Race Blog – 2015 Welsh Enduro Series Rd 4 – Dyfi

I was really keen to get one more race in before the end of the season, continuing my good race run before hunkering down for the winter and working more on the turbo trainer than the trails, so I was stoked to see round 4 of the Welsh Enduro Series still had places. Also having never ridden at Dyfi (pronounced Dovey) I was keen to get down there and check it out. The Welsh Enduro Series is organised by Mike Marsden who also runs the PMBA Series based in the North West of England and creeping over the border to Scotland. Having raced two rounds of the 2015 series I kinda knew what to expect.

A couple of my mates from Shropshire were in attendance for race day, Ben and Coop, three lads that did well at the Mini Enduro at FOD in October. Could we all get a good result here also?

Dyfi received a light dusting of snow on the friday night.

On the run up to the weekend the weather had been horrendous, the wind had been gusting upto 80mph in places and the forecast for Friday and Saturday included snow! As I drove into Wales on Saturday morning there was a consistent dusting of snow on the high ground but it was clear and dry. I was meeting Coop at midday to take a steady pedal round, hoping the stages were marked out by the time we arrived. It was good to spend time with Coop for several reasons, he had been to Dyfi before so knew his way around, and he is a very capable rider, so I was keen to get his take on line choices. Everything was marked out, apart from some of the start and finish markers. Stage 1 was a horrendous pedalfest that was distinctly lacking in gravity. Stage 2 started with a wide rocky trail before disappearing into the dark of the Dyfi woods, crossing a few fire roads and including another rocky trail before finishing back in the woods. Stage 3 was more undulating off piste action with some inventive options for line choices, a pedally mid section before a very steep off piste finish. stage 4 was another established trail centre segment that had some brutal jagged rocks and meant hitting your lines was essential. In total the loop was 12.7 miles with 2,670ft of climbing.

Beautiful race day Dyfi scenery

Race day started at 6am when I woke up to the sound of rattling inside my part converted camper van, the rattling was caused by my violent shivvering rocking the van and rattling some unused coat hangers. Overnight the temperature had dropped to -2 degrees and my 3 season sleeping bag and flimsy duvet just didn’t cut the mustard. Just after I donned a layer of thermals and rolled over to get another hour’s shut eye, the organisers  arrived to set up the registration area right next to my van, so I conceded defeat and got myself up. I made it to the front of the registration queue and chose a midday start time, plenty of time to guide Ben round all four stages.

Returning from my second 12 mile loop of the weekend I quickly changed clothes, washed off the moving parts on the bike and threw a banana and Jaffa Cakes down my neck before saddling back up for the race loop. The climb to Stage 1 was brutal; Nearly 2 miles and 1,000ft of height gained, I was determined to just chill and spin it out at a nice steady pace. Such is the beauty of the grassroots events that transitions and stage start times are very relaxed. Stage 1 went pretty well except the lack of power towards the end of the stage. It was brutally pedally, the seatpost was up and the legs were cranking away as much as I could manage, I had left a decent gap between the rider in front of me but still caught him before the end of the stage, luckily he was really switched on and got right out of the way so I wasn’t impeded. Cheers buddy. I finished the stage completely breathless and legs burning. I had gone balls out as I knew it would be a big contributor towards doing well or not in the overall result, but hoped it wouldn’t be to the detriment of my ability to race the other stages.

Dropping in mid way through Stage 2

The transition to S2 was the shortest of the day, a good job really as my legs were really feeling the effect of S1. Stage 2 started with a fast rocky trail that took balls to stay off the brakes, if you crashed here at speed you would certainly break something! You then had to take a bit of speed off before disappearing into the darkness with mud and slippery off camber roots. The lines from Saturday had disappeared in a carpet of gloopy mud, it had even evolved since the practise run in the morning. Holding your line was pretty much impossible and I was frustratedly dabbing and scooting in a desperate bid to stay on the bike. I survived and finished strongly by overtaking two of the Shropshire lads. One was struggling to get used to his new forks, and Ben had gone offline and had to push back up to the trail. That was two relatively clean runs and I was feeling good. I knew everyone would struggle with the mud so it was a relatively level playing field.

