Lost in the woods

Having not posted for ages on here, you may be thinking "lost in the woods" is a deep and meaningful blog post title about my inner mental state. Afraid not. I was out last night for a 40 minute trail explore type of session on foot (commonly called a run, but I was way too slow to be considered a runner last night). Ended up thinking I was back near the car park, when in fact I was on the other side of the woods. Got in 1 hour 20 minutes in the rain, but only means I had more fun and found some strange objects!

So what have I been up to, I hear you ask! Well, over the past few months I have gotten about a bit - racing in Strathpufferland was a brilliant way to kick off 2013, a really cool MTB skills session in the Peak District with AQR, a very muddy ride around Sherwood Pines,  an excellent bank holiday weekend in Afan, a few sessions on the excellent new trails at Tunstall (as made by TROG) and lots and lots of miles around Thetford Forest. The first big race of the year kicks off in a few weeks at the Glentress 7, followed by a team effort in Mountain Mayhem (with the formidable boys and girls from Loco Tuning) and thinking of having a "fun" crack at the Thetford Summer Enduro in a pair. Alps in August and Kielder in September! Pointer is talking about doing Relentless in October, and it am getting more and more persuaded by that :) So what have you been up to?!

19hr champs

Right put kids in bed a cup of tea in hand and a plate of buttered malt loaf, it must be time for a blog.

Saturday saw my third attempt at the Euro/UK 24hr hour champs. The first, '11, was my rookie 24hr and I was reasonably pleased with 16th.

Last year after attempting far too many events and a painful Strathpuffer solo effort a few months before, led to a very disappointing 21st.

So this winter just gone, I didn’t race, just spent months training with a couple of Duathlons thrown in and a tapered three months of training up to last week.

The general advice from fellow 24hr riders who had seen me racing was to slow down and think of the whole race.

So Saturday midday came there we were at the start line at Wasing Estate with a mere 24hrs of riding ahead.

I went off slow and let all the 12hrs riders do their thing and I plodded on, resisting the testosterone urges to chase the riders who passed me by.

All going well and about 10 laps in I was 10th, the top ten for me would have been a result so I was happy to plod on and try to consolidate this.

Then as the light faded and the heavens opens (I had planned for a shower, but not what followed) thinking this was just a shower, I didn’t pit, I just thought an opportunity to put a extra lap on my rivals as they sat it out or changed clothing.

This, I now know, was a disastrous move! Lap 1 of the shower I was cold and wet but the second I started to freeze and my body felt like it was shutting down and I started to wobble on the bike.

I came into the pit and realised it was the early stages of hypothermia and I had no choice but to get off the bike change and warm up before it got worse.

So fresh clothes and then in the car with the heater on full, a cup of tea, a pot noodle and wrapped in a space blanket and a tent groundsheet.

The hours past and I was in and out of a semi sleep state, then around 2am (five hours later) I decided to try another lap with some kindly borrowed waterproofs and some improvised plastic bags in my sodden Sidis (the worst thought of getting back out was the idea of putting them on again).

So after the first lap I felt ok and continued to knock a few more out incident free apart from a slowly deflating tyre which had to be pumped every few hours, low pressures weren’t a bad thing in the mud.

My carbon bottle cage broke and I replaced that but then around 4am going down a very muddy switchback my chain jammed and once I stopped to look I realised the rear mech hanger and rear mech had bent beyond repair.

This was about a mile into the seven mile lap, so I pushed the bike around the rest of the lap, all the time time thinking right im going to get the singlespeed out and MTFU and keep going.

And that I did, and another consistent 7 or so laps done on the singlespeed and finished right on the nail around 11:45am.

All this had led to a 8th position overall and I was happy with my effort to say the least, as it was the worst race I had ever had for issues, but also my best ever result/effort.

That’s the great thing about 24hr racing when it seems like its all over it probably isn’t and with some grit and determination you can still claw back as result even in the remaining hours.

