I made a special trip the hometown of the famous American cycle company, Yeti. It was an amazing 3 days with the main even being a 34 mile 90% downhill singletrack ride from the top of a mountain taking in some of the Colorado trail.
The event was held at some secret location near Durango, where Yeti first started before moving out to Golden. About 250 Yeti fans and freaks were there for 3 days of bikes, beer and camping. The whole Company was there, most of the World Cup team riders and original founding members all of which were very welcoming and invited me to tour the factory on my way back to Denver.
Yeti were kind enough to lend me one of their many demo bikes to save taking mine all the way out there. See the video using the link (I'm wearing the SDCC Jersey) . I'll tell you all about it at the next shop ride.
http://www.yeticycles.com/#/video/new/2010TribeGathering/
Gorrick Brass Monkeys Series
The three venues are perfect for Enduro racing in 4 hour and 2 hour Enduro format with categories for Male, Female, Veteran and Under 18's. Also a non-series Fun category of 1 hour. Brass Monkeys is a Series so all three events score points and count to the final positions. There will be podium presentation of trophies on the day with series prizes at the last round, along with some cracking spot prizes.
- Round One: 28th November 2010 - WINTER WARMER at Rushmoor Arena, Aldershot, Hampshire
- Round Two: 28th December 2010 - CHRISTMAS CRACKER at Ash Ranges, Ash, Surrey
- Round Three: 23rd January 2011 - NEW YEAR HANGOVER at Parkhurst Hill, Tweseldown, Hampshire
Ulra - Trail Du Mont Blanc
Stephen’s “view from the back of the pack” whilst ultra running around Mont Blanc:
Courmayeur-Champex-Chamonix (CCC)
The drizzle wet our 2300 faces at the start melee in Courmayeur, so I turned to Margot and gave a thumbs up sign: good British summer weather. Yeah. Fantastic. The gods are with me. I fade in the heat. Omens were good: I had collected my entrant’s t-shirt and went on to achieve a finisher’s fleece gilet, so now John K would let me come home. What happened between collecting the two garments could fill five pages, but I’ll give a flavour here.
The CCC (98k 5600m ascent) is one of four races around Mont Blanc and for the first time in its history was halted due to the appalling weather. The long UTMB (166k) was stopped and restarted on a short course, both male and female classes being won by Brits. The third race on the southern route (111k) was never even started, and the five day team event (244k) had numerous withdrawals. Sponsors The North Face pitch the UTMB as the greatest trail run in Europe. Some say the world, but the Americans pretend theirs are better, like the ‘world’ baseball championship. Whatever, it certainly is one of the ‘must-do’ races in your lifetime.
The atmosphere increased during the preceding days in Chamonix as the stars arrived, and you never knew who you might meet in an early morning jog, or down at the supermarket. National French TV cover the race and the Italians and Swiss villagers along the route play their part in amping the excitement and motivation.
Friday race day: The 10 am drizzle turned to heavy rain as we jogged through the narrow streets of Courmayeur and out and up into the mountains. Thousands of spectators cheered us along, cowbells clanging as we ran hood-up splashing through the puddles, just like August on the Downs with the Flyers. Start-line adrenaline zoomed ‘coureurs’ up the singletrack to the first checkpoint at Bertone. Bottlenecks were common at this stage as overtaking opportunities were limited. I had chosen to stay longer in bed for a later bus transfer to the start, so wasn’t sufficiently high up the grid. The first killer hill is Tronche with outstanding views back into Italy, Mont Blanc and the magnificent Grand Jorasses. Fortunately, the rain abated and we sped (ahem) along reasonably compact trails. A quick tightening of my laces and a 5k downhill bomb to Bonatti satisfies my speed lust. Quick check of water, no re-fill needed, ten minutes saved in my runplan.