It was a bit of a climb up to Stage 3 and a couple of the lads were dejected at their performance in S2, they knew that just a few seconds lost on one stage could make the difference in the overall result. We expected S3 to be as gloopy as S2, but nothing really prepared us for what lay ahead. Ben unfortunately snapped his chain just 20m into the stage so had to run and pump to finish. Aaron Gwin he was not! I was slow and steady, trying to stay on the pedals and put a clean run together, but this worked against me when I reached a particularly deep patch of mud that needed some momentum to get through unscathed. I ended up on my side and struggling for grip just to stand up let alone pedal forward. With Ben now behind me and shouting for me to get up I battled as hard as I could to get back on the bike and stay ahead, luckily the flat pedally part of the stage was just ahead and by pedalling and pumping through the puddles I was able to pull clear of Ben. The final steep descent looked like a landslide had hit, where 200+ riders had slipped, skidded and slided (not a word!) down to the finish. With my Magic Mary fully loaded with mud I had little traction but somehow managed to complete the race without ending up back on my arse or face. I was disappointed that my game plan of slow and steady but maintaining the flow wasn’t working out, but I knew that a lot of the course was unrideable to the average Joe so I must have done better than others.

Saturday S3 Slop Shot. The mud worsened over the course of the weekend.

Anyway I had to just put it all behind me and concentrate on the draining, lengthy climb to the start of Stage 4. By this time I was feeling pretty weak. It was clear to me that 36 miles in a race weekend was too much for my level of fitness, so I took my time, ate some Tangfastics and snorted the last of the water out of my Camelbak. I was excited for S4, not only because I knew it was all on hard packed trail centre surface, but because I was exhausted and just wanted to finish, get some warm clothes on and get to the butty wagon. I was also a little apprehensive as I knew that there were some nasty rocks out there and I hadn’t been down the stage at full chat before. I gave myself a few minutes to get my composure before setting off. There were a few gnarly sections in the trees before the trail came out to the open hillside, I felt a bit squirrely on my back end over one of the rocky drops and it nearly sent me into a tree at the side of the trail. I managed to hold on and ride it out but immediately felt the tell tale sign of a rear flat tyre. I was gutted. I can only put it down to carrying a bit more pace and being so fatigued I was less active on the bike and ended up hitting a sharp rock with a little more force than I had on previous runs. There was no way I was going to sit by the trail and try to put a tube in so I proceeded to run down the rest of the stage to the finish. Much to the amusement of some hecklers lining part of the trail.

I knew the puncture would put me out of contention for a decent overall time, but I was keen to see how I had done in the first three stages. When the results came out later that evening I was relatively happy to see that I was consistently 20th out of 52 finishers in each of the first three stages, but finished 47th overall. On the back of my previous results I had hoped for top third (<33%), but in a relatively small Masters category, 20th out of 52 would have put me in the 38% bracket. Ben did a great job on the final stage, finishing 7th. Overall that put him in 21st. Not bad considering two ruined stages due to a snapped chain and a big off.

Obligatory Stage 4 Puncture Photo

That’s it now for races in 2015, I will be hitting the gym hard and training on the bike as much as I can in order to hit the ground running in March 2015.

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Army Gravity Enduro Team 2016 Season

I am stoked to announce that I have been selected to represent the British Army in the Army Enduro Mountain Bike  Development Team for 2016. Having only been riding for 2 years and raced in just 5 Rounds of grassroots Enduro races to date, and having never met any of the team before now, team Manager W01 (RSM) Scott Tomblin must have seen something in the progression I have made in this short period of time, the level of commitment I have offered for the 2016 season and let’s be honest, taken a bit of a punt.

The 2015 Army Enduro MTB Team

With the support of my Army Reserve Squadron, 217 Field Squadron (EOD) Royal Engineers I will commit to race in every round of the UK Enduro Series and as many rounds in grass roots competitions as I can manage around my other commitments.

But what does this actually mean for me? Well apart from the obvious fact that I will be representing the British Army and wearing the team colours, I will benefit from expert tuition and mechanic support, exploiting the range of experience held within the team and support staff, and hopefully be able to travel with the team and gain experience from riding trails in some far flung places.

Adventure Training (AT) and sport are well supported in the British Armed Forces, as they help develop a range of skills including communication, team work and fitness to name but a few. They are also a recruiting and retention tool. Let’s not forget that Commanders at all levels like to brag about the achievements of their soldiers and officers.

