A club organised event set off from  Bramley and Wonersh the start of the 36.7 mile Downs Link  to Shoreham.

The usual unreliable British weather forecasts was for heavy rain but luckily this didn't materialise and light drizzle was all we encountered for the first few hours and then sunshine with a strong headwind. The route is well sign posted and apart from a few punctures we  got into a steady pace and arrived at Southwater Country Park for lunch where we joined by another 11 riders.

 
After some well deserved food and a couple of brews we were on our way again heading along the trail towards Shoreham. Just after Henfield the path opens out onto the floodplain of the River Adur where the views of the South Downs are spectacular. From here we followed the river on it's relentless march to the coast to Shoreham and some well deserved burgers and a beer or 3.

Thanks to Sharon and Mark for their support and a well organised day.

Erlestoke Enduro

I had only heard positive things from those who entered last years Erlestoke Enduro. I have raced at the venue before – but only through the mud, snow and ice of January's Salisbury Plain Challenge. With the weather forecast predicting the week long heat wave to continue into the weekend I was keen to see the venue in a different light! At 8.30am the temperature was already rising nicely as we struggled to wrestle three 29ers into Ian's car. I would be riding the 6 hour solo while Ian and Fay were entering the Mixed Pairs.

It was great to see a large turnout of South Downs Bikes riders to greet us in the car park, all sporting new 29ers!! There was just time for an early lunch of ham and jam sandwiches before joining the huge starting grid that formed for the Noon start. Numbers were undoubtedly swelled by the glorious weather – with 80 riders in the Solo male category alone!

There was a short starting loop to spread the field and then it was out onto the course proper. After a flowing descent into the wood the course emerged onto an undulating, strength-sapping grassy traverse across the fields to the foot of the hill. The climb started as wooded singletrack but then opened onto a steep gravel road. Having reached the top there wasn’t time for a rest as the route headed out across the open hill top into a strong headwind. The field was well spread by now but I was still riding close to the front and slipstreamed a group of riders onto Ian’s wheel and then followed him down the descent back to the arena.

As we rode past the campsite Ian took his eyes off the trail for a moment to check his watch and missed a little depression in the path. From my viewpoint it looked like somebody had tossed a doll into the air! When I reached the scene Ian was a bloody mess with road rash on arms and legs. He slowly made it back to his feet while I retrieved his bike and then uncomfortably remounted telling me to continue. He handed over to Fay and was patched up by the medics and rode another 4 laps. But I bet he was sore this morning!

The descent from the top of the hill was a belter. It was fast and flowing, twisting and turning between the trees on the chalky soil we're all familiar with at home on the South Downs. Even after 6 hours I was still really enjoying myself, throwing the bike down the switchbacks! 

I managed to keep the laps ticking over just under the magic 40 minute mark, completing my 9th lap with a couple of minutes to spare. My favourite race of the year  - a combination of sunshine and great trails!

Solo 6hr
4th	Ben Connor	9 laps
5th	James D'Arcy	8 laps
21st	Damian Redman	7 laps
24th	John Davies	7 laps
50th	Andy Goodyer	5 laps
Mixed Pairs 6hr
1st	Ian Petherbridge  Fay Cripps			9 laps

Hove Crits & Steyning Tri

Hove crit road race cat 2/3 was held on 18th May. I did the first of the series a few weeks prior and came 4th on this short 1km circuit, including a leg sapping mini climb in it. From our cycling school teacher (aka Steve Calland) he gave me some useful tips on racing from Tuesdays Goodwood race (did crap) and basically kept my eye on one of the stronger riders Mike Coyle. When he jumped I went with him and we did about 6 laps together before he pulled away from me, leaving me to do about another 8 laps on my own with the pack hunting me down. In most races I nearly always feel sick with pushing hard, but this was the first time I have actually thrown up during a race and was reaching a few times on the final lap. Managed to get 2nd so that will do. Full race report is posted here (luckily no mention of me being sick ha);

http://www.velouk.net/2012/05/19/report-george-samuel-memorial-hove-park-crits-2/

Steyning Triathlon on 4th May went better than I had expected, despite the grim rainy 6'C weather. (if you think riding in this weather on a normal ride is bad, try doing it straight after swimming in a nice warm pool and run out bare foot in a tiny trisuit then hop on the bike and deal with the cold air blasting on your cold wet body (i.e no warm kit / water proofs). My arms were cold but DAM I thought my bits and pieces had frost bite, I was in some serious discomfort!!!!

My 800m (32 lap) swim was not very fast  by my normal standards, but not terrible to compare to others at 4/83, 36.5km Bike 3/83 and 8km run 7/83. I finished up as 2nd Snr male and 3rd overall. So got a nice pair of shades from Bloc plus a weee trophy.

Plans for the next tri's are another couple of local races before my Half Ironman (1.9km swim, 90km bike, then just to make things fun a half marathon to end) in California on 15th July. It will be frigging hot and it will be more of a tick box as there will be many pros doing it along with Joe average like myself. Then in Sept the London Olympic plus, which is a 1.5km swim, 90km bike and 10km run.

