Month: June 2017

Pedalhounds round 3 – Aston Hill – Bradley Hurr

An early start (how every race day begins) and a nice sunny morning meant a pleasant drive to Aston Hill, the venue for round three of the Pedalhounds endure series. Known more as a downhill venue, it was going to be interesting to see what they had in store course wise. After getting my numberboard, timing chip and a bit of good news (more on that later) I had a couple of hours to go and have a walk of the courses.

The Pedalhounds format is such that no rider is allowed to practice the courses in the morning, meaning it should be a level playing field, at least on the first runs.

The trails were a mix of existing downhill runs and fresh cut sections through the woods, loamy and rooty on the fresh cut stuff, hard pack clay and chalk with lots of roots on the existing stuff. Three stages in total, with the big push up the transition for stage 2 and 3 and a slightly tamer slope for the transition from the end of stage 1.

I caught up with some friends I rode with last time out, they had bought a couple of people with them so we had a nice group of five to ride around with.After a quick briefing from Paul Hunt, the series organiser, we rode through the start gantry, got our timing chips activated and pedalled out to stage two, where we would be starting our day. Set off in waves of 30 riders, each wave were sent to a different stage to minimise queuing. We could then approach the stages any order, but had to complete all three before riding one again. Three laps in total.

Stage 2 where we started as a mix of fresh cut  trail, part of the existing XC loop then dropping into the lower half of Ricochet. The fresh cut section was reasonably grippy, so I was pushing a decent gear from the gate to get some speed going. Dropping over the fire road out of the looser stuff onto the chute of Ricochet, it got faster and being hard pack it was easy to carry the speed. I made a small mistake coming into a uphill root section into a fast drop and lost the rear and slid out, quick slide on my bum and then back on to get down the last loamy section before a hard sprint to the end of the stage. A few seconds lost, but would get another two shots at the stage later on in the day.

A hard push/ride up the steep and incredibly rooty transition and we lined up for stage 1. The top of this stage was flat, fast and covered in roots. A dip through some trees then a wide open left into a very loose off camber section that steepened up, went tight through three trees then some very tricky switchbacks in very deep, dusty loose pack dirt made for a deceptively technical stage. I was able to push hard on this one, putting plenty of pedal strokes down on the flatter section, and just trying to keep the bike rubber side down through the techy stuff.  A great fun stage.

An easier transition this time around lead to stage 3. This started on fresh cut again, really dusty loose dirt making the corners tough to negotiate, before dropping into a left hand berm on Red Run, another existing trail. A great fun trail, it has some tricky root gardens near the top, before opening out into some superb fast sweeping berms, a fast steeper slope into some tight corners to finish the stage. One of my favourite trails at Aston Hill, and a rewarding track to run fast.

A brief rain shower threatened to change the course of the day, the clay and chalk surface is notoriously slippery when wet, let alone the roots.

The remaining runs went by without so much drama as the first runs, riders getting their eye in and everyone feBig shout out to the guys on a jump on stage 2, with airhorns, cowbells and a lot of noise for every rider coming through making it feel like an EWS round, spurring you to go faster!!!!!

After just under four hours of being out on course, 9 stages complete, we all handed our timing chips in, compared times and waited for the podiums to come.

Oh and the good news I mentioned earlier? Upon registration, I was informed I had won a spot prize. A random selection of entries are given prizes from the sponsors. A nice surprise and definitely a perk of entering this series. I walked away with a couple of pairs of underwear from Saxx and a couple of T-shirts from 6Seven factory racing.

A nice end to a cracking days racing. A series I would encourage anyone to enter as it is friendly and the encouragement from the other riders is brilliant.

More information for the remaining rounds can be found at www.pedalhounds.co.uk

Thanks to the guys from Kings Lynn MTB I was riding with and big thanks to club sponsor Scimitar for the awesome Enduro team jersey.

 

 

 

MS&G Round 5 – Phoenix Bike Park – Adam Cavalla

Due to the cows at Hadleigh Park, round 5 of Mud Sweat and Gears was instead held at Phoenix Cycleworks. Personally, I found this a welcome change as last time we visited Phoenix I really enjoyed it. A record 48 Hadleigh riders were entered so It was sure to be a great day.

