Bike: Hunter
Distance: 113.3 miles
Height Gain: 15,400 ft
Sleep: None
Punctures: One

Race prep consisted of checking the weather forecast a couple of days before the race and noting the distinct possibility of rain, hence mud, for the majority of the race. Rather than ride my Hunter (34:18) in the dry and Spot (32:16) in the wet I decided a tyre swap was in order. Besides, I’d finally get my mud tyres back from my wife.

Not wanting to preempt things too much I figured there’d be plenty of time to faff and fettle on Saturday morning, even with an earlier, and much more preferable, start of 12 noon.

The race venue had a much less corporate feel to it this year. Wandering round the arena it was possible to smell that Quavers catering was down to it’s usual standards. Fortunately there was a very good Indian and a coffee stall on site. That’ll be the pre-race food sorted then. It was nice to see old friends and look at all the shiny parts. Especially from Lezyne. I’ve been looking for a high volume pump to carry round for a while. My Blackburn is lovely, but I have to carry it round stuffed up the leg of my shorts because I haven’t got a frame mount. They’re not very good if you do have a frame mount, seeing as I’ve found two of them at races. So I treated myself to a combined pump and CO2 cartridge carrier. Mounted to the downtube it makes the Hunter look like it’s carrying weaponry that you could fire off at any moment!

After watching lots of people get wet on their practice laps race day itself dawned bright, but threatening. Now was time to change the tyres. Guess what? I had a puncture to fix too!

Sorting the rubber

Then it was just a case of walk around and chat to friends that turned up overnight. Working on the basis that it was going to be shitty weather I treated myself to a lovely team strip from Morvelo. Once my completist rival Tim Flooks had finished the rider briefing there was time to change into the Velocake strip and get to the start line.

Rider briefing by Tim Flooks

Velocake

As always I took the run at walking pace, though I try to be brisk. The first lap is always my recce lap. I don’t want to push myself too hard in case I run out of reserves later, and there’s always queues in the singletrack for the first two or three laps anyway. Even so I always pick up places on the first few laps, especially as the intermittent rain played havoc on the less technically skilled riders.

For the first three laps Kirsty didn’t let me get off the bike. She just sat waiting at the end of the track in the solo field, on a little camp stool, with a long wax riding jacket keeping her and food dry from the intermittent showers. On lap three I got a touch of cramp so went for the saltiest snacks I could when I rested. I knew already that I had a head problem, and I asked Kirsty to be harsh on me if I said I needed to stop. Physically I just felt flat. Legs had strength, and lungs had spare capacity, but my heart rate just couldn’t rise to the occasion.

I couldn’t believe the support in the campsite this year, all the kids doing high fives to the riders. The “Jump of Doom” was another hit, though the effort taken to get up to sprint speed knackered me out for the next small climb. And were those small children hiding under the pallet jump? Brilliant.

Everything for the next lap

After a proper meal at about 6pm it was time to get into the mindset for the night. The pit stops were smooth, though not necessarily fast. I was on a bottle of water per lap strategy to save weight, and there were a couple of places out on course I’d make myself drink. My lower back was playing up throughout the race, starting from early on, and I’m sure it’s kidneys not muscles as I’ve been doing much longer rides with a Camelbak already this year.

Food strategy was to eat whatever I felt like on the stop, then fill one back pocket with flapjack, twix, mini mars and chorizo sausage, eating it about half way round to balance out the pit stops. I usually end up craving savoury sandwiches during the latter portions of the race, but this year I had no cravings at all, so something worked better. The course was reversed again this year and there was plenty of time climbing to the monument to chew my way through a lump of porcine goodness. Maybe choosing picante chorizo was a mistake, but not too serious. Proper food and plain water meant I was a lot less bloated during the race than when I’ve relied on carb drinks.

In the end I made it through the night without the need to stop for a rest. By breakfast time it was obvious that I could do three more laps and finish just after 2pm, or relax and just do two more laps, with a bit of lurking for a 12-noon finish. The latter was in order.

I changed the feed strategy now to include a small packet of Skittles at the top of the penultimate climb. Then either the sugar or the rainbow of fruit flavours had a chance to kick in for the last effort to the top of the course and the blast to the finish. Last time I rode this descent was during a tandem downhill race at the Malverns Classic, which ages me somewhat.

Seeing as I’ve been beaten before by a single second (SITS 2004), rather than lurk I just rode the last mile extremely slowly. Where everyone came from when the commentator nearly finished the race a lap early I don’t know. As it happened I finished just 7 seconds after the clock ticked over, which was enough to beat a couple of other lurkers who crossed at 33 and 57 seconds respectively. 14 years experience pays off!

Then time for tubby bye byes.

Done. For another year.

Bike: Hunter
Distance: 113.3 miles
Height Gain: 15,400 ft
Sleep: None

I hear that a pre-race interview I did for an august publication was not published because it “wasn’t serious enough”. Not sure what part of having the dedication to do the same race 14 years running isn’t serious. I’m glad to say that if I took it that seriously I’d have given up years ago, what with crappy results and all.

Then this year on the back of nothing I think you’ll find I was tenth fastest in singlespeed category. Which includes teams. Overall, third fastest solo singlespeeder. Maybe I’ve finally found the niche wanky category in which there are sufficiently few competitors to get on the podium.

Serious enough for you? I actually take it as the best back-handed compliment I’ve had in years.

Still tired and broken and will post more about the race later.

Not kick, just change the tyres