I’ve been riding singlespeed almost exclusively this year. But today, reluctantly dug out the geared bike as a dodgy tendon in the back of my knee that has been bugging me since the last Brownbacks race (4 weeks ago) seems to be getting worse with each ride. The injury is not exactly painful, but more ‘niggly’. And I know (from post ride aching) pushing a big gear up steep hills is not helping.
Voodoo Bokor out of retirement (for the time being)
I’ve booked a physio appointment early next week which will hopefully shed some light on what I’ve done and how to fix it. I’m worried that I’ll be ordered off the bike to rest up so getting an easy spin in tomorrow just in case.
I plan on finally doing my first ‘traditional’ CX race next weekend so lets cross those fishfingers…
I had missed the previous two races in the 2nd Brownbacks Race Series as they all clashed with other events/races. So was looking forward to the final race of the Hope sponsored series.
As the only bike that wasn’t in bits the decision was made for me to ride it on the singlespeed. I’d ridden two of the three races at the Quarry earlier in the year on the Genesis iO so knew what to expect; a hard, uncomfortable race.
Lee Quarry is nearly all singlespeedable (just) there is no let up it, no real rest points. Each climb is just on the limit of do-able and the descents all require full concentration, the rider needing to really move the bike around. To sum up its knackering.
I also elected to go for the all or nothing approach to kit (no tools, no pump, no tube) due to it been a short race at around 1.45 and I’d not punctured in the 3 previous races at Lee Quarry (tempting fate you say?).
er ?! GO!
A good 10 minutes hanging around getting cold on the start online and apparently we were off, which took me and others by surprise (what happened to megaphone and countdown)? In the middle of 70 or so bikes scrabbling for grip on the loose rocky hill start approaching the first corner and narrower section. I went out relatively hard (its either that or push if your riding a singlespeed starting a race on a steep loose hill) and by the first narrow section was towards the front of the field.
The fast start soon caught up with me and the familiar breathing hard and feeling ‘orrid kicked in. I was passed by a few other riders which continued for a while eventually finding a bit of a rhythm 3 laps or so in and not feeling quite so bad and started to pass others again. The iO as always excelled at the swoopy and rocky stuff, although the frame is built around 100mm fork it feels confident and is surprisingly quick at Lee Quarry type terrain.
I didn’t have the heart on the final lap for long slog of a climb (the tramline) and pushed/ran part of it, jumping back on to ride the final climb to cross the finish line feeling pretty much done in.
I was 2nd singlespeeder to a very fast guy from the Wheelbase lot and came 10th out of 52 in my ‘Weekend Warrior’ category which I was pretty happy with.
One gripe with the otherwise ace event is the category set up, there are three categories overall:-
1. Have-a-go-hero (beginners)
2. Weekend Warriors (done quite a few races but don’t have a race license or owt)
3. Racer (fully licensed up racer)
In the first series the starts of each category were staggered, so all made sense. In the second series the ‘Weekend Warriors’ and ‘Racers’ start at the same time AND the winner of the ‘Weekend Warrior’ race would have been placed second in the ‘Racer’ category?! The self-seeding obviously does not work - what’s the point?
If the two categories had been amalgamated I would have finished in 24th position overall - Racer cat. for me next time.
Lined up on the start line with a 450 or so other riders and a slightly fuzzy head. I hear my name been called and I squeeze past a few riders to join Amy for a brief chat about pre-race tactics. Although I had heard stories and been given ‘handy hits and tips’ by vets of the race I really didn’t know what to expect from Britain’s most infamous Cross’ race*. *This would be my first cross’ race and fourth ever cross’ ride as the bike was purchased a couple of weeks ago.
Click-Clunk
I don’t hear the start signal but the sound of hundreds cleats click-clunking into pedals and squealing brakes as the chaotic group winds up to a quick pace following the leadout car. I was told that this first road section should be used to get as far through the pack as possible before the route turns off-road and bottlenecks. This was difficult in such a large pack with many riders wanting to do the same and an idiotic bunch of motorcyclists intent on overtaking the entire field. Caution outweighed the need to gain a few places and I decided to more a less stay where I was.
