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Selkirk mountain bike weekend: Part 2 = SMBO 3h score orienteering
After 6 hours of hilly, off road riding on Saturday, I woke up from a good sleep on Sunday morning. The sun was shining and I was ready for more!
What I had in store was a 3 hour MTB score orienteering event. As I had been ‘staying with the organisers’ I knew they had worked hard to make sure the control checkpoints were accurately placed and marked on the map, and they had done a lot of pre-riding. I was looking forward to a good event.
Home, sweet home for the weekend (my palace is the yellow one)
I was joining forces with Jon, who is one of my teammates for the 5 day expedition race in August, called Itera. We haven’t raced together for 3 years though we’ve shared a few long car journeys since then! The map was printed on A3 paper, which is quite large and means you need to refold once or twice during the race. This was because it was on a 1:25k scale. This is a bit unusual for MTB events, but definitely necessary for navigating the intricate maze of tracks on the Bowhill estate.
As usual (for me), we set off at the latest possible time. 200m later we made a slight mistake, but hoped that would be our only navigation error for the day! It was soon righted, and we find ourselves riding along a fun trail through the trees alongside the river. The controls came quickly enough as we skirted round the edge of Bowhill, picking out a route that was easiest to follow.
Navigate this!
My legs were complaining a bit from the day before, and I gratefully tucked in behind Jon as we rode into a headwind. I knew I could carry on like this if we didn’t go any faster, of if my legs didn’t get any worse, but I was slightly worried I might not keep up 🙂 .
After about an hour, we paused to consider our options. Time was passing faster than we had hoped and it was quickly becoming obvious we wouldn’t be able to get everything. In the end we stuck to the plan, looping round to the back of a big hill with controls worth lots of points at the top. Our alternative route still had all the climb in it, so it seemed best to carry on via the most number of controls.
In retrospect, this took a bit longer than expected, but was definitely worth it for the views! Up by a gigantic cairn, we could see for miles and miles all around. The route up had all been entirely rideable and was quite rewarding. From there, we passed a milestone with a control attached to it and started a fabulous fast descent back to the forest. We got straight to the highest scoring control of the day, in a small quarry in the middle of all the criss-crossing tracks. Getting out was a little bit trickier, but we escaped without incident!
One of the views from the cairn.
Copyright Jim Barton, from geograph.org.uk
As we turned onto a minor road, we realised we had only half an hour left and were heading in the wrong direction for home. An about-turn saw us considerably shorten the route, dropping more 25-point controls than we really wanted to. My legs got a new lease of life as well – and suddenly it was Jon who was working hard to keep up instead of the other way around! Unfortunately, the final kilometre along the Borders Abbeys Way was not nice easy double track as suggested by the map. Instead, it was grassy, slidy, bumpy and punctuated with numerous stiles. Progress was much too slow! We skidded back to the finish nearly 9 minutes late.
It was enough to win the mixed pairs, but only just! Marc and Ewan planned a very good event, with some challenging decisions to make about where to go, great riding (and not just a repeat of yesterday’s routes) and awesome homemade cake to finish off with. I was happy 😀 .
Haglöfs Open 5 Coniston
For the last race in this winter’s series, I was racing with another new person! Heather was the 4th girl to take on an Open 5 with me. I was looking forward to it, though with some apprehension. I thought it could be a tough one racing with someone who scored higher than Caroline and I in November (one of my hardest two races this series so far) and who is very experienced.
First of all I had to get there. I woke up feeling not-so-great on Saturday morning. I took two trains to get to Windermere and alighted in pouring rain. This had been forecast, so I was mentally and physically prepared, but I had been hoping the forecast would be wrong! No such luck; by the time I had ridden down the hill to the ferry, I was drenched. I was booked into the YHA in Coniston, 17km and two hills away. I was so relieved to arrive, sort out wet kit and get warm dry clothes on! I lazed around all afternoon to give myself the best chance of feeling better by Sunday. I can recommend the meals on offer there – less than £12 for a three course meal with four veggie options, and no pasta in sight 🙂 .
Lake District rain = impressive waterfalls
The weather forecast was still mostly correct on Sunday: wet. I felt well again though, which was a good thing. Although we set off in a dry patch, I was almost glad when it started raining, as it justified my having put my waterproof on. A little while later, up on the hill in fog, wind and driving rain, I was almost too cold and wishing for a warmer top!
Heather is a really good orienteer, so I was leaving the map reading on the run to her. We started off well, nipping from control to control and making good time. I was impressed as we headed cross country, hit a tiny footpath in a quarry and went straight up to a control.
It suddenly went pear-shaped after that. We were aiming for a ‘knoll’. Unfortunately, we were on a hillside covered in knolls, fog and lost racers. After wandering around back and forth, up and down, checking every knoll, we were not making progress. I was on the verge of suggesting we just left it, but I think, like Heather, I didn’t want to give up and felt as if we had invested too much time in it by now. We relocated by a large track and a likely looking stream (when there’s so much water around, how do you tell which streams are map streams, and which are just ‘pop ups’?), and went straight to the right point.
How not to find a knoll!
Perhaps just as I was anxious to put on a good show, so was Heather, and she was kicking herself for this mistake. And for having a dodgy compass, which was not helping matters 😀 .
We lost perhaps 25 minutes here, which wasn’t ideal. However, we did get back to transition in just under 2h, only dropping 55 points on the way. This would normally be pretty good going! We could still do well. I was confident in a straightforward mountain bike with long road sections … but, it turned out, I seriously under-estimated the difficulty of the routes.
Hillside covered in knolls and fog – a typical view for us on the run!
