World Marathon Mountain Bike Championships, Kirchberg, Austria, 29th June 2013

Having qualified for the World Championships in France earlier in the year we travelled on mass with Rob and my parents to Austria via ferry and a long long drive down from Belgium. Staying right in Kirchberg we had access to all parts of the course which looped around so a few days before Rob swapped his running trainers to join me on the bike.  Our first ride was straight up a mountain to 1800m and literally straight down through the trees under the cable car.  The descent was tricky, full of wet roots and bridges and it did take us forever to get down.  The following day we stayed a bit lower and checked some more single track out.  The weather was hit and miss, warm sun but cold alpine air followed by  heavy showers, however race day looked pretty bright with rain forecast only for 2pm.  I slept badly with nerves and was feeling pretty jaded in the morning.  Still, the atmosphere at the start line woke me up and the narrow lanes we started on made sure everyone was fully alert.  The first long climb started after 8km and lasted around an hour.  It was all ridable open trails and I lost a few places as I settled into my own pace.  Considering we had 3 more of these to come some of the girls were really pushing hard.  The top of the climb was comical, it must have been up a black run up the grass to the crowds at the top and while one American in front zig zagged her way up I found it as fast to run.  I did ride the top bit with maximum effort just to get a cheer from the crowd!!  I chased hard to catch Robyn to have a familiar wheel to follow and Jennie must have done the same as we were all together at the bottom.  In a race with 55 other girls its amazing how you end up riding with familiar faces.  The next climb came soon enough and we settled into our own pace again.  

An hour or so later saw the top of another cable car, a short descent then another climb where I caught and rode with team mate Jane for a while.  I was feeling good and keen to stay in the top 20 taking more risks than I would normally to stay near Jane on the open descent.  Rob was at the bottom with a bottle of coke, having had a bottle of 32gi and an electrolyte drink.  The last climb was again on open road turning to a track then a steep finish up to the final feed where mam and dad were shouting us all on again.  

I had rode as hard as possible up the last climb to try to get a good gap for the descent.  I needed it as it was pretty wet and the track was well grooved out.  I rode it well for me though really had to be off the saddle as my forks were compressed and pretty locked out.  I fell once and ran a lot but came out without loosing any places.  Just when I thought I'd enjoy the last few corners and berms I hit a ridge and went flying into the banner to the amusement of everyone watching.  No harm done though and I was soon up and finished a mere 6 seconds in front of Jane who must have been coming twice as fast as me down that hill.  I was very pleased with 15th place, I have never thought I was much of an alpine climber and the European girls fly down those descents, I felt a lot stronger than in the last few weeks and got my fuel perfect.  A great result for Sally Bigham who got GB a silver medal and for Ariane who got 7th.  True to word it started raining at 2pm, resulting in a perfect post race afternoon lying around watching Tour de France and later supping red wine!  Big thanks to all the help I have received to be able to get on the start line of a mountain biking world championships.  4 years ago our gravel drive way would have out the fear up of God up me but thanks to John Robertson and Bizhub I've been given a chance to try this amazing sport, have travelled the world, met amazing life long friends and found a sport I'm not to shabby at!  Thanks also to Rocky Mountain for my helping me 'enjoy the ride' today, to Hendrik at Energas for his support for my European outings, to my family for their support and to Rob for risking life and limb by coming down these crazy routes with me.    Next stop Tour of Mongolia, watch this space!! 

Malevil International Marathon Mountain Bike Race, Czech Republic

I'd done this race last year as part of the European Championships and was keen to return, partly because of the course through the mountains, good preparation for the Worlds in a fortnight, and partly as a mini break for myself and Rob who was getting excited before we left at the prospect of all the different beer on tap.  The Czech people are really keen on the Epic so once I told them I'd won it they were so helpful in getting me over, everything was sorted out, all me and Rob did was arrive at Prague airport.  I raced with one of the sponsors of the event: kit designers, Eleven Test Team who picked us up, arranged an interview on route and who showed us their impressive factory and design studio as well as giving me and Rob all sorts of new kit.  From there we were dropped off at our cabin at the Malevil ranch.  Thanks to the organiser we were put up in our own cabin on the hillside in the forest, away from the hustle and bustle of the race village.  Our pre race ride consisted of a 2km recca and a half hour stop trying to fix Rob's chain with a chain splitter but no spare link.  Giving up on that I had a good strength workout testing out the stitching on the jersey as Rob hung on to my rear pocket.  Rob's bike later had a pretty full service for the price of a few beers, the worst of it was that he had to join in the drinking session, not ideal before his 65km MTB debut!!  

Race morning was bright and sunny and pretty laid back with an 8.30 start.  I left Rob to head to the buffet breakfast, as his start was only 10.30.  The start wasn't that laid back though and I have noticed my Joberg2c form has abandoned me somewhere along the way.  I struggled to stay on wheels and after 4km had to just recover and free wheel down the tracks until a steady enough bunch came past including another Czech girl.  My legs finally came back and on the first long climb I pulled away from the group and started catching other riders.  The course was excellent, really well marked, and a mixture of forest trails, nearly 3000m of ascent, technical single tracks and a fair bit of mud thrown in too.  I found myself round the same riders most of the day, pulling away on the climbs and getting caught on the descents.  Even without any English its amazing how grateful you become for company when you are riding near to your limit for 5 hours and without any support I had no idea that my lead was gradually climbing to 15 minutes.  I did start to cramp quite early on which was a little worrying and without wanting to stop I opened a sachet of Rehydrate and tipped it straight into my mouth, luckily I had drink at hand as it left a frothy salty taste building up, not the nicest but did prevent any more cramp!!  I finished 1st lady and felt that though I felt lousy at the start came better mid way and paced it well from there to the finish.  Joining Rob a little later, him having finished the 65km well and with no mechanical issues we had a fantastic post race afternoon chatting with our new Czech friends over beer, wine and goulash followed by an evening of rocking on the dance floor to a local all girls heavy metal group, well, its good to join the locals and they do like to party... we did however opt out of the beer at breakfast which seemed the norm!!

Put this one on the calendar, a race that’s got a bit of everything, a venue that’s stunning, and a real local atmosphere as well as very good cheap food (though we avoided the tripe and liver ball soup) and the world's best beer according to Rob.