Category Archives: Race Reports
Haglöfs Open5 Series – North Downs
A test of nerve and mind over matter.
The sixth race in this series and we were back off the bottom of my maps! It wasn’t so bad though, as my aunt and uncle live just 20 minutes away from the venue so I could combine the race with a visit.
To set the scene, this could be make or break time for the series. Best three scores to count, and I was on the back foot with Lucy already having two wins in the bag to my one. There were also some other strong girls entered, so I knew it would be a good competition.
But there was one thing above all else I wanted to do in this race.
BIKE WELL!
I love mountain biking. In January (Quantocks) I was poorly and had mechanicals. In February (Warcop) I made a tactical mistake and had no excuse. But looking at the results the speed of my bike legs just didn’t live up to those in October (Staveley) and November (Church Stretton). So I did three things differently.
1) I listened to my coach! I have only had a coach for a couple of months, in a bid to get fit for the Celtman in June. But he was telling me all week to ease off and rest up.
2) I went and rode on Saturday. I missed doing a recce for the last two races due to logistics. I can’t possibly predict or cover all the trails we will use, but in an unfamiliar area having a few reference points is useful. I find it also really helps get my brain in gear and my head into the map. Andy told me off for going too far and for too long – but it was really sunny and warm and I was having a good time! 😉
3) I used my bike computer more. I don’t know why I’ve had to learn this twice. I learnt it last year. Keeping an eye on my average speed makes me ride faster. Every time I start drifting, my speed drops and I remember to pick it back up again! Magic.
There was one more different thing, but it was a last minute decision. Chatting to Ruth an hour before the start, we were commenting on how difficult it would be to escape back to the finish on the bike if it was all taking too long. I always run first, when I’m fresh, and bike second. But this made me think – maybe I should bike first, get a really good round in and then construct a run route to fit the time available. So:
4) I biked first!
Wise words from Ruth
I was anxious before the start. I couldn’t focus on potential routes or see any sensible ways to go. My mum had come to support me and was trying to calm me down, but I was too worked up! Having ‘series leader’ in yellow pinned to my front and zip tied to my bike only added to the pressure. Regardless of what happened with the results, I wanted to give a performance that did the label justice.
Do I look nervous?
The start was a gentle spin up the road. It was already raining, but we were down south, so it was mild (or so I thought). I faffed around in transition and put off the moment of starting. Then I got the values and information on ‘no controls’ (i.e. controls worth zero) and fretted a bit more before I set off.
From that moment though, my head was in the zone.
Marking control values on the map
I pedalled as hard as I could nearly all of the time. The exception near the start was the singletrack called ‘summer lightning’. The control was in a mystery location somewhere along the route, which always makes me slow down as I’m paranoid about riding straight past it! Once that was out of the way there was no stopping me. Looking at the results I seem to have made an ‘unusual’ route choice – but it made sense to me at the time! The area had more minor roads than usual, and I made the most of them to cover distance quickly.
Riding the singletrack in search of a control!
As I headed back to transition I realised it might be a little cold, as I was having trouble changing gear properly (my fingers weren’t working). I was a bit slower than usual as I had to fiddle with double knotting laces on running shoes instead of doing buckles on biking shoes.
The cold didn’t register properly until about 10 minutes into the run when I was really shivering! I worked out why when it started snowing. Not just a bit, but full on wet snow, coming down sideways in the wind. Even though I had my waterproof on, the thin tops I had on underneath weren’t enough, and my spare top was in my bike bag – back at transition. Doh! Whilst trying to keep moving and navigate I decided my only two options were to run faster or get my silver cape out and put it on under my coat. One would speed me up and the other slow me down – so I went with option one!
Things almost went wrong right at the end. I lost the path in the woods amongst a load of informal little trails and ended up bashing through the forest to get to the main track I could see below. This was allowed in the rules, but wasn’t very fast! Then there was a long haul back up the road with aching legs. Just one last control to collect and time was tight. I missed the first footpath turning, found the second one, got disorientated, almost panicked, then … regained composure, found the control and sprinted up the last bit of hill. I haven’t had to run so hard in a long time and thought I might pass out at the end. I certainly wasn’t cold any more and best of all, I was back in time! 37 seconds to spare – wonders never cease.
Sprint finish. I think I'm going to collapse!
I knew I had raced hard and hadn’t made any major mistakes. It was a good feeling, as I felt whatever the outcome; I had done what I could.