We started with a ‘short’ loop with lots of high scoring points. But it was a case of ride, push, off, on, ride, push all the way up the hill as we navigated bogs, ditches, steep bits and rocky bits. It took us nearly an hour to cover 6km, and that included the downhill!
As we hit the road, this should have been the moment when I checked how long we’d been out and decided to leave a little group of three lower-scoring controls, giving us time to get some high pointers on a more committing circuit.
Twenty minutes later, I checked how long we’d been out and decided we should leave this little group of … oh no!!! Too late! It was my turn to feel frustrated. Post-race analysis of how long we spent here and our potential alternative has only served to considerably heighten this feeling. I think this was probably the real crux of where we went wrong in the race.
We came up with a new plan, then changed it, then went awry trying to follow an indistinct bridleway across a foggy hillside, had to retrace back uphill (losing another 13 precious minutes) and come up with another new plan. Which was to go straight back, collecting what we could on the way.
Practising my funny faces! Muddy, but have seen worse this year 🙂
At prize-giving, we were beaten by 10 points into second, but I know we could have done better. There was some good news. We had planned a route with options and get out plans, and it worked – we used them. I didn’t get back late, for once! But on the other hand, we had made some serious tactical errors and mistakes. It was also the first time we had raced together. Conditions were tough and there was a bit of ‘getting to know you’ going on (i.e. chatting!). I remember when I first raced with Lucy, we made some cracking mistakes as we got used to each other. I think I could probably have run faster if Heather had pushed the pace (she was being nice to me and waiting 🙂 ) and we could have biked faster if we had a tow set up. I wasn’t too despondent though, as I enjoyed Heather’s company and had a good time. You have to accept these things can happen sometimes, so long as it doesn’t become a habit 😉 .
The day was topped off by Ant and Cat taking me back to the station so I didn’t have to face riding back over those hills with a bag full of wet kit. I didn’t expect the service to include a bike wash, cup of tea, shower and a time trial bike viewing. Thanks guys!
This race
The series
I have really enjoyed this series: racing with Lucy again and winning the overall series, and riding three very different races with three other people. A big thanks to the organisers Open Adventure, all the course planners, to James Kirby for the photos and to the sponsors Haglöfs for the great prizes and impossible-to-miss banners that tell you the end is in sight!
Lucy and Rosemary: Female pairs series winners
My next adventure race will be with Jon Ellis, who is in my Itera team. We have raced before, but it was nearly three years ago. A lot has changed since then, so it will be interesting to see how we get on. Before then, I have a few other events to do, including the Old Man of Coniston triathlon, which is a target race for me this year.
Haglöfs Open 5 Cannock Chase
This month’s Open 5 was on Cannock Chase, close to where I grew up.
On Saturday I met up with a friend (Emma) from university that I haven’t seen for about 15 years. She has three energetic young boys and we went out for some fun on the Chase. My memories of coming here as a child are quite dim, but I do remember dragging a large branch around for a whole walk, only to be told when we got back to the car that I wasn’t allowed to take it home. I was so disappointed! Emma’s oldest son decided we should try and re-enact the scene:
A jolly time was had by all and I enjoyed soaking up some sunshine. I could tell the trails were going to be good going for the race. They were all stony, gravelly and sandy – you could hardly tell we have had a lot of rain recently.
My brother and I on Cannock Chase – I was 6.
Also with my dad, who still wears a bobble hat!
On Sunday I was picked up by Ed and Sophie. Lucy was at a wedding, so we couldn’t race together. Sophie was one of the event planners for the February event, and had agreed to race with me this time. We had only spoken a couple of times beforehand, but I had a feeling we were going to have fun!
An innovation for this event was to try out some recipes from the new ‘Feed Zone Portables’ book that Andy bought me. The premise is that sports bars and gels can be hard on your stomach when racing / training, and you can do better with home-made stuff that is higher in water and tastier. I don’t do things by halves, so went for three new things all at once: sweet potato cakes (gluten free and also containing sticky rice), banana and walnut two-bite pies (made with an almond milk crust) and spinach and courgette frittatas. I think Sophie was jealous! They were very tasty and easy to eat – I’ll make them again.
Feed Zone Portables, the result of a busy evening in the kitchen
When we got the map you could tell it was a committing sort of bike route. There were a cluster of controls at the far bottom of the map, involving riding a lot of the one-way man-made singletrack with no get-out routes across the main road. Trails like this also tend to do lots of little wiggles that don’t show on the map and are generally slower to ride than an open wide track. This means it can be hard to judge distance and speed. For these reasons (and because heavy rain was forecast for later), we chose to bike first.
When we got the control values we did some hasty re-planning and set off to navigate the maze of tracks in the forest, some marked on the map, some unmarked. Yes, it was another one of those days, it seems to be a bit of a theme this series! As we headed along a bridleway to a short stretch of road, the path got narrower and we could hear guns. The path appeared to be blocked off and we were on the edge of a grouse shooting area. Looking at our gps trace later, we were definitely in the right place, but someone had obviously decided they didn’t want the public using the right of way. As we found a way out and pedalled up the hill, the sound of shots being fired was quite stressful – I was glad to get out of there!
The ride was going very well. Sophie was better at the technical riding than me, but we were both having fun. I did have to persuade her that we were going the quicker, more boring way a couple of times (“but I like the singletrack though!”). We decided to go for two extra controls at the bottom, before rejoining the trail. As we passed two guys, one said to his mate: “prepare yourself for a whole world of pain now” … well, we had to zigzag up a hill just to come down again, but I wouldn’t say it was that bad!
Colour coordinated planning (we had the same colour highlighters as well!)
