My Body's a Funny (Old) Thing

Share on Facebook  Share on Twitter

BY: Mark Spratt

Published: 4th April, 2011

Sunday was the 3rd round of the Welsh XC series. Having turned 40 two months ago in theory this year is my best chance of some success in the Veteran class of XC racing but to stave off the desire to get a Porsche (or an even racier young girlfriend) I have entered the UK24 Hour Champs in May. As a result my focus so far this year has been on endurance rides rather than XC speed and the XC races have been treated largely as training rides. Now, accepted wisdom is that the day before an XC race you should go for a short spin with a few short hard efforts to remind the legs what they're about to do, so planning a 5 hour ride around Coed y Brenin's trail network for Saturday didn't seem like the best preparation for today but I was taking the longer term view.
Following the 3.5 hour drive north Saturday morning Melanie and I set out and rode the Beast, Tarw and MBR trails, never pushing hard but keeping a good pace going. The obligatory bowl of pasta followed, then a good night's sleep in the van, woken occasionally by the sound of rain.
Sunday morning felt like a luxurious lie-in given the 11am start but we still only managed to sign on with 20 minutes before the race. A quick practice of a technical section near the end of the lap and it was off to the start line - not much of a warm up!
Having had good results at rounds 1 and 2 I was called up first, followed by Andy Jones of Clee Cyles, the only other Vet I knew. Not having the usual front runners present didn't make me confident as there are plenty of fast riders in North Wales that I don't usually race against, so I decided I would just go as hard as possible from the start and see who responded. As it was this tactic was to work incredibly well, either because I made the best gear choice or a 5 hour ride the day before is some secret weapon for sprint starts, and I opened a gap straight away. Realising this I pushed on as hard as possible to the top of the first climb and on into the descent and singletrack. By this time I was catching some of the youth and female riders, calling early to pass with minimum disruption to them or me. The course was fantastic fun to race on as the first climb separated the riders out and the rocky singletrack was a good test of both bike and rider. As I finished the first lap I still had the lead but not knowing my opposition I continued to push hard and at times battled with some of the youth riders. On the 3rd lap I certainly had some luck as I tried a different line across a rocky fireroad descent and was knocked off line into a boulder strewn ditch. I was certain I would flat or crash but managed to ride it out and barely lost any speed. In the later race at least one Elite rider punctured in the same place and numerous others did so around the course. I can only put my good luck down to my new Maxxis Ikon tyres which somehow manage to be light, grippy and durable, they certainly gave me confidence on the wet, rocky and rooty trails.
As I came to the end of the 4th lap I knew I had the win. At the finish line I was met by club-mate Matt Thomson and his father who had been watching the race. Matt was later to get 2nd in the Junior race so was keen to hear how the course rode at race speed.
It certainly felt good to get a win as they don't come around too often, but more than that it was good to ride a fun course and feel body and bike both working well (even at 40). I'm at a loss though whether to plan a 5 hour ride before every XC race from now on or take it as a sign that my UK24 preparation is going well. Hopefully the latter and in 5 weeks time I'll know.

 

Thanks to my sponsors One Industries