This blog will follow the training and racing activities of the UK based Women's XC Mountain Bike Team. We are the only such team in the UK and are dedicated to raising the profile of women's mountain biking through our enthusiasm and commitment to the sport.
The first round of the Southern XC Series was finally here. I was really looking forward to it. The weather was sunny and warm which made the course quite dry; although in some places there were a few wet sections. As this was going to be a venue for the British Mountain Bike Series Round 2, it was a great opportunity to race on the grounds. I was a bit nervous for this race but tried not to let it get the better of me. I had the race bottles ready in order and a few gels to take with me. I started my warm up at a reasonable time so that my legs were limbered up ready to race. I took deep breaths on the start line and stayed focussed. The gun went off and we all shot off together. I had a good start, accelerating as much as possible. My legs didn’t feel 100% as I got round part of the course. I didn’t let this get to me and tried to concentrate on my riding.
After a while my mind started to wonder and slipped out of race mode. This was hard to tackle with and I really tried to get back into it but it was a bit too late. By the time I got on to my last lap I was psychologically tired but made sure I finished the race. I was disappointed with my performance but I still managed to get 3rd and I was pleased that I finished the race. I am looking forward to Round 2 at Pippingford Estate 23rd May.
Had a great start on the front of the line but the smoke granade was a bit sketchy and the Le Mans start was quite long so I struggled to keep up with the guys. With a good bike position in transition I managed to stay out of the carnage on the initial descent, which was lucky, as the first corner was a hard left into a big puddle of mud. The course had a lot of climbing, suits me, and a timed descent .The mud became a problem after a couple of laps it was more efficient to carry the bike and run through it was brutal on the legs and it smelt like more than mud! There were a couple of sections like this and after a dry week and a warm day they still managed to find sum bogs;) I had 2 nosebleeds, which were inconvenient but not too much bother. Got through 5 litres of fluid, as it was really warm. Managed to do 8 laps, started to get really frustrated with the mud and smelling like poo, had a sprint finish with a bloke I won and he had a head start so that was satisfying. I did win the race but I felt that I rode badly because I lost concentration a few times and wasn’t consistent in my laps and wasn’t smooth my timing was poor but it won't happen again because now I'm annoyed even though I finished on top.
The past month has been a very busy start to my race season. Having finally decided to make the move up to elite, I thought it was about time I actually started training properly. So instead of just riding my bike when/where I wanted I’ve been following a structured training programme constructed by my coach. My first year in elite is all about getting as much racing experience as possible and getting stuck into racing. There is no pressure on me to perform. Having completed my first elite race I went into the university championships quietly confident. After two years of disappointing races at BUCS I was desperate to perform. After two nights of sleeping in a freezing cold tent in Scotland I was ready to race and get out of Scotland as quick as possible! I had done two laps of the course previous to my race with all my Uni friends. I am pretty lucky that I have a good group of talented mountain bikers to train with at University and they’re willing to help me when I get stuck on a hard technical section! The course consisted of a fast grassy start followed by some swooping single track, a big fire road climb and then some fun single track sections. After studying the start list I knew that if I wanted to do well I would have to give it full gas from the start and keep going as hard as I could for as long as I could. I managed to get a good lead on the first lap and steadily increased my lead over the three laps. WXC swept the board with the podium with Meg and Carla in 2nd and 3rd. The 28th of March was a day that I had been having nightmares about for weeks. It was my first national elite race. Unfortunately after spending several days with students I caught a gland infection and when I went to race I didn’t have any energy in my legs so I had to pull out after only completing one lap. Feeling disappointed and lacking in confidence I returned home to Yorkshire for my Easter break. I had several days off the bike recovering and then I made a few trips to Dalby to ride the world cup course. The second time I took a friend to help me with some of the sections I was struggling with. Easter Sunday was the opening round of the nutcracker north east mtb series. I am very happy that mountain bike racing has returned to my home county of Yorkshire. This first round happened to only be 10 miles from my house so, I pre-rode the course on the Saturday. The course would have been really fast had it not been for all the rain we’ve had recently, so instead it was very muddy and a bit of a slog. Despite knowing that that type of course doesn’t really suit me I got stuck in and gave it my all. Kate Potter and my team mate Cait Elliot were also riding. Kate went flying off from the start and I tried to stay with her as long as possible (that wasn’t for very long at all) Cait did a much better job at keeping up with Kate and had a very good ride. I rode most of the race on my own but was pleased with the fact that I actually finished the race which was a big improvement on the weekend before. Cait is looking very strong for the world cup in Dalby, plus she loves the technical stuff so I think she will be flying! It was nice to have my family there to support me; I think my brother liked laughing at me covered in mud. He likes the mud and rain so was in his element. In the Juvenile race Gretel was also racing. She had a very good race by the looks of it, so it was a successful weekend for WXC mountain bike team UK.
