Sudety MTB Challenge stages 4 and 5

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BY: Melanie Alexander

Published: 9th August, 2011

STAGE 4
Thursday 28th July. Distance: 56k from Bardo to Gluszyca. Ascent: 2431.
Start of stage with a overall lead of 9 mins. 

 

We had a fantastic start, managing to stay with the lead group of 40ish riders, as a split had formed behind. As expected there were lots of short climbs and descents but I found I was able to power over them and although not quite as quick on the climbs I was back with the group that was forming around us on the descents. At 15k we crossed an Aqueduct and down a steep loose muddy single track to the first feed station, straight through we were still going strong. The climbs were still steep, some I had to hike over but the descents were steep too.

 

 

We were flying down one descent gaining on the lead vets team, 500 meters later Mark questioned whether we were going the right way, we could see a team in front and glance over the shoulder 3 teams were behind us, we continue. 2 k later we hit a junction - no arrows, damn it, turn round and quick blast back up the fire road. Back to the bottom of the descent where we should of peeled off slightly to the right.

 

 

 

We had lost 15 minutes and a lot of places, we were riding for a bit with the 5th placed mixed team, the terrain seemed twice as hard as we had to fight back up the continual climbs. We caught up with Celina and Ivonne who said the 'Pells mixed team' were only 500 meters ahead and that they looked tired on the climbs. Our hopes picked up. We still had 20k left but as we continued there was still no sign of them. With 5k to go the Pells bottler informed us we were a minute down, I thought this was strange because it was one last short-ish climb and a 3k descent to the end. I was off on the steeper section of the climb but Mark managed to ride his bike up and ran down to help me out, informing me that the 'Gomola Trans Arco' were just in front, he had caught them on the climb. At the top we chased hard but didn't catch them. Today the race times were measured earlier than the finish point at the bottom of a fire road, so we had no idea of how much time we had lost to the 'Pell's mixed team' today. A gentle half mile into town (non race zone) to the finish and when 'Gomola Trans Arco' saw us they looked surprised and jumped with joy. They had had no idea that we were behind them, it was great to see them so happy. It turned out that they had won, we had fought back to finish second 23 seconds behind and the 'Pell's mixed team' rolled in 4 mins down on us. They had crashed at some point and luckily we had got away with our mistake.

 

Lots of food on offer at the end of each stage.

 

STAGE 5
Friday 29th July. Distance: 78k from Gluszyca to Kudowa , Ascent 2733 meters.
13 minutes overall lead in mixed pairs

I felt pretty nervous today, a lot of chasing and the steep climbs from the previous day had left my legs tired. I knew a bad day in the saddle plus a mechanical was enough to make us lose the lead.

 

Friday Morning having the soles of my cycling shoes gaffa taped on, Hike a bikeing taking its toll. Puffy eyes from a week of sleeping on the floor.

Very early on I could tell I was going to struggle on this last day. Legs were heavy. We were overtaken on the first climb by the 'Pells mixed team' though this time they were in sight for a lot longer. Looking at the gradient profile that morning we knew the first 20 k was going to be the toughest part of the day with steep climbs and it took us over two hours to ride. We kept the pressure on, fought back and passed the 'Pel'ls mixed team' on a technical descent around 20 k in. At the 22k feed station, the three leading mixed teams were together with less than 30 seconds between us. Me and Mark managed to get up a hike a bike first and lead into more single track. It had started raining making the trails slippery and without looking back we knew 'Gomola Trans Arco' wouldn't slow down and couldn't be far behind but felt this could go in our favour in gaining a small gap on the 'Pell's mixed team'. After 30 minutes of rain we were beginning to regret not packing our waterproof jackets but all of a sudden there was a blue sky again and we were no longer shivering.

 

 

At the 42 k feed station came the start of a rare 15 k road section. Gomola  Tram Arco passed us at the start of it, my legs were having a low moment and I thought they were gone but with a few helpful pushes from Mark we managed to chase them back down and formed a group of 8 with a couple of other teams.  The mixed pair were strong and kept upping the pace but didn't seem to mind me tucking in behind with Mark having to push me back into the pack as I was continually dropping of the wheel. At the end of the road section there was 20 k off road to the end on an old cobbled road, over a slog of a field and more trails. The mixed pair pulled away easily. I was pretty spent and had had enough. Mark was really patient here, I could tell he was still determined to win the stage but could see I could not give any more. It was a shame to finish feeling so drained, it was the worst I had felt all week.

 

 

The last 3 k was once more a really good descent though this time we took it steady as we knew it was descent all the way now. Gomola Trans Arco finished 3 minutes up on us (much smaller gap than we though it would be at the time of riding). The second team must have been tired zlso today and came in 8 minutes down on us giving us a 21 minutes lead in total in the general classification.

 

In five days we rode 364k in 24 hours and 25 minutes.

OVERVIEW
The Trans Alp, Cape Epic, Trans Rockies and Sudety MTB Chlallenge are all very different stage races and unique in their own ways. In comparison the Sudety MTB Challenge does not have the event size of the Cape Epic and Trans Alp, it doesn't have the long climbs of the Trans Alp but it does have plenty of climbing. It is closest to the Rockies in terms of grittiness, with off road sections, mud, rocks, roots and continual ups and downs and some fantastic mountain biking that left you wanting more.

 

The Bike Mechanics were brilliant, always happy to help you out.

 

We went for the basic package which included breakfast, evening meals and mostly school rooms to sleep in. As long as you are happy sleeping on the floor this wasn't bad and was well organised. The evening meals and breakfasts were mainly accommodated for in hotels, evening meals in particular were good. If I was to go again I would consider taking nice instant coffee and Muesli with me as these were lacking at breakfast which mainly consisted of cornflakes and white rolls and fillings.

 

I recommend it and am now keen to return and race the four day stage race Beskidy mtb trophy, organised by the same team in another Polish mountain range.

 

Thanks to my sponsors: XCRacer.com, Gateway Cycles, Mt Zoom, Accelerade and Exposure Lights.