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.
Wednesday 29 July 2009
Sunday 19 July 2009
Another Busy Day
I’m back in front of the computer, trying and failing to watch the highlights of today’s tour stage to Verbier on ITVplayer (I’ve spent all day insulating myself from any talk of the tour so I have no idea of the results!), so I figured what better time to write another blog entry! Today, I spent the day racing the first race of the new Eastern Series at Danbury country park. Having never been down to that part of the world (I’ve never been to Chelmsford before, I realise this morning as I was driving down), I didn’t really know what to expect. Having got there early to make sure I got a ride (in practice that wasn’t really an issue apparently, but never mind – good to have time) I had plenty of time to preview the course. Too much time, it transpired, as the course itself was only around 15mins long! I ended up doing four laps just to fill the time before my race at 1pm!
I also had a nice chat with marshall extraordinare Tony Williams, and the organisers were nice enough to warn me that there was a pretty serious competitor also entered in my race (but not who it was!). It became apparent when I went to line up that I would be racing, amongst other, Alex Dowsett, who’s road- and time-trial exploits I’ve read about many a time on the British Cycling website. As long as he could stayj upright, it was pretty clear it was going to be a race for second!
As race time arrived, I quashed my usual instincts and lined up on the front row for the downhill start that went almost immediately into the singletrack, as I was concerned about the possible bottleneck this could cause. I ended up in a nice little group of four riders at the front of the race, but after a couple of minutes of sitting in, I started to worry about the faster guys behind, and decided to strike out alone. I led for most of the first lap until Alex came flying past me at a totally unmatchable pace on the gentle fire road climb towards the start-finish. So it remained for the rest of the race, with the marshalls giving me ever-increasing time checks to Alex (they even seemed disappointed every lap when they realised I couldn’t close a six-minute gap!), and the guys behind remaining a pretty constant distance back.
I crossed the line for second place feeling really pretty pleased with myself – I hate to say it, but it’s probably an indication of the lack of strength of the field that I came second, but it was nice to get to stand on the podium and spray champagne (Essex champagne, no less!). My back is now killing me from all the lumps and bumps in the course – it definitely wasn’t hardtail country, but with only one bike I didn’t have the luxury of a more comfortable machine!
Once I’d finished, and picked up my prize, I dashed back to the car to ring Rachel and find out how her race had gone. Sadly, she’d got a puncture at the top of the climb on the first lap, and been unable to get any air into her tyre, in spite of the help of Anna Buick, and pulled out. In fact, it sound like only one Expert woman managed to finish the Senior race! In the men’s U23 race, the guy who’s been leading expert all year, Scott Thwaites, managed to overhaul Dave Fletcher to get himself a nice stripy jersey, and Sion O’Boyle who’d been pushing him all the way came in 3rd, which makes me feel rather better about the torrid time I’ve been having in Expert.
Now I’m going to head back to the sofa to watch the remains of this very-slowly streaming video of the high mountains, so ta ta for now!
I also had a nice chat with marshall extraordinare Tony Williams, and the organisers were nice enough to warn me that there was a pretty serious competitor also entered in my race (but not who it was!). It became apparent when I went to line up that I would be racing, amongst other, Alex Dowsett, who’s road- and time-trial exploits I’ve read about many a time on the British Cycling website. As long as he could stayj upright, it was pretty clear it was going to be a race for second!
As race time arrived, I quashed my usual instincts and lined up on the front row for the downhill start that went almost immediately into the singletrack, as I was concerned about the possible bottleneck this could cause. I ended up in a nice little group of four riders at the front of the race, but after a couple of minutes of sitting in, I started to worry about the faster guys behind, and decided to strike out alone. I led for most of the first lap until Alex came flying past me at a totally unmatchable pace on the gentle fire road climb towards the start-finish. So it remained for the rest of the race, with the marshalls giving me ever-increasing time checks to Alex (they even seemed disappointed every lap when they realised I couldn’t close a six-minute gap!), and the guys behind remaining a pretty constant distance back.
I crossed the line for second place feeling really pretty pleased with myself – I hate to say it, but it’s probably an indication of the lack of strength of the field that I came second, but it was nice to get to stand on the podium and spray champagne (Essex champagne, no less!). My back is now killing me from all the lumps and bumps in the course – it definitely wasn’t hardtail country, but with only one bike I didn’t have the luxury of a more comfortable machine!
Once I’d finished, and picked up my prize, I dashed back to the car to ring Rachel and find out how her race had gone. Sadly, she’d got a puncture at the top of the climb on the first lap, and been unable to get any air into her tyre, in spite of the help of Anna Buick, and pulled out. In fact, it sound like only one Expert woman managed to finish the Senior race! In the men’s U23 race, the guy who’s been leading expert all year, Scott Thwaites, managed to overhaul Dave Fletcher to get himself a nice stripy jersey, and Sion O’Boyle who’d been pushing him all the way came in 3rd, which makes me feel rather better about the torrid time I’ve been having in Expert.
