Thetford Dusk Til Dawn 2010

It seems that my bike is made by Delorean, not only is it made of steel but it appears to be able to travel back in time to 2008...

A few of us pre-rode the course in the afternoon, the ground was firm but had clearly soaked up a lot of water in the previous few days and it wasn't going to take much for it to fall apart. The pre-ride went well, I had opted to go single-speed (34:16) and with it I was comfortably able to ride all the course including the bomb-holes.

This was the 1st time I'd started a D2D, always leaving it to a team-mate in the past.

My opening lap went well, while there were some queues in the single-track and at the bomb-holes they weren't too big. The rain had started and was only light but the course was starting to get sludgy although at this point it wasn't too bad.
When Chris came in from his first lap he said it was starting to get very messy out so I abandoned my plan to do 2 laps on the trot and decided to stick to 1 for my second outing. Sure enough, the ground was a mess but I was able to find grip on most of the trails. One of the reasons I'd opted for the single-speed was that in 2008 my bike suffered badly from chain-suck and poor shifting so I just wanted to take that out of the equation and I think it was definitely the right thing to do. I passed numerous people who appeared to be suffering from gear issues.
Unfortunately I fell into the Elveden Pit (nothing damaged despite the crunch/snap sound I heard - presumably a root of the tree I hit) which shook my confidence for the other pits, as such I opted for climbing/sliding into and out of the others.
The section after the beast involved a gentle-ish climb up a fire-road then further climbing into the single-track. Here I started to wish I'd opted for an easier gear ratio, but non-the-less I managed to ride it all, despite the pain

I reached the change-over absolutely sodden and blathered with mud. I got cleaned up and into some fresh riding gear, fully intending to go back out. However while at the tent my enthusiasm disappeared. By the time Chris got back we were half-way through the night, the rain hadn't shown signs of letting up, the ground was even more churned up and reports were coming in of people having to walk most of the course. My fall in the pit made me concerned that I'd do myself an injury, my bike sounded like it was wearing away and I wasn't enjoying it. I know that that's a long list of whiny excuses, but ultimately if you're not enjoying something it's pointless to carry on. I checked whether my team-mate felt the same, he did, so we agreed to call it a night.

Around 6am it had been dry for 2 or 3 hours, I'd had a bit of shut eye, 2 of the worst bomb-holes had been closed and I started toying with going out again, but ultimately I opted to stay clean, dry and warm. I now wish I'd forced myself to do that lap but it's not the end of the world.

TROG Yorkshire Faction (team no 275) ended up 53rd of 74.

Ho hum...

Mud Sweat & Gears 2010 Round 5

So... They call that Langdon Hills for a reason then!

The course had a grassy climb to begin with, followed by a rooty section of single-track with a drop-off, then a short gentle climb followed by another section of single-track (my favourite bit). There was then a long, gentle but seemingly unending climb followed by a long fast fire-road descent with a sketchy gravelly 90degree bend into a field. I found the next climb to be the toughest of the course and after the first 2 laps I was making full use of small chain-ring and big cassette-ring here! There was then a nice, fast, flat section to recover on, with another flowing section of single-track at the end of it. Finally there was another fire-road with a short steep climb taking us back to the start.

My first lap went well, but I struggled on my second (repeatedly getting stuck behind the same single-track dawdler who would speed up every time I passed him on a fire-road, then slow down again in the single-track ). On my 3rd I settled into a nice rhythm and managed some fairly consistent times over my 6 laps. The dawdler passed me again on the 4th lap but I managed to catch him and leave him on the 5th never to be seen again

Many thanks to the cheerleaders for their unending support, it really does help to push you on I've posted a brief write up in the News section and included the team photo taken by Phil

Roll on D2D and MSG @ Hylands Park!

I came 24th of ??

Mud Sweat & Gears 2010 Round 4

This race was at Codham Park.

My race went like this;
Lap 1: I'm still not used to group starts, so didn't fight too hard and let people swarm past me. It took pretty much the whole of the lap for my body to wake up.
Lap 2: Saw Andy and Jules weren't too far behind me at the start of the lap; I set myself a target to keep them behind me as long as possible. Andy passed me about 0.5miles from the end of the lap.
Lap 3: Jules passed me at around the point where I spotted him on the 2nd lap but I managed to keep pace with him throughout this lap and for most of the next. At the end of lap 3 I was looking for Phil near the start line so I could lob my empty bottle at him. While doing this I wasn't paying too much attention to my surroundings and was oblivious to the (eventual) womens sport winner shouting that she wanted to get by as I weaved around in front of her
Lap 4: After quickly stopping to grab a fresh bottle, I caught back up with Jules and stayed with him for around half the lap and then I got too big for my boots and passed him then fought my way round to the end.
Lap 5: At the start of this lap I knew I still had 2 to go so I used the last of my gels and found a steady pace to see me through to the end, all the while expecting Dan or Mike to lap me, which fortunately they didn't do
As I reached the end of the Lap, Alistair stood in the middle of the track and told me that as the elite guys were nearly finished they were cutting it short so I didn't have to go out again. I was still buzzing from gels and adrenaline and it took me 10mins or so to settle down again This is the exact opposite of Tunny, where I'd come in for what I thought was my final lap, having used all my energy, only to be told to go out again!

In short, I'm glad I pre-rode the course, it was a tough one and knowing what to expect meant I had greater confidence from the off. Cheers for the support of everyone who was there, it was a cracking afternoon.

 I came 31st of ??

