Winter Wet and Wild Series Round 3, Innerleithen 23rd March 2008

Steve’s Bit;

Final race of the winter series and the forecast was predicting weather to suit the race title – heavy snow on the Saturday night!! Memories of 2006 came instantly flooding back when a Saturday night ‘dump’ prompted the cancellation of Sunday racing and an eight hour drive back home with a few stationery moments in snow drifts – oh joy.
However, apart from a couple of brief showers on the drive up the sun was actually shining, although the wind cut through you like a hot knife.
A ‘new’ course had been taped with the steep winter track at the top being utilised with its mentally steep, rocky shutes leading into 90 degree tree laden corners which then dropped onto the 39 steps, then the bomb hole and arena with a nasty little off camber twist at the end.
First leisurely run down and I instantly loved the course which is unusual for me. I sectioned the 2nd and 3rd runs sussing out some really sweet ‘pro’ lines on the multi lined sections, there was certainly time to be gained on these.

Final run I let it go a bit more and the long day started to take its toll and I was making silly mistakes, so that was job done for me. I knew where I wanted to go and my usual 2 to 3 runs on Sunday would get me up to warp speed.

Major bummer of the day was news that Masters Team rider John Young had taken a totally innocuous fall during practice whilst coasting down the hill and had landed awkwardly completely breaking both bones in his right wrist and his left ring finger!!! All I can say is get well soon John.

As predicted Sunday dawned and it had snowed! Fortunately only a sprinkling, though it was enough to prevent the wagons and coaches getting up the hill and make the top steep section of track treacherous, so that was taken out – D’Oh!

One knackering 45 minute plod up the hill and I was at the new 1st fire road start and ready for a practice run, which went really well as there was no traffic on the hill so I achieved an uninterrupted run and hit every line.

Back at the bottom news came through that they were trying to get the uplift moving again, although probably not in time for practice. I made the decision to conserve the energy and not bother with a second practice run, whether the right or wrong decision I’ll never know for certain.

Race time came around and thankfully the wagons were rolling again. Alister MacLennan was on the entry so with such a short course I was hoping to get within 15 secs of him and grab a second and the overall series. The new start pitched you straight into a steep rocky chute with a 90 deg right hander at the bottom. I negotiated the chute at speed but the back end came round on me at the corner and I T-boned it, coming to a standstill and leaning against the tree – plank!

I was a bit lazy down the hill and also had another ‘tree hugging’ incident and crossed the line 25 secs down on Alister which I was disappointed about but I was in 2nd place. Unfortunately Kem Avis had another flyer to pip second and then a new boy on the block, John Cobb in only his second race ever, came down within 1 sec of Alister to take it off Kem, so I finished 4th, but fortunately still good enough to blag the series – WooHoo.

Ben’s Bit;

This weekend was the final of the alpine bikes winter series and some big names in the sport were turning up to race. With the weather looking towards snow and wind on both days the riders got away with only light hail and the snow didn’t settle for most of the weekend. No uplift on Sunday morning meant pushing to the top and the track was shortened to make it safer in the snow.

From the start the track went down into a steep rocky chute over rocks and mud winding down into a tight right hand corner through tight trees. From here the track went over a bus stop and roots keeping the riders alert at an early stage. Over a broken down wall keeping to the top line set you up into a set of tight muddy switchbacks covered in roots and only one clean line through the section.

After this section you come round a tight left hand corner keeping to the inside line and down onto a path. From here riders went over a bus stop and off a small drop back onto the path keeping the bike from sliding down the banking. After a short sprint the track went into another bus stop this time a longer one jumping over roots and keeping high through tight trees at the end to set up for the next section.

Here the track sweeps round to the right through an open section and into the woods again keeping the bike low to avoid overshooting a jump. Through some tight twisty trees and over some stumps leads you down a long sprint to the fire road. Over the fire road you jump down into a fast section going over a double jump and roots braking to make a clean line through the next section.

