Velo Club Moulin

Hup Hup

2012-01-24T14:53:00.005Z

Cowbells at the ready? Come and make some noise for the VCM massive.

Starring VCM's Addy Pope, Chris Duncan, Davie Graham, Gordy Mackenzie, Maddy Robinson, and Simon Muir.

Dirty Kanza 200

2012-01-15T17:30:00.001Z

I got an entry for the Dirty Kanza 200 !!!

This is my primary goal for 2012 ... the event sold out after opening yesterday in 3.5 hours !!!

200 miles of Kansas gravel await me ... time to increase training miles, build a bike, book flights etc.

Gonna be a great year.

No Fuss Winter Duathlon

2012-01-15T15:42:00.003Z

With a couple of triathlons in my sights this year, what better way to spice up training than with a wee early-on duathlon fittingly called 'The Appetiser'.

After taking part in my first ever triathlon in September, the No Fuss Half Big Ben Triathlon, I knew that this off-road duathlon would be right up my street.

So I packed my VCM kit, running shoes and bike gear and headed up to Fort William on Saturday morning.

Sign-on and the race start, finish and transition area took place the picturesque Lower Falls at the far end of Glen Nevis. It was the ideal setting for the event with stunning views of the Ben, very little traffic and a pleasant feeling of remoteness.

The race format was a 4km trail & road run, a 12.5km road & off-road bike, followed by the same run again.

I did a bit of a warm up jog and some self-conscious lunges, then No Fuss Fraser gathered us round for a pre-race briefing.

Then it was 12noon and we were off! Heading up the road I tried to settle into a rhythm and not panic about how quickly my heart rate was rising! After a short distance we were off the road and onto a gravel path which follows the Water of Nevis. I had been trying to keep pace with the guy in front by watching his heels, and when I looked up, I saw the front runners winding their way a bit of a sharp hill. Telling myself it's not Ben Nevis, I vowed not to slow to a walk and I made my way up with short strides. The trail wound on a bit farther and eventually came to a road which we blasted back down to transition area.

I lost some places in transition while I seemed to take ages getting myself ready. Well, it wouldn't be a Sunday bike ride without some pre-ride faffage! I jumped on my bike and beasted it (well, 'my' version of beasting it) down the road to try and make some time up. Luckily the winding road was quiet and I was able to overtake quite a few folk. I only got overtaken by a guy on a road bike with slick tyres on, but by the time we got to the turn off to the fireroad I'd caught him again. I've no idea how he got on on the rough fireroad with those tyres but good luck to him!
I peddled as hard as I could along the fireroad & a female came into view in the distance. I tried my hardest but could not get any closer to her before we dismounted and went back into transition again.
Helmet & bike ditched and soggy trainers back on, I was back on the road trying to work out why I had swapped legs with Charlie Chaplin. I soon settled back into a rhythm and vowed once again not to walk at any point - even on the dreaded Ben Nevis Junior!
Soon enough the No Fuss flags came back into view and I even had enough energy for a sprint finish with a couple of guys.

I hadn't a clue where I'd finished and was so chuffed to find out at the prize ceremony that I'd finished 2nd Senior Female. A No Fuss medal and well cool Big Bobble Hat was dished out as prizes (not to mention the free Endura socks we got at registration).

The Appetiser was the first in a series of 3 winter duathlons put on by No Fuss. Looking forward to the 'Main Course' in February.

Tod cross

2012-01-03T19:12:00.007Z

Lovely little video of the Tod cross race:

Todcross from Benjamin Haworth on Vimeo.

It was the 4th edition of the race, puts on by Chipps and co at Singletrack, 9th round of the Yorkshire Points Series and the first time i've been able to make it along.

Super course, muddy lower half, just rideable cobbled climb and fast swoopy trails higher up in the woods, brilliant atmosphere, cheers and heckling, brass band, friendly folk at sign on/coffee van/food wagon. Oh and a Duval beer at the finish for each rider!

Quite a euro style course, taped nice and wide for hassle free passing and line choosing but deceptively technical in terms of the number of dismounts and remounts required per lap and deciding how much of the muddy sections it was quicker to run.

I wasn't doing much passing, didn't have much zing, but thoroughly enjoyed the race. Will definitely be back next year, in better shape and with more running in my legs. Finished up 16th with a slight name change, Ag came in 25th, maybe suffering a mechanical (?) as he was catching me rapidly early in the race. Jack Clarkson won and was flying, Lewis Craven in 2nd is possibly the most polite cross race i've ever been passed by.

Report and Results

Chapeau to all involved in organising the race.

Spot the VCMer

2011-12-21T09:30:00.000Z

Nice little video from one of the recent North West League rounds (if you can stomach the license free music).

Auchentoshan by Shand Cycles

2011-12-06T12:28:00.001Z

A great wee film by Shand Cycles.

Scottish Cycling Cyclocross Championships 2011 from Shand Cycles on Vimeo.

back cross racin' (about time lad)

2011-11-20T18:10:00.004Z

It's been 4 weeks (4 flippin' weeks) since I last pinned a number on my back at Mugdock and that was a disaster which had me just about ready to give up 'cross racing afterwards...sorry Simon, Gordy and Maddy for my post race grumpiness! What I learnt from that was if you wake up on the morning of a race and are questioning whether to even bother packing the car and feel knackered/run down/mojo less, listen to your body and give yourself a break..

Fast forward to Sunday morning in Crosby, Liverpool at Ros's folks house and the good fortune of visiting on the very weekend the NW League have a race on a mere 25mins drive away at Stadt Moers Country Park.

A 2am turn in and slightly fuzzy alcohol induced head is perhaps not the best pre race prep, but coffee seemed to fix that. Signed on and kitted up, I spotted fellow VCMer and NW League regular Alex who has been ripping it up this season. Randomly both of us managed to ride through fresh 'brick orange' dog turd... pre riding the course. Non plussed.

Still the course was a good 'un, with a healthy mix of grass, tarmac, brick paving (!), rougher paths, trails and short, steep ups. All rideable in the big ring with no dismounts needed.

The start was a bit wild with Vets, Juniors, Women and Seniors all off together. Alex was off like a scalded cat near the front, my start was 'um rubbish. Never mind, the first few laps were fun working my way up the field a little. At race pace the whole course flowed really well with plenty of zip, a little slick and sticky in places but far from a mud fest.

Passing through the finish with what I thought was around 15 mins to go the laps to go board said FIVE! Cue (wry) smile and curse at the same time. Time to dig in princess! Dig I did, albeit with rapidly tying up legs.

Update: I finished up 13th, ~1hr 14 of racing! Happy with that given 4 weeks of hit and (mostly) miss training, poor start and rubbing rear brake...(oh the excuses)...but it was ace to get back racing again.

Report & Results

BUCS CX

2011-11-14T17:51:00.001Z

I did a cross race at the weekend and it was a lot of fun, made me wonder what I have been doing messing around riding on the road! It's been a while since I got on my cross bike, and a very long while since I did a cross race, but the Uni cross champs were a great reminder of how much I enjoy it. Riding my bike around the practice lap I felt as though the 'race' was going to be a bit of a joke, as I could barely ride around the corners without feeling as though I was going to fall off...pretty sure I didn't look all that pro. A friendly spectator saw me stopped looking down the off camber descent trying to decide whether to ride down or not, and told me which line to ride. I kind of had to ride down after that, as he was stood there watching, I was thankful for the push as it wasn't actually that bad!

