I class a man made obstacle as anything that causes my wheels to leave the ground for any significant length of time! :oops:

I last raced at Pippingford at the national champs in 2010 and it was a cracking course so looking forward to it!

Last Saturday saw round 4 of the X-Cup in southern Sweden, after my last success I was talking to myself to be prepared for less this time. Perfect start and race went well, never dropped lower than 2nd the whole race, attached with half a lap to go and won again start 2. Placed 26th overall, when including the elites and some 300 racers, so well happy again. Course was great, proper XC course through a forest with plenty to keep fun going.

Off to Switzerland in a few weeks for the GR BCVS, very simple question, i have 34 days to get fit.

If you were to try and get ready for 130km and 5000m of climbing in the Swiss alps which would be better to concentrate on distance/ride time or intensity? I can’t do much about the altitude or the weather which i know cause me issues.

This of course assumes i don’t break me, the bike or the alarm clock as has been the last three years!

Just completed my first week riding after 5 weeks ill. I’ve ridden to heart rate and taken it easy – down about 12% and pretty weak. Noticed a marked improvement on last ride.

Will need to build carefully – 2 week blocks, reduced intervals, reduced power targets, rest days etc etc.

Brighton Big Dog may be a bit much a bit too soon. G25 should be about right.

^^^. Yes but for that amount of time in the saddle Sweet sport might be best, and off possible time in the saddle…

I do have some base to work from, last couple of months has seen a couple of 200k road rides, and a 150k mtb ride, plus shorter faster stuff. But no real structured stuff. Just starting to get jittery and questioning my sanity. Not helped by a lap round the verderers and seeing how far behind the top i am!

https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/nationalmtbchampionships/article/20170718-National-MTB-Championships-Race-guide–2017-HSBC-UK—National-Cross-country-Championships-0

Nice write up on the Scott marathon. Was a cracking day I enjoyed it despite suffering a few hamstring cramps near the end. Pleased with my 3hr 59m as well.

Brilliant work mate, both on the bike and in your reports. Thank you.

Last race of my season today. Was third for pretty much the whole race till David jey that occasionally frequents on here pipped me in the last 150yards to get third by a couple of seconds. Pretty gutted, probably my only chance of a podium all year :lol: made too many mistakes though so can’t complain course was taped but had no arrows and lots of sharp turns off fireroads when I went the wrong way twice in the first two laps :oops: also managed to Crash and tactically didn’t realise how close David was to me at the end.

Not sure I’ll bother with the Welsh series next year, should be pleased with fourth but as only 6-7 racing in sport doesn’t feel good at all, would rather travel further and race proper fields. Also last race of the series and think I was top three in the series but a) as so few people did enough races seems pretty arbitrary and b) they didn’t bother with series podiums so not sure why I bothered driving around Wales to get my four. Hasten to add I’m not complaining about the guys putting on the races or the commissaires who organise but just think xc is dying in Wales.

Question is what to do, just nationals? A few random speciality events? Or just do a proper base and build to focus on ‘cross

Turns out it wasnt even a couple of seconds.. chip timing has us on the same second! still he only won a towel so I’m not that disappointed, last time i was in the top three I won beer!

Got an email with a survey through from WC about the series so I’m hoping they will look at ways of boosting participation next year.

I’m nearly finished my season now and it’s been great to meet a few of the guys on here and cheer them on in races, share the highs and some of the lows (ferrals, jimbob, especially), I didn’t quite hit my XC aspirations (so far, one to go) of top ten nationally, I think my lack of experience works against me in shorter races where really, really good technical skills are essential. My best so far is 12th in National XC and several 4th and 5th in Midlands. I started mtb’ing at 45 years old and only raced as a grand vet for a few years so I’m slowly picking up the skills, very slowly!

I do seem to be better at longer events and managed to win the V50/grand vet National Championship on Sunday after 6 hours and 40 minutes of pain and suffering where I managed to ascend and descent 10,800ft, brutal course but great for me.

If you have a spare half hour to read the race report, it’s here with pictures and I’ll put the words below:
https://www.facebook.com/CotswoldCyclesRT/?hc_ref=ARQ_0H-gI4bAdlYdLK-kyJkmFzbtmV22PJfyQYVDM62U32gUxFtGITLyxQXUTxq_bKU&pnref=

Race report, National MTB Marathon Championships, Isle of Man, 2017.

It was with some trepidation that Marc, Stuart and team friend Richard Gregory set off for the Isle of Man for the Marathon Championships. The event had been billed as the ‘toughest ever’ MTB marathon and the Championship event was to be held over 100km but including nearly 11,000 feet of ascent, or to put it another way – for every 6 miles you ride you’d have to climb 1,000 feet and descent 1,000 feet, over ten times!