We arrived bright and early after a long drive, at around 8:00. It was forecast to be incredibly hot, and so It was important to stay hydrated before and during the race. I started on the second row of the youth category and shortly after 10am we began. I got a decent start and managed to hold my position. I did all of the A lines which meant I did not lose out by doing the slower B lines. Unfortunately, after one of the A lines my chain got caught in my cassette and derailleur. Three minutes later I had managed to un-jam it and was back in the race, albeit dead last in my race and toward the back of the open males. I knew there would be a lot of retirements as a result of the weather and there was still lots of the race to go. I regained 9 places in my category and finished in 14^th, not too bad all things considered. It was frustrating as If I had not had my mechanical I could have got a top 10 which would have been my best result of the year. It was great to see how many rookies were racing and they all seemed to enjoy it making it even better. J

The course was excellent so a big thanks to Phoenix for hosting the race and Mud Sweat and Gears for the second to none organisation. Thank you to team sponsors Mitas for the excellent tyres, Scimitar for the professional looking kit, Hardnutz for the comfortable helmet even in the hot weather and Cyclewrap.

MS&G Round 5 – Phoenix Bike Park – Michael Milham

So, we all rather unexpectedly found ourselves heading off to phoenix! Getting up seemed even earlier than normal but I still seemed to be one of the last to turn up for the morning race as I was greeted by the “Hadleigh Massive” on arrival!

Before I knew it I was into the practice lap, and the first thing that hit was the heat! I knew it was going to be hot, but that hot?! I enjoyed the course, there were lots of long double width sections for overtaking opportunities and the A lines were interesting but not too difficult, with lots of opportunities to “send it” if you have a few more skills than me!

After that there was just enough time to sort out my bottles and then we were gridding, not long after that we were off. I started off strong, making up around 7 positions in the first half a lap, at one point I was in 6^th! On reflection maybe I started out a little too strong because, while I was loving the track (yes, even the little cyclocross section), by half way though my second lap the heat was really starting to get to me and I started to drop some of those places I’d made. With the help of the Hadleigh lot shouting me round I kept moving until on my last lap with help from Ben Matthews in the pits and Matthew Phillips shouting words of encouragement from somewhere in front of me I found a second burst of energy. I made up 3 of the places I lost in that last lap and crossed the line with absolutely nothing left.

I ended up coming 11^th of 83 riders in the men’s open category, not my best result but one I’m happy with.

A massive thank you is owed to everyone who helped out that day, from getting the much needed gazebos up through to the shouts of encouragement, it all made for a great atmosphere and a very fun race!

 

Phoenix was my first MSG race.  Kevin Darragh has been training the Rookie Squad members for a race at Hadleigh Park, but the cows had other ideas so the race was moved to Phoenix Cycleworks in Suffolk. 

(Photo Credit Kev Darragh)

We arrived to find the club marquees set up and a large number of familiar faces all going about their race preparations.  I did the practice lap but elected to take the B lines after the wooden steps of the first A line put me off.  MSG say their B lines can be ridden by almost anyone and I would agree.  It came to gridding and I chose to stay at the back, but soon found myself making up places as the field thinned out.  I could only really take on fluids on the long start straight and was greatly helped by Paul Cavalla with a welcome water bottle in the pits.  I completed my third lap with a Commissaire saying “Two more laps – probably!”.  As I neared the end of the lap, Kevin was there giving the welcome news that I was on the last lap and also that I needed to overtake the rider in front! I came in 55th out of 83 riders.  It was a great atmosphere with good friendly racing, and the range of abilities of the riders meant anyone would find someone to race against.  I would recommend it to anyone thinking of having a go at racing.

 

MS&G Round 5 – Phoniex Bike Park

My day started with arriving at Phoniex after carpooling with Jonathon Stanford (fellow rookie team member). After unloading my gear and finishing the HMTBC tents I went straight to sign on, and also helped Jonathon sign on. Once that was done it was time to carry on fueling for the race, for me this consisted of an electrolyte drink and later an energy bar and a gel before gridding. Whilst waiting for the course to open there was time for some general chat to see how everyone was and how they were feeling.

