For a bit of a break from the usual diet of evening time trials and intervals on the turbotrainer, Rachel and I decided to head to the previous round of the friday night summer series. The race venue was based around the tracks in "Boyes Toyes" which had previously been used for round 1 of the midlands series, and made for a superb short track XC race. There were a few short climbs on the course but we seemed to make the most of the limited elevation, the course definitely seemed to go down more than up, and there were some superb sections with 180-turns and a choice of ruts to use to get around them. After a busy day at work, it was so nice to let of steam by going around the course as the sun got lower in the sky, and even better to see most of the Over the Hill guys at the race too.
I signed on, lined up a little too early with the other guys, and then ended up not making it onto the front row for my race, so had to make a few "unorthodox" overtaking manouevres to get forward in the group. My main aim in the race was to try to lap Rachel and to avoid getting caught by Jef who was starting 3mins behind me. As i edged forward through the over-excited crowds, i did come across a couple of people who were less than happy to let me pass - including one guy who made a huge effort to speed up when i tried to pass him before a narrow, nettle-lined section of the course. After a brief burn through the nettles, which stung a surprising amount, i made another effort to get past, which he couldn't answer, and by the time i got the tree-covered section of the course, he was way back and holding up a long line of other riders. I never understood the mentality of people who try to sandbag you regardless of obvious differences in pace, it seems so unnecessary and egregious - i don't think i even put the guys in my own category through that kind of a nuisance. But maybe i should....
Anyway, having survived the starting lap, i settled into a decent rhythm, pushing a lot harder than i usually do in an NPS (the FNSS are half the length) and really enjoying riding each section of the course as fast as i could. As i started the last lap, i saw a flash of red following me through the trees - Jef was closing in - we passed each other and gave shouts of encouragement, and i concentrated on trying not to get caught. and just made it to the line with a few seconds to spare (more i think because Jef wasn't trying very hard, rather than through any last lap heroics i had left in me), and Rachel was waiting there looking a bit pink from her efforts - not quite, but nearly!
We hung around in a field for a bit eating ginger and chocolate biscuits, watching the sun go down, and waiting for the prizes for Jef and Rach, and then pootled home for a nice dinner and a well-earned sleep, in my case to dream my way around the course one last time! I loved what was really my first grass-roots racing experience of the year, and i'll definitely be back for more later in the season.
The rest of the weekend passed in a blur of gardening and riding my MTB around cambridgeshire, punctuated by memories of a weird white, lumpy bridleway, apple pie with ice cream in Saffron Walden, and my first crop of raspberries from the canes in our garden. I do love summer time!
Wednesday 24 June 2009
Tuesday 16 June 2009
Midlands XC Champs – Hanchurch Woods, Stoke on Trent
This weekend was the second round of the Midlands XC series incorporating the XC champs. Chris and I, as midlands registered riders, headed over there to see whether we might be able to pick up some points and maybe a placing in the champs. Unfortunately the weekend didn't get off to a brilliant start when we had to do a mad dash across Cambridgeshire to get a headset for Chris's bike and the cleat bolts drilled out of the bottom of both our shoes. Mission accomplished however, we went for a spin on the bikes, ate dinner, packed up the car for the race and headed over to Nottingham where we planned to stay in Chris's parent's house. Upon arrival we realized there was a slight issue, the Pedders were on holiday, there had been a new alarm fitted and we didn't know the code! We rang around a few travelodges but it soon became apparent that we could not afford the prices and it was too late to find a b&b, so we decided we had no option than to bunk down in the car.
After a night of rather interrupted sleep, we woke to see a brilliant blue sky – it was going to be a dry day thankfully. We found a Co-op to stock up on water (although we didn't buy quite enough – lesson learned!) and food in the rather brilliantly named Fenton and headed to the race venue. Driving down the narrow road to the start it was already apparent this was not going to be a flat course so when we parked up in the field and kitted up to pre-ride I was not sure how my body was going to cope with riding. The course was brilliant however, and a credit to Martin Brookes riding and trailbuilding skills. A combination of short, sharp and rooty climbs, steep descents, twitchy technical bits through the trees and sandy/muddy slogs meant that the course was relentlessly challenging. I finished my practice lap feeling not at all ready to race but keen as mustard to ride the trail again!