As it turned out, I got my second win of the winter. This means the series will go right to the last race and be decided in April, when I will have to go through it all again! 🙂
The weather conditions were worse than a lot of us had anticipated and caused a few people to pull out or cut short their races. It took me about an hour to warm up afterwards! However, I scored 520, my highest score of the series so far. I was also joint 5th overall (my best ever Open Adventure result); beaten by Sabrina and Ben in the mixed pairs (who got an excellent 530 even though they came back freezing 20 minutes early), a male pair and two male solos. I think I should hope for bad weather every race! Here are the full results.
I was also helped by my aunt who pampered me and cooked awesome race food, my uncle who gave me a lift out for my ride on Saturday and my mum, who took me to and from the race, cheered me on and was official photographer. She’s been my lucky charm so far!
I had a great weekend and never knew what fun you could have riding up the Downs. I finished it off on Monday with home-made cheesecake for breakfast before heading for the train back home. I wish every race weekend could end like that!
Haglöfs Open5 Series – Warcop
Warcop is in the North Pennines, somewhere not too far from Penrith. Despite the snow afflicting other parts of the country, I cruised in on the train on Saturday afternoon and made use of the shiny new bike path from Kirkby Stephen train station down into the village. I was booked into the youth hostel there and was pleased to find plenty of fellow racers setting up residence. It was positively arctic in the main room. It’s a converted chapel, and what church has ever been warm?! So we soon decamped to the pub, where I stuffed myself silly. I was having no repeat of last month on the food front! Perhaps we were lucky to get served after one of our number told the waitress their menu was boring …
Sunday morning and we set off for the race. Tom kindly offered me a lift. I think with the ice on the road it was a good choice as his car soon left the others trailing. When we got there to register we found transition was quite some way away. I was glad I left in plenty of time as it turned out to be mostly uphill and rather icy in patches! We knew in advance about the special water filled tunnel under the A road. I had solved the problem of how to carry welly boots down by just wearing them all weekend, and I’m glad I had them with me.
Collecting a run control
This event was on a military training area, which is only open to the public one weekend a month. I was alarmed by all the guns firing on my ride up to the start/finish, but am pleased to report I saw none of this during the actual race!
I think my run was pretty sensible; I did a nice efficient loop and started late enough to follow the snowy footprints of other racers in the off-piste parts. I was also very excited to meet James Kirby, the photographer, en route – a rare occurrence.
A quick transition (12th!) and I was off on the bike. I started slow and a bit muddled … again. This seems to be becoming a bit of a habit and I’m not sure why. But after fumbling around for the second and third controls I got into a much better rhythm. When I had finished doing a loop to the west I was left with a decision. To stay low, go back past transition and do another circuit on what I knew from the run were mostly tarmaced, clear roads to the east. Or to do the long climb up onto the fells and cut back down. Checking my time, I went for the high loop.
Big mistake! Even though I expected the last push up to the top, I had not anticipated the amount of snow that was lying everywhere. Even once up, I was having a lot of trouble riding. I was determined to give it a go though, as the race would be a total write off otherwise. I gave myself a pep talk, and started a tally of the number of times I flew into the snow. Snow is pretty soft and doesn’t hurt, though I have since discovered some random scrapes and bruises :-).
Lots of snow, lots of spills
I quickly lost count of the falls, but eventually managed to escape with a fast blast down the hill. Sadly, this plan was only going to work if I had enough time to get all the really high pointers down at the bottom. I hadn’t. A last second decision to take a time penalty hit and backtrack to get an extra 25 didn’t work out either! It would have been a good move if I’d thought of it 4 minutes earlier, but still wouldn’t have been enough to get me the win.
That honour went again to Lucy Harris, who is now in a very strong series position. In retrospect, if I had done the low figure of eight on the bike I’d have probably avoided penalties and got a couple of extra controls. Sometimes a race just comes down to one of these key decisions. Lucy also went up high, but biked first and was smart to avoid making a similar mistake on the run.
On the upside, I felt very much better in this race than I had in January. The bike worked as it should, my body worked as it should, I ate as I should and my brain almost worked as it should! 3 out of 4. The weather was also sunny and dry, and despite my little panic up on the fell, I did have a chance to take in the fantastic scenery and feel the sense of adventure. Something I wouldn’t have got if I had been sensible and pootered around at the bottom!
