i do respect the results that people get. Singlespeeds are a great way to train in winter and not destroy your drivetrain, and they have their own events like the UKSSC and even a world champs, which is very cool, and very silly. But to enter an event like the 3 Peaks on an SS just seems daft, and even dafter if you're good - i wouldn't waste my fitness trying to ride a penny farthing or a unicycle over the 3 peaks after all! And if i did, you'd rightly tell me i was stupid!! Unicycling course record anyone?
It was great to do the race feeling fit, and i'll definitely be back again next year to try to knock a bit more off my time - i suspect i'll need to do much much more running, but i'm getting less averse to that in my old age, i'm even toying with the idea of some fell-running events, but we'll see whether that survives the rosy post-race glow! For now, everything hurts, and i'm definitely more beaten up than i have been after any other race this year. And the sickest thing is, i don't want to stop....
Rachel was heading off down to Newnham for the last round of the NPS, on what sounds like it was a fantastic course, and a fitting end to the year with something of a carnival atmosphere, but i'm sure she'll tell you all about that in her own post from the weekend. I, however, had had more than enough of Newnham at 24/12 - don't get me wrong, i liked the course, and it's definitely somewhere that plays to my strengths on a bike, but 14 laps does burn a course profile into your brain rather! Anyway, i digress. Rachel left on friday morning to head over for the team relay, but unfortunately her team from AW cycles pulled out at the last minute, leaving her with more than enough time to get ready. I stayed home and packed my stuff, made banana muffins (i'm getting better, but they're still not up to Fenton standards), and cooked dinner for me and a couple of mates who were nice enough to cycle out from Cambridge to keep me company. A few preparatory glasses of wine (one simply has to carbo load on a chateau la fite, dahling) a lot of food and a new, improved recipe Tescos sticky toffee pudding, and i was ready for my wee bed.
Saturday dawned overcast in Cambridgeshire, and i packed up the last of my stuff, and headed off Northwards at about 11am. After a long, but thankfully uneventful drive, i got to Helwith Bridge, in the beautiful dales, and amazingly not that far from the Lake District (my geography was sufficiently bad, i had no idea of this - shameful eh?). I pitched up my tent by the pub as i had last year, but without Rachel and Mark for company this time, and then headed out for a pootle on my bike to loosen my legs after such a long. On my way out of the car park i bumped into Jerry Turner, so the two of us headed off together for a little trip. Unfortunately, little did we know when we parted way that the bridleway that Jerry was taking would bring him right back to the campsite where i was pitched, so we could have ridden together all the way anyway. I got back, de-kitted, read my book for a few minutes and then made some dinner.
Post-food, or actually really during food, Jerry returned, and we headed to the pub with him and a chap i'd met in the camp site, my neighbour in canvas, and one of the guys Jerry was looking after during the race. A nice chat and a pint of the local micro-brew, and of course a quick fuss of the Clarke's rather sweet springer spaniel, and again i was ready for some shut-eye ready for the next days antics. I slept pretty well, and awoke a bit snotty (pretty standard for camping) and then got about the busy business of getting ready. I had my usual super-strength pre-race coffee, kitted up, warmed up, pumped up my tubs nice and hard (60psi i reckoned, i'm not that heavy after all), and before i knew it it was time to head out behind the pace truck.
I lined up on the 4hr line, with an ever-increasing number of people trying to squeeze in in front. Once we'd started to roll out, Owen and I ended up riding together in the slightly terrifying 500-strong peloton where there were almost constant braking waves, including one that very nearly had me off as i locked both wheels to avoid the guy in front. This continued until the pace began to quicken through Horton-in-Ribblesdale, and out the other side in antipation of the start of the offroad that leads to Simon Fell, Unfortunately, a bunch of motorcyclists decided they simply couldn't wait for the group to disappear onto the farm track, and decided to overtake all 580 of us behind the pace van - after last year when a guy on a motorbike broke his leg and had to be ambulanced away in the middle of the race, you'd have thought they'd have learned. On we went, and up into the offroad section.
Straight away, the difference from last year was noticeable - i rode much more of the run in, and even when it became a walk, i was able to keep a good pace, and put in the odd burst of a few steps of running - what a difference a year makes. The wall of grass on the way to Simon Fell wasn't quite such a shock this time, and i enjoyed the opportunity for a chat with the other guys around me, one of whom was wearing a bright red pair of sidis that got him the nickname Dorothy! The new widened stile was a nice suprise, and i was even more chuffed to find that i'd got to the top in pretty much spot on 1hr in 100th place. Things were looking okay! Down to Cold Cotes, and my lack of descending on a cross bike really showed, i felt very amateurish and unconfident, whereas i usually really like it when the course points earthwards. I suspect the dodgy brakes that i hadn't fixed properly (the springs are way too strong, which makes them really difficult to apply, even with suicide levers) and skinny tyres didn't help matters though. Onto the road section, i got into a nice little group that worked all the way to the foot of Whernside, where we were greeted by the dulcet tones of the commentator, a 3 peaks institution in his own right! So this is what i'd missed the previous year - mid race commentary. I got a bit of stick for belonging to a team with "Over the Hill" in the name - not appropriate for a team outside yorkshire apparently, and carried on up towards where the climbing starts on Whernside.
Surely bad brakes make you go faster, right?
The water station at the bottom was a nice surprise, as were the amazing number of people out to cheer - the support this year was second to none and really made you feel so great out on the bike, even when your legs were screaming at you to stop! I hiked on, still feeling good, and picked up a few more places along the way. There were a few people who didn't like being overtaken on the walking sections, and one particular guy sticks in my mind - every time i picked up the pace to pass him, he'd match me, and then walk alongside me poking me with various bits of his bike. This happened three or four times along the way, until i got thoroughly pissed off, and decided to take off at a run - when i got to the summit of Whernside, i couldn't even see him in the distance, so he obviously didn't have it in him to match me all the way - phew! Down the back of Whernside, and again my descending left a little to be desired although i was getting more into the swing of it, and occasionally getting carried away and slamming my poor tubs into the rock slabs - oops! I did have one spectacular "into a ditch" moment i front of a cheering family, who thanked me for the show, but made it to Ribblehead largely unscathed. Zipping along the road at the viaduct, surrounded by hundreds of spectators has to be one of my favourite memories of the whole year. And i remembered to take the man's line down the rock slabs too....
Along the road section i saw Jerry, and waved to him as he sat by the roadside taking photos. I still felt pretty good, probably in no small part thanks to my caffeine gel, and was well up for Pen-y-Ghent. This is probably the scariest of the three hills to me, as the riders near the front are hammering down at a great rate of knots whilst mere mortals like me are trying to hike and ride up. I saw Neal Crampton zooming down at warp speed, and clearly on for a great ride - i later found out he took up the last space on the podium after Nick Craig and Rob Jebb, closely followed by a largely wheelbase chasing bunch! It was a bit of a struggle to get to the top of PyG, but still not as bad as last year, although with my poor pumped arms, and naff brakes, i wasn't looking forward to the descent much. I made it down in one piece, and hit the road section, determined to leave it all out on the course, and dashed back into Helwith Bridge like my life depended on it - the timer on my watch had stopped and i hadn't a clue how close i was to making my aim of under 4hrs.
