Mountain Bike Marathon Event, Selkirk in Scotland

Bruises upon bruises, scars on scars!!

With the bruises from the National XC coming out nicely I ventured up to Scotland with Rob for a weekend of riding and camping. Arriving on Saturday I took part in a coaching session and learned a little more in what is becoming an extremely complicated sport.  As well as been taught about braking, climbing and attempting wheelies pretty badly I also found my tyre on the wrong way and a worn our brake block all of which were sorted before Sunday’s Marathon. 

Although these series of rides by Chain Reaction aren’t actual races it might well have been with a mass neutralized start and fast blast up the first of many climbs.  Approximately 85km and 3000m of climbing meant the course was either up or down.  I was climbing well and descending ok for me, pretty slow but considering how steep some of the single track was I was pretty proud of myself to be riding most of them.  Once on one of few downhill open tracks I got into the biggest gear and flew straight through what looked like your standard small puddle… trouble was I think it was more of a crater and I came out in full superman position.  Lying face down I did a kind of ‘body check’, i.e. nothing feels broken best get going.  With a little help from a guy fixing his puncture I rode on and gradually assessed the bits that hurt.  As well as a few bloodied bits my shoulder was agony and I considered taking the 45km course with it not been a race and all.  However that never happened and once riding hard again the pain subsided and, filling up briefly on biscuits at the feed station, I rode the full 85km.  It was an amazing last climb, up for ages then onto a steep single-track climb before popping out onto a rocky barren top that could have been the moon the time we’d climbed for!  The views were amazing and taking them in I missed a turn and rode down an extra single track (yep me getting carried away and wanting more single track!!) I eventually found the right track and continued down to the finish.  By then my shoulder was giving me some stick every time I stopped and scooted off which was quite often near the end with lots of mud, rocks and a fast bumpy descent. 

I finished 1^st woman which obviously doesn’t matter it been a ‘non competitive’ event but you try telling the rest of the guys I was riding near that.  I was worried that this country didn’t really have marathon events apart from these sportives but sportive or not it was a still a good race in my eyes!!

Hopefully the shoulder will get better… sleeping in a tent with a deflating mattress wasn’t the most comfortable and typing now is a mission but it seems I can rest my arm on my bars to ride so that’s the main thing!!

17 July National Cross Country Championships, Aske near Richmond

A month ago I had that feeling of ‘what am I training for now?’ I searched the website and found that the National XC Championships were on my doorstep at Richmond.  Ok so my XC experience consisted of trying to hang onto Michelle in Guisborough Woods and the wonderful dry fast flowing single track out in South Africa but hey it can’t be that hard…or can it…

On Friday night I went to see the course and take part in a coaching session.  2 hours later we’d done most of the course, I learnt a few invaluable tips on positioning and that my tyres were perfect for the dry plains of Africa and I was terrified, throw in a day of torrential rain and I arrived on Sunday to find a mud fest and I was a nervous wreck! 

At 2.30pm we set off behind the senior and junior men.  The first section was probably the scariest and hardest.  Through a steep wood I managed to skid the back wheel in the general direction I intended to go but the next descent got the better of me… 3 times in fact!  It reminded me of dropping of the edge off  a black run on a ski run except with a few wheels underneath instead of some nice secure skis.  The descent wasn’t scary, wide and thick with mud surrounded by nice soft fern.  My error was that each time I went down it I locked up both wheels and was apparently one of the fastest down…would have been impressive had it not been for the corner at the bottom which sent me flying each time and sent my bike even further into the bushes.

Following that the course entered two sections of wood that twisted around: slippy roots, muddy descents, steep uphills and a few man made obstacles thrown in made it a little tricky for me and by the 4^th time round I decided that running the technical bits was way faster than my other technique: riding, slipping, falling, running, riding, slipping, falling etc etc!! 

Starting off at the back of the grid I’d moved up a few places straight away with a crash to my side.  After that I moved through to yoyo in 5^th place with a friend Gabby.  Even though she was also struggling with the technical bits she caught me up on these before I pulled away on the uphill tracks to finish in 5^th.  I was pleased to a) survive all be it with legs looking black and blue, b) not look like a fool by pulling out cos I was scarred and c) finish smiling and planning the many ways that I can improve with a bit more confidence and practice. 

