Kielder 100

The look of relief as I hit the final descent after 99miles of racing

I should apologise now, this may be a long blog, but it was a long race, so get over it! Kielder is one of those event I have always said I had to do. It started the year after I moved away from Newcastle and the cost and effort of even getting there has put me off, until now. With the entire XC season being squeezed into 3 months before the summer had even begun, I needed something to motivate me and make training worthwhile. The decision to do it was confirmed when I was asked if I wanted to enter a team relay triathlon for the Giant Store Radlett on the same weekend. I don’t really do running, swimming or time trials so Kielder won hands down!

I have managed to fit in a couple of long off-road rides to try and build some endurance but not as many as I hoped. Taking 7-8 hours out of a weekend to go riding is always difficult, finding someone who has an equally understanding girlfriend/wife is even harder. With 80 miles to the North Downs and the Chiltern 100km challenge, along with a couple of road rides under my belt, I was as confident I could make the distance, although it was still going to be hard.  The main thing that worried me was the weather, and Kielder forests ability to destroy a set of brake pads in a matter of miles. I planned for the worst, packing 3 pairs of spare pads, and hoped for the best. As last week progressed the weather forecast improved and I dared to dream that we might have a dry weekend.

In the morning, after a 4.45am alarm, I had time to put my bike together, have breakfast and head to the start but I was already about the 350^th on the start line. This just made a hard day in the saddle even harder and I was pretty annoyed with myself for putting myself in this situation. Once the lead car set off we had a couple of miles of pace making before the race began and I tried to make up as many places as possible in this time. I was still about 100 back when we were released onto the course and I had to push far harder than I wanted to get ahead of the slower riders. After about 20 miles things had settled down and I was in a group of 3 including eventual 2^nd place vet Ade Lawrence and Tom Albutt. We spent the next 30 miles sharing the work as each of us was stronger on different sections and gradients. I tried to get in front on the singletrack sections so I could see where I was going and not get caught in anyone else’s crashes. This didn’t quite work out as I managed to go over the bars when I misjudged a puddle and cut my knee quite badly. At the 50 mile feed station I got away from Ade and Tom because I didn’t want to stop for too long in case my legs stiffened up. I was already feeling pretty knackered by this point and wasn’t sure how I was going to finish the next 50miles!

The next section was one of two that I remember as my own little piece of Hell. From the feed station we headed up a steep loose climb and then out onto some very exposed moorland boardwalk. It was blowing a gale up there and I was regretting leaving the others behind. Next we dropped onto what can only be described as a strip of winding rumblestrip made from sharp golf ball sized rocks. It destroyed my arms and back and made even pedalling hard work. Whoever decided to build that, and then include it in this race should be castrated. I was glad to head into Scotland (you won’t hear me say that very often!) where the trails smoothed out slightly. I caught Tom Wragg and rode with him for a while until we got to a 65mile water stop where I left him and caught sight of regular XC sparring partner Chris Pedder. Normally this would be a carrot on a stick for me but I resisted the urge to chase and just tried to maintain my rhythm.

After swooping through the Newcastle trail centre we dropped out onto my second slice of Hell. With the wind behind I was hoping to be blown back towards Kielder but the next 5 miles was a sheltered gradual climb which never seemed to end. I was still on my own and really struggling to turn the pedals at any meaningful speed. Just as I got to the end of the road and turned up onto the moors I was caught by Both Toms. After a short section of singletrack we got what I was craving and hit a long fast fireroad descent to the final feed station. Tom Albutt left before me and this was the last I saw of him. On the next climb Tom Wragg also got away from me but he never got too far ahead and was struggling with cramp. I managed to get away from him with about 8 miles left and although the end was almost in sight I didn’t want to push until I had seen the final 5 miles sign as last year it was 104 miles! Fortunately it wasn’t and even more fortunately, the final mile was some lovely swooping smooth singletrack. I rolled home in 8 hours 54 and in 13^th place, happy to beat my pre-race target of 9 hours, although still rueing cocking up the start. The free post-race greasy burger went down a treat, and so did the second one I got!

Now, 24 hours after finishing, I am still sore pretty much all over, from neck to knees at least and am still not harbouring any thoughts of doing the event again anytime soon! I still feel a bit tired but mostly in the same way I would if I had a bad hangover. A flight to Germany and my first day in a new job are not ideal by any stretch of the imagination and I am looking forward to getting home to my own bed on Monday night!