BMBS XC Round Three

Margam Park, Wales

30-31 May 2009

Race Report by Jenn O'Connor

It was a bag of 4th places for Altura Patterson Training this weekend, along with a few DNFs. It was also the most glorious weather we've had for years, and a real taste of summer. No complaints from me, but there were a fair few people panting by the end of the day on Sunday, and more than a few smiling sunburned faces.

Our elite women's race was the first off on Saturday morning, and I was lined up with all the usual suspects. As in all our races this year, there was no way to pick a winner, and everyone was eagar to get a good result. My legs felt strong, and I was feeling pretty good. My concussion at Round Two in Dalby three weeks ago had left me feeling wiped out, and the bruising in my knee still comes and goes, but in the days leading up to this race I was finally starting to feel strong again, and I'd been really looking forward to the weekend.

The Elite Women's race gets underway, beneath a cloudless blue sky.

I got a pretty good start too (yes, I have been practising), and rode hard to stay on the wheel of Kate Potter (Cotic Bontrager) as we rode into the first climbs. Kate has spent the best part of this season getting battered about in the elbow-to-elbow throng of the World Cup circuit, and it has clearly done her confidence the world of good. She tapped up the climbs and rode off the front of the bunch without a backward glance. Behind her I settled into a rhythm and was soon trading places with Sue Clarke (SiS) and National Champ Jenny Copnall (Look RT). By the third lap we'd settled into our positions - Sue 2nd, Jenny 3rd and me in 4th, which was how the race finished. I was tiring over the last two laps and losing minutes, which was a bit disappointing as I usually have much better stamina than that. But 4th is a fair result in such a strong field, and I know I can train my stamina back. I was also quietly pleased to see all the old favourites back on the podium, showing the young guns we're not ready to roll over just yet!

The Master Women's race started a few minutes after ours, and Ruth managed to but her troubles behind her and put in a solid effort to secure 4th place in her race behind Masters Champ Nina Davies (Ogmore Valley Wheelers), Kim Hurst and Emma Bradley (Torq).

Andy raced in the Master Men's event in the afternoon, but was forced to pull out after three laps, as his atrial flutter came on and wouldn't calm down. It's not a serious condition, but causes his heart to beat fast and shallow, so he has to lie down and wait for it to stop. It was still tapping away at 210bpm two hours later, and we were about to have him carted off to the cardiac unit when it finally dropped back to a normal rhythm (just as I finishing cleaning his bike).

Sunday was the British Marathon Champs, and everyone on our team was having a crack at it, apart from me (the Kiwi). I was designated pit helper for six people - Andy, Nadine, Annabel, Ruth, James Hampshire (Nadine's partner) and Ross Creber (Annabel's partner). I did a lap of the 22km course in the morning before the race and nearly didn't get back in time for the start. Carting water, food, chairs, tools, buckets etc up into the Feed Zone was exhausting enough, and I certainly have new respect for those who do this chore at every race.

Ross was first through, in the lead bunch with Oli Beckinsale (Giant RT) and Paul Oldham (Hope). James (XCracer.com) was next, riding well and cheerful as always. Then came Annabel, sitting mid-pack in the women's field. Annabel had never attempted a marathon before and was pacing herself well. Nadine was not far behind, also racing the miles into her legs and riding well. Ruth came through looking very determined in the 50km half marathon race.

Andy eventually came in on foot, having shredded his semi-slick Panaracer on a rocky descent, and then puncturing again after repairing it with a tube. He fixed his tyre again in the pits, and while I was busy with the track pump, I missed Ross coming through for his second lap, still up with the leaders. Sorry Ross! Luckily Andy caught him when he missed a gear at the top of the feed zone, and gave him a bottle.

Oli eventully won the men's title, with Paul second and Ian Bibby (Halfords) taking the bronze. Ross finished fifth, a great result. The women's championship was won in convincing style by defending champion Sally Bigham (Topeak Ergon), who etched out a 10 minute lead over Jenny Copnall. Jenny showed her class as the only rider to finish in the top three after racing the XC the day before. Jane Nuessli overtook Gemma Collins in the last lap to take the final medal position. Nadine rode a steady race to finish 11th, while Annabel had a bad crash on her third lap, and was bitterly disappointed not to finish.

