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.

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.

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.

 
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.

Round 5, Dyfi Forest, Wales

8-9 September, 2012

Words: Aidan Bishop

Photos: Barbara Sztyk

The 5^th and final round of the UK gravity enduro series went down this past weekend at the venue of Dyfi forest in north Wales.  Fortunately all in attendance were rewarded with ideal conditions for the whole weekend, with Saturday’s practice and seeding soaked in sunshine and the race on Sunday starting bright then clouding over which was also welcomed so riders weren’t wilting in the sun as they ground out the many climbs around the route.

Aidan Bishop enjoying a dry Welsh round! 4^th on the day

Talking of the route, it was a challenging one!  Over 20 miles in total with the shortest transition time between stages being 40mins and all being mostly climbing, the ‘Enduro’ side to the discipline came into full effect this round as it was a test on everyone’s stamina, strength and fitness.  So with all transition times added together the whole loop took around 4hrs to complete, do that twice over the weekend and that’s a lot of time in the saddle and with the scenery highlighted by the sunshine of the weekend it really was a great weekend of mountain biking.

To the racing side then, again 5 stages were timed varying in technicality, gradient and length.

Stage 1

With the dense forest the sun hadn’t managed to penetrate enough to dry up the trail and so it was quite greasy down this one so smooth braking and being on your guard was required.  Picking up speed down a wide singletrack trail, slow up for a road crossing followed by tight rooted trees, try to exit high and carry speed back onto the trail.  Pick up some high speed now before banking right and a pedal before pointing back down again.  Two more blind drops and road crossing to keep you on your toes then a couple more corners to finish.

Donny, 2012 Fetish Bikes UK Gravity Enduro series elite winner.

Stage 2

Starting out on the highest and most exposed of the loop here with some spectacular views. A fast stony trail for the first minute of this one with some timed braking into a left to right naturally banked turns before a brutal minute long fire road sprint (realistically a seated slog!).  Finally turn off the road and into more fast trail with gentle corners where you could ride the edges like berms and some steps, ruts and drops to watch out for, you really picked up speed down here and it also claimed lots of flat tyres due to it being littered with sharp loose rocks all the way down.  As I crossed the finish there were about 8 riders fixing punctures, a good reminder that I always run dual ply tyres to lessen the chances of flats.

Stage 3

A shorter stage here, sub 2 minutes and you’re going really well.  A quick pedal off the line and follow the main greasy line from the muddy tyres riding it, soon picking up speed and staying online down the sharp flint rock that made the trail.  Before a tight left on a road there were some large steps and rocks to get through intact.  Come off the road and along the edge of a wide trail before it narrowed again and got rocky again too.  The trail then ran along a ridge and got steep in places with a number of very sharp looking rock steps and drops before a tight right onto the fire road finish, had anyone had fallen here whilst committed to racing speeds there would have been some serious injuries, but a good test to riding skills and bravery.

Stage 4

Starting off with a very steep drop in off the side of the road into a tight left turn which many were over shooting, then nearly a minute of technical fresh cut trail in the hillside littered with roots and tree stumps before dropping down onto a hard surfaced trail and up a steep rocky climb, seemingly out of the blue.  Do your best to pedal over the top of the climb and get up to speed as quick as you could along undulating dark forested trail, starting to roll nicely and then another kick in the trail really finished your legs off (if you had something left in them!).  Once over this rise it was then down the fastest section of trail I have ridden in a while, all of it consistently made up of natural ‘whoops’, it was like a natural motocross track, you would manual, double up, huck or simply hang on as you hit high speeds as the trees rushed past your head as you speed through the finish line.

Stage 5

Used for the Seeding run on the Saturday also.  Starting up on top off a grassy field, you set off and straight over three features, off the first step down double followed by a drop off and then another step down, all good fun to blast off but also claimed number of victims over the weekend.  Carry good speed along the edge of the hill then through two corners to keep speeds modest, speed up again and judge your braking for a very off camber right hand turn and follow the camber back across the hillside.  The it was on and off the grass and onto dirt corners and back again before dropping into the finish arena round one more flat grassy turn and sprint under the finish line.  A real feel of old school DH tracks here with all the natural flat and off camber grass turns where braking and corner technique were put to the test.  Under 3 mins and you were on the pace for this one.