Still smiling on the way up Pen-y-Ghent - amazing!
In the event, i needn't have worried, as i made it back with 10mins to spare in 3:50! I was still 10mins off the pace of the first singlespeeder though. I have to admit, i don't really understand the mindset of entering events on a singlespeed, even if i do respect the results that people get. Singlespeeds are a great way to train in winter and not destroy your drivetrain, and they have their own events like the UKSSC and even a world champs, which is very cool, and very silly. But to enter an event like the 3 Peaks on an SS just seems daft, and even dafter if you're good - i wouldn't waste my fitness trying to ride a penny farthing or a unicycle over the 3 peaks after all! And if i did, you'd rightly tell me i was stupid!! Unicycling course record anyone?
It was great to do the race feeling fit, and i'll definitely be back again next year to try to knock a bit more off my time - i suspect i'll need to do much much more running, but i'm getting less averse to that in my old age, i'm even toying with the idea of some fell-running events, but we'll see whether that survives the rosy post-race glow! For now, everything hurts, and i'm definitely more beaten up than i have been after any other race this year. And the sickest thing is, i don't want to stop....
Wednesday 23 September 2009
Midlands XC round 4 - final
We hadn't originally planned to race the final round of the Midlands XC this year since it was at a venue neither Chris nor I are particularly fond of - Sherwood Pines. There are just not enough hills here so the races tend to end being more like road races with those who get into the front pack the most liekly to win. When the series standings after round three came out however, it became clear that I was in for the series title in the expert category and Chris had a chance in the expert men's series so we thought we would come along and give it a go. Nadine Spearing and James Hampshire have again put on a good set of races this year. They have been technical and challenging. That said, the women's categories have been a little disappointing on the attendance front and it would be really great to see more girls racing this series next year. It is after all pretty accessible both from the north and the south.
Anyway another reason for us going to race at Sherwood is that we can stay at Chris's parents in Nottingham. So the morning of the race we only had a 45 minute trip up the road to get to the venue. After signing on we went to take a look around the course. It was actually pretty good for a Sherwood course with the usual twisty singletrack as well as a few ups and downs and a good little steep and loose descent. The only really bad bit was a wide track which because of the recent dry weather had become a sand pit and since I generally lack raw power was a really slog.
I was pleased to bump into Ruth Owen-Evans (Yeti/Chris King) when heading back to the car to sort out my drinks since this meant there was another person in my race. As well as Ruth, Jenn O'Connor (Altura Patterson Training) was lining up in the Elite category and Hollie Bettles (XCRacer.com) who I seem to end up riding with at Midlands races in the youth category. At the start we were disappointed to see we were going to be set off behind the Open Male category which meant a few hold-ups in the singletrack. But despite this spirits were high and the 18 or so girls all set off together. At the start I made a real hash up and ended up cutting in front of Ruth (sorry!) but then having got going I was shoulder barged by Danielle Rider. She did apologise but I lsot my rhythm rather. Jenn unsurprisingly took the lead comfortably with Danielle and Hollie following and me behind.
On the podium for the overall complete with tasteful green glass plate
By the time we hit the back of the open men I was with Hollie again and we were working our way towards Danielle. Then disaster, on the sand-pit section I was taken out by one of the male riders and took ages to get up to speed again because of the terrain. For the rest of the race I was chasing down the other girls. I passed Danielle on a corner at some point in the first couple of laps and could see Jenn riding with Hollie on her wheel just ahead of me in the singletrack. She had a lot more power than me on the wider tracks, but it was pretty pleasing to be able to see her going about the same speed through the trees. It was good to have a bit of a carrot even if she did eventually disappear. In the end I finished about four minutes behind Jenn after four laps, winning the expert race and the series. She took the Elite race and series, and Hollie and Danielle the same in the youth and junior races.
Chris seemed to be having a good time in the pits chatting to Paul from SIP events and Trevor Allen from Bath University and whilst I waited for my podiums and chatted to his parents they went out onto the course for a warm-up lap. At 2.30 the boys were off. There were six guys in Chris's Expert race and about the same number in the Elite race, so not a massive field but there were a good number of sport riders. Chris as usual did not have the best start and I had a nervous wait to see whether he would make any places up early on. After less than twenty minutes the lead elites came through in a group and a few minutes behind them the lead expert. As usual Giles Drake had ridden a storming lap and was off the front by some margin. Chris came in a couple of minutes behind him but was looking pretty good and took another bottle - something most riders weren't bothering with. He was less than 10 seconds behind James Hampshire. They have been battling it out a bit this year so this was definitely a good sign!
Status normal for Midlands XC Expert Men - James and Chris off the back!
Over the next four laps the situation did not change much, but as usual Chris was getting closer and closer to James through the singletrack. Unfortunately on the 4th lap his saddle rail snapped and fearing a saddle spearing Chris decided to stop and not take the risk. When I spoke to James at the end he said he had been looking forward to a last lap battle so it was a shame. As Chris was having a massage, Nadine informed me that he had managed to scrape third in the series. So, despite the disappointment of not being able to finish the race there was something to be pleased about. The winners of the men's races were Rob Friel (Raleigh Avanti) Elite, Giles Drake (MSC bikes) Expert and Serge Hunt (Petracycles) in the sport race.
Some consolation for a broken rail :).
Thanks to Nadine and James for organising the series. Hopefully it will continue to be a fixture for years to come.
Anyway another reason for us going to race at Sherwood is that we can stay at Chris's parents in Nottingham. So the morning of the race we only had a 45 minute trip up the road to get to the venue. After signing on we went to take a look around the course. It was actually pretty good for a Sherwood course with the usual twisty singletrack as well as a few ups and downs and a good little steep and loose descent. The only really bad bit was a wide track which because of the recent dry weather had become a sand pit and since I generally lack raw power was a really slog.
I was pleased to bump into Ruth Owen-Evans (Yeti/Chris King) when heading back to the car to sort out my drinks since this meant there was another person in my race. As well as Ruth, Jenn O'Connor (Altura Patterson Training) was lining up in the Elite category and Hollie Bettles (XCRacer.com) who I seem to end up riding with at Midlands races in the youth category. At the start we were disappointed to see we were going to be set off behind the Open Male category which meant a few hold-ups in the singletrack. But despite this spirits were high and the 18 or so girls all set off together. At the start I made a real hash up and ended up cutting in front of Ruth (sorry!) but then having got going I was shoulder barged by Danielle Rider. She did apologise but I lsot my rhythm rather. Jenn unsurprisingly took the lead comfortably with Danielle and Hollie following and me behind.
