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I’ve been through so much kit this weekend: Friday, Saturday and Sunday all had a couple of rides a day and a  minging wet Cannock Chase has just left me with an empty wardrobe . To top it all it then snowed on Friday and Saturday night causing a slushy, muddy disgustingness that seemed to permeate everything I wore. The sun shone though and I had some great rides with friends I’ve not been out with for a while.

Friday also saw us taking Holly to Isla Bikes (near Ludlow) for a size fitting for her new bike (birthday in two weeks). I’m glad we went as I had my eyes on a bike that would have been far too big for her. I’ll get her to do a review when it arrives, but in the mean time her ‘old’ perfect condition Cnoc 16 is for sale if anyone is interested (was £150 brand new).

   

Well this report will be slightly different as I organised and planned it rather than competed.

The event had turned into a labour of love for me over the past few months, it being in danger of being cancelled several times for various reasons. Due to permissions nightmares with a new management team at the Forestry Commission on Cannock Chase, first my initial request for Beaudesert and then a revised proposal to use the Slades were rejected causing me to approach Staffordshire County Council to use Sherbrook valley, which brought its own challenges of bridleways and busy areas (many thanks WCH access officer Jane Christopher who did a sterling job getting this permission at last minute).

Two weeks before the event the many dog walkers and ramblers on Cannock Chase would have seen a crazy bloke (me) map board on, pencil in hand riding up and down every single track on the side of Sherbrook Valley, mapping. I saw several groups a few times and I got some very strange looks wondering what an earth I was up to.
I also explored the possibility of using some of the more major tracks in Brocton Coppice, an area of ancient woodland I had permission to use. However I took the decision after riding the tracks not to include them and make them out of bounds as it would have potentially caused many tyre tracks in the muddy conditions where some of the oaks are over 500 years old.

To top it all, two days before the event I had to pull an all-nighter at work after our mail server failed, so started putting controls out on Friday night somewhat on the back foot.

I always enjoy putting out controls at night, it makes the navigation more challenging and the silence of the chase with starry skies and your head torch picking up the many eyes of the deer and other animals make it a special experience.
I was in total muppet mode though. With my bike out of the car and ready to go I realised Id left all the control flags at home (luckily I only live 5 minutes away). Next when putting out the second batch of controls I realised this time I’d left them in the car. I then got back to the control flag in hand to find I’d left the rucksack next to the car….doh!

I’d organised the event from Anson’s Bank Car Park which brought its own interests, being infamous for having a certain reputation, and several bemused cars came in turned round and exited quickly during the day.

The competitors seemed to enjoy the challenge I set them, including the score section I had to include due to the many bridleways to the north. Winner of the men’s open Steve ‘MTBO Legend’ Heading cycled the 70km from his home in Matlock, won the event and then cycled home again, nutter! Emily Benham showed her class by winning the Women’s race by a clear margin, but it was good to see new-comers to the sport doing well. Stuart Clayton, and orienteer and cyclist put the two together for the first time to win Mens 18, and gaining in confidence is XC racer and orienteer Matt Jones, who is slowly working his way towards the top of the field.

Award for most amusing incident of the day has to go to Andy and Andy. After driving down from up north they arrived with both themselves and the inside of Andys car covered in latex after a tyre exploded in the back of the car on the motorway. Yuk !

Results available at www.walton-chasers.co.uk

 

 

Is the worst of the winter weather now behind us? I even rode in shorts and normal shoes this weekend!

Well what a weekend of diverse riding:

First on Friday there was a 2 hour blast around the mountains south of Abergavenny with a friend who is moving there, checking out his riding options. The climb up the ‘Blorenge’ is not for those who shirk a challenge and I’m sure Fraser will be a mountain goat on a bike once it becomes his local haunt. GPS indicated 500 m of climb in two goes!! Great riding though and I’m looking forward to lots of weekends sampling those Welsh delights.

The rest of the weekend was spent in the Peak District at the AGM of our ex-university orienteering, ‘SPLOT’,  catching up with old friends, avoiding committee positions and enjoying the hills around Gradbach YHA.

Saturday morning, however, I first had a quick hours ride near Stone on the road bike whilst Holly was at ‘Little Luvvies’ before fighting my way back up through Leek for an afternoon walking. I managed to grab a quick MTB ride from the YHA at dusk. From the photos below you can probably see I was treated to some amazing vistas as the sun slowly set.

     
My route took me up out of Gradbach on a permissive Bridleway (Oooooh! It was nice to politely put the lady who challenged me about that one right) then down into Wincle before climbing back over to Allgrave and along to Gradbach. It all went horribly wrong, however, when my right pedal fell off about 2 miles from home. It seems to have threaded on the outer edge of the crank. With no phone reception I just pedaled one legged as best I could (very hard work though). With a few decent tools back at the hostel I have managed to get it back in for the time being but I think the crank has had it.

The next morning I took Fraser and his fiance, Kate, on a 3 hour bimbly ride up to the Cat and Fiddle for a hot chocolate returning via Macclesfield Forest and Wincle again. The weather was not so great and there are still some huge snow drifts in places which made riding interesting, but it was nice to be riding in that area and actually take time to enjoy the views, stop and chat and generally enjoy the recreational side of the sport for a change.