I topped the day off by getting a lift all the way back to Edinburgh – big thank you! I was home by 8, in front of the TV, watching Dancing on Ice, eating pasta and drinking Dr Pepper. What luxury 😀
Haglöfs Open5 Series – Quantocks
I was surprised how many people I spoke to didn’t know where the Quantocks / Taunton are when I told them I was going to race there. Then again, it’s a full 425 miles from where I live, or 515 if you take my route via Leeds. It’s near Bristol in SW England.
I was never going to do this race until I hatched a plan which seemed entirely reasonable at the time. I would travel to Leeds by train (changing at York so I could get a cheap ticket), stop off with the lovely Dave and Ruth, get a lift with them to the race and then reverse on Sunday / Monday. The East Coast man who got my bike off the train in York gets double brownie points for admiring my bike! 🙂
The Quantocks, courtesy of James Kirby. Next time I am going to bribe him to take a picture with me in it. I am sure his lens will be fine!
I was back to racing solo again. This time I didn’t have the luxury of riding in the area beforehand, though Dan gave me some good tips and I whiled away the hours on the train doing intensive map study.
I had to have a wee rant about dinner in the pub the night before the race. Whilst the others tucked into quality meaty fare, the one veggie option was a rather pathetic slice of goat’s cheese on a tiny square of filo pastry with chutney on top. Served with two measly new potatoes and a load of veg. No sauce, no carbs, no choice. Grrrr!
I’ll say now that even setting aside dinner, I’m beginning to think that me and January races don’t really mix. (I had a bad time of it at Sutton Bank this time last year). The weather for this one was benign, and the run actually went OK. My leg didn’t hurt, I navigated accurately and I got back in 2 hours after a 15km romp. Must just work on those uneven downhills – there’ll be plenty more of that come June. I also had a fantastically quick transition – in and out in 2:19 and 10th quickest – yay!
The Map of Doom!
Sadly, something went awry shortly after! I made a mistake navigating to the second bike control. I knew something wasn’t right but had to stop and check several times before I figured out what I’d done. In hindsight it should have been blindingly obvious – a steep downhill into a valley vs. an undulating traverse round the top?! After getting back on track I started to ride uphill only to be nearly thrown from my bike as I got chain suck. I didn’t have my computer in this race either as I lost it in Bacup – I now realise how much I use it to estimate distances between junctions and controls. All of this seemed to combine to make me slip into old bad habits of a) riding too slowly and b) over-checking the map. The chain suck also meant I was super cautious on hills and grinding along in the big chainring as I wallowed in mud.
Sometimes things just don’t click and my race head was obviously still indulging in the Christmas cheese and port.
Despite all this, I do remember rather enjoying the descents – so it wasn’t all bad! Somehow, even though I felt sick by this time, my legs must have suddenly woken up between the last two controls as I came in 3rd and 1st fastest on the last two legs. What a shame it was about 3 hours too late! I finished more than 8 minutes over time (meaning I got 18 penalty points).
I came 2nd to Lucy Harris, who had a good first race in the series. Funnily enough, we collected exactly the same controls, though in a slightly different order (and she did it quicker!).
Coming back in the car I had great time chatting with Dave, but we got in after 1.30am. After a long day of racing, travelling and 5 hours of talking I needed a decent sleep, so it was unfortunate that we had to get up at 6.30! Getting over-tired and run down in the winter is never a good idea, and sure enough by Tuesday I was fully knocked out and off work sick …
Roll on February, I will approach the race with renewed energy and verve, and with my fingers crossed for some epic weather – it suits me better! 😀
Full results are here.
Haglöfs Open5 Series – Bacup
We’re now onto the 3rd event in this winter series of 5 hour races. I had managed to persuade someone else to race with me and was entered into the female pairs with Marie Meldrum. We met during the Big Ben Nevis triathlon in September and I knew we must be fairly evenly matched for pace because we finished only 2 minutes apart in a (nearly) 10 hour race.
Marie picked me up for an early start on Saturday and we drove down south nattering the whole way. A handy stop at Tebay services for dark chocolate waffles from Wales and the world’s tastiest oatcakes from Fife. They came in handy post-race on Sunday! By lunchtime we had made it to Bacup, a funny bit of Lancashire with wild hills and moors sandwiched in amongst industrial towns like Bury, Bolton, Blackburn, Burnley and Bradford. They must have a thing about the letter “B”! Bacup is also the location of the mountain bike trails at Lee and Cragg Quarries.
