Event Report – Dark & White Winter League # 5

The weather forecast and note on the Dark & White website warning of snow, made me wonder if I’d even get to the event, but dawn brought good conditions for rnd #5 of the winter league, centred on Macclesfield Forest.
I decided to have a good look at the map rather than dashing off this time as there were lots of route options available.

Deciding I didn’t fancy riding into the wind on the open moor and wanting a downhill finish off I went up towards Teggs Nose on an a clockwise route. On the way to #10 I was so engrossed in sorting out the finer points of my route I wasted 2 mins by riding straight past it. The climb up Teggs Nose by #10 has some history for me. I bonked on it at the end of my first ever Trailquest back in 2005 and was late back, suffice to say the reason I missed the control was I climbed it much much faster this time 🙂

I rode well, keeping an eye on the time and really thought at one point getting all but one of them was a possibility, however on the way to #2 on a slippery singletrack I had a minor off and bent the rear mech hanger slightly. Other than not being able to get top gear and a bit of chain noise things seemed OK so I carried on.

The crosswind on the Cat & Fiddle road was scary, but it was more uncomfortable when I turned to face it on the way to #15.

Then came the nightmare every mountain biker dreads, a major mechanical miles from anywhere. At the top of a very steep climb out of a farm the chain sucked badly and the rear mech hanger finally broke 🙁 Arrowed on the map

As this is now the third time on this bike over the years it is lucky I carry a spare. It’s one of those irreplaceable get you home bits that is mostly bike specific, so you can’t scrounge one. The heart rate and GPS plot shows I lost 6mins 20 secs, which to be honest isn’t bad considering, although my hands were freezing when I finished.

So back on the bike I was then on a serious mission to get back on time. I did a fair bit of head scratching but decided to stick to the original plan and bag the points. I however stupidly wasted another 4 mins by playing safe on a map correction as I was unsure of a right of way, so rode around on the roads.

The final climb back over to the finish was painful with me giving it everything, I necked a gel just before I started up it and I think its what kept me going.

So I ended up just over 7 mins late, losing me 11 points after riding 49km with 1650m climb. Looking at the results, if I hadn’t had the mechanical I would have probably won. I am really chuffed with the result and now seem to be able to keep up with the big boys ! The hours of winter training now seems to be paying off.
Full results available here

Mark Stodgell ( Stodge )