On the podium for the overall complete with tasteful green glass plate
By the time we hit the back of the open men I was with Hollie again and we were working our way towards Danielle. Then disaster, on the sand-pit section I was taken out by one of the male riders and took ages to get up to speed again because of the terrain. For the rest of the race I was chasing down the other girls. I passed Danielle on a corner at some point in the first couple of laps and could see Jenn riding with Hollie on her wheel just ahead of me in the singletrack. She had a lot more power than me on the wider tracks, but it was pretty pleasing to be able to see her going about the same speed through the trees. It was good to have a bit of a carrot even if she did eventually disappear. In the end I finished about four minutes behind Jenn after four laps, winning the expert race and the series. She took the Elite race and series, and Hollie and Danielle the same in the youth and junior races.
Chris seemed to be having a good time in the pits chatting to Paul from SIP events and Trevor Allen from Bath University and whilst I waited for my podiums and chatted to his parents they went out onto the course for a warm-up lap. At 2.30 the boys were off. There were six guys in Chris's Expert race and about the same number in the Elite race, so not a massive field but there were a good number of sport riders. Chris as usual did not have the best start and I had a nervous wait to see whether he would make any places up early on. After less than twenty minutes the lead elites came through in a group and a few minutes behind them the lead expert. As usual Giles Drake had ridden a storming lap and was off the front by some margin. Chris came in a couple of minutes behind him but was looking pretty good and took another bottle - something most riders weren't bothering with. He was less than 10 seconds behind James Hampshire. They have been battling it out a bit this year so this was definitely a good sign!
Status normal for Midlands XC Expert Men - James and Chris off the back!
Over the next four laps the situation did not change much, but as usual Chris was getting closer and closer to James through the singletrack. Unfortunately on the 4th lap his saddle rail snapped and fearing a saddle spearing Chris decided to stop and not take the risk. When I spoke to James at the end he said he had been looking forward to a last lap battle so it was a shame. As Chris was having a massage, Nadine informed me that he had managed to scrape third in the series. So, despite the disappointment of not being able to finish the race there was something to be pleased about. The winners of the men's races were Rob Friel (Raleigh Avanti) Elite, Giles Drake (MSC bikes) Expert and Serge Hunt (Petracycles) in the sport race.
Some consolation for a broken rail :).
Thanks to Nadine and James for organising the series. Hopefully it will continue to be a fixture for years to come.
Friday 18 September 2009
Autumn's Coming
Well, it's official, the football season has started (although that seems to get earlier every year), the trees are starting to shed on my local trails and there are reports of the first 'cross races of the year up on British Cycling. Autumn's pretty much here. In spite of what you might think, i quite like autumn - it's a time for a bit of 'cross, which i find fun and stupid in equal measure, time to kick back, relax and take stock of the year. Autumn leaves weekends open for things other than racing, which after a summer as busy as mine and Rachel's can be a bit of a shock - if you're not away racing in some far-flung corner of the country, what do you do?!
You can also tell it's getting towards Halloween, Bonfire Night, and all those things that we associate with falling leaves, temperatures and rain in this country by the fact that it's now a little over a week until the 47th (i think that's right) annual 3 Peak Cyclocross. I've spent the last week dusting off my 'cross bike, truing wheels, gluing tubs (i've decided on the rather suicidal tactic of using Tufo hard-as-nails tubulars for this years race after last year's little experiment with tubeless 'cross tyres didn't go entirely according to plan) and generally sprucing it up and getting used to riding offroad on skinny little 34c tyres. I've also spent a week trying to get to the bottom of a very annoying squeak. Last night, it got so bad that i decided i couldn't just ignore it, so i decided to strip the chainset off the bike. Baaaaaad plan! It transpired that the cup on one side of the chainset had worn out - not a problem until i realised when removing the cup from the frame that i must have cross-threaded it when i put it in this time last year - it was harder than holy hell to move. So now, having planned everything meticulously, i have to find myself a replacement set of Truvativ GXP cups asap, and also get some kind soul to re-chase the threads in my BB shell. First port of call will be the ever-helpful Jerry Turner in Ely, a legend of East Anglian cycling and a wheelbuilder extraordinaire. Hopefully he'll not be too sick of me coming in with daft problems to help!
So the bike preparations have been alright barring this (ahem) minor glitch - how about body? Well, i've been doing some long offroad runs which tend to leave me feeling pretty beaten up; case in point was the last one on thursday which has left my calves still sore today! Unfortunately, there's nothing in these parts than even remotely approximates the wall of grass that's going to confront me for a second time on the ascent of Ingleborough - i remember last year not being able to believe my eyes. At least i've done some preparation other than sitting in a chair and writing a PhD thesis, so hopefully this year should be better (or at least over more quickly!) than last year was.
For those of you who haven't done the three peaks, you climb and descend the three highest peaks in Yorkshire, Ingleborough, Whernside and Pen-y-Ghent; it's a 38 mile round trip, of which 34 miles is rideable, and 4 of which you have to walk/run. It's a truly crazy race, where you climb above the clouds with your bike over your shoulder, and then descend at breakneck speed down the side of very big hills with only useless cantilever brakes working over a tiny patch of rubber to slow you down. Possibly the most terrifying bit is Pen-y-Ghent where you climb and descend on the same track, so you spend your whole time going up hoping that some loony doesn't hit you, and then spend your whole trip down trying not to be that loony! It is nothing at all like your average cyclocross race, and yet almost everyone on the 'cross circuit does it because everyone else does! The last ten years have been almost totally dominated by fell-runner Rob Jebb, who just run away from everyone up the wall of grass and is never seen again - it's pretty amazing to watch even from the back-row seat that i had last year.
This year, there's a curious mixture of people entered, some old faces like Rob Jebb & Nick Craig, and some newer-comers like Kielder 100 winner Neal Crampton and American NUE series winner Jeremiah Bishop. It probably gets said every yearm but it'll be an exciting battle, and interesting to see who comes out on top.
With the 3 Peaks very much at the forefront of my mind, i'm off to my last MTB race of the year tomorrow, the final round of the Midlands XC series at Sherwood. Not exactly my favourite venue, i'm not sure i could explain my preference, but i just don't like the flat-out speed and tactical nature of the racing there, i think i prefer the terrain to decide. But, worth a trip up there when combined with a trip home to see my parents who it feels like i haven't seen in ages. Hopefully my calves will ache less by tomorrow!!
After that, it'll be time to strip down the trusty MTB, and start slowly acquiring replacement bits for things that are worn out/in need of a bit of TLC - there are definitely plus-points to autumn. So long for now,
Chrispy
You can also tell it's getting towards Halloween, Bonfire Night, and all those things that we associate with falling leaves, temperatures and rain in this country by the fact that it's now a little over a week until the 47th (i think that's right) annual 3 Peak Cyclocross. I've spent the last week dusting off my 'cross bike, truing wheels, gluing tubs (i've decided on the rather suicidal tactic of using Tufo hard-as-nails tubulars for this years race after last year's little experiment with tubeless 'cross tyres didn't go entirely according to plan) and generally sprucing it up and getting used to riding offroad on skinny little 34c tyres. I've also spent a week trying to get to the bottom of a very annoying squeak. Last night, it got so bad that i decided i couldn't just ignore it, so i decided to strip the chainset off the bike. Baaaaaad plan! It transpired that the cup on one side of the chainset had worn out - not a problem until i realised when removing the cup from the frame that i must have cross-threaded it when i put it in this time last year - it was harder than holy hell to move. So now, having planned everything meticulously, i have to find myself a replacement set of Truvativ GXP cups asap, and also get some kind soul to re-chase the threads in my BB shell. First port of call will be the ever-helpful Jerry Turner in Ely, a legend of East Anglian cycling and a wheelbuilder extraordinaire. Hopefully he'll not be too sick of me coming in with daft problems to help!
