British Mountain Bike Series Round 5 - 26 September 2009 Plymouth

Race Report by Andrew Patterson

After last weeks glimmer of form I was psychologically in a good place. I had found my mojo and riding and racing the Rush was a joy. This weekend was the final National series race down in Plymouth, now two things I don't like about the course at Plymouth are; 1. It's miles away. 2. It's hilly.

As Jenn was working until 3pm on Friday we had to endure the long slog down from Manchester to Plymouth in heavy traffic, set up camp in the dark and ride a practice lap in the morning before the race. From experience I know this doesn't help Jenn, myself or any rider looking for peak performance for that matter, but it's what we have to do, as even with Jenn's palmares, full time work is still required to fund the year's racing program. I'll let Jenn comment one her race and focus on my race.

Climbing well past the feed zone

I had a good grid on the second row so I could get a comfortable position up the feed zone climb into the singletrack. But once the gun sounded a rider who was sat to the left of me made a crazy sprint across my wheel forcing me to back off and lean heavily on Adrian Scott (Corley), losing a few places. On the feed zone climb most riders sat behind the wheels of other riders in one line almost afraid to put a wheel off the smooth track and gain places into the singletrack, which is just what I did using up all of my anaerobic capacity and found myself in around 10th spot in the singletrack where I could recover.

The first lap is always fast and furious and I came out of it in around 9th spot with Paul Hopkins (Offcamber of Blandford). Paul sat on my wheel up the first climb and then jumped in front on into the singletrack where I felt a little held up having to use the brakes far to much behind him. We stick together on lap 2 until I think I pulled away somewhere at the start of lap 3 having a 10 second gap into the second tough loose climb out of the clay shooting range.

The drop in that burped my tyre

By this stage I had a problem in that I had burped the front tyre on the short drop in at the end of the first piece of singletrack, so on the second singletrack section just as I was catching 4th, 5th and 6th spot I thought I had to act fast and get some air into the tyre or risk rolling it off the rim. In doing so 3 riders including Paul Hopkins passed me but I was fired up and way faster on the singletrack. I caught them back easily then made a move on Paul on a short earthy very steep climb where I saw Paul drop into the granny so I battered the middle ring in a contorted effort to power away and keep good traction. As I passed him at the bottom of the climb I said "I'll pay for this later" acknowledging that efforts like that don't always pay off in endurance events.

One of 2 river crossings that I'm sure were getting deeper each lap

I was obviously reaping the rewards of the power and strength endurance training I have been doing in my facilitative (Suck it and see) style training rides as I felt strong for the rest of the race. I had two laps to catch those in front who I could see every lap just in front of me on the loose climb out of the clay shooting range, but I lacked the pace to bridge the gap.

My feeding was shocking throughout the race, drinking only about 1 litre and eating 3 PowerBar gels but I was riding right on the nail and above it for the whole race and I found it hard to breath slow enough to drink. I know, I know I don't always practice what I preach but I was very happy with my drive and I had to push all the way round as I thought the efforts of attacking hard on steep climbs would need paying back in the latter laps, and if there is one thing I can do its hurt myself.

I stayed clear claiming 6th spot in the end 4minutes 53seconds behind race winner Phil Morris (XC Racer) my best National series result yet. Now I just keep asking myself what could have been if I were 76kg? Full results can be found here from Timelaps.co.uk It was a great event, well done to Martyn Salt and team for a great day out racing. The band and night cross race added a great atmosphere to the event.

We are off to New Zealand at the end of the year so this was the last National series event Jenn and I will race. I would like to show my adoration to my Partner Jenn O'Connor. The range of Jenn's success over the past years in 24 hour racing, MTB Marathon and MTB XC has never been bettered, all whilst working full time. Many female athletes will benefit from her campaign for equal prize funds in 24 hour racing and have benefited from her help and support in the MTB scene, spending tireless hours chasing up sponsorship deals for others with no personal reward. I'm sure this won't be the last time Jenn puts a number on, but for now we have some different challenges. I am privileged to share my life with Jenn and be part of her optimism, drive and love of life. I look forward to our life together in NZ and love you lots Jenn.