A bit later we had to deal with the disconcerting feeling of riding across open heathland, where the map said there were trees. We were trusting in all the other features that said we were in the right place (contours, a car park, a bridleway sign, the other tracks in the right places). At times like this you wonder if you have just made the map fit what you want to believe, but it was with some excitement that I confidently said, pointing: “and the control should be on that corner over there” … and it was! High fives!
As we went round I was enjoying Sophie’s ‘helpful hints’ for the navigation. ‘So we turn left now’ (no, right), ‘Is it here?!’ (no, another km to go), ‘are you sure this is the way to number 17?’ (no, it’s not, because we’re not going there yet) etc. Afterwards, she said it was a good job I had applied the ‘Soph Filter’ 🙂 . To be entirely fair, some of the suggestions were actually useful!
We got back somewhat later than planned, after 3h35. However, we knew this had been the risk and was the reason we had biked first. Our transition was slow, but we spent some time planning a sensible shortish run, taking account of the control values.
When I race with Lucy, who has a lot of orienteering experience, I don’t even look at the map for the run. This time was different and I was out of practice! With the pressure to get back on time, I felt a bit stressed. We kept going though and Sophie was decisive and confident enough in our speed to take us to an extra control which was high scoring. Minor panic as I had read the description as “on fingerpost”, but there was no fingerpost! We checked the map, definitely the right place … but I had got the wrong description. We needed a tree, and there it was! Phew.
Luckily it was downhill almost all of the way back and my running legs seemed to have warmed up. We made good progress and finally crossed the line only 62 seconds late (4 penalty points) – 3 seconds earlier and we’d have only lost 2! Not to worry, it was a respectable score and we were happy with how things had gone. To round off a fab weekend, the heavy rain even arrived two hours late, so we got packed up in the dry.
Female pairs podium
We had done enough to win the female pair category, which we were both really pleased with for our first time racing together. Sophie was super-cheerful all the way round and we had a great time. We didn’t make any significant mistakes and weren’t very late back, for once. Still, it is only Caroline who has yet made me get back on time (at Innerleithen) 🙂 .
This result also means that Lucy and I have won the series even though there is one race left to go, as no-one can catch us up now.
I loved my weekend on Cannock Chase and can recommend it for a visit! Now looking forward to the last Open 5 in this series, in the Lake District.
Haglöfs Open 5 North Downs
The one we got away with.
The North Downs are a long way from where I live, but close to where my aunt and uncle live. I went down for the weekend with my mum and spent a happy couple of hours on Saturday riding around the trails near Epsom. This is a spot with many horses and many bridleways. I was hardly on a road for any of the route, though I got a taste of the conditions I might face a bit further west during the race.
Andy did his first ever trail race in the dark the night before and loved it. You can read his report here. I was teased for not doing both races, and though I was tempted, common sense won for once!
Lucy had put in a fantastic effort at the Marmot Dark Mountains event the week before this race. 68km non stop in the dark in the Peak District in 12.5 hours – respect! It was a last minute decision for her to come down. We want to win the female pairs category in the series, and for complicated reasons it turned out we’d have to do this one. Unfortunately, Lucy was racing tired and with a sore knee.
Planning to bike and bike …
We had a plan. To bike a lot and run a little. So we planned an insanely ambitious bike route. After a last minute mechanical panic we were the last to start and headed off into the sunshine for a bike ride. I have to admit we might have been enjoying it just a little bit too much. There was the ‘path’ which resembled a small stream, the mud baths, the hills, the huge puddles so deep my bottom bracket needed attention when I got home … and it even seemed quite warm. No Buffs necessary! We managed to keep up a good conversation and all was going well.
That is until we made a bad navigation error and didn’t realise until one muddy, hard going kilometre later. A road? There should be no road down here … after some circling in the forest on tracks marked and unmarked, we followed Lucy’s trusty nose and came out at a bunker. We were back on track but had lost a whopping 20 minutes of time.
Transition – muddy and late!
Just after this, we got a bit crazy. We debated bike controls vs. run controls and just how well Lucy would actually be able to run. We decided on the madness of just a bit more biking, then overshot the turning twice. What a comedy of errors! On a road back to transition we time trialled it into transition with Ant Emmet, who was telling us he had over-cooked the bike. So had we, but sort of on purpose!
For the first time, we were arriving at transition as everyone else was heading back to the event centre. We had to be careful to dib the right box (‘transition in’ not ‘finish’) and had just half an hour left for the run. For optimal scoring in an Open 5, the consensus is usually to do roughly 3h of biking and 2h of running. But the race is also strategic and we had to have a strategy that would work for us on the day.
Transition action shot!
Unfortunately, we still managed to stretch ourselves too far on the run, collecting 3 controls but clocking in just over 10 minutes late. We got 25 penalty points, which was not great. I was more concerned though that we weren’t making Lucy’s knee worse as we picked up pace back to the finish.
Our score was very low and we sat anxiously at prize giving. Would it have been enough? It turned out most scores were lower than usual; the course had been a tough one. However, we only came 29th overall, when we would be aiming for the top 10 on our best days. Still, we just about got away with it, and won our class, giving us 3 wins to defend the series with two races to go.
Matching kit on the run
Many thanks to my mum for doing a lot of driving and to my aunt and uncle for their hospitality. It is amazing how you can fit three people and a mountain bike with big wheels into a small Ford Ka. As we set off after the race I nipped into the nearest shop for some food – a bag of Flamin’ Hot Monster Munches, a can of Dr Pepper and a yoghurt; salt, sugar and protein – all essential post-race nutritional groups covered!