It was steeper than it looks and it looks steep (photograph by Wig Worland)
Gaining one or two places but generally plodding up the ascent wishing I’d done more fell races this year, calves already feeling it. But pleased that my new technique of carrying the bike across my back was a lot less painful than ‘the bruised shoulder method’ I’d been trying out on my few practice rides.
Ingleborough descent
The peaty moorland plateau* at the top of Simon Fell was windswept and covered by cloud but my and my calves felt relieved a to be back riding rather than carrying. Descending Ingleborough (to my surprise) I started passing riders, the bike actually felt quite good (again to my surprise, as it had felt horrendous on any ‘proper’ descents during practice**) . *Probably not actually a plateau at all but it felt like it after Simon Fell **Raising the stem and fitting top levers - made all the difference I reckon
Picnic
I hit the next road section feeling good but with the first twinges of cramp in my thigh when out of the saddle.
I concentrated on drinking more. At Chapel-Le-Dale I met with my ‘feed team’ who had brought sandwiches, cake, fruit - an entire picnic basically (thanks Jill, Nick, Fi !). After a quick chat I explained that I couldn’t really stop to enjoy the feast; downed half a can of coke, grabbed a bottle, felt a bit guilty and headed up Wherneside trying to reel back any riders that had passed me during ‘lunch’.
Whernside sketch-a-rama
After riding as much of it as possible, the push/carry* started and I plodded up the untidy rock steps, although I tried a couple of efforts to increase the pace my legs were saying no - claiming they were not used to ascending steep hillsides quickly. *Sam from Sett Valley Cycles who placed in the top 30 at last years Three Peaks advised me to only carry only you have to - which seemed to work well, the majority of riders seemed happy winging their bikes on their shoulder at every opportunity when the terrain was still push-able - which seems like a waste of energy to me and no quicker?
Stoopid grin
The descent off Whernside was for me the sketchiest of the three, I had started to cramp again and wet slabbed rock path and large stone drainage channels felt ‘rough’ to say the least on 32mm tires inflated to 70psi. I managed to ride most of it (miraculously) without crashing.
Pen-y-Ghent
The cramp in the thighs was now really kicking in on the next road section Pen-y-Ghent and I had to stop briefly to drop a couple of Nunn tablets into my the Torque juice - it tasted potent but seemed to do the job. As the legs felt much better as I started the ascent of Pen-y-gent, actually enjoying the climb as:- It was ridable (to around halfway), there was plenty of support from spectators, it was the final climb and had the added entertainment of been able to watch the fast guys razzing down the hill as the descent follows the exact same path as the ascent.
After ‘dibbing’ at the summit I tried to recall the best lines through the loose, rocky descent but generally ended up following who ever happened to be in front or just looking for anything remotely less rocky. Again I was surprised how well the Ridley handled itself, only having to dismount and run one or two technical section. Out of the lane, Big ring, out of the saddle - push hard into the finish - Woooohooo!
Eh? This isn’t the finish? There is another road section?! But I just used up the last of my energy in my ’spectacular sprint finish’! I got on with it, cursing my goldfish brain and ambled around the final road loop finishing in a very unspectacular, been put in my place time of: 04 hours 31 minutes 52 seconds Placing at around 250 ish
The Three Peaks was one of the hardest races I’ve ever done and I think also the most captivating. I’m already scheming on how I achieve a sub 4 hour time next year. Now where’s me fell shoes….
Eventually decided on riding the Genesis singlespeed for the Kielder 100 race as the weather was still looking extremely wet and there would be less chance of mechanical ‘issues’.
I took Rich up on his offer of a lift to Kielder and we arrived around an hour before dusk, enough time to register and pitch my tent (on a steep incline to avoid the bog in flat part of the campsite which in retrospect was a mistake).
After a restless night of sliding to the bottom of the tent I woke around 5.30am. After the usual last minute faff and rushing about I rolled up to the start line dead on 6.30. After 5 minutes delay/being eaten for brekkie by midges, we were off following the lead out car out of the Castle.
