UK Gravity Enduro, RD1` Afan

UK Gravity Enduro series RD1

Afan,  Wales

March 2013

For a short time there was going to be no Gravity Enduro series in 2013, but myself and I’m sure many others are glad Mr Parr, with assistance from Charlie Williams and others,  decided to go ahead and put on another races series for this year.  Afan park in South Wales was the venue for round 1 this year and with the current state of the UK’s severe lack of spring like weather it looked like it could be a tough weekend ahead.  Close to the event and the country seemed to be getting hit with pretty heavy snow in most places, so much so Tracy Moseley couldn’t get to the first national XC race in Nottingham but could make it to South Wales and so headed over for a change of pace!  Although bitterly cold all weekend we avoided rain and snow both days so it could have been a lot worse, so this years series was ready to go.

 

Time to go racing in 2013

The pits and parking area was soaked however so parking was a little hectic but it was good to see main series sponsors Mavic and Shimano there to support the race and the riders.  The discipline also is booming, with a sell out of over 300 riders in just one day.   There was definitely a large mix of riders there to tackle the physical Afan route mapped out for us, not least in Elite, with senior and master riders moving up this year it is now a sizeable category, likewise there was a good amount of women racing too which is good to see.

Having raced there 2 years ago the route map looked like some of the same sections would be used, there was a long transition out to stage 1 but the other 4 stages were all quite close together, although there was still plenty of pedalling inbetween to be done, around 20 miles in total and 3hours to complete. The full loop ridden on Saturday and then it’s up to stage 5 for seeding time.  A number of the elite riders opted for the bigger wheels this year, well this round anyway, with Dan Atherton running what looked to be a prototype 650b wheeled GT bike, would the bigger wheel size dominate the results sheet?

 

Will 650b wheels be THE size for enduro…the debate goes on.

So Saturday afternoon came around and it was time to ride up the hill and line up for seeding runs.  Appearing longer this year with more established trail to follow before a fireroad sprint including an uphill and then a muddy pedal opening onto the 4X track which housed the finish arena, sub 5 mins ended up being a good time so plenty of burning leg and lungs at the finish. Tracy Moseley being fastest in the elite women’s field and for the men Dan Atherton led out from Neil Donoghue and Sam Flanagan,  time to queue for the jetwash or a hose and clean up and get warm.

Sunday morning and the rare sight of sun was welcomed, but not for long.  Fortunately however it did stay dry, very very cold but dry!  The long climb and pedal up to windy point and we arrived at stage 1, where temperatures of -2 welcomed us and wreaked havoc with freezing camlebaks, freehubs, shifter cables, etc.  The first stage was all trail centre track, flowing but pedally taking 3 and a half minutes at max effort.  Chatting with familiar faces from the masters category, great to see the likes of Mr Tunstall, Titley and Brown racing.  They had just finished stage 1 and warned us of some lethal icy patches to watch out for…great!  After having a poor seeding the day before I set out to make time back, keeping speed rolling and making it past the bad ice, I was closing in on Ben, the rider infront of me, when another frozen part of the trail caught me out and I went down still holding the bars.  Back up quickly I finished ok, but not the start I wanted.  Turns out I wasn’t the only victim of the freezing conditions with Al Stock and Sam Flanagan hitting the deck too, a damage check revealed I managed to put a crack through my helmet when I connected with the ground….never ride without one kids!

 

Al Stock rode a 100mm travel 29er, issues hampered his day.

We all got to stage 2 with time for banter and war stories before tackling another section of trail section named the graveyard.  Again keep speed rolling here as there were more rises and obstacles to slow you up, a little longer effort here at the 4 minute mark.  Then  onto stage 3 for the longest of them all.  Nice flowing man made trail to begin with before a draining fireroad linked you into the trail that took you down the ‘wall’ trail, a 7 min plus stage that really tested your fitness and recovery, but some fun and high speeds entertained you for the last 30-40 secs of it as a reward for your efforts though.

 

Sam Flanagan riding for Hopetech, an impressive debut in elite, 3^rd place.