Despite the lack of racing ‘class’, I still had a fabulous day and we both agreed what a fun bike ride we’d had 😀
And finally, I was presented with my ‘10,000 points’ award. This means I have done enough Open 5s in my lifetime to amass this many points and join the club with 4 other women (for now). Hurrah!
10 THOUSAND points!!
Haglöfs Open 5 Hamsterley Forest
The two-week run up to the January Open 5 event went better than usual for me. I traditionally get some sort of bug around this time of year. This time was no different, but I managed to shake it off quite effectively. I also came to the race straight from 2 weeks of Christmas holiday. This meant I’d only had a mountain bike to play on and consequently had done a lot more Open 5–like riding than usual. My head and legs were tuned!
I got a lift to the race from Alan, who fortuitously lives near to my mum and also has a nice barn not too far from the event centre. We hadn’t met before and I was very grateful for the help. We went up on Saturday, got settled and I stuffed myself with pasta before a quick trip to the pub (orange and lemonade; I’m a ‘serious’ racer, don’t you know 😉 ) and into bed. In the morning it was very frosty and icy on the roads, so it took as little while longer to get there than expected. Lucy was already ready and waiting for me.
Does this look like serious planning?!
We picked up the maps and had a quick plan. I think for once we both felt more like catching up with friends and chatting! The start was a couple of km away down a hill. It was still cold, so I was glad to get running.
We went straight up a hill, with me desperately trying to find enough air to talk and run at the same time. After the first control we were out onto open moorland. The ‘footpath’ was vague / non-existent and we were soon lifting our legs up over the heather.
My ankles held up well, but it was rather hard work and we weren’t moving very fast. This influenced our decision on route choice as we headed a long way out to the corner of the map along well made paths. After a 3km run downhill on a fireroad where I was still having trouble keeping up with Lucy (it’s not just the rough stuff!), I was tired for a different reason. ‘Are we nearly there yet?’, I kept asking. We decided to pick up a 15 pointer that was more or less on the way home, then got slightly misplaced looking for the final control worth 30 points. We made our way through low hanging tree branches, waded across a large river and squelched around until we found it. I was on the tow for the last 20 minutes and was glad of the extra assistance.
A typical view, heather, heather, heather
We joked that this was Lucy’s day to make me run extra instead of me making her bike extra! We got into transition after 2h15 compared to our normal target of 2h. The bike map was awkward with high-value controls at both ends of a map stretching across the diagonal. If we had known the control values before starting, I think it would have been better to bike first – but that decision is already made before you get them!
It was uphill again, with Lucy trying out a new-to-her 29er bike. There were some loud crunching noises and comedy spinning legs as gears were changed in the wrong direction, and one no-harm-done fall as the cleats failed to disengage. The biggest problem was the chain suck after we had been through mud, which caused a few stop-dead moments.
The route included a couple of sections of red grade singletrack which were a lot of fun. I whooped a bit as we flew along. I misjudged the quickest route between two of the controls in the forest and we met up again with a couple of friends we had passed going the same way. Then I saw James Kirby the photographer and was so excited! He missed us last time …
Big Grin!
After a while the cold was getting to us. We had more stops than usual to put on coats and try to make cold fingers work with fiddly zips and buckles. I was conscious Lucy wasn’t her usual zooming self but there wasn’t much I could do about the cold, other than hope for another uphill … which only meant more hard work! At least the nice couple out for a walk cheered us up when they said: “you’re doing much better than the last lot who came past!”
We finished with a road section around Hamsterley. I took the opportunity to give a few helpful pushes where I could, but my legs were starting to pop as well. We got back to the finish only a few minutes late and made good use of the trail centre bike wash.
At prizegiving, we found we had won our category, though our overall score / placing was a bit down on where we’d be on our best days. Looking at the ways other people went, a more circular run across the heathery stuff might have been better. These things are easy to work out later though, sitting at home with a computer and a cup of tea! It just shows how getting the right strategy is such an important part of these races. You make reasoned decisions and live with them. The impact can vary from ‘slight’, to ‘get away with it’, to ‘disaster’!
I still had a great day out and really enjoyed both the running and biking. My spirits were immeasurably higher than last month and it was the best way to finish off the holidays. I knew it was a tough day as I was rather light-headed when I finished and needed to eat immediately. I was also barely capable of doing anything the next day, even after pizza and 11h sleep 😮 .
I headed home in a car full of podium placers – me, Chris (male pairs) and Anna (female pairs). Second set of thanks for a lift in one weekend 🙂 . It was good to get back home!
One last comment on this race – I was testing out my new (Christmas present) Amphibia X-Bag. It’s designed as a triathlon transition bag but also worked perfectly as an Open 5 transition bag …. My run pack and kit, my bike pack and kit, shoes, water, spare jacket, bits and bobs – all swallowed up into one bag and I could still pedal with it comfortably over my shoulder. I’m looking forward to putting it though its paces some more this year 😀
Where did the year go?
2013 in numbers
2013 in words
Best triathlon overall
***Trident Tri, Ripon***
Why? For great organisation, reasonable entry fee, free camping and entry to the fancy house and gardens, equitable treatment of the women’s race, fast course, cash prizes, post-race cool-off paddling pool. What more could you ask for?!
Most fun triathlon
***Craggy Island Tri, Kerrara***
Why? You get to swim to an island with no roads, race round an interesting off-road course with captive spectators and run over a hill with stunning views.
Biggest disappointment
***Slateman triathlon***
I had made this race one of my two target races for the year, but felt I under-performed compared to my capability. I learnt from it though!
Biggest achievements
- Aberfeldy Middle Distance Tri. My second target race of the year. Despite being ill, I gave it all I could. Couldn’t have been prouder of my Scottish Championship bronze!
- 220 triathlon magazine article published.
