Stodge-Blog – Page 69 – its all about stodge, bikes, MTBO and the outdoors

June 22, 2009June 22, 2009

MTBO European Champs 2009 – Buildup….

Helen and Emily Training — Helen and Emily on training day

At 2 am an alarm clock going off is never pleasant but it did signal the start of my tip to the European Mountain Bike Orienteering Championships 2009. Flying from Terminal 5, the new BA terminal at Heathrow was a very agreeable experience, with the fantastic steel structure flying over us as we had what was quite a cheap coffee considering where we were at 5am on a Sunday morning and handed our bikes over hoping to see them later that day. We landed on a sunny Denmark and after a small delay waiting for the bikes got our hire car (desperate packing needed to get 3 people 3 bikes and 8 bags into a Volvo V50) and headed north around Copenhagen to our accommodation at Fredensbourg Youth Hostel. The rest of the team were already comfortably placed and kindly had some lunch waiting for us before we got outside to build our bikes from their dismantled bubble-wrapped states.
Just as some drizzle started we all headed out for a shake down ride and a little MTBO technical training to get our hand in. The drizzle turn to rain and soon we and the bikes were covered in sticky sandy mud which made the gears sound horrendous. I discovered to my horror that my bike had not travelled undamaged and I had managed to get a bent front large gear ring. It was just about rideable with careful gear selection but knew it needed to be fixed before the competition started.
Back at the Youth Hostel after a quick bike wash I dismantled the chain set and accompanied by Jimmy beat the offending ring back into shape with the aid of some well chosen logs from the pile and lots of innuendo.
The boys cooked the dinner with a set of ingredients that would have made a ready steady cook chef wince.
3 tins of Tuna, 1 tin of tomatoes, 1 tin of sweetcorn, a Cup a Soup. We presented the ladies with a course menu which seemed to go down OK but i’m not sure if peppers or tomatoes won !

After an early night and a surprisingly good nights sleep I managed to wake up the entire hostel at 8 am by setting our car alarm off by leaning on the key – oops. The rest of the team went out to train on the model event map whilst I headed off to pick up Killian from the airport. The afternoon was spent back out on the training area, tuning into the 1:7500 map scale on some practice controls ready for our first race the sprint tomorrow.

I feel as if I cant have done much more in preparation, both the bike and myself are in tip top condition so I now just need to have a good clean ride.

June 17, 2009June 18, 2009

Event Report – Dark & White Sumer League #4

Another evening of fantastic weather brought the Dark and White league to Millers Dale on the Monsal Trail near to Tideswell, a new location for me. I recognised a couple of tracks in the area but most of the map was unfamilar.
I started fairly late after getting stuck in Stockport’s nightmare that is 5pm and spent slightly longer planning a route than the normal cursory glance and the headed off up towards #3 planning to try and get them all. I think the planning was fairly kind as many competitors had spent the weekend competing either at the MTBO British Champs or the Polaris.
I was feeling really strong on the hills and was very confident on the navigation, relying mainly on map memory to keep things smooth.
The views were spectacular, with the whole of the White Peak unfolding below as we circumnavigated one of the higher areas of the South Peak District.

Feeling I was going to comfortably make it in in time with all the controls I relaxed a little and then made a mistake, cruising past a road junction on the way to #4 losing myself about 3 mins as I climbed back up cursing my lapse of concentration. It was then a race against the clock giving it all along the Monsal Trail to avoid being late back which I knew would drop me from a likely tied first place. I made it with 15 secs to spare.

Killian, Ben Plowman and I all had cleared the course in under 2 hours, giving us a tied first place. Looking at the splits Killian and I are just a couple of seconds apart on legs now so the racing in Denmark will be very close.

Results available at here..
stats – 1hour 59 mins 47 secs, 42.6km ridden

June 17, 2009June 17, 2009

Thank you to Extra UK and Hutchinson Tyres

After a few ‘moments’ on Tuesday night and some traction issues I finally admitted defeat and decided to get a new rear tyre before traveling to Denmark on Sunday, but wait that’s only 3 days away….
So a few phone calls and emails later, lots of thanks to Chris of Extra UK the British Distributors of Hutchinson Tyres who has two flying their way in the post to me in time to get them on the bike before we go, at cost 🙂
I have been using Pythons for about 18 months and find them to give great fast rolling performance but with grip in mud way beyond my expectations of them. They are also one of the lightest tubeless tyres on the market.

June 17, 2009

Selection for Great Britain World Championships Team !

It seems I did enough, the selections appeared today on the British Orienteering website. I’m off to Israel in August to represent Great Britain at the World Mountain Bike Orienteering Championships 🙂
So more flights to book…………

June 15, 2009June 16, 2009

Race Report – British MTBO Championships 2009

After the crazy rainy weather of the week before, Britain’s MTBO elite descended on a sunny Dorset for the British Mountain Bike Orienteering Championships. Wimborne Orienteers had been leant on to host the Long race held on Wareham Forest and my thanks goes to them for putting on such a fantastic day. After the usual banter and prevarication with the others I went off on my own to warm up and stretch under a tree well away from the car park, collecting my thoughts and generally tuning in ready for what was to be one of the most important races of my MTBO career up to this point, with selection for the World Champs being the prize.
I started really well and got the fastest split by 10 secs to #1, reinforcing to me how important the mental preparation is for Orienteering. I was still ahead on 2 but missed a track on #3 and lost about 30 secs. I then had another poor split on #4 this time due to a route choice decision which found me struggling in sandy conditions whilst the other route with slightly more climb proved to be much faster, again losing me approx 30 secs. From then on I had a clean ride, attacking the climbs and flat sections and cruising the downhills trying to recover. The free order section at #16 to get over the bridleway law issues was interesting and I think I picked the optimum route around the controls. I then just gave it everything, the last few controls being fairly straightforward I got my head down and pushed really hard. The final climb up from the last control was a whole world of pain and I finished collapsed in a sticky heap of panting pinkness before struggling over to download. I was 5th, just 3 mins down, a fantastic result for me on the long which is not my strongest distance.