We managed to faff around quite a lot whilst putting off going out into the wind and heavy showers for a little pre-race ride. Eventually we set off to get a taster for the area and found it to be exceedingly rocky and windy! I was feeling rubbish, Marie was looking great. Andy says I always say I feel ‘off colour’ before a race, which I disputed until I thought about it…
The B&B experience was like something from Fawlty Towers. “John Cleese” answered the door to two wet, muddy and in my case, exceedingly cold, girls. Marie was jabbering about how we were the “ones with the bikes” (he looked blank) and how we were told to “arrive early to avoid getting in the way of a family dinner” (he looked alarmed). The bikes were put in the garage but we felt the need to check he would shut the door on them for us. In the morning Marie asked if he had a rear bike light we could borrow. They were compulsory for this event but the one I lent her had disintegrated on the previous day’s ride. He said “I don’t know what one of them is”. Marie said “you know, the red lights on the back of bikes, they sometimes flash?” and then elaborated “we had one but we totally destroyed it yesterday, the tracks were so rough”. I think any chances of us getting one then were dashed, and we were still laughing about it so much we nearly drove in the opposite direction to registration 😀 (in the end we made do with a little one).
It was like a comedy act getting ready for the race. Marie was so excited / nervous she made about a hundred trips to the toilet. Whilst she was doing goodness-knows-what in the boot, I was trying to route plan and having blank head syndrome. I was shaking badly, half from nerves and half from cold. The friendly squeeze from Dave as I checked some things about allowable routes on the map was really appreciated! We also seemed incapable of deciding what to wear and hid in the car when it rained :-).
By about 10.15 we really couldn’t put it off any longer and headed up to the start/finish area. The weather for this race was quite epic (though still didn’t top the infamous Kirkby Stephen day). Marie did a fantastic job on the run of keeping the pace up, letting me shelter behind her and generally being helpful. I was chuckling at her enthusiasm as I was getting control descriptions read out way before we needed them and questions like “is it that post / stile?” when we were nowhere near the location!
Looking for a control at the top of a quarry, when it was located at the bottom!
Things went slightly haywire when we set off cross-country on a non-existent path. It turned out OK when we miraculously ended up exactly where we needed to be: “3m high walled gap”. We whooped, yelled, laughed, got a funny look from another competitor then shushed and tried to creep off, not to give it away to anyone else! The next control was a mistake as we stumbled through large, scratchy tussocks surrounded by pools of icy cold knee deep water. About this time it started snowing, and when we heard a thunder clap we both screamed! I think it was a mixture of fright and delight :-o. After the next control we went back pretty much the same way, which was silly. We’d have been much quicker skirting round on a real path, as opposed to the fantasy one on the map. Yes, we had been warned … My feet had turned into blocks of ice, which was great first aid for my slightly twisted ankle, and I had forgotten all about my dodgy leg. It was fortunate that Marie forced me to eat as I was putting it off due to cold hands. She was right though, as I needed it to keep warm. It felt late when we finally scrambled down a sheep track (avoiding the lovely firm, graded bike track we couldn’t run on) and got our final run control at the bottom of the quarry.
Still looking sprightly - this was early on in the run!
We’d both been looking forward to the bike leg. I rode like a different person from the day before. Unfortunately, so did Marie! After a slow start, some motivational chit chat and a load of food perked her up again in time for a high speed cobbled descent, before another slump at the end. I could tell it was bad as she started talking to herself, and I did my best to give her a push whenever I could. I think a recent cold was having more of an effect than she’d like to admit. A chain jammed into the front shifter gave us a fright 15 minutes from the end but was soon fixed. On the upside, we only made one small strategic error of an unnecessary short loop in Cragg Quarry. We also both executed a couple of fine manuals off little drop offs which made us happy :D. Marie sung from Winnie the Pooh …
The more it snows (Tiddely pom)
The more it goes (Tiddely pom)
On snowing.
And nobody knows (Tiddely pom)
How cold my toes (Tiddely pom)
Are growing.
… admired the scenery and made helpful suggestions such as “there’s a nice looking path – we could go down that one!” (me: “yes, but later!”)