So I did a brief warm-up, made my way through the sport men to the start and come 11 am we were off. Jenn O-Connor (Patterson Training) thankfully gave good advice on the start line for us not to go hell for leather on the fire-road start so we might survive the first sharp corner. We obediently followed her and the other elite riders at a very steady pace until we rounded that corner, when the race really began. I was in an alright but not amazing position up the first hill with Maxine Filby (A5 Rangers) visible not too far in front, but then as we entered the first bit of singletrack realised I was behind a rider who was really not going as fast as I wanted and the gap to Maxine was growing. Reacting quickly I found a suitable place and jumped past and for the rest of the first lap steadily decreased the gap between myself and Maxine.
Coming into the second lap, I caught up with Maxine and overtook her. I decided to try and get clear and so hit the first hill hard and kept going, but unfortunately didn't drink or eat enough as I was concentrating on riding hard. So when I was caught again going into the third lap, I had nothing to follow with. In fact I felt quite rubbish for the whole lap only talking myself into drinking lots and taking a gel about half-way round and picking up the pace again. Going into lap four however, Chris shouted at me from the feed zone that the race wasn't over. This was exactly what I needed, so I concentrated on riding as well as I could, found a great guy to follow and pushed myself all the way round. I made up about a minute and a half on this last lap but it wasn't quite enough to take first place in the race. Maxine said after the finish that she could see me through the trees and had been really worried I would catch her, but my lap three dip slowed me down too much. I felt terrible at the end and thought I was going to faint. I really must remember to eat and drink lots more next time! Despite all this I did end up being Midlands Champion for my category, and it turns out overall since no Midlands registered riders finished the Elite race! Madness…
After a little bit of a rest and a stop at the burger van to spend all my available cash on small bottles of water, I actually had some time to help Chris out before his race – something we are not used too. I ended up with four sets of bottles to give out since fellow Cambridge graduate Andrew Cockburn (Cambridge CC) was also racing in the Elite mens race and a couple of guys from Bath Uni, John Whittington and Trevor Allen persuaded me to help. I was hoping they would spread themselves out a bit! The men's start went a lot faster than ours had and by the time they came through for their first lap a number of them had had mechanical problems. Andrew had a great start coming through 3rd a little behind Dave Collins (SIS Trek) and Rob Friel (KTM Pod) followed a little later by John. Chris apparently had a terrible start in the Expert Men's race having drunk milk, which wasn't sitting well in his stomach, because of our shortage of water. But he grabbed his bottle without a problem and headed out onto the second lap only a few seconds behind James Dalton (Salsa). We were surprised to see Lee Williams (Team Wiggle) running around the corner into the start finish. He has been having an amazing season this year becoming Student Champion in both 'Cross and MTB XC and coming fourth in the last NPS at Margam, but had broken a chain on his apparently borrowed bike. Quite admirably he fixed this and went out, albeit a little behind to try and make up as many places as he could. He ended up finishing 8th and we were all really impressed that he carried on despite everything. At the end he said that since he had paid his entry he was determined to get his five laps in!
Andrew continued his storming ride to take third place, just behind Oli Cox (Pedal Power). Chris seemed to improve as the race went on and yet again put out some scarily consistent lap times – I am quite impressed at how he can do this – finishing 9th in the Expert race. Amusingly enough we discovered that because so many expert racers had come from far afield to race in a champs race, he placed second in the Expert Midlands Champs. So we drove home with a couple of sparkly trophies, not bad given the race preparation we had!
Thursday 11 June 2009
MTFU Training
Whilst i was out on my post-work tootle through the hills of Herts this evening, it occurred to me that it might be quite funny to put together a catalogue of all the most wide of the mark training advice i've ever been given. I decided that, given the in joke between me and Andrew that we were one day going to set up a training consultancy in the style of "the clamp" (god rest his poor axed-by-the-comic soul) and call it "MTFU Training Inc.", that might as well be my title for the day too! Incidentally, if you're not familiar with the term "MTFU", wait about half an hour on the singletrack forum and you'll see it used in a context that should make it clear! So, in no particular order, here are the core concepts of MTFU training....