- Shropshire Open 5. The series final racing with Lucy. We had been gradually improving and this was where it all came together in a fantastic performance.
Best new experience
***Dundee half marathon***
Well, I have done a half marathon before, but it was very many years ago! I entered this one at short notice and surprised myself at how much I enjoyed it and how well I did. I even squeaked into the top 10 of a proper running race with a large field!
Top 3 gripes
- Split female waves in open-water races
- Drafting in non-drafting races
- Quality of veggie food options at races! (special mention to Wild Rover Food though)
Best and worst aspects of training
🙂 Mini adventures
😦 5:15am alarms to go swimming
Most under-rated form of training for triathlon
***Adventure Racing!***
I don’t know how I’d keep fit and motivated all winter if I didn’t have an Open 5 to look forward to every month 🙂
Thoughts on prizes
I really like purple Haglöfs carry-alls, snugly bodywarmers, Tricentre vouchers, buffs and beer for Andy and excuses to spend cash prizes at the women’s specific triathlon store tent. I am not so keen on free entry to a race in 5 days time, 236km from where I live.
Big Thank Yous
For coaching:
Scott
For fixing my creaking body:
Kirsty, Graham, Ola
For spectating supporters:
Andy K, mum, dad, Chris, Heili, the Weetman clan, Laure
For lifts to and from races in order of first appearance:
Tom, Ian, Glen, dad, Pete, Andy B, Andy M, Lucy, mum, Jon, Stuart, Peter, Chris, Jo, Elizabeth, Chris & Anna, Marc
2013 in pictures
Haglöfs Open 5 Forest of Dean
The trip this far down south was a logistical epic, but did involve a bonus visit to see Andy, half a day with Lucy’s friend Catherine and a pleasant (accidental!) diversion to spaghetti junction, which is very close to where I grew up! The phone app got us round and round and round until we popped back up on the motorway in the right direction :-).
Made me feel all nostalgic …
Planning
I was feeling a bit off, I was tired and my head seemed all foggy and ached as we looked at the maps. I even managed to miss the fact that we were sat at a table with Chrissie Wellington, although I did think she looked vaguely familiar! Before we set off to transition I was all over the place, and we had to lock and unlock the van about 3 times. Finally I had everything I needed in the right places and we were ready to go.
We ran first, with Lucy navigating as usual. I was glad I didn’t have to think. I just clutched my map in my hand and concentrated on keeping up as best I could. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, Lucy doesn’t really do sympathy, more like tough love! We ran fast along the river. I think Lucy was secretly aiming for the number 32 to 29 speed record (we might have even got it!). Four of us ran across a bouncy bridge together, causing some strange harmonic (and not so harmonic) motion effects.
Forests full of fallen leaves
I started to feel more positive and enjoy the woods and scooshing through the leaves after we visited King Arthur’s cave for a helping of magic dust. Up to a trig point and back down again, but then I went over on my ankle. It was a sore one. I needed to sit and catch my breath and wait for the intense but short-lived pain that is peculiar to slightly twisted ankles to subside. Lucy had barely paused before she disappeared ever downwards, so there was no time to feel sorry for myself. I proceeded (even more) cautiously until we were back on more even ground.
This is where I got hitched up to the tow for the last 25 minutes of running. It made a difference as I got a little tug over the tricky bits and times when I unconsciously slowed, but I was keeping pace in other sections. Lucy asked my opinion about going for one last control on the way back, but I was incapable of a cogent answer and left her to decide. We went straight back and got in just when we would plan to (2hr2mins).
Now it was my turn to look at a map. After we had been given the control values at the start, I had revised our initial plan and come up with a better route. I was relieved to get us to the first checkpoint correctly. The forest was much more fun than the usual Forestry Commission type, lots of beech and other trees and more natural paths. But there were tracks all over the ground that weren’t on the map, and some on the map that weren’t on the ground. Tracks all marked in the same way also varied wildly in their surface type and rideability!
There was a control here – I can’t believe I didn’t notice it was a railway artefact!
We found this out as we struggled to get between our 2nd and 3rd controls. Both path options we went for were very overgrown and rough. At this point, race director James ran past looking very cheerful! He commented later that we were gassing, but in actual fact we were debating what to do ;-). In the end we shouldered our bikes and set off up the hill, slipping and sliding and struggling across fallen trees and up little steep banks. Eventually we reached a better path, but were confused about where it brought us out. We lost some time, but got where we needed to eventually.
A long, fast road section followed, but then I had a head flunk. We collected a control and almost turned back the wrong way before Lucy spotted my mistake. I felt flustered and through the next couple of junctions it got worse as I lacked confidence in what we were doing and missed seeing a fire road on the map. Lucy got a teensy bit cross with my hesitation and took over. In retrospect, I was right to be confused as our gps trace shows we rode on paths not marked on the map for a km. But Lucy was right to follow her instinct as we were going in the same direction and other map features meant we knew when we came out in the right place. I fought with my mind a bit but determined to get over it. I just let Lucy lead through the next long section of singletrack and gave myself time to sort my head out. It was fun riding and we were there to enjoy ourselves, after all!
My favourite control location!
We were soon at the decision point about where else to go in the time left. We had designed our route to give us lots of different options at the end, with a road ride back to the finish. We had an hour left, which based on our average speed so far was enough to do the shortest loop back. We set off, but a few minutes later I said “hmmm, Lucy, I’ve been thinking, and we seriously might be able to go out and get number 19 as well”. I have a habit of doing this and being much too optimistic, but this time I was confident, as our speed on the road should be much faster and it was worth 20 points! Luckily Lucy agreed and we went for it. Last summer she was out of running action for a long while, and therefore doing more biking. It showed as there was no help needed and in the final leg back we were taking turns to draft in a two-up time trial. Definitely the right decision, as we rolled in only 2.5 minutes late (6 penalty points).
