Team Iron Horse Extreme

If you want to see the best trail riders around, then get yourself to the Avalanche Enduro UK. The next one is at Ae in early May.

Seriously, you gotta go.

This weekend saw my team mate Josh and I going to do the downhill thing in our own XC stylee, on 24 spoked wheels and xc tyres.

It was marvellous!

Saturday was prologue day, so we went to the Kielder Castle area to book in and get some practice for the upcoming qualifier. We were late, and only had about an hour to practice 4 sections that were spread over the local hillsides.

The previous night had seen us arrive late at Rich’s (Julio) house and then eat a well deserved curry. I had the best vindaloo, ever, the night before this fun event.

We decided to do a couple of runs on the prologue and then the same on one of the other sections prior to the main event of the day.

Rob (Our Manager) took the safety briefing for us and passed it on on just prior to the start of the flat out run along the peddly but entertaining section.

It was hard work. Josh and I qualified within 1 second of each other, so we were seeded next to each other–Freaky.

I had laughed at Josh earlier for taking a duff line on the prologue practice and gamboling into the trees at the side of the trail. He got to laugh at me as I did the same thing, later. Numpty.

After the seeding run, we went around the rest of the sections and tried to memorise them for the following day. That young gun doesn’t know how to go slow, so I had to take him under my wing (or threaten to beat him up) so that he could benefit from a bit of 24hr pace riding to clear the acid from our legs. It was funny; he’d lose concentration on the task in hand, and within seconds he’d be 100m up the trail in front of me. I hate him.

The trails were all very different and seemed to cover almost all aspects of mountainbiking.

We did one which is almost identical to my local loops at Machen, so you’d think I would ace that one, wouldn’t you? I was all over the place and kept losing my front end through a lack of commitment in the turns on roots and pine needles.

Another trail was made up of the gnarliest rock jumps I have seen at any trail centre and I have to say how impressed I was with Josh. He was jumping these things with aplomb on his 4″ bike, and loving every minute of it. Poor wee bike.

All of the others were mixtures of rocks, loose rocks, roots, berms and jumps.

We had a lot of fun together.

After keeping ourselves busy riding the trails until evening time we headed back to Julio’s for…

…another curry!

I was in heaven.

Another late night. We were up again, and out at 7am since the racing started early on Sunday.

So, we got to the start line, and were counted out and off we go, but not into a flat out race. We had plenty of time to get up the hill to section 1. We rode up and chatted whilst at the top we met a load guys that we were destined to do all of the rides with- except the timed stages because we did those at 30 second gaps and alone.

This format means that you get an incredibly sociable ride out with like minded individuals who, after the seeding run, go about the same speed as you do. A sort of camaraderie formed between the nearest five or so riders.

For both Josh and I, the first few runs were a bit of a nightmare. We were “off form” because of all of the driving and late nights. When I jumped on one section I veered off to the right, whilst my bike kept going in the intended direction. So, on the next section, I consciously veered the other way. The bike did it’s own thing and I nearly came off. I was all over the place and started to lose my nerve a bit; especially on the bigger jumps on run 3. We kept going all the same, but only felt that we came alive after lunch.

Lunch was, err, prunes, biscuits and Mule bars. I ate tons. We struggled to get to the next stage (5) after our extended break of about 15mins. You definitely have to keep moving, even if it is at a sedate pace.

The last three runs were great fun, and both of us felt that we were back on the gas. But disaster struck Josh on the final run, as he got a flat about a third of the way down. For some reason, I braked a bit when I saw him looking dejected, but I think I still had a good run.

By the end of the day my body felt battered, but both of us had had a superb day.

Next time I do one of these I’m going to use a stronger set of wheels, though. I don’t think that the ones I used slowed me down at all, but the thought was there…

Clive, The Force, organised a superb event. I think it was faultless from a competitors’ point of view. Absolutely faultless. We’re lucky to have Clive as friend and team mate, and I’m going to be picking his brains for speed tips before the next Avalanche Enduro.

I won’t be missing it!

The first time I saw him this weekend was as I passed him on one of the sections. He was doing a bit of official stuff, but as I “flew” past him I heard him shouting “He’s a 24 hour soloist, look at him go!” and something about speed. I think it was a positive comment. We didn’t really get any time to chat apart from that because he was up to his eyeballs in “it”. It’s a shame, because he’s always entertaining to say the least.

I’m cream crackered, but happy.

Dave

The student championships, at UK Bike Park in sunny Dorset. The sun was out and it seemed more like summer than March.

Once I arrived at the venue on Saturday I put in a few practice laps. The course was based on the side of a super steep hill. There was a flattish single track section at the beginning of the lap before climbing up the 4x track. Then there was the most amazing descent, a few fast berms and table tops before traversing a short rock garden and a bed of roots. It then switched right and down the hill through a series of super steep switch backs. Then we rode around the base of the hill and back up a hellishly steep climb to the arena. The lap was fairly short, just below 20 minutes, but it meant more fun descents and more heckling from the crowd on race day!

Saturday afternoon was the DH championships so I watched and soaked up the atmosphere, before watching a bit of the floodlit 4x racing in the evening. Then it was off to bed in order to be fresh for the race, although that is easier said than done with a field full of partying students!

On race day the sun was still shining. The XC sport race took place in the morning with the Championship race beginning at 1 o’clock. Time to trade in my IronHorse- Extreme kit for the garish yellow kit of my university (UWIC).

