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....