Right, where’s the race calendar…

Tour Feminine Krasna Lipa

Tour de Feminin Krasna Lipa 7^th to 10^th July

Having found a last minute slot on team Forvioed Brookkvex, a British based team run by a long time friend Rene Groot I started the tour in Czech Republic for the 3^rd time.  The opportunity came up to race at the National Championships the week before just as I was looking for some more races and missing a bit of rough and tumble of Europe racing.  Last time I raced with Rene was years ago but could have been last week as I waited round the corner of King Cross down in London armed with plenty of reading material for the long drive.  Long would be an underestimate.  From leaving Whitby at 6.30am Tuesday (early enough for an anniversary breakfast on the river in York) we arrived at race HQ in Krasna Lipa 5pm Wednesday after stopping in Germany at 2am for a brief rest.

Our accommodation for the race was in an old boarding school with a dodgy lifts, paper thin walls and  shared unisex bathrooms with no curtain in sight.  It was a far cry for the luxuary I’ve grown accustomed to in South Africa and I did wonder why I was back here in my ‘off season’ out of choice!  However all things have a plus side and the girls on the team are definitely that, all really nice, interesting and always a laugh.  It was a pleasure sharing a small room with three others! 

Day One started at 1.30, a hot afternoon but I felt good and made the racing more interesting by attacking as often as I could and sitting in the first 20 as much as possible.  Unlike last year I was never quite in contention to try for the combined jersey of climbing and sprinting which I held last year for 3 days, my closest been a 4^th in a sprint.  However just like last year the racing was controlled, nothing got away and groups were constantly coming back.  Over the last climb I was near the front and with 1km out was perfectly sat in 3^rd wheel.  However an Australian went down the side and I ended up 6^th, unable to move back up and unwilling to risk my life on the last few bends.  We lost 2 girls, Emma Trott had a bad leg and Sofie was out of time.

For the third night running I ended up with sleeping tablets due to a guy snoring so loud next door he might as well have been in the room.

Day 2 was another aggressive one for me, attacking with the GoGreen girls but never getting any real distance.  The longest was a few minutes out front before been hauled back.  Over the same climb in Kransna Lipa three times the group split the last time and it looked good until another train stopped us and everyone tagged back on.  I made one more last ditch attempt 5 km out, attacking then looking up to see a pretty big hill in front!  With no choice I kept going and had two girls for company.  Looking back was quite satisfying to see the whole peleton strung out but the Australians were controlling the race well and it was another bunch sprint downhill.  I nearly came off on a 90 degree bend then ran out of gears with my compact and came in 16^th.  That night we had fish and rice then celebrated Rene’s birthday with a drink down the local. 

Another sleepless night… this time because of the fish or rice or the whole unhygienic communual thing, or just a bug… whatever, half the floor was up ill.  I wasn’t sick but by morning had the other extreme. 

Day three and another two of our riders didn’t start due to the bug.  I managed to ride a Personal Worse ever 18km time trial finding myself out on a windy road overtaken by all 5 riders ahead of me on GC while I felt drained of all energy.  I’m pretty sure a full carbon time trial bike would have made any difference and I impressively slipped from one end of the GC to the other! Looking for anything highly calorific that I only needed to swallow once I started the afternoons 93km on the middle of a donut!  It was a desperate ride, demorilizing to find myself slipping to the back on every hill after been attacking off the front yesterday.  However I kept myself entertained playing the slippage game, descending as fast as possible to the front then slipping to the back on the climbs.  It worked and I finished with the main field. The whole day I’d managed a bowl of cereal, jam sandwich, a donut and some bread at dinner and lots of electyryte but at least felt human after another quality massage and solid sleep in the back of the van.  Going out for the toilet in the night I had to laugh when I’m pretty sure I heard next doors snorer despite him been 5 floors up!  Speaking of which those 5 flights were becoming a stage in them selves now the lift was broken, oh the luxury of woman’s cycling!!

Day 4 saw only 2 of us start and only 114 starters out of 190 odd 4 days ago.  Out of all the tours this one is one of the hardest for new teams and cyclists as once your dropped the hills are relentless and whats more you’ve got to survive rough accommodation, masses of staires and dodgy food all on a suffering immune system!  Today was the hilliest day as we did a loop further south into the longer hills.  Luckily I felt a bit better and, while I was in no state to attack I did hang onto the front group which split a fair few times.  Still with a stomach that made me looked pregnant I failed to eat anything and by the finish laps round Kransna up the same climbs again I started to blow.  I knew things were going bad when I had to chase back on with a huge Lithuanian, however I made sure I did more turns as she smelt like she’d ran out of wash powder on Day One!! The last time up I sat up and rolled down to the finish feeling pretty dizzy and totally spent. 

Not the best tour I’ve done by a long way, in fact one of the worse but sometimes you need these illnesses to make the next race feel better and easier!  It was a real shame the bug wiped out our team as we were not only doing pretty well we were also have a great laugh riders and staff together and I’ve met even more great characters. Now just the epic drive home, wheres Ryan Air when you need it!