I’ll come clean, I was looking forward to this like a hole in the head. I just wasn’t into it. I’d had a hectic couple of weeks, and the last thing I wanted to do was a bike race. A big part of me wanted to put my head in the sand and hope it would go away.
The previous weekend I’d been to Devon for a friends 50th birthday, which ended up being a very late night. The next morning, despite being off the booze, I still managed to wake up with what felt very much like a bad hangover. I then had a 5 hour drive home to get through. On Monday morning my alarm clock ungraciously woke me at 04:30, which it continued to do all week. And to top it off, on Saturday, instead of a much needed lie-in to catch up on my sleep, I had to get up to go to work again. Saturday afternoon was spent do my race prep and loading my car up. So by Sunday the last thing I want to do was to get up at stupid o’clock to drive to Bridgnorth for a 10 o’clock race start. I just wanted to rest.
On top of that the weather had been pants. Dudmaston was the last race of the 2020 season, and although it’s a great course, with the rain we’ve been having I knew it was going to be a mud fest. It couldn’t be anything but with all the lovely, loamy single-track which makes it such a great race venue.
Then there’s my bike issues, oh god which one shall I ride! The light weight Wilier or the porky Yeti SB100? That decision was made for me. Due to a chronic shortage of time and sleep I couldn’t be bothered swapping tyres. The Wilier had Mavic Pulse Pros fitted, and there was no way I was riding them, not enough tread for anything but hard pack. The Yeti was shod with a High Roller/Ardent combo, a much better choice for the expected muddy conditions. So by default of my laziness and fatigue the Yeti got it’s first competitive XC outing.
And finally nagging away in the back of my head were questions about my fitness, was I race fit? This had been slowly driving me around the twist. I’d been training hard, but had I been training well? I’d stepped up my training for 2020 adding gym session, and trying desperately not to neglect my core strength and yoga. Now I was fretting about whether I’d been over training, I suspected I had. I was a couple of kilos heavier than I wanted, but despite this I knew should be in the best shape of my life. There was only one way I was going to find out for sure, and that was to race.
To say I had a sluggish start on race day is an underestimate. When I woke the elephant of apathy was fast asleep on my chest and the last thing I wanted to do was get out of bed. It was nice and warm and I was very comfortable. The weather forecast had promised rain, lots of it, and I was in no mood to face it, I just wanted to stay in my nice, comfortable place and sleep. What was going on in my head? This was the first race of the season, I’d trained hard for this, I’d bought a new bike for this, I was up for this, wasn’t I?
The drive to Bridgnorth was a hell trip. Driving down the M6 every warning light in my car came on and my speed began to dwindle. After a few seconds I realised it was a fault with the electronic systems and it had turned off the cruise control. Foot back on the gas and I’m back up to 50mph and on my way again.
Then just after I’d gone passed Stafford Services I got that ominous rumbling in my tummy that signalled the onset of pre-race nerves. The rest of the journey was spent with bum cheeks firmly clenched! I stopped at two petrol stations and a Co-op but no customer toilets. Come on, for Gods sake is it such a crime to let someone have a sh..! In some countries you have to let people use your loo, by law. Perhaps we need a re-think.
Oh yeah, and that glitch with the electronics in my car, it also caused my sat-nav to stop working. Last time it took me through the middle of Wolverhampton, and I didn’t want to do that again, so I was driving across country. All I had to do was follow the A442 to Kidderminster. I mean, how hard can it be? It was dead easy until I got to Shifnal where at a crucial roundabout they only had local signs for local people, no directions for Bridgnorth or Kidderminster!
But I got to the race venue, a little flustered and busting for the loo. I parked and ran straight to the facilities only to find them locked! There was nothing else to do, I had to disappear into the woods and do my world famous impersonation of a bear. Enough said, other than that when I emerged from the undergrowth the loos were open!
Rewind and reset, chill and start again.
When I got on my bike I felt good, I felt right. It was wet, but nowhere near as wet as I was expecting. There was a lot of slime, but it wasn’t the category one mud-fest I was anticipating. And since realising I have a mud problem, I’ve spent a lot of time riding in the stuff to get used to it. I’ve also been working hard on my cornering technique; weight the outside pedal, push your arse out and lean the bike. On top of this there’s the course, which for me is one of the best. It’s not technical, but it is fun, so it wasn’t long before I was grinning form ear to ear.
From my practice lap I rolled straight into the line up for the start, and that’s where it went a bit wrong. They called all the vets as a single group, which I wasn’t expecting, as a result I found my self right in the middle of the second row. It was terrible place to get a good start from. Then before I was ready, the whistle blew and we were off.
I was hemmed in and couldn’t find any space. I managed to find some room down the left, but I was on the grass and it felt like I was going backwards. I had a strong start last season, but now I was struggling to get the power out. It might have been down to fitness, it might have been because my line was compromised. I got on to the gravel and pushed hard to stay with the pack. I took a couple of people up the first climb, but at the top I got stuck behind a rider that was struggling with the muddy descents. The problem was soon as the we were out of the technical sections it was painfully apparent she was much quicker than me and I couldn’t hold her wheel. It was one of those what do I do situations. I was right behind her on a descent into the valley, I jumped passed her when we came out of the single track and put in a big effort up the hill to get the gap. I thought I’d made it stick but a lap later she came back passed me.
For me that was race over. From then on I was on my own. I was desperate to pull the leaders of vets race back, because in my head that who I was racing I wanted to be the fastest over 40 but it wasn’t going to happen. Where I was would be where I would finish.
The grand vets race had a relatively large turn out of four rides and I took victory in that category with a time of 1:16:01. Janet Marsden of Ludlow racing was second, 1:22:56, and Alison Akers was third, 1:37:09, Lisa Cuthbert was fourth a lap down.
But my interest lay in the vets race and Tracey Mosley took victory there with an impressive ride, finishing the three laps in 1:11:18. Verity Appleyard took the second step on the podium, only 10 second behind with 1:11:28. Melanie Alexander came in third at 1:14:04, and I bet that was a good race to watch.
Looking at those times now gives me heart, I wasn’t that far off the pace, and part of my downfall was the start. Last year I was careful about where I rolled up to the start line to make sure I could get a good line for the getaway, if you fluff the start you’ve had it.
Taking times and placings out of the equation, it was a great day. I had fun and I rode well. I pushed as hard as I could from start to finish, I was at my limit, and for me that’s the main thing. Then there’s the mud, and it’s no longer my nemesis. Believe it or not I felt like I was in my element out there. I was loving slithering about in the soft stuff, but the Bike might have had something to do with that.
Yes, the bike, my Yeti SB100, what can I say other than it was superb. From the moment the whistle blew I knew I was on a good bike, it felt right. I haven’t got it set up with any kind of lock-out on the suspension, it’s free to bounce and bob to it’s heart’s content. Yet I never felt like I was riding a full suspension bike. And as an additional note to that, I completely forgot to set it up, it hadn’t been ridden in months, I just got on it and rode! My position was absolutely perfect. The bars, saddle and pedals were exactly where they should have been, it felt like it was made for me. I guess as a result of that the handling was spot on. It climbed great and descended even better. As for that question about the weight, when a bike is this good to ride, does it matter?
Lulu-R's Cycling Times 