I think there were around 20 women racing, which is a good sized field for a women's race. Despite protestations, the organiser decided to set the women off with the men, so it was difficult to tell where you were in the women's field when the race got going, with girls getting mixed up among the men's field. I had a lot of laughs while actually racing, with people wiping out on corners as the course got more and more slippery throughout the race, and just generally laughing at my own lack of bike handling skills. The broad north east accented commentary was also a point of amusement - hearing 'OOoooo, Ross Creber's come a cropper!' made me feel slightly better about my granny like cornering.

Anyway, I've got the bug and am now looking for more (un-technical) cross races to do! Oh dear...not sure the student loan can stretch to this!

new rider

2011-11-05T07:59:00.000Z

Welcome our latest recruit Addy Pope, who has recently moved back to Scotland after 10 years in exile (lets not ask, it sounds mysterious). A bit of an all rounder, this is his first proper season of cross so lets make him welcome, he plans to do as many of the SCX races as he can and head to the odd cross race in N England, beyond that, more road races, some mtb enduros and a couple of triathlons.

Addy above the Skipton Alps

In his own words.

"Hi everyone, i nearly joined the VCM ranks a couple of years back but lost sight of what was important and fun. But I have refocused and got myself sorted. I met Andy W at uni many moons ago and marvelled at how clean his bike always was, this hasn't changed. I rode with the EUCC boys while at uni and then moved south to South Wales to pursue my other love, Glaciers. However, there don't seem to be any glaciers in Wales so I did a stint in the high Arctic. Since then I have been working my way back to Scotland having lived in Skipton for a few years. Somehow I never managed to get round to doing the 3 Peaks race, although I did support for a few people.

I have biked pretty much my whole life, mainly mountain bikes but dabbled with the dark side of road bikes while in Yorkshire. In a normal year I will try to get a couple of road sportives in, either the Fred Whitton or the Etap Du Dales and a few mtb marathons. I also really enjoy 24hr races, but have yet to "go solo". Teams seem more fun and less painful. I try to head to the alps each year to ride, usually with Sam at BikeVillage and rode the TransProvence last year, an epic event but a bit prices (note - I was setting the course so saw none of the gourmet food and survived off pasta and sauce for a week sleeping in unheated caravans and carrying all our kit rather than having a cook, mechanic and porterage of all your clean clothes). Arriving in Monaco in clothes that you had been riding in for 7 days was a bit of a shock for the locals..... Apparently we were not the kind of people they wanted lounging in the Casino gardens.

I have a wee blog(building it at present) and flickr site "

October in the North West

2011-10-31T21:12:00.001Z

Time to ramble...

It's been a busy month of racing round these parts with 5 rounds of the North West CX League crammed into October. I'd missed the two opening rounds through being away in the equally exotic climes of Italy & Leeds, so rolling up to the start line at round 3 in Bolton I was shoe-ed towards the back of grid having amassed a sum total of bugger all series points. A reasonable start & a mass pile up meant I squeezed my way up into the top 30 by the first corner. It was absolutely lobbing it down making the going fully wet & slippery but not boggy. For a few laps I had a good tussle with Velocake's Tim 'tubs & turbo trainer' Kershaw, chasing each other down & picking our way through the field. Tim finally got a gap on one of the descents that I couldn't reel back in, staying just out of reach until the end. I just scraped my way into the top 20 (that'd be 19th) & got my first league points of the season on the board. Not overly blown away with my performance, but then it was my first cross race for a few weeks & having been doing loads of long steady rides I was expecting it to take a couple of weeks to get up to speed again.

Next stop was up to Winderemere for round 4, incorporated into the Rapha Super Cross. Good to see Rapha making a bit of positive input, giving people who aren't the begrudging other halves a reason to take a look at what was going on. A Superprestige it wasn't, but with hundreds of free cow bells handed out, Duvel being served by the pits & a commentator that seemed aware of what was going on in the race, it was certainly substantially more spectator friendly that usual.

On pre-riding I rather liked the course; there was a stiff little climb in there & some relatively techy bits. The one thing that did stand out was how short the lap was. That caused a bit of an issue at the start - impressively over 150 were on the line but with just 50metres of open field before a hairpin it got a bit sticky. I like a bit of good humored argy-bargy at the start of these things, but that many people manically trying to find a line just causes some to get a bit panicked & others get a bit too aggressive, shitty & plain rude. I can do without that, so decided to calmly pick my way through when the opportunities presented themselves.

All was going pretty well with that tactic for a few laps, eventually getting a pretty clear run at the course. Then two things went wrong.

1: It got claggy. It had been wet, then it was warm & dry. All those wheels churned the mud up pretty bad. As a one bike competitor I felt the effects. Wheels didn't go round very well. Then not at all. I ended up having to stop twice a lap to pull handfuls of clag out of my frame & forks, loosing places every time to those that were able to grab a clean bike from the pits.

2: My gears went all clunky. Just out of alignment enough that whenever I stood on the pedals the chain chunked about over two cogs. It was then that I realised that blundered into a schoolboy error, having built my one & only race bike without any barrel adjusters on the gears. I felt like a tit for that. Quite grumpily I finished a lowly 40th on the day.

Then a change of fortune :-) The following day was round 5 at the fantastically named Boggart Hole. It's properly ace there, one of my favourite courses with loads of off-camber rooty bits (for a cx course), singletrack & a long climb. I rode well there last year, so I was hoping to finally get the season up & running. Another big field started, but thankfully starting around a suitably big field before dropping into the woods. Still un-gridded I managed to razz my way round the inside corners to get into the first singletrack section towards the front of the pack. Stomping on nicely I had time to look up & gauge roughly where I was in the race - further up than I was expecting. Pushing on I was waiting for a stream of riders to come passed, but whenever I caught a glimpse behind no one seemed to be closing. Perhaps I was on for a good one. Eventually Roy 'still amazingly quick for an old fella' Hunt crept through, but that was it. I stayed strong & picked up 10th on the day. It was yet another strong turnout, so I was really chuffed with that particularly after the previous day's frustrations.

Roll on another week & it was back oop north to the home of Hope Technology, Barnoldswick for round 6. A new course to the league & one that rode ok, but when hit at race pace became great fun. A kind of classic British cross course with 5 dismounts a lap: 2 sets of boards, 1 set of steps & 2 slimey banks to run up. Plus a sandpit. And a barbecue, although that wasn't actually on the course.

Once again, missing those two opening rounds meant I was hidden in the bulk of riders on the start. Thankfully I was catching up with my old compadre Ian Wilkinson before the gun went & managed to jump on his wheel for the first couple of hundred metres, getting dragged passed many riders, escaping the inevitable bottleneck at the first corner. Needless to say that was the last I saw of Wilks' wheel as he buggered off to the front of the race. Once again I felt I was riding strongly, right in the mix with a few of the handy NW league riders, jostling for positions, putting in little digs where possible & picking up positions. I struggled a bit on one long off-camber bank, trying to ride it & failing, then trying to work out the best way to run it & failing. Yet I seemed to edge out the others on most other sections of the course managing to stay away & finish 13th. Another good result for the likes of me.

