Southern XC Rnd 4 - Erlestoke

[Sylv]

Got a lift with Serge and Rachel yesterday and we headed West, past Stonehenge and towards the Salisbury plains for my first mtb race in 3.5 months. I thought all the road racing would have kept me in check for it - boy was I in for a shock! I had forgotten just how brutal and intense it is, and after the almost two hours of racing was utterly drained - not that nice fatigue you can feel afer some races, just one that makes you want to lie down and stay still for an hour.

Course was good, 8.5km with 475m of climbing ran four times over, pretty damp in places with heavy rain earlier in the day, with one fairly technical downhill that required a bit of attention if you didn't want to end up face into a tree. I wasn't gridded so had to start with about 15 riders ahead of me, which made that I never saw the head of the race. Not that I would have been there, as the winner Scott Forbes finished 4'40 ahead of anyone, in a time which, despite riding on his own and unchallenged, would have placed him on the podium of the Elite race. But little by little I was picking up riders and learned that I was in 4th place. Looking down at my heart rate was scary, for the first lap it didn't seem to dip below 170, with 180 peaks on the climbs.

I had someone in my wheel for about 10 minutes and we were about 15-20 seconds down on a rider, sometimes making up ground, but couldn't make contact. After a while I urged him to come past to do a bit of pacing, but unfortunately by doing so he went so fast I struggled to keep up and eventually lost contact with him, try as I did. My heart just didn't seem to beat as high and my legs work as hard, some sections previously negotiated in the big ring now had to be grinded in the middle ring. I now had no-one ahead of me, and no-one behind, so kind of resigned myself on riding tempo for the next lap and a half.

I'd given Rachel a spare bottle but was in desperate need for a third one, thankfully she had refilled my first one which I took at the start of the final lap, I would really have struggled without that. Shortly after that Nick Onslow came back to me, something I really didn't need at that point. I had to dig really deep and choose to put a big effort to try and discourage him rather than keep him at bay all the way to the finish, which seemed to work as the next time I looked back he looked over 15 seconds back. Still it wasn't over and there was another 15 minutes to go, guys this was harder than the last climb of the last Ras stage, I'd say the whole race felt as hard as two 1-hour rounds of Palace back to back.

Got 4th in Masters, a whole 7" back, but 2"40 down on 2nd place (would have got 1st or second in Experts category somehow). I would have been happy with 3rd, or at least if my lap times had been consistent, but they just got slower and slower - even with the surge in the final lap. I've not got massive hopes for the National Champs, should be a tough course with a lot of strong people. Will have a go at Beastway this week as final prep!

Serge did really well, coming 2nd in Sports to his nemesis, keeping lap times nice and consistent. I told him he has to write a report!

