Wasing, Dragon Ride and Mayhem

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BY: Melanie Alexander

Published: 21st June, 2011

June has been full of events and races with Dragon ride, BMBS Round 3 at Wasing and Mountain Mayhem.

 

Wiggle Dragon Ride Wales

 

An event that I have always wanted to enter but due to popularity I never managed to enter in time. Even with 4000 participants it usually fills up within one day.
We entered the longer distance of 200k. Before hand I was pretty anxious about completing the 200k, the longest road ride I have ridden this year was 100miles and I was crawling the last 10 miles home. The route went around and over the hills and valleys of South Wales. Headed out towards the coast before heading inland up the Bwlch mountain road, up the Rhigos mountain road then one final time up the Bwlch before heading back.

I really enjoyed it. Felt strong. Completing the ride in 6h34, averaging just over 18 miles an hour which I was over the moon with way quicker than I had anticipated.

 

 

Wasing, BMBS Rd 3

 

I had been looking forward to Round 3 at Wasing. Being on crutches there last year I didn't get to race though talking to riders afterwards I knew that the course would suit my strengths.

Although I felt great during the Dragon ride it did leave me feeling very fatigued. Therefore the week leading up to Wasing I was unable to complete high end intervals; I tried on a couple of days before giving into it and accepting my legs needed to rest and recover. On practice Saturday my legs were feeling ache free again so I completed 3 laps and included 3 lots of 2 min efforts to reawaken my legs.

 

More photos from round 3 Wasing by Luke Webber

The race was exciting. I felt so involved in the race and have never found myself in the position of racing to be on the podium from the start of a race. It was brilliant.

At the end of first lap I was in 6th position. Nikki Harris was out of sight, 15 seconds ahead of me Cait Elliot, Maddie Horton and Gabby Day were riding together, a small gap back was Mel Spath then me but not far behind me was Maxine Filby. Lap 2 and Mel closed the gap very quickly. I knew I had to close the gap then or regret it. I thought of the two minute effort and told myself I could go quicker and it worked I caught them. Rest of the lap there was a bit of to and fro-ing but I came through in 3rd place 10 seconds down on Maddie with Cait Elliot and Mel Spath very close behind. Start of lap 3, time for an accelerade gel, more close racing between myself, Mel and Cait but I managed to complete it still holding on to 3rd position. The gap Maddie had on us had increased to 30 seconds.  4th Lap Mel got a gap on me which I couldn't pull back. The 5th and 6th lap I started riding less smoothly worrying too much about Cait catching me.

 

 I finished the 6 laps in fourth position a minute down on Mel and a minute up on Cait. My first Podium at a national and very pleased. I learnt a lot from that race mostly how much your mental attitude effects the way you race.

 

Mountain Mayhem

Next up was Mayhem, I was racing in the Cycle Coaching Wales team in the Expert mixed category, with Mark Davies a strong expert, George Rose a strong Master and Pete Turnbull a strong vet.
We knew the race would be won by either the Hope or the Scott team who seemed to be having a close battle. I believe Hope took the lead early on with the Scott team (Nick Craig, Nikki Harris, Neil Crampton, Roger Walder) never that far behind. The Hope team (Dave Collins, Paul Oldham, Liam Killeen and Maddie Horton) took the eventual win with an impressive 29 laps.
Our aim was to do well, have fun and hopefully compete for 3rd position though we knew it would be tough with the strong team of AW Cycles. At the end of our 8 laps (2 laps each) we were only 4 minutes down on AW cycles. We had a brief chat about me as the weakest rider only completing 4 laps but it was soon forgotten as the Gap increased. Apart from my 5th lap at 6ish in the morning where my legs seemed to refuse to work I enjoyed the event, racing and sitting around base camp with the team and their partners. George was still going strong at the end so he got to complete two bonus laps and I was pleased I went out for my 6th lap re fired up, completing my quickest lap. We completed 26 laps in total finishing in 4th position.

Next up is Margam. Not a race course that particularly suits me but I am feeling good at the moment, enjoying riding a lot, my climbing is improving and if I can lay off the chocolate for another week and get a few kgs lighter maybe I will surprise myself. 

 

Thanks again to our sponsors: Xcracer.com, Gateway cycles, Accelerade, Mt Zoom and Exposure Lights