My tummy muscles were spasming and I was a bit light headed. Definitely something wasn’t quite right! But although we hadn’t got as many controls as we sometimes do, we thought it had been a tough course. Lucy did also admit that we had run harder than usual, which made me feel a bit better. At prize giving (results), it turned out we had done very well and I really cheered up – we were only beaten by a male pair and 6 male solos. My favourite bit was the ‘oooooh’ in the hall when our score was announced :-).
Nothing left!
Conversation and chat resumed at normal levels after we stopped at the services and I stocked my body up on sugary and salty items. It was good to compete with Lucy again after so many months, and to find we hadn’t lost what we learnt last year about how to have a good race together.
The best bit of the journey home was the train trip back from Doncaster. I’d saved up some reward points from my extensive train travel across the UK and been able to get a free first class seat. Loads of leg room, free wifi and complimentary second breakfast were much appreciated by this weary adventure racer!
The Abernethy DARE
I only just made it to this race, but was very glad I did!
This was an event in the SMBO series. I haven’t been able to get to many of them this year due to other commitments. But this one wasn’t too far away, I was at home and I found a lift via Facebook. Perfect! I was looking forward to 3 hours of mountan biking and collecting checkpoints somewhere new.
Beautiful forest
The day before was a Friday. I had got up very early that morning to go for a swim. I was feeling tired and knew I had to be up promptly to ride across town to my pick up point. So at 9:30pm I started getting my bike ready and was looking forward to going to bed. Then I found I had an almost-flat tyre. My thought process went something like this:
- Oh no, it’s a real pain to fix punctures on this bike
- It’s only a slow one, I can just pump it up and race
- If I do that, I will worry all the way round
- Better fix it now, and have peace of mind
- Oh no, it’s a real pain to fix punctures on this bike
I set about fixing the puncture. The only straightforward part of this operation was taking the front wheel off the bike. After that it all went wrong. Suffice to say that the job involved multiple types of tyre levers, YouTube videos, heat, talc, swearing, tears, a very stubborn and spiky thorn, tick removers, two defective brand new inner tubes, blisters and an extra pair of hands and moral support from along the road. Jim was my saviour! 3 hours later it was 12:30am, I waved goodbye to Jim and fell into bed exhausted.
After all that, getting to the race and starting seemed a breeze.
It was a fabulous event with a great atmosphere. The £1 entry fee deal had drawn people in and there were lots of ‘generation’ teams (1 kid + 1 adult) out enjoying themselves. Throw in some sunshine, fun trails, a well planned map and amazing home baking and this was one not to be missed!
Abernethy is a small town in the north of Fife, just south of Perth and the Firth of Tay. It is famous for an old round tower, which is where the first checkpoint was. It is not famous for biscuits, which were named after a person, not the place! The event area had a network of trails, forest tracks, farm roads and minor roads. There were lots of ways in and out and round, and everyone was doing different things.
I opted to go clockwise, gain height on a road then wiggle around ‘on the top’ (these terms are all relative!) before a big down and back up again. Along the way, some of the views across the Tay were beautiful, and the forests were still golden in colour. You can see where I and others went and what you might do differently if you go to the routegadget. I even uploaded my gps route for you :-). You’ll just have to guess at the points values though!
Hurrah! Both tyres still inflated.
After a couple of hours, some crazed dogs alerted me to a minor navigational error. I took the opportunity to stop, refold the rather large map (A3) and decide what I had time left for. Unfortunately, when I estimated how far it was to go, logic told me that just the shortest option was tight, even though I really wanted to throw in a few more at the end! I set off again in a bit more of a hurry, visiting an old castle and searching for a checkpoint on a skeleton in the middle of a long, dark, spoooooky tunnel! We warned to bring a light for this one. Soon I was dashing back along the road to the finish, only a few minutes late.
My score was high enough to win the small female solos class. Results. On a day when I wasn’t so tired from a hard training week and puncture fixing fiascos I think I would have been able to fit in at least a couple more. I was told the two I had in mind were fun to get as well! 🙂 But I was happy to have enjoyed myself and explored such a great new area.
Part of my prize (a Buff) went straight to Andy, who was delighted! I’ll think of something to put the Alpine Bikes voucher towards later.
Thanks to the organiser, Keith Leinster, for putting on such a well planned event and taking me somewhere new. Thanks also to Raymond for the photos, to Marc and Ewan for getting me from here to there and back again and to Jim for getting me as far as the front door :D.
Haglöfs Open 5 Innerleithen
My return to racing after a ‘rest’ period!
Before the Open 5 … Where have I been for a month?!
Well, after the Snowman race, I was due a break and really needed it. I was a bit tired of racing and spent the week at my dad’s relaxing. OK, so I included a couple of long bike rides and a ‘romp’ up and down a mountain in that time, but I also had nothing else to do except cook, eat, sleep and laze around!
A short break at the top of a Welsh hill road, with views out to sea
That was fun. The next couple of weeks I rode my bike to work and did the minimum of running to keep things ticking over. That included a couple of 5km Parkruns – still chasing that elusive 20 minute barrier though!
Hallocross
On Thursday 31st October, I marked the end of recovering by heading out for a local Halloween special. A cyclocross race in the dark in fancy dress! It was a whole lot of fun and I had an excellent battle with my friend Elizabeth – though she got the better of me in the end and accused me of cornering like a roadie … oops. She came an excellent 2nd. I was a bit frustrated to come 4th. I was beaten by 3rd place by less time (18 secs) than I gave away at the start (74 secs) by not being assertive and waiting near the front of the mass of riders. Hey hum, it wasn’t a serious race and it got my legs working at a speed I’m not used to! It also forced me to abandon my fear of slidy mud riding, at least temporarily.