Adventurous streak

Well continuing my rather sporadic blogs, and indeed rides, at the moment I think I might be getting some vague reminisce of form back. Rather than driving across the country catching up with all the old haunts riding seemed the transport de jour. In anticipation of Mike’s 200 mile cross country epic in a little over a month it seemed like a good idea to get some 100+ mile rides in on some hills.  I always seem to enjoy point to point rides more than out and back, probably the adventure in me – bailing out when your 80 miles from your destination is always more hassle than its worth…

So half past eight on Monday morning and two counties down, the day was going to be long but with enough tea and cake it was looking like a good one. 

The planned route took in Stratford upon avon, Worcestershire, the Malvern hills and then on down through the Forest of Dean through Chepstow and into Bristol, where I had a training date with Kim and some roller racing… The next day would see me heading back up through the Cotswolds (Deceptively hilly) back into the Midlands.

 I’m not going to bore you with a hit by hit account of the ride, just a few hastily grabbed photos from the few days. I think in total there was about 300 miles covered in a little over three days, not to bad but im still on the back foot compared to most on the Informal 200…

Peaking out at Worcester camp on top of the Malvern Hills.

 I miss the roads in South Wales, no one but the sheep and the odd tractor to distract you.

Deceptively big these Cotswolds, the long straight approach to hill climbing.

Next challenge, apart from cleaning the bike - 200 miles across wales. Gulp.

John Flitch Memorial Duathlon

If you like being beside the seaside in North East Kent, in your cycling/running kit as the icy wind blows in of the sea at the beginning of January then this is the duathlon for you. It's a fast, flat course consisting of 2.5 mile run/9 mile mtb/4.5 mile xc run. ''Flat'' I hear you say...sounds easy does it, well the first run is straightforward out along the seafront normally into a raging headwind, then back, hop onto the bikes for 2 laps of what can either be frosty, slightly muddy ground, or if its been raining a lot recently mud, mud, oh and a bit more mud before back along the promenade before doing one lap of the bike course as the xc run. The added bonus on the xc run is that you get to jump/wade/fall in about four dykes towards the end of the run, before four mounds to run up and down before the finish.Heaven!

I have done this event several times now and the earliest was in 2005. I have never been able to crack the top three, having had a few fourth places just to frustrate me even more. With family in tow we arrived a good twenty minutes before the start ( not bad for me! ). Suitably psyched up on several renditions of the ''wind the bobbin up'' song from my two boys en route to the race I was feeling fairly confident . I say fairly, as  I was ill at Christmas and then again during the week before this race, and it was 50/50 if I would race on the Saturday. Still, I had paid my entry all ready so here I was.

The 1st run leg kicked off and I set off, resplendant in my new Team Cycleaid Skinsuit, with several comments of ''that's not going to be white by the time you've finished''. Back towards the bike section and four of us were evenly spread at the front. A quick change onto the bike and we were off for the mud, and there was plenty of it. I had opted for cyclocross tyres for my On One Race 29er. I don't know if it helped or not, definitely not when the back wheel slid on a rut and I went head first into some brambles. Two laps of mud hell later and it was back along the seafront into the headwind into the transition for the last xc run. I was fourth and I knew I could make up the places on the last run, but I was feeling the cold. I caught the third place solo male and was feeling confident. Then my lace came undone so I had to stop to fix that and then the cold really hit me and the legs didn't want to co-operate, so my run turned to a shuffle. I lost third just before the dyke crossings and then fourth just after them. I kept shuflling as best I could even having to walk a few times as I was feeling that rough.

With just about enough energy I crossed the line....in 5th place for a change. Oh well, try again next year I guess. Looking back at my times, my last run leg was 9 minutes slower than last year, so that sums up how my body was feeling towards the end. Onwards and upwards!

The return of, well sort of anyway...

I have been a bad man and i feel bad, not only have I not been riding my bike much since the big move but I have neglected to keep the blog up to date ether; both of these things are set to change mind....