Midlands XC Round 4

I have recently changed my bike from the Scalpel to the Carbon Rush. Having never ridden a Rush Carbon I thought the Rush would be a more laid back bike that was difficult to achieve that always fast feel that the Scalpel has. From the time I received the Rush I have been doing all my riding and training on it. This is because when changing from bikes of different geometry it takes some time to get my 6 feet 4 inch frame to an optimal position. After a couple of rides it was evident that the Rush actually fits me better than the Scalpel did. A slacker seat/head angle and lower bottom bracket along with a pro pedal suspension system that I can ride well into the travel without wallowing around led to a feeling of being in the bike rather than on and over it as I did on the Scalpel. But did it inspire speed as the Scalpel did?

Now I know you are thinking, sponsor supplies new bike, rider must big up the product. Well that should always happen, without sponsors many athletes could not compete with such great equipment. However, getting the right bike for myself has always been problematic and custom builds have always been the preferred option. At the final round of the Midlands MTB Series in Sherwood Pines I was about to get a shock. I took my bike but was in no real mood to race as I had ridden a marathon around the peaks in my usual 39 x 11-34 gear constraint and had even succumbed to the hunger shakes that evening before the race. But as the sun was out on race day I put my number on and lined up at the back of the grid. The gun went and I stamped hard on the 180 cranks. I didn’t lock the front forks as I usually do, I’d set them up firm with a lot of rebound damping and left the rear traction control down to the pro pedal on the Fox shock. After the initial sprint I found myself feeling very strong, the lactate was not as apparent as it sometimes is and I managed to slot into the single track in about 6th spot feeling very comfortable.

Ripin the Rush hard towards the podium

The singletrack was split by very fast sections of forest trail and I kicked again managing to pass my nemesis Darren Alexander (Mini Adventure) with surprising ease. By this stage I was thinking I have put zero pressure on myself for this race and the goal was to just get round, focus on skills, have fun and hope that yesterdays 100 Peak District kilometres and the 3 kilograms of extra weight I am carrying don’t make me look too bad. An extra bit of luck found me as Matt Barrett (Raleigh) pulled up in front of me half way into the first lap with a snapped chain and I found myself riding in 3rd spot with Chris Rathbone (Websters Cycles). So from that point on my goal was a podium. Chris and I both had some problems as his rear tyre had lost some air and was in great danger of rolling off on the bomb hole whereas my Tune cranks, which had come loose in the English Marathon Champs were obviously permanently damaged from that race and began to unwind themselves. I had to stop after lap 2 and tighten them up but easily caught back up with Chris. I followed Chris for a lap and still felt comfortable making notes on the sections he was stronger on and where he was not so strong or where his tyre may cause him to slow, then Chris followed me for a lap not giving me any distance. Im not that sure where I pulled away from Chris it may have been through one of the Star Wars style fast tree dodging sections or on a sandy drag, but I soon found myself out in second place. At the start of the final lap I was caught by Lloyd Bettles who was pacing his laps well. I followed his wheel and started to plan my finish strategy, which in brief came down to unleashing the 1600 watts I can muster in a sprint as soon as I get round the last bend. If all else fails at least it will give the crowd some entertainment.

I took the lead into the second to last section of singletrack but somehow jumped my chain off the sprocket loosing a couple of pedal strokes and Lloyd nipped by but sportingly eased the pace for me to get back on, he was also keen for The good fight. He was now in front and I was holding his wheel looking forward to a sprint finish. The last singletrack section came and I was just a fraction too close to his back wheel, so when Lloyd got his line slightly wrong I had no time to evaluate my position and over corrected hitting a lone pine cone and hitting the deck. Lloyd put the hammer down, the crowd had no sprint finish and I settled for 3rd. Stephen James (Torq) won the race 1 minute 30 seconds ahead of us.

Apart from my after market cranks (I use them as no one makes a BB30 180 crank) the Rush was truly faultless around Sherwood. Planted, smooth, nimble, comfortable all those superlatives that you hear now and then in a MTB review, and it felt very fast. I had no pressure for that race and the effect of that psychological state was very useful. It shows the power of how process goals can reduce stress and allow performance and enjoyment to shine through the often stressful outcome oriented world of bike racing. I’m still way over my target race weight, my season was badly disrupted by swine flu and one particular rubbish event but im loving racing and riding again thanks to our sponsors, Cheers.