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/8636250

Pos Laps Time Time+ Num Name Team/Sponsor Lap 1 Lap 2 Lap 3 Lap 4
1 4 01:44:32 326 Scott Forbes - PedalOn.co.uk 00:25:20 00:25:51 00:26:15 00:27:05
2 4 01:48:51 00:04:18 325 Paul Hopkins - OffCamber 00:26:48 00:27:21 00:27:12 00:27:28
3 4 01:50:51 00:06:18 321 Stuart King - Ride 00:26:59 00:27:27 00:27:37 00:28:47
4 4 01:51:30 00:06:58 335 Sylvain Garde - Addiscombe CC 00:26:58 00:27:27 00:28:23 00:28:40
5 4 01:51:44 00:07:12 300 Nick Onslow - Pedalon.co.uk 00:27:20 00:28:06 00:27:56 00:28:21
6 4 01:53:23 00:08:50 332 Pete Dawe Southforkracing - 00:27:59 00:28:08 00:28:52 00:28:22
7 4 01:53:41 00:09:09 302 Mark Hutt AW Cycles/Giant - 00:26:07 00:31:44 00:28:10 00:27:38
8 4 01:54:16 00:09:44 313 Tim Purvey The Big Adventure Store - 00:28:02 00:28:44 00:28:39 00:28:50
9 4 01:54:24 00:09:52 312 Jay Horton - Team Certini 00:28:21 00:29:03 00:28:27 00:28:32
10 4 01:56:02 00:11:30 348 Andy Plewes - Royal Navy Royal Marines Cycling Association 00:27:37 00:29:05 00:29:47 00:29:31
11 4 01:56:24 00:11:52 334 Marc Chamberlain - 00:27:47 00:28:21 00:29:17 00:30:59
12 4 01:57:39 00:13:06 329 Lee Gollop Progression Fitness RT - 00:28:36 00:28:25 00:29:52 00:30:44
13 4 01:57:46 00:13:13 323 Lloyd Bettles - Bigring Racing 00:28:00 00:27:47 00:27:33 00:34:23
14 4 01:58:38 00:14:06 333 Sean Scott - WAFE / Sportstest Ltd/Specialized 00:28:58 00:29:36 00:29:39 00:30:24
15 4 01:59:09 00:14:37 303 Ollie TAYLOR Rock and Road Yeovil - Bikecity.biz 00:28:34 00:29:41 00:30:33 00:30:20
16 4 01:59:30 00:14:58 344 James Styrin - Styrin Cars 00:29:18 00:29:49 00:30:06 00:30:17
17 4 02:00:12 00:15:40 324 Nigel Grantham Pedalon.co.uk - 00:29:06 00:29:34 00:30:41 00:30:49
18 4 02:01:25 00:16:53 317 Leigh Banks - 00:30:29 00:29:56 00:30:20 00:30:39
19 4 02:02:02 00:17:30 338 Stefano De Tomaso - Beyond/Specialized/WDMBC 00:29:17 00:30:11 00:31:04 00:31:29
20 4 02:02:30 00:17:58 315 Robert Rowe - Forza Cycles/Styleline/Torq 00:28:59 00:30:12 00:32:02 00:31:16
21 4 02:03:15 00:18:42 349 Rafael Soares - 00:30:12 00:30:07 00:31:40 00:31:14
22 4 02:03:29 00:18:56 340 Marcus Williams http://www.bikecity.biz - 00:30:13 00:30:34 00:31:13 00:31:27
23 4 02:04:07 00:19:35 309 Benjamin Summers Total Fitness Bath - 00:29:56 00:31:07 00:31:18 00:31:45
24 4 02:04:11 00:19:39 310 Steve McCulley - Royal Navy & Royal Marines CA 00:29:44 00:31:08 00:31:22 00:31:56
25 4 02:05:30 00:20:58 306 Simon T Smith Johns Bikes RT - 00:30:39 00:31:20 00:31:39 00:31:52
26 4 02:05:43 00:21:11 304 James Poole Beyond Mountain Bikes/Specialized - WDMBC 00:30:14 00:30:39 00:32:50 00:31:58
27 4 02:05:54 00:21:22 316 Shane Banks - 00:31:57 00:31:10 00:31:27 00:31:19
28 4 02:06:07 00:21:35 327 Richard Bettaney - 00:30:31 00:30:25 00:32:19 00:32:51
29 4 02:06:31 00:21:59 328 Jon Moyse Progression Fitness - 00:30:26 00:30:34 00:31:58 00:33:32
30 4 02:08:05 00:23:32 322 Jason Blann Team Rose Blann - 00:31:19 00:31:13 00:32:30 00:33:01
31 4 02:08:13 00:23:41 320 Matt Field WAFE / VOTWO - 00:30:33 00:31:35 00:33:28 00:32:37
32 4 02:08:21 00:23:49 337 Neil Johnson - Witney Wheelers 00:30:27 00:32:04 00:33:06 00:32:43
33 4 02:08:35 00:24:03 347 Josias Barbosa Evans Cyhcles - 00:33:33 00:32:49 00:31:43 00:30:29
34 4 02:11:45 00:27:13 351 Darren Ryden - 00:30:54 00:33:13 00:33:59 00:33:38
35 4 02:11:49 00:27:17 339 Garry Taylor Banjo Cycles.com - Armadillo 00:31:49 00:32:35 00:33:45 00:33:38
36 4 02:12:46 00:28:14 352 Patrick Ferguson - Team Chunky Whippets 00:32:49 00:33:49 00:33:07 00:32:59
37 4 02:13:04 00:28:32 336 Simon Lesser Primera Sport - 00:29:04 00:30:01 00:41:43 00:32:14
38 4 02:14:08 00:29:36 311 Chris Smith - Team Milton Keynes 00:33:46 00:33:03 00:33:59 00:33:18
39 4 02:17:34 00:33:02 346 Tony Turner - Oxonian CC 00:34:06 00:35:12 00:34:33 00:33:42
40 4 02:18:34 00:34:01 342 Neil MacLeod http://www.raceright.cc - 00:31:53 00:34:31 00:36:08 00:36:01
41 4 02:19:13 00:34:41 330 Julian Brine - Rock & Road 00:32:46 00:34:38 00:35:54 00:35:53
42 4 02:22:10 00:37:38 308 Chris Sheppard - Black Canon Collective 00:32:39 00:37:50 00:34:38 00:37:01
43 4 02:22:24 00:37:52 314 Paul Wells - 00:33:02 00:36:47 00:37:12 00:35:21
44 4 02:23:21 00:38:49 350 Paolo Ditale Beyond MTB Specialized WDMBC - 00:34:11 00:35:27 00:36:27 00:37:16
45 2 00:57:15 2 Laps 341 Sean Williams Wightlink/Offshore RT - 00:27:58 00:29:17
46 2 00:59:43 2 Laps 319 Simon Mears - Bournemouth Jubilee 00:29:01 00:30:41
47 1 00:34:00 3 Laps 305 Richard Lang http://www.Primera-Sport.co.uk - 00:34:00

