Regime Change

Wow, it's actually been quite a while since i felt the need to document my life on two wheels to friends, wellwishers, and total strangers, but here i am again in front of a computer to give you the latest installment in my mtb saga. I guess i've actually been pretty busy since Crow Hill, but because there's been relatively little racing to punctuate it, it does leave me bereft of reference points - it's actually quite scary how life can start to revolve around racing! Needless to say, to follow on from Rachel's post, Crow wasn't really much fun for me - mostly compounded by my own inability to maintain my kit properly. All it took was a week of me using my decent spd shoes to commute to work to wear out the cleats on them to the point where my right foot would release from the cleat as soon as i tried to pedal hard, et voila - an extremely annoying race. At some point fairly early in the race, i tried to crank out of saddle coming out of a corner in the woods to haul my way back towards the tail of the expert group, and bang - foot comes out and down i go in a heap of dirt. At first, full of adrenaline, i thought i was ok, jumped back on my bike, and rode on a bit with Brodie Gardias, gradually picking my way back into the tail-end charlies, but as the race went on, it became obvious that my knee wasn't in a good way from the fall. Having had to dismount for a muddy section of trail, and realised that there was a bad bad burning feeling in it, i decided to call it a day after 3 laps of my race (although stupidly, i forgot to go through the timing caravan, so looked even worse on timelaps!!). So, my first DNF - not a pleasant feeling, and not one i want to have again any time soon.

Post race, i had a couple of days to reflect, and decide ultimately that XC racing just isn't my thang (at least for the moment) - i like to be able to compete with people around me, so when the whole of the expert field leaves me for dead on the start line, it rather sucks the fun out of racing for me. So, more speed in future! Anyway, to regroup and refocus, i've decided i'm going to start doing some more events that i actually enjoy, and try a few things that otherwise i might not have allowed myself to do. So, up on the list so far we have: 3 Peaks Cyclocross (did it last year with absolutely no training in my legs post-thesis, and still loved it), 24/12 12hr solo (there's a few guys i know doing it, and the idea of a 12hr solo scares me - good thing to confront i reckon!) & the Kielder 100 mile race (definitely scares me, and also the sort of thing i'd really like to see succeed in the this country). I'm also going to do a bit of regional XC, another round of the mids, FNSS & some of the eastern mtb series just for good measure - hopefully there'll be people who're slow enough for me at some of them!).

My other south-coast-induced revelation was that if it's going to work for me, training has to be fun; earlier in the year, i'd been doing a lot of speed work on the turbo trainer through a lack of time (what with job hunting, moving house etc etc) and not really been out on my bike enough. I love riding, even when it's cold in the depths of winter (you can keep rain, though!), so just letting myself do what i want to and having fun on the bike has been really nice the last few weeks. I've been out on a couple of excellent epic rides around the region with Jef, John and the other guys from Ben Haywards/OTH, and it's been wonderful - i never knew such good riding was to be had right on our doorsteps. Yesterday, Andrew and I headed over to the Ridgeway for some new and different riding, and were rewarded with 65km of really varied terrain, from classic mint sauce white singletrack across grassy hills, to natural whoopy forested trails with plenty of tree-stumps and logs to hop and avoid. It wasn't super technical, or massive height-gain and -loss territory, but it was great fun and just what i needed, even with the intermittent rain showers, and our muddy bikes at the end. It was one of those days when you don't realise that time is passing, you're totally content to live in the minutes between the corner ahead and the top of the next hill - magic.

At the other end of the riding spectrum, on Friday i headed over to Desborough (near Northants - at the top of the A14) for a fast-and-furious round of the FNSS. Rachel was there supporting, and she had me, Jef & Mike to cheer for from Over the Hill, plus selected other people she recognised! A quick ride around with the guys showed it was a bit of a tricky course; some really bouncy doubletrack sections across the fields led to swooping sections through the trees, where most of the corners where flat-out affairs, with just one or two errant trees to catch you out. It was pretty flat, with just a few short, steep climbs to sap your momentum, and some serious ruts to catch you out if you were cocky enough to try to overtake! Jef had Paul Ashby to duke it out with in his race, and there were some pretty good names in my race too (although mostly masters racers i notice - Matt Barrett, Chris Rathbone, Adi Scott...you obviously get faster when you hit 30!!). My race plan was, as before, try not to get caught by Jef - it didn't quite work out this time (i'm not sure if i had less of a head start, or if he's just got even faster!) and he got me on the penultimate lap. Somehow, i found the energy to hold his wheel, and he towed me clear of the guys i was fighting for 5th, so we both crossed the line after just under an hour for prizes! Unfortunately, a timing error, and my disbelief that i could have done that well worked against me, as the timers thought that someone had placed between Matt B (directly ahead of me after a puncture) and Adi (two places ahead). I didn't (foolishly) challenge it on the night, not wanting to be "one of those people", but hopefully it'll be all sorted at the next round next friday.
Cue gratuitous photo of me looking a bit nervous pre-race



Rachel's photos from the event are now up in our picasa gallery here

Feel free to have a look! Next race for me is the FNSS next week, which i'll be heading to all alone (sniff, sniff) because Rachel's off to the Nat Champs at Innerleithen in search of more UCI points! I'm sure we'll both bore you with our respective exploits soon enough!