What a pansy!

I definitely feel like a bit of a wuss now. Although I have felt all week feeling like I've been beaten up it is clear that my injuries are not that serious and it looks like there were various other people who hurt themselves last weekend including Mel Spath and Jen O'Connor who both race in Elite. Mel definitely puts me to shame since she managed to race on Sunday even having spent a good deal of time in Scarborough A&E on Saturday too with a suspected broken collarbone. I think pre-riding earlier next time might be a good plan so we don't end up without a place to stay at midnight! Not that I plan on leaving A&E at midnight again if at all possible.

Having abandoned the race plan however, we did manage to do a bit of work on the garden at our new cottage. Well, Chris did some work and I moved things around with one arm and supervised! It's all coming together now and the pond looks so much better now we have removed the years worth of beech leaves from the bottom. In the process we've discovered hundreds of frogs, which have entertained Chris who seems to like to catch and pet them! The veg is growing well too. Rocket should be harvestable in the next week or two and we have courgettes, aubergines and tomatoes almost ready to be planted out in the newly cleared veg patch. Hopefully by the end of the summer we will be pretty self sufficient in veg. As it is we have rhubarb in abundance so will have to make some jam and puddings soon!

Enduro6 and other happenings

Having not actually read Rachel's magnum opus that she's composing with such vigour on the computer next to me, i'll just have to guess what she hasn't written about to fill in the gaps. I'm guessing that the two major absentees are going to be Enduro6, where we got second place in the mixed pairs, and my discovery that there's actually some half-decent offroad riding in the flat, windy fens. So, to begin at the beginning.

Last year, it's fair to say, Rachel and I fell in love with Enduro6; we raced as a mixed pair back then too, and i remember pushing myself that much harder simply because i knew that if i did give it 100% every lap, i'd be letting two people down and not just one! Whilst Catton Park is neither the hilliest nor the most technical course available to event organisers, it does seem that for one weekend at the end of April, Pat Adams has the ear of the weather gods, and it stays dry, warm and dusty. And let's face it, after last year's summer that's reason enough for it to stand out in the communal memory as an island of pleasantness in a sea of mud. So, we were keen to go there again this year, with the aim of improving on our fifth place of last year (we had a fantastic ding-dong battle with Ruth Mordaunt and Simon Young, I would pass Ruth, Simon would pass Rachel, and it was only pretty close to the end that it was clear they had the advantage. In fact, the mixed pairs was pretty stacked with talent last year, with Sue & Barrie Clarke, Luke & Paula Moseley, and Gareth Mongomerie & Amy Hunt all racing, so we were probably hoping for less competition too!!).

Catton is a fairly short jaunt in the grand scheme of things for us; it's about 2hrs up the A14 from Cambridge, and it's probably just as well, because the morning of the day before the race, i was off to do some finger-holding to get my PhD degree! Fully carbo-loaded from Friday night's graduation dinner, which included some (maybe a bit too much) rather excellent wine, a Stilton the size of my head (no really) and then snuff to finish, it's fair to say i felt a bit fuzzy in the head sitting on the park and ride bus in my suit, gown and academical bands. Fuzzy and surreal. And maybe a little Harry Potter. My folks made the trip from Nottingham to come and see me get my degree (i actually got two in one go, kind of like BOGOF as i totally forgot to collect my MA a couple of years ago!), and do the proud parent thing which was really lovely. Such a superb morning, and a slightly bizarre lunch in the main dining hall with all the undergraduate students, as we stayed too long at the senate house and missed the main event in my college (Trinity). Then home to change into my civvies (i'm not sure whether it's memories of school, or just some innate anarchic tendency in me that means i can't stand wearing formal dress for too long - i'm way more at home in jeans and a jumper!) have a cup of tea and a slightly flat scone, and then pack up the car and head for Catton.