Jumping over a set of roots and over another path leads you down into a steep section involving going through a broken down wall and keeping the bike on the high line to avoid the rocks. Here the track goes through a fast straight section avoiding two trees in the middle of the path and jumping out into the open section over a path drop. Here the track goes over a set of hip jumps and round a set of flat gravel corners being careful not to let the back end slide out.

Up to the right and the track goes over a set of roots on the inside line before dropping down into the woods again and into a tight section of trees. Here the track goes to the left through a tight line and then down a fast stretch into the big famous ski jump. Here you launch into a huge set of switchbacks with big braking bumps trying to throw you over the front of the bike. Up to the left and round an off camber right hander leads you down to the road and over a wall onto the finish line.

With one run on Sunday it was flat out in the race. After a good run with only a few mistakes Ben came down the hill in a time of 2 mins 57.92 secs and he came home in 11th place out of 56 riders in the junior category.

Full race report can be found here;-
www.descent-world.co.uk

Gorrick Spring Series Round 3, Crowthorne Woods

Andy…

Returning to the classic Gorrick venue of Crowthorne meant I was familiar with many elements of the course, and interested to see how it was all laid out this time around. Lining up on the uphill fireroad startline, the sky had that foreboding gloom of an impending monsoon-like rain storm. And not long after we set off, down the rain came. And then it went again, the shower all over in a few minutes.

Once the token rain, and indeed first lap chaos and crashes were out the way, I found myself suddenly far more alone than normal on the first lap. Looking back I saw the melee of downed riders on the first section of singletrack. I made the most of the clearer course and settled down into a good rhythm.

Lap 2 saw me grouped with some riders of similar speed, and also saw me make a right mess of the corkscrew section. Once I’d got that out of the way, I got on with the task of riding my bike properly again!

Lap 3 came, and I got a clear run through every technical section of the course, which I thoroughly enjoyed, able to hit it all at my pace, and have some fun dropping into the chutes. Managing to pass and gap a rider on the final descent into the start/finish area, I crossed the line before the start of the Expert race, and indeed the hail!

A good race, finishing in 18th spot, with some good consistent lap times, and for once no mechanicals or crashes!

…Matt…

Crowthorne Wood was the latest venue in the Gorrick Spring Series, a classic course with some great flowing singletrack and the well known but demanding corkscrew section. The start is always over a crest of a hill with a long thin fireroad section to stretch everyone out.

On this course it’s vital to get ahead of the pack quickly to avoid the inevitable bunching up into the singletrack.

This was all to true on this occasion as once into the singletrack a couple of loose short sharp climbs caught out a few and the rest of us got stuck behind them. This ruined any high finish for me which wasnt helped by what I later discovered to be a loose cleat causing me to wonder where my foot was wandering off to.

Still lessons learned (tighten those cleat bolts…!) and positive thinking and training should yeild another high finish in the next race.

…Andrew…

Despite the warnings of severe weather, the weather was bright as I headed to my first XC race of the season. I arrived before Matt and Andy so checked out the course with an old mate Jon who was on his homemade bamboo full susser for the day. Seeing him coating the frame in Teak oil before riding gave an interesting twist on pre-race bike tuning.

The pre-ride revealed a slightly modified lap from last year with much of the final boggy slog removed but with plenty of the familiar singletrack still present.

After meeting Matt and Andy for the first time as they lined up for their start, I found some people to hand up bottles for me (thanks go to the Pedalon boys) and went to warm up just as our luck with the weather broke and it started to hail.

As the race started it became clear that my fitness hasn’t miraculously improved since last year. Almost immediately my legs were burning as I tried in vain to keep in touch with the leading riders. By the end of the first lap I was already a minute down on the leaders so I settled in, enjoying the course and concentrating on picking the best lines through the various chutes and rooty sections that littered the course. After 5 laps I crossed the line in 5th place, having enjoyed the chance to ride off road in daylight for the first time in weeks, lapping Thetford in he dark can get boring. Well done to the Gorrick organisers for laying out another great course. I’m looking forward to riding more of their events later in the year.

