Category: Cycling

Endurance Life Coastal Trailquest – South Devon

South West based commercial organisation Endurance Life have been organising Trailquests for less than a year having made their reputation in organising adventure races and off road trail runs. Finding the £35 entry a little on the steep side, I had not yet competed in one of their 5 hour Trailquests, however the lure of the national trailquest league pulled me down to Torcross (the site of the tragic American WW2 ill-fated excercise tiger) for the weekend.

The first challenge after spending the night at my parents in Taunton was navigating through the dense network of narrow lanes on the way to the event by car on my own, a taste of things to come perhaps. Arriving a little behind schedule and slightly flustered I was a little miffed that they were giving out the full competition map and points values at registration, contrary to what was indicated on their event details. Although this seems a slightly odd picky complaint it allows those travelling short distances or prepared to get up at the crack of dawn the chance to totally prepare their route before they start, taking away much of the skill involved in route planning on the course. The map was 1:50 thousand OS, which does not have the fence/hedge lines of its 1:25 thousand cousin.  I have often seen competitors at other events busily scribbling on their competition maps using the 1:25 to add the extra detail with which to help navigation on potentially tricky routes. With the launch of the iphone and google earth it is also possible to get a quick look-see at all the control sites before you start, all in the comfort of the car.

Otherwise, the organisation was very slick and it was good to see them checking that all the novices knew exactly what they were or weren’t allowed to ride on, the map was clear and waterproof and the controls mostly well placed and described with lots of route choice options. Sportident timing was of course also used.

The event area was simply stunning, not a huge amount of off road but the intricate network of very narrow lanes hemmed in by huge earth banks was extremely challenging to navigate through accurately and safely at speed. Of course, there was also a hideous number of short steep climbs, particularly if you got it wrong.
During my pre event route planning I had decided on a clockwise route, hopefully avoiding any westerly head winds on the higher slopes, and leaving me with a loop to miss at the end if things went pear-shaped but I went out intending to try and clear the course. I immediately thought I had forgotten spring was on its way getting completely overheated on the first climb in my winter boots, bib tights and fleece but there was a stiff breeze on the cliffs which made me glad of the protection later on.

The views from the headlands down to the crashing sea 120 metres below were fantastic, well they were fantastic till you realised you had to get down there pick up a control and perhaps climb back out again, we even had a control on a waterfall pooring out onto the yellow sandy beach, although the lack of any map detail at this point had many hunting around like headless chickens.

Later in the course we had a route choice which included a ‘green lane’ that used a set of stepping stones only accessible at low tide accross a creek in the estuary, again simply stunning scenery.

Although I was going well, my legs started to get very tired after 4 hours in the saddle, my only stop being to wash some particularly sticky red mud from the bike outside some public toilets in Portlemouth using my water bottle as a high pressure hose! Then riding inland the climbs got longer and more undulating and I had to resort to pushing or carrying several times as I fought of cramps after I ran out of liquid.

A mistake in finding a track down to a carpark at the northern end of Slapton Sands lost me about 7 mins and I knew then I was on a mission to try and get back within the 5 hour limit and would have to miss out 1 control on the way in. The ‘sprint’ along the 4km straight road that atops the shingle bank that forms Slapton Ley and subsequent climb backover to Beesands was covered in a painful blur but I managed to end up only being 4.01 mins late, pushing me into 2nd place by 3 mins, as both myself and the winner gained the same number of points.

I visited some really idyllic rural locations, far away from the tourist beaten areas one normally finds in Devon and Cornwall, with chickens racing across the roads from small holdings unchanged for many years.
I will definitely be returning with the family to enjoy the beautiful vistas and atmosphere of this little known unspoilt corner of South Devon, but at a slightly more leisurely pace.

Stats : 5 hours 4 mins, 71.5km, 2000metres climb
Full results available here.