I decided to do the fourth round of the Gorrick mtb ahead of the Dengie Marshes Tour or Peter Young Memorial with the first round of the NPS XC racing looming (next weekend). It's probably a good idea since I've not ridden off-road since January. It's been so long since I've been off-road I even had to change my disc pads with them so worn.
What I like about riding the Supermasters event is it's an early start (9.45am) and you get to ride against some great elite-like riders like Sam Gardner.With no warm up I lined up next to team mate, Mark Hutt at Porridgepot Hill course. We experienced some tricky moments on the first corner after the start. By the first climb ( of 3 steep climbs each lap) we, the riders, found a rhythm and lined out on the singletrack dropping down the first technical - loose, sandy, off-camber - descent.
On the second climb we'd formed the lead group of five - me, Mark Hutt, Nick Onslow, Sam Gardner & Stephen James. Being off the bike for so long showed with my woeful technical riding ability - I was struggling on the technical sections - loosing ground each time. I became increasingly frustrated having to constantly bridge the group (yoyo'ing). At the start of lap 3 I started loosing a little ground with the group (30 secs). I continued to keep riding as hard as possible, keeping the pressure on. I was holding on to the 30sec gap, but as I started the last lap my rhythm kicked in and began to start riding with a lot control.
At the finish I felt strong and delighted to finish in fith place. I was also pleased to learn that Mark won with a sprint, beating Sam Gardner. An impressive result and well deserved Mr Hutt.
Next week we move to Sherwood Forest for the first NPS XC of the season. I'm seriously looking forward to it. (and the Surrey League Easter 3-Day the weekend after that)
Race results
1. Mark Hutt (AW Cycles)2. Sam Gardner
3. Stephen James
4. Nick Onslow
5. Rob Enslin (AW Cycles)
Race stats
Time: 01:05
Laps: 4
HR: 181/193
HR: 181/193
Temp: 6 degrees average
Climbing: 400 metres
5 comments:
I have just found your blog by accident (doing a search for the Easter 3-day - see you there! as I am back to being a 2nd cat now),
I did a 60-mile road race the previous day (to get used to stage racing!) and began to fall backwards at the end of the second lap
That first lap's pace was pretty hot - still can't believe the Elites were almost 1"30 faster! Great course but a bit short!
I will start the reading now ...
Cheers
Sylvain
Hi Sylvain,
Thanks for popping by...
Glad you're riding the 3-day. I've not ridden it before so really looking forward to it. As part of my preparation I did a hard interval session on Saturday, then the Mtb race on Sunday (hard again as you know) and today 3hr fartlek session - making it 3 days back-to-back.
I'm planning to write up a post about my preparation for the 3-day tomorrow so check back.
If interested and use Twitter you can follow my updates at http://twitter.com/londoncyclenews
Good luck with your training and please say hello at the race on Sat ;-)
Thanks Rob, will do! (to all three)
Good work in the break yesterday: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3362/3442690382_65eef5a4e0_o.jpg
Hi Patron, thanks. It was indeed hard, but if you don't give it a go you never know ;-)
Thanks for sharing the photo. I hope you don't mind me using it (credits given).
http://racing.enslin.co.uk/2009/04/sl-easter-3-day.html
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