A stage race with short timed sections has never been something I’ve thought about doing… my strengths are grinding out hour after hour on relatively un technical terrain, finishing and starting again the next day, day after day but having said that I’ve always prided myself on going out of my depth on some adventure be it in some country I’ve never heard of (e.g East Timor) or on terrain that I know will terrify me (e.g Sudety Challenge) or a race amongst the best in the world (i.e. the World Champs) or just away from the comfort of home on my own (e.g how ever many months in South Africa). I can so far say there are very few trips I’ve regretted despite last minute reservations and nerves, as the moto goes: ‘ you only regret things you haven’t done’.
The Prologue
10km
After a 10 hour journey via some deliveries in the Lakes then the Friday afternoon crawl down the M6 we spent our last night of luxury on route and turned up to Malgam Park near Port Talbot the next day. Despite heavy rain all journey Wales was looking nice, dry and sunny. At 4pm following the briefing we set off at 20 second intervals. I was late off so did a loop to warm up and confirm that it really was as scary as it looked from the bottom of the hill. I set off well though and was just thinking how I was enjoying it when I went right over the bars and landed straight on my head. It was all fern so wasn’t painful but all I could think of was ‘what if there had been rocks there’. After that incident I rode cautious and wasn’t overly happy with my ride. I told myself a million times this event was one I was going to enjoy and learn from rather than try to be competitive but its not in my nature not to want to do 100% and I really didn’t ride the prologue well. I did however have a brief visit to the hot seat for the leading male and female and got a bottle of beer out of it to the joy of Rob.
Dinner was spot on, three different hot choices with plenty of carbs and protein then a gigantic portion of apple crumble and custard. Rob had a bright idea to turn our Doblo van into a camper with a thick foam mattress and our pillows and duvet and I must say its one of the best ideas he’d ever had. We were toasty all night and slept 10 hours!
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| Glamping 'Doblo' Style |
Stage One
50km, 1500m ascent
Margam Park inc Afan Park and Margam Forest
Due to our 10 hour hibernation we missed the porridge but there was plenty else on offer and since it wasn’t going to be flat out from the gun I had some beans on toast while Rob had the full English. He then disappeared for the day on marshalling duties. We left at a very civilised 10am in perfect conditions. The route climbed from the off and though I initially thought I’d just have a social ride I then thought of all that apple crumble and started riding tempo along with a few others. That also mean’t I started the first “Trail King’ descent with lots of space and really enjoyed it. The route headed into Afan Forest and was single track onto more single track. It was like the flowing red at Hamsterly in the UK or Welenpass in Wellington. The more skilled rider could go down fast but the not so skilled could still enjoy it just a bit slower.
I loved the whole route and worked very hard up the one section that was predominantly up hill. From the feed which had everything any rider would want I rode almost to the end with a nice group of 4 with some good banter. I stopped a few km short where Rob was marshalling and watched a number of riders descend a super steep bank with ease. I was pleased to win the overall for the day that included the one up hill timed section and the two enduro sections. After dinner there was a Tug of War competition that was great fun and Rob was ‘roped’ into a team that got through the first round.
Stage Two
55km, 1500m ascent
Margam Park to Dare Valley Country Park inc Afan Forest and Glyncorrwg
There was plenty of porridge this morning for breakfast and I rolled out at 10am feeling nicely fuelled for a 100km stage never mind a 50km one! With one big climb I was hoping to get some time in the bank for the downhills to come but half way up I hit a rock and got a flat. I had to put a new tube in as I cut the tyre quite badly and lost a big chunk of time. I don’t know how long the whole thing took but I knew then I’d messed up any chances of a podium. I rode the rest of the climb a little gutted then got my act back to together and reminded myself I was initially here just to enjoy the week and did enjoy the rest of the route. The scenery was amazing and the single track along the top track was pretty special.
We finished with another timed downhill into camp at Dare Valley camp site and once Rob arrived back from a very long day marshalling I made sure I had a beer in hand for him before we set up our ‘luxury’ Doblo camper van. I mean while had spent a relaxing afternoon with new South African friends before sorting my wheel out back to tubeless.
