I’m well known for not getting on with Enduro events, having a reliable tendency to go too fast and blow up after a couple of hours, so I entered the 2 hour category – hardly really an enduro, but a good challenge for me with a really wide age cat of 16 – 40 that would test these creaky 35 year old legs.

Chilly start

The morning dawned really chilly, a heavy frost on the ground and a beautiful clear blue sky above, perfect race conditions. The original Ash Ranges course was billed as 8 miles, but was shortened to around 6 due to foresting. This meant that I reckoned I should get onto a 5th lap before the 2 hr cut off.

I lined up about 4 rows back from the front of a massive field (109), ready to have fun, and without great expectations of a top result – top 20 would be great considering the field size and age!

Start line

After shivering on the line for a few minutes, the hooter went and we set off up the start hill, jostling for position. The course quickly headed up a really steep section which had most off the bike, although I just about managed to find a clear line and made it up. The course proved to be pretty good, nice singletrack sections, with plenty of open tracks giving passing room. There were also quite a few short sharp climbs and descents to test the skill (and cause a few slow processions!). My first lap went well; I was enjoying myself, warmed up nicely and found a good flow. I completed it in a tad under 27 mins, getting great support from my usual support crew as I crossed the line and set off on lap 2. I’d made a pact with myself to keep on top of my energy levels so downed a gel and cracked on.

Race time

There’s a slightly crazy element in me that has to clean climbs, the steeper the better, and that was the challenge for lap 2 – complete them all with no dabs, which I managed to achieve. There were two large water splash puddles per lap and by the time I’d done them on the second lap my feet were numb cold, although most of the rest of the lap was mud free – frozen! The last section of the lap wound around a couple of the rifle ranges, and care was needed as several times the course popped out of the trees onto the frosty grassed edges, each time into a tight bend – I saw 4 people go down on the slippery grass, and heeded the warning to go careful!

The course was pretty congested through the first 4 laps – the 4 hour guys had started 15 mins ahead, so very quickly there were around 250 riders on the 6 mile course, although it was encouraging to be passing people all the time, and I was able to use the fact that I had to follow some guys to keep a check on my speed and stay in control of my heart rate.

Race time

All this meant that I found myself crossing the line to start my 5th lap with 10mins to go before the cut off, so knowing that lap 5 would be my finale, I was keen to buck my usual trend and finish fast. I was feeling good and strong, and really up for a good last lap, having absolutely no idea how I was doing in relation to anyone else. I managed to clean all the climbs again, which I was chuffed with, got through the watersplash, with a huge wobble – only sheer will power kept me out of the freezing muddy water – and on, up over the heathland on top of the ranges, passing other riders frequently.

I managed to complete the race with a flourish as I raced a rider down the last singletrack descent, passing him at the bottom and heading on to the finish line, completing the race in 5th place, which was a real bonus surprise. Might well be up for the final round after this…

Big Daddy

It’s fair to say in the last five or so years I’ve largely ignored traditional XC events in favour of the longer enduro style ones. Doing 24 hour team, 12, 8, 6 and 4 hour solo events too. I figured 2 hours would be a good test to see if I still had any XC legs left.

Not a good start

The weather was rubbish when I got up and I loaded the car in pouring rain, driving through some fairly biblical weather to Rushmoor Arena, near Aldershot. I don’t know about you but I hate getting to an event in the wet, then having to sart in the rain too, a little dry wouldn’t go amiss!

The promise of dry weather?

As I said above the event was full and the registration process meant the start got held up, I think quite a few changed category to the 2 hour option. In the end we started half an hour late at 10:30, with the 4 hour races starting behind us a bit later. For once the start was not too frantic as the start straight was totally waterlogged and muddy. Pulling out of the arena and onto the course proper I was pleased to find I could maintain a decent pace and I was steadily overtaking people.

The course was a decent mix of singletrack and fire roads, with a few nice technical bits too, yet again though I was amazed by some of the other competitors, you’d think some people just don’t ride in the winter. There was a lot of slipping and sliding going on. Once the faster 4 lap riders started coming through on my third lap I was reminded that I could go a bit quicker so I spent that lap catching peoples wheels wherever possible when they overtook and hanging on for as long as I could.

By this time though both my brakes were down to the backing plates and half way round I’d pretty much hit the wall, I was happy to see PlusOne (hats off to you for completing 5 laps in those conditions BTW) when he passed and I begged him for food! I’ve never been so pleased to see a Clif Bar, it tasted good as well. Amazingly I bounced back after that pretty quickly and was able to put some effort in for the remainder of the lap.

Shattered but happy (yes, really!)

So in the end I managed to put 3 laps in, in about 2 1/2 hours and I ended up 17th out of 67 in the 2 hour 40+ category. I’m really chuffed with that result as I’ve not done anything like that for a while. The bug has bitten again so I’ll be doing some XC stuff over the coming months.

Hummerlicious