I’m a little nervous to be honest, I have a lot to prove to not only be able to stay in the development team, but to try to progress into the first team! Fitness will be key to demonstrating my intent to progress, and ensuring that I continue to improve technically on the bike.

Right, i’m off to celebrate with a glass of Port and to dream about amazing bike stuff for 2016! You can follow the exploits of the Army Enduro MTB Team on Facebook… https://www.facebook.com/armyenduro/?fref=ts. And if you see us at an event, come and say hello.

Army Enduro MTB Team Tent used for all race events.

Ride Blog – Wharncliffe & Grenoside, Sheffield – 14th Nov 15

The weather forecast said it wouldn’t rain until early afternoon… And for a change they were pretty much bang on. It was shortly after midday when the spitting came but quickly became full on rain. It wasnt quite the full blown monsoon that was predicted but made conditions tricky all the same.

Coynie had offered for a longtime to guide us around Wharncliffe Woods (Wharny). As a regular visitor to Wharny and Grenoside (Greno), who lives right on the doorstep, there was no one better to make sense of the network of unmarked ‘off piste’ trails dissecting Wharny Woods. With a free weekend and having just watched some of the Wharny Shredits (shred edits) from Peaty and Loosedog Lewis, I was keen to get up there and take Coynie up on his offer.

Wanting to beat the weather forecast that had rain due early afternoon I had planned to meet Coynie at his house at 0930 sharp. At least that was the plan until I got in the van and found I had a flat battery. A quick jump start from the missus (oi oi!) and I was on the road, only 15 minutes late. When I say Coynie lives on the doorstep, I mean it, he literally lives less than 40m from one of the many access points to the woods. So we got all the clobber on and headed up the hill.

The view South West along Wharncliffe Woods

Coynie took me on one of his regular loops, along the length of the woods to a point that we could jump over the road and access the Greno woods and their manicured trails, before working our way back home. You can spot trails joining or leaving the fireroads every 20 or 30 metres. There must be hundreds of different trails and many more ways of linking them together. It begs the question why there are no Enduro races run out of Wharny, this surely presents someone with an opportunity! He had names for the majority of the trails, but i’m buggered if I could remember them all. Even Strava doesn’t name all of them. Some aren’t even segments on Strava because they’re (shhh) secret! The majority of the trails are dug out by locals and don’t have any maintenance or support from the Forestry Commission.

It was very damp under rubber and to make matters worse, being made up of mainly deciduous trees, the dump of yellow and orange leaves made identifying roots and rocks almost impossible. I now understand why leaves on the line stops trains; if you combine wet tyres with wet rocks covered with wet leaves, you have a sketchy combo that can be deadly! The loamy soil was getting cut up into wet mud and pockets of standing water would affect your ability to see and the effectiveness of your brakes. After the first downhill run I recognised the problems we would face for the rest of the day. He continued to seek out a mixture of steep gnarly ‘Enduro’ style trails and more open jumpy DH trails. Such is the mix of options available to you. Little Whistler has some massive jumps, whereas orange dot and yellow dot are steel and technical. Whether you want jumps, drops, rocks and roots, loam or even a XC slog there is something for you at Wharny.

A typical view into an autumn Wharny trail.

We headed over to Greno to have a run of the well known Steel City and Pub Run trails; short (less than 2 minute), all weather, gradual DH tracks that are more about the berms and doubles than being steep and technical. Good fun to session and build up jump confidence. There had been some recent forestry operations at the bottom of the Steel City track meaning it was sadly impossible to finish in the bomb hole, which is a cheeky unsighted drop into quite a rough landing. Hopefully they will reinstate the track when they’re finished working.

Heading back over the road dissecting the two woods we picked up the XC trail that had some fun tight sections, but without much gradient, suffered from quite a lot of standing water and boggy mud. We eventually picked up a fire road and headed north looking for the next downhill segment to ride. Coynie investigated a few options but chose to skip some due to the conditions, be it too much standing water and mud or crazy gnarly segments that would have been unrideable in the wet.

