The Stodge Blog

Preview – new routes on Cannock Chase – ‘Monkey Trail’

Its been no secret that there has been huge amounts of trail building work going on on the chase over the last 2 years. Apparently they are all opening on the 20th March weekend with a open day at Birches Valley.
An interview with the Cannock Chase Ranger all about it with some photos is here..http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/interview-cannock-chase-ranger-rob-lamb-24914
The new trails are sponsored by Giant and will be called The Monkey Trail. They are all currently brashed over to stop any damage before they open but from the look of them it is a good step up in technicality over the existing follow the dog route and the complete route is said to extend to 24km.
I will ride it in its entirety when I return from holiday and give a full report.

New flavour great when frozen !

This winter I have been struggling to eat my bars on the bike whilst competing. The problem seems to be the cold. They either threaten to break your teeth or crumble all over the track at your feet.
I decided to conduct a slightly scientific experiment by placing several different flavoured bars in the fridge overnight (4 degrees) then see which one is the best to eat.
I had also just taken delivery of a new flavour : Dark Chocolate, Brazils and Apricots – yum, so put one of those in as well.

Results are as follows + some feedback after racing with them
1 Dark 70% Choc, Brazils and Apricots – Still chewy even just above zero and very yummy – my new favourite
2 Dates, walnuts and pumkin seeds - My main race bar till now, good until about 2 degrees
3 Cranberries, macadamias and dark choc – getting crumbly at 4 degrees
4 Almonds and apricots in yog – hard on the teeth
5 Peanuts almonds and hazelnuts – haven’t had the nerve !

On the telly!

The Adventure Show covered the Strathpuffer 24 and it aired on Scottish BBC2 over the weekend. Look carefully at the start and you will see me slip on the ice as I grab my bike in front of Dougie, plus lots of Alan & I fiddling with bikes in the background on the left during the cooking scenes. Oh, and my best man, Paul McGreal, doing solo gets to say hello towards the end.
For anyone thinking of doing the Strathpuffer 2011 its a must see…. Runs out in 5 days.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00r9xdc/The_Adventure_Show_2009_2010_Strathpuffer_24/

Dark & White MBO - Sherwood Pines - National League #1

When I looked on Friday evening, the weather forecast for Sunday was horrendous: 29 mile per hour North East winds, sleet, hail and 2 degrees celsius. Winter boots and a gillet then….

I’d had a fairly hard week of training, particularly after perhaps a few too many squats at Chasers training on Tuesday night! I’d also had a big interval session on the turbo on Friday and 3 kids under 4 staying with us over the weekend, so I was not exactly in tip top condition for this, the first event of the National MBO league of 2010. The day dawned cold, but the predicted wind was nowhere to be felt as I queued up to start at Sherwood Pines.

Great for us MBO types was the inclusion of a 1:15,ooo map with 16 controls as well as the standard Dark and White 1:50,000 OS map with a further 13 controls. I decided even if it was detrimental to the rest of the event that I would really push it on the smaller scale map and get some MBO training in. I picked an OK route and rode cleanly, just getting confused by some rogue red and white tapes near to some of the controls, and chose to exit Sherwood Pines at the West Entrance after I had cleared it. In hindsight this was a mistake as the route out was a tortuous snake through a country park requiring very careful navigation. I also made the mistake of trying to cut through the housing estates of Clipstone, frustratingly not finding the route through (Killian Lomas also had the same problem). In the end I had to go right up to the roundabout, and looking at the GPS tracks lost about 4-6 minutes.

My route after than was sound, and other than a small mistake on the mad dash for home at number 20 which cost 45 seconds and another 30 secondss lost on the way to number 25 after crossing a road accidentally, I rode really well. To be honest, as I entered Clumber Park with only 35 minutes left I thought Id bitten off more than I could chew and had set myself up for another classic ‘Stodge back very late’ performance, but with the wind behind me and a real effort pulling out all the stops I ended up just over 5 minutes late back.

Results when I left for home showed 2nd in class and 3rd overall just behind Liam and Killian which I was very happy with. It was good to see how on an area that required more complex nav than normal that the three of us MBO specialists showed all the normal mountain bike whippets a clean pair of heels.

Good to see as well was another cracking performance for Great Britain Slalom Canoeist Campbell Walsh ( just back from a 6th place at the Oceania Open in Australia) in his first year of orienteering and adventure racing, luckily just behind me. Just don’t ask for a return match on the water at Nottingham, Mr Walsh……

Full results available at http://www.darkandwhite.co.uk/results-cross-country-fell-races.asp

Event Stats : 64km – 500m climb

Event preview - European Training Camp Sweden

The weekend after Easter I will be travelling via Copenhagen to the annual European MTBO training camp, this year held in Åhus, Sweden – just south of Kristianstad and about 1 hour east of the airport. The pre-season camp, sponsored by Merida Bikes, has a packed programme of races and training. The camp starts with a night sprint event on the Thursday evening, which sounds exciting, followed by various middle and sprint races culminating with a mass start long distance race on the Sunday.

Emily Benham, Great Britain’s female elite, is also attending the camp together with approximately 100 other athletes from around Europe.

Apparently the camp is also known for its social side but with the training commitment I’ve already put in this year together, with Swedish beer prices, I think Ill be concentrating on the racing !