So the bike preparations have been alright barring this (ahem) minor glitch - how about body? Well, i've been doing some long offroad runs which tend to leave me feeling pretty beaten up; case in point was the last one on thursday which has left my calves still sore today! Unfortunately, there's nothing in these parts than even remotely approximates the wall of grass that's going to confront me for a second time on the ascent of Ingleborough - i remember last year not being able to believe my eyes. At least i've done some preparation other than sitting in a chair and writing a PhD thesis, so hopefully this year should be better (or at least over more quickly!) than last year was.
For those of you who haven't done the three peaks, you climb and descend the three highest peaks in Yorkshire, Ingleborough, Whernside and Pen-y-Ghent; it's a 38 mile round trip, of which 34 miles is rideable, and 4 of which you have to walk/run. It's a truly crazy race, where you climb above the clouds with your bike over your shoulder, and then descend at breakneck speed down the side of very big hills with only useless cantilever brakes working over a tiny patch of rubber to slow you down. Possibly the most terrifying bit is Pen-y-Ghent where you climb and descend on the same track, so you spend your whole time going up hoping that some loony doesn't hit you, and then spend your whole trip down trying not to be that loony! It is nothing at all like your average cyclocross race, and yet almost everyone on the 'cross circuit does it because everyone else does! The last ten years have been almost totally dominated by fell-runner Rob Jebb, who just run away from everyone up the wall of grass and is never seen again - it's pretty amazing to watch even from the back-row seat that i had last year.
This year, there's a curious mixture of people entered, some old faces like Rob Jebb & Nick Craig, and some newer-comers like Kielder 100 winner Neal Crampton and American NUE series winner Jeremiah Bishop. It probably gets said every yearm but it'll be an exciting battle, and interesting to see who comes out on top.
With the 3 Peaks very much at the forefront of my mind, i'm off to my last MTB race of the year tomorrow, the final round of the Midlands XC series at Sherwood. Not exactly my favourite venue, i'm not sure i could explain my preference, but i just don't like the flat-out speed and tactical nature of the racing there, i think i prefer the terrain to decide. But, worth a trip up there when combined with a trip home to see my parents who it feels like i haven't seen in ages. Hopefully my calves will ache less by tomorrow!!
After that, it'll be time to strip down the trusty MTB, and start slowly acquiring replacement bits for things that are worn out/in need of a bit of TLC - there are definitely plus-points to autumn. So long for now,
Chrispy
Thursday 10 September 2009
Torq in your sleep
The weekend before Chris's epic adventure in Kielder forest I had a epic outing of my own, albeit on a totally different scale! A friend from the XC racing scene Nick Evans (Beyond Mountain Bikes) asked Chris if he wanted to race 12 hour pairs at the Torq/Gorrick event and Minley Moor. With the K100 coming up Chris decided against racing but suggested me as an alternative. SO there I was entering a long race - not normally my thing but I've done lots of riding right?
With Chris heading to the peaks on the Saturday before for a day of torture with our Elite XC racing friend Andrew Cockburn (Cambridge CC) we decided we would head down to the race on the morning of. Nick only lives a short drive away so was doing the same. What could possibly go wrong?
Well aparently nothing since we both arrived in OK time Chris set up camp and Nick headed to the rider briefing and I went round the course. It was fun, lots of swoopy singletrack, a few short climbs and a bit of slogging through dry loam. It was however, also going to be hard work for 12 hours!
We decided that Nick would do a double to get us going, so just as I was coming back from my course recce I saw him heading out and setting a good pace overtaking on the lap of the field which was required to start. Coming back through after 1 lap he was in a good position and we were second in the mixed pairs - a good start. I started to get ready to go and was ready and waiting in the hand-over area in good time for Nick who had done another good 38 minute lap bringing us into first place - awesome.
Nick coming in to change-over
It turns out though that I was out against some of the male racers from the team in second though so it took about half a lap for them to pass me back again. We were however still in contention and 12 hours is plenty of time right...
Looking rather too relaxed whilst waiting for another lap
Nick did another two laps before we settled into singles for the rest of the race. We didn't manage to get back to first place again. They were just consistently a little faster than us. But we did manage to engage ourselves in a very exciting battle for second place. A team of Nadine Spearing (Patterson Training) and her other half James Hampshire (XCracer.com 29ers) had had a slow start and were gaining on us all the time. Nadine is a fast road racer as well as an elite mtber so when she came speeding past me on a road section of the course I though about going with her before changing my mind and sticking to my own pace. We rode pretty much in formation for the rest of the race, until in the last three hours or so we started to gain time on them again. This was mostly due to Nick staying a pretty much the same speed for the entire 12 hours compared to me and the XCracer team who were all slowing down! Going out on his last lap Nick was about 4 minutes behind Nadine who had just gone out and had been instructed to go for it by our pit crew extraordinaire - Chris! Nick must have given it everything because when he finished - just 18 seconds behind Nadine he was cooked.
At the finish with unavoidable dust-tan
Third place though! Great! Especially since I felt rough for the last 6 hours. I think i need to drink water more and not carb drinks for events like this in the future...
Thanks to Nick for being a great team mate, Chris for being a super pit-bitch and Nadine and James for a great race. We'll see you again at the Midlands series final round in a week or so!
Obligatory podium shot!
Now back to nursing my midge bites from marshalling the Kielder 100 (a suberb event BTW I'm quite tempted by it for next year!). There are loads more pics from the Torq 12:12 that Chris took. I'll get him to upload them to the blog gallery this evening.
With Chris heading to the peaks on the Saturday before for a day of torture with our Elite XC racing friend Andrew Cockburn (Cambridge CC) we decided we would head down to the race on the morning of. Nick only lives a short drive away so was doing the same. What could possibly go wrong?
Well aparently nothing since we both arrived in OK time Chris set up camp and Nick headed to the rider briefing and I went round the course. It was fun, lots of swoopy singletrack, a few short climbs and a bit of slogging through dry loam. It was however, also going to be hard work for 12 hours!
We decided that Nick would do a double to get us going, so just as I was coming back from my course recce I saw him heading out and setting a good pace overtaking on the lap of the field which was required to start. Coming back through after 1 lap he was in a good position and we were second in the mixed pairs - a good start. I started to get ready to go and was ready and waiting in the hand-over area in good time for Nick who had done another good 38 minute lap bringing us into first place - awesome.
