The international MTB Marathon Malevil Cup in the Lusatian Mountains in the Czech Republic is turning into a yearly pilgamige for me and Rob. A mini break and a tough challenge which we both look forward to and made extra special thanks to the hospitality we receive each time we arrive. Two years ago the Malevil Cup incorporated the European Championships , a really hard 100km with a large strong field of elite riders. Last year I contacted the organiser, Radek Patrak who contacted local sponsor and cycle kit supplier, Eleven and I raced with their Test Team chuffed to bits to get my hands on their much sought after pink compression socks and happy to win and get those socks on the podium!! This year we were in touch again and organised the same deal. Mid way through fixing a broken tibia I used the race as a focus, it had UCI status so maybe I could use it as a qualifier for the World Championships until I realized it was only a week before and all the will in the world I wasn’t going to be super fit having already been off the bike 5 months.
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| My Specialized 29er Epic outside our home for the weekend |
With the killer aqua jogging sessions in the hydro pool with Jason Hyde at Teesside Uni and his confident attitude that I could ride even before I could walk, I managed to get back on the bike by week 9 of the fracture. That gave me 6 weeks of progressive cycling to slowly get fit for the Malevil Cup. Rob also joined in some of the rides and also got himself fit for the 65km challenge. I had a pretty good idea my level of fitness coming out to the race, hanging off the back on our local Sunday ride instead of around the front of the group chatting was one sign I wasn’t 100% and unable to sneakily catch up on the uphills in Dalby forest on the Tuesday night ‘baggy shorts’ rides was another but my endurance was fine so I was quite confident of at least getting round.
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| The venue is such a beautiful place it felt like a holiday |
We both woke up nervous on race day, its a challenging day out whatever and the weather was looking pretty unsettled. At 8.30 our 100km wave set off, the elite woman up near the front with the men to a huge cheer from the crowd. I realised within seconds my lack of power as I got swamped by so many cyclists all charging towards the first single tracks across the fields and into the forest.
All the main woman contenders were well out of sight so I switched mentality from ‘lets try and race and see where I come’ to ‘lets just see if I can get this leg round and enjoy the day’. I still had that blood like taste from exertion for well over an hour but I was enjoying myself and hanging onto a pretty big group of Czech men. There was also an Austrlian girl I’d been chatting to at the start in our group and Graham Pinkney, a friend from last year whom I yo yo’d with on the descents and climbs. At one point someone shouted that I was in 4th (when actually it was 5th) so I rode hard on the chance that a podium might still be possible, in marathon races you can never give up trying as mechanicals, hitting the wall, crashing and going off course are all part and parcel of racing.
My knee gave me no problems at all while I rode. I struggled a lot with the super steep hills just trying to get the power down and walking is still a bit of a challenge with a bike on uneven ground but I was chuffed to bits to ride the technical loose rocks descents and not feel terrified about falling. I think I knew what a mission it would be to try walk down so just told myself to man up and ride them! I did start to flag 15 km from the finish and got dropped by the Australian and the steep rooted climbs near the end zapped any energy I had left. I finally finished in 6th place in the elite woman’s field (won by Irena Berkova) in roughly the same time as it took last year in really muddy conditions. This year had been super dry and the most perfect conditions any rider can ask for. So perfect in fact that we rode another 6 hours the next two days enjoying the endless forests (and getting lost on the odd occasion too). Its been a tough last few months, there have been lots of times when I have wondered if the desire to push myself would come back, if I would get the same feeling of excitement racing and enjoy the utter exhaustion at the end of a 5 hour race and if I’d have the confidence to race over rough terrain again. Malevil Cup put my mind to rest, even with legs that won’t go as well as I want I still loved the race and hope the yearly pilgamige continues!
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| Not everyone was interested in the race! |
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| One climb after another! |
Rob was flying in the 65km race and his first 2 splits put him high up in the field till his chain snapped and some local farmer managed to lose his link trying to help leaving him to run an hour to the next tech point. So he really got his race worth with a ride and a run and had pretty sore calves to show for it! The beer on tap from the Eleven stand and a U2 tribute band topped off a memorable day for us both.
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| Oily hands but still able to hold a beer |
A huge thank you to Team Eleven for the support picking us up from Prague and beer at the end, to Radek for his relentless energy and hospitality, he puts on one of the best one day races I have ever done… and even got U2 there. Thankyou also to Asrin and Cyclefunatics of Durbanville for the Specilaized Epic Expert 29er, riding a duel for the first year has me converted for sure!!