The organisers always like to include a ‘natural’ stage to mix things up terrain wise and test everyone’s riding skills out, this was the stage for that.  Short and starting out on manmade tracks it soon went onto fresh trail which due to the weather turned to into deep deep mud that became practically unrideable and most resorted to running parts of it, 3 mins of not much fun really, at least it was short!

Once more to the top of the seeding stage for the 5^th and final effort.  It had got COLD again, I noticed the mud on my frame had frozen solid on it!  Glad to get going and warm up, less than 5 mins later and the first enduro was done for the year.  Final results showed Miss Moseley is on top of the enduro game with Helen Gaskell second and Cheri Mills in third.  Elite men and Dan Atherton showed impressive fitness and skills to dominate the race and take the win.  Donny impressing me with a strong second place, likewise Sam Flanagan riding strongly to third.  I scraped into 9^th spot in the end, hoping for more if I’m honest but something to work from now. 

 

Atherton dominated in Afan. Looking strong for a season of Enduro.

So as it ended up 5 of the top 7 elites were running bigger wheels, seemingly a good move for this race then although these guys are fast on any bike so I wouldn’t read too much into it.  But does this mean each race will see a variety of bikes on the start line? 

Personally I see 650b being the ‘norm’ for trail bikes and its racing, DH will continue to run ‘traditional’ 26” (for now at least) and XC racing has to be 29” now to compete, I just look forward to the whole thing settling down in the coming years so the debate will settle with it.

Big thanks to Cannondale, Mavic, Crank Brothers, RRP, GoPro, MRP for their support.

Winter racing 2012/2013 - keeping the motor running

Brass Monkey  4hr Round 1 – 25^th Nov - Ceasar's Camp, Aldershot

The climby one.  A good course, pretty much the same as the previous year.  I rode well in the first half of the race but weakened in the 2^nd half. The flying singlespeeder Al Fairburn sauntered past me and then past Tim Dunford who had bonked and took overall victory.

I split my tyre on the penultimate lap and had to chase hard on the final lap to overtake Matt Craner and Nick Butler to grab the Vets victory.

Thetford  4hr Round - 2^nd Dec - High Lodge

It was super cold but the ground very firm, superfast and super slippy.  I stuffed a load of newspaper down my top to keep warm. This was probably the best place for the neighbour’s Daily Mail.  I wasn’t gridded at the start and didn’t really make much progress on the first lap, Lots of people were slip sliding over in front in the frozen ground.  As the race wore on I picked up place after place and settled into 3^rd position with Tom Wragg following close behind.

Well wrapped up

Remarkably both Paul Ashby and Andrew Cockburn punctured so I then got to lead. The lead was kept until the last mile when Paul Ashby came flying through.  Tom surged and got second. Bugger. So I finished 2nd Vet and 3rd overall.

Brass Monkey 4hr Round 2 - Windmill Hill, Deepcut

I was totally out of sorts, couldn’t ride the course for toffee and pedalled squares for 4 hours.  It was maybe too much time in the gym, and not enough time on the bike. Al Fairburn punctured Tim Dunford won overall.

I was 4^th in the Vets which. Simon Willats won.  I had some work to do now to secure the overall Vets series title at the final round 3.

Brass Monkey  4hr Round 3 - Tunnel hill, Pirbright.

Ben Thomas, Tim Dunford and Al Fairburn set a brisk pace on lap 1 until Tim hit a log.  Ben checked to see how bad it was.  Not too bad, Tim was just heavily winded. He probably was told to not hit logs, lose the pained expression and MTFU.  Both came past me later in the race.  Ben managed to catch Al Fairburn for the overall victory.  I rode with Iain Paine for the first half and then pushed on. 

I was enjoying the relatively flat course and had put in some miles over the Xmas period so felt quite strong.  I managed to secure the Vets victory for the race and the series. Yay!

La Santa 4 day stage race Lanzarote

75 Euro for 4 day stage race. Mid 60s to mid 70s F.  Dry,sandy and volcanic trails.  Where do I sign up? This clashed with Thetford round 3. That’s a shame J. A great bit of training, although super competitive for January.   There was about 150 riders. Just under 100 did all 4 days.  The standard was very high at the sharp end of things in the men’s field. 