Sitting in the bath after the event in Somerset today getting rid of all the grime I was shocked to find this bruising on my inner thigh. I have had some tenderness since racing  last weekend but I had no idea I had done anything like this and have been training on it all week! Probably a bit late for some ice ?
Cath thinks its probably a tear of one of the muscles in my inner thigh that I got when I was trying to stretch out the cramp at the Sherwood pines enduro. Possibly explains my poor last two lap times a little?

No cars were required to get to the start of the WOC middle race as Ben Shemen forest is adjacent to the event centre. The heat on the way up to the start was intense, particularly on a climb in the open, but the organisers had kindly laid on chilled bottles of water that soon brought things under control.
Lucy and I got interviewed by local TV before the start which was a great way of calming the nerves. The lone Chinese competitor Zing Li (part of my Fantasy WOC team) started just before me, but I wondered on the way to number 1 that perhaps this might not have been a good buy as I passed her, this being her first international event.
I nailed the first 2 controls but got confused in the miriad of singletracks and lost a couple of minutes on the way to number 3. From then on I had a good ride and really attacked the climbs, trying to keep the control flow going in the complex track network. There were some good route choice legs but as we don’t get our maps back till after the relay I haven’t yet reviewed them.
The last few controls were just to get us back to the finish area near to a swimming pool and involved little navigation, they were however all in direct sun. The sweat poured off me as a gave it everything trying to keep in front of an Italian rider, who finally caught me just before the line. I had an early start so I then had to watch the results for 2 hours to see how my time stacked up against the other 75 riders.
Zing Li’s plucky ride finished with all the teams cheering her in (unfortunatley she was timed-out, so no fantasy points for me), just before Andy Conn came into the finish straight. I knew it was going to be close between us from my watch but the final result showed I was 54th pipping, Andy by just 6 seconds.
After the disappointment of yesterday I feel really positive going forward to the relay on Wednesday where I will be riding first leg for team GB in the mass start. The teams other news is Em Benhams fantastic 8th place in the womens race, only a couple of minutes off a podium place.
The event website has videos of todays and yesterdays action that give a really good feel of the event.  
http://www.nivut.org.il/mtbo/Photos.aspx

The long qualifier was held 40km south from the event centre at Haruvit. The 1:20000 map had a dense track network splitting small fields from olive groves and stands of trees.
After a tape cutting ceremony by the local mayor (in which Sarah starred in the TV coverage) I started in the 3rd group of three men, each riding a different gaffeled course. The top 20 from each course go through to the final on Saturday so I had to have a good ride to get in. The heat wasn’t too bad at the start and I spiked the first 5 controls but losing time on the climbs to the stronger riders. Number 6 gave 3 route choice options and I decided on a straight route up and over. Though the track became sandy and v difficult to ride, it wasnt much slower than the southerly option on the road but the northerly option over the saddle seemed quickest on looking at the splits.
I made an error on number 7 missing a track junction, perhaps only losing 1 minute, but got filmed by the TV decending into it and bike on shoulder running back up the hill.
I rode an otherwise clean race taking advantage of some sneaky shortcuts and felt reasonably strong towards the end. After finishing came the agonising wait to see if I would qualify for the final. In the end I missed out by 1 place coming in 21st. 🙁
I take the positive though that I am only 9 or so mins down on most of the worlds best, but I am disappointed to riding in the B final.
 
  

The postman has just delivered my latest batch of Eat Natural bars. After running out a couple of weeks ago I have been missing having a box on my desk and one in the car and those garagey, chocolaty, crispy moments have surfaced a couple of times when I have been hungry on journeys.

Earlier this year I experimented with Gels and more technical food on races without much success but I am now using Eat Natural bars whilst racing as well as as a snack during the day. I particularly like the Date and Walnut ones which are nice an sticky and easy to eat on the bike. I find having something proper to eat seems to give me more umph than gels.

My mum has also a convert, a sufferer of many food intolerances she finds they give her no problem at all and my supply always seems to dwindle a bit when she visits !

Ive enough to keep me going for a few months now, so thanks Eat Natural for your continued support.

This years World MTBO Champs are to be held over the week of 10th – 15th August near Tel Aviv in Israel.  The week comprises of a Long Qualification, Middle Distance, Sprint, Relay and Long Final races in the forested hills surrounding the event centre at Ben Shemen Youth Village.
Competitors are facing high temperatures, the fact that the organisers are insisting on the carrying of at least a litre of fluid on most races, an indication of how much it will affect them.
Punctures from the many thorns and sharp stones are also thought to be a major issue, raising the old Tubes vs Tubeless debate amongst Team GB members. For my part (already tubeless) I will be adding ‘slime’ rather than the usual latex ‘milk’ in a bolt and braces attempt to avoid time loss.
The team are flying out British Midland on Saturday 8th August from Heathrow, the airline kindly increasing our baggage allowance in order that we can take the bikes free of charge.
Another first for many GB team members is the fact that Israeli MTBO rules state that riding off of tracks is allowed, meaning you can cut through the forest between tracks. This brings a very different approach to some route choices and is difficult to practice for in the UK.
Full details can be found at the WOC website http://www.nivut.org.il/mtbo/