‘Box’ rocking the 29’er, 3^rd Elite on the day

After a hot and tiring practice lap of the route it was time on Saturday afternoon to line up for your seeding run, which counted toward your overall race time and seeded you within your category. Tracy Moseley showed her DH experience and rode smooth and fast to set the fastest women’s time of 2:43, that was more than competitive in the overall standings too.  Whilst Neil Donoghue put down the fastest time in the elite men’s field with a 2:30.  In the battle for the overall series title, it was close between Donoghue and Ralph Jones, both have been consistently fast all year with the final podium spot being fought for between Myself, Rob ‘Box’ Cooksley and Alex Rafferty in the elite category,  Likewise, talking to other riders most categories had battles going on to the finish, so with all sorts of points connotations to be had everyone was especially concentrating on having a clean trouble free race to secure the best end result possible.

Sunday and race day.  The sun was out again for everyone to start, this gave way to cloudier skies for most of the day, but stayed dry and was a blessing to most riders as overheating and dehydrating was less likely now.  The long fire road climb (Donny managing to puncture on the way up!?!) and we were all set for racing to start on stage 1.  Quite greasy conditions and judging the blind drop away features meant caution had to be exercised to give yourself a clean and solid start to your race.  The longest transition to stage 2, all uphill only made less exhausting by sharing stories with other rider along the way and maybe take in some of the Welsh scenery to the top.  An exposed fast start down the loose rocky trail then onto the painful fire road pedal, I was following Ralph each stage and could see him on the road and so thought I was going well until I realised how long it took to get to the point I saw him at!!  Into the stony ‘luge’ like trail at high speeds trying to keep light on the bike so as not to puncture, many did here  including half a dozen Senior cat riders at the end of the stage and Jones, Green and Donny casualties in Elites, but all making the stage without losing time.  Arrive at stage 3 for the rocky attack, a fast stage where staying off the brakes as much as your ‘bottle’ would allow rewarded you with a quicker time.

Stage 4 and there seemed to be some sort of delay as the whole of the senior category had yet to start when we arrived.  Everyone watched as rider after rider went over the bars or through the tape at the bottom of the steep drop into the stage.  Ralph laid the bike down on the third corner, would this hand Donny the advantage in the overall?  He was up quick and riding so any loss seemed minimal.  Once you were through the technical start you had to prepare your gearing and your mind for the steep rocky climb, I took full advantage of my Cannondale Jekyll here switching down to short travel to get me up and over it.  Push hard to get yourself rolling as fast as you could along the next section of trail before being faced with a painful little rise once more before blasting the last part of the stage through the finish line, everyone finishing grinning from the speeds they have just achieved down it and buzzing from the adrenaline.  One more climb to the top of stage 5 and repeat our seeding runs, glad that the grass hadn’t been rained on!  Having already raced the stage people knew where they had to back off (Ralph and Box both put the bike down in seeding, costing valuable seconds) and where to push, everyone seemed to finish intact, so it was time to wait and see the results to find out how everyone faired.

Punch your race number into the computer at the finish and info would pop up, giving you the first 4 stage times, along with you category position and overall position.  I had finished 4^th in Elite and 4^th overall, I looked up other riders to discover our results.  Ralph had won the day with Donny in second and Box in third the four of us separated by 9secs, in enduro terms that is a close race!  So Ralph’s mishaps weren’t a factor in the end, but had Box have stayed on in seeding he may well have finished in front of Donny and would that have affected the overall series battle?  I’m not about to do the maths on it, but that’s just all part of racing, and why we love it! Tracy won the elite women’s race, again ahead of Helen Gaskell and Sarah Newman.  So the second year of the UK Gravity Enduro series is done and with better weather than last year and more faces taking part and rounds selling out, the discipline shows no signs of slowing down.  In fact driving into the race site on the Saturday night and seeing so many people there camping, talking by little campfires it really reminded me of racing DH years ago, it seemed like a friendly mountain bike event with everyone there to enjoy riding their bikes, something which everyone got their fill of on this weekend!  So a thanks to Steve and team for putting on the series once again and I look forward to more of the same.

Elite podium, Donoghue, Jones, Cooksley

Results below:

Elite male

1^st Ralph Jones

2^nd Neil Donoghue

3^rd Rob Cooksley

Elite women’s, Gaskell, Moseley, Newman

Elite female

1^st Tracy Moseley

2^nd Helen Gaskell

3^rd Sarah Newman

Senior Male

1^st Sam Flanagan

2^nd    Chris Keeble-Smith

3^rd     David Mirfield

Masters podium, Nicholson, Devine, Williams.

