The End of 2008

The 2008 race season is now officially over, and what a challenge it's been. The theme this year would have to be MUD, as we have had more wet, muddy events this season than in any year previous. Ruth and Simon managed to get some sunshine for the British National XC Champs, but meanwhile Andy and I struggled through torrential rain and knee-deep mud in some of the worst conditions ever at Hit the North, on the same weekend. I enjoyed just ONE dry race in the whole season, that being the World Marathon Champs in Italy in July.

We've had some setbacks to overcome, but we've enjoyed more than our fair share of success. For me, I had a slow start to the season with persistent migraine attacks, but managed to bring it under control and get my training back on track, to produce some of my best ever results. These have included winning the Salzkammergut TT overall, finishing top-20 in one of the biggest UCI World Marathon Championship fields ever, taking my first British NPS win in three years and capping it off with a 12-hour solo win in the Dusk 'til Dawn.

Ruth has also seen a huge boost in performance this year, starting out with 5th in the Gran Canaria Open Marathon in the Open class, getting her first taste of the prizemoney. She then went on to win two out of four British NPS Masters rounds to take the overall series title, and a silver medal in the National Champs. Ruth has rarely been off the podium this year, and has built on her endurance form, winning the 75km marathon series on top of her XC.

Simon has had his share of setbacks, but has shown some shining form, winning the South West XC Champs and Newnham 90, as well as a top-3 result in the final round of the 100km marathon series in truly trying conditions.

As a team, we finished 5th at Mountain Mayhem in the Elite Mixed category, the only team to field two men and two women racing equal laps. Conditions were pretty trying there too, as they have been all season, but our team shone through with good humour and some determined racing.

Being part of a proper race team has brought a whole new aspect to the race experience for myself and Andy this year, and our team mates have been a real joy, as we've been able to share in their trials and successes, as well as our own. Big thanks must also go to our raft of fantastic sponsors, who have ensured that we have the bikes, clothing and equipment to last the distance. Our Altura React rain jackets have had a tough time this year, but they work so well we simply couldn't have managed without them!

For 2009, our team will be taking a whole new direction, with some new faces and new events on board. We hope to be able to confirm our plans in the next couple of weeks.

In the meantime, we have a couple of bikes for sale - details to be posted in the next couple of days.

Thanks and best wishes to all for a happy and restful winter season. Don't miss out on those crisp, cold and clear autumn days!

Jenn

Marin Dusk 'til Dawn

8pm Saturday 4th October - 8am Sunday 5th October 2008



Race Report by Jenn O'Connor
Pics by Simon Ward

The Solo Women's Podium (from left) Mel Alexander, Jenn O'Connor, Fi Spotswood

We knew it was going to rain and we prepared for it as best we could, but really there is no way to make 12 hours in the mud an easy task. I managed to win the race by a fairly comfortable 30 minute margin, but the race behind me for second and third place was vigorous throughout, and there was never any question that I would be able to ease off the pace, or take too much of a break. The organisers had put up a £1,000 cash prize for the win, and with prizemoney paying down to third for women, and tenth for men, the solo competition was always going to be fierce.

The rain was forecast to start about 10am on Saturday, but apart from a few spits and squalls it stayed dry, with a brisk wind. The course was fast and clean when I rode it during the day, and we were all hoping that a miracle might happen and it would stay that way.

Andy was there to support me as always, and we had Ruth and James as our cheerleading squad, as well as Endorfin distributor Gordon Bettany, there to check out the scene. Also in our camp were Patterson Training client Nadine Spearing and partner James Hampshire, racing as a mixed pair, and our friend Simon Ward, who had ridden across from Macclesfield on his touring bike, on the promise that we would provide him with a tent for the night and a lift home the next day.

By the time darkness fell and we were getting ready to race, the weather warnings had been issued and the rain was gusting in. Those not about to ride were either staying in tents and cars or wrapped up in layers of fleece and Gore-tex. Umbrellas were turning inside out on the startline. I did my warm-up on the turbo, and took my place in the second row for the start.
The prologue lap behind the quad bike was fast and frightening, as the most nervous and twitchy riders in the pack had somehow appeared in front of me, trying to gain that extra second before the race had even started. It finally did start, and I pegged out a quick pace in order to keep out of the traffic behind me and avoid the queues in the singletrack. Each time I came through the pit area, I could see the rain blowing in under the floodlights, but out in the forest I didn’t notice it. Thetford Forest is fairly dense, and most of the course was remarkably sheltered.

