The view from our hotel balcony on the morning of the World Cup MTBO sprint was shrouded in mist and fog but it started to clear by mid morning and as we descended to the event it cleared completely revealing the vineyards planted on every available piece of ground on which we would be racing later.
The finish area was in the town square of Vo, complete with large festival tent, it being the time of year for grape harvest and so a time for local celebration.
The pre start quarantine was at a vineyard tasting room next to the barns where the wine is produced. The whole place smelt a little like a pub in the morning, alcoholic! As the rain started to fall the worlds best riders huddled together surrounded by bottles of wine until their allotted start time.
After a strange start where we did not get the full minute with our maps (although everyone was in the same boat) I took a safe route to number 1 but the muddy conditions showed themselves straight away, the bike sliding all over the place on corners and whilst braking on the slippery tracks.
Number 2 involved a muddy slog uphill, where most riders were off and running, unable to gain any traction on the slime, the mud collecting on the bike in big dollops.
Every time I looked at the map, it seemed, it was covered in mud and water which meant judicious wiping with the back of the glove to be able to read it!
The mud also seemed to make my hand-grips very slippery, two or three times one of my hands slipped off the bars.
The technical course with lots of complex route finding wound its way around the terraced vined valleys descending most of the way. I made an error in the middle of the course losing perhaps a minute or so getting confused with the multitude of tracks but then quickly recovered and ro
de well through the last few until a small mistake missing a tiny opening in a wall lost me another minute on the last control (many missed this as it was not at all obvious).
I finished less muddy than most of the later riders, using my knowledge of mud avoidance tactics from the UK to ride around the worst bits and keep the gears working well but it is the first time I have ever had consistent traction problems in a race. Post race chat made it clear that everybody was having problems not matter the tyre choice.
The course I felt was more of a middle that a sprint, certainly in the early parts, with complex route finding and route choice meaning it was difficult to ride quickly but I enjoyed it and it would make a cracking area in dry conditions.
Given my mistakes I was very happy with 36th showing everybody was having a tough time with the conditions.
Note: WCup Results available at http://www.mtboitaly2010.it/download/result_sprint_wc.rtf
Open results at
http://www.mtboitaly2010.it/download/result_sprint_open.rtf
Photos available at http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/mark.stodgell/WorldCup2010ItalyTeolo?feat=directlink
From the sounds of it – hanging out in the wine tasting room and avoiding the race would have been a better option? Sounds to dangerous for me. . . . I love my safe life. . .
Well done – UK mud in Italy… what an advantage