The ‘piste’ de resistance (see what I did there?) was finding a relatively unknown, secret trail called “Yellow Dot”. Just as we arrived at the top of the trail, Hope sponsored rider Craig Evans, was pushing up the top bit of the trail. We watched him gingerly start down the trail, which was very steep and littered with wet stones. His apprehension made me question whether we should even try to ride it, but Coynie was adamant he was going for it. Riding his Ragley hardtail he made my mind up for me by shaming me into action, especially with an A list audience. Coynie carried the first few obstacles but went off line a little towards the rock garden and had to bail, I had little traction on my front end from the start so couldn’t avoid sliding offline into a tree. I pushed (well slipped) down to the rock garden before mounting up and riding the rest of the trail. At the bottom we chatted to Craig before acknowledging we were both wetter than an Otter’s pocket and beginning the pedal home.

My Bird Aeris posing on the Steel City trail at Grenoside, just before the Bombhole.

My verdit? Despite the miserable conditions, it was well worth the visit. It offered great steep, techy ‘off piste’ trails that were perfect training ahead of my final race of the season. Everything was made more difficult due to the wet conditions, in the dry it would have still been gnarly but at least a little more rideable. Once the leaves clear a bit you will be confident to carry a bit more speed by being able to see what hazards lie ahead of you. Coynie offered future meet ups, so I will definitely be taking him up on the offer and using it as my main winter training ground.

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2015 Winter Training Project (Part 1)

It’s a rainy November Monday morning, i’m sat on the toilet following another weekend of excess eating and inactivity doing what the long haired General wants to do, rather than riding my bike. As I look downwards I notice my gut is folding into some unusual shapes and it dawns on me just how much weight I have put on.

I used to be fit, in 2006 I learned of my impending deployment to Iraq and knew I needed to improve my fitness. I was running twice a day and by Christmas that year I was in the best shape of my life. On my return to Blighty in May 2007 I was muscular and lean, I was no Adonis but I could out run and out lift the majority of my peer group. I completed my All Arms Physical Training Instructor Course and life was good, I was highly motivated towards training and passing my knowledge on to others, but it quickly went down hill when; playing football I twisted awkwardly and damaged a poxy little ligament in my lower back, like an idiot I thought it best just to rest it a few days and man up. My lack of appropriate action meant that it still, to this day, hasn’t healed properly and my back always feels weak and stiff. This massively limits what I can achieve in the gym and in the outdoor activities I love so much. Fast forward a few years following peaks and troughs of activity as my motivation and body allowed, and in 2013 I developed a ‘grumbling’ appendix that had to be removed, although it was done by keyhole surgery it set me back once again with time off training and outdoor activity. So in the nine and a bit years since pre Iraq training I have put on over 3 stone.

How I was back in 2007. Decent shape and build.

I am sure I am not alone, I expect the majority of my readers will struggle with the same despise of their own form, but lacking the real and significant motivation to do something about it. Well here I am, acutely aware of my situation and genuinely motivated to change myself for the better. To aid my motivation and potentially help you guys, my readers, i’m going to document the process I go through to get fit for the 2016 Enduro race season and hopefully it will encourage some of you to do the same. So, to that end, I have joined the local Leisure Centre gym, which has had a recent refurb with over a million pounds spent replacing the worn out equipment, extending the main gym hall and creating a new spinning suite. It looks stunning. My journey will begin on 9th November with it culminating on 29th February 2016 a few weeks before the first BES round, a total of 16 weeks or 112 days. I will need to continue throughout the season in order to stay on top of my game for a successful race season, but over the winter is really where the hard work lies.

My initial plan as it stands is to reform my eating habits, train hard on my bike(s) and train harder in the gym. So here goes, my starting stats make for grim reading;

Day 1 – 09.11.15

Weight: 219 lbs (15 st 9)

Body Fat: 20.7%

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I’ve got a proper ‘Dad Bod’ going on, except I don’t even have any kids! My goal is to get my body weight to under 190 lbs but increase my strength. So I will need to build and condition muscle whilst cutting excess fat down to around 15%. I’m not going to get too obsessed with the weight, as long as the body fat is being reduced my body weight doesn’t really matter. I easily build muscle and muscle is much more dense (and hence heavy) than fat.

My plan is to start off relatively slowly. Cutting the crap out of my diet, so no fast food or chocolate, crisps, etc. A couple of light gym sessions in the first week to get the DOMs (delay onset muscle soreness) out of the way and then ramp up to 3 or 4 gym sessions a week and a big outdoor Road or All Mountain ride at the weekend. I will cross train between cycling, running and rowing for cardiovascular exercise and body weight exercises and Olympic lifts for strength, mainly concentrating on legs, core and back. Only time will tell how the plan will come together and what will need amending as I progress forward. Although I have a lot of training knowledge already, i’m going to utilise the on site personal trainers and their up to date PT acumen.