Ruth finished 4th in the 50km event, while Andy finished three laps, but had lost so much time with his punctures that he didn't go out for the fourth, and so also didn't finish. As for me, I'm so exhausted after five hours running about in the sun passing bottles that I'm taking a rest day to recover!

Something Special...

Hope Technologies are a wonderfully innovative company in Barnoldswick here in the UK, and anyone who knows anything about mountain bikes will have heard of Hope. Their flagship product line is their range of hydraulic disc brake systems, and Hope have been sponsoring me with their wonderful Mono Minis since 2004.

My sponsorship with Hope is part of their Factory Sponsored Riders programme, providing selected athletes in the UK and abroad with a full range of their fantastic kit. Hope Factory Sponsored riders get their kit custom anodised - bright green for the men and pink for the women. This custom kit is done as a special run and is available to the team riders only. This year there is just one Hope Factory Sponsored female XC racer in the world - lucky old me!

This means my new 3-bolt Pro3 SP pink hub wheels in their Stans 355 hoops are the only ones of their kind in the world.

The 355 rims are not quite as light as the Stans Race 7000 versions, but the integrated hub and rotor system takes some of that weight back, making these wheels competitively light (1450gm per set, including rotors) and very strong and durable. Durability in wheels is especially important in marathon and stage racing, when you don't always know what's around the next corner. They have a rider weight limit of 85kg, but for me at 50kg they are pretty much bombproof.

The matching pink Mono Mini Pro brakeset is also unique (although you can buy a standard Mono Mini in pink).

To find out more about Hope kit go to http://www.hopetech.com/. You can't get these wheels in pink, but you can get the same technology in black.

A Long Weekend

Recovering from my crash at Dalby has taken a bit longer than expected, but I'm finally starting to feel like I'm back on top of things. We've been making the most of having a couple of weeks off racing to rest and polish up on the mountain biking, with long rides on our local trails here in the Peak, and a day trip to Llandegla in North Wales on Sunday.

On a warm summer evening, there's no place better than Macc Forest on a mountain bike.

Straiton Road Race

Report by Nadine Spearing

This weekend I decided to leave my knobbly tyres at home, missing Round 2 of the British XC Series, and take my Synapse race machine on a 700 mile round trip to the scenic Ayrshire town of Straiton in Scotland for Round 2 of the National Women's Road Race Series.


The race was 71km and after a very slow neutralised start, we climbed out of the town to the very quiet country lanes and the race was on. I tucked in near the front of a reasonably small bunch of 26 women and descended down the roughest roads I've ever ridden, dodging potholes and sailing round sweeping bends that went on for several miles.

The course then took 3 laps round a rolling course, before finally heading back towards Straiton via a 5 mile climb. It felt like there was a lot more descending than climbing during the 3 laps, as the hills were short and the descents very gradual. In the back of my mind during the whole race was the final climb to the finish and I made an effort to ensure I had enough left in the tank to make it up the final climb fast.

From the start there was a constant flow of attacks, particularly from the Max Gear RT team, who were kitted up with team radios and one after another the 4 of them would attack, get reeled in by the bunch, then the next one would go. Other attacks came from Lynn Hamel who made more of an effort to get away than anyone, but the bunch stayed together until the final climb.

There was one steep hill in the lap where inevitably, attacks were made every time, and it came straight after a very fast descent into a right hand bend covered with loose gravel. A lot of my competitors were hesitant descending here, and so I made sure I was at the front of the bunch before the descent to avoid any crashes or get held up. The bunch spread out a lot down this descent so the riders at the back had a lot of work to do to catch back up, and I could see it was taking it's toll on some of them, while I preserved as much energy as possible.

The final 5 mile climb wasn't as severe as I'd anticipated, with my mountain biking legs quite used to climbing. At about the halfway mark an attack went, was chased down, and then the bunch split in two. I felt comfortable up the climb and sat in the front bunch of 12 waiting for the sprint finish which was drawing ever closer.

I knew the finish was along this climb, but it all looked the same to me and I wasn't actually sure where exactly the finish line was. I had assumed we had a couple more minutes climbing to do when the front riders started sprinting. I reacted quickly, picked up the pace and then I saw the chequered flag. I sprinted into 3rd position but let myself down with a poor gear choice; I was under-geared and couldn't accelerate past Ella Sadler-Andrews in 1st and Claire Thomas in 2nd. All too quickly the line rushed under our wheels and I finished in 3rd position. It was frustrating, because my legs had a lot left in them, but I am pleased with the improvements that I've made and the lessons I'm learning in only a handful of races that I've done so far on the road.