Dunwich Dynamo 2010

• Headed to station to get the 17:08.
• Met Ady and his mate on the platform.
• Despite initial worries, the guard let us all on without bike reservations, he didn't even ask to see them!
• Sat Nav'd our way from Stratford (via Victoria Park with the High Voltage festival going on) to Hackney.
• Met up with other TROGs and EAMRT (Mark A, Mr Greedy, LeanLanky, BigChris, Hitch, Goot, PuddleDodger among others) behind the pub and vegged for an hour or so.
• There were tonnes of other cyclists and varieties of bikes in the park, my favourite was the bloke with a huge plastic crate on the front of his bike with his springer spaniel inside!
• We set off at around 20:05 (just as BenP arrived who decided to stop and have a fag before catching us up).
• Fought through traffic, avoiding a literal fight at one point where a car driver and his mates were to-ing and fro-ing with a couple of cyclists! They finally realised that the several hundred cyclists out-numbered them somewhat.
• Traffic thinned out around Epping Forest where BenP caught up with us.
• I split off from the main group around here with Ben and his mates (Kev, Toby and James).
• We stopped at around the 37mile mark, but my thighs felt like they would cramp up so I had a quick gel and set off again by myself.
• I refilled my bottles at the feed stop (52miles) and regrouped with Ben & Co
• My least favourite/most comedy moment took place along the next stretch. We were approaching a large group of other cyclists (possibly 30ft long group), we waited till it was clear, pulled out and attempted to overtake them. Just as we were about 3/4s of the way past them, and giving it our all, we reached a hill and suddenly had to try and overtake them AND climb a hill - that hurt! Obviously backing off wasn't an option ;)
• We kept riding to Needham Market (80miles) for our next stop (yawning continuously for the final 10 miles) where we had our longest rest of the ride (prob around an hour).
• We hit the road again but my back tyre was feeling squidgy, I ignored it till just past Coddenham, but then faced facts and stopped to change it (telling the others to keep going)
• As I fixed the puncture I felt a few spots of rain but not much and it passed quickly.
• I set off again, and as I'd just spent 10-15mins fixing the tyre I resisted stopping at John's (PuddleDodger) bacon-fest.
• I mostly rode alone to Framlingham (100miles) where I regrouped with Ben and the others for a quick break.
• From last year I remember Framlingham as being the point that 'broke' us, and once again the prospect of having to ride another 20miles really didn't seem too appealing, but I had a Smart Gel which kicked me the final 20miles.
• As we passed through Westleton I stopped quickly to grab a stashed recovery drink from my car.
• We reached Dunwich at 05:25am and spent 40mins queueing for a well earned breakfast, beer and cup of tea.
• Myself and Lanky headed back to my car (the hardest 2.5 miles I've EVER ridden) at around 7ish.
• I was tucked up in bed around 8:30 only to be woken and dragged to the pub at around 1:30 :)

As for 'next time', I'm torn between trying to set a 'personal best' time or to do it über leisurely (stop at the feed stations, meet people, swim and sleep on the beach at the end).

Stats
Total Journey Time : 9hrs 20mins
Total Riding Time : 7hrs 29mins
Avg Speed : 15.6mph
Max Speed : 33.9mph

I'm a bit disappointed that we were a little slower than last year :(

My GPS was tracking the route but for some reason died at around the 24mile marker, here are the details that it did track;
http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/jIA3AixAJSI

Mud Sweat & Gears 2010 Round 1

This was my first solo race, and as it was being held by my club (TROG) at Tunstall Forest.  I was helping out in the morning then racing in the afternoon.  Yet again the conditions were against us!

---

T'was very hard work!

My day went like this...

1. Arrived at FR22 at 8am
2. Spent next 2-4hrs playing car Tetris (ta to Mike, Stu, Mark, Darren and Ben for helping out)
3. Reluctantly changed from warm clothes into shorts...
4. Faced my first ever race start... Too many people trying to fit into one narrow bit of singletrack!
5. Lap 1 went well once the pack thinned out, although I started to regret choosing Small Block 8s.
6. At the start of Lap 2 I made the slight boo-boo of falling right in front of Mikey who happened to have the mic and proceeded to take the Michael...
7. Lap 2 went well, although my ankle started to cramp a little.
8. Lap 3 made me wonder why I hadn't chosen to do the 1hr race
9. Lap 4 made me think the organisers had over emphasised the Sweat and Gears elements of the race and not put enough emphasis on the Mud side of things!
10. Lap 5 looked good, I was approaching the 2hr mark, I was still in one piece (despite a fall in pit 2 - such a shame Greedy had chosen to take pics elsewhere at that point - still, the ground was soft, I almost opted to stay there and have a little nap) and passing the 2hr mark meant that this was the end of the race and this was my last lap!
11. Got back to start/finish line and was told to do another lap...
12. Swore lots..
13. Questioned the parentage of the timing people...
14. Swore some more...
15. Muttered and grumbled to all the marshalls along the way...
16. Realised the rain had stopped and oddly the ground seemed to be the most firm it had been all race!
17. Started to make the most of what was left and enjoy it, despite the pain.
18. Got to the finish at 3:45, needed to meet wife in Ipswich at 4:00!
19. Ungraciously left without checking my position or helping pack everything away...

In short it was a great experience which was slightly marred by the weather, and I would hand on heart say that it was harder work than riding up and down the hills of Wales the other week!

I look forward to my next one but must confess to hoping for better weather...

Many, many thanks to the Marshalls, I've been there and done that in those conditions and it's not fun, but your continued cheeriness and banter really helped me to plod on.

Also, uber-thanks to Crosser (and all the other's who've helped out) for the hours he's put into getting everything in place, it's such a shame that yet again the elements have been against us...

I came 35th of 56.