[Andy E]

Nice one Sylv, sounds painful

[Toks]

Ouch rather you than me Sylv! That sounds like a decent result to me, chapeau

[Grahame]

Ooh, I always enjoyed racing at Erlestoke - I had my best ever XC result there - 9th in experts in 1993 (I think).

The courses always had a good mix of fast and technical with a lot of fun singletrack.

We used the course there for one of the mag articles I featured in (Masterclass, MTB Pro) with one of the biggest lies printed - "Grahame has ridden all over the place, but never raced" - I got some stick for that over the next few months . Then I decided to quit.

[Sylv]

[quote="Toks"]Ouch rather you than me Sylv!

[Serge]

After what had been a very tough but succesful week of bike racing and training (a 1st at Beastway and a 4th at the handicap at south Nutfield), I was feeling pretty knackered. A 2 hour Tempo ride on friday and then a quick spin out on the club run with the 19's were the final icing on the cake in terms of overload before the National XC champs in Scotland next weekend.

The course at Erlestoke was great and tested my climbing and technical skills, the ground was greasy in places and one particular section of downhill was rooty, offcamber and fast , it forced the bike down and off the groomed section and off onto to the mulch which slowed you down alot. Sitting astride my new Giant Anthem X I felt comfortable a controlled despite it being my second time out on it !.

On the start line and I was gridded on the front row. As usual I got swamped by the other riders at the start but was about 6th wheel into the first section of singletrack. The leader was pulling away as he usually does, but the battle for the podium was on .
I passed a couple of people on the first open section through a grassy field, I jumped from one wheel to the next hinding from the wind cutting across the field. Into the next single track section and I was now in 4th. Urging the guy in front to keep pushing "dont lose sight of 3rd" I shouted. Talking is a great tactic and one that causes a lack in concentration and often mistakes by those being talked to .

3rd place would lead through the singletrack and I would lead on the climbs, eventually the pace started to slow and I felt he was no longer useful, after the greasy descent I kicked up and on to the firetrack climb with a view to blasting this guy away and catching 2nd placed Luke Eggar whom I have not beaten in about 7 races. A short while on my own and I finally caught him.

When he noticed me behind him he looked suprised . As if to say that doesn't usually happen, after following him round for about half a lap he started to up the pace and sprint whenever he could. These efforts were starting to take there toll so rather than let this carry on till the end I planned to gel up and go just before the last lap started. My plan was scuppered when we got held up behind a back marker in masters. This allowed both Luke and I little breather. The pace started to pick up after a 30 second respite through the woods near the arena.
The long climb was approaching and luke got ready to pass the guy in the field. The other rider held luke off and prevented us from passing so I yelled at him that we were not in his catergory and to let us pass !. Any way Luke got round him and I got held up. Luke seized the opportunity and put a few seconds between us. Once I had got round the guy I buried myself to get back up to luke but wondered if I had blown my chance with that effort. I had committed to the last lap plan and I was going to see it through so whilst Luke was apologisng to me for throwing his gel wrapper in the field I made my move, with couple of smooth sections of single track and a massive 1 minute effort up the firetrack climb (where my heart reached 188bpm ) I had enough gap to stop pushing. I carried on to the finish line aware of the fact that the other riders would be hungry for the podium as well. A lapse in concentration and they will catch you. After about 10 minutes on my own, I crossed the line in 2nd, Rachel was there pleased as punch and I was well chuffed considering the weeks training I had had.

In summary great bike (to all you hardtail purists, forget it your wasting your time ), Great result and good prep for next Sunday...
...Bring it on

[Toks]

Excellent work Serge, I didn't get the chance to catch up on last saturdays club run but it sounds like things are comin together nicely