Sleepless in the Saddle

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BY: Louise Robinson

Published: 8th August, 2012

Another wet one!

 

When one of the team dropped out last month I couldn't understand why I had so much trouble filling the place and why people kept saying things like "that's at Catton Park isn't it? No sorry I will be washing my hair that weekend" After this weekend, I understand!

The event itself was great. The campsite good, all the amenities were laid on, security guards patrolled all weekend and the weather was predominantly fine. The problem was it rained (just a little bit) and the course fell apart.

Sunshine at the start - lulled us into a false sense of security

We arrived early on Friday, set up in the sunshine and then headed out for a practice lap. My overwhelming feeling was that it was going to be a fast (if somewhat boring) lap with a little bit of slippy singletrack and lots of fire road and field edge riding.
And it was. For the first five laps anyway.

The start of our 5th lap - still green but the rain is just beginning

I was racing as part of the Four4th Ladies team. A different line up from previous races this year due to one of the team having an allergy to Catton Park (and choosing not to moan, just not to go!) and another having to pull out for personal reasons. So Hannah Bussy and myself were joined by Louise Mahe and Ali Ford. Louise is no stranger to bike racing or a bit of mud, but this was Ali's first mountain bike race so we were hoping to break her in gently - really sorry Ali!

So, the race started at 12 noon. We all got a lap in in the dry, and having put in a couple of pretty fast laps were a bit shocked when  we checked the score board to find we were in 3rd place, 2 laps down on the leaders! Oh yeah, and the Hope factory boys were in a similar situation in the men's team race. Did this mean we were being seriously thrashed? No actually, a technical glitch with the timing meant nobody had any idea where they were for the first few hours. But give them their due, the timers worked overtime to get it all ironed out so that by Sunday morning things seemed pretty much as they should have been.

My second lap began with a clap of thunder and biblical rain started. Thankfully it only rained for a few minutes but the decline of the race course had begun. At this point I was running Rocket Rons and although it did get a bit slippy, they carried me round nicely. After another 20minutes of rain about an hour later I decided to revise my tyre choice. I switched to a Bonty MudX on the front and kept the Ron on the back (there was so much fire road and field riding I did not want the extra drag of the mud tyre on the back). However, by lap three much of the course had become a quagmire of wet clay.  And this didn't seem to be the sort of muddy clay you get at Eastnor (Mountain Mayhem) but pure potter's wheel stuff which was like riding on sheet ice. And heavy too, especially when the stuff spun off the tyres and hit me on the head!  The mud tyre on the front did its job (well, as well as they ever do) but the Ron on the back just slid around. Often sliding in front of the rest of the bike, at one point almost completely spinning the bike round and leaving me pointing the wrong way down what should have been a completely innocuous stretch of fire road.  In the end I just gave up with riding and switched to running, being very glad of the studs on my shoes, and stopping at the end of each section to pull handfuls of clay from the moving bits of the bike.

I switched to a 2x10 set up in the spring this year and have to say I love it! It performed perfectly all weekend, with my XTR Shadow Plus rear mech behaving impeccably and continuing to shift despite being buried in so much clay I could no longer see it. I know quite a few people are dubious of 2x10 for enduro riding and I have to say I was unsure myself being a fairly slightly built female but I never struggled for lack of gears (struggled for lack of grip, lack of skill and 25kg of mud ballast yes, but lack of gears, no!)

By the end of lap 6 it was getting a little mucky out there!

By the time darkness fell I started lap 4 on mud tyres front and back and we switched to a "one on one off" format.  The tyres helped. The fact the organisers removed the worst section of singletrack helped even more although there was still plenty of pushing to be negotiated.  At 4am I got a chance of a little rest and snuggled into my sleeping bag, only to be woken at 7am by my little boy saying "is it my birthday yet?" And you are only 7 once, so birthday presents one, sleep nil. My sixth and final lap was shortly before 10am and the course was starting to dry out, in places a dry racing line was even starting to develop (if you squinted a bit).

All in all, a successful race. No injuries or mechanicals on the team. 23 laps completed in a fraction over 24 hours. No significant fights, divorce threats or tears. Maybe we just didn't try that hard? I think the fact the race course was short, keeping lap times sensible even in the mud did help a great deal. I just couldn't believe how badly and how quickly the race course deteriorated considering how little rain we actually had.  Given the odds of rain in your average British summer, I can't say I will be rushing back to this venue. This is not because I'm not hard enough. I can do slogging it round, I just don't want to!

Four4th Lights take the top of the podium in the Expert Ladies category

A big thanks to all the marshals who remained cheerful and encouraging throughout. Also to the sponsor's Singletrack who provided a lurkers bar (what a fab idea) and also a subscriber's buffet (everyone can use a 4am chocolate muffin). The biggest thanks to my team mates, our long suffering pit crew and especially Ali Ford who slogged round her first mountain bike race in appalling conditions in very respectable times. And a special mention for Isaac, who turned 7 on Sunday and thoroughly enjoyed opening his presents in a tent and sharing his birthday cake with a load of smelly cyclists.