Been a few weeks since i moved to Manchester now and what riding i have done has definitely firmed up my belief that i was meant to come here.
The peak district is on my door step now.. not to mention having a world class velodrome just down the road in case the urge to start track riding takes me( at the moment its just a spectator sport).
Last weekend i managed the first real ride out since i moved here.. hilly road ride, really hilly.. taking in some of the great climbs which i think will be featuring in this winters training... never had easy access to 20 minute plus long climbs:) The ride was with a local rider that also uses the XC RACER forum, James (Tottle). It was this ride which highlighted the importance of preparation, with a limited breakfast ( i hadn't been shopping) and heavy commuting tyres on my cross bike instead of road skinnies i was destined for a hard day from the start.
The first proper climb up to the 'brickworks' was tough but managed, James spinning and easy gear and it felt like i was running flat tyres... the climb aptly named 'Long Hill' started to signal the beginning of the end.. weather was now typically hot for this time of year ( who shifted summer to the last few weeks of September, i obviously didn't get the memo) and the big tyres weren't rolling too well... the stomach was feeling empty.
After managing to get over Long Hill and down into the bottom of the Goyt valley i had to grovel up the climb to the Cat and Fiddle pub... from here it was a lengthy downhill with some cheeky uphill sections to get you out the saddle and working... to cut this tale short i cracked on the final flattish 30 minutes of the ride.. i just had to sit up and take 5.. nothing left in the legs. It has been a while since i cracked but was happy to have been worked, always happy to know i have had a hard day.. sure its makes you stronger somehow.
This weekend i did the same ride again, slightly longer as i got a little confused with the route directions but took in all the climbs again.. this time with a proper breakfast and skinny tyres on the cross bikes... everything i grovelled up last week was a big ring climb this time around..made me happy.. weather was great again and views on the climbs fantastic.. not all is lost i can still rde and last weekend was just a slight hick up:)
Mid week between these 2 road rides i managed to get in the first night ride of the forthcoming winter... led by Charlie Wigfall, XC RACER team manager and also joining us riding James (Tottle)... venue was Macclesfield forest as a starting point and then a nice loop taking in some great rocky climbs and descents.
The AY UP lights allowed some crazy descending in the dark although the combination of big rocks and rigid forks gave me 2 pinch flats.. one fixed with a borrowed tube from Charlie after i discovered mine i was carrying was knackered and the second with a patch from James...
Great riding already and i have only been here 2 weeks... Dusk till Dawn next week on the singlespeed... and the search for some sponsorship for next year continues with my preference now being to race single speed all year:)
Sunday, 28 September 2008
Saturday, 6 September 2008
Mission aborted
A combination of bank balance, a job interview and looking for a new place to live = no way i could justify racing and travelling this weekend.
Just Dusk till Dawn left to race this year... and a new desire to try my hand at log distance road time trialing:)
Just Dusk till Dawn left to race this year... and a new desire to try my hand at log distance road time trialing:)
Monday, 1 September 2008
Torq 12 approaching....
Next race this coming weekend.. 12:12 TORQ in your SLEEP... 12 midday till midnight.
With moving to sheffield everything is up in air so preperation isn't gonna be great, might get some running in and a spin on bike but not much else.. Scott isn't finished yet so can't be test ridden so newly revamped singlespeed will be out to play.. hopefully conditions will be awful and the one gear riders will rule the day:)
With moving to sheffield everything is up in air so preperation isn't gonna be great, might get some running in and a spin on bike but not much else.. Scott isn't finished yet so can't be test ridden so newly revamped singlespeed will be out to play.. hopefully conditions will be awful and the one gear riders will rule the day:)
Thursday, 14 August 2008
Wildboar 24
As previously promised the race report from wildboar 24;
The day started early with a 7am start from Newcastle picking up the first pit bitch on route, a good friend from Uni ( Thanks Rich).
The race start and camping was located and top racing fuel was sourced to kick of the day, sausage cob, Pretty sure that’s how Chris Eatough starts every race morning and who am I to argue.
As I had been informed by race manager, Charlie, the race started at 12 so I was ready and kit sorted to get going… only to find out it didn’t start till 2pm, thanks Charlie.
I wasn’t that keen on pre riding the course as I was sure I would see enough of it during the next 24 hours, and as many people know that race the first lap is generally a procession unless you’re very lucky to get a flyer off the start. We are used to trails changing from day to day and always looking for the quicker line so its adds spice to not know what’s round the next corner.. Well most of the time.
I occupied the extra time I had been gifted by the later start with my feet up, eating and drinking and listening to inspiring tracks on the mp3 player… still a little unsure of what I had let myself in for or how to approach the task in hand.
First little shocker of the day was the location of the solo pit lane and start/finish… over a mile from the campsite up a rocky bridleway! Not the best situation as everything we needed for 24 hours then needed to be carted up to the top.. Luckily wheelbase boys were shuttling the bikes and kit of solo riders up to the top. Downside is I had no bike to warm up on… so a lot of stretching was done.