Before long the green flag was up and it was time for practice. I went out with Michael, who had been here previously, as this was my first time. As we went round I quickly realised it was going to be a bumpy, dusty and hot race, although it was early the sun was already bearing down on us and I could already feel the heat. I had been told earlier in the week by fellow members that I would be fine on the course and would be able to do the A-lines fine. When coming up to them I was a little anxious but, as I took them on, I found them all fine and was confident even under race conditions I would be fine going down them. After doing a lap and feeling happy with the course it was back to the tent to try and relax before the race.

09:45 came and it was time to go down to gridding. I got down there a bit quick which was good as it gave me time to get my starting gear sorted and have a couple of short sprints. We lined up and I suddenly realised that it was a massive field of riders, the biggest I had ever been part of and wondered if I had set my target too high. I shook my head and pushed the thought out, must keep positive. Once lined up we saw the girls and the youth male groups shoot off, that meant we were next. They moved us all up due to the size of our group and the shout of “anytime in the next 30 seconds” was heard.

I tried to focus whilst I waited for the whistle, then there it was and we were off. I had picked a good gear and got off well, but by the end of the first corner I was almost blind from all the dust and it seemed to take forever before I could see again. Everyone was bunched up like usual but I knew there was a long straight coming up so I sat with everyone and waited for my moment. The straight came and I quickly changed into my top gear and gunned it down the straight, taking places one after the other. After that I was feeling good and felt like I had made real progress, but then typically my bike had other ideas and my gears were jumping all over the place. I ended up fighting for quite some time to get them right again but once I did I managed to settle down and race my race. The laps went by and the heat got more and more intense, but luckily the dust settled so at least I could see. The A-lines felt good and I was feeling as good as I could under the conditions. I didn’t really have any slip ups throughout the race apart from forgetting I had more gears on a climb than I thought I had, helpfully Bradley Hurr was behind me and reminded me as he saw I was struggling a bit. Also a slight hiccup in the tech zone where I was carrying too much speed and missed my gel. With Ian Webb and the guys in the pit shouting encouragement at me, and Kevin Darragh pushing me to get on the back of people in front and possibly overtake them I was able to push myself to get round and make up some places that I had lost before.

As I got about a quarter of the way round on my 4th lap I suddenly heard the bell go for the leaders to say they were on their final lap. I thought to myself I can’t be lapped, I’ve worked too hard to be lapped now when I’m so close. So I dug in and pushed myself to get the bell before I got lapped. I managed to do so and was massively happy for about 2 seconds before I then realised I had to do another lap in this heat. I carried on and got myself through, and even managed to make up one last place at the end with encouragement from Kevin. I powered down the back straight turned on to the start finish straight and gave it everything I had left so I could finish strongly.

Once back in the tent I cooled off as much as I could and went to find out my result. 40th out of 83 starting riders with consistent lap times. I’m very happy with that. It was a hard race but one I really enjoyed. The features were a lot of fun and seeing so many hadleigh shirts around me was a great feeling.

A big thank you to all at the club for helping and for all the encouragement, a massive thank you to Kevin Darragh for all the coaching sessions leading up to this and for all his help getting us ready.

We started the day with coaching covering jumps and pumping on the pump track at Phoenix bike-works because they don’t have cows there.

We had Daddy and Graham coaching us today, Daddy was telling us to start and Graham was at the other end.  Daddy had to keep telling me to ride up higher on the berms to get more speed and because the top is smoother and faster than the gravel down the bottom.

Coaching was a bit shorter today because it was so hot we only did 20 minutes in each coaching are instead of the normal half an hour because it was so hot.

After the coaching we stopped had a drink and something to eat.

I headed over to the main race track on the other side if the road because we race the U12 races on part of the adult course.

I was gridded in the 4th row today and i got a really good start.  The bits of the track that had paths were smooth but the bits on the grass were bumpy but it was still rideable.  I got past a few people today on the straights and i could hear Daddy and Zoe shouting at me as i went passed the car park.  I started to feel my bike feel funny when i was cornering and found my back tyre was flat, i had a puncture 🙁 that meant race over for me. My bike isn’t running tubeless, well it wasn’t but it will be soon after today.  Although i didn’t finish the whole race i was 31st out of 33 which is better than my normal last place.

Overall a hot day and I still love mountain biking.

Mason Porter

I started today in the U12s coaching because i didn’t want to be in a different group to the one daddy was coaching.  We did manuals, pumping and cornering on berms today.  I really enjoyed it and Daddy told me which bits to try and do and what not to as I was younger than the rest.

