Race 3: Gorrick XC, Swinley Forest, 20/03/2011

My 2nd ever XC race, it was fun! I was tired from yesterdays MBO ordeal, a birthday meal with my PhD friends last night and little if any sleep. My legs were a bit like lead weights all day. I presume that was due to the above, i hope so anyway...

On the horn I went flying off in 3rd place for the first corner and downhill. Didn't hold it long before another girl came past, wasn't happy about that, thought I'd get her back later when I found my rhythm, but that was wishful thinking on my part! Those 3 went off and took the podium positions, the back 3 had much more of a battle on!

A girl called Kim gave me a run for my money, she overtook me, I was down to 5th - she pulled away too, but I caught her again on a downhill and then got a bit carried away and got all wrapped up in a tree! So she took me again and it went on like that for the whole 2nd lap. Each time one of us made a mistake the other would nip past. When I overtook her she said "well done!" which was a little strange but very nice so I said it to her each time too! Very British.

Whilst all this was going on the other girl slipped past us both. We all finished within a minute of each other and luckily for me Kim didn't get up a short sharp climb near the end so I got in front and managed to hold her off until the end. Just! My breathing was really odd, wheezing for the full 8 miles like I've been smoking 40 a day or something. Ave heart rate was a racy 178.

The course was up and down through the trees and a kind of clay surface which drained all your power. It was smooth though so was quite nice to race on. There was nothing very technical, a few rooty bits and some muddy off camber corners. A drop off near the start that caused a few accidents too. All in all a fun race and lots of top XC riders there.

Race 2: MBO, The Lookout Bracknell, 19/03/2011

I messed this race right up, which was unfortunate as it was a World Championships selection race – trust my luck! It wasn't even one thing, it was lots of things...

I’d been warming up for about an hour whilst the GB people got going, I didn’t want the added pressure of them breathing down my neck. When I finally got started, within 5 mins my mudguard worked loose and got all caught up in my wheel. I swore a bit and yanked the whole thing off, threw it to the side and tried to locate it afterwards but, unfortunately, it was the last I ever saw of it. It had a whole hour to do that before the race! Why now?!

I was struggling to read the map and cycle because the ground was consistently rough and so I couldn’t make out the tracks on the map as they were jangling around too much. So I found I had to stop every now and again to make sure I was seeing right – I have never had to do this before but really had no option given I couldn’t see properly! Anyway, I was doing OK for a couple more controls after the mudguard incident, and then my front wheel plunged into a bog whilst I was engrossed in the map and I went flying over the bars – still attached to my bike! I wasn’t happy. The levers all got out of line but I couldn’t move them so after kicking them a lot to try and get them back, I recovered myself and continued on my way. A little bruised and quite dirty by this stage.

All was well again, I saw lots of people wandering around aimlessly, some asking if I’d managed to find the control yet. Then something strange happened, on a seemingly easy leg, 15 – 16, I passed a lot of walkers and I must have got momentarily distracted (I remember thinking what’s with all these walkers on this section) because I reached a junction and the path I wanted was not there. I searched around, then decided I must be in the wrong place, got all confused with the hundreds of paths everywhere around me and no identifying features, and realised all was not well! I was going to retrace my steps but when I turned around I had no idea which of the paths I’d actually come from. So I cycled around a lot trying to match things up and finally pinpointed my location because there were two parallel paths, one with open ground around it (yellow on the map) and one without. I still missed the entrance to number 16 but saw where I now was and looped around to get it.

The rest of the race passed without incident but I was traumatised by my getting lost and all of a sudden had the biggest headache ever! I was losing the will and finally made it back in 1.5 hours, it should have taken me an hour best case and 1 hour 15 worst case. Oops.

Talking to the GB bods afterwards, the correct thing to do in such situations is leave the area entirely. Pick a direction and cycle in it, e.g. go North. Then, apparently, you recognise something on the map ‘within a minute’, rather than the 17 mins it took me to get between 15 and 16! Top tip duly noted.

Race 1: NYMBO Trailquest, Sutton Bank, 12/05/2011

My first race of the year was a 3 hour NYMBO trail quest, which started at Sutton Bank Gliding club. The first of the league, and the first on my brand new Giant Anthem X Advanced SL1 race bike (very exciting!). I was a little apprehensive as I normally do these races with a partner. I've only done a handful on my own. After a whole lot of faffing and a lemon muffin & cup of tea from the gliding club cafe I was ready for departure. I set off with two blokes I know from CliftonCC, one was my partner last year. We disagreed at the very first control and he went off to get one that I thought would be more suited to my return leg. I was just behind the other one for a while but we must of gone our separate ways early on as I didn't see him after the first three controls.

I had been a little cold whilst waiting around so was wearing winter boots, tights, gilet and arms. After about 5 mins of racing I was boiling hot! I got my arms off OK and undid the gilet but wasn't about to stop and take off my tights so I rolled them up above my knee and did the rest of the race looking very stylish indeed!

I did my usual calculating and plotting en route (on the road sections anyway) and was happy with the route I selected for the first two hours. There was an obvious loop but some of the control ordering required rather too much brain power. I went down the bank (a pleasure on the new bike), collected a load of points then along and back up again. The third hour I was less sure about. I spotted a lucrative loop which was hilly and had a long section of 'invisible' bridleway. But I went for the safe option which was longer but much flatter and mostly road. I wasn't sure if I'd make it around the other loop in time and didn't want to risk losing everything by being very late back. I was a little worried as the Giant suspension doesn't fully lock out like the Scotts, but I got no bobbing at all as I climbed on the road so was very impressed with the design. My choice of route (and super racy bike!) got me back just 1 min 20 late and gave me 413 points, which I believe is my highest score ever!

I ate marshmallows on the way around as I lost my Dextrose (later found it on my driveway) and I just needed sugar. I felt reasonably strong all day but could still tell I was tired from my training in Gran Canaria last week. The last 30 mins I had to shout at myself a lot to get pedalling! I had tried spin on Wednesday and gave up after 10 mins as I just couldn't, so I was pretty pleased with my improvement from Wed - Sat!

There were over 100 riders in total and I came 1st out of the girls and 8th overall so very pleased indeed with my first race of the year! Might of set the bar a bit high for the rest of the year though...