Nick coming in to change-overIt turns out though that I was out against some of the male racers from the team in second though so it took about half a lap for them to pass me back again. We were however still in contention and 12 hours is plenty of time right...
Looking rather too relaxed whilst waiting for another lapNick did another two laps before we settled into singles for the rest of the race. We didn't manage to get back to first place again. They were just consistently a little faster than us. But we did manage to engage ourselves in a very exciting battle for second place. A team of Nadine Spearing (Patterson Training) and her other half James Hampshire (XCracer.com 29ers) had had a slow start and were gaining on us all the time. Nadine is a fast road racer as well as an elite mtber so when she came speeding past me on a road section of the course I though about going with her before changing my mind and sticking to my own pace. We rode pretty much in formation for the rest of the race, until in the last three hours or so we started to gain time on them again. This was mostly due to Nick staying a pretty much the same speed for the entire 12 hours compared to me and the XCracer team who were all slowing down! Going out on his last lap Nick was about 4 minutes behind Nadine who had just gone out and had been instructed to go for it by our pit crew extraordinaire - Chris! Nick must have given it everything because when he finished - just 18 seconds behind Nadine he was cooked.
At the finish with unavoidable dust-tan
Third place though! Great! Especially since I felt rough for the last 6 hours. I think i need to drink water more and not carb drinks for events like this in the future...
Thanks to Nick for being a great team mate, Chris for being a super pit-bitch and Nadine and James for a great race. We'll see you again at the Midlands series final round in a week or so!
Obligatory podium shot!
Now back to nursing my midge bites from marshalling the Kielder 100 (a suberb event BTW I'm quite tempted by it for next year!). There are loads more pics from the Torq 12:12 that Chris took. I'll get him to upload them to the blog gallery this evening.
Monday 7 September 2009
A Big Day Out
Possibly even a massive day out. I'm referring to the first Kielder 100 race, i say first because i hope it is the first of many. It certainly felt like something special, from the moment i arrived and saw the size of the terrain around Kielder, a place i'd last visited as a shy, long-haired seventeen-year-old about to head out on a Duke of Edinburgh's walking expedition, to seeing 230 people all gathered in the courtyard of the castle, it was clearly a serious undertaking. It was all a pretty groudbreaking idea, the first 100mile race in the UK, the first enduro to cross the border into Scotland, the first single loop race (as opposed to that oft-used get-out "challenge"). And the earliest start of any race i've ever heard of in the UK at 6:30am - ouch.
In the week running up to the event, the weather in Cambridge decided it was going to turn decidedly autumnal - gone were the sun drenched, breeze tousled summer evenings to be replaced by harsh winds, cold rains, and less daylight. It almost sounds ridiculous to admit it, given that officially at least there are another couple of weeks left before we even get to the beginning of autumn, but the start of the football and cyclocross seasons do sound the knell of summer to me, and try as i might, i can't help but start counting down the days and weeks until halloween when the winds start sweeping in across the fens from Siberia (at least so the urban legend goes...). Whilst i was being blown around in the flatlands, biblical amounts of raining were falling on the borders, soaking the Kielder peat even more and swelling the local rivers and burns almost to the point of bursting.
I took the friday off work, not fancying starting the 300mile journey north on a friday evening on the A14, and Rachel and I made a day of getting up there. We stopped off in Oakham, the county town of Rutland (according to Steven Fry the second smallest county in Britain, after the Isle of Wight at high tide) to grab some cash and some food, and to have somewhere nice to eat our packed lunches. We then carried on North, making it to the border town of Kielder, set in 250 square miles of man-made forest shortly after 6pm. Rachel headed over the the castle to help out Sara and the sip-events team, and i tootled out over the first few miles of the course to see if there were any bottlenecks to worry about, and to spin my legs out. We reconvened for the age-old favourite of noodly-stir fry at about half-seven, and then went back over for Rachel to get to the marshall's briefing. Unfortunately, and this won't suprise any of you that know us, we got to the castle too late, so helped out with sign-on instead.
I made friends with a beautiful weinmaraner (sp?) dog, who was intent on licking my face, but wonderfully well-behaved and belonged to the chap doing the kit checking. In spite of her best efforts, Rachel didn't manage to get a photo of me making a fool of myself over my new canine best friend! 9:00pm came around amazingly quickly with all these distractions, and it was time to head down to the courtyard to be told of what was in store. I have to admit, when the reality of what i was planning to do hit me as Sara ran through the details, my stomach did tighten - i can't have done 100 miles on a road bike more than half a dozen times in my life, and every time it's been an experience. The closest thing in terms of effort and concentration i'd done previously was the Ardechois cyclosportif in the summer of 2006. That experience had left me so tired that i managed to stagger to the event village, buy a 1kg jar of ratatouille and a 2litre bottle of coke, eat entire jar of veg with the only utensil at hand; a piece of cardboard i found (it's amazing unhygenic you are when you're that hungry!), drink the coke and then fall sound asleep under my bike! I woke up three hours later with one of my mates tapping me on the shoulder with his foot...
Hydrate or die...
Post briefing, i headed to bed, mindful of the 5:00am start i would need to be ready in time for the roll-out, and with every intention of getting a good night's sleep. Unfortunately, my pre-race nerves had other plans, and i tossed and turned restlessly in the sleeping bag until long-gone midnight before finally getting some shut-eye. If anything, the arrival of the alarm was a relief - i could get up, and occupy myself with getting ready. It was pretty chilly so early on a september morning, and i kitted up and then put all my clothes on over the top. I forced down a couple of bowls of crunchy nut, a coffee, and then headed over to the line, pain-au-chocolate in hand. The sun was poking his head over the trees, and starting to warm the air, unfortunately bringing out clouds of midges that were out for blood on the start line (as if they hadn't feasted enough on the assembled throng whilst we were being briefed the night before!). We headed out on a neutralised start at 6:35, riding behind the lead car at a fairly sedate pace intended to keep the bunch together until we hit the first climb.
As soon as we did, all hell broke loose and the guys at the front started tearing strips off each other. My legs were already feeling a bit heavy, and didn't thank me for trying to get them going faster, and i floated back through the group from about 10th position to 60th or 70th as the climb went on. Bugger, losing contact so early on, not a good sign i thought. I decided it was too cold and too early to start worrying, i'd just ride a steady pace and see what happened as the race progressed. The first descent was a bit sketchy, covered in muddy water from the previous week's rainfall, and by the bottom i couldn't see a damn thing through my oakleys - so it was going to be like that was it?! As we carried on, i caught up with the guy who designed the graphics for the numbers, Dean who was riding for VC Moulin, and as if the event wasn't hard enough had decided to singlespeed it too. We rode to the first feed, where i grabbed a bunch of gels and a refill, and started to feel a bit better, and picked up the pace a bit. Further on, i came across Rachel marshalling a "three arrow" descent which transpired to be nothing more than a steep rock slab you could roll down or drop off, although apparently lots of people freaked out at the idea that it deserved three arrows, got off and ran! She shouted to me that i was about 20mins down on the leaders - 20m in three hours, not so bad i thought.