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| Lovely views from camp |
Stage Three
50km 1500m ascent
Dare Valley Country Park inc Bike Park Wales and Mountain Ash
With any chance of doing well overall with only one more timed climb and 7 timed descents coming up I decided that I would ride out of my comfort zone all day today to try get some higher end fitness back before more stage races come along. The day started with a neutral zone through town then onto a long climb right to the top before descending into Bike Park Wales. I got straight into my effort and found myself at the front which was quite a novelty! After a short black descent there was no recovery before the first timed section, an uphill xc climb. It was a great climb and I was probably one of few riders who found it the best part of the day!! From that was 2 ‘real’ downhill section. I approached them wrongly, over cautious at the words ‘downhill course’ and stopping a number of times to get well out of the way of anyone coming down behind then loosing rhythm to get going again. However I got down both unscathed and wish I could have gone and done them again as neither were as bad as everyone was making out last night. Luckily for me the whole course was pre ridden each day making sure arrows were in place and Richie who set out at 7 each morning re taped a section blocking a huge gap jump that some idiot had taken off. As the first none capable rider of clearing anything like a gap jump I was very grateful to her!
I pressed on although of course didn’t miss the cakes at the stop or a chance to fill bottles on what was turning into a scorcher of a day (poor Rob was evidence of how much the sun was shinning as he arrived back from a very exposed marshalling duty looking like a lobster!) Once out of Bike Park Wales I stopped for lube at the Squirt tent and put in my last bit of energy up and over into our valley. It was good for moral to come in 2nd point to point behind a fellow KTM rider even though of course it mean’t nothing on the results. It also mean’t a clean me, bike and kit all before afternoon tea at 3pm!
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| First two bikes back in camp are KTMs |
Presentation this evening was in between a band playing and was a really good night as awards were given out for things like ‘worst dressed rider’ to someone in Sky kit to ‘best speech’ by a Polish rider who had us all in stitches with his pigeon English about braking his bike and ‘best crash’ going to a guy who’s broke his frame clean in two and ‘happiest rider’ going to a Japanese rider who has the biggest grin on all the event photos.
Stage Four
50km 1300m ascent
Dare Valley Country Park to Margam Park
Complete contrast to the previous days we woke to heavy rain and wind. I could have stayed longer in the van under the duvet but Rob was on early marshalling duties so it was quickly up, packing up the van and sitting in the marquee dreading the moment of venturing out. Once riding we soon warmed up with a big climb onto the tops. There was a brief rest bite in the rain as we climbed into the mist and next to some big wind farms slowly moving round it was eerie and strangely beautiful. The route re traced much of what we had done before and the timed sections was down the long 8km climb we had done two days ago. In the now pouring rain the loose sharp rocks were pretty sketchy but the Rubena tyres didn’t slip much at all. The thought of hitting one of the sharp rocks and getting another flat in this weather was pretty unbearable so I was pretty cautious. I’ve also got another 4 stage races to get through this year so as with yesterday I rode within my self and quite enjoyed the descent. Rob was marshalling half way down already looking soaked to the skin,. The helpers today definitely deserved a huge medal, every one was smiling and encouraging despite standing in the pouring rain hour after hour. Following the feed stop at 25km we re traced our route back towards where it all began in Margam Park. With the rain still coming down true Welsh style and the wind now in our faces I was happy enough riding on my own, head down and keeping a tempo fast enough to keep warm. Finally we fit the last enduro section to the finish. Without seeing a soul across the whole exposed moor top it was typical to then get a small queue at the timed start as one of the fastest descenders pulled on his pads, goggles and today tried to get feeling back in his frozen hands. The descent was a river in places and a lake in others as at two points the puddles were that deep I swallowed a mouth full going through. Even though highly amusing and only for a joke of course it was quite appropriate that the Polish rider finished the event with his swim hat and goggles on!! The setting at the finish in front of the magnificent castle at Margam was a great idea, especially as it included a proper cafe with big hot mugs of tea. It was a shame the race had finished in such conditions but it also made us feel very lucky for the 4 blue sky days we had had. It is Wales after all!!
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| Hiding from the rain |
Thanks to Matt and ACycling for putting on a fantastic event and inviting me along. There were lots and lots of happy riders and I saw evidence all over of Matt’s own race experinces from the great food on offer, the video clips and other nightly entertainment, the mixture of trails and extremely well marked and marshalled route. I will always be a fan of point to point racing but for something a bit different and so far out of my own comfort zone I personally had great fun out there and met a whole load of new people. Next year I’ll come with a dropper seat post, knee pads and take a part of my brain out that is far to sensible!
Thanks also to Rubena UK for my Kratos 29er tyres, KTM for setting up my bike, and Squirt Lube.
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| Finish line setting |