Ghostly Hallocross riders: thanks to Addy Pope for the picture
Haglöfs Open 5 Innerleithen
I missed the first race in the Open 5 series because of the Snowman. I wasn’t going to do the same for the next, especially as it was almost on my doorstep. At least, it was at my local trail centre, 45km away. I raced with Lucy all of last year, but she couldn’t make it for this one. Not to worry, Caroline lives just a few hundred metres from the event centre and agreed to race with me. I was excited, as we have been trying to get together for a few times now, and this was the first time it had worked out. The fact that after she had agreed to it, she asked ‘oh, is there running in it too?’ didn’t faze me – she was in now, no going back 😀
A happy prize giving!
I wanted to ride over the day before, but the weather was rubbish. I settled for an afternoon and evening catching up with jobs before heading out for a lift from the bypass the next morning. Halfway through town, a car with bikes on the back came past, pulled over and offered me a lift. Many thanks to Anna and Chris!
Because I had been at home the night before, I didn’t really feel in race mode. But once I arrived and got the map, I was soon right back into it! We struggled to decide what we might do for the bike, though I knew from experience that it was a good idea to study the contours in the forest very carefully.
At the start we got the control values and set off confidently straight up the hill on the run. We had a nice circuit ready for this. At one point we considered crossing a pathless felled area. I pondered that ‘Lucy would make us go that way’, but we decided not to. That is, until a few hundred metres later an easier opening appeared and we took off! Caroline was good at finding a route through the tricky bits and confidently led us back down hill next to a stream. At a sheepfold we debated whether to go up again before we went back … going back was the right decision as we arrived in transition after almost exactly 2h. The last couple of km had been tough for me – nothing new there then!
Views from near the top of Minch Moor
Onto the bikes and we were straight back up the same hill we had started on the run. We nearly made it before we spun out and then were soon on a singletrack leading to the top of Minch Moor. I love that hill! Steady gradient, rocky and a fabulous power climb with huge panoramic views at the top. We didn’t stop long to admire them though, as we headed for a muddy out and back on the Southern Upland Way. Apparently at the control we bumped into my friend Andy, but I totally ignored him … I mean … failed to notice him! On the other hand, we unwittingly gave him a ‘good tip’ as we confidently stated out loud that it was definitely not worth going out further to the next control along. Tales back at race HQ confirmed it!
The ride had plenty of technical challenge. As well as the rocky climb, we now had a muddy ascent, where you had to search for firmer ground, feeling whether your wheels would grip and constantly adjusting position and scanning ahead. Next we were screeching downhill again on the man-made trail, and I was working hard to keep up as Caroline demonstrated her superior descending prowess!
The points allocation for the bike leg made it hard to come up with an ‘elegant’ route. We had to do a few out and backs. Later, back at home, I spotted a potentially better route, but I am not sure we would have had time to execute it anyway. As the race drew to a close we did one last long out and back. I wanted to collect at least two, maybe three controls out there, but the clock was ticking and we were slowing. I faced one of those difficult decisions as we stood at the track / road junction and Caroline said ‘you decide’. I was feeling good, but I could see she was not, and we had 9km into a headwind to go.
Drafting. Not far to go now!
I decided to just turn back and faced the final technical challenge! We didn’t have a tow line, but the headwind was strong. We decided Caroline would draft me, so I had to find the right pace and then use my internal power meter to keep a consistent effort back to the finish. 😀 Another good decision for the day, we got in with 3 minutes to spare. How unlike me!
At prizegiving we found out we had won our category and come 7th overall. So despite the pain, we had achieved a respectable score and it was safe to ask Caroline if she had enjoyed the experience :-). She said she did, and we certainly appreciated the lovely Haglofs gilet we both got as a prize. I don’t know if I will persuade Caroline out again now that she really knows what she’s letting herself in for, but in any case we had a great time out in the autumn sunshine!
Many thanks to Open Adventure for putting on the race and to James Kirby for the Open 5 photos.
Open Adventure 2 day race – Wales
My adventure started on Wednesday evening with The Packing Challenge. Although I was getting a lift down to Wales, I had a 10km ride to my pick up point and I was catching trains later in the week so I couldn’t sprawl too much. Luckily, by Thursday evening after a hectic day at work, I had a wind-assisted cruise along the coast to meet up with Jon and family. My holiday had started!
All of this …
… into this!
Our location was Trawsfynydd, in North Wales. Friday afternoon was spent with my dad investigating old viaducts, coach roads, Roman roads and an amphitheatre on a hill. Then it was time to set up camp and commence battle with the midges :-).
The race started on Saturday with an early morning briefing and handout of the maps for the day. First of all we had to get to the start line – a 45 minute cycle away, over that old coach road my dad had showed me!
The first race stage was a 2h run. I have got used to racing with Lucy, but today I was on my own. I set off confidently, found the path shortcut that most people missed and then took a sort of invisible path to find my first checkpoint. It wasn’t there! I wasted too much time bashing around in dense forest. I could hear voices just the other side of some thick undergrowth, but couldn’t fight my way through. Eventually, covered in scratches, I gave up and came out of the trees the way I had come, set off up a fire road and … found the control. It was later confirmed that it had been misplaced.
Having fun biking on one of the easier trails!