Thetford Winter Series Round 4

Matt…

The weather was perfect for the last Winter Series race in Thetford and the track was dry and very fast. 174 competitors took the start of the 2hr race alone which made for a sluggish start with plenty of fighting for position before the singletrack sections. Keeping Andy in sight kept our pace high with some cheeky and stealthy passing to put people between us.

The long singletrack was awesome, flowing and on a slight downslope making it very fast. Short fireroad sections allowed easy overtaking when needed and two long steady climbs at the end of the lap showed how much was left in the tank.

Come the second lap I decided to put some distance on Andy but unbeknown to me he stacked which left me unsure where he was so I decided to push on and tagged along with some very fast guys.

The last lap was focused on passing the guys in front and on the last 2 climbs I got out the saddle to get as many as I could. 39th overall was a great result amongst some national level riders and showed the training is starting to pay off, bring on the next Gorrick!!

Andy…

Loading up the car in the morning was one cold task, with my hands freezing to the bike rack. But the lack of clouds meant a dry day, and soon the sun was beating down giving a spring like feel to early February. Excellent.

After finally working out which area of the grid we had to line up on for the 2 hour start, we found a space in the mass of riders, only to realise that we were still ¾ of the way to the back of the grid, there were that many riders. Oh well. On with the race…

Resembling the M25 more than some flowing singletrack, much of the first lap was spent behind many of the other 170 odd riders. Come the second lap, the field was beginning to spread out meaning the singletrack could be enjoyed at my pace. Until I got held up again towards the end of the lap, and watched as Matt made off into the distance.

Keen to regain the lost ground, I exited the singletrack onto some fireroad with the aim of passing the rider in front. A “racing incident” left me committed to overtake with nowhere to go, but a trackside tree and then the ground. Lying on the ground I saw that the other ride had escaped unscathed… Back on my feet I found I had to make some running repairs to my bike before setting off again.

Now more determined to make up for the mishap, I went for broke, and rode hard on the third lap, and most of the 4th, before my body had enough, and I blew up. Finishing 66th was not the position I was after, but the weather and fantastic course, which was easily the best of this Winter Series, left me knackered but smiling.

Gorrick Spring Series Round 1, DERA Test Track

…Andy’s bit…

An urgent email/web-cast the Friday before the race informing us of a last minute change in race venue caused some people to be worried of what could be achieved in the short time, and what the course would be like. But they needn’t have worried, the Gorrick crew managed to deliver, and what an eye-opener of a course it was!

Pretty eager to get some racing miles done in the New Year, we turned up on a very spring-like Sunday, strange for January, but I for one wasn’t complaining. Riding round the waterlogged car park probably got you muddier than actually out on course. Come the start time, a field of just over 100 lined up for the Open category (there were something like 600 folk in all racing) and eventually we started.

The usual start chaos ensued, leaving me to hop over and manual through a fine selection of puddles on the fireroad straight, before picking the outside line into the first singletrack descent, passing a fair few riders in doing so. Matt got caught up somewhere in the mass of riders on that first corner. The rest of the first lap continued with backlog after backlog at every steep ascent (of which there were several, and they were steep) and surprisingly at the entrance to a fast singletrack descent! I still can’t quite work out why…

Lap two saw my body complain at the effort, but I pushed on regardless. The course was fresh and interesting, particularly as I have never raced at this venue before (nor had most). The course featured some good steep loose descents, coupled with those steep ascents, interlinked with undulating twisting singletrack and minimal fireroad. One the first of the big climbs, I caught up with Lee, who shouted some encouragement as I went past. Knocking sand out of my cleats at the top, I followed Lee round for the remainder of the lap.

Lap 3 I found myself mainly alone, meaning a clear run through most of the singletrack and technical sections, and the chance to enjoy the course, finishing in 22nd spot.