End of the month was racing at a classic NW venue, Otterspool Park. Another course I enjoyed last season, usually really fast going with a good amount of woodland tracks, plus a cobbled climb that is permanently wet. Pre-ride went well & I was looking forward to getting stuck in after the performances I pulled out in the last two rounds. Then.... NIGHTMARE!... In the mad dash of the start loop a rider somehow managed to clip my rear QR. The wheel now loose in the dropouts was forced into the non-driveside chainstay where it wedged & stopped me from going anywhere fast. By the time I'd got off & sorted it all out the whole field of over 110 riders was in front of me. That wasn't the plan. For a moment I pondered sacking it off for the day, by instead I decided to HTFU & get on with it. I spent the next hour riding out of my skin. I ripped through the back makers now thinking that any league points were better than none. After a few laps I started spotting some of the usual suspect I end up racing with. That gave an extra bit of impetus to keep on top of the gears for the last few laps. I wound up moving from DFL to 13th rider home, just missing out on 12th in a sprint for the line. Mathematically not my best result, but definitely my best ride turning round a crappy bit of luck. I feel like I have now earned the right to don the new VCM skinsuit.

It's comforting to know that I didn't have the worst luck of the day... One guy forgot to charge the battery for his fancy-dan Di2 gears!

zonhoven

2011-10-31T06:48:00.000Z

Irvine doesn't look so hard anymore.

Zonhoven

Indian Summer in the city

2011-10-24T17:52:00.004+01:00

This weekend had been ear-marked for a while. Two very different cyclocross events, both individually very exciting and both in London. It was also to be my first cross racing of the year.

First up was Muddy Hell in Herne Hill on Saturday night. Sponsored by Knog and run by the Rollapaluzza guys, this event already has a big reputation for being fun, tough and entertaining. Racing begins around dusk with a flood lit section in the middle of the track and riders wearing lights. It's runs on a unique course that featured a sand-trap, steep drop-ins and steep ups (one very dusty one requiring bike-shouldering) a little tarmac, the ubiquitous barrier, quite a lot of twisting singletrack, a hosed muddy corner (required what with London basking in hot and dry conditions and the course mostly throwing dust up into the riders lights). The most unusual features were a wooden wall-ride and a steep-sided bridge that led straight into a tabletop that the more skilled riders could get some impressive air from (step up friend of VCM, Phil Moore).

Having left entry a bit late, I ended up in the catch-all novice class, but the racing remained hard, hot and fast (especially as I was in a full-body skeleton skinsuit with mask that frequently obscured at least one eye, restricted breathing and kept getting caught on the saddle). Great fun to ride with my good friend Andrew Diprose in his Spidersuit, heckle Mr Blobby and soak up the atmosphere at what is a fantastic event. There was kids' face-painting, roller-racing on mountain bikes and plenty of beer. Make a note for next year. I ended up 18/75.

Sunday was to be treated a little more seriously. The third (and final round) of the Rapha Supercross series held at Alexandra Palace in North London. The weather was highly un-cross-worthy being sunny and very warm with views from the top of the course across all of London and beyond (there's a reason the BBC transmit from here). Ominously this also meant a fiercely climby course. I began to regret bringing the singlespeed as soon as we arrived.

Gareth raced in seniors and I raced vets (my inaugural year among the gnarled and grizzled). Only in Roubaix have I seen a better attended race (I'm sure the weather and views won't have done any harm) and a large group of friends were there to heckle us on our way.

The course was challenging, but fantastic fun, featuring very little flat and a lot of 'interest'; steep tarmac up, loose and fast singletrack, steep and sharp hair-pins, one corner littered with acorns like natures ball-bearings, proper tall barriers, a set of stairs and a looooong grassy climb that left me feeling like I had heat-stroke and T-rex arms.

Despite all of this the course was very compact and with the 'firm going' we did at least 10 laps (I lost count). The hurdle section at one point became almost a tunnel of heckling with friends screaming and cow-bells shaking - I had to smile despite the pain.

The singlespeed worked out for me, I think as the climb remained rideable and there was so little straight that there was little disadvantage to not having a taller gear.

Gareth shot past me first time up the climb and was not seen again, racing whippet that he is and the race passed in that odd way that cross races do feeling both interminably long and over in a flash all at once. Small battles ensued and the camaraderie of the battle-worn was shared at the finish as we saw our own pain reflected in the eyes of others.

Really tough and fantastic fun at the same time. Results aren't in as yet.

Plans are already afoot to do the full series next year.

In the City there's a thousand steps......

2011-10-24T11:36:00.000+01:00

A small sample from a great day. I'm sure Gareth and Deano will have some more to say now they're recovered!

We have a Winner.......

2011-10-23T21:34:00.004+01:00

Maddy took a commanding win in the mud at Mugdock today, GO GIRL GO!

Plean: 16/10/11

2011-10-21T11:04:00.008+01:00

This year's 'Cross racing has started in earnest now: a HUGE field of riders convened in the Country Park at Plean to fight for the win in the second round of the Scottish Cyclocross series. Conditions leading up to the race had been typical of Scotland in October - wet and windy. The clay soil and stretches of grass and roughly trimmed-back fern were always going to test when sprinkled with a dose of precipitation and on the day, despite dry weather, the battle royale was with the course not one's fellow competitors.

Personally, i saw 9 snapped rear hangers/derailleurs and there were surely many i did not see. A costly and frustrating mechanical which caused many riders to pull. For those who had spare bikes, good luck or (like myself) a singlespeed steed the main issues were pulling great wads of mud and vegetation from the wheels and frame several times per lap. At one point i was jettisoned over the bars as both wheels locked simultaneously.

Challenging conditions, yes. Frustrating yes. It might be said that the marshals could have removed the chicane before the timing tent in order to prevent the ignominy of having to repeatedly dismount and trudge over a 10 yard flat section of course needlessly. Yet it still managed to be a rewarding day in the saddle. Good power to weight ratio is always a winning combination and so it proved for Gareth Montgomerie who was head and shoulders from the rest of the senior men's field. Our own Colin May(this is a rumour. ed) and Andy 'huphup' Wardman put in a super solid effort to claim 3rd and 5th respectively and Greig Walker and Gordy Mac put pedal to the metal for 11th and 14th. I managed to huff and puff my way round for 32nd in my first race back after coming out of semi-retirement. Bitten again by the 'cross bug, i'll be hoping for a little more at Mugdock.

In the vets race, Davie and Simon 'miffae de' Muir slam dunked for 17th and 22nd - not without some incident in the tough conditions - including a catastrophically burping tyre from Simon. The win taken in fine style by Gary McRae by a whisker from John Mccaffery.

In the women's race Anne Murray took the top place despite having Square Wheels, with VC-M's Maddy Robinson taking the 3rd step on the podium and Lyndsey Carson in 10th.

Next stop is Mugdock and let it be known - we are ready to rock.
Thank you to trina for the pictures, and Daisy for not disowning her dad.

What a difference a week can make.

2011-10-09T22:18:00.011+01:00

Just about this time last week I was getting home after a long weekend of grade-A awsomeness in the Dolomites. A group of 17 of us popped out to Cortina for 4 days of riding up & down some of the best mountains in the world, in stunning scenery, fueled by fine wine, good food & banter.

