Race Report by Simon Young
After a half days' work and a moderately lengthy, and thankfully uneventful, drive from Cornwall I found the Altura Patterson Training enclave and was promptly rewarded with a cup of tea. An excellent start!
The night time trial was tonight’s agenda, and after a quick lap of the course in daylight, and much circling of the holding pen, we waited for velvety darkness to cloak the campsite.
Elite men were off first and Andy and I were going to be mixing it up with them. I got to set off last, and felt like I had the whole field to catch. The awesome Lupine Betty meant light was no problem and I soon caught and passed my 30 second man and then his 30 second man too. Sadly, it wasn’t enough though, as nobody was catching XC racer’s Mr Morris tonight on his big wheeler. I came in 4th, six seconds adrift of 3rd place and surprisingly our times were faster than in tomorrow’s daylight competition! Ruth came in 4th too and it was to prove a popular number for us, so tantalisingly close to the podium…
The main event on Sunday kicked off with a ½ mile Le Mans style running start. In the ensuing melee I got tripped up running at full pelt and, although a handy judo roll saw me back up and running in no time, it caused a damaged calf muscle that’s still plaguing me now. Despite the shaky start and having detangled my bike, I decided to follow Scott’s Nick Craig around the first lap before handing over to Ruth. This was a lesson in perfect pacing as Nick, seemingly effortlessly, motored around the course gaining places all the time (and lead to his well deserved win).
Meanwhile, Ruth and I had a battle of our own to contest. We spent most of the race swapping back and forth with 3rd placed Barry and Sue Clarke, whilst holding off a team from Cambridge. The course provided a good mix of terrain, and whilst tyre choice was a tough call, the Endorfin bikes worked perfectly. The geometry was spot on through the tight switchbacks, and I was surprised to find that with normal sag I hadn’t even thought about using the lockout for the whole event, for which my bum was grateful on the drive home.
As the 6 hour deadline loomed the pressure was on, on my final lap to get round before the cut-off. I made it with just over 4 minutes to spare and cruelly sent Ruth out for another lap of her own. She did a sterling job gunning it right to the end and we came home to a well deserved, yes you’ve guessed it, 4th place and the end of another great event.
I’d just like to thank Ruth for her unstinting hard work as race partner, to Andy for pit help, James for the tea and finally to the weather for not pouring down until just after we’d finished.
See you all Trackside soon.
Simon
Ruth warms up for a final lap around Catton Park, securing fourth place for Altura Patterson Training's mixed pair.
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