The weather stayed stormy, with gales and squalls of rain, but the course held up well. By 2am, halfway through the race, I was thinking ‘well this isn’t too bad after all’. I was gaining about five minutes a lap on the rest of the field, and had a lead of about 30 minutes at that stage, so I stopped for some hot soup and a bike wash.

Clearly I had jinxed the race with my optimistic thoughts, because from then on the course began to soften up, and soon there were whole sections developing a thick layer of gloopy mud. My ideas of finishing 12 laps in 12 hours started to look unrealistic, as fast sections became slow sections and my bike started making scraping, grinding noises as it ploughed through the gritty mud.

As always, I was running Lupine lights, with a Wilma on my helmet and the 7-LED Betty on the bars. I calculated my run times using the smallest batteries I had, and the lights ran faultlessly, despite the mud and rain, requiring just one battery change.

I used my five-minute speed advantage to stop after every lap for the last six hours of the race, so that Andy could clean the bike, and I could sip at hot drinks and soup. My lap times stretched out to about 1hr20mins, and I revised my lap goal to 10 laps. The course remained largely rideable, but was very heavy going, with even the descents requiring pedalling effort to keep the bike moving.

By the time 6am rolled around, the first half of the course was a proper mud-bath, with hub-deep puddles and long stretches of deep ruts and sloppy mud. The second half of the course was not much better, but with concentration and a great deal of effort, it was still possible to stay on the bike and keep moving. This was as much as I could manage.

On my final lap, as I trudged up the final climb and clambered out of the last mucky bombhole, I saw a huge banner reading “Go Jenn”, and I could hear Ruth and James shouting and cheering. I’ve never had a banner just for me before, and I was hugely impressed. Even more impressive, according to Andy, was watching them make it using a can of spray paint and a bedsheet in a force-10 gale!

The rain continued to pour down as I rode up the finish straight and across the line. I attempted a victory salute and promptly crashed into the barriers, much to the amusement of the commentator and various spectators. It was a huge relief to finally be finished.

This was the last race of the season for the Altura Patterson Training race team, but we have some exciting plans for 2009, which we hope to let you know about soon.

Jenn

Marin Dusk till Dawn

The VP4 jenn is prepped and ready for 12 hours of Thetford madness,
and yes those mudguards are on there for a reason. It's forecast for
rain, lots of rain on top of the cold wind... Great!

Merida Weekend

Home and dry at last, from yet another mud fest. Despite the weather and conditions, I managed to acheive the training overload that I'd set out to acheive, in preparation for Dusk til Dawn in three weeks' time.

I decided to ride the 50km event on Sunday, as I knew the conditions would be slow, and I didn't want to be out for more than about three hours, after spending nearly six hours on the road bike the day before. As it turned out, conditions were worse than slow, they were horrendous. The sunshine on Sunday morning was lovely, but there was no way it could have dried out even the road sections. Most of the course was knee-deep bog. Without devoting too many column inches to whingeing and moaning about a disappointing weekend (cold showers, revolting food etc), the course conditions alone were bad enough that the event on Sunday should really have been cancelled. Enough said.

Next weekend will see Ruth race her last event for the season, the sixth and final round of the Southern XC series at Bordon. Fingers crossed for some sunshine and fast racing down South!

Merida Marathon

Sunshine!!! At long last the clouds have moved away to give some
warmth to the riders here in Penrith.
Jenn is pictured below with Andrew Wrigley and Chris Hope of the KMB
massive who will be looking for a top 10 finish.
As for me I'm sitting this one out, I rode harder yesterday than I
have ridden in some time and my knee is suffering. If I race I will
spend 30 miles hammering with knee pain, and I'm old enough to know
that's just going to set my winter training plans back another month.
Off to put the kettle on and sit in the sun.

And the results are...

Here's the damage, gutted about the wrong turn may have done a sub 5
hours. Hey! It's not a race remember.

Merida Sportive, Penrith

Jenn and I have just completed the Merida Sportive in Penrith, and yes
it did rain. The course was mainly back lanes that incorporated short
sharp rises and tight twisty descents. With rain and road filth in my
eyes I took us up a wrong turn five miles from the start that perhaps
added 15 minutes to our time.

I lost Jenn on a fast descent (I didn't just leave her that was the
plan) and hit the gas. The roads were in a bad way and it was a
miracle I didn't puncture. At about 60 miles there is a euro gradient
climb between Melmerby and Renwick with a tailwind it was bliss to
climb. Jenn was having the usual bother from male riders who overtake
her just because she's a woman then get in the way. Jenn was having
none of it and gave some lads the Lance Armstrong stare and showed
them how to climb, I would have paid to see that.