We must have been almost last back, as transition was nearly deserted when we got there just under 4 minutes late. I’ve never got changed so quickly after a race, desperate to get warm dry socks on my feet! Before the race we knew there were at least 4 other female pairs who could be up at the top and challenging us for a podium finish. Prize giving came quickly and we found we had made it into 2nd place, just pipped by 5 points by Fiona and Fi, who we’d been jostling with on the bike leg (they had a much better run than we did). Overall, we came 9th out of 175 starters, which can’t be bad going, especially considering this was Marie’s first ever adventure race! She was even still smiling at the end and said it was fun, so hopefully we’ll be back another time :-).
Haglöfs Open5 Series – Church Stretton
This is what Church Stretton looks like
The second in the Open 5 series was a long way south for me. Luckily, it wasn’t far from my mum’s house so I combined it with a birthday weekend visit. Leaving on Thursday also gave me two chances to catch up on some sleep before the race!
We drove over to Shropshire on Saturday. My mum went and shot arrows at a target; I went and rode over the Long Mynd and back. I stopped on the way to digest the mountain biking information board in great detail – which proved useful as it indicated which tracks could be ridden up, and which were only really sensible in a downwards direction!
I was getting nervous before the race but I remembered Andy saying ‘I would be worried if you weren’t …’. I picked up the map nice and early and headed back to the B&B to do some serious planning. I thought the biking would be fast as it wasn’t too technical and the course looked straightforward. This almost made me change my strategy and bike first, but I resisted, and not just because I am scared to change my ways :-). It was also because the run would be committing – you had to get up onto Long Mynd, spend some time on the top and then run back off – no short cuts or easy loops to miss out! On the other hand, although the bike section had many high scoring controls, it also had a number of out-and-backs off the spine of Long Mynd which I could easily omit if I was in a hurry.
I set off only just before the latest start – after a last minute panic when I found I needed to be carrying a windproof! (must have missed that bit of information somewhere). Waterproof hastily jammed in my bum bag I set off running. I made a slight wrong turn after the first control when I nearly went the ‘wrong way round’ my yellow highlighted route. To be honest, my whole running map was covered in yellow – a sign that I couldn’t decide which way to go when I was planning – so it was no wonder I got confused! Luckily, I realised before it was too late and got going up the right bit of hill. One of the controls was quite difficult to get to – I had to clamber over a load of rocks to get to the control box hanging from a tree root by a waterfall. I was glad I had switched back to some grippier shoes!
Looking sprightly as I finish the run
I emerged at the top of the hill somewhere unexpected, but in a better position than I was aiming for – it’s fantastic when random unmarked tracks lead you where you want to go! Now I was on the ridge and remembered my pledge to Andreas (my new secret training weapon). It was time to go fast! So I did, catching up someone in front and trying to hold off the guy behind. Shame my hip pack was too heavy and was really annoying me bouncing up and down. I guzzled the water and ate a banana to reduce the weight. The controls at the top were worth fewer points, so I was trying to balance how long I spent collecting some of these, whilst leaving enough time for the good mountain biking stuff. Heading back down the hill to pick up some more high value controls I lost time finding a tree which was a bit “off piste”. I was starting to feel tired but took advantage of a path leading through the woods that popped out at the site of the previous night’s bonfire – so I knew my way back from there! I got back to transition after 2h15m – a little later than planned.
Dibbing out of transition and starting the bike ride
My transition was slow as I had to swap my coat over to the other bag and I just didn’t seem as focussed as usual. This carried on into the first two bike checkpoints. I rode past the first one, thinking I had seen the control (it was just some other random red and white stuff on a telegraph pole) and with my nose in the map. Then I got tangled up with some other racers who were distracting me from navigating in my own way. I decided at the next checkpoint to leave them, turn around and ride back down to the road, hoping it would be a bit quicker. It felt like a long slow climb after that, but I started to perk up as I got to the grassy drag and started overtaking other racers. With my ‘race head’ back on again, I sped up, pedalled down as well as up the hills, looked the cow in the eye as I crossed its bridge and really felt better when I was finally back on the top of Long Mynd, just popping on and off the ridge until I ran out of time.
I was playing yo-yo with a male pair, which incentivised me to keep up the pace. And despite running out of water with an hour to go (again) I didn’t hit the wall like I did last time. The weather was glorious and the views fantastic. 😀 I sadly had to miss out on the last checkpoint I wanted – if I’d eliminated the odd mistake and little dither over the course of the race, I might just have had time for it. But things are never perfect! As it was, I was racing down a fast grassy descent for the final road run-in to the finish. I was lucky to meet up with another racer here who I drafted as we rode back into the headwind. He was late – I was hanging on at my limit – but I didn’t feel too bad for not doing any turns at the front as I had helped him find the last checkpoint and navigated him through a little village on the way home!