1. If you're riding after work, and it's still light when you get home, you're not done yet.
2. Miles in the rain count double.
3. Miles in the sleet/snow might count triple or quadruple, but they'll also make you pretty ill...
4. The best moisturising facepack you can get is Cambridgeshire mud (more on that later) so riding in winter offroad will give you the complexion of a newborn.
5. All you need for a 3hr ride is 500ml of water and a couple of espressos.
6. Stretching weakens the muscles, so if you feel tight somewhere, just tighten the muscle opposite - you'll end up super-strong and in perfect balance.
7. If you want to loose weight, ride before breakfast until you bonk.
8. Cheese is the ultimate low-gi food, so it must be good for you.
9. Riding slowly only trains you to ride slowly, so base training's a waste of time - you should ride hard all the time
and finally, advice given to a couple of Scottish mates of mine by an old duffer in their (Glasgow) cycling club... "water's for f***ing puffs, toughen up!".
I'd love to be able to say that all that was said to me with a wry smile and a wink, but alas some of it was deadly serious. In fact, i have to say, it's one of the things that makes training for bike racing so difficult, the bewildering array of advice you get on how to train from well-intentioned fellow cyclists.
In true MTFU style, Rachel came to meet me for a spot of offroad riding after work yesterday; the weather forecast suggested showers in the morning, and then a nice dry afternoon for a bit of a harder ride in the woods. Oh how wrong it was - the deluge began shortly before i left work, and only stopped after we got to the end of the offroad section of the ride. The rest of the time, it was biblical. I couldn't see through my glasses, but i couldn't see without them because of all the lumps of mud flying about, and more than once i ended up ditching it into the crops at the edge of the bridleway. By the time we headed home after just an hour and a half, we both looked like creatures from another planet. Like this in fact
And if you though Rachel and our bikes looked bad, you should have seen me...
Finally, i also have some thanks to give - firstly to Just Riding Along. I bought a pair of maxxis rendez tyres to use for training on last summer (mud tyres, last summer, make sense?) but never got round to using them. After i took them out for their first outing a few weeks ago, i realised that there was a wobble in the tread on one of them, and dropped them an email on tuesday evening. Not only have they sorted everything out, and posted a new tyre to me, but they've also refunded the postage i paid to send the original back to them without me even asking! Now that's what i call customer service.
Secondly, Jerry Turner has, as ever, done a super job of rebuilding my roadie training wheel with a new mavic ceramic rim, and is rushing in a replacement headset for my mountain bike to replace the rather haphazard mess i ended up with when trying to fit a semi-integrated headset myself. Were it not for his efforts, there'd be no chance of me racing at the Midlands race on Sunday!
1. If you're riding after work, and it's still light when you get home, you're not done yet.
2. Miles in the rain count double.
3. Miles in the sleet/snow might count triple or quadruple, but they'll also make you pretty ill...
4. The best moisturising facepack you can get is Cambridgeshire mud (more on that later) so riding in winter offroad will give you the complexion of a newborn.
5. All you need for a 3hr ride is 500ml of water and a couple of espressos.
6. Stretching weakens the muscles, so if you feel tight somewhere, just tighten the muscle opposite - you'll end up super-strong and in perfect balance.
7. If you want to loose weight, ride before breakfast until you bonk.
8. Cheese is the ultimate low-gi food, so it must be good for you.
9. Riding slowly only trains you to ride slowly, so base training's a waste of time - you should ride hard all the time
and finally, advice given to a couple of Scottish mates of mine by an old duffer in their (Glasgow) cycling club... "water's for f***ing puffs, toughen up!".
I'd love to be able to say that all that was said to me with a wry smile and a wink, but alas some of it was deadly serious. In fact, i have to say, it's one of the things that makes training for bike racing so difficult, the bewildering array of advice you get on how to train from well-intentioned fellow cyclists.
