At last, the words that bring looks of confusion from anyone you tell what you are doing this weekend are gone. At last, we ditch that Dungeons and Dragons, Beard and Lemon Curd branding of ‘The Trail Cyclists Association’. At last, the governing body of the sport I love is brought up to date with a great new image and a fantastic new website.
At last, foot orienteers will sit up and take seriously this growing discipline. From now on all ‘Trailquests’ will be known as ‘MBO Score’ and all MTBOs as MBOs (but I suspect MTBO will stick). The new website masterminded by BMBO Chairman John Houlihan is slick, provides all the information needed by riders and also behind the scenes makes the life of an organiser much easier.
Launched on the 1st of Jan 2010 the site may take a while to fill out with events and content (Iv’e got a few bits to do yet on MTBO) but it looks fresh and the new name ‘British Mountain Bike Orienteering’ follows the trend of British Cycling and British Orienteering, its closest stablemates.
Oh, and yes, I know the acronym is going to be shortened to Bimbo, but why not ! www.bmbo.org.uk
Race report -Military Challenge
The Military Challenge is an annual event using training areas closed for the Christmas stand down. This years was back in the Aldershot area after a couple of years further south. The event allows mountain biking or running or if you are completely bonkers both in the same day. I was worried the event might be canceled due to the weather but the website assured me this morning that it was on and the morning dawned with clear blue skies over the frosty ground, in fact it was -8 as I defrosted the car to head south. The access road up into the event was very slippery and as I parked I wondered how on earth we would get any traction on the 40km course.
At registration I was given a GPS tracking unit to try and after picking up my hire E Card I had a look at the 10 yes 10 maps that would take us on our journey ! 
I had a late start which didn’t particularly help much as there were lots of other MTB tracks around. I fluffed #2 losing a couple on minutes, confused by the transition into the OS portion of the map taking a wrong track but talking to others there is something not right with the north lines mapping in this area, perhaps the OS being stretched to fit the O map?
On to the more urban part of the course and the conditions were treacherous with ice covered roads making this a Military skating challenge. Scared off by the slippery roads I took a bad decision on #4 and took the path option which had countless gates, boardwalks and doggy walkers to contend with. To top it I cocked up coming out of #4 getting stuck the wrong side of a one way street and lost a few more minutes. Onto map 3 and I passed a very sore Jon Marsden who called out that he had tumbled 4 times already on the ice. Through maps 4 and on to 5 and I was flying, confidence building in the bike and keeping the nav together. On the way to #12 I took my only tumble, a spectacular over the handle bars dive as I broke to avoid missing a track junction on ice. I had a very near off as I turned an icy corner near #14, but mostly if you were careful you could keep going fairly quickly on the edges of the roads. I lost a bit of time on map 7 taking a safe option round a round about and over a bridge to avoid a level crossing which I was stopped at for 5 mins a few years ago but was still riding well through map 8.
Looking back I think I was tiring at this point probably needing some food, I then made two stupid mistakes, a 180 coming out of #19 and a rubbish route choice along a fence after #21 giving me a huge rollercoaster climb rather than a simple singletrack around the top, which probably lost me the race, they certainly lost me 2nd place. On to map 10 then and the last few controls. The route to the last control was down a snowy land rover track, the difference between the ‘season mountain bikers’ and those not so used to it the very obvious as I and several others screamed past a few riders picking their way gingerly down the hill. Unfortunately due to my lack of granny ring I had to run up to the finish. Results and GPS tracking are not out yet but I was 4th when I left, having compared splits, burger in hand on patio chairs in the snow with Alan (2nd place he beat me by 26 secs). The event was not as good as previous years with probably too much road and not enough controls in the technical areas but I enjoyed it all the same. Andy Conn was 6 mins clear of three of us all within 30 seconds showing my mistakes were costly. Looking at the Splitsbrowser graph I probably could have just won, but its a good result at this point in the season which I am pleased with.
stats – 40km course – 52.8km riding, 600m climb – 2 hours 46 mins
results here
German Bling
Alan Hartley (author of the Sportident timing software AutoDownload) and I go back a few years, first meeting in the Pludds village hall when I was 10 at a South West Junior Orienteering squad training weekend. Since we shared a house together as students in Cardiff we have often ridden together (with me chasing his tail technically) and watched each other fall off many times over the
years – well mainly Alan watching me, ask him about Bedwas! For the last few years we have both been riding Giant XTCs and for various reasons we have both ended up with new race bikes at the same time. And both German.