…a word from Lee…

Well here we go again, the now classic start/awakening to the season, of the first Gorrick race. Going into this race, I knew my fitness had taken a beating due to ’winter man flu’! but thought I’d take it as it comes and enjoy this first race.

Being late to the line, I spotted a mate and wedged myself in on the second row. On the horn we were off, the pace was good and I settled quickly into the top 10, but as the race progressed, my lack of race speed started to show and that combined with my breakfast trying to make a bid for freedom, took their toll.

Thankfully my riding ability hadn’t left me though, and I was loving the singletrack, and cleaning the two steep and sandy climbs each lap, while all around me walked, bar Andy, good line on the left there mate.

All in, it was a great event, given that the venue was changed 3 days before. Well done to Andy and Matt. Next event is 3 weeks from now, so I’ll pull me finger out and hopefully get some speed back, and crack the top 20!!!

…and Matt…

The opener in the Gorrick Spring Series was a chance to see how fit the Christmas period had left everyone. A last minute change of venue provided an unknown challenge for those who have done the regular courses before.

An initial sprint up a fire road led to a fast, steep and loose decent followed by a demanding climb. Singletrack followed with a nice long fast stretch which claimed many a dislodged water bottle!

More singletrack led to another sharp climb with many riders choosing to walk up to avoid the loose ground catching others out. Some sweet flowing singletrack led the riders back to the start/finish with only a couple of boggy patches in the way.

A short track overall but packed with tight, twisty and fast singletrack matched by a few demanding climbs. Well worth using the venue again in the near future!

NPS Round 3 Moelfre

Sebs Bit;

Flat out and dusty, Moelfre is a blast in the dry. And, just for a change, it was actually dry - totally. The course comes in for stick for being too straightforward but this year almost everyone enjoyed the chance to let it rip and soak up some rays. Minor changes to the course included new lines into the top quarry drop and a detour around the big bertha huck.

A rejigged hip before the stream and fire-road crossing was a nice touch – making this fun jump the fastest line for the first time ever.

The bottom stream crossing had been filled in slightly but still made a top death-grip finish for the brave.

Wind is always a feature of Moelfre and come race day, it was blowing hard making the series of bomb-hole hops at the top of the course a challenge.

It was great to watch the fastest riders on this open course. There are a few gorse bushes and one tree near the last stream crossing which means you can see miles of track from just about anywhere.

The UCI Commissaire had a bit of a headache after threatening to DQ Ben Cathro for swinging wide through the tapes on the finish corner. Fortunately for Ben, Dan Atherton and Mark Beaumont marginally infringed the tapes in the same spot leaving the beleaguered official facing a dilemma. In the end he opted for the easy life and did nothing at all. Who can blame him? Plenty of other elites probably.



I managed to hang it out in seeding and came in second, just 0.4s down on Martin Crockett. Mind you, the speedy milkman took all the psych points by crossing the line sideways with a flat. He modestly admitted it had happened on the stream but fair play all the same. I’d messed up two fast corners and expected to whittle five to ten off on the Sunday. As it was a combination of poor riding and wind-induced dyspraxia meant I only managed a second quicker while everyone else took swathes off their seeding times. Still, enough for third and a tan. Saweeeeeet….

Steves Bit;

As the norm with every UK race I’ve been to this year, leading up to the weekend the weather forecast was changing by the hour, but as we left on the Saturday morning the weather men had reached a decision and it was definitely going to rain Sat evening and Sunday morning, so a full compliment of tyres were packed.

Slagged off by many riders as a one line course, that may be true, but one thing’s for sure, that one line is a hoot to ride – fast, open, off camber turns and long straights to blast down and feel the breeze across the top of your bald head – oh sorry not all of you have that pleasure – ha.