So last night’s session was an induction, so the staff showed me around any unfamiliar equipment and then I set to getting myself set up on the spin bikes, finding a comfortable arrangement of seatpost height, stem length etc before conducting the FTW fitness test, which gives me some base setting for when I use the bike in future. Nothing too strenuous but gave me a 35 minute spin out to ease me into it, good job really as I need to be able to walk in the morning! Tomorrow will be a full body resistance session to get some muscle soreness going and out of the way. The first week back is always the worst!

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Cycling and lower back pain.

I currently stand at 6ft 2in tall. Since the age of 11 I have struggled with lower back pain, initially it was put down to growing pains, apparently my bones were growing at a different rate to my soft tissues. More recently the pain and discomfort is usually brought on by standing or stooping forwards for long periods of time. I also find that cycling is a particularly bad culprit for triggering my symptoms.

I can manage about 30 minutes of cycling before I start to feel an ache in my lower back, if I do nothing about it, it develops into a stiffness and eventually cramp. The cramp was a major inconvenience as it prevented me from standing up straight. The cramp and the effect it has on my muscles in the lower back area can cause additional woes by impinging upon one or more of the vast array of nerve tissues transiting through the area. This is when it becomes painful. At it’s worst I was unable to lift myself out of bed in the morning due to the cramp and debilitating pain.

I know I am not alone in this as I have seen posts on social media from various individuals asking advice as to what may cause their glass backs to give way. So I have chosen to talk about solutions that can help everybody.

Strength and Fitness

When I was a member at a cross fit gym We undertook a lot of Olympic lifts that would exercise your core and back with significant load, alongside basic bodyweight core exercises, when I reduced the time I spent in the gym, favouring CV exercise and time out on the bike, I noticed a steady decline in the strength of my back and the ease at which I could feel the effects of saddle time. I put this down to a decline in the strength and conditioning of my core and back muscles. So I believe that by selecting exercises that work your core and back you will be able to build strength in the key areas to make your body more resilient to the pressures of cycling. General core strength will also really help with DH and Enduro racing where you are very active moving around on top of the bike. Speak to your local gym or personal trainer with your specific goals and requirements to get a training plan developed to meet your needs. Alternatively look into some of the following exercises;

• Sit Ups (there are many variants)
• Plank (again, has many variations to keep you interested)
• Back Hyperextensions (add weight if you wish)
• Hanging Knees to Elbows
• Dead lift
• Good Mornings
• Power Clean
• Front Squat or Overhead Squats

These moves get more complex as they progress on, so select carefully to avoid injury and if loaded, always start of light and build the weight up slowly.

Always consider warming up and stretching pre ride, stretching regularly mid ride and having a good cool down and stretch once you have finished.

Bike set up

There are many factors that can affect your positioning on your bike, finding a set up that works for you can be a bit of a faff, but if it allows you to get more enjoyment out of your cycling or extend the distance and duration of your rides then it has to be worth some investment. Many cycling shops will offer a ‘Bike Fit’ service, whereby trained professionals will judge your compatibility with various frame sizes and component set ups to find what works for you. Ultimately it is the position of your torso and the amount you are reaching forward that affects the load on your back. Consider adjusting some of the following components to try and find the perfect set up, only change one thing at a time to be able to drill down on what is required;

• Saddle angle. (Saddle angle affects your hip rotation and hence the load on your lower back)
• Distance from saddle to bars. (Shorter distance between your saddle and grips reduces reach)
• Height of seat post. (A lower saddle height will have you stooped forward less)
• Height of stem. (With a longer steerer, the stem can be mounted higher, meaning you need to stoop less)
• Stem length. (Shorter stem lengths means you need to reach less)
• Bar width. (Narrower bars will bring your hands towards the middle of the bike reducing forward reach)
• Bar rise and sweep. (Greater rise and sweep moves your hand position closer to your shoulders.)

I hope you have found this Blog useful, remember all is not lost, with a bit of effort and time you will be on your bike riding longer and harder than ever before.

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