Fetish Gravity Enduro Round 5, Dyfi, North Wales 8th - 9th September

Angie takes over the crib:

So this was the final round of the UK Gravity Enduro Series at Dyfi Forest in Wales.  The venue hadn't been used before so everyone was keen to get a look-in and see what it was all about.

Steve and I travelled down on the Thursday night, we got there about 1am so pulled up in a layby on one of the windy narrow roads for the night - I'm pretty impressed that we survived to be fair! ;)

Got up fairly early on Friday morning and got set up in the field, it was a lush start to the day with a beautiful blue sky and the sun was just starting to peek its rays through.  The bikes were soon sorted, had some brekky and hit the trails with the guys.  

It started out on a big old fire-road, little did we know at this point that 98% of the climbs would be on fire-roads.  Forty minutes later we were at the first descent, it was pretty short and absolutely flat out!  Think scree, shale, loose greasy rocks with a good old gradient and you'll get the drift, literally!  Another climb followed, this one was about fifty minutes up and out into the open with some gorgeous views of Cadaer Idris.

Taking in the views on Friday with the guys.  Photo by Sarah Newman

Shot down a totally sweet fast descent, probably my favourite section, however I got a puncture in this stage on my race run, damn it!  Back up another fire road for forty minutes which was followed by another cool descent ending on a super steep rocky spine.  It felt as though I was in a different country at this point, the tracks were crazy, very Alpine.  Another (yep, another one) fifty minute fire-road climb to the top of stage 4, and the top of this section was crackin', picture a steep drop into a stump filled city.  Off camber, rocky, high lines with lots of roots, absolutely amazing!  The middle of this section was not so good however, a steep climb and then a very pedally flat section where I got overtaken in my race run by a certain Miss Newman who seems to have legs with pistons in them!

As for the last fifty minute climb up to Stage 5, oooh I loved this one.  You would have loved it Lee, pure old school-style across fields with flat grassy turns and just making what you could out of the land that was there. This was also the qualifying track, awesome!

After we had rode the track on Friday we got some good rest, managed to go to bed at 8pm and get a good 13 hours sleep in :)  

Saturday was a scorcher, we practised track 1 and 5 and then made our way up for qualifying. I had a good run and got a 5th with some close times to the other girls.

Showing the lads how to do it.  Photo by Dave Ward

Another 12hour sleep followed that night and Sunday morning was an early start.  The girls set off at 9am.  My legs were feeling OK up until Stage 3 when there was that middle section sprint, it was a killer having already sprinted through Stage 2.  

Photo by Dave Ward

I ended up in 6th position overall.  Not where I would have liked to be but it's my first year at Enduro and the Elite category is bloody hard!  I'm working on my fitness more for next year and have already cut out the chocolate.  Ouch!

Sunday night was party night, a good few glasses of red were downed, got drunk and was asleep by 9pm, what a lightweight, it was my birthday weekend after all! :)

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The Megavalanche, Alpes d'Huez road trip, July 2012

I’m still on a come down, the Mega...where do I start?

I decided to race the Mega last year, it’s the ultimate of enduro events and as soon as the tickets went live my finger was on the buzzer.

"I have no idea what I'm getting myself into..."

Got some of the North-East Massive together, and headed over in a convoy of vans.  Steve and me were upfront followed by Sarah Newman and Helen Gaskell in the ‘Team Weapon’ truck behind, and then Sara and Paul (‘get in ma belly’) Rennie at the back!

Loading up the trucks....

Once out of the Eurotunnel it was then a good nine-hour drive, we spent a few nights ripping up the trails in Morzine.  Absolutely fantastic being in the Alps with a vehicle, before this trip I've always flown over but you can't beat a bit of van-life!!

Convoy...

Got some more good riding in over in Switzerland on the national track and at Les Crosets - not as flat out as on a downhill bike but sure as hell as much fun!  We found a sweet rock-strewn mountain-walkers path to ride down called "GasGas" which lead back to the van by Lac De Montriond – had a quick dip followed by a few beers and a BBQ!  Over the next day we hit up some cross-country trails on Mont Cherry and Les Gets before moving on to La Clusaz.  Turning into an awesome road trip.

So, which way....?

Mordor.....

Bombs away chaps....

I think Sarah's hungry....

Best barbie scenery, ever!

Alpine toe nail varnishing....

Et voila....

A big cock....