Bonatti to Arnuva is a beautiful traverse with superb glacier views and high peaks, followed by another fast downhill. Margot and Graham had used the supporters’ bus to greet me at Arnuva with pasta and For Goodness Shakes. Essential food as I knew that the following climb to the Grand Col Ferret is seriously steep. Trail running poles are essential. The rain had abated and the sun shone. Curses. This section offers no shade. Immediately, the clouds race in and the wind builds to almost a hurricane. I maintain my own pace, knowing there are four more big ‘uns to come, and 120+ people pass by me. I only get past 20 on the downhill! The descent has a revision to last year with a more direct route
down a very narrow v-shaped rocky gully. It was ‘After you, Claude’ along here, very gingerly by one and all. A gentle run downhill in a thunderstorm to the next foodstation at La Fouly, arriving at 18.40, 40 minutes ahead of my schedule. Time for a half baguette sandwich and another FGS (I’d taken the powder version, much to be recommended as its kind to an already stressed body). The run then continues along stunningly beautiful Swiss countryside, many new chalets being built. The rain is now stairrods, and the local children are huddled under shelters in the villages but still bravely shouting ‘Allez’ and ‘Bravo’ or high fiving to us later runners. Head torches shining, Champex approaches at just over the half way marker at 55k and 21.23pm, an hour ahead of schedule, another steep wooded track leading to the marquee….which is rammed. Space is non-existent as it is the main refuelling station by the organisers……everything from soup, pasta, chips. I was searching for Margot and Graham, but were nowhere to be seen. Little did we know, but the UTMB and been stopped after 21k due the atrocious weather. All the supporters’ buses had been diverted to rescue the runners. Quick phone call discovered they were still 15 mins away. Graham came running up the hill into transition with two rucksacks completely knackered. What a star. I shyly changed into Smartwool top and dry leggings and PhD socks. Nearby, several Italian women graciously looked the other way, whilst they dried their coats in front of a blower-heater. Graham took my jacket to do the same. Though even gore-tex couldn’t cope with this rain. An hour later, I leave suitably refreshed into the continuing storm for the infamous Bovine.
The Ferret spooks me because of the barren exposure and unrelenting zigzags. The Bovine is incredibly steep and rocky and, for this year, glorious mud. I had climbed it in training, so knew what to expect: 3 hours to Trient in the dry, including a fast descent after the punishing climb. I set off at a great pace, even overtaking people uphill. Me? Shurely shum mishtake. And then we hit the boulders. Single file and stop was the order of the day as people struggled to quickly surmount the obstacles in the monsoon dark. Some time later we emerged onto the wider track near the summit where there was a checkpoint. Fortunately, they were offering soup and people were huddled inside to escape the horrendous elements. The fierce windy rain blew you sideways, risking an ankle twist as the path was two narrow ruts. I didn’t want to stop and get cold so continued, just gulping a caffeine gel.At the top of Bovine the route passes a gate that denotes the passage down to Forclaz to continue to Trient. Just the stage to make up time, I thought. The path traverses and descends at the same time, with a 2000m slip over the edge through the trees to Martigny if you took a tumble. Which one chap in front of me nearly did, saved by a bush in the nick of time. I had got my rhythm and was really in the groove at this point. Jogging and sliding on the relatively gritty parts of the trail, skipping over the roots, knees bent and poles stretched out in front of me. All went well until I met a group going way too slowly but couldn’t pass them. 1k of frustration later, we came to Forclaz. I sprinted past 20 people on the Col before the track darted back down the hillside. I am so glad I did, as the next section was an exceptionally tight series of zigzags that were a complete mudslide. At one point I was snowploughing through the mud to brake before the turns. Possibly good fun at any other time but not at 2.00 in the morning. Three o’clock brought me into Trient and I was very pleased to see Margot’s face appearing out of the marquee. They were worried as I was over the time I had indicated. This section had taken four and a half hours. Quick refuel and out the door.