I was waiting for the wall I usually hit but it didn't arrive, my legs
were strong but I had bad nausia that sapped my ability to push on. My
speedo says 88 miles at 18 mph so I'm happy with that, Jenn was about
30-40 mins back, I'll check the times and post them later.
Off road tomorrow.. Where did I put those crud catchers

UCI World Masters XC Championship

Pra Loup, France, 26-31 August 2008

Race Report by Ruth Mordaunt

XC Women 35-39

After a win at Round 4 of the British NPS in Shropshire I was looking forward to the World Masters MTB Championships in Pra Loup. The day after the British NPS XC event, James (my partner) and I, started the long journey to Pra Loup, which is based in the southern French Alpes. The journey from Dunkerque is approximately 15 hours including a few stops. However, to break up this long road trip we stopped at the top of Alpe d Huez for a well earned rest and recovery ride! "Alpe d Huez" and "well-earned rest" do not usually go together, but on last year's journey we stumbled across a free campervan park with amazing views, together with good weather and various VTT routes to play on. We passed on the famous VTT route called the Avalanche (one of the world's longest downhill rides at 33km) and the famous 21 hairpin road climb, but still stopped here for a couple of nights as the skies were blue and we just wanted to do a couple of easy off-road rides.

Pic above is Ruth (right) with fellow GB rider Theresa Jackson.

On Wednesday we made a move to the race venue, Pra Loup, and arrived late afternoon. The majority of the other XC racers from GB were arriving this afternoon too, but they were staying in Pra Loup itself, whereas we opted for a quiet campsite in the valley near the town of Barcelonette.

The 8km course was similar to last year's course, but in reverse. It had a mixture of sections through open meadows, flowing single track through the forest, open fire roads and a couple of tricky climbs. The course started in the main arena and then took a sharp right turn to head down a short grassy descent, into a sketchy gravel track and then the first steady climb began. During the practice lap on Thursday, I noticed my heart rate was exceptionally high whilst climbing and figured the effects of high altitude were kicking in. Pra Loup is based at 1600m and during each lap we would climb to approximately 1850m, and total climbing per lap was approximately 800m. The technical descents were predominately down steep grassy mountain sides, which soon developed into dusty rutted tracks from the number of riders practising and braking hard before the corner. The first half of the course was down which meant only one thing, the latter half was going to be up! The climbing was through the shaded area of the forest where in places the terrain was slippery over muddy rocks. During the last 2km of steady climbing there were short, sharp climbing spurts over the slippery rocks. Finally just before the feed zone in the main arena there was a short strength zapping climb, which left you exhausted.

It was a climber's course, and my legs felt good but my heart rate on the climbs was telling me another story. Rest and keeping hydrated was needed until my race day on Saturday, August 30th.
Race day arrived with brilliant blue skies and an average temperature of approximately 30 Celsius during mid-morning. At the start line of the Women's 35-39 race, the UK and Ireland collective of myself, Caroline Goward, Theresa Jackson, Helen Findlay, and Beth McCluskey (IRL) all tried to look relaxed amongst the international field but deep down the usual race nerves were ever present. It was a small group of 14 with a strong field of ex-elite riders, especially from Italy. The start looked precarious at the first corner and I was advised that it would be good to get a fast start to miss any trouble at this point. I was on the front row and had a strong start leading the girls out and was unaware a crash occurred mid-pack with a couple of riders coming down hard. Check out the following you tube link: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=6-7-MV1Z9PU

During the first climb I was surprised only three riders passed me, as I thought more would come by. I kept at a steady pace aware of my heart rate and not wanting to dip into oxygen debt early on in the race. The climb split up the group further. After the descending I was placed 4th until Beth McCluskey made her move during the first section of single track in the forest. This was fine, as I stayed on her wheel until we approached a small kick of a climb mid-lap where I placed too much pressure on my gearing and the chain sprung off my rear cassette and had to get off my bike to sort out. At this point a further small pack of four riders powered on by and my small mechanical seemed to take forever to fix, although I'm sure it was only a minute or so.

I caught the chasing group back but by then we had started climbing and I was just not recovering between efforts. I just had to ride and pace myself and by the end of lap one I could see I was losing sight of the girls in front. Being such a hot and dusty day, together with racing at altitude, my lungs felt like they were only half working, and I decided not to panic but to take on fluid and fuel to see if my stamina would kick in during lap two and three.

Despite the unforgettable cheers along the course and especially on the climbs I just felt like I was recovering during lap two from lap one's efforts. On the final lap, I felt strong and had a power surge during the last 2km of the course where I over took Maniago (ITA). Unfortunately, she then made her move just before the last strength zapping technical climb up to the feed zone. Maniago had approximately 20 seconds on me as she went through the feed zone and it was a sprint finish to the end, where she placed 8th, just one second in front of me.