Alan has a Cube Reaction XT and I have the Corratec Bow. The spec of them is very similar, XT groupset, Elixer CR brakes and alloy frame. The standard wheels on the Cube are slightly better and it comes with a Fox fork as opposed to the Bow’s Reba.
What both bikes also have in common is the style-thing that European bikes tend to have: bling frame graphics.
Both of us like our new bikes and will be racing them on Saturday down at the Military Challenge in Aldershot. Achtung everybody, the Germans are coming !
New Race Bike – Corratec Bow XT World Cup !!!!
Last Friday and a knock at the door brought a big brown box with Corratec on the side. Mmmmmm…. I wonder what that is.
I’ve ridden it a few times and have now put my race wheels and saddle on it. Initially feeling much shorter than I am used to, a few tweaks to the shock rebound, tyre pressures and I am now completely amazed and besotted by the bike. It just simply is so much better to ride than the old 2005 XTC. It is so stiff at the rear end that it climbs really well, the turn in is very confidence inspiring, so much so that where I was struggling just to turn round on a fire road on the XTC the Bow just tracks perfectly. I am also going quicker through the single-tracks, the shorter setup suiting my riding technique better it seems. So out with the old school long setup and in with the new, mind you those wider bars do take some getting used to on the narrow trails !
Thanks to Corratec and the UK importer Raleigh for supporting me with a generous discount on the bike and watch out for me in a Corratec race shirt from time to time this year !
Corratec Bow XT World Cup
Turbo with Delia and the Human Power Station
I have a new setup for the turbo trainer this year to make it slightly less boring.
I am using my old Specialized Sirrus permanently mated to the trainer in the garage with a little table in front with a fan and an old laptop, connected to our home network and the internet. I’ve been queuing up various hour or 1/2 hour BBC iPlayer episodes of recent programs, mainly James Mays toy stories and Top Gears, but desperation on Wednesday and to time to search for anything better drove me to watch Delia’s Christmas special while doing a 4 x 10 zone 4 mins interval session. Mind you, I missed the finer points of her chocolate pudding towards the end of the 3rd effort with sweat dripping in my eyes, and I missed the Turkey stuffing bit completely when Holly ducked under the garage door for a night night kiss. Being longer than an hour I warmed down to darting giant squid on ‘Life’ which I though were quite nice until I learned they were 2 metres long !
More interestingly on Friday morning I watched the first half of an experiment that tried to power a normal house with 80 people on turbo trainers just like mine rigged up with lots of tech. Many of the riders did not look like they were seasoned cyclists but I did spot some serious Lycra clad thighs sprinkled around. The idea was that most people can keep up around 100watts and with 80 of them they could power an 8 kilowatt electric shower. Ill watch the rest on Monday morning at 6am when I have my next turbo session, but I was thinking I can average 340 Watts for 4 mins in the Watt bike racing so perhaps I could power the laptop !
WATT Bike League 2009
It’s that time of year when the dark nights force us all to look for indoors activity rather than braving the wet mucky roads. I missed the first two WATT Bike 
league events this year recovering from niggly injuries but Friday night saw me at Lichfield Leisure Centre to compete. For more info on the league see this post from last year.
As it was my first appearance this year I was placed in division 2, and showed this was probably a good decision by coming last in the first race – a 500m sprint, my foot coming out of the pedal. There then followed a course de primes where consecutive 300 sprints are raced for points plus a final 400m sprint to the line. A team sprint was next where my team crashed and burned but next was my ‘favourite’ event the distance scratch race.
Being in div 2 this was run over 3000m. I decided to keep at 115 rpm and stay in touch with the leader. With 800m to go I was just in the lead so let rip up to 125rpm and pulled ahead. In hindsight although I won by 5 secs or so I think it was probably a bit early to sprint for the line and I did feel a bit wobbly walking back to my seat, my heart rate showing the highest since a Watt Bike race last year. My time of 4:01.6 isnt bad though and I can definitely go quicker if I use a higher gear. We finished off with a 500m handicapped sprint and although I hung on to 2nd I need to re-evaluate trying to spin 150rpm for 30 odd seconds and try a high gear.