The Tseppes lead uphill to Catogne and are also dreaded, as this hill never seems to end. I knew that the terrain wasn’t too severe, just a long slog. As you can imagine, this path was now a downhill river, with mudstreams everywhere. This caused much bunching and I had to do a bit of ducking and diving to overtake runners with lots of franglais ‘pardons’ and ‘scusi’. I was truly flying. Must have been a combo of the gels and the fact that I was totally confident that I had the race cracked! Then, some headtorches were coming towards me. Hikers? Marshals? No, competitors. Not too many English guys were racing, and eventually I found a Dutch guy who explained that ‘there was no path’, the race was stopped, and we had to return. WHAT?? I checked with another person that it really was over. If I had been 40+ places higher, I may have made it through…or got caught in something nasty. We had heard a rumour in Trient that the UTMB had been halted due to the conditions, but assumed that we could continue and maybe given extra time. One can understand the organiser’s duty of care, but pssssht the air blew from my personal balloon. I made a quick phone call to Graham to see if they had boarded their bus, and if not, to do so quickly, otherwise they were about to be bounced by 200 returning runners. We were fed raclette and beer whilst waiting turns for the buses, eventually arriving at Chamonix at 5.30am……and passed some solitary early finishing runners on the way back to base.
Highlights: The buzz in the town leading up to the race. Bombing down the Bovine in the crappy conditions
Lowlights: Friend David being ill and having to withdraw four days prior to the start
The two guys running with red lights on the rear of their headtorches….just like the morons on the motorway with foglights dazzling unnecessarily
Being denied the opportunity to run with Margot and Graham through the town to the finish with thousands of people cheering you in. It would have been nice to get the glory just the nice.
The finish line that should have been. I had 8 hours/23k before the time limit to arrive.
An amazing race. 75k completed plus 4k return. No blisters, aches or pains.
Thanks to the ‘gang’ for training with me and to Margot and Graham for putting up with my dreams. They do come true.
Kielder 100 Report
Photos courtesy of Amanda!
Some of you may have heard of this race, but as it's so far away I don't think anyone else from the club has ridden it. Here's a brief description:
The first edition of the K100 was held last year. It's a full on race, as opposed to a "non competitive" enduro. It takes place unsurprisingly within Kielder Forest, but also in the surrounding hills and moorland. The route crosses into Scotland, taking the riders into Newcastleton and the bike park there, before returning to Kielder proper. The route is mixture of purpose built bike trails, fire roads and high level bridlepaths in the hills. Unlike most enduros, it has just the one lap. Unlike most enduros, it's 100 miles, not KM, with about 13,000ft of climbing so it's pretty tough. There's also the small matter of an 800 mile round trip to get there! Amanda kindly kept me company for what would have been a very long few days.
In 2009 when I rode it, the weather had been dreadful all week leading up to the race, resulting in a very wet course with parts under a few feet of water. I finished with no brakes, as did most of the field due to the abrasive grit in the area. That time it took 9'15" to finish, so as you can imagine I was watching the weather forecast last week with some trepidation. This year proved to be a massive contrast. It had been dry all week in the area and we had good weather on the day, so only the course to contend with , not the weather. To ensure things weren't "too easy" for us, the organisers added more climbing to this year's event. This years' times were quicker but not massively.
We set off at 6:30 AM, all 700 of us with riders from as far as Australia and some top UK names (including 250 vets!) behind a pace car, road race style. It was quite civilised until it pulled over and the race began. The pace then went up to my all out one lap XC pace for the first 10 miles. The speed was ridiculous, but it did the trick, there was no bunching of riders by now, just a few dotted about in front and behind me. We formed constantly changing groups as people faded or got stronger. I was glad of the company of people like Ant White, Rich Rothwell, Dan Treby, Adrian Scott & co. Together we helped each other make pace over the next several hours, covering all sorts of diverse terrain from bogs (yes there were still a few) to board walks ( we crossed a bog where a JCB had sunk to its roof...)