1.50pm made my way to the start of the run to the bikes… a tradition on 24hour racing I still don’t understand… in this case it was over a mile long and up the aforementioned rocky bridleway… as I looked around the start line I saw 90% of the guys wearing trainers…. Me still in my mountain bike shoes… possible schoolboy error.
As the race was started the usual crazy running pace started, not for me I settle into a fast jog knowing that with 24 hours of riding ahead of me how much time would I lose over a mile of running… in reality very little. I made a few places on the run then made the most gains as people had to change into their race shoes. As I got to the top of the run I spotted Charlie grabbed my Superfly and got trucking.
The plan was to ride the first 14 hours steady…. That went straight out the window as the racing red mist descended… I knew Tom Owen (Edinburgh UNI CC) a good 24hr rider with some tidy results already under his belt had gone off the front, I thought Richard Rothwell (Ironhorse Extreme) was also in front of me too… at that point of the race I was unsure who else to be looking out for.
During the first couple of laps I got to ride with Iain Payne, another solo rider, holding a great pace and looking super strong, he was a good bet to follow for a few hours. As it happens Richard was behind us and as he caught us up on a charge we tagged on for the ride until he pulled us to being insight of Tom Owen. At that point he rode away to Tom’s wheel and I reigned back not wanting to use any unnecessary energy.
Within a couple of minutes we passed Richard again punctured, we wouldn’t see him for another couple of laps.
Myself and Iain rode out the first 4 ish hours together until I stopped for the first hot feed... I thought I would have a nice sit down… no chance... the pit bitches were on my case with an eye on the clock and getting me back out as soon as possible.
The lap itself was a mix of fire road and singletrack sections… it seemed mostly uphill with a loose steep descent mid way which required attention and some rear wheel steering and then a rocky descent to the start finish … by 6 laps I knew the course well and knew exactly where to place the effort, where to recover and where to pay attention.
As the daylight ran out the boys attached the batteries to the Ay Up lights and we went towards darkness… I always say it after every night race but I love my Ay Up lights…. They are so light that you don’t notice the weight and the light they give is more than enough for flat out racing.
The hardest part of 24 hour racing I think is getting your head around the timescale involved… it sounds stupid but when you have been riding for 14 hours and you still have 10 to go things seem a little grim.. So I work on laps and I count them off… for some reason it seems easier to swallow than time.
As the night rolled on I resorted to the Mp3 player for company, with a large 10mile lap and not many racers things were quiet out there… I hadn’t seen Iain since my hot food stop and so there was no one out there at a similar pace to ride with.
Big thanks to Jeff Buckley, Jose Gonzalez and Ray Lamontagne... all on repeat to get me through the night.
As I was told the greatest part of a 24 hour race is the day break…. Riding into the daylight is a great feeling…. Really does feel like the worst is behind you and you get a massive lift... pedals definitely go round easier.
I don’t remember exactly what lap it happened on and I don’t remember being lapped but it happened… Tom and Richard were both on top form and going well…. I was feeling okay but the relentless intake of sugary calories and drinks were taking there toll on my stomach.
The laps were going by quickly and it seemed like there were more people on the course… in fact there actually was as the trails were still open to the public so it wasn’t uncommon to encounter large groups of the general public.. I remember on one of the loose long climbs not being able to catch quickly a women on a £100 bike wearing some joggers and trainers and laughing to myself that maybe it was time to hang up the wheels... or maybe it was just that this was her first time up this climb and it was my 18th hour of riding and probably my 15th time up the climb.
Eventually with 4 hours remaining I was caught by Iain in 3rd place, with a few more 24’s under his belt his strategy was a little more organised than mine and he took a lap.. Well at least now I had my riding partner back.
We rode the last 3 laps together…. After 2 last with some careful calculations it worked that he had a lap on me and I had 2 laps on 5th place so we only had to do a final lap and there was no way that any places would change… so we did the ‘granny ring’ lap, a whole lap in its entirety in the granny ring.. Which disturbingly was not that much slower than a normal lap...
So I ended up with 4th place, possibly the worst place to finish as its so close to the podium but not quite… another life experience under the belt... and I wasn’t short of finding people to tell that I would never do it again.
But this is the strange thing about racers... we say after every race no more, never again, last time… during every race we are planning to sell up and take up knitting or lawn bowls but less than a week later.. Sometimes even the same night we are looking for the next challenge...
The day started early with a 7am start from Newcastle picking up the first pit bitch on route, a good friend from Uni ( Thanks Rich).
The race start and camping was located and top racing fuel was sourced to kick of the day, sausage cob, Pretty sure that’s how Chris Eatough starts every race morning and who am I to argue.
As I had been informed by race manager, Charlie, the race started at 12 so I was ready and kit sorted to get going… only to find out it didn’t start till 2pm, thanks Charlie.
