Photo copyright of e11evens
*Alarm Buzzing*
It was an early 5:30am departure, tunes on
in the car and cruising to Merthyr Tydfil just next to the Brecon Beacons for
the exciting planned stages at Bike Park Wales. I have had a great winter of
riding and cross training, as the 2015 race season begins to kick in I am
feeling privileged to be riding for The Development Racing Team. There have been a few races this season
already and it seems that everyone is picking up their standards, pushing that
bit harder on the stages and challenging for every second!
After signing on and picking up my number board I pedalled
off along the trails to ride the entire course before my first stage time of
2:41. The scenery was beautiful with the distant snow-topped hills glittering
in the sunshine, I was pleased to have my layers on however soon warmed up during
the forty-minute climb to the top. I
always like to know what is on each stage to plan changes in seat height and
gear changes, optimising my performance.
After completing the course and having two hours to spare
(and trying to keep on top of my nerves, it has to said) I sat in front of the
fire at the wonderful BPW café reading The Mountain Bike Magazine and chatted
away with a few other competitors. It’s
a joy meeting new people at races and hearing about their own adventures. With time now ticking on I re-fuelled and
checked the bike over. One of the hardest things about multi-stage racing is
keeping on top of your own psychology, you want to be performing at an optimum
and from this I mentally break everything down into the individual stages.
Messin' abahhht......
Stage one was the black route ‘Dai Hard’, this trail was
awesome, full of roots, mud and tight turns. I would have to be in the zone on
this stage to make a good time and was pleased with how well my 27.5 wheels were
eating up the course, they were a boon and I was hopped and popped down the
trail. Despite over-shooting the track
into the wooded section it was a pretty clean run, no chain drops or flat tyres
but best not tempt fate.
The second stage was a mixture of the ‘Wibbly Wobbly’ and ‘Rim
Dinger’ red routes, this was the longest stage of the day and as their names
suggest it involved a pedalling section into wind at the top and then down
through the rock gardens, which were no problem for my Orange Five Diva I shall
have you know. I had another clean run however suffered with a bit of cramp
during this stage, I’ve decided to ride clipped in this season and it’s a
challenge but I’m gaining confidence with each race.
By the time I was on the final stage I had climbed the hill
six times in one day and despite the fitness my legs were beginning to feel
fatigued. Despite re-fuelling 15 minutes
into my riding I was suffering from a fair bit of cramp and it was exceptionally
painful at times, in hindsight I think my knee pads were too tight.
Top spot, get in!
I was delighted to take the first position in the women’s category,
very closely followed by Beverley Barnes and Anna Walter. It was another great day on the bike, Bike
Park Wales is a brilliant place to race with excellent marshalling, a top-notch
first aid team and the eclectic bunch of riders I got to know on the
climbs. Looks set to be a great year of
racing, see you at the next event.
Robyn.
(Note from Lee: Hi, unfortunately action photography of this event's female riders have been very few and far between which has been both disappointing and a great shame especially considering how many photographs were taken of the male riders. Hopefully this issue rectifies itself before the next enduro event).
