Friday, the day before the race arrived. I'd persuaded two girls from the club to sign up and they were riding in the 4-hour pairs category. It was their first ever race and they were giving me a lift, so no backing out. I was starting to wonder whether 4-hour solo was a good idea. I had a love/hate relationship with Mayhem last year, and one of my motivations for doing SOW was to put myself into a rooty, muddy XC hell-hole situation so that when I return to Mayhem this year the conditions won't be such a hideous shock to the system. Peaks mud and rocks are entirely different to that claggy, clay crap that XC racers seem to gravitate towards, and I was totally unprepared for that type of course. My big, fat, rock-happy tyres weren't going to be right so I'd changed them before the race to run some Panaracer Fire XC Pros, which were about as much use as banana skins. I came off on the roots, I had no confidence in the corners, I was having a properly shit time. When the course dried out I put my big fatties back on and things were much better, but they were no good in thick mud, and there was still plenty of that around. SOW would give me chance to try out a setup in similar conditions to Mayhem -- all good preparation for this year's attempt.
The other thing on my mind was food. I haven't ridden hard for 4 hours in a race environment and after my recent "bonk" I was worried I'd run out of fuel and have a terrible time. I spent Friday getting everything ready, figuring out how much I needed to eat and when, what I was going to wear, cleaning the bike and checking it over, remember any extras, packing every item of clothing - as required by the confused state of the weather - and finally, figuring out my game plan; 8 laps in 4 hours and make it to the finish. Sorted.
Race day came. I had butterflies. I wanted an excuse not to go but was also excited about it. Helen and I chattered away on the way over, trying not to think about it. When we arrived I was surprised that there didn't seem to be that many cars there. I thought there would be more, so immediately felt a bit disappointed with my own efforts to network the event. Next year I'll try harder.
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| slogging it out on the home straight |
Setting off in the pack, everyone dashed off and I tried really hard not to get caught up in the dash up the grassy hill, knowing pacing myself was the only way I would manage to ride the whole time. The first lap was hard. I hadn't ridden the course beforehand, figuring I'd be seeing enough of it over the next fours hours (round and round and round) so I wasn't warmed up at all. I had a few moments where I was wondering what the heck I was doing, but soon silenced the dialogue, knowing that would be my downfall. One lap in was no time to fall into that trap!
Up the hill and then into the woods. This is where the sticky mud, slippy roots, and twisty single track took over. I was somewhere near the back of the pack by then and the route had already been churned up by the riders in front. I caught up with Grace and we rode along chattering for a while. Relax, smile, settle in. So far so good. Then the descent section came. Who-whoo!!! That was fun and over all to quickly, then it was time to pound back to the finish and head round again for another lap. A quick rest at the solo pit (I seem unable to eat while riding when I'm on my MTB!) and I set off again. Another lap. This one was better; I was warm and starting to enjoy myself. My brain was desperately trying to trip me up (6 laps to go! 6 WHOLE laps to go! Oh. No!) but I was onto it, countering with "wow, this is so much fun!" which seemed to work.
Lap 3 came. Now I was enjoying myself. I just had to get past the climb, then it was into the woods, and I would soon be at the over-all-too-quickly fun descent. On the second lap I took the Hard line towards the end. Awesome, over in flash, and fun enough that I wanted to do it again. I had right of way coming out of it and passed a couple of girls joining the trail from the easy line. Well the only way to do that is to go round again, so off I went.
Half way through Lap 4 I checked the watch. I was going faster than I thought I would and was ahead of schedule. Not wanting to burn out I decided to have a longer pit stop before setting off for my next lap. Arriving at the pit, I popped to the loo and set out to get some fresh water. This was a bit of a faff, then I noticed my bike was full of crud, so another mini mission to get some water. Thanks to the parents of another competitor, I rinsed it down a bit, then saw Jill, who'd had a bit of a distastrous first (and last) lap, so popped over to see she was okay. I'd just got over to her when Helen came back after her second (and last) lap, so quickly said hi, then headed back out for my next lap. Lap 5, just gone 2pm, on target.
Lap 5 was nice, Lap 6 was okay. I was pretty much on my own now -- was anyone else still riding!? -- and enjoying the ride, enjoying the fact that I'd made it this far. Somewhere on this lap I got chatting to #2 who suggested I was in second place. I assumed she had me confused with someone else, so just plodded on, wondering when I would get sick of it all. Then came Lap 7. Now I was dead tired. I couldn't find my food and my pockets were full of mud! This was definitely my last lap. I'd had enough. Then the final descent through the trees. Whoop!!! Oh, that was fun. Time to do it again? No, I decided. Lap 7 would be my last. I almost couldn't see straight and had had a silly off on a root earlier. Another lap would be suicide.
Through the finish with Helen and Jill waiting for me. 35 minutes to go and they reckoned it only took me 28 last time -- I could do it, they said. Really? I was so close to quitting, but I had wanted 8 laps, so could I really sit for the next 35 minutes knowing I would never know if I didn't try? To cheers from Jill and Helen, I set off for my last and final lap. All I had to do was stay on the bike to that fun descent and I was home. Number 2 (Rebecca) had just gone past me. I knew she would be pushing to get round in time so I just had to catch up with her and I'd make it back too. I managed to catch her, despite nearly coughing up a lung pushing up the grassy hill before the woods, and stuck on her wheel until, disaster! Going into the final descent, she went left on the Easy track and endo'd! Oh no! I had no idea how long we had to get back so I panicked, asked if she was okay, she said yes, so off I went! That's the downside of racing -- leaving a girl picking herself out of the brambles because I didn't want to be disqualified. I felt terrible about that after but I was so focused on making the cut-off I just buggered off without giving it too much thought until later.
The last few hundred metres or so were so damned hard. But there was the finish. When the clock came into view, 5 minutes left - hurray!! I'd made it! I was in a total spin, relieved just to get back, chuffed to have managed a whole 8 laps. The bike was still in intact, just. I was still intact, just. Success!
So what about the results? Well, that's the funny thing. I ended up in 4th place, only two and a bit minutes behind #5, who came in 3rd. And there's the rub. At no point did I know how I was doing, but it seems I was doing pretty damned well up until I stopped for a tea break. Who knew!? I really had no idea. I was thrilled to have managed the 8 laps, but the knowing that if I hadn't faffed as much I might have made third place has taken me a few days to deal with. I've also spent quite a lot of time worrying about leaving #2 in the brambles, so if you're reading this Rebecca, I'm so sorry and hope you were really okay! I had a great time during the event and it was great fun to be in an all-female environment; being chased down the trails by girls is much less stressful than being rammed off the track by a testosterone-fuelled race machine, so I will definitely be taking part in future events and will also try harder to make sure my riding pals are in the line up. I suspect if everyone I usually ride with takes part the podium will be way out of reach, since most of them are faster than me, but I'll cut down my faff time just in case!
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