The course was basically the same as that used at last years National Champs with a few tweeks to introduce some tight corners and a new hip jump before the road crossing and we were all glad to see that the stream had been culverted making it less of a tank slapping ‘bomb hole’.  The final right hander into the finish was also laid out very tight with many riders going through the tapes, (more about that later), and due to the impending rain Messers Par and Paton decided to widen the corner at the end of the practice day to stop a plethora of riders ending up in the Animal/Commencal Team area on the Sunday.

As to be expected these days, Messer Paton and Parr had the whole event dialled with military precision, the practice sessions actually started early – unheard of in previous years and something that Mr Paton kept reminding us about over the mike.

Saturday went without incident.  Farmer Jack had laid on more tractors than actually required and there were no queue’s whatsoever, meaning that you weren’t in any mad rush and could chill out.  I got the usual 5 practice runs in and then rattled off the seeding run probably a bit too leisurely as I only got 3’ 10” and was down in 7th place – must try a bit harder in future!

As forecast, the clouds came in Saturday evening and I hit the sleeping bag with the sound of rain hitting the canvas above.  How long it rained for I don’t know, but come Sunday morning the sky was blue again.  On every trip up the hill in practice, we would spot a big black cloud and the amateur meteorologists in us all would anticipate it was possibly going to miss us and apart from a couple of minutes of light drizzle around lunch time, miss us all day they did – WooHoo!

Sunday went as normal – 3 practice runs, some lunch and then up the hill for race run, this time I was going to pedal!

In the last practice run I had been blown off course in a couple of places near the start, so I was a bit apprehensive for the first section which after riding in my run I shouldn’t of and I definitely lost time there unnecessarily.  The rest of my run went as planned and I pedalled like a mentalist, but maybe was a bit to cautious through the stream, but crossed the line in 2’ 58”, 12” up on my seeding.  Unfortunately it wasn’t quite enough to get 4th spot I was aiming for, which was 2’ 55” - that extra 3” was Def due to the over cautiousness.

Following my run I chilled out and watched the rest of the riders come down from our prime position pit area.  What I saw in the elite final though annoyed me and I duly made a protest to the race organisers and commissaire.  Ben Cathro went wide on the last bend, crossed and broke the tapes and was instantly disqualified – fair enough that’s the rules.  Mark Beaumont then came down and although he didn’t break the tape, he rode over them into 1st place. Dan Atherton was last down the hill and he clearly broke the tape right before the finish line.  No one at the finish seemed to make comment on these two infringements however it was clearly seen from our pit area by a number of people due to the excellent line of sight.

I was so incensed that I complained to Si Paton who called the Commissaire.  To say he was a chocolate tea pot with no balls is an understatement, as can be seen from the results his decision was to reinstate Ben Cathro rather than disqualify the two ‘golden boys’.

The later decision by BC not to include Matt in the Worlds junior team also reinforces the total disregard I and many others have for the governing body when they make stupid decisions like these and kowtow to elite riders – rant over!

Lynda’s Bit;

An old favourite combined with a rare bit of sunshine …. it was looking like we were on for a good weekend. Seeding on the Saturday was a steady run, the aim being for a clean one, which it was, admittedly not particularly fast.

Come Sunday, it was time to try and pick it up a little. Stayed off the brakes a bit more in the top section although still took it easy on the dusty switchbacks as this was the sketchiest part of the track for me. Chicken line at the hip jump then across the road onto the off-camber. It was faster than my seeding run but as the other girls had also picked it up, it was 4th place for me.

Si’s Bit;



Si got his best result of the year at Moelfre, (and I got this cracking photo of him in front of the T2R pit area) but the excitement wasn’t enough for him to actually write about it!

Matt’s bit;

Similarly Matt – excellent result, 4th in experts and enough, we thought, to get him into the BC Worlds Team for Fort William, but Ms Mortimer thought different.

Full race report can be found on ;- www.descent-world.co.uk and www.npsdh.com

For all your Moutainbiking requirements visit; www.descent-gear.com

SDA DH Series Round 3, Fort William 17th June 2007

(Initial words by Steve)
This year the SDA race is the only one that’s being allowed on the course prior to the World Champs in September so the scramble for entries on 1st May had the SDA entry system crashing and when it did get up and running it filled within 2 hours – mental!