Now I’m going to head back to the sofa to watch the remains of this very-slowly streaming video of the high mountains, so ta ta for now!
Saturday 18 July 2009
New things, and a two-race weekend.
As I write this, I’m sitting here nursing my slightly sore legs and watching today’s tour stage on ITV player. In spite of, or perhaps because of Rachel being away in Innerleithen at the national champs this weekend, I’ve been keeping myself madly busy the last few days, and not to be outdone, I’ve also made sure I’m doing more races than her (that said, I wouldn’t swap with her for the world!).
Part of my busyness has been getting used to all my new kit – thanks to sponsors Ben Hayward Cycles, I have a lovely new pair of specialized mtb shoes that I tried out on the road bike today.
It’s amazing how comfortable they are; you’re very aware of how stably your feet are being held, but at the same time they feel like slippers in terms of general comfort. A weird and wonderful feeling. The only worry I have is that they’re too pretty to wear except when it’s bone dry! Along with a new pair of cleats to go one them, I also invested in the crank brothers sole savers – little machined bits of stainless steel that stop the metal wings on the eggbeater pedals that I love from eating their way into your carbon soles. They’re not cheap, but they’re beautifully made, and as long as they do stop my shoes from eroding, I reckon it’ll be money well-spent.
I guess we’ll soon see if I manage to talk myself into wearing the new speed slipper at 24-12!
My other new acquisition from Hayward’s is a pair of the lightweight ergon GR2SL grips; Rachel has raved about her ergon grips for quite a while, and having had odd numb sensations in my hands after long rides, I decided it might be time to invest too. Being an incurable weight weenie, I went for the light ones with lovely little ergonomic carbon bar ends integrated into them, and in spite of the slight hit on weight compared to my old ritchey foam grips, I definitely don’t regret it!
My first outing with them was the FNSS race last night at Delapre Abbey; it poured with rain all the way there, and Jef and I talked ourselves out of, then back into, out of and then back into racing again on the drive over. Handily, we arrived just late enough to avoid getting our bikes dirty by pre-riding, but the downside was that we both felt a bit dodgy after the starting sprint with no warm up. I had started getting into things, and was really enjoying the tricky mud, when I dropped my chain and it jammed between my chainrings and my crank arm. Helped by the marshalls, I eventually got things untangled (I first tried to prise the rings away from the arm with a twig – it’s amazing the dumb things you do when your heart’s beating three times a second) by undoing the quick link. I spent the rest of the race chasing back to where I’d been in the field, but alas didn’t quite do enough to get me back to Ant White in 3rd, and so missed out on a prize. It was a bit annoying losing 3 minutes through something so dumb, especially when the nat champs had thinned my competition rather, but never mind! Aside from chain issues, the bike worked perfectly, I loved my new grips (especially the bar ends) and my rocket rons (bought a couple of weeks ago from other supporters Clee Cycles) made the bike handle like it was on rails in spite of the slippery mud on the course.
Coming up next is the first round of the Eastern MTB series down in Essex tomorrow, and I going into it without any real idea what to expect! It was a choice between that and the next round of the thetford summer series, but to be totally honest I feel like I’m done with thetford as a place to ride, and I really want to see an mtb league in the east return and survive, so reckon it’s worth supporting. Hopefully, this video of Billy-Joe Whenman riding the course will be representative, and I’ll still feel I made the right choice tomorrow evening!
I went for a bit of a leg-loosener of a ride this evening, or at least it was supposed to make me feel a bit less achey after yesterday’s exploits; I was only intending to ride for 30 mins or so, but it was such a lovely evening, and I was so enjoying I ended up riding for two hours – whoops! I figure it’s a good sign for my upcoming effort at 24-12 that I feel motivated to ride for longer than planned at the moment; all I have to do now is store up all that motivation so that it’ll last me the full 12hrs! Which brings me to my final bit of new kit – I splashed out on an exposure joystick; such a neat helmet mount and such a powerful but small light seemed like the perfect option for racing 6hrs under the cover of darkness.
Obviously the most euphoric bit will be when I can switch it off and embrace the new day, I’ll just have to keep reminding myself that I still have 6hrs to ride at that point….
Rachel will be back from sunny Scotland on Monday, more than likely full of exciting stories of endless climbs and hair-raising descents to put my eastern racing to shame, until then adios amigos.
Part of my busyness has been getting used to all my new kit – thanks to sponsors Ben Hayward Cycles, I have a lovely new pair of specialized mtb shoes that I tried out on the road bike today.
