I guess I was more annoyed by my slight disaster at the XC Nationals a couple of weekends ago than I thought, since I've only just decided I should write something about it! The whole thing didn't really start very well, when my forks went missing after being sent off for servicing and despite the best efforts of Magura Germany were not returned in time. I therefore spent the few days before I left for the race trying to find forks or a bike to use. Thankfully Theresa Jackson came to the rescue lending me her Gary Fisher hardtail and I definitely owe her big time! Then the weather forecast was terrible. The weekend was set to be a soggy one and exhausting so I was glad to have organised myself a lift up to Innerleithen in the Scottish Borders in the AW Cycles van as well as nabbing one of the beds in the flat they had rented. It would have been a bit miserable in a tent on my own.
They picked me up from the services close to Worcester where my parents had dropped me off a couple of hours earlier on the Friday before the race and we had a very steady drive up in absolutely horrendous rain (well done to Simon for dealing so well with it). I had a very enjoyable journey chatting to Simon Ernest's wife Mel about PhD's, since she had just finished her writing and of course I'm getting there! Anyway we arrived about 7pm, had dinner in a local pub and curled up for the night. On Saturday morning the weather looked to have cleared and I pottered about in the flat waiting for 1.30 pm when the course was open to pre-ride.
When the time arrived we cycled up to the course HQ - a two minute ride. I signed on and then met up with Andrew Cockburn from Cambridge CC before we all headed out onto the course. I decided to let the boys go and just pottered up the climb at my own pace. I was very aware of how much uphill there was and did not want to exhaust myself. The climb was pretty varied, a fair amount of fire road of course, but also some muddy and steeper singletrack and some woodland linking trails. Once you hit the top though it was all downhill. A steep, muddy and rooty descent which was going to involve hanging off the back of the saddle the whole way. I managed to ride all but two parts of this and was pretty pleased with myself. Realising my steady climbing and the queues at various points on the descent had meant my pre-ride was an hour long I decided to call it a day there and headed back to the race village to watch people change their tyres and catch up with friends.
Race day dawned and looked pretty similar to the previous day, sunny periods with the odd shower, and not too bad considering the weather of the previous days. Was packed up out stuff and headed out to the course to watch the vet and masters race. The beginning of the course and the main feed zone was in a field off to one side from the race village. This was going to be the worst part of the course and looking at the early racers slog round at what appeared to be minimum speed I was not looking forward to it. After a good deal of cheering I decided I had better go and get ready for my race. A spin up and down the road for warm-up and frequent stops back at the van for the various things I had forgotten and I was lining up ready to take to the start.
The elites lined up first and the rest of us made up the second and third lines. There is no expert category for National Championship races, we all race in the same championship race, so it was the only time this year I would be lining up against the faster girls! Its always a little scary, but I like the challenge and the opportunity to see how I measure up. A little after 1pm we took off, again at 2 miles per hour around the tea-cup field. I watched as most of the field plodded ahead of me, but stuck to my plan of taking it easy and seeing what happened as the long, hard race went on. Pleasingly my competition from expert this year was just ahead of me and not gaining much ground so I sat back and just kept going at a steady pace. On the first little bit of downhill linking two bits of climb, Emma Smith had a tumble. I asked if she was ok and after "No!" as a response shouted at the first marshall to go back and look after her. I didn't see her again, so I hope she is ok!
Towards the top of the climb I was coming back to Maxine Filby as well and as we headed into the descent was hoping to be able to make up a place or two on the way down. But here disaster struck! My rear tyre suddenly felt spongy, so I stopped and tried as calmly as I could to put some air in hoping that the sealant would take effect. Darn the tyre was unseated, presumably by me riding it a little flat. So I grabbed my tube and tried to put it in and pump up the tyre again. I got the CO2 canister going, but no air seemed to go in, darn. Anna Buick, who was unfortunately not feeling well stopped to give me another tube and CO2, but I still could not get it to work! I still don't have any firm idea what happened, but it might be that there was some kind of a seal in the new tube which I neglected to break before I tried to inflate it. Or, I was just being incompetent in the heat of the race. Anyway, that was that. Race over. I walked/slid back down the hill, withdrawing on the way and took a spot in the pits to watch what was happening at the front of the races. It was pretty exciting and Sue Clarke (SIS) won the women's race with Jenny C (Look RT), who also had puncture issues, a couple of minutes behind in second and Sharon Laws (Halfords) in third. Liam Killeen took the jersey in the men's race and Annie Last and Scott Thwaites in the under 23 races. Congrats to them all!
At the time I was not too upset, since I would not have been up there winning the race, but it did annoy me that I didn't finish because of my inability to fix the wheel. I am over it now but I have vowed to make sure I can work everything absolutely before the next time I race. I did however make some good friends in the AW cycles crew so thanks guys for the company.
This last weekend I spent an enjoyable night looking after Chris in the Torchbearer 12 at Bontrager 2412 which I will let him tell you about! My next race is the Midlands XC in Cannock Chase this weekend and I can't wait.
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