In true MTFU style, Rachel came to meet me for a spot of offroad riding after work yesterday; the weather forecast suggested showers in the morning, and then a nice dry afternoon for a bit of a harder ride in the woods. Oh how wrong it was - the deluge began shortly before i left work, and only stopped after we got to the end of the offroad section of the ride. The rest of the time, it was biblical. I couldn't see through my glasses, but i couldn't see without them because of all the lumps of mud flying about, and more than once i ended up ditching it into the crops at the edge of the bridleway. By the time we headed home after just an hour and a half, we both looked like creatures from another planet. Like this in fact
And if you though Rachel and our bikes looked bad, you should have seen me...
Finally, i also have some thanks to give - firstly to Just Riding Along. I bought a pair of maxxis rendez tyres to use for training on last summer (mud tyres, last summer, make sense?) but never got round to using them. After i took them out for their first outing a few weeks ago, i realised that there was a wobble in the tread on one of them, and dropped them an email on tuesday evening. Not only have they sorted everything out, and posted a new tyre to me, but they've also refunded the postage i paid to send the original back to them without me even asking! Now that's what i call customer service.
Secondly, Jerry Turner has, as ever, done a super job of rebuilding my roadie training wheel with a new mavic ceramic rim, and is rushing in a replacement headset for my mountain bike to replace the rather haphazard mess i ended up with when trying to fit a semi-integrated headset myself. Were it not for his efforts, there'd be no chance of me racing at the Midlands race on Sunday!
Saturday 6 June 2009
A day in the downs
It doesn't seem long ago since i last posted on here, but i guess quite a lot had happened in a short period of time. After a week spent gently pedalling to and from work, with the occasional attempt at hopping thrown in of an evening, it came time for my first hard session back after Margam at a local evening TT run by the Cambridge Cycling Club. I rode to work on my nice bike, and then Rachel swung by in the evening to pick me up and drive me out to the Sawston course for the TT itself. Last time we tried this manoeuvre was my birthday, and things didn't really go to plan. When i say things didn't really go to plan, they went fine for me - i was a bit tired from having done the local chaingang ride (and been dropped repeatedly) a couple of days earlier, and i didn't exactly do the fastest "10" of my life (25 minutes something on normal drop bars), but it was a good threshold training session, which was what i was after. And as a bonus, the big dark cloud that had been threatening us all stayed away until after the race finished It was only after i got back to the HQ that it became clear that things hadn't been quite so rosy for Rachel - i knew that things had gone ok to the turn where i passed her, but sometime after that her pedal had fallen off. And flown off into the bushes at the side of the road where it was totally impossible to find. D'oh. To make matters worse, when i'd picked her up, we totally forgot to collect her windproof from the start, and ended up driving back out to the course from home and missing the reservation for my birthday meal. So, really, things could only improve from there.
The TT course itself is quite a fast one, even by the flat standards of the Cambridgeshire roads, there's barely an incline bigger than a slip road in the whole thing, and there were some guys out for a good time before the national 25 on their swanky TT bikes. So turning up in a slightly natty skinsuit on a normal drop-barred bike perhaps marked me out as a non-tester as much as the peak on my helmet! Nevertheless, i went, raced, put in a good steady effort up to where i thought the finish was (i was wrong - i started soft-pedalling about 300yds too early - d'oh! That said, i did go a minute quicker than last time), and what's better, Rachel finished incident free for her first 10m TT under 30m (26:22 i'm reliably informed!). Result!
Today, we decided we fancied a bit of a change from our local trails, so we headed off to the North Downs for a bit of a spin from the picturesque little village of Sheer. We were set on following a route from the guide book for riding in the North and South Downs, with the possibility of adding in an extra loop over to Box Hill if we had time.
A bit of heavy traffic on the M25, and a late start later and we didn't get to the start of our route until 2pm; not really the ideal time to start out, and what's worse it had started to rain as well! We put our bikes together by a lovely little stream in the centre of Sheer, surrounded by loads of white ducks, and then set out onto our planned route. First up was a long, steepish middle-ring climb up a rutted track popular with 4*4s, which kind of set the tone for the day. Whilst the riding wasn't super-technical, there were plenty of rough tracks and rooty sections to keep us interested, at least interested enough to check the map all the time to find out where we were going...