I wasn’t that keen on pre riding the course as I was sure I would see enough of it during the next 24 hours, and as many people know that race the first lap is generally a procession unless you’re very lucky to get a flyer off the start. We are used to trails changing from day to day and always looking for the quicker line so its adds spice to not know what’s round the next corner.. Well most of the time.
I occupied the extra time I had been gifted by the later start with my feet up, eating and drinking and listening to inspiring tracks on the mp3 player… still a little unsure of what I had let myself in for or how to approach the task in hand.
First little shocker of the day was the location of the solo pit lane and start/finish… over a mile from the campsite up a rocky bridleway! Not the best situation as everything we needed for 24 hours then needed to be carted up to the top.. Luckily wheelbase boys were shuttling the bikes and kit of solo riders up to the top. Downside is I had no bike to warm up on… so a lot of stretching was done.
1.50pm made my way to the start of the run to the bikes… a tradition on 24hour racing I still don’t understand… in this case it was over a mile long and up the aforementioned rocky bridleway… as I looked around the start line I saw 90% of the guys wearing trainers…. Me still in my mountain bike shoes… possible schoolboy error.
As the race was started the usual crazy running pace started, not for me I settle into a fast jog knowing that with 24 hours of riding ahead of me how much time would I lose over a mile of running… in reality very little. I made a few places on the run then made the most gains as people had to change into their race shoes. As I got to the top of the run I spotted Charlie grabbed my Superfly and got trucking.
The plan was to ride the first 14 hours steady…. That went straight out the window as the racing red mist descended… I knew Tom Owen (Edinburgh UNI CC) a good 24hr rider with some tidy results already under his belt had gone off the front, I thought Richard Rothwell (Ironhorse Extreme) was also in front of me too… at that point of the race I was unsure who else to be looking out for.
During the first couple of laps I got to ride with Iain Payne, another solo rider, holding a great pace and looking super strong, he was a good bet to follow for a few hours. As it happens Richard was behind us and as he caught us up on a charge we tagged on for the ride until he pulled us to being insight of Tom Owen. At that point he rode away to Tom’s wheel and I reigned back not wanting to use any unnecessary energy.
Within a couple of minutes we passed Richard again punctured, we wouldn’t see him for another couple of laps.
Myself and Iain rode out the first 4 ish hours together until I stopped for the first hot feed... I thought I would have a nice sit down… no chance... the pit bitches were on my case with an eye on the clock and getting me back out as soon as possible.
The lap itself was a mix of fire road and singletrack sections… it seemed mostly uphill with a loose steep descent mid way which required attention and some rear wheel steering and then a rocky descent to the start finish … by 6 laps I knew the course well and knew exactly where to place the effort, where to recover and where to pay attention.
As the daylight ran out the boys attached the batteries to the Ay Up lights and we went towards darkness… I always say it after every night race but I love my Ay Up lights…. They are so light that you don’t notice the weight and the light they give is more than enough for flat out racing.
The hardest part of 24 hour racing I think is getting your head around the timescale involved… it sounds stupid but when you have been riding for 14 hours and you still have 10 to go things seem a little grim.. So I work on laps and I count them off… for some reason it seems easier to swallow than time.
As the night rolled on I resorted to the Mp3 player for company, with a large 10mile lap and not many racers things were quiet out there… I hadn’t seen Iain since my hot food stop and so there was no one out there at a similar pace to ride with.
Big thanks to Jeff Buckley, Jose Gonzalez and Ray Lamontagne... all on repeat to get me through the night.
As I was told the greatest part of a 24 hour race is the day break…. Riding into the daylight is a great feeling…. Really does feel like the worst is behind you and you get a massive lift... pedals definitely go round easier.
I don’t remember exactly what lap it happened on and I don’t remember being lapped but it happened… Tom and Richard were both on top form and going well…. I was feeling okay but the relentless intake of sugary calories and drinks were taking there toll on my stomach.
The laps were going by quickly and it seemed like there were more people on the course… in fact there actually was as the trails were still open to the public so it wasn’t uncommon to encounter large groups of the general public.. I remember on one of the loose long climbs not being able to catch quickly a women on a £100 bike wearing some joggers and trainers and laughing to myself that maybe it was time to hang up the wheels... or maybe it was just that this was her first time up this climb and it was my 18th hour of riding and probably my 15th time up the climb.
Eventually with 4 hours remaining I was caught by Iain in 3rd place, with a few more 24’s under his belt his strategy was a little more organised than mine and he took a lap.. Well at least now I had my riding partner back.
We rode the last 3 laps together…. After 2 last with some careful calculations it worked that he had a lap on me and I had 2 laps on 5th place so we only had to do a final lap and there was no way that any places would change… so we did the ‘granny ring’ lap, a whole lap in its entirety in the granny ring.. Which disturbingly was not that much slower than a normal lap...
So I ended up with 4th place, possibly the worst place to finish as its so close to the podium but not quite… another life experience under the belt... and I wasn’t short of finding people to tell that I would never do it again.
