Dani and myself both entered, she in the Enthusiast Ladies and me in Singlespeed Men. We arrived early, drank tea and had lunch, and rode around a lot to warm up (it was cold). We did stop to watch the under 10s race, a riot with older kids on 'proper' mountain bikes (one girl on a Rocky Mountain!) and toddlers on balance bikes being helped by their parents. All very heartwarming!
The enthusiast, singlespeed and fat bike races went off in waves, following each other with a minutes gap between, the fun and first timers races being held earlier. Enthusiast Men went off first, followed by the Ladies, then came the singlespeeders and fat bikes together, both male and female.
I hung around the back on the start line (and throughout the race), not being entirely sure as to why I was there (it seemed like a good idea at the time) or what to expect. The start itself wasn't too bad, the track wide and flowing, but I soon had my first moment of sillyness when I dropped my water bottle, in my defence I usually use a Camelbak. Not good. The track stayed fairly wide until we hit the first proper singletrack section, a muddy line through trees which took us to a short strip of fireroad and the first technical section, a short steep drop-off. All I saw on the approach was the horizon line, it wasn't until I was almost on the lip that I could see down and try and pick a line, unfortunetely my choice was poor and off I came, landing on my right and bending the r/h brake lever. No injuries, back on the bike but with shaken confidence I carried on, but not very well as I couldn't clip in (muddy and undulating) and trying to get used to my brake levers being out of line. Still, I got going (despite hitting a tree or two), made steady work of a short fireroad climb before jumping off for a muddy rooty climb (as did lots of others). It was here that I caught Dani, she'd come off at the same drop, got back on the bike and tried to carry on but then had decided to pull out. I thought that she had just lost confidence so left her to it.
The course continued to become more technical squeezing through the trees, mud and roots under my tyres, never quite allowing me to find any kind of flow. Not the kind of riding that I'm used to, to be honest. Another technical drop (for technical read short and steep), jump off at the lip, run down then up the other side, re-mount, repeat twice more. More trees, more climbs, then again everything opens up and we're back at the start.
Lap 2 was little better, although I was aware that I was getting de-hydrated. At the first drop-off I spotted a chicken run signposted right, not sure how I missed it the first time but then I probably would have ignored it anyway... By now the faster Enthusiast Males were coming through, who always seem to catch up in the singletrack, finding space to let them past proved difficult at times.
On Lap 3 I found my bottle, both water and mental, but the body was flagging even though the mind was getting a grip on the course. By now the fastest s/s men and fat-bikers were lapping me. Sluggish would be the best description of my effort on that final lap, I need to be fitter, better skilled and on a lighter bike. Then it was all over.
Dani met me at the finish, with dogs in tow. Her crash was worse than I thought, she'd gone right over the bars, landing on her left side and leaving a crack in her helmet. The marshal wanted her to stop and call a medic over, she got back on and rode as far as she could before the adreneline wore off and the pain kicked in. So, bikes on roof and straight back to Buxton, stopping at Buxton Hospital's Minor Injuries Unit so she could be properly checked out by the lovely people there (the nurse that saw Dani turned out to be a mtber). Dani's got a bruised calf, and big bruise/lump on her left forearm and a couple of cracked ribs. So she's now on painkillers and light duties for the foreseeable, not good as she's running a marathon in April...
I finished 23rd out of 28 s/speed riders. My time was 1 hour 26 minutes, the fastest rider took 55 minutes and the slowest 1 hour 35. Work needs to be done!
Paul.
Oh dear, so sorry to read about Dani's injuries, I hope she will be feeling better soon. You describe the chaos inside a race so well...little things that become great difficulties and moments when your mind just can't focus properly due to the pressure. I have never competed in a mtb race although have ridden many road races but your description rang very true, minus the mud of course. I usually gained perspective later on in a race as I was at the very back, so could see how things were going :-) Chapeau to you both for getting stuck in.
ReplyDeleteThanks Iain. Mountain biking is of course a risky sport, and Dani's quite philosophical about her crash. She felt that a big crash was due at some stage as she hasn't fallen off for quite a while, she's just glad that it happened off-road rather than on tarmac.
ReplyDeleteAs for competing, I did a bit of grass roots mtb racing years ago, but nothing like yesterday, as well as a couple of off-road duathlons in the past (including a real toughie called The Stinger in South Devon). I was pretty rubbish at them as well... but duathlons are fun in an odd kind of way.