As we went on, there was only one section the really stuck in my head as being less than perfect "mint sauce"-riding, where the nettles were crowding heavily into the trail, and Rachel and I had to stop to put our leg warmers on for what little protection they would afford us! A bit of on-the-trail shuffling, and we were through the worst of it, and back onto a nice wide trail with the occasional root to hop or hip-jump to fly off - nice. Muddied and happy, we headed back to the car in the village in the hope of tea and cake...
Sadly, we missed the tea shop, probably through a series of misadventures and minor disagreements (ahem!) about which way to go, and also through Rachel's back tyre mysteriously deciding to go flat about half way into the ride (in spite of tubelessness and sealant gunk!). But it was a great day out, and to be totally honest, it was nice to ride somewhere a bit less predictable than the usual "play park"-styled trail centres. Maybe i'm just getting old and beardy in my sentiments, but the whole joy of our hobby to be is getting out there into the big wide world on our bikes, not just bombing around a by-the-numbers rollercoaster (although i do admit that has a place too!).
Up-coming excitements include, but are not limited to the next round of the Midlands series run very ably by Nadine Spearing and James Hampshire - i was sorry to only do one of their races last year (at Sherwood - not my favourite venue as you might already have picked up!); an error i'm keen to try to rectify this year. I like the sound of the course at Hanchurch; although given that it's designed by Martin Brookes, i don't fancy my chances of making it through the lap without having to dab! The weekend after that, i'm keen to get out to one of the FNSS races; we'll have to see if i can escape from work early enough! And then it's crow hill - my oh my, not a moment to draw breath! But now, to bed to be ready for my big day out on the bike tomorrow...
The TT course itself is quite a fast one, even by the flat standards of the Cambridgeshire roads, there's barely an incline bigger than a slip road in the whole thing, and there were some guys out for a good time before the national 25 on their swanky TT bikes. So turning up in a slightly natty skinsuit on a normal drop-barred bike perhaps marked me out as a non-tester as much as the peak on my helmet! Nevertheless, i went, raced, put in a good steady effort up to where i thought the finish was (i was wrong - i started soft-pedalling about 300yds too early - d'oh! That said, i did go a minute quicker than last time), and what's better, Rachel finished incident free for her first 10m TT under 30m (26:22 i'm reliably informed!). Result!
Today, we decided we fancied a bit of a change from our local trails, so we headed off to the North Downs for a bit of a spin from the picturesque little village of Sheer. We were set on following a route from the guide book for riding in the North and South Downs, with the possibility of adding in an extra loop over to Box Hill if we had time.
A bit of heavy traffic on the M25, and a late start later and we didn't get to the start of our route until 2pm; not really the ideal time to start out, and what's worse it had started to rain as well! We put our bikes together by a lovely little stream in the centre of Sheer, surrounded by loads of white ducks, and then set out onto our planned route. First up was a long, steepish middle-ring climb up a rutted track popular with 4*4s, which kind of set the tone for the day. Whilst the riding wasn't super-technical, there were plenty of rough tracks and rooty sections to keep us interested, at least interested enough to check the map all the time to find out where we were going...
As we went on, there was only one section the really stuck in my head as being less than perfect "mint sauce"-riding, where the nettles were crowding heavily into the trail, and Rachel and I had to stop to put our leg warmers on for what little protection they would afford us! A bit of on-the-trail shuffling, and we were through the worst of it, and back onto a nice wide trail with the occasional root to hop or hip-jump to fly off - nice. Muddied and happy, we headed back to the car in the village in the hope of tea and cake...
Sadly, we missed the tea shop, probably through a series of misadventures and minor disagreements (ahem!) about which way to go, and also through Rachel's back tyre mysteriously deciding to go flat about half way into the ride (in spite of tubelessness and sealant gunk!). But it was a great day out, and to be totally honest, it was nice to ride somewhere a bit less predictable than the usual "play park"-styled trail centres. Maybe i'm just getting old and beardy in my sentiments, but the whole joy of our hobby to be is getting out there into the big wide world on our bikes, not just bombing around a by-the-numbers rollercoaster (although i do admit that has a place too!).