The start was a little tricky up a fairly steep loose fire road; however I managed to be around the top 15 going into the first single track. The descent was a little crowded on the first lap but the steep fire road climb up to the finish spread the field out. After the initial hard efforts of the first lap I managed to regain control of my breathing before settling into a good rhythm for the rest of the race. This is one key thing which I have learnt from racing enduros, don’t go to hard to early! By this point the leaders had disappeared out of sight so carried on riding at an even pace. The horrific climb each lap certainly took its toll on all the riders but it was certainly worth it for the great descent and amazing atmosphere. On one section of the descent (the most technical corner!) a large crowd had gathered and cheered/ heckled every single rider who passed, often encouraging crazy overtaking manoeuvres. At one point I was even offered a beer as I rode by, unfortunately I was hanging off the back of my trusty IronHorse as I negotiated the corner so I was forced to politely decline the offer!

As the race progressed there were around 4 riders within a minute of me and we regularly began trading places. By the finish we had spread out a little more s fatigue took its toll. I managed to finish 10^th, which was fairly pleasing and about what I was aiming for. This was the first competitive outing of the year on the Mtb, so hopefully things will only get better.

Overall it was a great event. Definitely the best atmosphere at a domestic race in the UK, it’s a shame this will be my last as I graduate in June. Thanks to Paddy Hill and the Extreme Medics for organizing such a great even and also IronHorse- Extreme for supporting me again this year.

Josh

On the 14th of march my racing season began at a local circuit race on the road. The race was held at Bryn Bach park, a 3 km circuit consisting of a 1km climb, a 1km headwind descent and then a 1km drag back to the start of the climb. All in all a tough little circuit. I had raced there once before as a junior in the Junior Tour of Wales but unfortunately my memories were not very fond, I blew in the morning stage and was then swiftly dropped in the afternoon stage at Bryn Bach Park. Not fun!

A small break of 2 riders went away on the second lap, but unfortunately I missed it. On the next lap I attacked on the climb and put the pressure on at the front. After a few more laps we established a group of 4 riders and worked together to bring back the leaders. As the race progressed it was clear that the leaders were well clear so it looked like a sprint to decide the placing in our group. Unfortunately the earlier efforts took their toll on my legs so I finished last in our group in the sprint. I was still 6th overall though so not a bad start to the season. By the time we had finished it looked like we had been in a mtb race due to all the mud on the road!

Josh

The first race of the year is always a funny thing. You think you are well prepared but deep down you know that nothing you have done during the winter is going to set your body up for the shock. This is an accentuated experience for an endurance racer doing an XC race…

Well, I say XC; this was funny one. 36 miles of big hills over two laps. A long XC race but too short to really be an endurance event. As it panned out, this is exactly how my body reacted.

Over 400 had registered for the event. Despite the start being on a wide fireroad, with that number of people, (and the associated 5million megatrons of nervous energy) enclosed by high walls of fir trees it all felt pretty claustrophobic… I was under no illusion this was going to be easy as many of the Lakes best riders had turned up for what was essentially the first race of the summer.

A blast of the horn and we were off! It was fast and it was up… and up. And then up some more. In fact it generally went up for about oh; ten vertical miles at least. I wasn’t just breathing hard; I was tearing the lining out of my throat! It felt a bit like swallowing razor blades as the air was clear, crisp and cold. Getting clear of the mass was the aim and the hard effort paid off; whilst a leading group slowly pulled away, I had good clear track and a number of us lined out. This was a merciless and clinical way of sorting the field out!

I haven’t mentioned the weather yet have I? It was quite literally out of this world! Not a breath of wind. Not a cloud to be seen. Not a particle of dust in the sky; it was beyond crystal clear. One of the guys from Wheelbase hit the nail on the head when he stated, ‘If you don’t enjoy this then sell your bike’. Never a truer a word spoken. As we crested the first climb the panorama of Skiddaw opened out to our right; a light dusting of snow capped the peak making it look like a clichéd child’s picture of a perfect mountain. Far below Bassenthwaite Lake sparkled bluer than any photo-shopped holiday brochure. It was literally breathtaking and that is coming from somebody who rides in the Lakes a lot. In fact the views made it quite hard to focus on the track!   

Start line nerves disappeared and I tried to settle into a pace. Except that didn’t quite happen…  The course had a kind of general pattern to it; up steep long climbs, across technical man made sections and down either more of the same or super fast fireroad. Then the climbing would start again… Bottom to top! Now I’m not a fan of fireroad but strangely the sections in this course were interesting due to their largeness if nothing else! The long drag out from the back and West of Whinaltter is a beast; (coincidentally, this is where I first learnt the meaning of ‘oxygen debt’ as a teenager on a mountain bike!) and following this crest we went straight into one of the more challenging man made sections. The course was unrelenting and my heart rate was rocketing!

 Through the first check point I heard that I was about 12^th. Ok, still time yet. The second lap was going to feel mighty long for a lot of people and I hoped my endurance ability would kick in… But my legs were screaming and that sickly feeling had grasped my stomach by two hands! Nevertheless, I had pulled a couple of places back. I knew I needed to go if I was going to claw further through the field but it was that, ‘Will I cramp if I push one watt harder feeling?’ so I kept it steady (well, ‘ish’). Two big climbs to go… and then ‘Ping!’. It was like a switch had been flicked! My heart rate dropped, (and not in bad way) my breathing calmed down , and my legs whirred beneath me like the proverbial hamster in a wheel. That’s better! I span easily past a rider who was wrestling his bars just to keep moving forward… but it was too late. I’d ran out of track. Doh! One more section of man made across the tops (eye now well and truly ‘In’) and then a fire road plummet down to the finish. I finished 9^th and rued not ‘going earlier’. It’s all about experience and I’d gained a bit more so I was happy.

Rich