But this is the strange thing about racers... we say after every race no more, never again, last time… during every race we are planning to sell up and take up knitting or lawn bowls but less than a week later.. Sometimes even the same night we are looking for the next challenge...
All change...
So whats new?? EVERYTHING is the short answer....
The lull in posting on my blog was directly related to firstly an increase in university work then secondly to a more profound life change in that i became single again... decided i didn't want to race/train anymore.. drank some.. ate alot.. got slow.. lost my sponsor... then decided i want to ace again.
The few bad things that have happened in my life have more than equally been cancelled out by some really good things...
Firstly the being single thing.. well that lasted about 2 to 3 month before meeting a really great person and although i had vowed to stay single till i was 30 ( which was last week) some thing sin life are just too good to pass up the chance and Grace is definately one of those things:) We have been together for over 4 months now and it has been great, her love for travel is inspirational.
Well as this is a blog about my racing may aswell update that front.... although i haven't been formally training i had to do a 24hr solo that i was committed to, i will add a seperate post to detail the race, and i have also with my new found enthusiasm to train and race completed a 12hr solo about a month ago.. i may get round to writing this up.. in short as i now have no race bike with sponsors machine going back i raced my rigid single speed getting 9th place overall so either i am still fit or everyone else has got slower:)
Hopefully that briefly covers the past so many months and now its time to look forward.. i am MOTIVATED.. and i mean really motivated. Currently i am addressing the lack of race bike with the build of Paul West's Transportugal proven Scott RC10 frame and addressing the extra weight i have gained with some very careful dieting.
I am now living in Sheffield which is amazing as the riding is second to none and literally on my doorstep within 15 minutes ride i am in the peak district:)
Also have recently met some very cool riders and people that have attributed to my new found desire to go race again so big thanks to them... no need to mention any names you guys have big enough egos anyway:)
next on list is hopefully Torq 12 and then Dusk till Dawn:)
The lull in posting on my blog was directly related to firstly an increase in university work then secondly to a more profound life change in that i became single again... decided i didn't want to race/train anymore.. drank some.. ate alot.. got slow.. lost my sponsor... then decided i want to ace again.
The few bad things that have happened in my life have more than equally been cancelled out by some really good things...
Firstly the being single thing.. well that lasted about 2 to 3 month before meeting a really great person and although i had vowed to stay single till i was 30 ( which was last week) some thing sin life are just too good to pass up the chance and Grace is definately one of those things:) We have been together for over 4 months now and it has been great, her love for travel is inspirational.
Well as this is a blog about my racing may aswell update that front.... although i haven't been formally training i had to do a 24hr solo that i was committed to, i will add a seperate post to detail the race, and i have also with my new found enthusiasm to train and race completed a 12hr solo about a month ago.. i may get round to writing this up.. in short as i now have no race bike with sponsors machine going back i raced my rigid single speed getting 9th place overall so either i am still fit or everyone else has got slower:)
Hopefully that briefly covers the past so many months and now its time to look forward.. i am MOTIVATED.. and i mean really motivated. Currently i am addressing the lack of race bike with the build of Paul West's Transportugal proven Scott RC10 frame and addressing the extra weight i have gained with some very careful dieting.
I am now living in Sheffield which is amazing as the riding is second to none and literally on my doorstep within 15 minutes ride i am in the peak district:)
Also have recently met some very cool riders and people that have attributed to my new found desire to go race again so big thanks to them... no need to mention any names you guys have big enough egos anyway:)
next on list is hopefully Torq 12 and then Dusk till Dawn:)
Monday, 21 April 2008
G2 Revolver Series - Nightrider 12
The G2 revolver series, the creation of Martyn Salt and Trek/Gary Fisher, a set of 3 races exploring all variations on the endurance race... all night, all day and some night and day.
The first round was to be hosted at Sherwood pines, only a short drive from my house in Nottingham, i knew that i would be riding this race as the race sponsor backs the Xc racer team, i even knew that i would be riding as part of a 4 man team as opposed to my usual solo efforts.. what i didn't know is that i would be designated course designer!!
After a short meeting with Martyn (Salt) and Chris Bray (forestry commission) i was armed with a map of the forest and Martyns input to the course design " i want it to start here, finish there and be about 11km'ish long" ... cheers Martyn, a first class introduction to course design.
Anybody that has ridden the pine will no doubt know that a map is of little use as the the area is littered with so many small tracks it was near impossible to sketch an outline, i had a few sections in my head that i wanted to use as they were fun and new but stitching the course together was a challenge. The great thing about Sherwood pines is the large number of singletrack trails of which i am still finding new ones, the bad thing is they all generally pop out onto the large fireroads that wind through the forest and they all look the same. After a few days up there of riding and much leaving of little markers by the side of the trails i managed to put together a route i could follow (almost) start to finish and i felt had a decent flow even on my rigid singlespeed.
