Race 24: Brownbacks Round 2, Lee Quarry, 27/07/2011

This was the hardest XC race I have done so far, the course was harder than the one for round 1 but luckily I felt a lot better this time. It was in the same place, Lee Quarry, with the same start position and this time a 0.6 mile climb of 225ft straight off the blocks! I was right on the front row for the start. I felt a bit bad for the boys behind me but I couldn't get through and it's quite wide so they could get around..

I raced up the climb, trying to keep up with the fast boys and half killed myself in the process. I didn't think there were any girls in front of me but it's hard to tell as there were so many on the start line. I was actually leading for the 1st lap. I expected girls to come past at any minute but they didn't come. I slowed a bit and let my heart & lungs recover slightly, after that uphill sprint start, before pushing on. It was necessary as I wouldn't of made the 1.5 hours otherwise. There was literally no rest sections. Lots of really short sharp (practically vertical) climbs, fine for lap 1 but increasingly annoying and draining as time went on!

There were a couple of nice sharp descents, one I couldn't see where to go, the track just stopped and then I realised you actually went over the edge and that part literally was vertical! It was a surprise on the first lap. After that it was up, up and up again. One big rocky climb that lots of people walked, all the others short and sharp.

My legs felt great today, maybe due to the new Torq nutrition program? Not sure but it was my lungs and heart that were holding me back for a change! Maybe I got slightly unfit from not many miles in the last few months..

Anyway, a speedy girl in white and red came past & I lost her on lap 2 I think. I thought that was it but a couple of laps later I saw her again, then again on the following lap. I was gaining. Another lap, which I thought was my worst, I gained loads and got so we were on the same climb. The red & white girl was obviously tired as she was running up the climbs. I was almost empty and just couldn't catch her in time, I needed 1 more lap.

I thought I came 2nd but during prize giving it turned out she is TWENTY YEARS YOUNGER than me!!! I got beaten by a child! (A very fast one that is surely going places). But that meant I'd won the 'Racing Divas' (adult girls!) category. My first ever solo XC win. It was quite a climb up to that top step of the podium carrying the super cool massive rock / hope disk brake trophy that I thought I could only dream of! On top of that I received £25 for fastest lap and £100 for the win. It made the 1.5 hours of pain and suffering all worthwhile  :-) :-) :-)



Photos provided by Yorkshire Gallery



Race 23: Bearded Man Stage 3 - 65km XC, Brecon, 03/07/2011

Last night some scumbags raided the tented village and stole a load of bikes, including Annes. She was not happy for today's race, but we were good to go as she rode it on my Genius.

Straight out from the camp this race had an uphill start - why is that always the case I wonder? Anne was flying!! It was a fireroad climb that went on almost as far as the food stop. She was steaming along and I was chasing, we dropped all the boys and they all asked about the cause of Annes power spurt! I'd like to think it was the Genius but I think it was more frustration over her missing bike. Or maybe she is just really really fast! It was great because we were up and over the mountain in a blink of an eye.

My legs felt great today. I couldn't tell that I'd done yesterdays ride. In fact they felt better today than yesterday. I wonder if it was the magic powder, the compression tights or the big homemade burger that the lovely Ian made us on the Luff Bus, which I had as soon as we got back yesterday?! It could have been the banoffee torq gel that I managed not to spill everywhere today. I ate one when Anne started racing up the climb and felt immediately strong and kind of wired really (it's got a load of caffeine in it)

The descent was single track which was a stream of red clay water. Ruined my nice white Skedaddle kit as it didn't wash out! Then it was food. The 1st half was easy :-) we didn't spend long at the food station as we were fine. A bloke I know from Evans cycles in York got taken away in an ambulance as he'd gone all weird from a crash that happened yesterday!

The 2nd half had some great tracks in. Some open moorland lovely single track. Then there was a big climb up to 'The Gap' which was my kind of climb, enough rocks and things to make it interesting but not enough to make it too hard. On the way down from the Gap Anne was gone. A loose rocky descent that went on forever. It seemed like one you'd be more likely to find in the Alps! After that it continued down a really skinny snicket way of brambles, bracken and holly. The ground was loose rocks but you couldn't pick a line as it was only just wide enough to get down. So it was a case of just ploughing over all the rocks whilst getting torn to shreds by the undergrowth. That lasted forever too. I was not happy by the end. My arms and legs were stinging like crazy. Anne seemed to enjoy it, she was waiting at the bottom with 2 blokes she'd overtaken :-)

Then it was a bit of road and over some nice fields home. The ride was 40 miles with some serious climbs but it seemed fine and we were pretty fast. In fact we jumped from 6th to 3rd overall girls! Very happy with that, it was a proper long race and I've finally found my legs this season, hooray :-)

Race 22: Bearded Man Stage 2 - 65km XC, Brecon, 02/07/2011

Todays race was very different to yesterdays. It was very much an endurance stage at 75km with 7200ft climbing and hardly any road at all.

We got bused to the start and had a chance to warm up on the tarmac before climbing up and up and up some more. The sun was relentless and really made it hard. There was a pushing section (steep climb) out on the exposed land and I was literally dripping, there was a time when I could hardly see too because of the swarm of flies around us! Gross and I am sure they were biting my head. That was probably the low point of the day. It's not often I pray for cloud! When we got to the top there was a nice fast fire road descent which was super cooling and we burned off the flies too.

The food stop was amazing, they had sweets, crisps, cake, biscuits and coke! Also a load of fruit and torq stuff. I could have stayed there a lot longer than we did, so the lady gave me a pack of mini cheddars to take away with me.

After lunch there was lots of lovely singletrack and some nice rocky descents. Anne was really fast on those parts. She's a demon downhill! Then we had another climb which couldn't be ridden or even pushed so it was a case of carrying your bike on your back and trying to stop my legs from buckling underneath me! I am rubbish at walking up mountains, even more so with a bike on my shoulders!

After that is was downhill pretty much all the way home. Some lovely trails, which was good as my legs were pretty tired towards the end.

I visited the torq stand and got myself some caramel magic powder stuff that gets in your body through the roof of your mouth so you don't even need to swallow it. For recovery. More expensive than gold! So hopefully a dose of that and the 2XU recovery tights will heal me enough to do the same again tomorrow...

Race 21: Bearded Man stage 1: 10km XC TT, Brecon, 01/07/2011

The Bearded Man is a 3 day stage race in the Brecon Beacons, which starts with a 10km time trial and then there are two 75km XC races over the weekend. The time trial was about 6 miles from the tent village so that was a good warm up as I was a little bleary eyed after the long drive down.

I am in a team with Anne Woods. In this event you have to stick together as it's the slowest persons time that counts. Today was much more suited to me than the other two days and Anne is the other way around, she is great at endurance where as I tend to lose the will half way around!

Sometimes I can get a massive high for short races, that makes my legs go and my lungs scream. It's a sugar / adrenalin high that I don't think I've properly experienced this season yet. It's interesting because Anne is diabetic so under the same conditions her legs will not work at all. It's the complete opposite for us.

The start was a big fire road climb all the way to the top. I zoomed off on my sugar high and Anne chased with her non working legs. I realised and held back and when we got to the top there was some nice single track in the trees. There were photographers all over the place! They hopefully got some nice Skedaddle shots of us. We had to do two laps and they'd cut some bits out as they were too water logged. It was a lovely sunny evening and it was a nice time trial course. Nothing technical, one drop where the cameraman nearly got run over each time, and an off camber rooty corner that I messed up both times! that was it. Feeling good but a little apprehensive about the distance in the next two races. Haven't ridden that far on a MTB this year yet!


 

The drop