Full details of the league are here.
Bike Testing
I have been thinking of changing my race bike for a while, not because I don’t like it, just that the frame is now 5 years old and I can get a whole bike for not much more than a new frame and bits. Carbon frames are now the norm but I would like to stay with Aluminium (had too many gates close on the bike on MTBOs in the past) So what to buy…….
A fellow GB team member, now Corratec Product Manager for the UK distributor Raleigh, indicated a deal could be done on a Corratec Bow, but to make sure I like the bike I have just picked up a demo model to try for the weekend.
The demo model is a 2009 Equipe which is of a similar spec to the 2010 XT World Cup model I have as an option.
The Bow is unique in its design, having a top tube that divides and then runs all the way to the rear becoming the seat stays. This is suppose to produce a very rigid design giving it very good climbing characteristics. An initial look over the bike seems promising with a full XT groupset and Avid Juicy 7 brakes, but the own brand wheels are a tad heavy. The bike is a little ‘shorter’ than i’m used to but friends who have ridden my XTC have always commented on how ‘long’ it feels so perhaps it is no bad thing.
A quick lunchtime blast without touching the setup has shown the bike to be less twitchy than the XTC and the wide handle bars require more input to get it to turn, however this may be due to the aggressive tyres on the test machine.
This is not a bad thing and perhaps may suit my riding style more, I certainly was not hanging about on it.
Next job is a quick service, to sort out the front shock pressures, and play with the stem and seat position before heading out on Friday to give it a proper test on Follow the Dog with the Berkswich Primary School Dads ride.
Ill then put my race wheels and map board on it to give it a final test on Sunday but I think I may have found my new steed !
http://www.corratec.com/en/bikes2010/mtb/superbow/superbow_wc_xt.php
Event Report – D&W 2 – Birchover
Saturday night saw me driving to Yougreave Youth Hostel for the Annual General Meeting of the Trail Cyclist Association (Governing body of MTBO and Trailquests in the UK
– see separate post to come later in the week). Several faces were missing, being stuck in Cumbria by the flooding. I believe evryone is OK, thank goodness. The Peak District had not escaped the heavy rains and the rivers were swollen and the tracks very muddy as 200 riders set out on Sunday morning on Dark and White’s Winter series round 2, this time from Birchover Campsite, near Matlock. I have competed from Birchover twice before and I have either been too early or very very late, such is the terrain in the area you are always faced with a huge uphill finish as the campsite enjoys fine views over the surrounding countryside in all directions.
Unfortunately I’d managed to leave the waterproof cover to my mapboard at home (Id taken it off to wash it!) so I phaffed the start losing about a minute to elastic bands and cold fingers and struggled for the next three hours with a ballooning plastic bag whenever I went over about 5 mph. Id decided after being horrendously late at Birchover in the past that I would cross the Derwent Valley early on and then approach the finish from the SW so I did not face a hideous climb when tired. After grabbing #1 and #4 I rode very strongly up onto Darley Moor and was really pleased with the way my climbing has improved in the past 6 months. The weather deteriorated as I splashed though some axle deep puddles on the way to #19 but it never got too bad, just enough to you generally wet and cold when not climbing. I was still riding strongly for #22 and #21 covering familiar ground so navigation was easy, but due to my ballooning map I had no real plan for what to do next. Riding up the B5056 I still did not have a plan and after #9 I got sucked into a route with no getouts via #13 and #12. The climb upto 12 lost me too much time and I knew I would be late…..very, very late.
I crawled up the final climb back to the finish and punched 20.07 mins late. Penalties for lateness are ramped on Trailquests and, unfortunately, after 15 minutes you hemorrhage points. I score 235 points today but lost 110 of them in penalties. Perhaps I should have gone out for an hour and spent the rest of the time in the pub: I would have got a better result (but the extra riding has done me far more good that a few pints of real ale & a packet of pork scratchings)!