Stage 1 30km loop

A typical Spanish start here, no prisoners were held.  I gained some places at the start by going around a roundabout the wrong way, and then lost them.  A long sandy hill sorted things out.  Groups started to form which were useful to be in, in the Lanzarote wind.  I was on my own for a fair bit, annoyingly. 

I caught a couple of riders at the end, including fellow Brit Steve Ferguson.  Sally Bigham destroyed the women’s field. Spanish Olympian Sergio Mantecon won in 1hr 21. Evergreen Scot , James Ouchterlony  finished in a notable 10^th  one minute back.  I was 43^rd overall,  2^nd in the Vets 40+.

Stage 2 60km marathon

This stage took us through the volcanic Timanfaya National Park. After a bit of a slow start I rode strongly in the middle part of the race, catching the Bigham group. 

The 29er and I was making good progress through the sharp fist sized volcanic rocks.  I pushed on a bit but my mid race exuberance was punished towards the end as I was dropped by the group of about 7.  Nevertheless, I finished in 34th place (2^nd Vet) and moved up to 38^th overall. Mantecon & Bigham won their categories again.

Stage 3 25km hill time trial

This was a bit of a sufferfest, as you would expect.  Set off at 1 minute intervals I caught the guy ahead by about 1/3^rd of the race, but he stayed with me and opened up the gap again towards the end.   I couldn’t stand up without the tyres spinning and felt like I was pedalling squares in the final run in.

I finished 48^th, 2^nd Vet, but now quite along way behind the powerhouse Vet Joan Pons Palacios. Mantecon turned the screw by winning in an impressive 51 minutes.

Stage 4 80km marathon

Again I had a slow start, but knew this would be bit of a war of attrition.  Half way through there was a big climb and riders ahead started to crack.  I picked up a few places. 

After a couple of minor crashes on the loose surface and a slight detour from the course we popped out onto a great superfast run in along the coast, very picturesque with nice surfing waves.  I crossed the line after around 3.45 mins in 37^th just ahead of a fast finishing Steve Ferguson.  German Simon Stiebjahn won the stage for Matecon won overall by 2 min 55 seconds.  The top ten was separated by less than 20 mins after the 4 stages, so quite tight.

I achieved 37^th in the overall and 2nd in Vets, so was happy with that. A top race, well organised in a great location for training (particularly now I know the mtb trails) … it’s in the diary for next year. Missing the tapas & weather already.

Langkawi International Mountain Bike Challenge 2012

 

This was my second visit to the pretty tropical island of Langkawi off the coast of Malaysia.  A very strong field was present including many World Cup XC and Marathon riders all drawn by the big prize money and sweet location.  Riders included lots of the Scott Swiss Power team, Burry Stander, Todd Wells and last year’s winner Karl Platt. The women’s category included some National XC champs, Leah Davison, Eva Lechner & last year’s winner Natalie Schneittler.

There was plenty of UCI points available for the Open Men/Women’s category and the prize money ($125k) went deep into the Masters and Senior Masters categories, a rarity.  

In my category (Masters = Vets) Nick Craig was present as well as last year’s Masters winner super strong Italian Marizio Deho.  I was eyeing up 3rd place then and wondering what other competition there would be.

The nice thing about the Langkawi race is the variety in all of the stages.   The first was a prologue to ease us in after registration and sort out some gridding.

Day 1: 

Prologue 2.4km Time Trial Eagle Square

It had rained a lot in previous days so the TT course was wet, just like a wet cyclo cross lap.  It was a case of giving it big power to cut through the mud and late breaking on the turns.  

In the Masters Deho pipped Nick Craig for a second at 5.33, I was 30 odd seconds back in 3rd. A single hard interval, a good start.

The Elite women were fast,  Lechner won the TT in 5.51. 

Florian Vogel won the Open Mens in 5.08.

The Eagle Square Prologue winners had wings.



This rider didn’t have wings:



The World Record Attempt for shortest participation in a MTB stage race was then equalled 3 riders later. Ouch.

Day 2: 

Stage 1: Round Island Marathon 65kms

The categories were set off at 5 min intervals.  Open men first, women, masters, then senior masters.  

In the Masters as soon as we hit the mud Deho attacked, Craig followed.  I stayed behind the other Italian, Vanni Balboni.  I knew this stage from last year and wanted to pace myself and see what the competition for third was like.  After a few miles Balboni started to struggle with the mud.  I pushed on but the Thai guy from last year (Prasert Chitmart) wasn’t far behind. 