Up-coming excitements include, but are not limited to the next round of the Midlands series run very ably by Nadine Spearing and James Hampshire - i was sorry to only do one of their races last year (at Sherwood - not my favourite venue as you might already have picked up!); an error i'm keen to try to rectify this year. I like the sound of the course at Hanchurch; although given that it's designed by Martin Brookes, i don't fancy my chances of making it through the lap without having to dab! The weekend after that, i'm keen to get out to one of the FNSS races; we'll have to see if i can escape from work early enough! And then it's crow hill - my oh my, not a moment to draw breath! But now, to bed to be ready for my big day out on the bike tomorrow...
Tuesday 2 June 2009
"Big wheel up. big wheel up"
I guess it's been a while since i wrote anything on the blog, i've been madly busy settling into my new job, and training around it at the evenings and weekends. I'm now settled down on the sofa with a nice piece of chocolate and the Wire on DVD, so it must be time to update my virtual diary. So, since i last wrote, i've done quite a lot of riding on the road and the rollers, and arguably not enough offroad (you can never have too much right?!). It was all leading up to the third round of the NPS at Margam Park in South Wales; in theory a really good course for little scrawny people like me, but you've got to have the power as well as lacking the bodyfat. I guess that's where i might have been a bit lacking, as although i really enjoyed the climbs, descents and sunshine out on the course, i didn't really turn in a great result to be proud of. On the plus side, thanks to Rich's sage advice, i "tickled" the course, and didn't blow up, which is more than many people managed through the course of the day. I was tempted to race the marathon champs the day after, but margam is a place that easily gives you enough rope to hang yourself, and 100km there is not something to undertake too lightly. So in the end, given that i'm not in great shape at the moment, i'm glad i didn't do it; there's always next year, or even better the big single-loop euro marathons.
On the Sunday, we headed back to Rachel's parent's house in Worcester for a barbecue, and decided to make something of our day off in terms of skills. Now, i'm not proud to admit this, but then those of you that know me know that i didn't really come into the sport in a way that could be considered conventional. So, i'll just say it. I can't bunny hop. Not even slightly. I can hardly clear an ant on the trail. It's ok though, because neither can Rachel :). Anyway, it made for an obvious thing to work on for the two of us. So we headed down to the local laying fields, all kitted up, and practiced first lifting the front wheel, then the rear wheel, then following one with the other. Whilst neither of us was much cop, even by the end of the session, it was some of the best fun i've had on a bike in a long time. So much fun, in fact, that in spite of the fact that i was aching all across my shoulders and arms, Rachel and I headed out to do it all again this evening on a little gravel road near our house. And better still, we were both getting airborne, the proper way, no cheating with the spds. We had a go with hopping a log, and then a bigger stone, which we were both clearing comfortably, so i guess you can teach an old dog new tricks. Ever since, i've been thinking that wheelies are next...maybe like "the maggot" from the GLC i can do a wheelie on a penny farthing next...!
On the Sunday, we headed back to Rachel's parent's house in Worcester for a barbecue, and decided to make something of our day off in terms of skills. Now, i'm not proud to admit this, but then those of you that know me know that i didn't really come into the sport in a way that could be considered conventional. So, i'll just say it. I can't bunny hop. Not even slightly. I can hardly clear an ant on the trail. It's ok though, because neither can Rachel :). Anyway, it made for an obvious thing to work on for the two of us. So we headed down to the local laying fields, all kitted up, and practiced first lifting the front wheel, then the rear wheel, then following one with the other. Whilst neither of us was much cop, even by the end of the session, it was some of the best fun i've had on a bike in a long time. So much fun, in fact, that in spite of the fact that i was aching all across my shoulders and arms, Rachel and I headed out to do it all again this evening on a little gravel road near our house. And better still, we were both getting airborne, the proper way, no cheating with the spds. We had a go with hopping a log, and then a bigger stone, which we were both clearing comfortably, so i guess you can teach an old dog new tricks. Ever since, i've been thinking that wheelies are next...maybe like "the maggot" from the GLC i can do a wheelie on a penny farthing next...!