I pressed on, passing group after group of people who seemed intent on riding really gently along the flat fire roads, and then hammering up the climbs; not the most efficient way to ride such a long event. Just by riding steadily, and descending reasonably confidently i seemed to be making up quite a bit of ground. The slog up to the piper at the bloody bush bridge was worth it just to see the quintessentially Scottish sight of a man in a kilt standing in the rain piping. Good work, sir! By the time we got to Newcastleton at the 65mile point, i was starting to suffer though - the riding kept me going, being fun swoopy descents, and then i got another boost from seeing Paul of sip fame who told me i was nudging the top-15. He very kindly put some oil on my poorly, creaking chain, as I dashed inside, grabbed a couple of handfully of jaffa cakes and some more energy drink, and then headed out to try and catch a few more people. The remaining riding is a bit of a blur, i remember really enjoying my bottle of flat coke from feed 4, and riding down the slightly wet & slippy boardwalk with the abandon of someone who no longer cares for their safety, and the enthusiastic marshalls who told me there were only 6 miles left to ride. Oh joy, i was nearly back. Sadly, most of those 6 miles consisted of horrible, half-finished tracks that felt like riding over the foundations of a wall - apparently they were no less rattly and horrible on a full suss, and they even caused my saddlebag to come unhitched. But it didn't matter, i was so nearly home. I exchanged pleasantries with Mike Powell over the last couple of km, and we came in almost together, me for 9th senior, and him for 2nd vet in a bit over 9hrs.
It was a big day. I didn't feel too bad straight after, and wandered around for a bit chatting to the guys at the finish, and then catching up with more peeps at the castle. I had some food with Si Ernest and Neal Crampton who'd come first and second, and then staggered back to give Rach a sandwich (she'd been finish-timing quite a while by this point!) with the soreness really starting to set in to my legs. The rest of the evening's a bit of a blur, probably aiding in part by Ian Leitch, purveyor of fine pale ales, but the experience did nothing to dampen my post-big-dog enthusiasm for the idea that all races should end with a party!
So, in short, a superb event, and definitely a proper man's race (none of this lapped nonsense!) - one that will definitely be on my list to do again, in spite of mud, rain, wind, cold, wheel-swallowing puddles, and nasty unnecessary boulders. Maybe i need my head examined...
In the week running up to the event, the weather in Cambridge decided it was going to turn decidedly autumnal - gone were the sun drenched, breeze tousled summer evenings to be replaced by harsh winds, cold rains, and less daylight. It almost sounds ridiculous to admit it, given that officially at least there are another couple of weeks left before we even get to the beginning of autumn, but the start of the football and cyclocross seasons do sound the knell of summer to me, and try as i might, i can't help but start counting down the days and weeks until halloween when the winds start sweeping in across the fens from Siberia (at least so the urban legend goes...). Whilst i was being blown around in the flatlands, biblical amounts of raining were falling on the borders, soaking the Kielder peat even more and swelling the local rivers and burns almost to the point of bursting.
I took the friday off work, not fancying starting the 300mile journey north on a friday evening on the A14, and Rachel and I made a day of getting up there. We stopped off in Oakham, the county town of Rutland (according to Steven Fry the second smallest county in Britain, after the Isle of Wight at high tide) to grab some cash and some food, and to have somewhere nice to eat our packed lunches. We then carried on North, making it to the border town of Kielder, set in 250 square miles of man-made forest shortly after 6pm. Rachel headed over the the castle to help out Sara and the sip-events team, and i tootled out over the first few miles of the course to see if there were any bottlenecks to worry about, and to spin my legs out. We reconvened for the age-old favourite of noodly-stir fry at about half-seven, and then went back over for Rachel to get to the marshall's briefing. Unfortunately, and this won't suprise any of you that know us, we got to the castle too late, so helped out with sign-on instead.
I made friends with a beautiful weinmaraner (sp?) dog, who was intent on licking my face, but wonderfully well-behaved and belonged to the chap doing the kit checking. In spite of her best efforts, Rachel didn't manage to get a photo of me making a fool of myself over my new canine best friend! 9:00pm came around amazingly quickly with all these distractions, and it was time to head down to the courtyard to be told of what was in store. I have to admit, when the reality of what i was planning to do hit me as Sara ran through the details, my stomach did tighten - i can't have done 100 miles on a road bike more than half a dozen times in my life, and every time it's been an experience. The closest thing in terms of effort and concentration i'd done previously was the Ardechois cyclosportif in the summer of 2006. That experience had left me so tired that i managed to stagger to the event village, buy a 1kg jar of ratatouille and a 2litre bottle of coke, eat entire jar of veg with the only utensil at hand; a piece of cardboard i found (it's amazing unhygenic you are when you're that hungry!), drink the coke and then fall sound asleep under my bike! I woke up three hours later with one of my mates tapping me on the shoulder with his foot...
Hydrate or die...
Post briefing, i headed to bed, mindful of the 5:00am start i would need to be ready in time for the roll-out, and with every intention of getting a good night's sleep. Unfortunately, my pre-race nerves had other plans, and i tossed and turned restlessly in the sleeping bag until long-gone midnight before finally getting some shut-eye. If anything, the arrival of the alarm was a relief - i could get up, and occupy myself with getting ready. It was pretty chilly so early on a september morning, and i kitted up and then put all my clothes on over the top. I forced down a couple of bowls of crunchy nut, a coffee, and then headed over to the line, pain-au-chocolate in hand. The sun was poking his head over the trees, and starting to warm the air, unfortunately bringing out clouds of midges that were out for blood on the start line (as if they hadn't feasted enough on the assembled throng whilst we were being briefed the night before!). We headed out on a neutralised start at 6:35, riding behind the lead car at a fairly sedate pace intended to keep the bunch together until we hit the first climb.
As soon as we did, all hell broke loose and the guys at the front started tearing strips off each other. My legs were already feeling a bit heavy, and didn't thank me for trying to get them going faster, and i floated back through the group from about 10th position to 60th or 70th as the climb went on. Bugger, losing contact so early on, not a good sign i thought. I decided it was too cold and too early to start worrying, i'd just ride a steady pace and see what happened as the race progressed. The first descent was a bit sketchy, covered in muddy water from the previous week's rainfall, and by the bottom i couldn't see a damn thing through my oakleys - so it was going to be like that was it?! As we carried on, i caught up with the guy who designed the graphics for the numbers, Dean who was riding for VC Moulin, and as if the event wasn't hard enough had decided to singlespeed it too. We rode to the first feed, where i grabbed a bunch of gels and a refill, and started to feel a bit better, and picked up the pace a bit. Further on, i came across Rachel marshalling a "three arrow" descent which transpired to be nothing more than a steep rock slab you could roll down or drop off, although apparently lots of people freaked out at the idea that it deserved three arrows, got off and ran! She shouted to me that i was about 20mins down on the leaders - 20m in three hours, not so bad i thought.
