Dark & White Enduro – Sherwood Pines

Adrian from Dark and White had spoken to me earlier this year about their first foray into Endurance MTB racing. He had thought of holding it on Cannock Chase but in  the end decided on the safe  bet of Sherwood Pines. I nearly didn’t race. Id had a niggly knee injury following my fall a couple of weeks ago and to top it all I got a cold in the week before. I finally made the decision late on Saturday after a couple of test rides on Fri / Sat but unfortunately this meant leaving Caths parents at 6 to get over in time for race start at 10 sharp.

The drive over the peaks at dawn was gorgeous and of course there was no traffic at all on the road. The start involved a 400 metre run Le Mans style to our bikes. Although we were issued with a map at registration the course was marked with tape and signs along its length but having it on the map board did help antipate the climbs and turns. I tucked in in about 5th place for the first few laps and rode mostly on my own. Half way round the second lap I started to lap the slower riders, including one nutter on a Unicycle and a couple of kids who were doing fantastically. It was great to see a young girl riding with her dad in an enduro (and ride the whole 4 hours) I then started to make inroads into the 4 in front of me and pulled past one rider. However after 3 hours on my 5th lap I started to feel the beginnings of some cramp. I quickly got more liquid down me but it was too late and I ended up off the bike for about 5 mins walking, stretching and generaly leaping about in agony until the water did its stuff and the pain subsided. I knew I was in trouble though with an hour to go. I got most of the rest of the 2 litres I was carrying down me and grabbed a cup of water as I started the last lap. Towards the middle of lap 6 it happen again only worse. I stretched and walked and then carried on gingerly picking very low gears on the climbs trying not to trigger a spasm. Unfortunatley on the last climb I was caught by another rider and pushed back to 5th. I just couldnt get any power onto the pedals without cramping. The last climb out the way I really went for it to try and get 4th place back and although I pulled a lot back I was pipped by 20 secs.
I ended up 5th overall and 3rd in class about 15 mins down on fellow MTB team member Killian lomas. The prize giving was good with prizes donated by Outdoor Designs and a local bikeshop http://www.hikebikeandride.com – I got a dry bag, which Ive always wanted !
I enjoyed the event and the lap was about the right length but Sherwood pines is punishing with very few long descents where you can recover. The si timing boxes round the course will add something to the results analysis and of course reduce the chance of cheating by shortcutting but with higher numbers there would be a queue for punching. I thing there should probably be a box on a stake on each side of the track perhaps. Well done Dark and White for trying something new.
Stats – 4hours 15 mins -6 laps – 82 km – 800 metres climb