From the big names on the entry list this was always going to be a good weekend – Peat, Rennie, Beaumont …etc, if nothing else, just to watch the Elite race was probably going to be worth the journey as they all checked out the new changes.

The top of the course has completely changed with the new start gate right next to the upper station restaurant, so the diners and people on the viewing balcony now have a fantastic view for 30+ secs of each rider. This has lengthened the course by approx 45 secs and turned what was already a lung buster into cardiac arrest territory! There has been a lot of criticism of this new section with its ‘Northshore’ sections, but once the dry dust had been damped down it got really grippy and flowed more and was fun. The only real problems were due to the wind, which blew you off course over a small double, and the entry to the last board section which was a bit slippy, but that was easily solved by approaching it at a different angle.

Other sections that had been changed and criticised were the ‘motorway’ and run into the finish. The jumps had been re-modelled and the results were indeed crap! The first tabletop after the hip launched you too high and sapped your speed making it difficult to reach the landing on the second tabletop. If you didn’t get the downslope on the second table then you had little chance of clearing the Tissot jump – there was simply no way to recover from the first table top for us mortals.

After the Tissot you then start to accelerate down the wall hitting the bowl at full chat, but the last jump has also been modified from a double, with a nice transition landing, to a rock wall drop-off with a very short landing down slope and a BIG flat landing after it. If you had superhuman fitness it was possible to ‘triple’ this last jump and land on a nice transition before the finish line, but for us not-so-superhuman plebs it was a very unpleasant flat landing that caused numerous crashes during the weekend. Consequently it was better to scrub speed through the bowl and pump the last jump onto the down-slope – stupid! After numerous slagging offs to the course builders, rumour has it that the flat landing will be filled in, but we will wait and see.

In between the two new bits mentioned above, we had the good old ‘body pummelling’ course that requires great respect when riding as it can jump up and maul you at any point. A sad thing to see, but many very experienced riders ended up in a plaster cast at the weekend, it takes no prisoners and justifies its reputation as the UK’s toughest course.
……..and if the course didn’t get you the ferkin’ midges were eating us alive too!!!!

Steve’s bit;
Practice.
Being such a tough course, (6+ mins now with the new top section – eeek!), you can end up doing too many practice runs on the Sat and consequently it leaves you totally knackered on the Sunday. As said in previous reports, I normally like to get in 4 or 5 practice runs on the Sat, but that is too much here, so since 2005 I’ve always gone up on the Friday and done 3 ‘sighting’ runs on the Friday afternoon just to get up to speed and get the fear factor suppressed. Consequently, you then only need 2 or 3 runs on the Sat to get the course dialled and be up to race speed and still be reasonably energised with plenty of time to chill.

Things went as planned and apart from getting the motorway jumps fully sorted and the little jump up top, as it was too windy, I did 6 runs in total over the 2 days and could still feel my legs and fingers. It had rained a little during early afternoon but it didn’t really alter the course and I also played around with rear tyre choice, eventually deciding that running a front minnion on the rear was providing the best grip. I was ready for Sunday.

Race Runs
The two practice runs Sunday am had all the jumps sorted so I was ready to go. For both of my runs I got up the hill a little too late and it curtailed my usual warm up routine, whether that would have made up the difference on final times I’m not too sure, but it annoyed me and meant I was setting off a bit panicked.

First run I took it steady, a bit too steady it turned out, 6 mins 29 secs and 6th place! The usual suspects were in the first three places but this time Alistair McClennan had pulled one over Paul French and was leading, (he does live in Fort William mind, so I would have been surprised if he wasn’t 1st). I was 8 secs down on 4th place, but Seb was out of site - 40 secs away in 3rd. The second run was for 4th then.