Two relatively easy days sandwiched two of the best rides I've ever been on. First of which was the classic Maratona loop, taking in 7 major cols (plus a couple of smaller, yet still substantial ones too) including the Passo Falzarego, Pordoi & the Giau.

We followed that up with a ride out to Ovaro & then straight up Zoncolan. Now that thing is something else. Relentlessly tough & impressive in equal measures. I've never ridden anything like it. Thanks to the cheeky 11-32 cassette I managed to drag my arse up to the summit a good way ahead of the rest of our group to take our KOM competition :-)

This weekend, by stark contrast, I found myself racing around a wet field in Bolton.

...All good stuff mind.

scx irvine

2011-10-07T10:39:00.001+01:00

The first race of the season is always a speculative affair, riders get to lay out their cards in front of their peers and old rivalries get the shake down and pick up the pieces from the previous seasons confrontations. Just like the battles, friendships are rekindled and the whole party begins for another couple of months.

Irvine is arguably the best cross course in Scotland added to Walkers Cycling usual high standard of organisation, it provides a win win way to kick off the calendar. If I only rode one race this year it was going to be Irvine.

Me (thats not a smirk)

The Vets lined up on one of the biggest start lines seen in Scotland, 81 amassed, mostly vets with a few Women and a couple of Juniors. The start was furious and I found myself on a cheeky line up the inside and into a fairly fast group, by the top of the stairs I knew I was outta my depth and quickly shot backwards where I belonged and that is where I stayed for the next couple of laps until I punctured on the 3rd, very far from the pits. I rode and ran the rest of lap and lost a couple of minutes but picked up my trusty old Bontrager (now SS) and rejoined the race. With the pressure off I could really start to enjoy the course and the flow, in the end I finished 38th, pretty much smack in the middle of the race, not unhappy at all in light of the lost time. Next stop top 20. Elsewhere Simon was chasing the top 10 but the Vets field is so deep now he was always chasing, still 12th is a sterling start to the season. Iain Mellis plugged away for 50th, there's better to come, isn't there Iain?

Simon is trying

In the Womens race Maddie and Lyndsay threw down the hammer and Maddie had a good battle with Genevieve Whitson (Ronde) who eventually overcame her to take the win but a great start for Maddie, a win is imminent. Lyndsay recovering from a cold stretched out her legs for a 6th place being squeezed by the locals from Walkers Cycling.

Maddie is focussed

Lyndsay is cruising

The senior race was an altogether frenzied affair. VCM's sole rep in this race was carried on the shoulders of Andy Wardman (where were you all?) fortunately he delivered, straight into the holeshot, Craig Hardie (Hardie Bikes) had other plans though and obviously had a clear game plan of, put in a massive effort to gap the field then hold them, which he did with great style, nice work. Behind Hardie though all hell was being unleashed, positions were changing fast and in the end there were some awesome rides, Andy finished 5th ahead of Ben Greenwood (Rapha Condor Sharp) for a great start to his season.

Andy is unleashing

All photos By Steven and Ainsley Turbitt

The season is go.

this is it

2011-10-06T20:51:00.003+01:00

Cross racing at the pointy end captured brilliantly in 1min 3secs.

Stoemper Presents Ben Berden from Stoemper on Vimeo.

Am a big fan of Chris Millimans photography. Love this short video - makes me all twitchy and itchy to race!

Link spotted on mudandcowbells where they've also got some pics just up of the new Clement LAS tubulars.

Cross Racin'

2011-09-27T10:46:00.002+01:00

Just got my entry in for the 1st round of the National Trophy at South Shields, Sun 9th Oct. Not too far to travel to get a taste of racin' with the big guns of UK 'cross! Was that racin' or a pastin'?

Any other VCMers fancy it?? Entries available online until this Thursday, 29th Sep.

Don't think i'll make it to any of the other Trophy rounds, maybe the National Champs at Ipswich on 8th Jan if all goes well and still feeling frisky.

Also going to head down to the Windermere round of the Rapha Supacross Series on Sat 15th Oct.

Right looking forward to SCX Rd 1 at Irvine this Sun, catch you there. Oh and just spotted The Tri Centre are putting on Hallocross at Craigmillar Park on Mon 31st Oct. Night time cross race on awesome course! Ace!

Tour de Ben Nevis

2011-09-25T22:16:00.130+01:00

A composite team headed to NW Scotland last weekend for the Tour de Ben Nevis, a 72 km race round Scotland's most depressing mountain (oh, c'mon it is...).

1 x VCM (Me)
1 x Innerleithen MTB Racing (Dougie)
4 x McDougall's Dream Team (Colin, Dave, Dave & Niall)

Well, when I say team, any semblance of team work went out of the window as soon as Frazer from No Fuss sounded the hooter and we took off in pursuit of the pipe band along Fort William's High Street.

After the pipe band peeled off, it was up, up and up again out of town to meet the West Highland Way. As far as warm ups go, it was a bit of a brute and a number of athletes looked fair peched before we hit the rough stuff.

Although I'd ridden the old military road through the glen a number of times before, I'd forgotten how rough it was and it took a while to start to pick up some places after an early, er comfort, break. Elbows in on the fast, wide descents brought me to the first of the special stages, a plunge down into Kinlochleven. 250m or so of vertical loss down a waterbar filled, technical(ish) trail. Got a bit carried away at one point and took a wee dive into the bushes, but made it down to the tarmac safely without flatting a tyre. Given that this was a timed stage, I was slightly surprised to see people fixing punctures trailside within the stage as for most of them it'd have been quicker to tumble down the hill on foot and to fix the blowouts after dibbing out of the stage. See notes to self...

After a very brief respite on tarmac, it was up, up and up again on the tarmac climb past Mamore Lodge, the next special stage of the day. Having ridden up this recently, I knew it was a bit of a stinker and with the dibbing out point a fair way ahead and a long way up, it was time to grind it out. A quick stop to refuel and two stops to de-water (note to self: in the timed section, y'idiot) before dibbing out, and then it was another well kent trail along to the crossing of the Abhainn Rath by Luibeilt.

This was where the Real Scottish Mountain Biking© started - a 45 minute+ hike-a-bike section up and over the Lairaig Leachach on a largely an unrideable trail to the north. Push, carry, push, swear, push, carry, swear, repeat...

After a while it was back on an increasingly unhappy sounding bike for a super fast forest road descent before taking a left turn into Leanachan Forest. The next few km of trails and forest road saw me sink four Mule Bar Kicks in an effort to stave off an impending bonk (another note to self: eat early) as fatigue set in. Suitably fuelled, I finally hit the Ten under the Ben course and I knew I was on the home straight. With rabbits to chase, it was on to the Blue Crane trail and following a brief readjustment after the dibbing station (note to self: FFS!) it was a crampy carry down the tricky bit and back on the bike. Caught a dude that had been 100m in front or 100m behind all day and the impetus of not wanting to be caught carried me through pretty quickly to the penultimate dibbing point.

Little more trail (and Nessie) and it was onto the cycle path back into Fort William. With places meaning points it was worth the slightly dirty feeling of some late overtaking to finally dib out with the superfriendly marshals at the Ben Nevis Distillery.

