There I was lying in the dirt and leaf litter, feeling spaced out and thinking “what the hell just happened there?!” It was the first round of the National cross country mountain bike championships at Sherwood Pines and half way through the second lap of a seven lap race. I was just off the lead group of riders, when, trying to cut the margins tight and utilise all possible lines on the course, I had cut one corner slightly too tight and had failed to spot a small tree stump in the leaf litter which had sent me flying over the bars, doing my best impression of superman! (Although the only thing in common was tight Lycra)
The start had been the usual chaos; when the gun goes off and you’re surrounded by fifty or so Elite riders sprinting as hard as they can, trying to get to the first section of single track in the highest possible position. How there aren’t more crashes at the starts is a testament to the bike handling skills of all the guys. With the pace we set off at you would be forgiven for thinking that we were only racing for half an hour but at the Elite level we’ll spend around two and a quarter hours like this! My preparation had not been as normal as I had spent three months working in Berlin with no bike and only managed two hours of swimming per week to try and keep myself in some sort of shape. After the chaos of the start and the fight of the first lap I was trying my best to keep that self-doubt out of my mind; “I can keep this pace up, god it hurts like hell though, I’m breathing through every orifice possible!”…
… and then I was on the ground. By some miracle I’d had a soft landing. Quick mental self-check; all body parts in order and no sight of blood, right where did my bike go? Pleasantly surprised everything was still working after such a big wipeout, but no time to dwell on my good fortune, I hear a shout from behind. It was the next group of riders, so time to jump back on-board and tack onto the back of this group. The next half a lap was a case of finding my rhythm again, after which I decided it was time to go to the front of the group and get the hammer down to see how many riders I could catch through the race, never say die!
Sherwood Pines is the flattest possible course for a ‘mountain bike’ race, so it tends to result in tactics as used on the road, but don’t be fooled, just because it is flat it is not an easy race, far from it. When racing, it is completely relentless, there’s no time to rest. If you’re not hammering through bumpy single track then you’re powering along rolling fire roads.
So there I was dragging a group of around eight riders who were able to sit in my slipstream on the fire roads, now if you’re a road racer you’ll be thinking, ‘god he must be stupid, you should be sat-in saving your energy’. Well, that’s not my thinking when I’m in racing mood on the MTB, and in single track sections there isn’t that advantage so I knew I would be able to drop some riders out of the back of the group. Plus, the race is in front of me and I’m not interested in playing games this early. Slowly group got whittled down and we had started to catch some of the riders in front who had started to blow, but there were still a few riders I couldn’t get rid of. “Damn, how am I going to beat these guys?” I dropped back though the group thinking ”Are any of them looking weak, who looks fresh, (if that’s possible this late into the race)? When and where should I attack? I was sure someone else would launch an attack soon so on the last lap I decided to put out one last massive effort to try and drop the four others still with me. I timed it well, choosing to give it everything going up a single track ‘climb’ and into the following technical section in the knowledge that if I broke the guy directly behind me the others wouldn’t be able to get around him until the next section of fire road, by which time I should have got enough of a gap that I’d be gone.
One problem, it didn’t work! They were just as determined to beat me, as I was to beat them, touché.
OK, plan b, recover and wait for the sprint at the end. Unlike in road racing it is typically better to lead out in a mountain bike race, however, that isn’t what other people had planned. Others decided to launch attacks, but my legs were too battered at this stage of the race to respond to two of the guys. They remained only a few seconds in front right until the finish, but you never lose hope though. It’s easy to make a mistake when at your limit and the majority of oxygen is going to your muscles and not your brain, verging on the brink of unconsciousness. They could have easily slipped back into my clutches. It was not to be the case though; I finished the race in a sprint against one other guy and was placed eighteenth.
I was a mix of emotions, moribund from the effort I had just given, 49 Km off road in two hours nineteen minutes. “Damn that was fast”, I didn’t even come out of the big ring all race! Happy from how good my legs had felt and dismissing the doubts I’d had about my lack of off-season preparation giving me a real morale boost for my performances the rest of the season. But despondent, oh what could have been a much better result if I’d not crashed, I could have been in the front group where it would have been me slipstreaming others.
The next week after a mountain bike race is general spent recovering, the efforts are so vicious that it really can take three days to a week for your legs to start feeling better again depending on how your ‘form’ is.
If you fancy giving racing a go the cross-country scene is really showing a renaissance at present and there are categories for all standards of ability and racecourses for all preferences. Including everything from the cross-country distance, to marathon racing (typically 100KM), to 24 hour racing, which can be done as a team or solo if you are mentally inclined! Also the first round of the Mountain bike World Cup is being held in Dalby forest in April this year, a rare opportunity to see the world’s best riders fight it out. Ticket details are on the British Cycling website.
The best web sites for information on events are the British Cycling and xcracer.com the main hub for XC racing in the UK, where you can enter on-line for just about every race in the UK and know that you are instantly in the race without having to wait for a start sheet to come. The main series I race are the National Points series and the Midlands Series that has been growing in popularity each year. If you want any more advice just get in contact with me through the club.
I just have to say thanks to Leisure Lakes bike shop for all the support they give me towards racing!
Happy trails.
