My Round 1 result was a DNF! Absolutely not good enough! There are expectations on me this year, there is competition for my place in the team. Come on Greeny, you need to rectify this. My Rd 1 result brought extra focus to my Rd 2 race, I simply had to get a result, but not just any result, one that was competitive with my fellow team riders and my own expectations.
This guy was showing off around the Race HQ all weekend!
The team riders had spent the week running up to the race, riding in North Wales. The annual exercise for the Army Cycling Union brought team riders alongside other members of the cycling union to ride together, creating an environment for learning and improvement. The whole week was progressive and challenging, the firm, manicured trails at Coed Llandegla gave us the opportunity to gauge fitness and technical abilities. Day 2 took us to Dyfi Forest to explore some of the off piste UKGE stages from years gone by, giving a step up to steep and technical trails. Some riders struggled, but in time and with some coaching from team riders, they were all building in confidence and speed. The summit of the week was reached on the Wednesday when we visited Revolution Bikepark. The trails had been battered by the winter weather and recent races. Braking bumps, ruts, big steps in the steep terrain. All of which really tested the riders and their equipment. Sadly this resulted in some broken bikes and broken riders. Thursday took it down a couple of notches as we headed for Coed Y Brenin to hunt out the best downhill segments, without having to pedal around the entire Beast trail, a truly miserable affair. Friday was an admin day and gave the team riders chance to rest the legs and travel the 240 miles South to Triscombe in Somerset.
The entire week had blessed us with beautiful sunshine, but low and behold, as we travelled south the heavens opened and the rain came. Pretty much all day Friday and through the night it rained. but when we arrived bright and breezy on Saturday morning the sun was back, although slightly hampered by a few ominous looking clouds.
Army representative riders alongside riders from the wider Army who we always encourage to join us in the pit area.
On Saturday There were 4 stages open for practise first, then in the afternoon racing. The loop was just under 10 miles and we had the flexibility to ride them in an order of our choosing. Stage 1 started off pedalling amongst the heather on a tight section of single track, the trail opened up to a straight section of draggy grass before it eventually started downhill and you could pick up some speed. Before you knew it you had reached a fire break crossing and the mid way marshall point. Into the trees and the mud and roots began. The ground was pretty cut up and it was difficult to maintain flow with very little gravity helping the wheels keep turning.
Stage 2 was the complete opposite of Stage 1. All the gravity to could want! In fact there was arguably a little too much in places. The stage started off fun and flowy, with a couple of kickers to grab some air and grin factor. As it neared the bottom of the stage the ground became steeper and the freshly cut section appeared in all its moist rooty glory. This stage continued to evolve all weekend and every time you rode it there were new roots and obstacles appearing.
Stage 3 was the majority of rider’s least favourite stage. So much so that on Sunday morning the transponder at the end of the stage mysteriously vanished meaning the stage had to be scrapped. The stage started pretty well, flowing and hopping through the trees, only requiring the occasional pedal stroke to keep you up to speed. It wasn’t long though before you appeared on a fire road and were expected to sprint, uphill in places, for a good few hundred metres. Rider’s fitness was really being tested at this point. And just when you were completely hooped the trailed re-entered the trees and became very steep and technical. A few steep switch backs later you appeared at the bottom of the stage to the sight of exhausted riders amassed in silent protest, unsure as to whether they enjoyed the stage or not.
The final stage of the Day, S4, was the furthest stage from the race HQ, and the most technically difficult of the day. Starting with a flat, boggy sprint, a couple of kickers were there to be squashed and feared rather than jumped and enjoyed. dry switch backs and an off camber dash out into he open gave you an opportunity to catch your breath before the muddy, steep, technical section began. I just took my time in an attempt to stay on y bike through this section. I knew for sure that it would catch riders out all weekend due to the high number of hazardous roots, tree stumps and wheel grabbing holes and ruts.
I managed to finish the day as the fastest Army rider, two thirds of the way back down the field of riders, but you know what, first and foremost I am racing against my team mates and other potential representative riders. improvements against the rest of the field will come over time.
The freshly cut sections were like riding through a jungle!
The Sunday racing was made up of six stages. A repeat of S1, 2 & 4 (remember S3 had to be scrapped due to the ‘missing’ transponder). S5, 6 & 7 would be ridden blind. Main Team rider Joe Robson joined us for the Sunday racing, he had spent the day Saturday walking the trails and watching riders tackle the more technical areas. This gave him a good advantage for the Sunday. It’s one thing to ride a trail, but to break it down, section off the technical areas and watch countless other riders make mistakes or exploit advantageous lines is of great benefit. Although there may have been a little shower overnight, we woke to more lovely sunshine.
Stages 1 and 2 didn’t go very well for me. I think nerves and a bit of pressure from leading the Army field got the best of me and I had trouble in the slower, muddier areas of these stages. I rectified that on S4 though with a good flowing clean run through the root gardens of death. Sadly S4 caught out Army Team mechanic, turned occasional racer, Pete. He had a bit of an off which resulted in a gash to his lower leg. Secretly I think he was happy he had done enough pedalling for one day and was glad to have an excuse to extract back to the comfort of the pits.
Stages 5 and 6 were pretty similar in their construction, an initial sprint before gravity took over. They were well established Downhill stages that were running fast due to the dry hard packed ground. This was probably the reason for limited tape to guide riders down the correct lines, but lack of tape causes its own problems when riding blind, trying to spot and hit your line whilst looking up to navigate through the trees, all at speed is very challenging, good tape just gives you a helping hand so you know where you’re going. I had clean runs and managed to let the brakes off quite a bit, meaning I logged good times for these two stages, helping once more to offset the poor times from S1 & 2.
Stage 7 wasn’t opened until early afternoon, planned to allow the movement of marshalls about the course. The result was that quite a queue had built up at the start of the stage, so we decided to try and walk the stage to identify features and spot some lines. Quite a few others had decided to do the same, so when the riders eventually stared coming down there was quite a vocal crowd around some of the more technical features. As you can imagine hilarity and heckling ensued. The main significance of Stage 7 was near the start, where the ground was quite open. There was an established trail that wound its way down through the trees, but the taping was very sparse. This allowed riders to exploit the rules by taking very wide ‘Strava’ lines and essentially straight lining about 100m of trail. This would save 10-15 seconds over anyone following the beaten trail. I was quite happy to exploit this ‘racers’ advantage, but the majority of the Elite contingent thought it morally wrong to log a time. The result was that a 20-30 rider train came down the stage and an immediate protest was put into Neil Delafield, the event organiser, who just so happened to be stood at the bottom of the stage. The outcome was that Stage 7 was scrapped and hopefully the feedback on taping lines will be taken on board. This was really sad, as S7 was the most enjoyable stage of the race, a good mix of gentle and steep terrain, with some pedally sections and other technical aspects.
Some of the roots on Stage 2 were brutal.
I finished the weekend as the fastest Army rider in the 2 Day event. Joe Robson, riding in the 1 Day event, smashed us all with his times, ending up just seconds off a podium. That’s why he is a Main Team rider! I thoroughly enjoyed the weekend’s racing, the weather certainly helped, but the trails were varied and interesting, but most of all they were all rideable and you could push yourself and actually race the majority of the stages.
The next round takes us back to Crychan Forest in Wales at the end of May, Neil said he has taken on board comments from the first two rounds, so we all really hope for another enjoyable weekend’s racing.
Tyred n Cranky Facebook page… https://www.facebook.com/Tyred-n-Cranky-101128410243802/?fref=ts
Army Enduro MTB Team Facebook page… https://www.facebook.com/armyenduro/?fref=ts
tyred n cranky 