After a night staying with friends in Romsey (and mending a shed roof !) the action moved to the Hamptworth Estate for the middle race. Again I went off on my own, warmed up and got a fairly late start. The middle distance (along with the sprint) is my best event format, it rewarding good navigation and control flow and I was hopeful of a top 3 placing. The riding on Sunday was the complete opposite of the day before with technical trails of roots and ruts, long grass hiding track edges and close overhanging vegetation, all ready to reward a lapse of concentration with a face plant into the undergrowth. Some tiny indestinct paths and poor visibility made good navigtion a must. I started well and from the splits I have seen I was leading after the first 6 controls and going really well. My problem came at #7 where I lost approx 10 mins. There was something amiss with the map and the control placement but I found it eventually as Bryan Singleton and John Houlihan caught me having started 5 and 10 mins behind.

I then had the most fantastic head to head race with Bryan (the eventual winner) Bryan piling past on the short climbs using his awesome fitness and me pulling back into the lead in the intricate track network, keeping the control flow going not making any mistakes, I even managed a couple of standing EMIT punches (not putting your floor down at controls).
At #20 after my gears jammed he pulled ahead of me on the fast decent and subsequent climb but a mistake at #21 saw me overtake again leaving one to go.

On the way to the last control Bryan flew past out of the saddle with a call of ‘ My legs your Map !’ shame as I was just braking to turn into the track to the control 🙂 and he missed it. It felt very nice braking hard after the sprint for the finish line to have beaten him round the second part of the course.

Again a great event on a very challenging area. I was a little disappointed with my 4th place feeling I was capable of the win if I had not had the problems at #7 but everyone was in the same boat.
The weekend finished with a sunny prize giving of local apple pies, local ale and more banter before the long drive back up north.
Full results for the Long Race here and for the Middle Race here.

June 10, 2009June 10, 2009

Preview: European MTBO Championships 2009 – Denmark 22-29th June

The Great Britain Team (with me in it – yeh) will be flying out to Denmark over the weekend of 21st June to compete in the 2009 European Championships.
Competitors from 24 countries are decending on the area north of Copenhagan for 5 days of intense competition.

Monday Model / training events
Tuesday Sprint Distance Race
Wednesday Middle Distance Race
Thursday Long Distance Race
Friday Rest day
Saturday Relay Race ,Closing ceremony, EOC and JWOC prize-giving Banquet

The event also the Junior World Champs with Britain’s Emily Benham looking for Medal success
Also check out Team GBs Facebook page here

Im sure there will be live results and Ill be blogging away hopefully daily and reporting back for Team GB
Keep an eye on http://www.eocmtbo2009.dk/ for more details………

June 7, 2009

Winter riding clothes in June !

Urghhhh, what a weekend. After the sunshine of Thursday night I just managed to get a ride in on the Chas

e with two friends on Friday before the rain started. My ride on Saturday was just horrendous, coming back after 5 mins to get winter gloves and overshoes before venturing out for a second try. A couple of hours out intervals training in the rain left me cold and hungry and had me undressing straight into the washing machine ‘winter style’. Sunday I had promised to go out with fellow GB Squad member Helen Clayton and her brother for some technique training on the chase. We went out at 11.30 when the rain was probably at its worst. Water was flowing in streams down all the major paths and the ‘stepping stones’ were brimming with the highest water level I have ever seen, winter included, flowing ovver the stones. After 2 hours we returned completely filthy and freezing cold, I even had to put the house heating back on as we cradled hot mugs of steaming tea after a welcome shower. What a difference to last weekend where sunburn was the problem.

Sunday afternoon did brighten enough to have a fairly dry and pleasant road ride, but I still had to negotiate my way through several flooded lanes.
Lets hope normal June weather returns for next weekends British Mountain Bike Orienteering Championships down South. Long on Saturday, Middle Distance on Sunday

June 5, 2009

Event Report – D&W Summer League #3

Round 3 of the Dark and White summer trailquest league involved a drive right across the peak district to the outskirts of Chesterfield. I have only ridden here once before a long time ago and couldn’t remember much about it.
I was a bit hasseled at the start after the long drive over from Altrincham and probably should have spent a little more time working out a route before balsting off. Deciding on a downhill finish I headed north but faffed about with a daft choice of route between the various controls in the centre of the map, wasting time and energy when looking later on the sofa at home I spotted a much better route. I rode strongly considering my legs have done a lot in the past couple of weeks and I was particularly pleased about the way I was climbing the hills.
In the mad dash for home I never found #4. I went past the control site twice but couldn’t find it, not seeing any tape, being tight for time I just had to leave it and carry on which is a shame because it would have brought me up to =2 from 4th. The area is great for trailquesting with lots of steep hills and little bridleways, though as normal a little local knowledge does help.

Full results available at www.darkandwhite.co.uk or straight link here
Stats – 40.31km, 500m climb, 2hours 2 mins