We travelled on the Friday, taking nearly 11 hours door to door by the time we’d negotiated the ferry. The plan was to have Saturday free to sort bikes and do a quick course recce. Morning arrived and it was pleasantly not raining (– rain had been forecast off and on for the whole weekend) so we loaded up and headed out for a short recce. When we came to unload the bikes on the famous road at the top of the mountain where the TT runs we were immediately hit by the incredibly strong wind and the fact that it was freezing compared to sea level. This was looking like less and less fun for the race!

I think we managed to pick the only bit on the course with a road and smooth bridleway to recce and this gave us a nice one hour loop to loosen the legs. Due to the 6.30am race start time we had a very early meal, signed on, went to the race briefing and then in bed for 8.30, not your usual Saturday night on the Isle of Man!

Race day morning came and breakfast was the usual early start hotel room fair at 5am with muesli, two porridge pots, eggs boiled in the kettle and couple of mini sausages, at this point I could hardly move far less race but I knew it would be a long day and had to make sure I had enough fuel in the tank.

The Marathon Championships was being combined with a sportive event so it meant that around 250 riders were lined up at the TT grandstand for the off. We had the first 3 km’s neutralised with a full police escort out of town before we got down to the serious business of racing. My strategy had been to ride at a very consistent pace and not get carried away by pushing too hard, especially in the early phase of a 6+ hour race, this can be disastrous. However, all good plans have to be modified slightly. As I sat in the main pack, the pace ramped up for the first few miles and when we hit the first climb I realised half way up that if I kept trying to hang on to the front runners then I would be in serious bother as my heart rate and power levels were both getting into the red. I opted for the sensible option at that point and backed off to my prescribed power output level on climbs while watching heart rate and making sure it never went higher than zone 4.

At this point I had no idea how many riders in my category were ahead of me but I did count three at least come past me on the first major climb of the day which did not impress me much as I knew I could not sustain the pace that these guys were setting over the full race distance. At this point I was riding with Nigel Gregory who also races XC and is a regular top 10 finisher at National level so I knew I was in good company. We rode virtually the whole of the first 50km together, yo-yoing slightly on position depending upon the terrain. It was also evident that we were starting to catch up other riders by the time we were getting to the second feed stop at 50km, we’d been riding for just over three hours at this point. The terrain we were riding over was pretty extreme, the climbs went from sea level to 1,500 feet and then straight back down again, the first descent was harder on the body than the climb itself due to the amount of loose rocks and steepness, I felt absolutely exhausted at the bottom, just to head straight back up another one again!

Nigel and I headed into the second feed stop and timecheck riding together but he had a disaster and could not find his bag of supplies, now, as good a friend as Nigel is, it’s still a race and he’s in my category so I legged it out of the feed stop as fast as possible, determined to open up a reasonable gap and got back into my game plan of riding to power output which seemed to be working well.

At this point I think we had passed another rider in my category but could not be sure. I could definitely see the next guy ahead on one of the long climbs (they were all long climbs!) as he had a bright green top on. It took me about another 15-20 minutes of climbing to catch him and I tried to make sure I went past him quickly enough that he did not latch on. At this point, and 60km in, I thought I might be in the top three possibly but knew Nigel would be pushing hard to catch me after his delay.

I could see two riders ahead of me on the next long climb up to the third feed station. I was slowly catching them but it was taking a long time to close the gap and although the strategy had been to work to a set power output it was really starting to hurt maintaining a constant effort level on the steep and rocky climbs we were being taken over. I caught the two guys at about 70 km, just before the third feed stop and realised it was Chris Green who had passed me earlier and one of the favourites for the race in the V50 category. We headed off down the part we’d recce’d the day before on the only bit of tarmac and with the wind behind we were hitting speeds of 50mph. We got to a sharp climb and I tried to keep the momentum going but Chris attacked hard and I had to let him go as I would have had to go into the red again to stay with him. After the pleasure of the tailwind we soon turned round into the wind again to grind up yet another long climb and I managed to get back on terms with him at the top. At this point we dived down a steep descent and it was the only part of the course where you could see riders ahead than had completed the now familiar ‘down to sea level and back up to 1,500ft’ scenario. Amazingly enough, here’s Marc heading the other way, he just had enough time to tell me how brutal the last climb was! – Thanks Marc, that did not help me!

I tried to stay on terms with Chris down the descent but lost the front of the bike on wet grass and went down hard on my left side, thankfully no damage done just a bit shaken up. Back down at sea level again and I pushed really hard to catch Chris again on the only flat section that must have been all of three miles before the final feed stop and then up the last monster climb.

We hit the feed stop together and much to Chris’s dismay I did not stop but rode straight through, I sensed it might be close and had loaded up with extra at the last stop to avoid the 30 or 40 second delay from picking up more food and drink here.