After the final checkpoint, competitors had 20 minutes to make it along the cylepaths into town past the Jason McIntyre Memorial and one last comical drop (i.e. carry down) into the back of the High Street in 5 hrs 44,mins, 16 minutes up on my target.

A quick change and a gnawing hunger led us back into town for chips and a quick pint once Dave and Colin popped up.

My finish led to 58th place on the big lap and only dropped a couple of places on the times stages to finish 60th overall, which I was pretty pleased with. Improvement next year fo sho.

Return of the winter commute.

2011-09-20T21:40:00.003+01:00

Return of the winter commute:

The realisation kicked in this morning, autumn commutes are back. Leaving a bit late I pedaled hard towards work:

LEDs blinking valiantly in the half light.
Needles of rain stinging my squinting face.
Fully laden bag on my back catching crosswinds & making any attempt at aerodynamics futile.
Gortex flapping like a cheap tent on a hill top.
Wary of gateways.
Wet arse.
Cold hands.
The thought of wet shoes for the ride home.

Opening the Account:

On the bright side I opened my racing account for the cx season the other day at the first round of the Notts & Derby league. I finally got round to setting up a single ring set up on my bike the morning of the race. My bike is now a couple of pounds lighter than it was last year & I'm a couple of kilos lighter than last year. However, I was still expecting the same slightly above average results. As it turned out it went pretty good. I rocked up to find I was lining up with over 170 starters in the main race. It turns out that the competition is much stiffer than at my usual North West League events. Brutally hard as you'd expect, with some good elbows out fun & games on a really ace course with some good techy bits, big step up dismounts & a bit of a motocross track thrown in for good measure. Feeling a little way off race sharp it took a while to get re-accustomed with that old familiar feeling of lungs trying to force their way out of my chest, but all went well with me finishing 36th, on the same lap as the winner.

Next stop... the Dolomites to ride up & down big hills :-)

new rubber

2011-09-19T08:38:00.005+01:00

Some FMB Super Muds and Gripos just landed through my door. Excited! The Super Mud is a new tread from FMB to take on the mighty Dugast Rhino.

John Holmes at Cyclocross Imports got these in for us.

Putting the miles in

2011-09-13T23:14:00.003+01:00

Ventoux, Alpe D'Huez, Galibier, Col de la Croix de Fer, Glandon. Beer, friends, grimaces, smiles. Can't. Wait.

tis the season to get get muddy

2011-09-09T08:04:00.000+01:00

With 3 weeks until the SCX kicks off, it's important to remember that this series rocks.

The best reward race organisers can get is racers.

Lets go race.

It felt like a summer holiday...

2011-09-06T00:00:00.010+01:00

"Saturday 20th August. Essentially from dawn until dusk. Basel (CH) -> Freiburg im Breisgau (D), so through the Southwestern (most hilly!) bit of the Black Forest. Offroad."

It was one of those random internet offers that occasionally appear - originally pitched as an unofficial 'race' but eventually morphing into an excuse to gather some disparate folks in a lovely location to go ride bikes [and bask in the Swiss Summer Sunshine™].

The offer came from Ash, honch of the Trans Provence and Trailfinder-in-cheif of trailaddiction who happens to stay in the area.

A busy week at work meant packing a few hours before flying out - not a great time to find out that my bike needs lots of bits unbolted so it fits in a bike bag, still it went in and managed to come out the other side in one piece.

After Dan and I made the super plush [and suitably spendy] Jugendherberge Basel St. Alban a bit less sleek by building bikes outside we wandered off to Ash's to get some info on a local ride. Heading up to one of the bridges across the Rhine we met a slightly puggled Jenn carrying her bike down the hill to the Hostel. Did I mention it was hot and sunny?

Some bread, cheese and cooling shade at Ash's was complimented by some detailed beta on a local ride which we suffered on in the afternoon sun. Dust! Oh and there were highland cows over the border in Germany, too...

After a bbq and some beers on the bonny banks of the Rhine with Dan's friend Cannondale Chris we retired early to our post modern penthouse youth hostel preparing for an early start tomorrow.

I think I may have slightly overestimated how early Dan I were likely to be in the morning but this allowed Jenn to apparently have time for two coffees before we shambled into view.

A short pedal later we mustered at the German train station, the group twelve strong: various Brits, some really quite quick locals [especially the Alpha Females], a trio of Swedes. Once some supplies for the day had been procured from market in the station we were off!

And goddam we were off at pretty much race pace... it was nice and cool and as we were following a canal for the first 10km or so out to the hills. By the time the hills had gained a bit of steepness and the sun was beginning to warm up it was around 3 hours in and I had pretty much bonked already. Riding a squidgy lump of a bike did not help... Nurse! The Gels...!

So there were trees and hills, hills and trees and there was the Zick-ZackWeg, I'm sure you can figure it out. There was also some sweet ribbons of cheeky singletrack. I'm not sure exactly what the rules are on bikes on walking trails, but there did not seem to be much love from the walkers we met - maybe the quick girls and boys at the front forgot to say hello... Either way I was happy to play the Scottish Card...

A lunchtime lull of apple tart and alcohol-free weiss bier fed us into the maw of the days big climb - a 400m grind to the top of Belchen amongst the tourist throng congregating atop the fourth highest peak in the Black Forest.

Some cheek off the top of the hill [along with a small bit of walker grump] highlighted a change in the terrain with more rocks around. There was also the incident with electric assist bike that Chris had brought along on the ride - a minor tumble snapped a control cable which he expertly re-spliced and insulated the lot with insulating tape. Good to know that MTB 2.0 can be trail bodged.

Ash was kind to us and allowed a contouring option for the next 20km to the next peak, instead of a 450m descent and 700m climb... That really would have hurt, and the Alpha Females would have become even more twitchy about missing their train home.

Schauinsland topped out with 35m of bonus climbing up the impressive Eugen-Keidel observation tower. A lattice structure with 3 massive single tree trunk verticals.

Time to head down, to get the train, but first 10km and about 750m of descent on fast swoopy trails. Hero dirt for heros. Obviously people were having too much fun as the puncture fairy unleashed merry hell on the group.

I think there were six in total in the space of a few km. I may have had two.

I may also have forgotten to bring spare tubes. Umm... Thanks Dave360 and Jenn for the bailouts... Oh, the Puncture shame.

Still it was a nice day to be out.

Train back to Basel, beer, kebab, river - continue until dark.

Most excellent... thanks to all concerned.

Cromarty Queen

2011-09-05T15:40:00.006+01:00

Patiently waiting for the Cromarty- Nigg ferry, £5 opens up the quiet roads of the Black Isle for a healthy 100km circuit of the Cromarty Firth.

How about a Northern Monument ride in 2012?

bags of stickers

2011-09-03T11:36:00.000+01:00

bags now with added stickerage.

Race of Truth

2011-08-29T11:19:00.004+01:00

Sunday morning dawned wet and conditions didn't improve any by the time I started the Muir of Ord 2up 25 mile time trial with my time trial partner in crime Donnie Macdonald. Set over two laps around Muir of Ord the course includes a long drag up over Brahn and a few other wee kickers to really take it out of your legs, We battled on through Blustery wind, more rain, road spray and pot holed roads to post a time of 1:08:51 for fifth place and third placed handicap time, Not too shabby considering all the teams ahead of us were on time trial bikes.