I’d like to say a major thanks to the guys from Nutcracker mtb series for putting on such a great event and I’m looking forward to the rest of the series. I’d also like to say thanks to my team WXC and all our sponsors.
It was a very long trip up to Scotland from Devonbut it was worth it in the long run.The downhillers championship race was on Saturday and the cross country championship race was on Sunday.
When I pre rode the course I did at least 3 laps, I expected it to be very technical and hilly, but in fact in wasn’t as hard as I thought. There was a mixture of single track, fire track climb and a twisty descent.
After my ride I supported the other Plymouth Uni Students in the downhill race. It was a really good experience watching them and how the littlest mistakes could cost a lot of time.
The Saturday night was very noisy as some of the Uni’s were celebrating there success in the downhill event.
My race was at 1pm on Sunday, which was a good time to prepare myself and get everything ready. I was quite confident that Id do well, but I didn’t want to be overconfident as this would have affected my performance psychologically.
I had a good start; was positioned in the top 5 for the first sprint before everyone spaced out. We had 3 laps to do; racing as a junior last year in the national series with 3 laps, I knew how to pace myself.After lap 1 I was positioned 4th. I kept a good distance between myself and 3rd and new which point I would pass her without tiring to early. On lap two, she crashed quite badly in front of me which in the end cost her the whole race. At this point in a way I was relieved but also thinking she may have got back on her bike and carried on, so I kept focussed and rode strong. By the end of lap 2 I took in a gel so that It would kick in by the time I was on lap 3.
My final lap I rode as hard as I could to close the gap between myself and 3rd . I sprinted down the firetrack which was the last part of the course before the finish.
I was really pleased with my performance and it was a good, quick race the week before my first national as an Elite rider!
2nd place was MeggieBichard and 1st Place was Jessie Roberts, both of which are my team mates, so from that point of view the team, Plymouth Uni andmyself hada very successful weekend.
The other Plymouth Uni Students were very encouraging throughout the whole race and supported me in every way possible.
The weekend as a whole was most enjoyable and successful aswell; I would very much like to compete again next year and hopefully get another podium position.
British Mountain Bike Series round 1 Sherwood pines, Nottingham UK
It was back up to Sherwood Pines for the first round of the series. As the enduro was cancelled I swapped events and thought I'd have a go at xc.
I noticed xc etiquette is quite different! Although I take my riding seriously I felt some people took it to the negative extreme - I'll let my riding do the talking and leave the masochism else where.
After excepting the eliteness of all it was time to get down to business, I was slightly disappointed in BC's decision to enter me in the sport category as I felt it was unfair on others in the category because I have done race's before and I found it extremely frustrating starting on the grid last.
At the last minute, on the line, I manged to progress to the front where I intended to try and hold my position into the singletrack. And I did.
From there I picked off riders that were in front and made it my aim to catch the expert women just to prove a point.
The course was a lot better than I expected and there were a few fun bits, I did have to get off at one point because there was a pile up were someone had fallen at the bottom of a dip and then some more people had landed on them, tried hard not to laugh!
I didn`t find the course too demanding and the pace was fine, I won the sport category but most importantly I learnt that I love riding and will never behave towards other cyclists the way some people behaved towards others at this event.
As we rolled out of the ceremonial start I was feeling rather apprehensive about this marathon race. I’ve only done one Merida (and not the full distance at that) and a 100km in Thetford – not really the same as an 89km hilly race in 30o heat. Still I had everything I needed to survive (thanks Chris!) and a race plan that should be foolproof – pacing! (thanks Jenny C).
The real start was a lot more hectic. I’d started pretty far forwards and thought since we were going up the road for at least the first few km I’d try and stay in a bunch near the front. I saw my HR shoot skywards immediately however and knew that the front group were gone including Chris, local Brit James Ouchterlony and the top girls. I found myself in the tail-end of the second group. I was able to draft these guys for a while but found that as soon as the road hit steeper switchbacks the pace was too high. I dropped off the back with a couple of others and found my own speed.