Second run and I messed up again getting there too late – plonker! Let it go a bit more and actually flat landed the last jump ‘going for it’ – 6 mins 19 secs – yes 4th place – Woohoo!
Derek then came down but could only better his time by 1 sec – still 4th - then Mark MacKarel hit the line in 6min 15secs – I was down to 5th, bummer.

Little disappointed in the end as I would have liked that 4th, but it still leaves me 4th overall in the series behind the whipper snappers.

Seb’s Bit;
Like Steve, I saved myself on the Saturday with just three practice runs. I’d managed a couple of rides at Fort William already this season so it was just about getting up to speed.

You have to feel for people who had their first Fort William run this year on the Saturday of the race. You need to do at least six or seven runs to learn the course again and, unless you’re a complete machine, it’s pretty much game over. You either can’t hold on or you can’t pedal by the bottom of the course. Plus, that lactic tidemark just races up the course the more runs you do.

I managed to limit myself to two practices on the Sunday morning and my first race run was fairly smooth. I held a bit back and tried to float as much as possible. Got the muddy trees pretty sweetly and ended up in third some 14 seconds behind Paul French in second but 30-ish in front of fourth.

Took the bull in a china shop approach to the second run. A tried and discounted method of expending every single ounce of energy to go a second or two slower.

Big Al McLennan managed to take the win and post one of the top 20 fastest times of the day so fair play to him.
Second placed Paul French launched the fly off at the finish only to come up short and nail his ankles. Get well soon to him.

For all your Moutainbiking requirements visit;-
www.descent-gear.com

Full race report can be found on;-
http://www.descent-world.co.uk

Enduro6, Catton Park, April 29th 2007

The Enduro6 is one of the hugely popular summer endurance events run by Pat Adams (of Mountain Mayhem fame). As ever, the event is organised spot on, meaning a hassle free day of fun racing to be had by all.

The format of the Enduro6 is like a mini LeMans style event. Riders compete either solo or in pairs for 6 hours, riding as many laps as they can in the time limit. The start features a short run to spread the field out, before grabbing the bikes and starting the lap proper. Every rider is confined to either the pit area, or out riding on the course, so no extra help is allowed, so preparation is key in making sure you have all your food and spares in your pit.

After signing on, having a short pre-race chat from Pat Adams, and the race commisaire, the start time approached. I was racing in a pair with my mate, Matt, and drawn the short straw, meaning I was first out. What that actually meant was I was the unlucky one who had to do the dreaded run at the start…

At 10am the klaxon sounded and the massive field of hundreds of riders (runners) started out round a short loop, which would bring us back into the arena. Looking more like some charity fun run than a mountain bike race, we ran/jogged/walked, and I can tell you, SPD shoes are NOT made for running. With 6 hours of racing ahead, I didn’t run too fast. The little time lost on the run could more than easily be made up with some good riding later on. Heading back into the arena, I looked for the banner where I’d left my bike, grabbed it, and hopped on.

Finding my bike in the starting chaos!

The course started out heading round the edge of the arena on grass, then a short fire road climb led us up to some twisting whoops past some interesting looking wooden sculptures. Gradually climbing away from this up some grassy double track the course then entered the bluebell woods for some fun off camber descending singletrack. Of course, being the first lap, this was more trials based riding than xc. A last rooty drop out of the woods put us in a field, leading to a singletrack climb. Once out of that section, a right hander put us along the edge of a once ploughed field, descending back towards the arena. The sun-baked dirt meant we could feel every corrugation of the tractor tracks, but the only way to get down was to find a high gear and pedal like a mad mad. The double track meant you could overtake those who were just hanging on over the bumps! A few twists and turns and a stream crossing found us passing the other side of the pit area and back out onto the rest of the lap.

Some more singletrack sections and gradual climbs, plus the fun of a double-rutted-double-drop, where some fun air time was to be had, eventually found us climbing up one of the longer climbs alongside a field. Once this was conquered, some twisting singletrack through the woods on the hilltop was in order, before descending down some fireroad and onto the final big climb. We exited this into a field, round a hairpin and then down a fast off camber descent (mind the gate post!) and along back towards the arena to complete the lap.

