Night of the (wobbly) Knobbly tread

BY: Matthew Lewis

Published: 24th October, 2011

Jay Horton's flaccid parrot was a scary enough spectacle but an even more terrifying revelation is the price of a Stan's 29er rim and wheel rebuild.

Both Jay ( a pirate) and Maddie ( a cat, I think!) had decided to dress up for West Drayton MBC's inaugural ( we hope) night xc race. Chris Denham, Generalissimo of WDMBC, has a canny knack of putting on excellent mtb events and this was brilliant. It was, of course, a first for xc racers in Britain: a night time 1 hourish, almost Halloween, blast.

USE had done a fantastic job of lighting up the arena and for such a low key event the atmosphere at signing on was ace. So much so that I was late to the start line and took up my place in the middle of the grid- too busy chatting! Some very strong riders had decided to enter and by 7.50pm we were off. By the time that we hit the first section of single track I found myself in a group that contained Lewis King (Beeline Cycles), Si Ernest (AW Cycles) Geoff Betham (Retrobike) and Matt Craner of WDMBC. The pace was quick and it was wheel to wheel stuff for the duration of the lap. The pace was pretty high through the singletrack but would 'up' a little once we hit the fireroad sections. I felt pretty good and towards the end of the 2nd lap took a turn on the front of the group. I've raced at Black Park before, it is flat but that usually means there is no place to grab a breather. The course weaves and wends it's way through the Black park and at night it really does feel you are zipping through the trees. Lap times were quick at just over 13 minutes. Pre-riding the course had almost been pointless, there were so many twists and turns that I couldn't remember them and decided to let others take the front and follow them. That way I could avoid any obstacles that they had hit. Sneaky eh!

It would've been if I'd been paying attention. By the end of the 3rd lap I was hugging onto Lewis King's wheel with Betham and Ernest just behind me when I hit a tree stump at a right funny old angle, what followed was like a gunshot which turned out to be my tyre coming off my now wobbly rim. I ended up in a heap just to the right of the trail and narrowly missed Joolze who was laying her life on the line by lying down next to the trail... in the darkness. I was gutted. I had been really enjoying myself and had felt more than capable of hanging on with this group to the end. By the time I got back to the car the extent of the damage to my wobbly tread had made it self clear. With a duathlon the following morning the chances of finding a 29er Lefty compatible front wheel looked slim. Bloody thing might look like the dog's nuts but finding a spare would prove difficult! Thanks to Chris Denham who went above and beyond the call of duty by offering me a loan of his Epic for the duathlon but I skipped the duathlon and had a few beers and watched the World Cup instead. Slack I know.

The format of the race is an excellent one and one that must be repeated.The WDMBC crew put on an excellent race. I know that there are a growing number of night cyclo cross races but as much as I love cross riding the courses can be a little tame can't they? This course had a few surprises that kept you on your toes and caused a few tumbles. thankfully everyone who did take a tumble was alright.

The atmosphere and marshalls were superb. A great way to spend a saturday evening. More of these please!

Probably the last mtb race of the season for me- I've started having a terrible desire to enter the 12hours of Exposure in April. I really don't know why. Plenty more cross before then though.

Thanks to Joolze Dymond for the excellent pic!

www.joolzedymond.com/

Matt Lewis

Xcracer.com

Exposure lights

Accelerade

Gateway cycles