Shiny Side Up, Rubber Side Down

Pics courtesy of Rob Crayton www.robcrayton.co.uk

It's one of the core prinicples of effective bike racing, but sometimes we get it wrong. It's been a while since I had a crash I couldn't get up from, but I made it a classic over-the-bars-flying-through-the-air head stack down the Medusa Drop at the second round of the British Mountain Bike Series in Dalby on Sunday.

I'm mad with myself for crashing, as up until that point on the final lap, everything had been going pretty well. I had another poor start after missing my pedal on the startline (must practice start drills!) but was steadily working my way through the field and had made it to third place with one lap to go. I had second placed Mel Spath (Cycleways Torq) in my sights and I was feeling strong, and working hard to reel her in on the final lap.

The new Dalby course was one of the most technically challenging XC courses I've ridden, and I was confident after practice that I could do well on it, as I'm (usually) pretty good with drops and steep stuff. However, I remember thinking it was the sort of course that would catch people out in the final laps when fatigue set in and concentration started to lapse a bit, and I must have jinxed myself because that's exactly what happened to me.

I landed on my head and left shoulder, but luckily my Catlike Whisper Pro helmet did its job and took the worst of the hit. No broken bones, just a dead left arm, and no major head trauma, just a few dizzy spells and a cracking headache that I'm holding off with an industrial dose of Ibuprofen.

The race was won by visiting Australian Katherine O'Shea (Torq Aus), who went off from the gun and got a clean run right through to the end. Sue Clarke (SiS) was also putting in some very fast laps, but a puncture on lap 3 put her out of contention for the podium. Mel held on to her 2nd place, and Lily Matthews (100% Me) inherited the final podium spot, after very nearly mowing me down and finishing me off I was being attended by medics at the side of the track.

Coach Andy Patterson raced in the Sport category at lunchtime, after missing a spot in the oversubscibed Masters race later in the afternoon. He finished 8th in a field of 50 starters, after working his way up from the back of the start grid, railing all the berms on the big Scalpel (Andy loves berms) and holding off some of the smaller racers with his condor-like elbows!

Oli Beckinsale (Giant) managed to hold off the other visiting Aussie Daniel McConnell (Torq Aus), with Brit rider David Fletcher taking third in the Elite men's race.

For full results from Round 2 of the BMBS please visit http://www.timelaps.co.uk/.

Our team mates were not with us this weekend - Annabel has had a fever for the past couple of days and decided not to race, while Ruth has had a family bereavement to deal with. Nadine opted for a road race up in Straiton, Scotland, and finished third, which is her first podium in a national series road race. We'll have a race report from Nadine up soon.

Our next event is Round 3 of the BMBS down at Margam Park in South Wales, which means we have three weeks in which to recover and rebuild. We will all be there, and hopefully staying upright!

Jenn

Two Days of Bedford

Race Report by Jenn O'Connor

This was one of our big road races of the season, and we've all been looking forward to it. As this was a team event, we'd bolstered our team with the addition of Paula Moseley and Alli Northcott, and both proved themselves great choices time and again over the course of the weekend.

Day 1 - Sunday 3rd May 2009
Stage 1 - Team Time Trial 9.7km

The whole team had to start but only the top four times counted towards the team score. Apart from Annabel, none of us had ever done a TTT before, and we'd never ridden together as a team. I start off on the front, and took off fairly steady to ensure we all got clipped in and moving together. Alli (who had never done any kind of TT) took the next turn and went off at a hell of a pace, then missed the last wheel and disappeared, so we were a rider down within the first 500m. We couldn't afford to lose another rider, so we rode carefully. Nadine struggles with TTs and Annie and I jollied her along, while Paula with her bar extensions did the extra share on the front. We finished in 15:12, which put us in 5th place and 38 seconds down on the leaders going into Stage 2.

Stage 2 - Keysoe Road Race 80km

Our rough plan was for Nadine to try for the sprint primes, while Annie and I would try for the hill primes, and Alli and Paula would cover the breaks and look after Nadine. It all went out the window. The bunch of 80 riders were crammed into one side of the road around tight country lanes and it look two of the five laps for me to work my way to the front, and that was only because I had fearless Alli working for me, making gaps where there were none.