In the race I was gridded 8th,  we all started and I started well overtaking a couple of the other girls.  They caught me up on one of the bigger bumps at the start of the pump track we had as part of our track.  We had a head start in front of the boys.  Some of them caught us up though not that it matters because I wasn’t racing the boys.  I was a bit slower today on the pump track because I was a bit nervous of my new bike.  On the straight on my second lap I got stuck behind two girls.  I overtook them as soon as I could.

Once the race finished dad was at the end and he poured water n my head over my helmet to cool me off, i was soaked but much cooler.

I finished 8th today, I’m happy with that on my new bike.  Bring on Hintlesham.

Zoe Porter aged 7 and a half.

National Series Round 4 – Dalby Forest, Yorkshire – Robert Bates

Preparation for this race started about 3 weeks ago with my training programme which was scheduled around revision for my AS exams which were taken over the last 4 weeks.  As we couldn’t book a hotel near to the course we decided to make the trip to Dalby Forest and back on race day.  We spent some time on Saturday getting ready for the early start on Sunday by preparing the equipment and food etc that we needed to take with us.

We had an early start on Sunday, my parents got up at 2.30am to make the final preparations and then got me up in time to leave at 3.15am.  The journey took about 4 and a half hours, fortunately for me I managed to sleep for most of the journey.  When we arrived I signed on and got changed ready for a practice lap.  We then met up with Iain Webb, another HMTBC team member who had ridden a couple of practice laps on the Saturday and he gave me an insight into some of the technical sections of the course.  He told me that there were some sections where there was only an A line and no B line and after riding the course I agreed with him that maybe there should have been an option of a B line.  The course was good, very wet and a lot of it was technical.  Conditions were not good as there had been quite a bit of rain during the week before the race and it was quite muddy.  After my practice lap I got changed and had my breakfast whilst my Dad cleaned my bike.  Then my friend Kieran Jarvis and his parents arrived and Kieran went out on his practice lap at the 10 am practice slot.  It’s good to see friends at these races as they could be a lonely event otherwise and a little bit of Eastern rivalry is always fun as there were not many Eastern region riders at this event.  It was good to see Andy Sampson up and around and making a good recovery supporting his family racing for Sussed Out Suspension

Iain’s race was after the Youth race and my Mum helped him out with his bottle changes in the pits. I went out and had a look at the course to see the lines that the Vets were taking, to see if I could pick up any changes in the course conditions.  After Iain’s race we settled down to relax for a little while whilst we waited for my race.

It was then time for me to get ready and warm up on my rollers.  My race was delayed slightly as the previous 2 races had over-run due to the conditions.  As a result the Elite and Expert races were reduced by a lap, however the Juniors were given the choice of reducing their laps from 4 to 3 but decided to stick with 4 laps.  We were then gridded and set off, first the Elites then a minute or two later the Juniors and then a minute or so after us the Experts.

I had a good race, conditions deteriorated after we started as it poured with rain making the sections that were not in the trees very slippery.  I was glad that we had made the decision to change my tyres from Scylla’s to Hyperion’s as they gave me the extra grip I needed.  The field spread out quite quickly and I settled into a good rhythm.  I finished in 18^th place which is my best finish at a National event and made the long journey worthwhile.

After the race I got changed and cleaned myself up whilst my parents packed up and cleaned my bike.  We then set off on the long journey home.  We stopped to eat on the way and finally got home at 11pm, nearly 20 hours since we left, it had been a very long day.  We parked up and decided to put all the equipment away the next day as my parents had taken the day off work.

Next morning we got up and my parents unloaded the car, my Dad cleaned my bike and put everything away and I prepared my new set of Scylla tyres ready for the next race on Sunday.

All races take a lot of effort and planning not just by me but by my family who give up a lot of their spare time to support me, however the National races take even more effort because they can be quite a distance away as well.  It was great to see Carl Harper at the event marshalling representing HMTBC, thanks for your support.  I would like to say a big thanks to not only the team sponsors, Hardnutz, Cyclewrap, Mitas and Scimitar but also to my parents, without them my racing would not be possible.  Also a big thanks to my coach, Loose Cannon’s Conditioning for my training programme and continued support and advice, it’s really making a difference to my results.

Rob Staines