Myself in 3rd, Lloyd Bettles 2nd, Stephen James 1st

Warwick Cycle Races

Sunday 6 September 2009
Warwick

Race Report by Jenn O'Connor
Images by Richard Robotham

After nearly five hours of alpine mountain bike racing at the World Champs, I was in the mood for something completely different. The Warwick Cycle Races (aka the Warwick Crits) is a day of town centre street racing, whereby the roads around the centre of Warwick are closed, barriers erected, and cyclists of various ages and specialities get to tear around the streets with impunity. It sounded like fun, so I signed myself up.

Andy was down in London for the weekend doing Coach Education work for British Cycling, so it was just me and Little White Bike (a carbon Cannondale Synapse), with a packed lunch and a train ticket. I put a seat pack with a C02 pump on the bike, put a spare tube and tyre levers in my back pocket for the race, and rode out to Macclesfield train station with a rucksack.

Catching the train with my bike was easy. It took just 1hr45mins to get from Macclesfield to Leamington Spa, then a gentle ride over to Warwick. I got there in plenty of time, and even got to see some of the kids' and club races. The town was heaving, and not just with cyclists. Plenty of local folk were lining the barriers, cheering and shouting, or chilling out at outside tables at the numerous coffee shops lining the track. I was having fun already, it felt like a festival.

The elite women's event was off at 2:30pm, and we got a couple of practice laps to warm up before lining up on the grid. I really had no idea what to expect, as I'd only ever done one circuit race before, which was at Milton Keynes Bowl, and it was nothing like this. There were about 20 of us lined up, and I stayed at the back of the grid, as this was a National Series race, and I had no series points for circuit racing.

We eased off the line in the manner of a road race, but then a couple of girls took off, and the race was on! I moved up to the front of the bunch, not wanting to be left behind in the tight turns, and started chasing the leaders out the front. It took a couple of laps at race speed to get used to the tight corners, and I knocked my cranks a couple of times trying to accelerate out of the corners too soon. I soon got used to it though, and Little White Bike handled beautifully. After about five laps, Nicola Juniper (PCA Ciclos Uno) escaped off the front, and no-one had the legs to chase her down. I stayed with the main bunch, and although there were plenty of strong and willing riders, we weren't really working together - more like taking turns trying to ride away.

About halfway into the race the group started to break apart, and more and more riders were getting dropped, as we started to overtake lapped riders. The gap to Nicola out front hovered between 20 and 25 seconds, but on such a tight circuit we couldn't see her. With just 10 minutes to go, we had formed a small break at the front of the main bunch - myself, Anna Fischer (Max Gear R.T.) and Natalie Creswick (Twickenham CC), but Natalie crashed on a corner with only a few laps to go, which left myself and Anna.

We were both working hard, and we had 2nd and 3rd place in the bag between us, but we knew we'd have to sprint for 2nd. The last couple of laps were ridden at a steady pace, as we both saved our legs for the sprint. Anna led up the last climb and we sprinted for the line. Unfortunately I had to get around a lapped rider in front of me, although she did her best to get out of the way. I nipped around her and up to Anna's elbow on the line, but it wasn't enough and I was beaten into 3rd place. Meanwhile, Nicola had stretched her lead from 25 seconds to nearly a minute during the last two laps while we'd eased the pace, and she lapped the entire field apart from myself and Anna.

It was lung-busting work and much more intense than my slow-cooker body is used to, but it was tremendous fun and great racing. For my third place I won £42, which was precisely the combined cost of my entry fee and train ticket, so I broke even on a day's racing, which is almost impossible in mountain bike racing!

The women's podium (from left) Jenn O'Connor (Altura Patterson Training), Nicola Juniper (PCA Ciclos Uno), Anna Fischer (Max Gear R.T.)

I was even able to secure a large skinny latte and a table with a view to watch the start of the elite men's race, before catching my train home. Warwick and Leamington Spa are lovely little towns, and the races are a wonderful day out. I hope I get the chance to go back.

A full report, results and picture gallery for the Warwick Cycle Races can be found here.

Information about Warwick Cycle Races can be found here.