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.

First Race of 2012 - Gorrick - Swinley Forest

My first race of 2010 was reasonably flat and in the Open category to ease myself into the season. The same can be said for 2011 (although that was determined by injury rather than by intention). This year, my first race of the season was always going to be round 2 of the Gorrick series. With no elite category, I knew there would be some serious competition. What I didn't bank on was one hell of a tough course. My practice lap took me over half an hour to complete and although that was at a fairly casual pace, that's a long lap and 5 laps was always going to hurt.



"Oi! Youff! Pass me that bottle!"



From the gun I got a reasonable start and was about 6th at the top of the first climb with everyone in front wheel to wheel. After the initial climb there was a long section of tricky but fast natural single track interrupted by a couple of short climbs and a tricky bog section. Once out in the open the course climbed gradually for about 500m. By this time I had lost time on the leaders after being caught behind some of the 'Open' riders. I put in a kick to get past the rider in front and quickly got a gap but the next rider was matching my speed and I couldn't close him down. The course turned right and up a very steep loose climb. I didn't realise Surry had scree slopes, but this changed my opinion. My knees felt like they were about to pop, you couldn't stand up and pedal because the back wheel instantly lost traction on the loose surface, you just had to grit your teeth, pull on the handlebars and push as hard as you could on the pedals. I genuinely wasn't sure I was going to make it up this climb 4 more times! By the top of the climb I had lost more ground on the guys in front but the first few sport guys had caught me so I pushed hard to get on their wheels to get my breath back. After a fast bermed descent with a couple tabletops and another very short steep climb, there was a fairly long flat section where being in a group really sped up progress. The lap finished with more natural single track before a fire road climb to the top of the final descent where everyone else took the slower wiggly route down. I took the straight route down a couple of drops and made up a good few seconds every lap on this. By the end of the lap I had caught and passed Scott Chappell and was up into 6th. At this point I was unsure if I was on my second or third lap, it felt like I had been going for quite a while already!

For the majority of the second lap I worked with a sport rider to maintain the gap to the rider in front and distance those behind but going on the third lap I was on my own and I think my mind must have wandered from concentrating on riding fast because the gap to those behind dropped quickly but my legs still felt good! Towards the end of the 4th lap my legs suddenly felt empty and Scott, who by this point had caught be but I was comfortably riding with, accelerated into the distance. I couldn't do anything to keep in contact with him and he was soon quite a way up the track. For the rest of the race I was alone and just concentrating on keeping going but not pushing too hard. I didn't want to blow up and not finish! The final time arount the scree slope I was suddenly on the wheel of the 6th place Expert but cramp set in at the back of my right quad and I had to collapse off my bike and stagger up the climb. At the same time I was passing a girl who was having exactly the same problem. Its a good job there weren't any spectators there, it would have looked a bit odd with both of us hobbling to the top grimacing! I think the rider ahead had bonked because I caught him again on the flat section and he didn't make any effort to keep up.
I finished 6th out of only 12 starters which I am pretty happy with although I was a long way off the winners time. The race took me 2hrs11 which is a good 40 minutes longer than the races I will be doing for the rest of the season. I surprised myself at how good I felt from the gun, somewhere I am normally poor, so that is very positive. I have just over a month until my first points qualifying race so with a good block of training, hopefully I can build on this race and get a good result then.

Forest of Dean / XTC final review

Its a bit of a poor show when a blog about last weekend is published closer to the next weekend! Im obviously getting a bit slack!

While I was (and still am) a bit jealous of everyone racing in the Midlands XC opener this weekend at Hicks Lodge, I have enjoyed the opportunity to do a couple of good rides myself. On Saturday I met up with the Wychwood RC ride which is normally run at a steady pace. I spent the majority of the ride on the front including along the flat and dead straight 6 mile road from Ambrosden to Islip straight into a gale force headwind – that bit wasn’t so enjoyable! The route was mostly flat with the road into Brill being the only significant climb and a good chance to stretch the legs. The Wychwood ride only ended up being about 50 miles (plus the 6 I did to get to the meet) so I decided to head off on my own for an extra few miles once everyone else had dropped off. Unfortunately I should have paid more attention to the whether forecast because as soon as I was alone, and bang on schedule, it started to piss it down. In addition to the headwind I felt like I was being jet washed and I was sorely tempted to take the quick way home. My resolve held, but only just, and I took the intermediate route home with the addition of 15 cold wet miles under my wheels. At least the beans on cheese on toast felt like it had been earned when I got in!

On Sunday I headed over to the Forest of Dean on the XTC to see how it coped on (slightly) more technical terrain. The upshot it, it was good! We did the blue route first to warm the legs up before heading out on the enduro route. For the first descent I was still getting used to the bike and not going too quickly but once I had got into the swing of things I loved it. The bike eats up the trail centre bumps, and the faster you go the smoother it gets. It also copes with braking bumps and pump track sections better than a 26 although it is still definitely not up to full-suspension levels of comfort. By the time we had been riding for an hour I had completely forgotten I was riding a 29er. You quickly get used to the slight difference in steering and just get on with reaping the benefits in the form of better grip and smoother ride. After a quick spin in the car park both Jack and Ash agreed the much talked about negatives of 29ers are almost imperceptible.

The enduro trail was my favourite section of the day with really slippery mud and crisscrossing roots keeping out on your toes. This sort of track is far more my cup of tea than manmade trails. We only rode for about 2.5 hours but after getting lost a few times we were all ready for a bacon butty in the café!

Unfortunately I have had to give the XTC back now for a few weeks until mine arrives so I will be rocking my old 26er at the Gorrick next weekend. Please don’t judge me for not being on trend!