Things were settling down a bit, when the crash happened. I didn't see it start, but I saw riders go down on my left, then a rider hit the deck right in front of me. I don't know how I didn't crash. Eight riders went down in all, with one broken ankle and a set of snapped handlebars. The race carried on, albeit a bit shaken up.

The hill sprint was not really a hill so much as a short rise, so it favoured the sprinters over the pure climbers in any case. Nonetheless, I managed to line myself up for the second hill prime and crossed the line third, for a few bonus points. I then chanced a second place in one of the sprint primes, as I happened to be one of three riders who had gotten away from the bunch back up the road.

The group inevitably came back together, and it was Paula who got a break with Julie Cook (Squadra Donne) and got away on the last lap. They were chased and caught by Natalie Cresswick (Twickenham CC), who eventually won, with Julie second and Paula third. Meanwhile, Alli and I managed to keep the rest of the bunch together, and I went for the bunch sprint up the hill to the finish securing the fourth spot. Result! This put Paula second on GC as she'd clawed back some of the lost time from the TTT by finishing in the break. I was 12th on GC thanks to my sprint efforts, and Alli lost no time finishing in the bunch behind me. Annie had bad stomach cramps and struggled through to finish, while Nadine finished behind the main bunch.

Day Two - Monday 4th May 2009

Stage 3 - Individual Time Trial 3.37km

A really short TT, with a gradual descent, a gradual climb and a flat. I think the organisers kept the time trials deliberately short so that the advantage gained by those with proper TT bikes and aero kit would not dictate the outcome of the whole event. We rode the TTs on standard road bikes, although Paula had a set of tri-bars and clocked about 10 seconds faster than me and Annie (on the same time to the second) with Alli and Nadine about 10 seconds slower again. The result dropped Paula dropped back to third on GC and we knew we'd have to race tactics in the afternoon road race if we wanted to keep or better that place. There was a "Combative" prize to be awarded, and we were gunning for it.

Stage 4 - Cranfield Road Race 71km

Now we were looking after Paula. Our team stayed on the front and marked Julie Cook and Danni King, the other two GC contenders. The only way for Paula to improve her position was to get in a break with one of the other two, or break away on her own, but there were just seconds in it, and we couldn't afford to let any breaks go without Paula. Annie started things off with attacks off the front in the first lap, and I followed it up with a long attack that saw me off the front for about 10 minutes. Then Alli went. We kept attacking and chasing everything that moved. I even got another sprint prime, securing 3rd place in the sprint competition, which is a bit of an outrage as I'm not a sprinter at all.

Then the next disaster happened. I'd allowed myself to drop back into the bunch after my sprint, when a group of three horseriders decided to take their chances and ride down the road into the peloton. We were trying to keep left but there were 80 of us on a narrow country lane. Sure enough, one of the horses spooked and bolted straight into the bunch, scattering riders and bikes in all directions. The front half of the race carried on, while the rest of us were left stranded, unable to get past the panicking horse. The marshalls pulled out the red flag and stopped the race. Thankfully no-one was hurt this time, despite the apparent carnage.

We were re-gridded at the top of the hill to re-start the final lap. A lot of riders were visibly shaken and there were plenty of trembling hands on bars, including mine. We set off for the final lap, but the fight seemed to have gone out of the bunch, like we all just wanted it to be over. It was raining but this stage and the roads were wet. I felt like I was riding just to survive, and I was happy to let my team mates fight it out at the front, as it was clear no breaks would go. Paula made a few last attempts to get away, but the bunch just strung out behind her. In the end she tired herself out and didn't have anything for the final sprint, which was won by Laura Trott (Impsport A). Paula finished in the bunch and held her 3rd place on GC. It was the result we'd been working for.

The team event was won by Squadra Donne, the composite team that included both Julie Cook and Danni King. MaxGear finished second, largely on the strength of a good TTT at the start, while Altura Patterson Training finished third. Three third places! Not bad at all!

No Combative prize was awarded in the end. Maybe it went to the horse.

Big thanks to Alli and Paula - you guys were awesome, and we hope to have you on our team again!