I pressed on, passing group after group of people who seemed intent on riding really gently along the flat fire roads, and then hammering up the climbs; not the most efficient way to ride such a long event. Just by riding steadily, and descending reasonably confidently i seemed to be making up quite a bit of ground. The slog up to the piper at the bloody bush bridge was worth it just to see the quintessentially Scottish sight of a man in a kilt standing in the rain piping. Good work, sir! By the time we got to Newcastleton at the 65mile point, i was starting to suffer though - the riding kept me going, being fun swoopy descents, and then i got another boost from seeing Paul of sip fame who told me i was nudging the top-15. He very kindly put some oil on my poorly, creaking chain, as I dashed inside, grabbed a couple of handfully of jaffa cakes and some more energy drink, and then headed out to try and catch a few more people. The remaining riding is a bit of a blur, i remember really enjoying my bottle of flat coke from feed 4, and riding down the slightly wet & slippy boardwalk with the abandon of someone who no longer cares for their safety, and the enthusiastic marshalls who told me there were only 6 miles left to ride. Oh joy, i was nearly back. Sadly, most of those 6 miles consisted of horrible, half-finished tracks that felt like riding over the foundations of a wall - apparently they were no less rattly and horrible on a full suss, and they even caused my saddlebag to come unhitched. But it didn't matter, i was so nearly home. I exchanged pleasantries with Mike Powell over the last couple of km, and we came in almost together, me for 9th senior, and him for 2nd vet in a bit over 9hrs.
It was a big day. I didn't feel too bad straight after, and wandered around for a bit chatting to the guys at the finish, and then catching up with more peeps at the castle. I had some food with Si Ernest and Neal Crampton who'd come first and second, and then staggered back to give Rach a sandwich (she'd been finish-timing quite a while by this point!) with the soreness really starting to set in to my legs. The rest of the evening's a bit of a blur, probably aiding in part by Ian Leitch, purveyor of fine pale ales, but the experience did nothing to dampen my post-big-dog enthusiasm for the idea that all races should end with a party!
So, in short, a superb event, and definitely a proper man's race (none of this lapped nonsense!) - one that will definitely be on my list to do again, in spite of mud, rain, wind, cold, wheel-swallowing puddles, and nasty unnecessary boulders. Maybe i need my head examined...
Tuesday 25 August 2009
Brighton Big Dog 2009 - Saturday 15th August
Well I've been distracted by other things and entirely forgotten to blog about the best event I've done this year by far! Chris and I were really looking forward to going down to Brighton for this race. Firstly because we were able to race as a mixed pair again which has always worked well for us and also because the guys who were organising the race are reknowned for being great fun and had promised to put all the profits on the bar at a Brighton pub.
We arrived rather late on friday evening after a few frustrating hours crawling along the M25 around the Dartford Crossing and quickly put up the tent (in the wrong field we later discovered but the signage was not great!). I made a rather bland dinner, since I forgot a large number of the ingredients (ooops!) and we hit the hay. Saturday dawned grey and damp. We gathered all we needed for the race, debated with the camp-site owners whether we needed to move our tent and headed off to the venue - Stanmer Park. We were greeted by a queue of cars at the entrance, clearly the organisers had not been lying about the event being sold out. Getting out and joining another queue for sign on we were excited by the atmosphere. There were all sorts of people pottering about, various old bits of bike piled on rugs on the ground to be sold to anyone who wanted them and a stash of rather yummy looking cakes, which I discovered, rather too late, were free!
Having signed on we kitted up and managed to sneak out onto the course- apparently pre-riding wasn't meant to be happening! The course was brilliant, the first third was packed with little short and pretty steep climbs followed by some equally steep and loose descents. We then crossed over a small road and meandered through a little bit of singletrack. Crossing back over the little road we hit another singletrack section which was really twisty and narrow with holly bushes carefully placed to cause maximum scratchage. The most amazing section of course however, was accessed via bridges over a big A road - quite an awesome experience. Here again were some steep descents and a very steep climb featruing the occasional step created to make walking up the paths easier. We crossed back on another bridge, bombed through some more single and double track, down a final descent and slogged across a field before we were finally back in the arena.
We were slightly concerned that we might not make it back for the rider briefing,but it turns out we had little reason to be concerned. The first aiders were late to arrive as was the PA system so the briefing and the start were delayed by half an hour. At most events this would cause an uproar as people who had carefully planned their morning, eating breakfast at the right time and trying to fit in the perfect warm-up, were suddenly in turmoil. But at the Big Dog there was no such issue, the atmosphere and the great selection of people who were there meant that we just enjoyed the sunshine which was starting to burn through and waited for everything to be ready.
Chris on the front row at the start
Chris decided to place himself on the front row with Ruth Mordaunt from the Patterson Training team whilst the briefing was going on so that he could be assured a spot. It worked well and when the race eventually got underway at 12.30pm he was right up there at the front with the big hitters including ex-Tour de France Stage and Paris-Roubaix winner Magnus Backstedt! The first lap is usually quite eventful in these kinds of events and the Big Dog was no different. Somewhere on the other side of the A road on the section of course over the bridge a rider had a put his foot in a wasps nest. The understandably angry insects went mad stinging any rider they happened to come across, including poor Chris who ended up with a rather sore bum! Despite this he had a storming lap coming through in 4th place not too long after our good friend John Whittington who was leading the race. He went out onto a second lap as we had tactically decided we would do a 2 laps for Chris, one for Rachel to start with and then see where we ended up and decide from there.
Enjoying the singletrack
Chris seemed to be going pretty well and I didn't really have that much time to wait before he was around again and it was my time to go. It took a few minutes to warm up but once I was into my rhythm I found I was riding the course pretty well and really enjoying it. Much to my relief they had now routed the course around the wasp nest and my lap was uneventful. After what felt like no time at all (but was actually around 45 minutes) I was back and it was Chris's turn again. Not sure whether he was planning to go and do 2 laps again I filled my bottles and hung around by the pits chatting to the guys at USE we met at 24-12 and one of our competitors James Poole from Beyond Mountain Bikes. Chris had planned to go out again and flew through so I had a little more time to waste and decided to go and watch out for our results in the timelaps tent. I had an inkling we were in the lead because Chris had come through 4th with the male pairs riders and I didn't think anyone had passed me, but it turns out there was a team in front of us from the Magnus Maximus coffee company. James and I thought this was a little odd since their mixed team was clearly behind both our teams so we decided we needed to look out for this mystery leading team from now on!