The terrain was mixed, alternating between asphalt and a healthy number off muddy off road sections with stream crossings.



After about 1/3rd of the race I caught the lead group of women who were alternating between attacking and the opposite of attacking.  I pushed on at the front of them to try and get some time on the Masters behind.  It worked, despite some chain suck and other minor issues towards the end I managed to finish 3rd in 3 hours with Chitmart 5 minutes behind.  Deho had been climbing well and won in 2.39 by 2 mins from Nick Craig who had rode conservatively acclimatising to the heat. Nick now knew he was in a battle.

In the women’s race USA’s Lee Davison won in 3.01 just ahead of last year’s winner, powerhouse Natalie Schneittler with Janka Stevkova in 3rd. 

In the Open Men’s Category Switzerland’s Fabien Giger (Rabobank) won in 2.23 from Kristien Hynek, last year’s winner Karl Platt was in third.

Hot day calls for differing cooling- off strategies: Slovak Janka Olympian cools off in a big bucket. 



Some other preferred frolicked with the hose …



Day 3:

Stage 2: East to West Point to Point 45km

This looked an innocuous enough day on paper, but proved to be pretty decisive in many categories.

As per the previous stage we had a staggered start. Balboni seemed to want attack everyone on the road section, a early bit in the day for this I felt, we sat in with elevated heart rates.  As we hit the off-road section the pattern again followed the previous day, Deho and Craig took off.  As soon as Balboni spun out on the rocks I pushed on.

I had been warned by Nick (who had recced some of the course) of a super steep section that turned pretty unridable for 1.4km at about the half way mark.  All was accurate except it didn’t end when expected, it went on for about 10-15km, just like the muddy section on the first day of La Ruta Conquistadores.  It was a real de-hydration risk for those not fast enough.

The slog through jungle mud suited some riders and fried others. 

In the women’s event,  Lechner was rinsed and had a really bad day, Schneitter had a moderately bad one.



Lea Davison had a flyer hanging on to Nick and Deho on some of the earlier sections.  She won in a superfast 2.44. Elizabeth Sveum the Norwegian champion and Stevkova the Slovak Champion made good time gains in 2nd and 3rd on the riders behind.

Some major gaps opened up within the Open men’s ranks, between the favourites, although it was still tight at the top.  Fabien Giger, Karl Platt and Emil Lingren were the top 3 on the day.  Giger now lead overall by 2 mins from Platt.  

Although far from Pen y ghent, Nick Craig used his cyclo cross 3 peaks experience well to put 4 minutes into Deho in 2.31.  I was a further 23 mins back, but increased my gap to 4th, to 24 minutes.



Day 4:

Stage3: Marathon 63km / 42km

3 laps totalling 63km for Open men and 2 for the other categories ensued.  

Again the rain had made the conditions heavy going.  The lap included another bike push which sucked power from your legs. My tyre choice Sam Sam 1.75 proved smart for Stage 1, not so smart for any other stage and was spinning away ineffectively in the uphill mulch this day.  In the Masters category this stage broke Deho, and he lost 7 minutes to Nick.  I was another 20 minutes back. 

In the Open men category marathonist Czech Hynek won the stage with 3.53. Giger limited his losses to come in 2 mins back and retain the overall lead. Todd Wells got third on the stage. Big gaps had now formed on the overall GC. Giger was up 4 mins on Hynek, 10 mins on Karl Platt in 3rd.  Some of the pre race favourites were way back, e.g. Stander +41mins in 10th, Vogel  +50 mins in 11th, Wells 18 mins in 6th, Thum was 14th at + 1h 44mins.

In the Open women Eva Lechner remarkably bounced back from the previous bad day to win, with Lea Davidson 2nd and the flying Norwegian Sveum 3rd.

After another hot day I was recommend some Joy Juice



Way better than the can of Birds Nest soup drink...



...which tasted like sugary Chicken Phlegm.

Day 5:

Stage 4: Cross Country … 5 / 4 laps (lap 4.5km)

A nice little course awaited us.  There was an obligatory bike push but the Masters started at 8.30am and the cool conditions were nice. Deho dug deep and won the stage in the Masters I again came 3rd.