Cheshire Classic

Sunday 26th April, 2009
Hosted by Weaverham CC
Pics by Andrew Patterson

Some say road racing is a lottery. Others argue that you make your own luck. The Cheshire Classic was another frustrating day for our Altura Patterson Training team, with no results to show for our work, but nonetheless it was an exciting race.

It was a group of about 50 women, ranging from Elites through to 4th cats, who rolled out onto the 10km Weaverham circuit for the first of 8 laps. Our team comprised me (Jenn O’Connor), Annabel Simpson and Nadine Spearing. With just three of us we didn’t have much of a game plan, except that Annabel and I would stay up front, chase breaks and try to get away, whilst Nadine would sit in the bunch and wait to see if it came together for a sprint at the end.

The action started on the first lap, when Paralympic Champion Sarah Storey MBE jumped off the front and headed up the road whilst most the peloton were still clipping into their pedals. No-one else wanted to try for a break this early in proceedings, and we half expected Sarah to ride up the road a bit, then sit up. She didn’t. We had to pull ourselves together and get composed for a bunch chase as Sarah powered on ahead.

A group of about six of us started the work, with another six to ten doing the occasional turn. The rest of the bunch were along for the ride. As such, it took about three laps to bring Sarah back, during which time she stretched her lead out to 29 seconds, the biggest gap of the day. The bunch continued to splinter, and the slower riders were shelled out the back, but the main group stayed together as we moved into the second half of the race.

Weaverham is a difficult circuit for breaks. There is one short, steep climb, Acton Hill, and the only natural point for a break is at the top of the climb when the bunch is strung out and the weaker and heavier riders are puffing. However, the circuit then rolls down steadily for about 3km, and inevitably the bunch comes together, gathers momentum, and usually sucks up any plucky riders trying to open a gap. The next section is a draggy and exposed dual carriageway, where the peloton effect is at its greatest, and any lone riders still out in front can be easily brought back by a working bunch.

So it was on Sunday. There were plenty of plucky riders in the bunch, including our Annabel, Annie Last, Dani King, Hannah Mayo, my good friend Paula Mosely (another mountain biker) and a number of others I didn’t recognise. We all had a few digs, especially Annabel and Annie Last, who for one lap attacked repeatedly. The biggest gap was never more than about five seconds however, as the main group was strong and determined. On the last lap it looked like a bunch sprint was looming.

It was Sarah Storey again who made the final attack on the last run up the dual carriageway, but this time there was no getting away. I made point of sitting on her wheel and the bunch stretched out behind us. We tossed away our drink bottles in preparation for the sprint up to the finish line, halfway up Acton Hill. I was in the perfect position, which made me a bit uneasy as I have no sprint to speak of, and I would much rather have had Nadine or Annabel in my place at that point.

Sure enough we rounded the bend at the bottom and I pulled out around Sarah, hoping my team mates were not boxed in behind me. Annie Last pulled up beside me and I could feel the rest of the bunch breathing down my neck. Then I saw a blue and white flash as Nadine, who had managed to get around the bunch, unleashed her sprint and came flying past. Get in! She and the rest of the bunch, including our Annabel, streamed past me in the rush to the line.

But it wasn’t to be. To my dismay I saw Nadine start to labour in the pedals and she seemed to almost grind to a halt. I thought she must have gone too early and blown, but it turns out that, in the heat of the moment, she had started her final sprint with her hands on the brake hoods instead of in the drops. The force of the sprint had pulled the brake hood over, and jammed the front brake on just 30 meters from the line. Our Annabel, who had been battling a nagging calf cramp throughout the race, was unable to muster her usual turn of speed and was not in a position to challenge for the line. We all finished in the bunch.

It was young rider Annie Last, also a mountain biker, who took the win a good couple of bike lengths ahead of Dani King in second. I have to give Annie full credit for her win, as she worked hard throughout the race and timed her sprint to the line perfectly. Credit must also go to Sarah Storey, who livened up the race and did more work than anyone, albeit to no avail on the line.

It is apparent that road racing is a trade that must be learned through experience, as well as training. The “she who pedals fastest wins” approach of XC MTB racing simply doesn’t work on the road. This is a whole other sport. The Cheshire Classic was our second race in our first season as a road team, and so far it has been a lot of frustration with little fruition. But we are fit, and we will get it right! Next week is the Bedford 2-Day, which is a stage race with two time trials and two road races. Our team will be more fired up than ever!

