Scott MTB Marathon Series Round 2

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BY: Joe Barker

Published: 29th May, 2014

Rain rain rain, that was the only weather we got last weekend as we travelled up to Rhayader for the Second round of the Scott Marathon series. As we sat down to have a cup of tea after the journey, we were informed about the continuous rain all day and how it had only just finished before we got there. The atmosphere was awesome on the Saturday night as usual with this event and everybody was excited for the ride on Sunday!

After a bit of thought, I opted to do the 25k even though I did the 50k last time. This was mainly to do with not feeling 100% well in the morning and not wanting to make it worse by being out in the rain all day... The 25k rider all went off after the main race, having to stay behind a quad for all of the road and not being allowed to go past any of the slower 50k and 75k riders obviously it was very slow. Consequently, as soon as the quad pulled over me and Charlie Craig had lots of legs to attack the first off road climb. However, the 25k turned of a lot earlier than any of the others into an awesome downhill with little pumps and bumps. I was on a borrowed, small, 29er Scott Scale, I found it very fast on the road and fire tracks but not as enjoyable on the single track. As we approached the next climb my legs felt quite strong so I decided to push on and ride on my own.

After this I got in to a nice rhythm staying at the same pace all the way, as I approached the last 10k I pushed hard on the down hills to see how much could get out of the bike in these sketchy conditions. The grip was definitely there! Finally I dropped off the hill on to the final piece of road, taking no risks in the wet conditions I rode back to the finish to be the first 25k rider back. I thoroughly enjoyed the course this round with fun down hills made technically challenging by the wet conditions.

Finally well done to everyone who rode and braved the wet and a thank you to Southfork Racing for their support:)

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