Race Day....
After driving to Sherwood the night before to show the guys that were marking the course the finer point of the courses design, as the map i produced wasn't very clear, we put some finishing touches on race day itself taking out a section which would have been a little too interesting in the dark... on a side note must say how impressed i am at the bike/quad handling skills of the guys marking the course, anybody that rode the course will be amazed to hear that a motorbike got through all sections of the course that i thought were mountain bike tight...
Weather although already 'see your breath' cold was dry and the course was in good shape... not allot of mud anywhere and what there was didn't halt your progress much...
After setting a flying lap for the Gary Fisher boys Garmin fastest lap comp that would run alongside the race all there was to do was to set our teams pit area up.. which in fairness on my part had little involvement, thanks guys:)
The camp/start/finish area was excellent.. we were right next to the track and there was already a good atmosphere developing amongst racers ( even if i was a little nervous my course design skills would be brought into question).
Team tactics were discussed and decision made to do a single flying lap each to start with then settle into double laps... 8pm came around quick and Phil was lined up and the start and then on the move... QUICKLY..
I am always amazed at the starting speed of endurance events... what was more amazing was Ian Leitch's incredible start speed as a solo rider... making it obvious from the start he was going to be adopting the 'Craig Gordon' approach to endurance racing in riding every lap as if you only had one to do.
Ian's start was shadowed though by the man Morris... Phil started in around 5th place off the start but by the time we could see him again after the first 200m he had a near 20m gap... much respect.
By the time Phil had done his lap we already had a 1.30 minute gap. Next up was Matt (lewis), then James (Hampshire) then myself. By the time the single lap rotation had finished we had around a 5 minute lead as our nearest rivals, SOUTHFORKRACING .CO.UK, had started with double laps.
By the time Phil had done his first Double lap stint we were up by nearly 10 minutes... he is a machine and i'm glad he's our machine:)
Gaps can quickly diminish in endurance racing as the sport is always open to outside influence.. in our case this influence was a thorn in Matt's tyre on the first lap of his first 2 lap turn, this puncture was fixed only to be followed by another one but luckily Matt managed to get back to start/finish on it and we swapped the wheel out for the freshly tubelessed wheel from Jame's (Hampshire)bike... look on Jame's face was priceless as we took fresh wheel from his shiny bike an left it disabled:)
With this minor mishap we lost a fair few minutes and the gap came down to 6 minute mark. Not one for leading a boring life Matt decided on his other lap to test a little used braking manoeuvre in hooking his bar end around a tree, effective in that i imagine it stopped him, well at least his bike, almost instantly but did mean he only had one bar end... until amazingly someone found it by falling off in exactly the same spot and discovering it.. only in mountain biking:)
In all the solo events i have done i have always been envious of the Team boys sitting around their lavish camp set ups socialising while i was out for the duration eating and drinking on the move, i have always thought what an easier life team racing is.. but in reality its just a different kind of torture... you race flat out for an hour to point of explosion then cool down to freezing waiting to do it all again, even if you wanted to sleep you can't as you may be called upon out of turn to race and generally solo racing you have very little concept of position in race or time gaps but as a team you know every second and so pressure is always on.
The rest of the 2 lap tints went uneventfully and we etched out a much larger lead to the point were once we had all done our second 2 lap turn we were 17 minutes up from 2nd place, SouthForkRacing, at this point we were at 6.30am and decided to round up with some single lap turns.. well at least 2 of us would have to do one.
Unlike other races that allow the laps finished after the 12 hours are up this race was made more interesting in that any lap completed after the 8am finish would not count so there was alot of maths going on as people gauged how many more laps they could get in and if it was worth trucking back out for another lap.
In the end this system played to our advantage and we gained our lap margin victory as even though it looked like the Southfork boys had switched back to an all out single laps effort time just wasn't on their side.
First win for the Team, and at our sponsors event it was a sweeter victory... was a pleasure to race with the rest of the XCRacer.com 29ers team.
Was great to meet Jay and Maddie Horton for the first time and they had a real battle all night in the mixed pairs eventually taking a much deserved 2nd place.
Congratulations to Ian Leitch for a truly amazing piece of riding in the solo category, i shouted that you were 'killing it' as i passed you the first time.. and you were... any plans to put on any weight and get slower before Mayhem???
Such a good event.. i drove home with a big smile.. hopefully course was well received and people are fired to get to the next round in Brighton.. i know i am.
Fantastic work Martyn.
The first round was to be hosted at Sherwood pines, only a short drive from my house in Nottingham, i knew that i would be riding this race as the race sponsor backs the Xc racer team, i even knew that i would be riding as part of a 4 man team as opposed to my usual solo efforts.. what i didn't know is that i would be designated course designer!!
After a short meeting with Martyn (Salt) and Chris Bray (forestry commission) i was armed with a map of the forest and Martyns input to the course design " i want it to start here, finish there and be about 11km'ish long" ... cheers Martyn, a first class introduction to course design.
