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.