                             

http://www.southdownsbikes.com/news.php?articleid=219

Gorrick 100

The Gorrick 100 is a tough event and after two weeks of rain I feared it was going to be a long day. Luckily much of the course was on the all-weather trails of Swinley Forrest and there were only a couple of slippery sections to spice things up. Naturally the course included the infamous Surrey Hill cliff face and a couple of other tough little gradients. However, these were loaded towards the beginning of the lap allowing you to enjoy the rest of the course which was a maze of serpentine switchbacks and singletrack.

 

I was up bright and early for the 7 lap start. It was chilly and damp underfoot but the rain held off. Learning the lessons of the previous 10 years I started slowly. Others raced off only for me to catch them again a few hours later, looking pale as their energy reserves hit zero. The other trick is to keep eating and drinking throughout the event. A packet of fig rolls, a couple of energy bars and two bananas were scoffed during my 7 hours in the saddle. 

 

As riders tackling the shorter challenges joined the ‘real’ men (and women) later in the day I was caught by Matt! We had a quick chat and he kindly provided a nice tow on one of the long fireroad drags. Having proudly conquered the climb on every lap I was able to hold off a strong challenge from behind to finish 18^th on a day when only just over half the 90 strong field managed to complete the distance.

 Well done to Fay who was the only lady to complete the 5 lap race. Doddy came charging past me on his way to 2^nd in the 4 lap event ahead of Matt who finished 18^th. Steve was first home in the 2 lapper and I saw Will a few times during his 3 laps – unfortunately one of these was while he was wrestling with a tyre trying to fix a puncture!

 

Year after year this continues to be one of my favourite events. It doesn’t stop it hurting though! I was so knackered I had to stop for a nap on the way home! Luckily it was a bank holiday so there was opportunity for a lie in the next day. 

Check out this amazing video! American Paul Basagoitia lands the world’s first natural terrain double backflip… but has to endure some pretty rough treatment on the way!

Haywards Heath Triathlon

Sunday 29th April was my first "Triathlon" racing under SDB and boy what horrible weather it was (many other events had been cancelled, so we got lucky). Strong wind and rain with twigs and leaves all over the road. The race was a 400m pool swim, 25km bike then a 5k hilly run.

I only entered earlier in the week as wanted a bit of a "pick me up", as felt frustrated with some recent road races where I wanted to position better than I did (no change there then). The TT course was tough, what with the winds and rolling hills, but posted the 3rd fastest swim, fastest bike time and 6th run in the male category. I finished 1st out of 96 overall, but unfortunately I could not claim my goodies as had to shoot off to watch my 4 year old's first football "match", which was highly entertaining...... Next week I have Steyning Tri (800m swim, 36km bike & 8km run), which even though is a local event, it attracts a lot of good triathletes around the South East, so lets see if I can continue my luck - cant see I will position top 3 but a top 5 would be respectful.

A weekend of rides starting at QE Country Park on the 19th/20th May.
The weekend kicks off on the 19th with the Garmin Road Sportive with a choice of 60km or 80km routes and the MBUK Royal Rumble 4hr Enduro Mountain Bike Race in the Park.

No entry on the day, online entry first come first served.

Gorrick Spring Series - Final Round

Sunday was the final round of the Gorrick Spring Series and what a contrast to the slippery, claggy trails of last week. The guys at Gorrick had put together a belter! Fast flowing singletrack with very little fire road and a couple of short, stiff climbs to test the legs. The early races helped clear anyway any remaining puddles as the laps times dropped under 20 minutes. Since it was the final round, series positions were to be decided so there was a lot at stake.

In the Masters race Alex slipped past me at the very first corner and then rode away to an excellent 6^th place. I was pleased with another top 10 and Matt grabbed the final series point in 15^th on a loaned Stumpjumper.

Will racing to victory

Earlier in the day Will Taylor took a narrow win in the Youth category to make it 4 wins in 4 races and take the series.

Ian rode another great race to finish 2^nd and more importantly claim the series victory in the Grand Vets

Fay successfully switched to 4 laps in the Expert women.

Again a good turn out for the club and some excellent results. Final series positions will be published next weekend but I’ve done my own calculations below! (Apologies for errors or omissions)

Ian collects the series win

Gorrick Spring Series Positions

1st    Ian Petherbridge  Grand Vets

1st    Will Taylor           Youth

4th    James Bailey       Sport

6th    Alex Taylor          Masters

11th  Ben Connor          Masters

Well done to everyone who has taken part this year in one of the best XC racing series in the UK. XC racing continues to flourish, as demonstrated by nearly 600 entries at the 3rd round! Certainly Gorrick are the standard by which other events should be compared – a superb variety of courses and different venues, always meticulously well organised.

Southern XC Round 2 - Pippingford

Despite a couple of dry days the clay soil of Pippingford Park had held onto last weeks rain. This made the course an evil mix of long strength sapping climbs and scary decents!

I think everyone took at least a couple of tumbles, on a day when just reaching the finishing line was an achievement!

Results:

Will Taylor                6th   Youths
Fay Cripps               1st   Masters Female
Alex Taylor              8th   Masters
Ben Connor             12th  Masters
Gary Dodd                6th  Vets
Steve Calland           8th  Vets              (Was that your broken front wheel in the pit area?)
Ian Petherbridge       6th   Grand Vets    (Still racing despite a broken rib!)