Anybody that has ridden the pine will no doubt know that a map is of little use as the the area is littered with so many small tracks it was near impossible to sketch an outline, i had a few sections in my head that i wanted to use as they were fun and new but stitching the course together was a challenge. The great thing about Sherwood pines is the large number of singletrack trails of which i am still finding new ones, the bad thing is they all generally pop out onto the large fireroads that wind through the forest and they all look the same. After a few days up there of riding and much leaving of little markers by the side of the trails i managed to put together a route i could follow (almost) start to finish and i felt had a decent flow even on my rigid singlespeed.
Race Day....
After driving to Sherwood the night before to show the guys that were marking the course the finer point of the courses design, as the map i produced wasn't very clear, we put some finishing touches on race day itself taking out a section which would have been a little too interesting in the dark... on a side note must say how impressed i am at the bike/quad handling skills of the guys marking the course, anybody that rode the course will be amazed to hear that a motorbike got through all sections of the course that i thought were mountain bike tight...
Weather although already 'see your breath' cold was dry and the course was in good shape... not allot of mud anywhere and what there was didn't halt your progress much...
After setting a flying lap for the Gary Fisher boys Garmin fastest lap comp that would run alongside the race all there was to do was to set our teams pit area up.. which in fairness on my part had little involvement, thanks guys:)
The camp/start/finish area was excellent.. we were right next to the track and there was already a good atmosphere developing amongst racers ( even if i was a little nervous my course design skills would be brought into question).
Team tactics were discussed and decision made to do a single flying lap each to start with then settle into double laps... 8pm came around quick and Phil was lined up and the start and then on the move... QUICKLY..
I am always amazed at the starting speed of endurance events... what was more amazing was Ian Leitch's incredible start speed as a solo rider... making it obvious from the start he was going to be adopting the 'Craig Gordon' approach to endurance racing in riding every lap as if you only had one to do.
Ian's start was shadowed though by the man Morris... Phil started in around 5th place off the start but by the time we could see him again after the first 200m he had a near 20m gap... much respect.
By the time Phil had done his lap we already had a 1.30 minute gap. Next up was Matt (lewis), then James (Hampshire) then myself. By the time the single lap rotation had finished we had around a 5 minute lead as our nearest rivals, SOUTHFORKRACING .CO.UK, had started with double laps.
By the time Phil had done his first Double lap stint we were up by nearly 10 minutes... he is a machine and i'm glad he's our machine:)
Gaps can quickly diminish in endurance racing as the sport is always open to outside influence.. in our case this influence was a thorn in Matt's tyre on the first lap of his first 2 lap turn, this puncture was fixed only to be followed by another one but luckily Matt managed to get back to start/finish on it and we swapped the wheel out for the freshly tubelessed wheel from Jame's (Hampshire)bike... look on Jame's face was priceless as we took fresh wheel from his shiny bike an left it disabled:)
With this minor mishap we lost a fair few minutes and the gap came down to 6 minute mark. Not one for leading a boring life Matt decided on his other lap to test a little used braking manoeuvre in hooking his bar end around a tree, effective in that i imagine it stopped him, well at least his bike, almost instantly but did mean he only had one bar end... until amazingly someone found it by falling off in exactly the same spot and discovering it.. only in mountain biking:)
In all the solo events i have done i have always been envious of the Team boys sitting around their lavish camp set ups socialising while i was out for the duration eating and drinking on the move, i have always thought what an easier life team racing is.. but in reality its just a different kind of torture... you race flat out for an hour to point of explosion then cool down to freezing waiting to do it all again, even if you wanted to sleep you can't as you may be called upon out of turn to race and generally solo racing you have very little concept of position in race or time gaps but as a team you know every second and so pressure is always on.
The rest of the 2 lap tints went uneventfully and we etched out a much larger lead to the point were once we had all done our second 2 lap turn we were 17 minutes up from 2nd place, SouthForkRacing, at this point we were at 6.30am and decided to round up with some single lap turns.. well at least 2 of us would have to do one.
Unlike other races that allow the laps finished after the 12 hours are up this race was made more interesting in that any lap completed after the 8am finish would not count so there was alot of maths going on as people gauged how many more laps they could get in and if it was worth trucking back out for another lap.
In the end this system played to our advantage and we gained our lap margin victory as even though it looked like the Southfork boys had switched back to an all out single laps effort time just wasn't on their side.
First win for the Team, and at our sponsors event it was a sweeter victory... was a pleasure to race with the rest of the XCRacer.com 29ers team.
Was great to meet Jay and Maddie Horton for the first time and they had a real battle all night in the mixed pairs eventually taking a much deserved 2nd place.
Congratulations to Ian Leitch for a truly amazing piece of riding in the solo category, i shouted that you were 'killing it' as i passed you the first time.. and you were... any plans to put on any weight and get slower before Mayhem???
