its all about stodge, bikes, MTBO and the outdoors
The clever people at Singletrack magazine have wizzed up a searchable interactive results service which is available online now at
http://www.singletrackworld.com/2011/08/sleepless-in-the-saddle-2011-results/?rider_number=1038#riderdetails
They have also calculated total distance ridden, total time ridden and some speed, distance and overall rankings across the whole field of riders. I have no idea what criteria make up the speed but I’m quite happy with 47th out of 982 riders !
There weren’t so many riders waiting in the Sleepless in the Saddle change over pen at midnight, many teams taking a break. I went out fairly fast for my 2 back to back night laps, but soon found myself slithering on the rooty sections. I ended up coming off twice, the second time quite spectacularly. I had just got past 3 slower riders and took too much speed into the corner. My front wheel slipped on a root and over the handlebars I went, blocking the track. My bars were twisted 180 and I lost my water bottle. After that I slowed up a bit and gave a little more respect to the roots.
My lap went OK but I was starting to gag for a drink and was desperate to get some food down me, but with a dry mouth I just couldn’t face it. Eventually I stared to really run out of energy half way round the second of my two laps and had to get some bar down me. I couldn’t eat it all but it gave me enough to drag myself up the final climb and into the finish. For the second half of that lap I was longing for the bottle of strawberry milkshake in the tent, and it tasted just amazing when I flopped onto my sleeping bag at 2.30am.
After a couple of hours of kip, a coffee and bacon roll I felt much better and flew round my next lap. At this point we were lying 4th in the Vets class with the other Cycle Shack team leading, however a Derby Mercury team was just 8 minutes ahead of us. There then started 
6 hours of cat and mouse chasing as we slowly ate into their lead, after each lap checking the live results. With a couple hours to go we finally did it, pulling up into third, all four of us giving it everything and holding it to the end. So a great result for Cycle Shack with two teams and a solo singlespeeder on the podium. We even ended up 11th and 19th overall!
Sleepless is a great event, with a fantastic atmosphere and lots of singletrack, thanks to Provelo Support, Singletrack Magazine and all the other sponsors and complete respect for those nutters who go it solo.
My lows: losing my water bottle twice early on in laps and using a baby wipe to clean my teeth.
My highs: a lap just after dawn with the sun rising above the trees and that feeling of crossing the finish line for the last time knowing the pain was about to stop……. Roll on Sleepless 2012
Results tend to take a while to come out, below is a photo of the overall results screen from the finish.
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| Sleepless in the Saddle 2011 click for Photos |
Its midnight and I am sat in my tent, perusing some arty photos I’ve just taken of head torches flashing past and carefully stretching tired limbs (and we are not even half way through yet).
I went off second rider in our 4 man Cycle Shack team and put in a fairly solid lap without too much traffic, my second lap was really dusty and dry. Early on I took a fairly big fall after the front wheel washed out beneath me. At the time I had no idea what at happened but picked myself and my water bottle up off the floor and just got going again.
My bike needed a hoover rather than a wash after lap 2 with so much dust. However soon after I finished & got back to team HQ, the sky darken ominously, and then it chucked it down for about 20 minutes, leaving the course a mudbath. Riders were coming in covered in mud with stories of bikes with wheels that simply would not turn.
Luckily for me the course quickly dried and by the time of my third lap it was starting to get faster again. I saw the reason for my crash on lap 2, a root whitch must have been hidden in the dust. I caught it again but luckily this time recovered it. The forest sections required some light by now and the sun set beautifully as I came in to hand over.
The team is currently lying in 13th position and 3rd vets team, but the other Cycle Shack team is flying, leading vets and 5th overall in ‘enthusiast’. Now it is dark we are doubling up, so my next outing will be for two laps. Hopefully this means we’ll get chance to grab some sleep.
With Sleepless in the saddle this weekend and the European Champs looming I thought I would get another opinion on my hip flexor issues that are still plaguing me a little.
After training at Chase road corner car park on Thursday, night fellow chaser and physio Ann had a look at me.
Stood around watching, other club members whispered and then burst out laughing. As you can see from the photos it kind of looked a bit dodgy, particularly the bit (not photographed ) where she had me hands on the roof of a car and crouched down behind me checking the symmetry of my glutes !
Chase Road Corner is about 300metres from one of the most notorious car parks on The Chase, Anson’s Bank where a certain footballer gained notoriety. I’m not sure what normal night time users of that car park would think !
Good news is she agrees with the other physio and has diagnosed asymmetric bum muscle syndrome ( well that’s my Somerset translation of it)
Saturday afternoon will see me lining up with the Vets Cycleshack team to compete as a team of 4 at Sleepless in the Saddle 2011. Sponsored by Singletrack Magazine, Sleepless is branded the most chilled of the UK’s 24 hour races.
Held at Catton Park, the same venue I raced earlier this year for the Wiggle 6, the course should be fast with lots of singletrack to keep everyone on the toes as the light fades into dusk.
If I can Ill try and blog during the race and perhaps put up a few photos.
More info at http://www.provelosupport.co.uk/?page_id=315
Club training tonight on the Hednesford hills. Had a control stolen and vandalised by the local yoof. At about 100 quid a control and the 4th lost this year it’s getting a bit expensive. At least I found the debris this time!
British Orienteering is a candidate to host the IOF World Orienteering Championships 2015 and believe that Scotland provides the perfect stage for the competition.British Orienteering’s new Facebook page gives some info about it’s WOC 2015 bid. This has been set up to raise awareness of the bid in the run up to the announcement, at WOC2011 in France, of who will be staging the 2015 Championships.
Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/WOC2015Candidate
Summary leaflet here – http://www.britishorienteering.org.uk/images/uploaded/downloads/events_woc2015_leaflet.pdf
This year the Word Foot Orienteering Championships is based around Chambery on the edge of the French Alps. Held alongside is the ERDF O Festival, 5 days of spectator races on the same areas used the previous day by the best Orienteers in the World. 20 members of my Club, Walton Chasers will be travelling, competing and hopefully a bit of holidaying together with some spectating of the WOC races, cheering on the British Team.
The terrain promises to be steep and technical, the weather hot and of course being France the food and wine will be spot on.