Deho and Craig duel:



The Open men started at 3pm and had a tropical rain shower to ensure, which was amusing.  

Sweden’s Emil Lindgren won:



In the Womens XC race Schneittler outsprinted team mate Lechner to win.



Overall top 3s remained the same.

Day 6

Stage 5:  Short Circuit 1.6km 30 minute Beach Crit.

All stage races should end on a tropical beach with a crit, right?  Good for the spectators and good for a swim.  

The Masters were first up. My legs were toast and my 1.75in Smart Sam was a bit skittish in the sand.  I missed the Deho/Craig train, Vanni got on it for a while.  I was happy to come in 4th and watch the rest of the races.

Lechner won the womens in race where the Colnalgo team tactics reigned.



Open Mens start …

A 6 man sprint saw Karl Platt win the Open men’s race.

The Elite lady riders proved popular with the local press (not sure about the guy on the end)



 

Nice to kick back and watch the other races from a comfortable position, gave myself sunburnt polka dot feet though.



The heat and humid is a key challenge but the stage lengths are short, so not too debilitating and there’s plenty of time to recover and enjoy the down time.  

I was happy with my 3rd and the prize money. I’m looking forward to going back to Langkawi next year.  So are most of the competitors.

It makes a great race in a easy to deal with location which can be combined with a holiday, it’s a great end of season sign off.  The organisers are planning to put some better surface down on the jungle sections to cut the time on foot, you’ll still be peeing sweat from your elbows on the granny ring though.  

Open Mens Podium, 1. Giger, 2. Hynek & 3.Platt



Open Women’s Podium: 1. Davison, 2. Sveum & 3. Stevkova





Masters Men:



Annoying injury + Kielder 100 & other races

After deciding not to do Mountain Mayhem solo, because of the impending horrible conditions, I looked towards the National XC Vets champs as the next challenge.

I tried to load up the races ahead of this.  First up was the enjoyable Cannock Classic Enduro, which was a good scamp around in nice conditions.  Dan Fleeman and Matt Gee were out of sight, but I managed to hold off Pete Harris to come 3^rd.

 

Then after a short road time trial and wet Midlands Friday Night XC race I headed over to the CRC Marathon at Marshbrook.  I was a bit tired going into this and with some of others at the front got lost after the excellent Eastridge singletrack.  Going down the final Long Mynd descent with Pete Turnbull in about 4^th / 5^th position I swerved out to pass a 50k rider and over a drop off I didn’t see. A double summersault and big crash ensued.  Fortunately no bones were broken, just some skin  wounds and what felt like a shoulder that had been hit with a baseball bat.  I gingerly limped to the finish.

... actually the shoulder hurts.

The next day the shoulder felt worst.  I couldn’t lift my arm.  Ultimately a torn rotator cuff was diagnosed.  The weekend’s  XC champs were now clearly off the table.  The shoulder was taking ages to come right so I couldn’t risk doing the Brighton Big Dog a couple of weeks after that either. Boo.  This was a really annoying, but any unexpected jolt or endo could make it worst.  As time wore on the improvement was so slow that I would of gladly have swapped a broken collar bone for this.  As I sit here 10+ week after the initial crash I still can’t lift my arm without pain.  What a crap injury.

I raced again at the last round of the BMB XC series at Langdon hills.  Luckily all the rubbish weather in the area avoided the race and it was a smooth un technical course.

 

I managed to hold my own but was on the verge of cramping on the last lap and lost a couple of places to finish about 9^th

I then went over to do the excellent Red Kite Devils MTB 80k challenge in Llanwrytd Wells, Wales.  A couple of riders had problems ahead of me so I came home first, although I was a bit twitchy on the techincal stuff.

The big UK race at the end of the season would be the Kielder 100.   General spirits were high as the weather was much better than in previous years.  I didn’t have a good night sleep in the tent, mainly dreaming that I was trying to sleep in a tent but failing. 

 photo courtesy of Joolz.