Reassuringly there seemed to be quite a few other singlespeeders about. I started eating pretty much straight away and kept that up for the entire race, I also drank alot more than I usually would mixing Torq juice in one bottle and plain water in the other.
Plodding
I wasn’t really sure how to pace myself having never done anything close to 100 off-road miles in one stint before so decided to ‘plod’ (not breathing hard at any point) to start with and see how I felt later on. At the feed station around 47 miles in (complete with stem deep puddles) to my surprise I was still feeling relatively strong and upped the pace and started to overtake a fair number of other riders.
All continued to go well until about just after the mile 68 marker - there was a long muddy drag along the side of a river and felt the energy suddenly start to drain out of me and noticed I was been caught by a little group of riders this was the one really low point of the race for me. I stopped before been caught, faffed with my seatpost that had been slipping and sucked down another gel - this all took a couple of minutes and the group had passed me. I really thought that was it, I had reached the fabled bonk. But after getting back on the bike, 5 minutes later I felt loads better and energy returned, I found that I started to pass riders again.
After the last feed station at around mile 88 I had my only (very minor) mechanical the chain started to make an odd sound, I stopped to tighten the very stretched chain and re-lube (thanks to the Muc-Off lube donating rider) - a nice silent bike again.
Having seen the gradient map beforehand I knew that there was a long steep climb from here onwards before a few miles of singletrack descent to the finish. My knees were now aching but I started to push for the finish (perhaps a bit early as the climbing went on for bloody ages) and for the first time in the race I was breathing hard. The final descent was swoopy, fast, ace stuff (as promised in the rider briefing) and I rolled into the finish in a time of 11.5 hours*.
*I think* as I purposely didn’t wear a watch, results should be out soon but I ‘heard’ out of approx 200 starters less than 50% finished the race.
*UPDATE* The results are now out I came 51st in my category (Open Male) in a time of 11 hours 35 mins. 130 out of the 200 who started completed the race.
What I learned from riding 100 (very wet) miles
Fitting suspension seat post and forks was a good idea.
I can consume a surprisingly large amount of food and water in a hundred miles.
Kenda Small Block 8’s really are an ace tyre.
I thought that riding this race would be; physically the hardest thing I have done on a bike up to now. It was defiantly hard, but I found other shorter races harder (I suppose due to racing at 100% effort).
Maybe I shouldn’t ‘plod’ quite as much next time.
I could spend a lot less time faffing at the food/water stations.
It was an ace event and will be back to attempt a sub 10 hour next year.
So, a couple of months ago I entered the Montane Kielder 100 billed as the UKs first ever 100 mile mountain bike race.
2 months have passed quickly and I’ll be traveling up to Kielder a week tomorrow. Although feeling fit I’m not sure I’ve done enough training and never done anything close to 100 miles in one day (not even done 100k!) so really don’t know what to expect - I may blow up after 60 miles.
The race has given me an excuse to buy new kit:-
a new lightweight backpack (to much gear to use just a saddle pack) after a unhealthy amount of geeking out and researching I decided on a Deuter Race (to be reviewed)
Ergon GX2’s grips - I’ve wanted to try these for around a year or so only used them a couple of times so far, but not yet convinced. I’ve heard they take a bit of getting used to though - review to come.
The big decision is the bike. I can’t decide whether to ride my Genesis singlespeed or the lighter geared Voodoo, common sense would say the geared bike, but the singlespeed is the bike I ride most of the time and much more ‘comfortable’.
Mmmm decisions….
In other news Sleepless in the Saddle was ace! (and dry!). Our team also came 19th.
Off (early tomorrow morning) to the Singletrack Classic Weekender at Rossendale Quarry for the err… weekend. One bike, one set of tyres (Halo Choir Masters of course) and three disciplines; Trails, Downhill and XC - sounds ace!
I’ve also just signed up to the Montane Kieder 100 a one day, hundred mountain bike mile race on the borders of Scotland - I’ve not done an off (or on!) century before so quite apprehensive about it - and its in around 8 weeks time!