After that I was more cautious, which slowed me down a bit. The going was tough anyway, with lots of footpaths barely visible on the ground and lots of paths on the ground not on the map. I was careful to use all the clues I could; streams, walls, contours. Things were going OK until near the end, when I crossed a river on an unmapped bridge. I lost more time going the wrong way before I was off again. Running hard now – I had rapidly gone from feeling I had loads of time, to knowing I was likely to be late!
Penalties in this race are harsher than an Open 5. 2 points a minute for 5 minutes, then 5 points a minute for another 5 then it’s straight up to 10 points a minute! I squeezed in just over 5 minutes late = 15 penalties. Not too bad, and some people were caught out much worse.
Hot, tired, but not too midgy at the moment!
I was looking forward to biking, though a bit apprehensive about how hard the navigation might be in the woods. We had an hour’s break to eat, drink and plan some sort of route. It went very quickly and soon it was time to go again. I settled down into the 5h stage and was loving riding my bike! My legs were feeling fantastic and I was whizzing up the hills. I was a bit slow with the map, but there was a lot of detail to read.
We had to get back to the campsite to finish, backtracking the way we had come in earlier that morning. I wanted to leave 40 minutes for this. About an hour before the end I got lost in the forest when a bridleway I was happily bouncing down disappeared. I righted myself eventually and was faced with a choice. Go the other side of the main road and pick up at least one control, or head straight back.
I made the wrong choice! And I knew it as I was slogging slowly up another fire road on the other side of the road. When I eventually passed the start area I only had about 30 minutes left. I scoffed a gel and got ready to ride as hard and as fast as I could. The last haul into the campsite was into a headwind and not entirely flat. My legs were on fire and I skidded into the finish over 13 minutes late. Darn! 75 penalties!
Just follow that footpath sign to get lost in the dark.
Next up was the 1.5h night stage on foot, though we had to wait for it to get dark. I got some route tips from Lucy, who was marshalling as she injured her ankle last week. All that was for nothing though, as I made an elementary mistake at the start. We had to run up a footpath flanked with ‘out of bounds’ areas. I didn’t think in advance how to spot when I came out of that into the open land. I was following other people and not keeping an eye on the map. When they all went through a gap in a wall, I blindly followed.
Although it was soon clear we had gone wrong, I couldn’t work out where exactly I was on the map. It was dark, there were lights everywhere, the midges were biting and I panicked a bit. I backtracked and found team FGS who assuredly said they were on the footpath as they zoomed past. I managed to relocate and from then on doggedly did my own thing, actually used my powerful light and did a little safe loop without futher incident.
Although that went well, I had lost a lot of time and second placed female, Sharon McDonald, was catching up fast! Time for a short sleep and ready for the next day.
Ah, kayaking, a stage that mostly went well, somehow!
We had a 1.5h kayak to start with. I haven’t been in a sit on top by myself before, and it was quite hard work! After the first two controls, I had a good idea how fast I was going, and it wasn’t quick enough to go all the way round the lake. I cut across and had another mini panic when I couldn’t work out what the lump of land in front of me was. I had mis-aimed slightly, but once that was sorted I was on my way again.
There were two solo females in front of me and I was trying to catch them up. I also got a little spurt of energy when two teams passed me – first Mountain Hardwear whooping at me to go faster, then FGS suggesting I get in their slipstream. (I tried and failed!). Rounding a point it was all out for the finish. I actually went faster than expected, came back early for the first time all race, and got a really good score compared to the other solos.
Just like last year, I had come into my own on the kayak leg, which just isn’t right, considering I never normally go kayaking!
Final effort was the 17km trail run. I was really looking forward to this. Not much navigating to mess up, no strategy, just go as fast as possible to the end. It would be a good test of my improved running fitness. I started off in a little group with Sharon, the FGS team and a male pair. We kept changing the lead as we worked our way to the top. Despite slipping in bogs I felt good, except when I went over on my ankle. Ow! But the pain was short lived. Phew.
Going downhill another couple of teams came streaking past. When we got to a long road section, myself and Sharon stopped duelling and ran along chatting instead. We steadily made ground on the teams that had overtaken and were all back together again as we turned off road.
Sharon and I on the trail run, before I overheated
As we splashed through a stream some of the others stopped to wet their heads and necks. I thought, nah, why waste time doing that, I’m keeping going … About 5 minutes later I started to feel very bad. I felt sick. Then I started shivering. Hmmm, since it was about 30 degrees C and we were in direct sun, that wasn’t right! I slowed down and Sharon stopped to ask if I was OK. I wasn’t really. She tried to get me to stop, or sit in the shade, or take a tow off her, but I was being stubborn. I wanted to finish, and finish quickly! We had 3km to go.
Still in full race kit. Sent into a lake on medical grounds: there’s a first for everything!
I tried drinking more and it might have helped a little. Sharon gave up arguing with me and ran on ahead to send the medic. I had had a chance to dip in a couple of streams by the time he met me though, and the route had become a little shadier. I had a tiny revival and made it to the finish line, where I collapsed. For the first time ever, I was sent into the lake on medical grounds suffering from heatstroke! Some time later I seemed to have cooled off to something approaching normal temperature and got out to have a picnic lunch with my dad.
I had kept onto my lead in the female solos (results here), but must say a massive thank you to Sharon who looked after me instead of racing away on the final stage. It was a morale boost to have her with me and if things had got worse I’d have needed help.
Overall, the weekend proved that I am fit and fast, but out of practice with strategy and racing solo! That’s what triathlon training does for you.
Many thanks to all the people who helped transport me to and from the tricky-to-get-to race location. Jon, Andrea, dad, Stu, Ian, my brother – epic logistics!! Also to Open Adventure for a great weekend’s racing with plenty of time to catch up with friends in between stages.
Planet Byde 