Paralympic Champion Sarah Storey MBE made the only real break of the race but was brought back by the chasing bunch

Altura Patterston Training riders Jenn O'Connor (left) and Annabel Simpson lead the bunch up Acton Hill

Annie Last wins the sprint for the line

PowerBar Midland Series Round 1

Cosford Park, nr Rugby
Sunday, 19th April 2009

Pics by Rob Crayton
www.robcrayton.co.uk


The first round of the Powerbar Midland Series kicked off in style down in Rugby last Sunday, with a warm sunshine and fast, dry trails (with the notable exception of one enormous puddle, hence the muddy bikes).

The Midlands is organised by Altura Patterson Training team rider Nadine Spearing and her partner James Hampshire, and is sponsored by our team sponsor Powerbar, so we were all there for the opening round. Annie and I flew the team flag in the Elite Women’s race while Nadine took care of the signing on and race admin, and coach Andy Patterson had his first MTB race of the season in the Master Men’s race in the afternoon. Full credit goes to Nadine and James, as the whole day ran smoothly. Charlie Wigfall kept us entertained with commentary and 30 years of Hip Hop, and we even had a great bunch of hecklers with cow bells in the feed zone.

Annie and I had our work cut out on the racing side, as we were lined up against top Kiwi racer Rosara Joseph, the rider who pipped me into second place at the first round of the NPS. Rosara set the pace from the gun, and soon opened a gap on us both. The course comprised short power climbs, sweeping off-camber descents and twisty, rooty singletrack. It was a tough and tiring course as there was little chance to rest or drink, but it made for fast, fun racing. Rosara won, with myself second and Annie third. Andy raced in the afternoon and finished 11th in his race.
Lee Williams (Wiggle) had a great race in the Elite Men’s event, winning ahead of Paul Robertson (MSC/Sportstest) and Andrew Cockburn (Ticket2Ride). For a full list of results and lap times, including kids’ races, go to www.timelaps.co.uk.

The Elite Women gridding up for the first race of the day (from left) Rosara Joseph (no. 192), Annabel Simpson (no. 190) and Jenn O'Connor (no. 191)

Buxton Mountain Time Trial

Good Friday, 10 April 2009
Photographs by Chris Lees

Known by locals as the "Buxton Hilly" this is one of the toughest TTs on the circuit, being as it is, as the name suggests, a bit hilly. Starting and finishing in Longnor in the heart of the Peak District, it comprises three laps of an 11 mile loop, up a savage climb, along a blustery ridge (the Leek Buxton Road) and down a hair-raising descent back into Longnor.

The Altura Patterson Training women swept the board with the three fastest women's times. Conditions were cold, turning to rain for the latter part of the race. The fastest overall time was posted by M Bottrill for De Rosa TT (who also took the team prize). Times below are from my own memory and not official!

M Bottrill: 1hr 26mins (fastest man)
A Patterson: 1hr 36mins (he reckons 1hr 33mins but we'll see)
J O'Connor: 1hr 45mins (fastest woman)
A Simpson: 1hr 55mins
N Spearing: 1hr 57mins

Andy Patterson (what's with that face, coach?)

Nadine Spearing

Annie Simpson


Jenn O'Connor

British Mountain Bike Series Round One

Sherwood Pines Forest Park
Sunday 5 April 2009

Race Report by Jenn O'Connor

Pics by Rob Crayton

I rode my heart out yesterday.

My race started in near disaster when riders from the second row of the grid barged into both me and German rider Mel Spath on the front row, causing us to run into each other and tangle up our bars. Mel got away again OK, but I dropped my chain and had to fight to get back up to speed. The rest of the field streamed past me, and I had to jostle for a place amongst the backmarkers, as we hit the first corners and out onto the fire road straight.

But there was a little voice in my head telling me I had the legs to win this race, and I refused to believe it wasn't going to happen, even as the lead bunch disappeared into the distance.

I buried myself in the chase. I soon caught up with a chasing group including my team mates Annabel Simpson and Nadine Spearing. Both had had great starts, but Annie had collided with a tree early in the lap and taken a bad fall, hurting her back. She was battling on, but later pulled out.

I got away from that group and started reeling in the other chasers. I could occasionally glimpse the lead bunch, headed up by Rosara Joseph, an Olympian and NZ National Champ, with British National Champ Jenny Copnall, Australian Kate Potter, Mel Spath and newcomer Annie Last in a tight bunch. They were nearly a minute ahead of me, and it seemed like a huge gap.