Picture: Donny Mackay(MFCC)

Moulin 200

2011-08-14T22:30:00.031+01:00

The third of VCM's Monument rides served up a monster ride on a perfect day in Highland Perthshire. The plan - 200km with some beefy climbs including Glen Quaich and the infamous Ben Lawyers road over to Glen Lyon. The reality - around 170km including the big climbs, but missing out on the Braes of Foss and the extra kms.

Great roads, great weather and great company. Many thanks to those that nursed me along when I was swinging off the back. Hope you enjoyed the rest at the top of the climbs...

What's next?

bag

2011-08-04T07:16:00.000+01:00

Beautiful musettes made by IL Soigneur fully lined heavyweight waterproof canvas with a black ripstop liner. A little wider than a regular musette, they make a great pit bag for cross, it'll take a light jacket, bottle, multi tool no problem. I've squeezed a 13" Macbook in mine too, though I wouldn't endorse this sort of behaviour, rather use it for all that prize money you will be winning in a couple of months time.

Price includes postage in the UK.

Go ahead treat yourself.

there's a thin line between love and hate

2011-08-02T07:16:00.000+01:00

£29.40. That's what it cost to pre enter the last round of the SXC series at Kinnoull Hill, sixty pence shy of thirty bangers. That's a lot of money and it was with some trepidation I set off for my first Cross Country race since I can't remember when? Now there was a time that come the end of March I would be travelling every second weekend to some far flung corner of the UK to race XC, they were simple times turn up for the weekend pitch the tent have a beer and some camp stove food, get up the next day race for around 2.5 hours and drive home. That was my way of life for the summer. As one series failed after another and the rise of team participation and endurance events took hold, XC stopped being a way of life and was reduced to racing in Scotland only but it was a friendly local scene where everybody knew each other and the courses were diverse and on the whole it made for a good day of racing. Somewhere in the late 90's that started to change though, as races got shorter and I got older. I drifted away from the sport dabbled in endurance and generally stopped racing.

This race was always going to be a shock to my system, I was under no illusions of that, XC is a hard sport and I knew it was going to be a slog especially as my bike isn't exactly suited to racing but in my mind I still visualised that turn up and have a go mindset of years gone by. So the day before I fitted some fast tyres gave the bike a fairly good looking over and packed my bag, I was looking forward to it.

On arriving, running a bit late I hastily signed on and had a few blethers with folks I hadn't seen in some time and others I had. Set off to explore the start of the course in a vague hope of shaking some weekend out of my legs before lining up to start. The start line was the usual nervous banter and familiar faces, bizarrely 5 categories were racing together and starting separately and before long we were off.

Downhill starts are always nervous affairs and having been warned by the commissaire as a crash in the mornings race had occurred, the wise old men of Vets set off. Riding SS into a downhill fire road only works for a short period of time, quickly I was running out of pedal and watching the field spread out in front of me, then boom, straight into a singletrack climb that bottle necked immediately and left me dismounted and running at the tail of the race to try and hold onto the remnants of the field. From here on the course went on a series of climbs and descents of varying steepness, narrowness and fun. I accepted I wasn't going to win and focussed on a least not being last, which was hard enough.

The laps ticked by and thankfully I was lapped close to the end of the third lap meaning i didn't have to put myself through another lap of degradation. Back to the car and a quick wash down and tidy up and I was off feeling a bit miffed a little achy and in need of some savoury food.

Post race, showered fed and watered i reflected on the day. Had I got what I wanted out of the experience? Trying to stack up the pro's and cons I reached some mixed conclusions. The course was good, hard and fast, it would have been a different deal n the wet but fortunately it was mostly dry. However it was shabbily marked out, no direction arrows, no warning signs for both rider and public that I saw, which is in my opinion the bare minimum, I'm surprised these things weren't picked up on by the race official during pre ride. The venue itself despite being great for laying out a course has shortcoming in parking, most of us were parked up a fireroad which dissolved any sense of 'village' as folks mostly hung around their cars before the race.

So will I be back? Well one thing for sure I need a more appropriate bike but bike aside laying down £29.40 for 90 minutes of racing is a bitter pill to swallow and for me certainly I would have to think long and hard before doing so. Is XC dead? No, but SS most certainly is for this old man.

guess where I am?

2011-07-26T10:48:00.001+01:00

Guess where I am?

Second wheel, best place to be.

Strung out in the cross wind, when will. the elastic snap?

I was in there somewhere...not nice seeing the leaders go round that corner and being miles back!

I did a TT.

Bloody Scotland. Bloody pollen.

Day after the Marmotte, race up Alpe d'Huez.

Suffering on the Galibier. Look so much better than I felt.

Bloody cobbles.

I, thanks to the help of the Dave Rayner Fund, have been spending the season in Belgium. Flat roads, death ridges, bike paths, cobbles and cross winds. Mostly I get spat out the back rather unceremoniously, but every now and again I manage to hang in there until the end. Hay fever has played a bit too much of a part in my season than I'd have liked. Once, the day after it rained (so no pollen/wheezing/nose bleeds) I attacked and was away on my own for a whole lap. Don't really know what I was thinking. Grace Verbeke came flying past me in the tale wind and I was back in the bunch. I've been flying the Moulin flag as much as I can, but team jersey in most races.

I also went to France to do the Trophee de l'Oisan. Wow. It was an amazing week of suffering, after which I had post-Oisan induced blues which I'm not sure I'm over yet. Ali and I were camping, which most other people doing the event seemed to think was insanity. We started thinking that mid-week, but hey, better than not being there at all which the costs of a hotel would have meant.

We met some really cool people out there. The racing was awesome, so hard. Grown men admitted to crying on the Galibier, during the Marmotte. Ali was in the lead group but still got beaten by a girl in La Vaujany. My front brake came loose and was wobbling around during the Vaujnay, including descent of the Sarenne, a goat track down the side of a mountain they had us race down. My gear cable got mangled and was poking out of my lever so for the whole Marmotte I thought I was on limited gear changes as it was going to unattach from the mangle-age at some point, and it was stabbling me in the hand. Ali was in the lead group in the Marmotte, and on the descent of the Lauteret, a massive fat guy in black stealth kit came bombing past them to sit on the front of the group and towed them all the way down. I rode a faster time in the Grimpee de l'Alpe the day after the Marmotte this year than I did two years ago when I hadn't done the Marmotte the day before. All of this = awesome.

Oh, and I was about to publish without saying - I won the freaking Trophee de l'Oisan! How cool is that? I was pretty psyched, almost wet myself when I found out. I was in third place after the second event, hadn't seen the results until after the last event. It was crazy because the girl who came second was less than a minute faster than me in the Marmotte. Less than a minute. Over 110 miles with over 5000 metres of climbing. Mental. Then I beat her by 3 minutes over 8 miles the next day. My bunch of flowers came with a free massive green catepillar, the almost see through kind. Bonus. As we were riding down the Alpe after all events were finished Ali said to me 'You just won the f****** Trophee de Oisan!!', and some guy riding up the other side shouted 'Congratulations!'. It's things like that that make it.