Master male

1^st Andrew Devine

2^nd Stuart Nicholson

3^rd Charlie Williams

Veteran male

1^st   Richy Lewis

2^nd    Rick Ellis

3^rd    Marcus Jones

Grand Vets podium, Felstead, Baines (team roost lives!), Wills

Grand Veteran male

1^st Keven Baines

2^nd Steve Felstead

3^rd Dave Wills

Under 18’s

1^st   Ben Nott

2^nd    Joe Buck

3^rd    Rob Goodey

Women’s

1^st    Cheri Mills

2^nd     Sally Evamy

3^rd    Liz Simmons

Overall rd 5

1^st Ralph Jones

2^nd Neil Donoghue

3^rd Rob Cooksley

4^th Aidan Bishop

5^th Phil Shucksmith

Full Results here:

http://www.rootsandrain.com/race961/2012-sep-9-fetish-bike-gravity-enduro-series-5-dyfi-north-wales/categories/

Big thanks to Cannondale, Mavic, RRP, Crank Brothers, Giro, GoPro, 661, Maxxis for their support all year, here’s to the next one!  Hope to see everyone there!!!

RD4 Eastridge woods, Shropshire.

4/5^th August

Words: Aidan Bishop

Photos: Barbara Sztyk

With a long break since round 3 in Hamsterley Forest the UK Gravity Enduro series continued this past weekend again, returning to the famed venue of Eastridge woods just outside Shrewsbury in Shropshire.  The venue will be known to many riders and racers who have been ‘round the block’, including myself of course, staging many regional and national races of all disciplines through the 1990’s.  Last year the series saw an enjoyable but challenging route, shorter in distance than rounds held in Scotland and Wales but the technical content of the timed stages a little higher.  This year was no different, we didn’t however have the dusty trails we enjoyed last year, with the great British summer delivering wet forecasts all over the country the weekend was also looking to be damp!  As it turned out one heavy shower fell on Saturday lunchtime during everyone’s practice time, so otherwise the event actually remained dry, the trails however remained greasy throughout in most places.

‘Donny’ taking the win for the second time at Eastridge.

So another sold out round, with a reserve list set up for people not getting an entry in time, showing the interest and popularity of the enduro discipline.  The five timed stages were similar to last years with some differences to mix it up a bit. The 1^st had a pedally start before dropping quite steep down tree lined singletrack before flattening out to the finish, a sub 2 min section that required smooth riding to maintain speed along.  Stage 2 was a physical top section, lots of pedalling to keep your speed high, with the path made up of a mix of rocks and earth it was quite greasy to hold your line along it.  After a quick fireroad climb and flat winding trail you picked up speed before entering the final steep loamy corners that led you to the finish road, over 3 mins for this tiring stage.  Back up the fireroad climb (you had to ride 4 times in total) to stage 3.  Pedally start again before dropping through a technical rocky bowl and subsequent rocky trail that featured in a national DH race years back (that time just on shorter travel bikes!!), cross the road and keep your speed flowing along smoother singletrack before finishing on the fireroad along the bottom of the woods, between 2-2 1/2mins for this one.  Onto stage 4 back at the top of the hill, this time heading off the backside.  A  flat start with plenty of rocks to make it tricky to keep some speed going before pointing downwards more and crossing a road, a series of sweeping corners with little rises after them required focus and energy to keep speed up as much as possible.  The trail then headed downwards more before a 200m climb/sprint and then the final and quite steep and fast chute onto the bottom road and cross the line, nearer 4mins for this stage.  Back to the top one final time to line up for the final stage, also used for the seeding run on Saturday afternoon.  Starting out the same as last year except the inclusion of  a couple of double jumps along the start straight, then turning left onto a fireroad before dropping into a nice section of DH trail.  Rocky and quite steep winding its way straight down the side of the hill, lots of concentration needed to stay on line and on the bike down here before straightening up and over two step down jumps and into the race arena with a couple more jumps to keep spectators entertained before passing under the Shimano arch and cross the line, sub 2 mins a good target time for this one.

Phil Shucksmith rode strong to finish second.