La Clusaz was a special little place - the guide book said "If you want some proper riding in the Alps with no Brits, go here!".  We parked up by the river but got slightly distracted for four hours by the Crazy Golf :D (Cue: one happy girl).  This was however to be equally balanced out with probably one of the most epic rides yet; a lung-busting uphill climb to around 2,000 metres before swinging around into a huge open valley.  The ride down was amazing, not just the trails but the scenery, needless to say we all got lost many times and ended up at a mountain hut surrounded by vicious cows!

Crazy golf champ....

Prepping....

Unloading....

Mind the vicious cows....

Ruuunnnnnn......

We turned around and climbed back up for another hour, having run out of food and water by this point in a 35-degree heat with no wind I was dragging my heels a tad!  Soon found the main track and rode some the sweetest big mountain riding ever!  Picture some technical rocky singletrack leading out onto a plateau of lush green grassy meadows!  Awesome... absolutely awesome!  We eventually stumbled on a hut selling food and got stitched up big time with an omelette for 50 Euros, WHAT?! Sarah bared her teeth with some pure Scottish grit and got a bit of discount!  Phew, still pricey mind you.

Andddd..... PUSH....

When the ice cream cravings start to kick in....

Steve looks chuffed with his new Yeti...

Ooooh, I spy a possible snowball ambush?!

Can you beat this scenery?

Sara and Paul Rennie taking in the views....

Trail side repairs, the bane of our lives....

Top o'the world!

Next day was a rest day!  We didn't want to screw our legs up too much for the following week! Although we did drive to Chamonix and ride a bit of pump track...would be a shame not to!

Chamonix was a bit on the chilly side, overcast, wet and windy!  It didn't stop us though. Sarah declared that she wanted to smash out a big climb?! Well we sure found her one of those bad boys did we not?  A two-hour non-stop climb up what seemed to be the world’s steepest road (well, maybe I exaggerate a little here). Well worth it though as it was followed by a loose pine needle covered rocky descent with a lovely cliff drop to one side and an amazing view of Mont Blanc!  Good times!

Following the convoy up through the Alps...

Carbo loading, well that's my excuse anyway....

"The hillllsss are alliivveeee.....".....

All too soon we were back on the road to Allemont near Alp D'Huez, where we remained based for the rest of the week with the Megavalanche.

Base camp.....

The next morning we got up super early, Tracy Moseley was camping with us so we were pretty lucky to get to ride with her and see some sweet lines. The top of the Mega at 3,300 metres was EPIC!!! (And that is an understatement!). Freezing cold, amazing views and we were up there with our bikes about to ride down a black-rated Ski run, absolutely BUZZING!!

Sarah and Helen feeling the chill......

I didn't have a clue how to ride in the snow so just went for it, landed on my ass the whole way till Tracy gave us some tips on holding the back brake only and straddling the bike, I got the hang of it eventually!

After the snow you hit the singletrack and oh my god it was just rad, just like riding in the Lake District but on a way, way, WAAAYYYYY bigger scale... cruising down into Alp D'Huez onto a little climb and then pretty much all downhill the rest of the way through the woods into Allemont.... 24km of pure downhill adrenaline-fuelled smiles all round!

Next day we hit up the qualifying track, I found this harder than the Mega track, especially up the top where it was real rocky and loose, the smaller bikes just aren't as stable. A cool track nonetheless but a bit boring toward the bottom.

The rest of the week was spent practicing both tracks and perfecting Slack-Lining in the campsite, having friendly footy matches and eating crepes in the local cafe's!  Life doesn’t get much better than this!

Sarah, Helen and Steve ...van-life......

Ms Moseley slack lining.....

And then Chris showing everyone how it's done....

Friday was qualifying day, my race run was at 1pm.  The girls were last off which was a bit of a bum-deal as the track ended up being cut up with big rock-cookies strewn all over it.  It was a Le Mans-style mass start, all 90 girls together, the gun went and we were out and around the first corner.  Anne Caro, Tracy, Sabrina and the other big dogs were fighting it out up front where I was a being bit more timid, keeping out of the fight. I've since learned if you want to do well and not get held up you need to sharpen your elbows and get stuck straight in!  I had a clean run but slow, after the start I just got stuck behind riders who wouldn't get out the (expletives deleted) way, found it hard to get past them. I qualified 36th out of the 90 odd riders. I wasn't too disappointed but knew I could have done a load better.

The day after was race day, up at 5am, on the bus at 5.30am, up on the gondola at 6am and to the top at 7am...and WOW was it cold! All the girls were huddled up keeping warm in the toilets until it was time to line the bikes up. Racing started at 9am and by then the music was pumping to get you psyched, most people were pretty nervous as you can't really predict what's gonna happen, unlike with a normal downhill race.