After the 6.30am start I felt okish.  The main competition in the Vets category was last year’s Vet’s winner  Rich Rothwell and Adrian Lawrence.  Things weren’t going too badly in the first quarter of the race.  I passed Adi at the first feed stop and thought that might be it for him as he races more XC than Endurance.  Although Rich was ahead and I was climbing pretty badly I muddled on.  A schoolboy error in adjusting my brake levers too far from my bar meant I was descending worst than my shoulder and confidence would allow.  It was a similar start pattern to my previous couple of Kielders.  

 

... less smiling and more pdealling needed

For most of the race I oscillated with Grieg Brown and Matt Mountfield.  At Newcastleton (60 miles in) I was in the 2^nd Vet position and found out that I was 10 minutes behind Rich.  Last year at the same point I was over 11 minutes down and brought it back to 30 seconds.  So it was still doable.  Greg and I worked together at Newcastleton.  We both knew the trail centre well, I think I’ve ridden around there well over 70 times, so we unhooked Matt Mountfield and Richard Jones at this point.  By the time I got to the final feed station Grieg had dropped off,  to be fair he had done more work that me and my intermittent snoring in the tent the night before has ultimately ground him down.  So could I catch Rich?  Last year in the final quarter of the race I could catch glimpses of him, but this year I was told I was 5 minutes behind, so this wasn’t looking good. Also I felt a big urge just to stop and fall asleep, so I weakened in the last 15 miles.  Grieg and Matt re passed me and a flying Adi Lawrence sailed passed on a climb near the end.  I caught Grieg but couldn’t hold onto to hill climb specialist Adi. 

 ... happy to be finished

So in the end I finished 3^rd Vet, my time at 8.39 was only a little slower than the previous 2 years despite not feeling good.  I think the Vets record of just under 8 1/2 hours is quite doable. Well done to Tim Dunford who won the whole thing at just under 8 hours, and Rich Rothwell in Vets who was about 6 minutes up on me.

 

I’ve had some comedy cyclo cross outings in the last couple of weeks on the mtb, but am currently getting nibbled at by mosquitos in Jakarta on a round about way to the MTB Tour of Langkawi.  Things could be a whole lot worst … mossies are easier to kill than midges, although shifting my overweight bike box seems to have buggered the shoulder again. Boo.

Cutmill Classic by Phil Peters

Before every race I have the standard Cyclist worries; "Have I trained properly?", "Will I be there on time?", "Do I feel good?".
 
Before my latest race, the answer to all would have to be "No!".
 
The race was meant to take place on the Seale circuit, short and lumpy, with a usual fast pace. However, when we arrived at what we thought was the HQ, it had changed due to road works and we were pushed for time. In the week prior I had to take a few days off due to illness, and I wasn't even sure racing was the best idea...
 
With motivation and time at a minimum we arrived at the correct HQ, for the very tough and hilly Cutmill circuit. On a good day, one of my favourite circuits.
 
I got prepared for the start thinking it was not my day, and the racing commenced. My plan was to take it easy at the start and see how I felt, however, not sticking to plans was the theme of the day, and as the neutralised flag dropped, up the road I went. I was initially in a group 4 for the first half a lap, although, with the usual early race enthusiasm, we were being chased back. Without thinking, I attacked the group before the peleton made contact and set off on my own, my head wanting to go back to the bunch and my legs carrying on regardless. I was eventually joined by one other, then another four, until six of us set about creating a strong lead.
 
With two laps to go I still hadn't seen the bunch and was beginning to feel the effects of the effort I had put in. On the climb 6 more joined us to make a large group that continued working well. On the penultimate climb I tried to reduce the size of the group by accelerating, although 12 remained. Attacks came frequently throughout the last lap, and one strong push from another rider split the group. I gave it everything to bridge the gap, and once across, we all cooperated and distanced the rest.

 
As we began ascending the final climb, I was struggling from the days efforts. I grit my teeth to hold the wheel ahead and as the line came insight I was in second place. With the finish closing, I made my move to go around the guy ahead, staying seated to avoid locking up with cramp, and I kept stamping on the pedals, waiting for someone to come past! With 50 metres to go I looked around and saw noone there, crossing the line to take my first ever win!
 
So, after years of trying to get that first victory, it arrived on the most unexpected day... Although, don't think I will try to replicate the same preperation again.