With the whole route being a little more compact than other rounds, it gave riders the opportunity to section parts of stages more I felt or maybe ride some tracks twice which was useful.  Saturday afternoon and it was seeding time down stage 5, with the lunchtime downpour the track got slicker but then with riders using it through the afternoon it was starting to dry a little.  This year your seeding run time is added to all of your times on Sunday to make up your overall race time, so the race is on to post the quickest time you can.  I set off to do this, pedalling hard out of the gate and in-between corners hitting the doubles quickly and then, before I knew it I was flying over the handlebars….damn it!  Not feeling hurt I jumped up to continue to find my brake levers out of position and when I tried to pedal something was badly out of shape.  I had to pull over straight away again to sort my levers and see the damage, I must have caught a tree stump in the grass as my pedal axle was badly bent meaning pedalling was very tricky to do and in the meantime my 20sec man Alex Langley passed me by.  I got back on and managed to finish the stage, but very frustrated and a chunk of time lost to the field before the race on Sunday…but that is just part of racing!  Last year’s winner at this venue Neil Donoghue set the fastest time overall in seeding with a 1min 40sec run, followed by Alex Langley and series leader Ralph Jones.

Ralph Jones, 3^rd here and consistent fast riding keeps him leading the overall.

Fortunate to have packed an old set of pedals in the van, the Jekyll was ready to race, I woke up bruised and sore from my fall but nothing to stop me racing, I decided to get stuck in and try to claw back as much of the lost time as possible and salvage a result from the weekend, so I prepared for the climb to stage 1.  I managed to complete all 5 stages without mechanicals or crashes so I could at least be content with that, otherwise I didn’t feel I rode very well but hoped that due to the varying tracks and surfaces we were racing on, everyone was in the same boat.  Tracy Moseley took the elite women’s category from Helen Gaskell and Sarah Newman. Neil Donoghue again took the win at Eastridge in front of Phil Shucksmith and Ralph Jones, I had managed to finish 8^th in elite and 13^th overall, so pretty happy I managed to end up in the top ten after my mishap.  Impressive finish by Joe Buck to finish 4^th overall, in a field largely populated by ‘senior’ aged racers this under 18 racer was mixing it up.

Overall top 5 was:

1^st Neil Donoghue

2^nd Phil Shucksmith

3^rd Ralph Jones

4^th Joe Buck

5^th Rob Cooksley

Aidan Bishop coming into the finish, happy to battle through to 8^th in elite.

Full results here:

http://www.racetimingsystems.com/public/results.aspx?raceid=2133

5^th and final round is 8-9^th September in mid Wales, get your entries in quick if you fancy a try.

After a 2nd place at a slippy Birchal in round 3 and with Chris Rathbone not in attendance I thought I might have a good chance at winning this one, particularly after winning at Hanchurch the year before.  Adi Lawrence had other ideas though and had a flying start on the first climb.  

I started to claw back a little time but as we got to lap 3 I was no longer making up ground.  I had resigned myself to second, but then I had a mini disaster. A freshly cut briar wrapped itself around my cassette.  It took me ages to get it out.  Nick Popham and Lloyd Bettles when flying through, I didn’t catch them.  I lost quite a few series and national ranking points – damn you briar.  That’s XC, there not much room for error.

NATIONAL MARATHON CHAMPS – SELKIRK

Not quite sure where my legs were for much of first half of this race.  I did drive from Southern Ireland the previous day, but that’s a pretty lame excuse for jet lag.  Went backwards on the first climb but slugged away at it trying to limit losses and descend well.  This was a tough little route which had people off pushing in parts.  

I started to pick up some places from about a 1/3rd of the way through.  I worked well with Sean (Cookson Cycles) and we picked up Adi Lawrence .  Adi said there was only 1 Vet ahead, so that was good.  I pushed on at the bumpy uphill singletrack at Inerleithen, about the only place I felt strong going uphill.  I took it steady on the final downhill as I had taken some risks running light tyres.  

In the end it was quite tight in the Vets race.  I only just came in ahead of Simon Willats and then loads came in through in the next couple of minutes.  A very quick starting Scottish strong Alex Glasgow won the Vets race 5 minutes up. I was pretty happy with the result in the end.