Jumping off the bike and walking through the timing tent, and into the pits to hand over to Matt for the second lap…

Andy (left) and Matt (right) out on course

An eventful second lap was had by Matt, with a rider collision and a tyre blowout. The next few laps came hard and fast, seeing us clock up our quickest laps of the day, as the sun came out. Around my 4th and 5th laps, the legs began to feel the effort of 4 hours of riding flat out for half an hour, then sitting down, cramming some food and water in, and then back out on the bike.

As Matt came in to hand over to me with about 40 minutes remaining, we made the decision to push, so we could squeeze another lap in before the time was up. I completed my 6th lap with about 5 minutes to spare, meaning Matt could start before the 6 hour mark. By this time I’d already passed many a rider who was beginning to take it slower so they didn’t have to start another lap just before the finish.

With 12 laps completed between the two of us, 6 apiece, we finished in 50th position in the men’s pairs category.

A big thanks to all the organisers who put on a cracking day of racing. With over 500 riders present, plus all the supporters, there was a great friendly atmosphere surrounding the whole event.

Thetford Report

The first big race of the season is always an exciting nerve racking occasion and round one of the British mountain bike series was no different. Arrived on the Friday, a quick wiz around the course revealed some great flowing flat singletrack interspersed with fire road flat, this was gonna be one hell of quick race! Not necessarily my cup of tea, I prefer a race with a climb or two!

After a good night sleep it was race day and time for business the first challenge being the start. 40 or so expert riders all lined up and all trying to get the holeshot and lead into the singletrack. The start could only be described as frantic, elbows colliding, bar ends clashing but some how there were no crashes and by the first single track I was lying around 15th place. The singletrack at Thetford is great when you’re in a fast group but if you get stuck behind a slower rider it can cost you so much time and this was the case on the first lap. The lap turned into an interval session, every fire road section was a sprint, then a cruise through the singletrack and then sprint once again. The only problem is everybody is doing this and it makes the race scary fast and bloody hard work if you don’t get in the right group.

As the lap went on I started picking off riders and had made my way well into the top 10 but about 2 km from the start finish straight it all went pear shaped. Entering a tight ninety left into a single track a wee bit fast I crashed heavily, winding myself badly and was left huddle in a ball for minute or two regaining my breath. Shaken but now breathing I got back onto my bike and started racing again.

Started the new lap and despite my bar end pointing down rather than up the bike and myself appeared fine. Entering the feed zone I made a grab for a bottle but taking a bottle at 25 mph isn’t the easiest thing in world, the bottle ended up exploding on the floor and I was left with no means of hydrating on a really hot day! The first half of the second lap went okay. I picked off a few riders and made my way back into the top 15 but then the shock of the crash kicked in and the adrenaline ran out and I went all weak and feeble and light headed. I got round the rest of the lap but it was as if some one had drained me of all my energy. I decided to call it a day at the end of the lap. I sat down in the feed zone and felt a wee bit sorry for myself. Not a good day!
Well done to Phil who came home 12th a great result

50 km Marathon Thetford Sunday
The weekend just got even better the day after, decided to do the 50km race on the Sunday to try a retrieve something from the weekend but it didn’t start well as I was late to the start and lined up with 40 people in front of me. Once the race was away I realized I actually had quite good legs but was caught up in the chaos of the first singletrack section and came off busting my rear shifter. Carried on and decided I would three speed it for the rest of the race, meant I was spinning my ass of along the flat but it wasn’t too bad. But towards the end of the lap made a big mistake of cutting a corner slightly in which a tree stump lay hidden in the grass and it had no problem in propelling me over the bars into a heap on the floor. This time I was hurt with two bashed and bleeding knees. I limped to the end of the lap and pulled out. Not a good weekend!

Oli Holmes
MINI ADVENTURE/Ticket2RideBC.com