National Marathon Champs

So it was a touch muddy in places...

Some (most?) people might think I'm crazy but I love marathon racing. Proper single lap marathons, not the usual multi-lap events around a course which is only really fun when you're riding flat out. You get a chance to ride in spectacular countryside where you have to rely more on yourself than on the quality of your pit crew. Unfortunately, these events are rare in the UK and the ones that do exist take some getting to. With the demise of Kielder I think the National Marathon Champs at Selkirk is the only single loop marathon which can actually call its self a race. That, along with the oppoirtunity to ride some great local trail centres, makes it worth the 6 hour drive.

 

This is the third time I have lined up for a National Marathon championships, and my second in Selkirk. The previous two (Margam a few years ago and Selkirk last year) have both been bone dry and warm. It was fairly clear for the past few weeks that this weekend would not be following the trend. The dilema was how to pack evrything you need for any conditions in to 3 small pockets in the back of a jersey. In the end I went with caution and stuck on a baselayer and knee warmers, plus gillet and skull-cap with a ultra-packable jacket in my pocket just in case. I hindsight I needed none of this and a jersey shorts and arm warmers would have been plenty. Typical Scotland!.

 

This being the National Championships, the field was incredibly strong. It's dificult to set targets in this situation because a position is arbitrary and completely depends on other riders, while beating last years time was out of the window with the weather. Instead, Andy Cockburn and Chris Pedder were my optimistic targets but both of these pulled away from me on the first monster climb after the neutralized zone (not before Andy had tried to push me off the side of a mountain by veering into me - intentional, who knows!)

 

I re-passed Andy with puncture on the first descent but didn't catch sight of Chris at any point. Turns out he had hidden the metaphorical bullseye on his back under a red gillet, cunning! The second climb was where I began to explore the limits of the semi-slick Schwalbe Thunderburt tyre on my rear wheel. The climb was a steep grassy drag which, in places, had turned into wet slippery clay tracks. Put simply, I had no chance. Fortunately, neither did anyone else on more grippy tyres. At this point it looked more like a scene from the 3 Peaks CX race with a line of people pushing or carrying their bikes up onto the moors. To my relief, this was the only unridable section and the fun stuff started. There were lots of techy wet rooty steep descents which I really enjoyed and was riding pretty well (with the exception of a very close OTB moment). On the second road section I lucked in and managed to sprint onto the back of a couple of guys who were motoring. We shared the work well and put a decent gap into the guys I was riding with before. This threesome split on the next fireroad climb to the Innerliethen trail center but I stuck with Dieter Drogger who was having a pretty crappy time of it by this point. The next descent was awsome with some steep rooty switchbacks and then a succession of small drops down Caddon Bank to the bottom of Innerlithen. Unfortunately, then came pergatory. The following climb took about half an hour of slowly winching my way up. It was singletrack heavy so not dull but it was looooong! By the top i had dropp[ed a place to a dutch mountain goat (how the hell does that happen!?) but at least I knew that was most of the climbing done. Relief from this hell came in the form of the final feed zone. I wanted to stop and destroy a cake or two but I fought temptation and just grabbed a banana and a couple of gels to keep me going to the end which I vaguely remembered wasn't too far.

 

The next descent was straight, bumpy and rocky over the moors. I flicked the Anthem's front and rear suspension to 'Descend', stuck it in the 10 tooth sprocket and death-gripped the bars all the way to the bottom with a massive grin on my face. one final wall like climb up to the cairn (where I may have let out a few expletives when it reared out from behind a more manageable hill) and then another similar descent to the finish. I made a couple of places up towards the end and finished 27th overall.

 

I still haven't quite decided how i feel about this result. The race went perfectly, I rode well, my legs felt good and I had no punctures or mechanicals but yet I still feel a bit dispondant. I suppose i was just hoping for better but in reality, with the lack of miles and racing so far this year perhaps this was the best i could have hoped for. oh well, theres always next year!