Just 2 days to go until Mountain Mayhem (and the weather forecast is dry(!?) mmm… we’ll see…). Took the ‘race’ bike (geared Voodoo) out last night, as its not been used since Enduro 6 and had vague memories of it sounding quite unhealthy during the race. Confirmed at the top of the first climb to have a massively CREAKY bottom bracket (although running smooth?!). So with no time to faff/replace it, I’m opting for the singlespeed. Lap times will be no doubt slower, but it shouldn’t fail spectacularly and I’ve almost been exclusively riding it recently (and prefer riding it too, so there!) Sorry team.
Been pretty busy with bike related events recently (and been a bit lazy on the olde blog) I’m hoping to do a decent catch up but the brief version goes like:-
In reverse order:-
Grizedale (Pottle around the North Face Trail - stag weekend)
After a very cold (frosty!) night (wrapped in two sleeping bags)
The weather continued to blatantly flaunt Metcheck’s mid-week predictions and looked set for another glorious day (yep, dry & dusty at Catton Park!).
We’d arrived mid-afternoon on Saturday and after erecting tents and gazebo, scuttled off excitedly to do a practice lap - the course really was ace! Dusty, dry, bluebells - perfeck! (the complete antithesis to the last time I’d ridden it at the mud destroyed mess which was last years SITS).
I’d done the event as a pair last year but this would be my first ‘proper’ solo attempt at a ‘lapping/pitting format’ race. The first mistake made was not to really have a plan.
Mistake no. 1 - NO Plan
Last minute scramble to the pit I’d been at Catton Park for around 18 hours but as always it was a rush carrying biketools/kit/bottles/food over to the pit.
Joined the back of the field seconds before the race started with the tiresome run to split up the field - I minced round near the back as there is no need to really go out fast your racing for 6 hours - plenty of time… I think in retrospect if you are taking the race seriously this is a mistake. I’m a half decent runner and could have been in the top third into the pit. Which has the benefit of:-
a. Not quite as much queuing on the first few climbs.
b. Getting a little bit out of puff is a good thing - a race wake up call.
So after much queuing at the first climb, I was off.
Mistake no. 2 - Didn’t check bike pre-race.
About 3rd of the way round the first lap, the steering felt wrong going into a turn, damm front puncture, Checked the tyre and it was down to around 20psi -Stupidly thought ‘mmm maybe a slow one, I may be able to get round by adding air now and fix when I pit, where I have a trackpump’. Back on the bike 100m on, back to 20psi - IDIOT! Off bike, wheel off, pull massive thorn out of tire, faff with replacing the innertube - wheel back on. Right. Oh. that issue I had with the disc rubbing on the rotor has got worse. Wheel doesn’t spin, push pistons back with tyre levers, repump brakes, mmm… better but still dragging the the wheel. By now I was flat last, The last few stragglers had huffed and puffed past around 5 minutes or so. Damm! I think the entire ’simple’ tube change had taken 15 mins and now I had the extra brake rub for my trouble.
Really didn’t want to be lapped on my first lap or be last across the line so I razzed round the empty course passing another mechanical and catching the back markers - phew not last - but feeling it as put in a hard effort to catch up.
I then pitted to for more unsuccessful brake faff.
Mistake no. 3 - Don’t Pit! (much)
I was in a bad mood now and was already thinking about not racing proper. I pitted the next lap for no really reason - just thought six hours is a long time and should pit.
And it continued lots of pitting, but not drinking enough and generally messing up including quite a big off.
I finished 82nd/135 - all a bit disappointing but learnt a lot.
So, around a year after booking the Fundamentals course (postponements due to my fractured elbow and the Atherton’s having a awesome season - how dare they! )…..
Late Saturday afternoon, (in true to form - last minute-ness) I decided to give the bike I was going to use for the following days Athertons training a quick once over as I’ve not used in a while (using singlespeed only recently). Rear brake pads worn and swapped. Bottom bracket super rough and stiff not quite seized but nearly …mmmmm not good.
I happened to have a spare Acros Orange Clockwork and bobbed over to Seb’s for help fitting (thanks Seb!). Bike sorted.