Never doing things by halves I've taken on Mike Hall's (You may remember him from such Guinness world records as pedaling round the world) informal 200 mile ride as an early season leg warmer, or in my case starter.  The event is open to all comers; departing from 5am in Caernarfon and then pedalling the 200 miles to Cardiff bay for a reception and fund raising evening!  The aim of the ride is to give riders who may have completed a number of 100 + mile individual rides a chance to go for the next challenge of a double century while raising tonnes of cash, i however shall be spending most of the day trying not to get dropped! If you fancy a challenge or just want to donate to a good cause have a look, i assure you it will be in the best of company...


 Mike Hall, image shamelessly stolen from Bikemagic


So with the thought of a 200 mile ride on my shoulders you'd think id be making it out at every possible opportunity right? Well yes, there just don't seem to be that many opportunity's at the moment...

I have however become involved in some local road outfits and seem to be worryingly close to getting talked into doing some road racing, or god forbid time trialling in the not to distant future which will no doubt cause a fair amount of hilarity. That in itself is a good enough reason to Man Up find some time and remind myself why i haven't shaved my legs...

In the year 20 13.....

Well the Mayans got it all wrong so I best get training and plan some cycling events for next year and recap on those of 2012.
2012 was a bit of a shift in cycling events for me from the previous year with shorter events giving way to longer ultra endurance rides. highlights were:

1. An attempt at the Strathpuffer solo - ok I only managed 16hrs riding but given the magnitude of the event I was happy with the attempt.
2. Norwich 200 - 11hrs riding in what was a unique spin of a classic local Sportive
3. South Downs Way Double (ish) - Again not fully completed but still for the first attempt was something to work on..

Goals for 2013

1. A good show at the 24hr solo champs - at the new southern venue
2. A little ride known as LEJOG OFFROAD
3. A crack at the Relentless 24hr solo.

See you out there :0

Xmas Pudding Dash...

...or roughly translated a 5 mile cross country run through the grounds of Ashburnham Place near Battle in East Sussex, with the option to wear appropriate Christmas clothing. That was not on my list of priorities as I arrived 10 minutes before the start, grabbed my bag out of the car and legged it down to the registration desk having only decided to do this race an hour earlier this morning.

One thing with being in a mad panic trying to get to the start is that you end up having to park the furthest away so you get a nice warm up en route to signing on. So a quick signing on, removal of clothes (I had at least put my running gear on underneath my clothes before I left home to save time!), caffeine gel downed and shot outside to make my way to the front just before the off. Lined up around me were a mixture of Santas, angels, reindeer and some bloke in a tutu.

From the off it was a quick loop around the stately home, then off up the very steep drive before diving off into the woods. About six of us formed a group at the front as things started getting very muddy and then the others around me seemed not to notice the direction sign up ahead and veered off to the right. A quick shout at them and they got back on track. This let me take the lead briefly before one of the juniors caught back up with me. Having now pulled a gap over the others I decided to let him take to the front and tuck in behind. Crossing the line for the second and final lap I felt good and thought I would go for it on the climb up the steep drive. However my legs had other ideas and it was as if someone just drained all the energy out of my legs and I started drifting back. Hanging on as best I could with first place getting away, I then had two more of the juniors closing in behind. I hung on till about 50 metres to go but with a short sharp hill just before the finish one of them caught me at the top on the last bend and then his brother, as I found out afterwards, decided to sprint as well for the line. Sprinting...moi....I don't think so, I tried but then realised it's a long time since I could do that, so with no one else coming up behind me I slowed to a stroll across the line.

So 4th place, was I happy? Not really when I was that close. I was a minute ahead of the next place so I should be happy at that and being a minority mountain biker surrounded by pure runners. To quote Scooby Doo "it would have been first if it hadn't been for those pesky kids". Very well done to them though and a really strong finish from them. As for what happened to me, I'm not sure, to lose power just like that it could be I'm still not over my "virus" as the local paper put it or looking back I didn't drink much this morning so that didn't help......or it could just be I'm getting old. Veteran category is just around the corner!