Further back was another newcomer, Lily Mathews, who I quickly caught. She stayed on my wheel for a while but seemed unwilling to work with me in the chase, so I was happy to drop her and close in on Sharon Laws. Sharon had been dropped from the leading bunch and I thought she would be a good bet for a chasing partner, but she was either unwilling or unable and soon disappeared behind me. No doubt she was still recovering from her stage racing effort in the Cape Epic.

On the second of five laps I started to pull back the lead bunch. I was on my own in the chase but managed to close the gap to just 25 seconds. Their pace was surging, as a bunch does, and they seemed to yo-yo away from me at every turn. I nailed every piece of singletrack and hammered every fire road, and whittled away at the gap. I’ve never chased so hard in my life.

Onto lap three and the gap was just 10 seconds. It sounds like nothing, but 10 seconds is still a big gap to cross, and the leaders were getting edgy and starting to push the pace. Finally, on a long sweeping section of singletrack, I got back onto Mel’s wheel with a shout of “got you, you bastards!”. What a great buzz it was to finally catch the bunch after an hour of hard chasing. It must have seemed to them that I had appeared from nowhere as I worked through to the front of the group.

It seemed to me that Rosara was doing most the work at the front, while the others were biding their time, waiting for something to happen. Sure enough, we caught up with some lapped riders, and that’s where I got a bit lucky. Rosara and I both slipped past just before a couple of tight turns, while the rest of the bunch got caught up behind.

I stayed with Rosara and we opened up a small gap, just a few seconds. I was ecstatic. I came around her shouting “come on, we’ve got a gap, let’s go go go!!!!” Rosara didn’t need pushing. The two of us started working together in earnest and opened the gap. Through the twisty sections I could see the rest of the bunch – the tables had turned, and now they were having to chase hard to try and catch me. As we passed through the arena for the final lap I heard the commenter say “this race is now an all-Kiwi affair…” Now that’s a feeling money can’t buy!

The last lap went like clockwork in our little two-person break. We gave each other space in the corners and singletrack, and shared the work on the front - a refreshing contrast with the early part of my race. At every turn I could see the chasers, but they weren’t gaining on us – if anything we were gaining on them. I couldn’t believe how strong I felt, and stayed glued to Rosara through the last few turns.

Now I’m no kind of a sprinter. My sprint is a bit of a running joke amongst our team. On this occasion however, I locked out my forks (something I very rarely do), pulled out around Rosara and gave it hell for the line. I nearly got it. I’d love to say I won the sprint and won the race, as it would have been the fairy tale ending that I’d worked so hard for, but unfortunately I didn’t morph into Tom Boonan just because the situation called for it. I lost the sprint by half a wheel and finished second.

But I’m very proud to be able to say, in all honesty, that it was close.

Mel Spath outsprinted Kate Potter and Jenny Copnall to take third, and I was pleased for her, as she’d done a lot of chasing herself during the race. Nadine finished further back, in another chasing group. Meanwhile, our Masters racer Ruth Mordaunt won her first race in convincing style, which was a delight, as Ruth has been hampered in her training over winter and genuinely didn’t expect to win.

With a field of 20 Elite women, including a big international contingent and some top racers, this was always going to be a big weekend and a tough race. It looks like British XC racing is back with a vengeance. Round two in Dalby Forest (May 10th) will give us some hills to play with, which will certainly sort the women from the girls. The Altura Patterson Training team will be ready.

The front row (from left) Maddie Horton, Nadine Spearing, Jenn O'Connor, Mel Spath, Rosara Joseph

Jenn in chase mode

Jenn's little Cannondale Scalpel in full flight


Kiwis Rosara Joseph (left) and Jenn O'Connor drop the field in the last lap



Rosara wins out in the sprint to the line


Masters racer Ruth Mordaunt was delighted with a win in her first race on her new Scalpel

The Elite Women's podium (from left) Mel Spath (GER), Rosara Joseph (NZL) and Jenn O'Connor (NZL)

For full results please visit: http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/web/site/BC/mtb/EventReports2009/20090405_british_mtb_series_rd1.asp

For a full gallery of Rob Crayton's great images from the weekend please visit:
www.robcrayton.co.uk