The first part of the final climb was a pretty constant 15-20% gradient on a tarmac road heading onto gravel. I kept my head down and tried to keep to the prescribed wattage which was becoming harder to maintain as we were now about 6 hours into the race; I just focussed on the numbers and keeping a smooth cadence. One of the great things about the 2017 Top Fuel is the Sram Eagle gearing, I was running a 32/50 lowest gear that allowed me to spin at a reasonable cadence up most of the hills which helps control fatigue levels massively.

I reckoned I was about half way up the final climb when I had to stop for yet another gate. I had a quick look back and there was Chris only 40 meters behind. He must have pushed really hard to close the gap as I had really given it everything so far. This was the deciding point of what happens next. Another 30 minutes of agony and completely turn myself inside out or back off for what would still be a good, possible medal position? Decision made, up the wattage to over 300w and see how long I can hang on for. I absolutely hammered it as hard as I could for the rest of the climb and I could see the gap was opening again only to find that what I thought was the top was not actually the top and there was a whole load of technical, unrideable, scrambling to be done over another couple of false summits before heading down! Great I thought, the last descent will be really good, nice flowing single track into the finish, how wrong was I! It was another bog-fest descent on stream beds and with huge ruts, at this point I could not see Chris but reckoned he was pretty close and I had to keep pushing, I caught my front wheel badly in a rut and went down on my right hand side, just to even things up a bit! Thankfully I landed in a nice soft, wet bog so no harm down.

I kept pushing as hard as I could, taking as many risks as I thought reasonable to hit the finish arena still clear, only backing off 50 yards from the line when I knew I was safe. I was utterly exhausted. I had suffered a small amount of leg cramps and stomach cramps in the last 30km but thankfully they had not become too bad. Marc had waited at the finish for me after finishing third in Vets which put him on the podium again in a highly competitive field. I had no idea where I had come but was starting to hear rumours that I was first in for the V50 Grand Vet category which I could not believe, stuff like that does not happen to me!

I went to the timing hut to find out and YES, I was National Champion, unbelievable! I never thought something like this could happen, especially having just started mountain bike racing a couple of season before.

I think Marc was grinning more than me at this point, both of us still unable to take it in. I know people spend a lot of time thanking everyone at this point but I do know that without using Marc’s strategy that he has developed for riding marathon events and fine-tuned with our coach, Jenny Copnall, I would not have been able to ride such a consistent race.

I also know that without having all the support we do from Andrew and Tracey and the team at Cotswold Cycles and Trek, the support from Tony and Adrian at WNT, Nicholas from Cutts of Campden, the guys at Halt who cheer us on at the races from their trade stand and Emma at Bexson Chiropractic for straightening me out, I would not be riding in such good kit, on a bike that is perfect for this type of racing and in good form. Lastly, if it was not for Don dragging me over all those bloom’in hills on training rides that I would have avoided if left to my own devices I would not have had the conditioning to get through 6 hours and 40 minutes of climbing and descending on some of the most severe terrain that the UK has to offer. Thank you.

Well done with the Champs. I did the 100km open event and it is always a tough day out, even if the weather was calmish.

Thanks, I could not imagine how tough the 100 mile event would be!

hi all, did my first ever race the other week at the nationals at cannock. Coming from a motocross racing background i knew id get the bug! It seems that the ‘season’ is ending mostly know though so im struggling to find another other than the FNSS which is reasonably local to me. im based around derby and don’t really want to travel over 2 hours at this point! Any body know of anymore races? id like to do another before i decide if to commit to it next year! Thanks

Not quite XC,

But got back on Sunday from the Sudety mtb stage race in Poland. Raced with my partner.
Prologue plus 5 stages. 350km and 11000m of climbing.

A good hard week on the bike. Prologue was an exciting short and fast 4.5km loop in the park.
Day 1 was 80km of fireroad and tarmac. By the end of the day we wondered if we’d made a mistake and signed up for a gravel smash fest!

But trails improved throughout the week. Some exciting wet sections had lots of Riders running down the hills.
Overall a good race. More singletrack as the week went on, and a few savage hike a bike sections too.

Would recommend it to others if seeking that sort of race.

Notice the western league in Bristol and surrounding area has a new website. All dates are up

https://www.westerncx.net/dates/

How did you get on in Builth Iain? (and anyone else that went)

Somewhat regretting not entering when my Saturday turned into an ikea furntiure assembly line :lol:

We were at Builth. Sad to say the infamous launch pad claimed more serious victims both days before they lowered it. I think the issue with that kind of feature is there are only two outcomes – clean it or crash with broken bones and concussion. No chance to bail, dab or jump off.

Alison had a good race – 3 vet wins out of 3 NPS races. Just frustrated she couldn’t get it together at the national champs. Boy happy with his ride and all home in one piece.

I see STW report is another verbatim reprint of the BC write up with no mention of anyone but elite….