The entire event had 12400 metres of climbing, over four events within a week. There were 400 women doing the Marmotte. 7450 starters overall, out of whom I was 2000 and something-th. I was 19th female. My aim was to finish, which I was proud of myself for doing.

One of my favourite parts was riding back down Alpe d'Huez after the Marmotte, just riding slowly and yelling at all the people riding up, 'Bon Courage! Welld done! Keep going! Venga, venga! Allez!'. I just thought they were all so awesome for being there. I didn't want anyone to be feeling rubbish because they weren't fast enough/whatever. They had just ridden the Marmotte! That's so crazy. Some of them looked like they were suffering so much, I just wanted to do anything to give them a bit more of a push, get them to the top. I felt so proud of them all! It was so nice to get a smile out of some of the people. I saw one guy riding next to his girlfriend pushing her...pushing her up Alpe D'Huez.

It is horrible, yet what it is all about, that during that moment of suffering you are completely on your own. No one can help you, because to succeed you have to keep riding to the finish, and until you cross that line you are in a world of your own. No one can say anything or do anything to alleviate the pain. You've got to do it for yourself. Giving up is not an option, because all it means is an eternity of knowing you quit.

Do these people look at the Tour de France champions and wonder how they do it? It's no different. They suffered just as much, if not more, during the Marmotte. Those pros are just people sitting on bikes, pushing at the pedals, they've just been doing it longer so they can push them harder. It's just the same thing.

More Mamores

2011-07-23T00:14:00.003+01:00

Remember Anja?

2011-07-22T08:23:00.001+01:00

Well she hasn't hung up her Sidi's or her old skinsuit (I'll sort that for you next order;-))

NZ CX Championship

and pics here;

Anja McD

Hey Anja, tell us all about it?

John 'Shaggy' Ross

2011-07-22T08:13:00.000+01:00

John "Shaggy" Ross has made the multi-email transfer to join VCM in time for the 2011/12 'Cyclo Cross season. A relatively local boy, hailing from Aberdeen, who, in preparation for a move to the professional circuit, moved away to the tropical environs of Bristol in the '80s. Having managed to get school and such formalities out of the way, he has begun racing his bike seriously. For a decade. Highlights are winning Strathpuffer Solo on a single speed, and setting the 3 Peaks Cyclocross single speed course record. He fills his recovery hours eating, collecting skinsuits, sleeping, icing his knees and designing commercial airliners.

If you follow mountainbike endurance racing in the UK, you will have stumbled across the beardy legend that is John 'Shaggy' Ross. One of the nicest blokes you will meet he is also a demon on a bike, big wheels, little wheels, and dumb wheels. I am so happy to have John join us just in time for cross season to bolster the south western crew, that's you Jez.

here he is racing at Peebles SCX a couple of years back. Pic by naegears

Alex 'Ag' McNicol

2011-07-22T07:55:00.000+01:00

Introducing our new lanky all rounder, but don't let those svelte pins lure you into a false sense of security, this boy can ride a bike, fast, long and hard. I've known Alex for some time now, many years in fact and he seems to get faster with age, fortunately I'll be in the twighlight years of super vets by the time he gets there.

so who is he?

Male, 30, thin & tired looking. NS, GSOH, owns own house & bicycles.

Enjoys latex sealant, sheds & time in cold, wet fields.

Seeks like-minded people, for verbal abuse, waffles, gin & trombones.

"Had my first outing in VCM colours the other day too...

Picked up 9th at the Midlands XC in Hanchurch Woods, which was pleasantly surprising.

I've not really got round to racing this year. Things just haven't fallen into place with one thing and another. That's not to say I've not been riding though, just not racing much. A while I got rid of my car so have been entirely dependent on my legs to get me to and from work. The miles have racked up, I've done a lot for me. The end result is that I'm not fast, just permanently knackered. I look haggered.

However, Hanchurch is only 10 miles from home & is properly good. The sort of place you can enjoy riding even when you're going slow - loads of tight woodland singletrack, steep little techy descents, jumpy bits & a massive bombhole type-doodah. How could I not?

Without any points I lined up in a crappy grid position with a bike I'd cobbled together the day before. The turn out was good & the course only had a short start straight before entering the first singletrack section, so I battled my way through the field, taking questionable lines & getting reacquainted with a heart rate I've not seen for a while.

On the first main climb I caught up with my buddy James, who has been racing pretty well & often this year. We tussled for position for the next half a lap before I got away & pulled out a good gap. A touch of confidence crept in my mind. Perhaps riding your bike more does actually make you fitter after all. The legs felt reasonably strong so I carried on moving through the field until the finish. Quite happy with how it ended up really. Followed it up by a far more impressive 2nd at the pub quiz that night too."

Tour de Ben Nevis

2011-07-21T13:03:00.000+01:00

Anyone else up for Tour de Ben Nevis?

Puffer Lite - longer version

2011-07-07T00:25:00.011+01:00

Images© Paul Masson,

I wanted a chunky epic and Plan A had been set up as a suitable candidate - a solo double ascent/traverse/descent of the Ben Wyvis massif unridden by me and without much local beta on one of the descents.

The weather got in the way of Plan A. Cloud was forecast. Cloud biking is not my idea of fun. Munro bagging when 50% of the route is guaranteed in cloud is downright odd. I like views - it makes getting to the top worthwhile.

So other alternatives were presented but did not pass muster.

It dawned on me that Plan B was right there in front of me - Puffer Lite. I was going to be there anyway providing some half-assed pit crewing for Jac. If I did it solo with the same mindset that I would need to put to Plan A - i.e. no slacking, no sloping off for a beer and a snooze because I was a little weary. Put some effort in. Reap what I sow and all that...

So I made a pile of water bottles, nuun tabs, a fistful of Mule bars and gels, made sure my Maxx-D was charged and decided to make the most of this surprise re-plan. In fact I was quite liking the element of 'surprise' and the fact that I had about 2 days to prepare - which mainly involved going for a ride and not cleaning my bike afterwards.

Images© Paul Masson,

I felt quite liberated as I had no expectations as to how I would, or indeed, wanted to perform [for want of a better word]. As I was to ride sans Camelbak I thought I may as well go the whole hog and not bother with tools, tube or pump. I have ridden the Puffer course enough times that I know there there are few puncture opportunities, although I snuck in a extra couple of PSI just to make sure.

Jac and I arrive hungry. The Achilty Hotel bar is closed, they are only doing accommodation now. The Owner-Cook seemed much less odd, semi retirement must suit him. We snagged some random just add water products and small beers from the shop in contin and headed back to the van for a snooze.

After brief shut eye we were up and attem in a grumpy manner to find that he Red Poppy folks who were catering the event were not going to be serving pasta until after the event started! Gnnn.... Not impressed. A bag of chups and back to the van for some coffee and last minute faff.

Images© Paul Masson,

Paul Masson dropped by - explaining his plan for photographing the event - which sounded more of a marathon than riding it. He was hoping to capture the beauty of the area and the uniqueness of having an event in such an amazing landscape as well as some the details and stories of the race. A big thanks to Paul for all the photos!

All too soon it was final loo calls and the Le Mans mince to the bikes for the first lap.