Such a good event.. i drove home with a big smile.. hopefully course was well received and people are fired to get to the next round in Brighton.. i know i am.
Fantastic work Martyn.
Sunday, 30 March 2008
Midlands XC RD1 - Hanchurch Woods
I've never really had much success at XC racing in my short racing career.. it started out as my main aim but i quickly discovered that spreading my pain over many more hours of racing suited me better.
As the Midlands series is organised by a fellow 29ers Team mate, James Hampshire and xcracer.com rider Nadine Spearing it seemed a perfect opportunity to try out the new bike in a race, get more race preperation and tactics practice and also try my hand again at the shorter stuff.
My race's now start on a saturday with bike preperation, rather than risk a bad performance due to a mechanical on the sunday the whole of saturday morning is dedicated to checking over the bike, tightening, adjusting, lubing etc followed by a 30 minute ride to check everything is running as it should... all of this to be completed before midday to allow plenty of time to get to a bike shop if need be. As the bike is only 2 rides old everything was as it should be.
Sunday, Get out of bed and look out the window to clear blue skies.. gonna be a good day.
Sport race started at 2pm and as the race was relatively local it afforded me a more leisurely approach to the day... all bottles, food, kit and bike were ready the night before so up at 8am to breakfast and pack the van. On the road for 9am and at the race venue for just after 10am, car park was right next to the start/finish which is always a bonus not just for riders but for those faithful bottle handers and mid race gel providers. Sign on and a quick walk up the first climb, definately a big ring affair for the first lap.. lovely.
12pm, get kitted and roll out for a pre ride with some fellow racers, the course started with the afformentioned long climb, a short singletrack section, then into another climb, followed by a muddier climb.. so far was looking good. The ground was very soft in places but the 1.8 Bontrager Jones ACX 29er treads i will be using this year cut right to the chase and didn't clog, there were a few cheeky climbs which were borderline ride/run depending on how you were feeling and these climbs were balanced by some nice little sections of downhill with a few drops thrown in for good measure.
1pm, warm up, mp3 player on, used the start straight and did a good 40 minutes warm up.. i assumed with only 3 laps to complete no one would be hanging around at the start and good to be as warmed up as possible.
2pm, race start, with a shout of "you will be starting in the next 10 seconds" we were off... i had already decided that i was going to give it both barrels straight of the start and just see what happened, start was along a gently climbing section of fireroad before cutting left onto the course and the first climb. Got a good start and by the start of the climb was in 5th/6th place.. thhe Gary Fisher Superfly laps up straights like that, felt like i was on my road bike just flowing along nicely. By the top of the first climb i was in 3rd.
As we caught the tail of the Masters category i lost sight of 1st and 2nd place in the traffic... a third of the way into the lap i paid for my 'all or nothing' start and was caught up by another 2 riders, this time i managed to hold the wheels and take a little breather.. somehow always easier to folllow a rider than to set a pace yourself. Before the end of the lap i had gained a place back but couldn't stay with the other rider that had caught me, which turned out to be eventual race winner Carl Hulston - Numplumpz.
2nd lap and time to add fuel to the fire with a gel, was making good progress on the climbs but stalling through the tight stuff and slower on downhills... areas of personal weakness that i am always trying to address. This lap got caught early by another rider, but nearing the end of the lap saw the sorry sight of original race leader Chris Metcalfe - Matlock CC/Wards Shoe Shop, fixing a flat, as it turned out hhe had been riding with a slow flat for a while and decided to stop to change it out as he still had a lap to go but unfortunately ripped valve off the spare:( On this lap i could now see th original second place rider who was now in 3rd, Niall Frost - Team MK, got within passing distance on a number of occasions on the lap but alwasy dropped a little on the downhills.
3rd lap, still felt good on the climbs but obviously a little tired as tight stuff became more troublesome and battled with feet jumping out of pedal and soft deep mud, at top of course was caught by Dai Price - Pearce Cycles Race Team, he seemed to have a better flow through the top of the course and quickly gapped me. Rest of lap was fairly consistent, plenty of power on the ups and the flats and super sketchy on the downs... although still loving the drops. With the final 3rd of the lap remaining finally caught and passed Niall Frost and with some last ditch efforts made the gap which lasted till the finish.
4th place mens sport class, think 4th is the worst place to finish as its annoyingly close to a podium,maybe if the race was another 5 laps longer like my endurance events i would have faired a little better. Think now if time allows i'll be back fro the future rounds and see how they go, may even try a national XC race depending on how my Marathons are going.
Great day out, little dissapointed with the finish but it has definatelty fueled a sick fascination to see if i can be competitive over these shorter races.
Great Race for fellow XC Racer 29er Phil Morris, with a move to Elite for this year, on paper looking at the start sheet it loooked like a tough race and Phil assured me it was:) He still mixed it up with the big boys of XC racing and am sure that he'll get the measure of them with a few more races.. no pressure Phil:)
Congrats to everyone that helped put on this race, definately a move in the right direction for mountain bike racing and if you find a lung on course it'll be mine as at the moment i'm still trying to cough up the other one... shorter races should be easier shouldn't they???