BMBS Round Three - Margam Park, Wales
After the problems at the previous National Series Race and my subsequent injuries, I was simply pleased to be able to go to Wales for the third round. Most of the aches and pains were nearly gone and Martin Salt had been kind enough to roll over Chris and my entries so with the brilliant weather forecast in mind we packed up the car and headed for my parent's house in Worcester on Thursday evening. We arrived in Margam around 1pm on friday in time to have a bite of lunch, sign on and go and look at the course.
It was slightly different from previous years, but still featured a massive amount of climbing and the kidney shaker descent at the end of every lap. In the middle were some really muddy sections in the trees where Chris and my semi-slick tyre choice was definitely put to the test, and a double stream crossing. I was really nervous of falling off and hurting myself again so decided that it was going to be better for me to run the two steep drops on this occasion (although I will definitely be working on this from now on). The rest of the descents were ok although I did not feel as confident as I have previously done. So, although feeling a bit disappointed in myself I concentrated on my fortune in being at the race at all.
Whilst riding round we bumped into Phil Buick of the Salsa Factory Racing team so after finishing we had a lovely few hours drinking tea and sitting with him and the rest of the Buick family outside their Hymer motorhome in the sunshine. We then cooked our usual stir-fry dinner and settled down in the tent for the night, drinking gallons of water since we seemed to have dehydrated ourselves sitting in the sunshine for too long!
Race day mosrning was as hectic as ever. Since Chris and I race back-to-back we have to get everything ready for both our races before I go to warm-up. Mixing enough bottles for both of us and making lunch so we both survived the afternoon as well as eating breakfast is always going to be a challenge! At around 9.15 I headed out to warm up, not on the course this time because of the massive hill and by 9.50 was in my pen waiting to be lined up. I still love the fact that all the women race together at the same time. It means we get a great comradery going and the expert field is starting to get to know each other pretty well.
I got a great start for once and think I was in the lead for about 50 metres before around four people came round and shot off. I could not quite close the gap to them, but looking back could see a good gap behind. Knowing this was going to be a long race, i concentrated on settling into a rhythm and trying not to let them get too far ahead. First lap was uneventful, although every time I looked back there was a different person behind me. As soon as we hit the main climb however I was able to pull out a good gap and found myself as usual on my own in the middle of the field. I nearly missed my bottle in the feed zone, when it came up rather faster than I was expecting - sorry Chris! But headed out on lap two feeling pretty strong and ready for anything. As I went round this time I suddenly began to see the people up ahead of me from my category in the distance. Maybe this patient racer thing was going to work after all. I was still riding the climbs in middle ring but saw that the girl ahead was labouring rather in her big gear, so decided to try granny ring and see what happened to my speed. It worked, I was suddenly gaining much faster and able to pass Jessie Roberts close to the top of the hill. Holding it together on the descent and across the fields I found myself in third place at the start-finish.
Just after the feed zone Jessie passed me back again and I decided to sit in and follow her, confident that I could pass her on the climb later. In hindsight this was a dangerous tactic since Katie Collins was closing behind, but I didn't know this at the time. About a third of the way round the final lap, Ruth Mordaunt of the Patterson Training team passed me, giving me a push. Realising I really could go much faster I jumped on her wheel passing Jessie again and followed almost all the way to the top of the hill. On the last bit of fireroad I spotting 2nd place from my race pushing her bike. Realising I could mke another place gave me a burst of energy, I passed Ruth and the other expert rider picking up Carla Haines on the way. I hit the final descent in 2nd place. Before I could question how this had happened I put the hammer down not wanting anyone to catch me back over the fields to the finish. My wrist was killing me by this point, but wow it was worth it to finish on the podium! A totally unexpected good result felt really good.
Chris was waiting at the finish with Rich, our coach Jenny's partner both ready to race later that afternoon. I advised them both to drink lots, use granny ring and pace themselves, having seen what had happened to people towards the end of the race and hurried off to get changed and returned to see the start of the men's race. Chris seemed very jolly on the start line and was mid-field after the start. He rode a very consistent race and always seemed pretty happy. As the race went on he did seem to be going pinker and pinker - it must have been nearly 30 degrees by this point. Towards the end of the race he too began to gain places, finishing 20th in the Expert men's race. I am sure Chris will be keen to give more details of his race later on.