It’s amazing how comfortable they are; you’re very aware of how stably your feet are being held, but at the same time they feel like slippers in terms of general comfort. A weird and wonderful feeling. The only worry I have is that they’re too pretty to wear except when it’s bone dry! Along with a new pair of cleats to go one them, I also invested in the crank brothers sole savers – little machined bits of stainless steel that stop the metal wings on the eggbeater pedals that I love from eating their way into your carbon soles. They’re not cheap, but they’re beautifully made, and as long as they do stop my shoes from eroding, I reckon it’ll be money well-spent.
I guess we’ll soon see if I manage to talk myself into wearing the new speed slipper at 24-12!
My other new acquisition from Hayward’s is a pair of the lightweight ergon GR2SL grips; Rachel has raved about her ergon grips for quite a while, and having had odd numb sensations in my hands after long rides, I decided it might be time to invest too. Being an incurable weight weenie, I went for the light ones with lovely little ergonomic carbon bar ends integrated into them, and in spite of the slight hit on weight compared to my old ritchey foam grips, I definitely don’t regret it!
My first outing with them was the FNSS race last night at Delapre Abbey; it poured with rain all the way there, and Jef and I talked ourselves out of, then back into, out of and then back into racing again on the drive over. Handily, we arrived just late enough to avoid getting our bikes dirty by pre-riding, but the downside was that we both felt a bit dodgy after the starting sprint with no warm up. I had started getting into things, and was really enjoying the tricky mud, when I dropped my chain and it jammed between my chainrings and my crank arm. Helped by the marshalls, I eventually got things untangled (I first tried to prise the rings away from the arm with a twig – it’s amazing the dumb things you do when your heart’s beating three times a second) by undoing the quick link. I spent the rest of the race chasing back to where I’d been in the field, but alas didn’t quite do enough to get me back to Ant White in 3rd, and so missed out on a prize. It was a bit annoying losing 3 minutes through something so dumb, especially when the nat champs had thinned my competition rather, but never mind! Aside from chain issues, the bike worked perfectly, I loved my new grips (especially the bar ends) and my rocket rons (bought a couple of weeks ago from other supporters Clee Cycles) made the bike handle like it was on rails in spite of the slippery mud on the course.
Coming up next is the first round of the Eastern MTB series down in Essex tomorrow, and I going into it without any real idea what to expect! It was a choice between that and the next round of the thetford summer series, but to be totally honest I feel like I’m done with thetford as a place to ride, and I really want to see an mtb league in the east return and survive, so reckon it’s worth supporting. Hopefully, this video of Billy-Joe Whenman riding the course will be representative, and I’ll still feel I made the right choice tomorrow evening!
I went for a bit of a leg-loosener of a ride this evening, or at least it was supposed to make me feel a bit less achey after yesterday’s exploits; I was only intending to ride for 30 mins or so, but it was such a lovely evening, and I was so enjoying I ended up riding for two hours – whoops! I figure it’s a good sign for my upcoming effort at 24-12 that I feel motivated to ride for longer than planned at the moment; all I have to do now is store up all that motivation so that it’ll last me the full 12hrs! Which brings me to my final bit of new kit – I splashed out on an exposure joystick; such a neat helmet mount and such a powerful but small light seemed like the perfect option for racing 6hrs under the cover of darkness.
Obviously the most euphoric bit will be when I can switch it off and embrace the new day, I’ll just have to keep reminding myself that I still have 6hrs to ride at that point….
Rachel will be back from sunny Scotland on Monday, more than likely full of exciting stories of endless climbs and hair-raising descents to put my eastern racing to shame, until then adios amigos.
Sunday 12 July 2009
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!
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!
Friday 3 July 2009
BMBS 4 Crow Hill New Forest
I've been a bit slow off the mark writing about this race, partly because I didn't feel I did as well as I could have done and partly because I've been pretty busy this week. Whilst the weather was amazing the weekend didn't exactly go to plan for the fedder/penton pairing this time around.
It started off on slightly the wrong footing when I was late picking Chris up (due to a cat missing in the attic!) and then we got stuck in traffic on the dreaded M25 and were late to the race venue - ergo no pre-ride. We ate dinner with the Buick family and John Whittington, who had ventured down on his own this time from Bristol and then after being eaten alive by midges got a good nights sleep. Saturday morning we got a good early start and were ready to go out and look at the course at just after 8am. We got to the entrance and were promptly told the course was closed until 9am, a whole hour before my race started and 45 minutes before they start gridding us. It was a bit of a nightmare. We should have just sneaked onto the course somewhere else in retrospect, but we decided to be rule abiding and waited until 9. A quick potter round the course showed it was going to be a hard race, roots were everywhere you didn't want them to be and you seemed to have to slow down and speed up again all the time as the flow through the trees was not great. Despite this I was still feeling pretty positive and lined up on the front row of the grid ready to hit the race head on.