We got to the park just as the sun was going down, and the racers were heading out for the night time trial - one lap of the course as fast as possible once the sun had set. I was glad i hadn't bothered, and saved my legs for the sunday, as it was really quite chilly by the time the elite guys were setting off (i know i'm only an expert, but i don't really believe that entitles me to race in the "fun" category!). It got colder again as we wandered over to say hello to our pals at the Salsa encampment, and by the time we were curled up in our sleeping bags, i was beginning to wonder if i should have brought a second one. One extremely chilly and sleepless night for both of us later, and the sun rose to reveal frost on the grass. Man i hate camping sometimes.

With surprising efficiency, we ate, built our bikes, filled our bottles and lugged an amazing amount of crap over to our pit in the parc ferme area. Before i really had time to think about it, i was lining up for the run with a bunch of other guys, and seemingly all too quickly, we were off on a lap of a shortened course around the arena. For a good 100yds, i was up with the front runners, and then my lack of running legs started to show, and i dropped back - i got on the bike maybe 50th, and stormed around my first lap feeling really strong until i was back up in around 10th by the end of lap 1. Lap 2 went much the same, although i didn't gain any places, i still felt like i was keeping it drilled, and with about 55m on the clock i handed over to Rachel for her turn out on course. We kept taking double laps, oblivious to where we were in our cat until the first results were announced a little over 2hrs in. Apparently we were winning, by a margin of around 10m.

Suddenly things got serious in my brain; i started making doubly sure i had enough liquid for each lap, that i ate properly when i got back, that i stretched my knee just in case it might start to complain. We both worked super-hard to open a really big gap, so that should an unthinkable disaster happen, we had enough of a buffer. The guys around us in the pits were also racing mixed, and were really nice and supportive offering nice relaxing conversation and advice for us when we were back from laps, and too shattered to think too much! We kept the momentum up right the way to the finish, until Rachel handed over to me for the last lap which i thought was a bit of a parade - there weren't many people out on course so i just went for it with all my remaining energy managing a lap that was only 1m slower than my first one. I came through the finish arch to shake Pat Adam's hand (that man does the personal touch so well!) thinking that we'd won. I was over the moon, i've never won any physical competition in my life before, and finally aged 26 i'd done it.

We had the obligatory interview with Joolze, and i have to say it was all an experience i could get used to, and it was only when we went to check out the results before the podium presentation that we discovered that we were 2nd. Another pair, two Elite cat XC racers had entered the men's pairs by accident, and had only been moved to the right category after the race, which kind of sucked. So, we were second. Had i known all the way through that we were 5m down on a pair of elite riders, i'd probably have been almost as elated as i was about winning, but somehow thinking you've won only to be told "oh no, clerical error" at the end takes all that away, and you can't help feel a bit robbed. What's worse is that it's clear that the credit crunch hit the prize purse too - we got a £30 wiggle voucher each for our efforts, when the entry cost £40 for the pair of us. I suspect 3rd place only just got the price of their entries back, which is pretty poor for such a big event. Still, the weather was good, the people were lovely, and 2nd place is still a decent improvement on last year, so can't gripe too much!

It's now half-eleven, and a schoolnight, so being a working man, i'll have to leave stories of long, sweeping fenland descents until another night. Tune in soon, Rachel and I have a month of pent-up blogging to get out of our systems, so there's bound to be more updates soon....

Long time no blog...

Well its been a while since I had enough time on the internet to actually add anything to this. But finally, no thanks to certain satellite TV providers, we are connected at home and able to update. Boy is there lots to update!

Chris and I are well settled into our little cottage now and have almost everything we need to live (dining table and chairs to arrive soon!). We have managed just about to sort out a routine of working, eating, training and sleeping. But have also not let ourselves off with the easy option and have done quite a bit of gardening and some racing!