Tired but happy!
Wonders never cease, and I was actually back in time – with a whole 1 minute and 49 seconds to spare. I was very happy with my much improved running – 18km this time compared to 10.5km a month ago and travelling 2 minutes per km quicker! Results time, and it turned out I had got first place with a score that compared well to the general field – only beaten by 1 mixed pair, 11 male solos and 4 male pairs. 140 teams or solos were there altogether, so this was another popular event. The planning was perfectly judged, with the first male solo (Stuart Lynch) just clearing the whole course. It was great having my mum there supporting me, driving me around and taking photos!
Next time we will be back nearer home in Lancashire (these things are all relative). It will be a different experience for me as I’m going to be introducing Marie to the joys of adventure racing. I met Marie at the Big Ben Nevis Triathlon and am looking forward to heading out with someone new and sharing what I’ve learnt and love!
Haglöfs Open5 series – Staveley
The first event in this series seems to have come around so quickly – it doesn’t seem a year since I stood at the start of my first solo event in Slaidburn feeling a bundle of nerves. I was nervous this time too, but only in a healthy pre-race kind of way.
I’d arrived in Staveley on Saturday in time for a hearty lunch in the sunshine at Wilf’s (definitely recommended) before going for a spin in the afternoon. I was trying to get a feel for the lie of the land and the state of the trails without wearing myself out. What a shame the 3 hour ride turned into more like 5! However, I had taken advantage of the unseasonable sun, topped up my tan and got an extremely hearty meal at the Eagle and Child in the evening, so it felt like a good day.
Sunday was still warm, but damp. I registered and collected my map in good time. Before each of these races I have a look at the map, try and guess where the likely event area will be and then study it hard to fix it in my mind. Familiarity with what you’re looking at on race day is a great help! It doesn’t always work, but this time it did, as I had the bike area almost exactly right. In the comfort of my B&B I planned some routes with options depending on control values and then rolled back down the hill to start.
I came across this control on Saturday's ride, when it wasn't raining and I wasn't in a hurry!
In the last of these events in April there was loads of great biking with lots of points – which I missed out on because I totally over-stretched myself on the run. I was determined not to do the same this time and set off rather conservatively. The first small loop was over rough ground up and down a hill. My knee was complaining slightly. I went over on my weak ankle. Again. My navigating wasn’t quite precise enough… I put all of this down to being totally out of practice – from both running (practically zero since Ben Nevis) and foot orienteering. Added to which, the new shoes didn’t even seem to be gripping on the tarmac!
I reminded myself I was in it for fun, adjusted my route and after a mere 10.6km in 1h39m I happily set off with loads of time for the biking.
The only way is up and over
I whizzed along the roads and tracks to the first few controls. My bike was munching up the kilometres and I had a big smile on my face! I had a slight nagging worry about the funny noises emanating from my bottom bracket and about another, which just turned out to be me breathing … I concentrated on whooping on the fun bits, riding faster than normal on the technical bits and keeping a nice rhythm on the climbing bits. All was going wonderfully. With about 1h40m left to go I had bags of time for an 11km loop back on the hills, so nipped along a road for a low scoring 10-point control. I even started fretting that I had cut the run too short and would be back early.
I had to push up the next short section – which I had anticipated, so it wasn’t a surprise. However, I suddenly I ran out of water, hit some sort of metaphorical wall and with over an hour still to go, my mood had taken a massive swing in the opposite direction. I couldn’t think straight, I started falling off, and I slooooowwwed down. I stopped more than once to debate an extra out and back (total 2km) that I blatantly did not have time for (luckily my fuddled brain did work this out eventually).
I finally started to see a few more people heading back my way and was inspired to find some new source of energy when Dan Halliday from Team Accelerate caught me up. I couldn’t quite keep him in sight, but it did give me a kick start that I needed. Sadly a little too late – I blasted down the last hill to the finish but came in just under 3 minutes late – 6 penalty points for me.
Good enough to get 2nd in the female solos, though it was very close between the top 4. It wasn’t my perfect tactical race, but neither did I make any glaring errors. What did let me down was the running. The race analysis showing your position between any two controls demonstrates the point nicely; out of all competitors, I was in the top 10 for every bike leg that I did, except one. On the run, I managed to clock in at 92nd on one of the legs – ouch! I did speed up as I went along, so maybe there’s hope yet. A trip to the physio on Friday and some determined actual running training and I’m sure I’ll be back on form in no time :D. Meanwhile, there’s always the promise of more night time trail riding later in the week to keep me happy!