At about 10 past 10 we went off. I got into pretty good position at the front of the pack and going into the singletrack was about 3rd wheel, just where I wanted to be. But then on one of the rooty corners I spun out and ended up in entirely the wrong position and lost a few places. I then spent the rest of the first lap trying to get back up to the front, which won't have helped my energy levels I guess. I caught up with Anna Buick going into the second lap and thought we could have a good ride together. She was riding really well and had some good lines to follow through the trees. When it opened up a bit I went to the front thinking we could keep the same pace and try to get to Maxine Filby and Jess Roberts, who were not that far ahead. However, I must have done this at exactly the wrong time, since Anna was not feeling too good and decided to conserve her energies for later. So I was on my own again.
Towards the end of the second lap I caught up with Maxine and managed to get past when she made a slight mistake. This gave me a good boost and I rode pretty well for a while after that, but on the third lap I really felt like my legs were made of lead. Maxine came back past me and I just had nothing. I was also making loads of silly mistakes in the trees. I survived the rest of the race, but annoyingly could see both second and third place in front of me for a lot of the time. I think I really slowed in the last lap and only just held onto fourth spot. So not a bad result, but not a great one either!
Chris also had a torrid time in the Expert men's race. He is generally a patient racer who is slow out of the start and has to work back to people through the race, but this year it has been really difficult for him to get forward since the Expert field is so fast. This, combined with a crash and a sore knee meant that at Crow the whole thing became a suffer-fest. He sensibly decided to call it a day after 3 laps and I can't really blame him given the size his knee was later on in the day!
Chris racing hard!
There is now a natural break in the NPS scedule, but we are still racing quite a bit! I am off to the Nationals in Scotland in three weeks and will be trying not to be last and Chris has decided to go endurance for the rest of the season, combining the Torchbearer 12 at Newnham Park in Plymouth, the Kielder 100 mile race and hopefully the 3-peaks cyclocross with a few local XC races for good measure. No wonder we never have any money!
It started off on slightly the wrong footing when I was late picking Chris up (due to a cat missing in the attic!) and then we got stuck in traffic on the dreaded M25 and were late to the race venue - ergo no pre-ride. We ate dinner with the Buick family and John Whittington, who had ventured down on his own this time from Bristol and then after being eaten alive by midges got a good nights sleep. Saturday morning we got a good early start and were ready to go out and look at the course at just after 8am. We got to the entrance and were promptly told the course was closed until 9am, a whole hour before my race started and 45 minutes before they start gridding us. It was a bit of a nightmare. We should have just sneaked onto the course somewhere else in retrospect, but we decided to be rule abiding and waited until 9. A quick potter round the course showed it was going to be a hard race, roots were everywhere you didn't want them to be and you seemed to have to slow down and speed up again all the time as the flow through the trees was not great. Despite this I was still feeling pretty positive and lined up on the front row of the grid ready to hit the race head on.
At about 10 past 10 we went off. I got into pretty good position at the front of the pack and going into the singletrack was about 3rd wheel, just where I wanted to be. But then on one of the rooty corners I spun out and ended up in entirely the wrong position and lost a few places. I then spent the rest of the first lap trying to get back up to the front, which won't have helped my energy levels I guess. I caught up with Anna Buick going into the second lap and thought we could have a good ride together. She was riding really well and had some good lines to follow through the trees. When it opened up a bit I went to the front thinking we could keep the same pace and try to get to Maxine Filby and Jess Roberts, who were not that far ahead. However, I must have done this at exactly the wrong time, since Anna was not feeling too good and decided to conserve her energies for later. So I was on my own again.
Towards the end of the second lap I caught up with Maxine and managed to get past when she made a slight mistake. This gave me a good boost and I rode pretty well for a while after that, but on the third lap I really felt like my legs were made of lead. Maxine came back past me and I just had nothing. I was also making loads of silly mistakes in the trees. I survived the rest of the race, but annoyingly could see both second and third place in front of me for a lot of the time. I think I really slowed in the last lap and only just held onto fourth spot. So not a bad result, but not a great one either!
Chris also had a torrid time in the Expert men's race. He is generally a patient racer who is slow out of the start and has to work back to people through the race, but this year it has been really difficult for him to get forward since the Expert field is so fast. This, combined with a crash and a sore knee meant that at Crow the whole thing became a suffer-fest. He sensibly decided to call it a day after 3 laps and I can't really blame him given the size his knee was later on in the day!
Chris racing hard!
There is now a natural break in the NPS scedule, but we are still racing quite a bit! I am off to the Nationals in Scotland in three weeks and will be trying not to be last and Chris has decided to go endurance for the rest of the season, combining the Torchbearer 12 at Newnham Park in Plymouth, the Kielder 100 mile race and hopefully the 3-peaks cyclocross with a few local XC races for good measure. No wonder we never have any money!
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