Congratulations to Beth McCluskey who took bronze in this race, and Nina Davies who took silver in the Women 30-34 category. Also, congratulations to Caroline and Helen and commiserations to Theresa who had a mechanical with no rear brake and had to retire from the race.

Upon reflection, although I was initially disappointed with my 9th position I realised that the standard of the competition in the World Masters MTB Championships is another league. There were some big ex-hitters on the line up, who have ridden elite internationally in the past and still ride and compete full time, e.g. Cindy Pieters (BEL), (who is Jeannie Longo's lead out woman), Claudia Marisilo (ITA), and Jorg Margrit (SUI). Claudia Marisilo, 2008 World Champion in the 35-39 category, raced approximately three minutes per lap faster than me. This is comparable to racing against the top elite UK women. I have learnt so much during this international race and where and what I need to do to improve on my position for next year, especially with the help of my Coach Andy Patterson and team mate Jenn O'Connor. It's going to be hard work, but I'm looking forward to the challenge.

Cross-Country Women 35-39

1st MARSILIO Claudia ITA

2nd VERONESI Daniela SMR

3rd MCCLUSKEY Beth IRL

4th CARRER Eva SUI

5th DUSINA Cristina ITA

Other GB

9th MORDAUNT Ruth GBR

10th GOWARD Caroline GBR

12th FINDLAY Helen GBR

DNF JACKSON Theresa GBR

Finally, congratulations to the GB Master Men who raced on the Friday and the Sunday. It was so exciting to watch. All the top twenty results can be found on the British Cycling website http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/web/site/BC/mtb/EventReports2008/20080901_mtb_masters.asp.

Full results, plus links to images etc are available on the official event website http://www.praloup.com/ete_GB_uci-world-championships.html.

Controversial Double Win for Ruth in National Points Series

Altura Patterson Training Racer Ruth Mordaunt has been awarded the Master Women's series win, following the controversial canning of the final series round.

Ruth was leading the series by just one point over National Champ Nina Davies after four rounds, and the series was set for a showdown in the final round at Penmachno in North Wales, scheduled for 13th and 14th September. However, event organisers Thetford Racing, along with British Cycling, cancelled the round, claiming a lack of pre-entries meant they were unable to cover their costs.

The mountain biking community is outraged at the decision, especially following the recent announcement by British Cycling of their multi-million pound deal with Sky, boosting the National Governing Body's already overflowing coffers. Many riders and teams had pre-booked travel and accommodation for the event and will be left out-of-pocket to the tune of hundreds of pounds.

Organisers have since announced that the series standings, originally set to be decided on the best four from five results, would be decided by the best three from four results. This left Ruth and Nina tied on points, however the organisers have confirmed that Ruth will be awarded the series, on the basis of her two race wins to Nina's one. This could be viewed as a fair decision in decidedly unfair circumstances, as Nina and Ruth will now be denied the opportunity to finish what has been a close and hard-fought series. No doubt this disappointment will be echoed throughout the different race categories, and will take the shine off the acheivement of many of the eventual winners.

In the Elite women's competition, National Champ Jenny Copnall took an uncontroversial win as the ongoing series leader, with Altura Patterson Training's Jenn O'Connor jumping into second spot with just three results, one point ahead of Irish German racer Melanie Spath. In the Elite men's competition, the series leaders after round 4 were separated by just one point, with Gareth Montgomerie ahead of Ian Wilkinson. However, the decision to base the series on three results awards Montgomerie the win, and hops younster Ian Bibby into second, pushing Wilkinson into third.

In the Whyte Enduro Series, Ruth also won the 75km without controversy, as the only rider to complete three out of four rounds. Mel Spath won the 100km category, also the only rider to complete three out of four. Will Bjergfelt was the clear winner in the 100km men's category with an anassailable lead of 100 points after four rounds. In the 75km men's category, Billy Joe Whenman jumps into the lead, to take the series win with his three results.

For a full list of series points go to http://www.britishnps.co.uk/seriespoints.htm

Ruth Top Ten in World Masters

Altura Patterson Training racer Ruth Mordaunt finished 9th in the World Masters Champs in Pra Loup, France, on Saturday. Ruth was competing in the 35-39 age group, the largest women's field. She had a fast start, but dropped her chain in the first lap, losing time on the lead group. The race was won by Italian Claudia Marsillio. Ruth will have her full race report up this week.