Concentrating whilst navigating a rooty section
Chris came back in again having done two more pretty quick laps but was complaining about needing more rest so we switched to single laps for the rest of the race. My second outing was again uneventful and I surprised myself by doing almost exactly the same time as my first lap and as Chris headed out again I did some quick calculations and worked out that one more lap for me and that was that, race over. In a lot of endurance races you do 6 hours + a lap, but in this case any laps finished after 6.30pm didn't count. We had a ten minute lead over 3rd and I would finish at around 5.40 meaning that Chris definitely could not fit in another lap. James and I had spent a lot of time by this point looking for the team who were supposedly leading our race. I spotted someone with the right team number riding around in Colnago kit but he didn't seem to have a female partner so we suspected something was up. However, I headed out on my last lap knowing that whatever happened as long as I did about the same time we had at least 2nd place. I felt rubbish at the start of this lap, but by now the course was really empty (the joy of a race with the correct number of competitors!!) I gradually got going and by about half way through was throughly enjoying myself and felt like I was out on a hard ride in the lcoal woods! Towards the end of the lap Charlie Eustace passed me. I knwe he had been entered into our category and panicked, thinking I had lost 2nd place. Jumping on his wheel I was determined to try and get the place back and ended up finishing by trying to out sprint him - not that he was probably aware of any of this! Understandably given our size difference, I failed.
Dejected I apologised to Chris for having lost the place. He didn't seem too worried and we concentrated on enjoying the atmosphere and congratulating our friends John Whittington and Trevor Allen who had also done well placing 2nd in the men's pairs. We sat and looked at the results and it turned out I was wrong. Charlie had not raced in the end and was just doing a lap. We definitely had second! James then came up and said he had queried the first place finishers in the mixed pairs as he was convinced there was not a woman involved! So over the next few minutes we finally found out that UK based road pro Yanto Barker had taken up one of the Maximus coffee places and had changed the category but this information hadn't got through to the timers. We had won!!!
On the top step
So we got to stand on the top step of the podium together and Chris successfully sprayed Cava everywhere! Thanks to all the guys who organised the Big Dog. Surely the best event this year for me by far, even with the wasps and the delays and topped off by a trip to the seafront and a few beers!
Woohoo!
We arrived rather late on friday evening after a few frustrating hours crawling along the M25 around the Dartford Crossing and quickly put up the tent (in the wrong field we later discovered but the signage was not great!). I made a rather bland dinner, since I forgot a large number of the ingredients (ooops!) and we hit the hay. Saturday dawned grey and damp. We gathered all we needed for the race, debated with the camp-site owners whether we needed to move our tent and headed off to the venue - Stanmer Park. We were greeted by a queue of cars at the entrance, clearly the organisers had not been lying about the event being sold out. Getting out and joining another queue for sign on we were excited by the atmosphere. There were all sorts of people pottering about, various old bits of bike piled on rugs on the ground to be sold to anyone who wanted them and a stash of rather yummy looking cakes, which I discovered, rather too late, were free!
Having signed on we kitted up and managed to sneak out onto the course- apparently pre-riding wasn't meant to be happening! The course was brilliant, the first third was packed with little short and pretty steep climbs followed by some equally steep and loose descents. We then crossed over a small road and meandered through a little bit of singletrack. Crossing back over the little road we hit another singletrack section which was really twisty and narrow with holly bushes carefully placed to cause maximum scratchage. The most amazing section of course however, was accessed via bridges over a big A road - quite an awesome experience. Here again were some steep descents and a very steep climb featruing the occasional step created to make walking up the paths easier. We crossed back on another bridge, bombed through some more single and double track, down a final descent and slogged across a field before we were finally back in the arena.
We were slightly concerned that we might not make it back for the rider briefing,but it turns out we had little reason to be concerned. The first aiders were late to arrive as was the PA system so the briefing and the start were delayed by half an hour. At most events this would cause an uproar as people who had carefully planned their morning, eating breakfast at the right time and trying to fit in the perfect warm-up, were suddenly in turmoil. But at the Big Dog there was no such issue, the atmosphere and the great selection of people who were there meant that we just enjoyed the sunshine which was starting to burn through and waited for everything to be ready.
Chris on the front row at the start
Enjoying the singletrack
Chris seemed to be going pretty well and I didn't really have that much time to wait before he was around again and it was my time to go. It took a few minutes to warm up but once I was into my rhythm I found I was riding the course pretty well and really enjoying it. Much to my relief they had now routed the course around the wasp nest and my lap was uneventful. After what felt like no time at all (but was actually around 45 minutes) I was back and it was Chris's turn again. Not sure whether he was planning to go and do 2 laps again I filled my bottles and hung around by the pits chatting to the guys at USE we met at 24-12 and one of our competitors James Poole from Beyond Mountain Bikes. Chris had planned to go out again and flew through so I had a little more time to waste and decided to go and watch out for our results in the timelaps tent. I had an inkling we were in the lead because Chris had come through 4th with the male pairs riders and I didn't think anyone had passed me, but it turns out there was a team in front of us from the Magnus Maximus coffee company. James and I thought this was a little odd since their mixed team was clearly behind both our teams so we decided we needed to look out for this mystery leading team from now on!
Concentrating whilst navigating a rooty section
Chris came back in again having done two more pretty quick laps but was complaining about needing more rest so we switched to single laps for the rest of the race. My second outing was again uneventful and I surprised myself by doing almost exactly the same time as my first lap and as Chris headed out again I did some quick calculations and worked out that one more lap for me and that was that, race over. In a lot of endurance races you do 6 hours + a lap, but in this case any laps finished after 6.30pm didn't count. We had a ten minute lead over 3rd and I would finish at around 5.40 meaning that Chris definitely could not fit in another lap. James and I had spent a lot of time by this point looking for the team who were supposedly leading our race. I spotted someone with the right team number riding around in Colnago kit but he didn't seem to have a female partner so we suspected something was up. However, I headed out on my last lap knowing that whatever happened as long as I did about the same time we had at least 2nd place. I felt rubbish at the start of this lap, but by now the course was really empty (the joy of a race with the correct number of competitors!!) I gradually got going and by about half way through was throughly enjoying myself and felt like I was out on a hard ride in the lcoal woods! Towards the end of the lap Charlie Eustace passed me. I knwe he had been entered into our category and panicked, thinking I had lost 2nd place. Jumping on his wheel I was determined to try and get the place back and ended up finishing by trying to out sprint him - not that he was probably aware of any of this! Understandably given our size difference, I failed.
Dejected I apologised to Chris for having lost the place. He didn't seem too worried and we concentrated on enjoying the atmosphere and congratulating our friends John Whittington and Trevor Allen who had also done well placing 2nd in the men's pairs. We sat and looked at the results and it turned out I was wrong. Charlie had not raced in the end and was just doing a lap. We definitely had second! James then came up and said he had queried the first place finishers in the mixed pairs as he was convinced there was not a woman involved! So over the next few minutes we finally found out that UK based road pro Yanto Barker had taken up one of the Maximus coffee places and had changed the category but this information hadn't got through to the timers. We had won!!!
On the top step
So we got to stand on the top step of the podium together and Chris successfully sprayed Cava everywhere! Thanks to all the guys who organised the Big Dog. Surely the best event this year for me by far, even with the wasps and the delays and topped off by a trip to the seafront and a few beers!
Woohoo!
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