By the time we reached halfway, things had really thinned out. I took care not to ride on my own to keep the pace up as much as possible, which really paid off. The group I was with gradually whittled down to me and Dan (5th 2010 solo rider at Mayhem on his single speed) who was pacing me up the climbs, with me leading out the descents. In the last 10 miles he was really suffering as he'd crashed very heavily and needed stitches. The course was unrelenting and had finished off a lot of the field. Stragglers were directed down cut off routes at the various check points if they were riding too slowly. 350 riders finished. The fastest time was Andrew Cockburn with a runaway time of 7'57", 15 minutes ahead of the next rider, with the last rider home at 14 hours.
For my part I got 2nd in the Vets category in 8'50" and 14th overall. Paul Ashby won the vets. He's a hugely strong rider who I've never managed to beat yet......but one day!
I would recommend the race to the club, if you are confident with long distances and climbing.
RAPID RACER BORDON ENDURO
24TH OCTOBER :- Cats to suit everybody , please come along Andy , Ian & John will be there and would love to have more company on the day !
West Drayton MBC return to Bordon Hampshire for another Autumn enduro, for the regular xc racers Bordon needs no introduction a venue that has hosted mountain bike racing since the early 90’s. Hard standing car park, superb flowing single track with some great swooping bermed down hills a favourite for many racers and a circuit that stands up to bad weather well. Prizes donated by Rapid Racer Products
Location:BordonStation Road, , Hampshire, GU35 0LR
12:12 Torq in your Sleep - 29th August
Minley Manor and Gorrick hosted a hugely successful and enjoyable 3rd edition of TORQ In Your Sleep. The organisation was perfect, the arena was well setup, and the course was one of the year’s favourites with tricky singletrack with names to boot.
A small team of 3 made the short trip up to Army land in Aldershot for another race and another new venue for us.
Andy and Ian P were riding in the Male pairs and I was attempting the vet solo. A quick glance around the riders at the brief gave us a good insight into how tough this was going to be. Strong teams from Torq,Ergon,Mtn Trax,XC Racer,Morvelo and some handy solo riders.
Andy was lead for the pair and he turned in a quick 45 min lap, whilst I took a more leisurely 55 mins thinking of the long day to come.
The baton was a wristband and this seemed to cause quite a few teams problems as they struggled to get it off over their gloves and many were dropping them on the handovers. Those bands from Mayhem are certainly effective and perhaps the next purchase for the Gorrick team
Andy and Ian were lapping in pretty consistent times and were in the top 20, I was churning out hour laps and was slowly moving up the field also in the top 20.
4 laps in, the heavens opened and this turned the track which was dry and fast into one where you had to be a little careful as there was plenty of rooty sections. Spongebob was a little treacherous as was the Minley Maze which was tight and twisty. 
Luck was on our side the rain stopped and by 7pm when you had to fit your lights the course had dried out again.
Dusk came and the lap times started to slow, by this time the fast boys were coming up to lap me for a second if not third time. This is always the worst time of the race as daylight disappears and your lights are a little ineffective for a while before complete darkness arrives. 
This was a great event, plenty of thanks for letting people past,a truly great atmosphere with music blaring out from under the Bridge to Nowhere and free beer at the finish. Perhaps we should camp next year???
Thanks to Gorrick and the Army Cycling Union for probably one of the best enduro's of the year.
A great report from a tri-athlete's first mtb race at Torq in your Sleep
http://i-must-try-harder.blogspot.com/ 2010/09/gorrick-1212-torq-in-your-sleep.html
2010 Parham Kermesse
Here is a link to a report by Graham Robins for British Cycling.
http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/road/article/roa20100831-Report--2010-Parham-House-Kermesse-0
Results Cat 3
http://www.surreyleague.co.uk/results/results2010/aug2010/aug28-am.htm
Results Elite/1/2/3
http://www.surreyleague.co.uk/results/results2010/aug2010/aug28-pm.htm
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