Many clocked the distance at just over 70km. It was a tough race with lots of energy sapping boggy moorland sections. Evergreen Nick Craig was pipped by Lee Williams in only 3hr 20ish for the overall UK title. Hopefully Nick will keep entering the Open/Elite category.
I’m looking forward to a rerun of this event, but with an extra 30km.  I personally prefer when racers have to forage for berries to get the energy to finish. 

MUD SWEAT AND GEARS EASTERN XC SERIES - the only way is Essex (mostly)

The local series to me … it kind of lived up to its name.  The first and final rounds were sweaty, 2 in between were muddy.  There wasn’t too much call for gears though.  

I managed to get 3 x 2nds and a 1st to come 2nd overall in the series to Paul Ashby won all the races he attended.

BMBS ROUND 3 - HOPTON 

This is my type of course … a long hot climb that leaves you gasping for air, and a nice swoopy descent.   Paul Hopkins, Lewis King and Steve Calland crested the top first and that was the order they finished.  I spent the race jousting with Adi Lawrence (again),Peter Dawe and Chris Rathbone.  Although I briefly got past Chris on the final climb I had totally lost my “mo –jo” on the decent and came in behind in him 5th. I was pretty happy with that and wish the National XC champs were on a similar course.

BESKIDY TROPHY 4 day STAGE RACE – POLAND

This is an excellent race.   All solo, 4 marathon days, super tough terrain in Poland with brief cross border excursions into Slovakia and Czech Republic.  It’s all from one centre, so super convenient as well … I could kill myself in the mornings and work online in the afternoons.

There were lots of nationalities, about 20 from the 400 or so starters.  A big quota was from Eastern Europe sounding like they were talking backwards.

The kms were short but a lot of it was super steep.  All natural mixed terrain through a lot of forests. Nice.  There were a lot of DNFs. 

It got a bit wet on the final day.  This turned into the longest day, I came in on 5 hours but some were still coming in on the 9 hour mark, and this was from less than 80km.

I rode hard and consistent coming through from the mid 30s to 25th in the end.  I was hoping for a high place in the Vets race,  I came 6th in that one... the Vets were tough seasoned nuts to crack.  

I’ll let some pics do the talking.

What my mum thinks I'm doing:

What my friends think I'm doing:

What I think I'm going to do:

What I'm actually going to do:

And suffer a bit more:

Love it. I’m looking forward to doing the Beskidy again.

MOUNTAIN MAYHEM -  NOT

In the week running up to Mayhem, like most, I was constantly checking the weather forecast.  It was at first just about alright, then really bad, then just plain bad.  I had a friend there on the Wednesday who said it was as wet as he’s ever seen … that’s very wet given the history.  Nevertheless I got 24 optimistic bottles ready, plus bikes with skinny mud tyres and the best mud fork in Christendom … the Cannondale Lefty.  The van was packed but still wasn’t sure whether to put the key in the ignition when I went to bed on Thursday.  On Friday no weather forecast miracles had occurred.  So after doing it solo for 10 years on the trot and winning the last 4 from 5 I couldn’t bring myself to trudge around for 24 hours, and put my pit crew through a misery fest.   

Decided to have just one hour in the mud at Cosford in the Friday Night XC series instead and consume my post mayhem beers / food instead.  When I started seeing the pictures coming through I was relieved that I’d made the right decision. Top marks to all that persevered and went to Mayhem, memories are made of that.

P.S. Does anyone know the number of the call centre to complain about the weather? FFS.   

A week later I had the BUCS University Road Race Championships, and with the Divs in my legs I felt confident. It was a long journey to Loughborough the day before and I wasn't sure what to expect. The race was over 70 miles, although the extremely long and steep finishing climb, extreme heat, and very high quality field, indicated it would be another tough day in the office. And it was, right from the start. A similar pattern from the Divs followed, with the bunch being whittled down greatly. The pace over the steep last few hundred metres of the climb was extremely high to force the selection. I had another go off the front, although unlike the previous week it was short lived, and it became a case of following the wheels. Inside the final few miles, the attacking among the small front group kept increasing and in the run in to the final climb, it was 3 groups of a few riders all chasing one another, and the victory. I was in the 3rd group back, however as we began climbing we all came together and I managed to go past many of the people that had been ahead. Over the steep final section it was extremely painful although I managed to produce a sprint filled with cramp to get 7th. This was a result I was extremely pleased with. A hard fought top 10, against some tough opposition, and some awesome riders.