Arrived in Llandelga at 9am-ish and filled in the necessary legal disclaimer and inhaled coffee, I’d not been to Llandegla before (even though its the closest trail centre to me and been to all others in mid and North Wales) - nice cafe. Over to the classroom and met my fellow students (4 others in all) and tutors - Bob from One Planet Adventure, Dan and Rachel Atherton.
We introduced ourselves and discussed what we wanted to achieve from the course. The other pupils had come from a more DH oriented background than myself (I’ve only been to one ‘proper’ DH track before and that was to watch a comp. at Innerleithen) and they were all kitted up with big DH bikes (Iron Horse Sunday, Commencal Supreme DH, etc) and initially felt slightly under biked with my hardtail Gary Fisher GED.
Hidden DH
We left the cafe and rode up a couple of km to a hidden Downhill section nestled in the woods. Rachel drove their truck up as she is still recovering from her nasty roadie crash in the US so was sans bike. The section we started with was a steep-ish, wet, rooty descent into a righthand berm and a pretty much immediate (to me anyway) lefthander.
We concentrated on breaking the decent down into small subsections (cue some fluorescent cones) getting one part right and moving on to the next, not been overly concerned with speed but just trying to keep things smooth and precise and thinking about body position. I’m used to just blatting down rocky descents in a untidy way and not really thinking about things too much , so I found visualizing the subsections once there were a few racked up quite difficult and unnatural.
On each push back up we got feedback on the run, Bob was also filming each of us to critique later and Dan giving us demos on what we were doing wrong and how it should be done - bloody hell, I know its stating the obvious but he is FAST !
Dan Atherton showing us how its done
Drops
We then moved on to look at drops, I initially thought we might be starting small and working up to something bigger, nope, the BIG drop that was adjacent to the run was it, I’d been eyeing it up earlier, thinking I wouldn’t want to attempt that and really didn’t think it would be part of the course, the landing was steep it made the drop look pretty intimidating (to a XC jeyboy!). A quick demo from Dan and instruction from Bob and Rachel and the first of us plopped off, I think I was the third one to do it, I was surprised how easy it felt and how soft the landing was. And had another couple of goes, ace!
All five of our group did the drop and we swaggered triumphantly over to the next section.
Off Camber, wet, rootyness
A very steep run into a short but extremely rooty off camber descent through the trees. I wouldn’t have spotted the line without it been pointed out to us which dropped into a hole before climbing up the camber avoiding the bigger roots before dropping back between two trees. After a bars + tree incident, I managed to clear it dab free on my 3rd attempt, again I think most of group cleaned it and quite a bit of crashing was involved - was good fun.
It then started to hail and we headed back down the hill for some grub - I have never felt hail like it in my life, actually painful and was envious of those in full-facers and goggles.
Back in the classroom happily stuffing our faces and slurping coffee Bob went through the video footage taken earlier in all its big screen glory. It was easy to see where the mistakes were been made watching yourself back frame by error ridden frame, advice and improvements were dolled out. It was a really good format doing this over lunch continuing to learn as we ate.
Same but different
Under an hour later and we were back at the DH run which now looked completely transformed under a layer of snow. We then were pretty much given free reign on repeating the sections we had done in the morning and trying to put into practice the lessons learnt from viewing the video. The snow defiantly made things more interesting due to the run looking different than it had a few hours earlier. Dan, Rachel and Bob were watching our runs and giving us advice and encouragement. In my case to keep off the brakes really lean into the berm and look for the the exit, although still not completely nailing it I felt I much more confident.
Whoop!
We descended the off camber section once more and popped out in a clearing in the forest and out onto a pump track which contained a set of doubles leading to a hip jump into a steep berm and big ’step up jump’ (don’t know the technical name for it but it was a jump that partly up a slope).
I’ve had a ‘play’ at a pump track before at Glentress and more recently Dalby forest and was (very) pretty awful on both occasions.
We started with the doubles (still snowing) and after some demos from Dan, gave it a go I was surprised that I was not all that bad at them. We moved on to the hip jump into the steep berm and finally the big step up jump. All good fun and everyone seemed to gain confidence quickly
)…..
