Bank Holidays, Time trials some MTBing

Over the last couple of weeks since Sherwood I have managed to get out and do some good riding without really concentrating on training. Last weekend I got out for 92 miles with the Witney Grupetto. Despite Dex and Rodger being in a massive rush to get home after we had dropped everyone off in Carterton I felt surprisingly good at the end of the ride. On the Sunday my legs were pretty stiff but it was a nice day so I went out for some supersets on the MTB. Unfortunately everyone else in Oxfordshire thought it was a nice day too so the bridleways were packed with kids, walkers, dogs and horses, meaning I couldn’t really get up to race pace for fear of hitting someone.

Review: Continental X-King RS

Towards the end of last season I moved over from a tried and tested combination of Schwalbe Rocket Ron 2.1 front and Kenda Small Block 8 2.0 rear to Continental X-King RS 2.1 front and back. These tyres are supposed to be a tubeless ready version of the Supersonic X-King, which its self is supposed to be a superlight XC race tyre for just about all conditions. At a glance, the tread pattern looks similar to the Schwalbe Rocket Ron with widely spaced aggressive knobs to clear mud quickly. They also live up to their billing as a superlight tyre, unfortunately I didn’t weigh them before I set them up but they felt at least as light as the tyres they replaced. Unfortunately, this is where the positives end.

Despite the RS version being designed to be run tubeless, it took about 6 months, and copious top-ups of sealant to get them sealed. Every time I went to ride them I had to top up the air pressure and there were always signs of sealant bubbling through the side wall. I have never had this with my previous set up (or my current set up) using standard, non-tubeless tyres. They must have swallowed so much sealant by now that the stated weights are half what they currently weigh. Admittedly, I should not have raced on leaky tyres but I don’t have the luxury of spare sets of wheels and this problem cost me positions in at least 2 races when I had to stop and pump them up.

National XC 1; Sherwood Pines

It feels like this season has been going for a while already but this weekend was finally time for the first national series race at Sherwood Pines. If you read other racers blogs, you will probably hear the same line repeated ad infinitum– “it’s too flat, It doesn’t suit me”. The fact is, it probably doesn’t suit most people so everyone is on a fairly level, extremely flat and rooty playing field. That’s not to say I’m not going to say it too! I prefer hills and the flat pedally nature of this course does not play to my strengths! 



lots of lovely rooty singletrack



Southern XC 1, Checkendon



Not going as fast as it looks



Well that was a bit shit! I've been pretty confident all week that I could get a good result this weekend. The rain came on Saturday morning and it made the course very slippery, and quite draggy in places. Half way through the lap the course dropped down a tricky descent and the following climbs were very slippery making it almost impossible to ride in places. I used the practice lap to get used to the bike and how it handled in the conditions and by the end I felt like I was getting to grips with it. I definately felt the benefit of the big wheels in the singletrack because you can just take a direct line through the roots at cut off corners which would slow your momentum on a 26. I was still a bit concerned about the lack of grip on the front wheel in the mud though because I am used to a grippier 'Rocket Ron' as opposed to the semi-slick 'Racing Ralph' on this.

Gorrick Round 3 (2), Crowthorne

Sharp climb out of the arena

After a reasonably tough week of training, hopes were not high for this weekend’s race. As with the previous Gorrick race, I was using this as a hard training ride and not worrying too much about the result. There is nothing like starters orders to get you pushing your limits above what you can on a normal training session. Initially the leading 5 riders in the series were gridded, which was a bit pointless since none of them were present, then we were left standing for about 5 minutes which built the tension. Looking around it seemed like a quality field of riders and the usual worries about coming last started to surface. I really need to find some self confidence from somewhere! Finally we got our orders and from the gun I got a reasonable start from the back row. I quickly got onto the back of the lead group of riders and was still in touch when we entered the first single track section after a long fire road climb. Before the end of the first lap there were 3 separate crashes directly in front of me which held me up enough for me to lose the back of the group. Once I had lost this wheel, I never got back on and slowly dropped further back. After a reasonable first lap I tried to settle into a comfortable pace and tried to keep my lap times more consistent than last time where they pretty much fell off a cliff. I managed to overhaul 3 riders on the 3rd and 4th laps and, despite losing my chain towards the end of the 4th lap, held them off to the end.

Witney 'Smash-Fest' and MTB Mud Surfing

Mountain bikers fake tan and bloody cold feet

After a rest week where I have done absolutely nothing on a bike since the spinning on Tuesday (thick fog later in the week put paid to any thoughts of riding to work) on Saturday I went out with the Witney Grupetto. After some heavy rain in the morning the roads were muddy and very greasy and required concentration the whole way to avoid any silly crashes. This ride is never an easy day in the saddle because quite a few use it as their weekly race. This weeks was even faster than usual with a few riders from Oxford dropping by to dish out some hurt. I ended up with just over 70 miles on the clock but they must have been 70 of the hardest miles I have done in a long time! On the climbs I was Ok for the majority but once the road flattened out the pace ramped up and I was fighting to stay on the back knowing if I lost touch out would be out the back door and have a long solo ride home! I'm not ashamed to admit two of the people dishing out this pain were two girls from Oxford who both looked far too comfortable at the end when the regulars were suffering as much as I was. Safe to say, when I got home I was fucked and pretty incoherent, much to the delight of an impatient Emma.

Giant Radlett Tuesday Turbo Spinning

Getting sweaty at Giant Store Radlett

Normally Radlett would be too far for me to travel for a spinning class but as luck would have it I was visiting a client in the region so thought it would be rude not to drop into the shop for their weekly class. I love bike shops as a rule but the Giant Store is up there as one of my favourites because they have some seriously trick bikes including the XTC Composite 29er 1 (the matt black finish looks very cool and isn’t done justice in pictures) and the TCR Advanced. I left my wallet in the car intentionally so that I couldn’t spend any money!

As for the spinning, it’s a weekly class run by Steph, one of the shops sponsored triatheletes. There were only 5 of us there, including store manager, Dan, and 3 other regulars. It was basically an hour of pain with 11 (not 10 as advertised) 1 minute sprints with 2 minute recovery and finished off with 1x5 min and 1x10 min TT efforts. The emphasis of spinning is to push as hard as you want so if you are less fit you can still get a lot out of the session by using lower gears (like Dan, who hardly broke a sweat) or if you are super fit you can engage in an hour of ‘big ring’ mashing! I was still very stiff and tired from Sunday’s race so I didn’t push 100% but it was good to get the heart and lungs pumping and flush the lactate out of my muscles.

If you are in the area and want a good workout I would strongly recommend you drop into the shop and book yourself in. You don’t even need a bike or a turbo; I just borrowed a very nice TCR and a turbo for the evening.