As the Midlands series is organised by a fellow 29ers Team mate, James Hampshire and xcracer.com rider Nadine Spearing it seemed a perfect opportunity to try out the new bike in a race, get more race preperation and tactics practice and also try my hand again at the shorter stuff.
My race's now start on a saturday with bike preperation, rather than risk a bad performance due to a mechanical on the sunday the whole of saturday morning is dedicated to checking over the bike, tightening, adjusting, lubing etc followed by a 30 minute ride to check everything is running as it should... all of this to be completed before midday to allow plenty of time to get to a bike shop if need be. As the bike is only 2 rides old everything was as it should be.
Sunday, Get out of bed and look out the window to clear blue skies.. gonna be a good day.
Sport race started at 2pm and as the race was relatively local it afforded me a more leisurely approach to the day... all bottles, food, kit and bike were ready the night before so up at 8am to breakfast and pack the van. On the road for 9am and at the race venue for just after 10am, car park was right next to the start/finish which is always a bonus not just for riders but for those faithful bottle handers and mid race gel providers. Sign on and a quick walk up the first climb, definately a big ring affair for the first lap.. lovely.
12pm, get kitted and roll out for a pre ride with some fellow racers, the course started with the afformentioned long climb, a short singletrack section, then into another climb, followed by a muddier climb.. so far was looking good. The ground was very soft in places but the 1.8 Bontrager Jones ACX 29er treads i will be using this year cut right to the chase and didn't clog, there were a few cheeky climbs which were borderline ride/run depending on how you were feeling and these climbs were balanced by some nice little sections of downhill with a few drops thrown in for good measure.
1pm, warm up, mp3 player on, used the start straight and did a good 40 minutes warm up.. i assumed with only 3 laps to complete no one would be hanging around at the start and good to be as warmed up as possible.
2pm, race start, with a shout of "you will be starting in the next 10 seconds" we were off... i had already decided that i was going to give it both barrels straight of the start and just see what happened, start was along a gently climbing section of fireroad before cutting left onto the course and the first climb. Got a good start and by the start of the climb was in 5th/6th place.. thhe Gary Fisher Superfly laps up straights like that, felt like i was on my road bike just flowing along nicely. By the top of the first climb i was in 3rd.
As we caught the tail of the Masters category i lost sight of 1st and 2nd place in the traffic... a third of the way into the lap i paid for my 'all or nothing' start and was caught up by another 2 riders, this time i managed to hold the wheels and take a little breather.. somehow always easier to folllow a rider than to set a pace yourself. Before the end of the lap i had gained a place back but couldn't stay with the other rider that had caught me, which turned out to be eventual race winner Carl Hulston - Numplumpz.
2nd lap and time to add fuel to the fire with a gel, was making good progress on the climbs but stalling through the tight stuff and slower on downhills... areas of personal weakness that i am always trying to address. This lap got caught early by another rider, but nearing the end of the lap saw the sorry sight of original race leader Chris Metcalfe - Matlock CC/Wards Shoe Shop, fixing a flat, as it turned out hhe had been riding with a slow flat for a while and decided to stop to change it out as he still had a lap to go but unfortunately ripped valve off the spare:( On this lap i could now see th original second place rider who was now in 3rd, Niall Frost - Team MK, got within passing distance on a number of occasions on the lap but alwasy dropped a little on the downhills.
3rd lap, still felt good on the climbs but obviously a little tired as tight stuff became more troublesome and battled with feet jumping out of pedal and soft deep mud, at top of course was caught by Dai Price - Pearce Cycles Race Team, he seemed to have a better flow through the top of the course and quickly gapped me. Rest of lap was fairly consistent, plenty of power on the ups and the flats and super sketchy on the downs... although still loving the drops. With the final 3rd of the lap remaining finally caught and passed Niall Frost and with some last ditch efforts made the gap which lasted till the finish.
4th place mens sport class, think 4th is the worst place to finish as its annoyingly close to a podium,maybe if the race was another 5 laps longer like my endurance events i would have faired a little better. Think now if time allows i'll be back fro the future rounds and see how they go, may even try a national XC race depending on how my Marathons are going.
Great day out, little dissapointed with the finish but it has definatelty fueled a sick fascination to see if i can be competitive over these shorter races.
Great Race for fellow XC Racer 29er Phil Morris, with a move to Elite for this year, on paper looking at the start sheet it loooked like a tough race and Phil assured me it was:) He still mixed it up with the big boys of XC racing and am sure that he'll get the measure of them with a few more races.. no pressure Phil:)
Congrats to everyone that helped put on this race, definately a move in the right direction for mountain bike racing and if you find a lung on course it'll be mine as at the moment i'm still trying to cough up the other one... shorter races should be easier shouldn't they???
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