And so it begins....

Trying to keep warm in the loo....

How's this for a start line eh?

It wasn't that popular really......quite!

Hell YEAH baby....

Breath taking.....

The gun went and we set off... it had been raining during the night so the snow was slushy. Instead of being able to ride I had to push through it until there was enough gradient to pull you through. I went down the steepest bit and held my line pretty well till a girl took me out sideways hurtling me upside down and using my helmet as a snow plough, the air was turned blue!  Eventually the snow plateaus off and it was here where I lost my shoe whilst running across the flat section, stop laughing you lot!  Being 3,000 metres up I was finding it hard to breathe with the air being so thin, having a full-face helmet on and with the adrenaline pumping away it was quite an experience. You feel like your getting chased down by a pack of hungry wolves, it’s pretty scary.

Hitting the singletrack further down I was concentrating on controlling my breathing, I also got stuck behind a couple of girls eventually getting past I caught some more and got stuck for ages!!  Very frustrating!  Got passed by a girl on a climb and then got stuck behind her on the following downhill, argh, however toward the tree lined section I thought ‘sod it’ and pushed past her, loved the rest of it with no-one in front of me!

You can't stop to take in the scenery this time....

Single track sections...AMAZING....!!

Just a little pootle down a little hill....ahem!

Battered, scarred and bruised but so worth it!

I finished in 1 hour and 17 mins taking the 34th position. I didn't feel that tired, wasn't really out of breath and had no arm-pump which I was expecting...this was my first shot at the event and I learned a lot especially with riding and taking advice from Tracy.  Next year I really need to get amongst it all up front at the start, the ‘take no prisoners approach’, it’s crucial to doing well there ….and I reckon you really ought to be shattered after that!

Angela's Mega Photo courtesy of Xavier Grassone

The whole experience was amazing and I wanted do it all again in a flash! This event is something that I think anyone who rides a bike should have a crack at!

All over.....

Long live the Mega, see you there next year!

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Scottish Downhill Series, Pitfichie 23rd & 24th June 2012

Angie takes over the crib: Headed up to Scotland on the 22nd to race the Pitfichie SDA, the forecast was to be wet and it held its promise.  I've never seen rain like it.  From Friday to Sunday it didn't stop once, heavy with thunder showers!

I got there on Friday night with Ellen Tipple, it was her first race and we walked the course, it was a new track that hadn't been raced on before so I was pretty excited.  The top bit was pretty much the same as the other courses up there through the open heather singletrack and then it dropped down into the new woods section, there seemed to be loads of line choice and plenty rocks and roots!  I was debuting my new FTW Industries FB10 on this race and was eager to see how it handled.

Gloopy course!

The race was an old school push-up-to-the-top so Saturday morning I got pushing! Managed to get 4 runs in and sessioned a few sections.  The track was running sweet in the morning but after 130 riders had been down a few times it was started to get pretty beat up with more roots showing through meaning every run was different and I had to adjust and change some lines. There were some huge ruts forming that were quickly filling with water as a stream flowed down the track!  Pretty hard going but sooooooo much fun riding in the wet, you can take the girl out of the North-East....!!

(Unknown Photographer - make yourself known to Lee!)

The new FTW took me a while to adjust to, however after a few runs I seemed to get right into it, it just felt so good on the rocks :-) *thumbs up!!*  The new Hayes brakes still needed bedding in a little but after two runs they were awesome, I never thought anything would live up to my Hopes that I had had for four years but they were amazing and I love the fact you adjust the lever reach without an allen key - I only have wee fingers! :-)

On Sunday morning I got one practice run in which went pretty well so I thought I'd leave it on a good note for my first race run.  That first race run could possibly have been my worst ever, I went over the bars three times and had some other moments as well.  The woods was just so physically demanding, with nine girls racing I was sitting in 3rd place with a 4.53, about 15 seconds off the win, feeling pretty annoyed with myself!

I went up for second race run, absolutely cold and soaking wet by this point. I was in more of a chilled mood though (see what I did then!) and seemed to hold a much better run together. Admittedly I did have a little crash but stayed with the bike and got down the rest of the track totally sweet finishing almost half a minute faster with a 4.24 which put me into 1st place. I was mega happy!

 (Another unknown photographer!)

Just a six-hour drive home after that but worth a trip up!

Thanks for sorting everything out Lee, you've been a star!! :-)

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