Erlestoke Twelve 2013:

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BY: Louise Robinson

Published: 26th May, 2013

Friday afternoon 3pm. The camping gear is piled up in the hall and as I look out of the window at the driving rain and howling wind I can't face going out in it to pack the car, let alone put a tent up. Hmmm, change of plan. We shall be leaving early Saturday morning.

 

Fast forward to Saturday morning and at 6am the sun was shining without a cloud in the sky. Unfortunately for us, everyone else in the county also decided to get up early and travel to the South West so even at 7.45am the queue to pass Stonehenge was a good 20minutes long.  By 9am the queue was getting on for 90 minutes and was wreaking havoc with arrivals at Erlestoke. Time laps made it by the skin of their teeth and at 11am I was looking at a solo 4man team as my three team mates were all parked up on the A303 going nowhere.

 

Rider briefing in the sunshine 

At 11.45 (15 minutes late) we all congregated for the race briefing and where herded quickly to the start point. With the race due to start at 12pm, I was standing on the line with a gel in one hand and a water bottle in the other when (8 minutes early) someone said "well off you go then" and that was it, no gun, no "go", I wasn't initially sure that we weren't just rolling down the hill to make more room for the riders behind. I don't even know if all the riders had actually even lined up. But anyway, on with the job in hand and round the lead-out loop and then through the timing tent and pretty much straight into the single-track.

 

Into the first lap 

Erlestoke Twelve is run by SPAM biking, a local bike club, so is a real grass roots event and has a reputation for a fun, friendly atmosphere with a cracking race course.  This year's course lived up to all expectations and then some. Predominantly the same as last year's course with the addition of the Red Bull Run, a timed downhill single-track section.  Fun, flowy, rooty single track was the name of the game with a few killer hills thrown in to get the height gain needed for the downhill run. I enjoyed myself immensely and my Racing Ralphs were an excellent choice of tyre on the dry and dusty trails that showed absolutely no signs of the rain from the last week. It was a technical course for newcomers however and a few tumbles were taken during the course of the race.

 

Wall to wall sunshine and after 12 hours, perfectly clean bikes without a jet wash in site

In the crush of the first lap, the long stretches of tight twisty single track proved very hard to overtake on with a few individuals getting a bit anxy when trapped behind a moving queue of riders. I only observed this on the Red Bull Run section, but given the prize for the fastest timed section was a training session with one of the Atherton brothers, it wasn't really surprising tension was running high.

In the end, all my team mates arrived by noon (some only just). However two were suffering horribly with whatever lurgy is currently doing the round so myself and Jo Munden opted to double lap, compared to single laps from Hannah Bussey and Jules Newall, to give the girls a bit more time to recover.  After 5 laps, we attempted to find out how we were standing on the results. Oh- oh. It was carnage. Due to problems relating the fact two timing systems were in operation (one for the overall results and one for the Red Bull Run)  the organisers issued each rider with a number board with a different number chip. I was number 78 with timing chip 101. Unfortunately there was another rider with chip 78 and yet another with number board 101.  Poor Timelaps didn't know who was coming and who was going. Credit where credit is due, the organisers and Timelaps worked tirelessly to make the best of a bad situation and provide a valid set of results at the end.  Thank you guys, I bet a few well deserved bottles will be opened tonight!

Enjoying the singletrack

In the end, we completed 17 laps in just under 12 hours. Five minutes slower than Russ Holman the leading solo man. That is just obscene!

Four4th Lights first and Four4th second - how many manufactures can muster two ladies teams!

A few shout outs to guys I met on the course. First to Rob Smith, riding for the Royal Navy, who I caught up with in the final single track of the lap and who was obviously up to a task where the Army did not even dare show their faces. Also to Al Fairburn who breezed past me on his single speed on the grassy field slog (he must have helium in his tyres). To George Budd who finished first in the men's 6 hour solo race, but would also have won the men's 6 hour pairs AND men's 6 hour team events - good job you are only allowed to enter one category at a time, otherwise no one else would stand a chance.  And to the boys at Banjo Cycles who were their usual chirpy selves, both on the course and in the pits. And also the Dirt Diva (or the Dirty Diva's as the boys in the Banjo tent were calling them - wishful thinking I believe) who were out there doing it for the girls.

 

George Budd- knocking out yet another quick one 

All in all a great event, made fabulous by the weather. Despite the difficulties, it would be a crying shame if this event were not run in the future, this venue is just stunning. Sincere thanks to the SPAM biking team, Timelaps, Red Bull and all the other sponsors. And if you could manage to book the same weather for three weeks' time, those of us at Mountain Mayhem would be most grateful!

Louise Robinson, Mum, Pharmacist and Mountain Biker
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