I have been putting my aero helmet on quite a bit recently (well not mine, but you get the idea!). Firstly there was the student 3-up TT champs about three weeks back. This was quite an experience. I have done two 3-ups in the past and neither has been a total success. The first was years ago when I was just a newby on a bike and was towed around a 50km course by an already pretty fast Emma Pooley, and one two years ago where our third rider was late to the start and we didn't finish together - not great precedent really. I was hoping this year would be better! I was riding in a team with another two girls from Cambridge, both mostly triathletes and with varying experience. In our practice we had worked out that one girl was likely to be the weakest and she was very gracious in acknowledging she might need a bit of helping around. We actually had a very good ride until, about two-thirds round the second lap of the course I managed to clip the wheel of the lass behind me, who had overlapped, and took her out. She was amazing, jumping straight back on the bike and finishing the race despite quite a bit of bleeding. We finished as a team, and managed to win the student event so not a completely smooth ride but a good team effort none-the-less. Thanks to Willow and Hannah for that one!

Last weekend was the student 25mile TT champs. Much less fun than a TTT but I was defending champion so was persuaded to enter. I went pretty well and I managed to win again somehow. Although I renewed my dislike of TTs, getting incredibly saddle sore on the second lap of the two lap course. I was super glad of the hills which meant I pushed harder on the pedals and raised myself out of the saddle a bit!

The weekend inbetween these two excursions to the dark-side was much more fun! Chris and I raced the Enduro 6 as a mixed pair. This was a really great event again, great competitors in general and the weather turned out amazingly well. We were both feeling like we had good legs, were motivated and really enjoyed the course (even if it had been sanitised a bit through the beautiful bluebell woods!). Anyway I'm sure Chris will have more to say about this one, but we finished in second place just over 5 minutes behind the winners.

My other outing on the MTB recently has not been quite so successful however. We went up to Dalby forest near Scarborough this weekend for the second round of the National Points Series. Having done a slightly silly thing fitting my new bottom bracket I had to make a visit to lovely Jerry Turner at his shop in Ely on Friday and we ended up going via there again on the Saturday. We therefore arrived in Dalby later than originally intended all-be-it both with working bikes! After a cup of tea with the Buick's in their camper we headed out on the course to take a look. There had been some scare stories about drops so I was, I have to admit a little nervous. The first bit of the course was great fun, fast and rolling, with some steps in the descents and one rock slab-type drop. I thought that if that was it, everything would be fine. I thought too soon!

We soon came upon a bigger drop - Worry Gill - and there was a big group of people checking it out even at gone 6pm on the night before the course. Chris took a little while to ride it but was fine, but I hung around watching and tried a few times, but couldn't quite get up the nerve. Everyone was very encouraging, but I know when my mind has got the better of me and had wasted quite a bit of time, so decided I needed to carry on. We rode up a quite steep and switchbacky climb and then came across the next techy section - a rooty, run-down with a few little drops here and ther. It definitely looked nasty. Stu Bowers was there and gave Chris some great advice which saw him clean it first time. I stalled couple of times but on the same instructions eventually took the plunge and made it over the top. Unfortunately this is where it all went wrong! At some point further down, my back wheel lifted up and I braked more with my front brake - biggest mistake. I flew straight over the bars and landed chest first on a tree-stump. Ow!

Anyway to cut a long story short lovely Chris had to dust me off and walk me back up the hill since I was convinced my wrist was broken - again. He then packed up the tent and drove me to Scarborough A & E. Here we were very surprised to see Carla, who I had been riding round with, and her parents. Apparently she also took a tumble on the same descent and had speared herself on a root. We hung out in the waiting room for what seemed like hours, with some slightly nutty people (although not too many drunks for a Saturday night!). I was eventually x-rayed and found not to have broken my wrist - thank god! But I have broken my finger and bruised my ribs, so a few days off the bike at least :( Chris was an angel and after we got out after midnight and had nowhere to stay and little chance of me getting into a tent drove all the way back to Cambridge. I owe him big-time especially since he lost his chance of being able to race on what was a great course because of it all. Thanks Chris!

So what to take away from all this? Well my considered advice based on the last few weeks has to be do not use the front brakes when going down steep descents! Oh and TTing is quite painful in a completely different way....