The results and the photos.
Big Ben Nevis Triathlon
My mum decided that if there was one race I needed support at this year, it was this one. I think she was right! After following a rigorous training plan (ahem), I was all set to go on my last big race of the summer.
Race Day
Early, dark, dazed
It all started at the sort of time in the morning that no-one should be awake. Unbelievably, the nice lady at the B&B seemed to think nothing of getting up to give us breakfast at 5.45am! I ate my muesli and toast unenthusiastically and then headed down to the main transition areas to set up my kit. By 6.45 I had my wetsuit on and was as ready to go as I ever would be, but it still wasn’t really light and we weren’t allowed in the water yet.
The Swim
I had written off the swim as unimportant in the grand scheme of things; if it was only going to be half an hour, and the rest took about 9.5 hours, then it wouldn’t really matter, right? In the end, I was proved wrong and I am very glad that I took it seriously and put a bit of effort in. After my recent dip in Threipmuir Reservoir last week, I found the water to be ‘quite warm’ and ‘lovely and clear’ ;-). I didn’t do too badly at following other people’s feet for a while and I even struck a lead out through the mass of half-distance competitors who set off just as we rounded the buoy for our second lap. I bridged the gap to the front swimmers up ahead then got out of the water in 9th, with just one other girl already in transition.
The Bike
This started off up a long road climb. Easy enough. Then we branched off onto a deceptive track that looked easier than it felt – some people were already walking, and the fine, sandy sort of surface mixed with little rocks took effort to ride over. However, it was all rewarded with a swoopy fast and fun downhill trail :D. What comes down must go up, and this was followed by a seemingly endless undulating fireroad climb. It was here on the first lap that the eventual female winner, Hannah Barnes, overtook me. I tried to keep up for a while which was an interesting lesson – we were the same speed up the hills but she kept getting away on the downs because she carried on pedalling – isn’t that cheating?!
End of lap 1
I felt rather queasy – I think this is an effect of swimming then biking. Or maybe swimming in a wetsuit and then biking. In any case, I couldn’t eat anything until after a short technical section of trail down through some mushroom woods to a road. A banana was scoffed as I spun my legs out down to the start of lap 2. It was unfortunate that by this point I already felt really tired, because I wasn’t even halfway! The other laps passed fairly uneventfully, except for a tumble on the technical section and noisy brakes. I kept the speed up and played yo-yo with three other racers.
Ben Nevis loomed ominously above, mostly shrouded in swirling clouds. I tried not to think about it too much.
Tireder, muddier and starting the run
The Run
As well as taking photos and cheering me on, my mum was letting me know where the other girls were. My main aim for this race was to get under 10 hours, but if I could get on the podium as well it would be a bonus. I finished the bike still in 2nd place, but Marie was hot on my heels, maintaining the gap at only about 12 minutes. I was scared of the run, but tried to tell myself I wasn’t too bad on the ups, just the downs, and maybe I could hold it together.
I had been warned that the run was more of a walk than a run, so I set off rather nervously. I managed to keep some sort of jog going to perhaps a third of the way up, when the gradient got too steep and I got too tired. One of the half-distance guys passed and cheerfully told me it was still ‘miles and miles’ to go, but to ‘keep going anyway!’ – no deceiving ‘nearly there’ platitudes :-). I’m not sure it was wise to push on so hard as I felt rather spaced out approaching mid-way and the start of the scree slope. I’m grateful to Matt, another competitor who had caught me up and kept me company for some time before pulling away to the summit. I was getting colder and colder and with the advice of a friend ringing in my ears, I finally stopped to don my waterproof, woolly hat and thick gloves. Eventually I made it to the top, though I somehow missed the path and veered rather close to some very steep cliffs, which alarmed the marshals! Then the sun came out, I glimpsed some amazing views and it was back to running.
End of the road for this shoe
Just 6 minutes after I left the top, Marie passed me going the other way, so I knew I didn’t have much of a gap and was just as brave as I could be on the descent. I started feeling stones prodding the soles of my feet, which I thought was weird until closer inspection showed that my shoe had fallen apart! I kept pushing on, taking the shortcuts, and trying to dodge the hordes of charity walkers spread across the path. Just as I emerged onto the road at the bottom Marie caught me up! I grabbed a cup of water (I had run out of drink), and set off after her. She was suffering a bit from cramp and I felt sorry for her, but I couldn’t give up after all this time! I dug deep and ‘sprinted’ onwards for the last 3km, opening a small gap. This last effort totally finished me off and I collapsed over the finish line making some very strange noises.