The weekend was great, surely helped by the weather, and the event felt like a festival for bikes. Thanks to everyone who makes these trips so enjoyable! I am now finding it very difficult to get back into writing my PhD!
It was slightly different from previous years, but still featured a massive amount of climbing and the kidney shaker descent at the end of every lap. In the middle were some really muddy sections in the trees where Chris and my semi-slick tyre choice was definitely put to the test, and a double stream crossing. I was really nervous of falling off and hurting myself again so decided that it was going to be better for me to run the two steep drops on this occasion (although I will definitely be working on this from now on). The rest of the descents were ok although I did not feel as confident as I have previously done. So, although feeling a bit disappointed in myself I concentrated on my fortune in being at the race at all.
Whilst riding round we bumped into Phil Buick of the Salsa Factory Racing team so after finishing we had a lovely few hours drinking tea and sitting with him and the rest of the Buick family outside their Hymer motorhome in the sunshine. We then cooked our usual stir-fry dinner and settled down in the tent for the night, drinking gallons of water since we seemed to have dehydrated ourselves sitting in the sunshine for too long!
Race day mosrning was as hectic as ever. Since Chris and I race back-to-back we have to get everything ready for both our races before I go to warm-up. Mixing enough bottles for both of us and making lunch so we both survived the afternoon as well as eating breakfast is always going to be a challenge! At around 9.15 I headed out to warm up, not on the course this time because of the massive hill and by 9.50 was in my pen waiting to be lined up. I still love the fact that all the women race together at the same time. It means we get a great comradery going and the expert field is starting to get to know each other pretty well.
I got a great start for once and think I was in the lead for about 50 metres before around four people came round and shot off. I could not quite close the gap to them, but looking back could see a good gap behind. Knowing this was going to be a long race, i concentrated on settling into a rhythm and trying not to let them get too far ahead. First lap was uneventful, although every time I looked back there was a different person behind me. As soon as we hit the main climb however I was able to pull out a good gap and found myself as usual on my own in the middle of the field. I nearly missed my bottle in the feed zone, when it came up rather faster than I was expecting - sorry Chris! But headed out on lap two feeling pretty strong and ready for anything. As I went round this time I suddenly began to see the people up ahead of me from my category in the distance. Maybe this patient racer thing was going to work after all. I was still riding the climbs in middle ring but saw that the girl ahead was labouring rather in her big gear, so decided to try granny ring and see what happened to my speed. It worked, I was suddenly gaining much faster and able to pass Jessie Roberts close to the top of the hill. Holding it together on the descent and across the fields I found myself in third place at the start-finish.
Just after the feed zone Jessie passed me back again and I decided to sit in and follow her, confident that I could pass her on the climb later. In hindsight this was a dangerous tactic since Katie Collins was closing behind, but I didn't know this at the time. About a third of the way round the final lap, Ruth Mordaunt of the Patterson Training team passed me, giving me a push. Realising I really could go much faster I jumped on her wheel passing Jessie again and followed almost all the way to the top of the hill. On the last bit of fireroad I spotting 2nd place from my race pushing her bike. Realising I could mke another place gave me a burst of energy, I passed Ruth and the other expert rider picking up Carla Haines on the way. I hit the final descent in 2nd place. Before I could question how this had happened I put the hammer down not wanting anyone to catch me back over the fields to the finish. My wrist was killing me by this point, but wow it was worth it to finish on the podium! A totally unexpected good result felt really good.
Chris was waiting at the finish with Rich, our coach Jenny's partner both ready to race later that afternoon. I advised them both to drink lots, use granny ring and pace themselves, having seen what had happened to people towards the end of the race and hurried off to get changed and returned to see the start of the men's race. Chris seemed very jolly on the start line and was mid-field after the start. He rode a very consistent race and always seemed pretty happy. As the race went on he did seem to be going pinker and pinker - it must have been nearly 30 degrees by this point. Towards the end of the race he too began to gain places, finishing 20th in the Expert men's race. I am sure Chris will be keen to give more details of his race later on.
The weekend was great, surely helped by the weather, and the event felt like a festival for bikes. Thanks to everyone who makes these trips so enjoyable! I am now finding it very difficult to get back into writing my PhD!
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