Erlevision 2012

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BY: Matthew Lewis

Published: 29th May, 2012

Bloody radio. Thanks to the radio I couldn't get Englebert's song out of my head from the first lap to the end of the 6 hours!

Due to working Saturday morning I opted for the 6pm to midnight option at this years Erlestoke 12(this would also mean that I would dodge all coverage of Eurovision!). Looking at the 'riders who've already entered' tab on Xcracer there weren't too many down to race but enough for some competition. The weather was glorious and the trails were bone dry. I've raced some venues in my time but it feels that I've never ridden a course with so much singletrack.

The course was punctuated by two climbs, short but enough to get you breathing and longing for the singletrack again. At 6pm we were off and the first lap had the extra bonus of bumping into Louise Robinson, Xcracer team member. It's May and the first time that I've met her. Slack eh?

I knew that I had started too fast but it was diffciult to rein yourself in on such a fast course and my lap times were sub 34 minutes whih I knew were far too quick for me to sustain. By the 5 th lap I was beginning to feel it and with the darkness beginning to creep over Wiltshire my speedy start and inability to ride quickly at night dragged my lap times to over 40 minutes and it was on the 7th lap that Ian Cooke from Stonehenge Cyles/Mule bar overtook me. If I had known he was in my category I may have been able to put up some resisitance but I doubt it!

The last two laps I found pretty tough since I haven't done many rides over 3 hours this year so that extra 3 hours were beginning to take their toll on me and my backside. Thanks to Louise and her husband Jason for cheering me on. At just before midnight I rolled in with a total of 9 laps and a pretty sore Humperdinck.

I thoroughly enjoyed it though and the event probably suffered from clashing with the 3rd round of the BMBS up at Hopton since the vibe and venue of Erlestoke 12 deserves to be much better attended. Thanks very much to Duncan Snow at www.mbkphotos.com for the photo(apologies for the white shoes) and Ian in the Love bus for the Bacon and egg sarnie. I owe you at the Bikefest!

I'm still not sure about 12 hours solo I may pester Donna to see if an extra member is needed for the xcracer team instead!

Matt Lewis

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