I think I'm about to fall over
Marie came in 2 minutes later, all credit to her for her performance. And so it was that the 7.5 minutes I had gained in the swim stage 10 hours earlier came to give me second place on the podium. Hurrah! Hannah thrashed us both, finishing in 8h25m and beating all but 4 men. The statistics tell me everything about which part of which discipline needs serious work …
This ranks up there as one of the hardest races I’ve ever done. It was also one of the friendliest – when else would the leader high five you on their way past back to the finish?! If you want a challenge to test you to your limits I would highly recommend this race. If you can get someone to give you moral support and drive your aching body home, all the better!
Decorative slate plaques all round!
Trans Wales 2011
The Trans Wales became one of my ‘3 big events for the summer’ after I was persuaded to enter by fellow adventure racing friend, Elizabeth. We were riding as a female pair, with Rachel Henderson also putting in an appearance in the solo category. And so it was we lined up in Builth Wells last week to start what was to be the last edition of this classic race.
The format was 7 days of mountain biking place to place. Each day consisted of a long ‘linking stage’, which was not a race but had a cut-off time. If you got back on time you were given a ‘race time’ equivalent to the cut off. If you got back late you accrued penalty seconds at the rate of 1 per minute. There were also six short timed race sections which ran at some point out on the course during the day. These ranged from 2 to 8km long, were mostly at trail centres and included a hill climb, a descent, some up and down loops and a night stage. For team pairs, the result was averaged and added to the overall time.
The racing added a bit of spice to the event, but we had gone to enjoy ourselves, ride somewhere different and, in my case, give my shiny new bike (Lynskey titanium 29er hardtail) a proper testing out! I never anticipated how this event would feel – there was a great sense of camaraderie, the food that appeared in the inflatable marquee every night was plentiful and tasted good and everyone had tales to tell at the end of the day. The laidback feel extended to the publicised distances (I learnt that every day was pretty much the same; 60-70km, 5-6 hours in the saddle and the profile would go something like up, up, down, down, up, up ….) and the social events. On one night after we had finished riding it was announced that the band would start at 8pm. This was the first we had heard of a band and was when we were at the most remote camping spot in a field full of midges!
My favourite days riding included one wet drizzly moorland pedal where we got into a fantastic rhythm and it felt just like home, and a ‘big country’ ride, complete with awesome views and a long, speedy, hilly special stage in the middle of it. I had a couple of emotionally fraught moments, but as Rachel so cheerfully put it: “if you don’t have at least one ‘moment’ in the Trans Wales, then you haven’t tried hard enough!”
After a day or two of riding under my belt, I found that the new bike (and disc brakes!) inspired confidence and I was cheerfully cruising down and over stuff I wouldn’t have dreamt of riding before. I also discovered the terrain it was perfectly made for when we rode a rocky byway with many stream crossings. I had been told that big wheels ‘roll better’ – but would I really notice anything different? The answer was a definite ‘Yes’! I could come almost to a standstill on a rocky riverbed, then give a little push on the pedals and suddenly pop over an obstacle and onwards. My body can also vouch for the total comfort of this bike as nothing is now hurting!
As for the racing, we found ourselves in first place in the female pairs category following the initial stage. After dropping to second following the downhill third stage we regained the lead the next day and held it to the end. Longer stages, hilly stages and dark stages all worked to our advantage. We rode well as a team and managed to finish the week still on speaking terms – not bad considering we have only actually ever ridden together (socially or otherwise) once before and had quite different approaches to pitching a tent! Elizabeth did a great job of inspiring confidence and making me relax, enjoy the ride and save my energy on the linking stages or, as she put it, “getting ready to chop my legs off” if I didn’t slow down …
Rachel also made a reputation for herself and climbed onto the podium on the final day to collect a popular special award for being the ‘toughest and most cheerful ever tail-ender’!
All in all, a fantastic event and a great result. Next year they are changing the format, but if the atmosphere and organisation is anything like this one I would highly recommend it.
Me and Elizabeth showing off the leader's jerseys!
Planet Byde 
