Newnham BMBS Weekend

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BY: JAMES HAMPSHIRE

Published: 29th September, 2010

A busy weekend's racing! Like a lot of riders, the recession has scuppered a lot of racing/riding plans this year, so this was the closest I got to a stage race! A lot of effort was made by Inevent to make the long trip to Plymouth worthwhile and the high number of riders in attendance showed it was worthwhile.

Stage 1 - Team Relay. As ever, the transition from travelling 200 miles to riding a bike as fast as you can 30 minutes after arrival was a painful one. At each round the course for the relay has got shorter and this one was no exception, with the horse jumps proving to be very solid, imovable slalom gates. With el capitan Phil and Lee Williams at the helm, hopes were high, but botched handovers and getting cut up was a messy performance compared to the slick British Cycling Team performance! Still good fun though and hopefully the relays will continue next year with more teams taking part.



Stage 2 - BMBS 5. With Niall's Superfly stolen, I'd managed to blag him a Trek Top Fuel 9.9SSL for the weekend (a proper kiddy wheeled rocket ship). What we didn't realise till the Saturday morning was the seat mast was 1" too short for him. To the rescue came Rents with a singlespeed 69er. At this point I vowed that if Niall beat me, I'd quit. So when he got the holeshot into the stream crossing I was rather worried! I've been praising my 1x9 setup this year, but maybe I spoke to soon because the chain came off first time down the cottage return descent and got stuck around the bottom bracket. Bye bye top ten! From then on it was chase mode on a great mix of old and new (to me) Newnham trails with the lack of low gears for the short, steep climbs coming back to bite me as I fought serious leg cramps for the second half of the race and slipped down the results sheet.

Stage 3 - Shred Super Cross. With the promise of some special extra's, this was one 'cross race I couldn't miss, even if I was taking part on my 29er. A can of the popular sugary sweet, high caffeine drink and I was ready to go. Like a mini version of cross vegas with floodlights, music, spectators and alcohol, 3 xcracer.com / 29ers took to the start line with Donna competing in her first ever race, leaving husband Phil on bottle feeding duties (of the alcoholic kind...). The numerous dead turns were a killer for tired legs and apologies to the baying crowd for not bunny hopping the barriers, but they were seriously high! On the plus side, I managed to grab some dollar bills when Elvis made an appearance track side without losing any positions.



Stage 4 - Newnham 60. How many times have you driven down to Newnham and not seen anything beyond the estate and nearby supermarket? After waking up from a second crap nights sleep under canvas (thankyou mr. ****** in a tent nearby for snoring like a chainsaw) it was tempting to skip this, but once the sunshine started to melt the ice from the tent it was game on for the shorter 30km 'non-competitive challenge ride".

Things started well and I was soon up on the moors admiring the view on a crisp autumnal day (clang) with a change in the seasons visible in the leaves (clang) and under tyre (i.e. muddy patches), with my promise to Niall of boshing round with a 20kmph average speed se we'd be on the road home by noon looking feasible. With blood sugar levels dropping, things started to get a bit shakey as I was passed by Jay and Russell (Team Certini-Macaulays) on exactly the same section of trail as last year. Chase mode engaged, I then found out why my ace Bontrager 29-0 rear tyre is sold as 'race only' with the paper thin sidewalls succumed to the rocks. Tube in, the course then dropped back into Newnham Park for the deepest river crossing of the weekend and two thorn punctures. Oh how quicky you miss tubeless when it's gone! After a little sit down in the sunshine, it was time to S.A.C.O.I and run the last 3km to the finish, keeping the team's 'death before DNF' motto alive!

Thanks to Trek bikes, Exposure lights and Accelerade nutrition for their support, plus Phil and Mel for feed zone help and Niall for car chauffeur duties!