Hitting the dirt roads on the other side of an amazing stone paved bridge I started to move forwards in the pack – this is a good sign I thought. This climb seemed to go quite quickly and before long I found myself on a very fun dirt road descent. Compared to those around me I found I was much more confident at riding these roads at speed, floating over the occasional rocky patches and generally keeping a very good pace. My Moda carbon frame and reba forks soaked up the biggest of the bumps whilst also being stiff enough for me to get some good acceleration over the odd short climb.
I grabbed a bottle of water and downed a cup of coke at the next feed and got stuck into the next climb. This was more undulating than the last and the ups were steeper. Having rehydrated somewhat I found that I was again passing lots of people who had zipped away from me at the start. I had already seen the front men on an earlier section where the route crossed itself, but had not seen any of the women. I wondered whether I might be able to just sneak into the prizes. It turns out this might not have been a good thought!
On the descent back into Maspalomas for the first time (we were doing two loops because of earlier weather destroying some of the ‘extreme’ route). I passed one of the girls who had looked very ‘pro’ at the start. She had punctured on the descent and was pumping away at a new tube. Knowing there was still a long way to go I didn’t get too excited at this point, but did put my head down to make sure that I did not waste the advantage that the 40psi in my tyres and smooth riding (thanks Chris for the instruction in this) over the bigger stones gave me.
Hitting the road climb for the second time I was not feeling so good however. My right leg intimated it might cramp and I realised I had been drinking lots of water but had hardly touched the Torq energy drink in my camelbak. I guzzled as much of this as I could manage and like magic the cramp never set in properly. Hitting the dirt track again the unfortunate lass with the puncture passed me. I tried to jump on her wheel but she was clearly able to go too fast for my tiring legs so I told myself not to be silly and got back into my rhythm.
By the time I had done all of the climb-descend, climb-descend bits on this lap I was getting a bit bored. I had no one around me and had been riding for around 3 and a half hours. As I came down one of the rocky sections I saw that the same girl I had passed earlier with a puncture was fixing her wheel again. Reinspired I pushed hard again and it took her a very long time to get back to me this time in fact until just before the final descent. I felt pretty good about my descending by this point and decided to push her as much as I could – bad plan! On a right hand corner I lost traction with my front wheel and came down hard. I didn’t slide too far thankfully but my foot did not unclip and got twisted under the bike as I landed – ouch. I got up tested my weight on it and although painful I was still able to walk so I hopped back on the bike determined as ever. Cycling on it was actually ok until I hit left hand bends. Where I would normally put down my left leg and use the weight to turn myself I was unable to because of the pain in my left ankle. This meant I became the master of braking well before such turns so I could gingerly get the bike round with my right leg down – not ideal.
The worst section however was the river bed crossings. I could no longer get enough speed up to push through them so had to get off the bike and limp, very slowly across. I must have looked a sight, grimacing in pain but refusing to stop. By this point though I was so close to the finish there was no way I was stopping. When I finally saw the overpass which indicated I was on the edge of Maspalomas I was elated. A little prematurely it turned out as the final section into the Parc turned out to be a wasteland scatted with blocks of concrete which required hopping onto and sandy sections – I would normally be fine with this but just could not push hard enough to get though it.
When I finally crossed the finish line to see Chris grinning at me I was done. I told him I needed ice for my ankle and his face was a picture (I have had a number of accidents due to my competitive nature when MTBing in the past). So he and a lovely girl from the organising committee helped me hobble to the medics. Despite my protestations, lack of any money or any form of ID they insisted I go to hospital for a check up. Chris was left to find a taxi for himself and the bikes and I was panicking because I had the apartment key. It turns out Canarian hospitals are more efficient than their taxi firms however and I was able to beat him back and finally collapse on the sofa.
So what have I learned from all this. I needn’t have been worried about the distance, coach Jenny has prepared me well. I probably would have done quite well (5th place), but that I should not go crazy trying to compete with people and ride beyond the limit after 70km in the mountains.
Thanks to Trevor and Keith and the WXC Mountain Bike team, to Moda Bikes, American Classic wheels and USE components. Also thanks to Goodridge cables, Torq nutrition and Daisy Amelia clothing.
Three althetes from WXC clean up at the British University and Colleges Sport Mountain bike cross country championships held in Southern Scotland, welldone to Jessie Roberts (champion), Meggie Bichard, Silver medalist and Carla Haines,
Bronze medal winner.
The next race is the first round of the British Mountain Bike National series at Sherwood Pines, Nottinghamshire.
And good luck to Rachel in the Gran Canaries Marathon event.