Keep a lid on. Steady as she goes. Eat. Drink. Time manage. Enjoy the riding and remember to look at the views whenever possible!

The course was a hoot - pretty much all dry with only the occasional spot of mud - and around 5 to 10 minutes quicker than the winter edition. It is engaging enough to keep interest levels high and the fire road climb has enough steady sections on it to enable refuelling on the move. The final descent is always fun - a smooth fast swoop through the trees. Except half the trees were missing where the Contin side of the hill had been clear felled, opening up the views and making the descent feel much quicker. BRAAAP!! And returning to Race Central a shade under 30 minutes later if you are Alex Glasgow, while I was hovering around 40-45 minutes mark.

I was going ok, and enjoying things, trying to ignore the banality of riding around in circles, which was less of an issue here with the scenery and the last descent is easily worth another run just to see if I can get a fasterSmoother line...

Around about midnight my stomach decided that all was not well with the world and that I was not treating it with the respect that a stomach should get. I ended up doing a crawler lap as I could not eat or drink anything and I was retching each time the trail got a little bumpy [which is about half the course...]

Eventually I pulled in to the van to see if a cup of tea and a pot noodle would sort anything. The tea helped a little, but I could only look at the pot noodle. So I ate what small scraps I could, grabbed a fresh bottle of water only, in case the nuun was the culprit and headed out on another crawler. At the end of this one I was still nauseous and unable to eat or drink much. Unfortunately for Jac her race had ended prematurely when her back brake packed in, fortunately for me I now had Pit Crew!

I changed into dry kit and wrapped myself in a sleeping bag while slowing eating a just-add-water pot of macaroni cheese. It was an insipid version of a majestic dish, but it was just what I needed. After another cup of tea and a strictly enforced 10 minute snooze-ette I was back out on the bike to see what was going to happen.

Much to my surprise I felt ok, in fact I felt entirely refreshed and was enjoying it all again. This coincided with the dawn lap, which for almost all other overnight races is a monumental occasion and generally makes everything ok again [for a while at least]. Here, because there is only 3 hours of official dark the light never really leaves the sky to the North and it is a curiously low key experience.

5 hours remained on the clock and I was feeling reasonably strong and able to stick to a gel only diet so upped the tempo a little to see what happened. Each time I passed Gordy Mac's team horse truck I got a good boost of encouragement. Gordy and his other two musketeers romped home to take the trios win - I reckon it mush have been the turbo trainer sitting outside their van that beat the competition down as much as anything : )

Images© Paul Masson,

Again, the final descent drew me in and gave me the inspiration to get back up the top to go once more. Crossing the line 7am I was still lapping in around 47 mins, so I realised that I had another 2 laps! Ugh, I had hoped that I could stop but I drew some inspiration from a few sources - seeing how it is done properly by many folks at the Newcastleton 24/12 hours of Exposure and some of the stories from epic adventures [I'm currently enjoying some Tour Divide tales and Cass Gilbert's amazing things seen while out riding]. Oh, and that means 2 more runs on the descent - w00t!

Images© Paul Masson,

Laps done, I dib for the last time and then go sit down. Jac brings over a beer and some of that pasta from the catering truck... better late than never, I guess.

I was quite chuffed with how it had all gone - I actually had fun and managed to keep going despite some stomach gremlins. I still felt reasonably fresh, but my back was beginning to grumble and hands were starting to suffer on the last choppy section of descent. I was happy with the 12hour-ness of it all.

Apparently I had somehow snatched back 2 places over the last two laps and come 3rd in the Solo category and 18th overall. As I had not been following the results this was a nice wee surprise. Ace!

PufferLite - a fun wee event which could easily do with a few more folks at it - keep it in mind for next year!

p.s.

As the race is the officially unofficial Scottish Singlespeed Champs I was also crowned male Scottish Singlespeed Champ. I'm going to keep quiet about this as I'm not a huge believer in singlespeeds being a distinct category in a race - it is just a kit choice. Oh, and I think second place was a 12 year old... ; )

Hedging Bets

2011-07-01T21:33:00.001+01:00

Hedging Bets, a photo by martysavalas on Flickr.

Great new magazine.

Check it!

The Two Towers

2011-06-28T14:02:00.006+01:00

In early August a small group of friends (including me) are riding from the Tower of London to the Eiffel Tower. 200 miles in 24 hours. Ouch.

We're all riding for different charities and mine is The Prostate Cancer Charity.

We're all bike riders, but the challenge has been chosen for it's difficulty - we intend to work hard for the money we raise!

I'd be very grateful if you're able to sponsor me.

www.justgiving.com

www.lejourdefrance.org.uk

I'll be flying the VCM colours (under a fluoro-yellow gillet as it's the law to wear one after dark on the continent).

Cheers!

Puffer Lite 2011- Quickie

2011-06-26T18:33:00.004+01:00

It was a successful night for VCM at the 2011 Strathpuffer Lite, Gordymac riding in mixed trios with Highland Fire fighters CT duo of Donnie Macdonald and Cherie Pumphrey won their race and placed second overall in trios. Meanwhile Chris Marquis kept it steady throughout the night and was rewarded with the solo singlespeed crown and a fine third placed solo ride.

Puffer Lite Albino Midge Snow Globe!

I will get a more in depth write up later in the week once I've had some sleep!

Moulin 200

2011-06-23T08:11:00.002+01:00

finally have the route finished for this, all interested parties let me know, and I'll send you the necessary details.

here's what to expect.

holeshot

2011-06-19T10:10:00.005+01:00

Watching Stevo bolt off the start line then open a sizeable gap on the field on lap 1 of Crosslove was electric.

That moment made all the stresses and strains that come with organising a race more than worth it.

blur

2011-06-18T15:45:00.003+01:00

Ritchey Bristol Bike Fest - the slack view

2011-06-14T12:51:00.006+01:00

I had been looking forward to this for weeks. While Jon took the tough route of soloing at Bristol, I snugged myself into a team of four. We were the Hungry Honey Badgers and consisted of good friends Tymo, James, Dom and me. We were in the singlespeed team category - a small niche perhaps, but it seems that all those in it decided to give the event the appropriate level of oomph.

Despite it's short length and probable not-huge height loss/gain, the Bristol course is always brutal, in the best way possible. We all agreed that despite feeling wrung out after single or double-laps, there was no point on the course that we didn't look forward to. In itself that's a rarity especially as the day wears on.

We were blessed on the Saturday with fair weather, the lightest of showers not even knocking down the dust in the early afternoon. Ending laps with a sheen of sweat under a coating of orange dust became the norm (the 6hr racers on Sunday were unfortunately not so well served by the weather). The 12 hours ticked by in that strange way that they do at endurance events - the day seems long as you are clock-watching much more than a normal day, but each stint on the bike seems to come around quickly all the same.

The course itself was a variation on the regular loop at Ashton Court, with thick nests of roots, slick looking rocks (even in the dry), fast singletrack on baked dirt, wider section both in and out of the woods and the new quarry section which rode much like a stretched-out BMX track - a lot of fun, especially after a few laps to get your eye in for how it all flowed.

We started with single laps and moved on to doubles as it felt good to speed straight into a new lap and the longer gaps between stints meant there was time to sit with friends and enjoy the sun - two things I associate very strongly with this event. It's worth mentioning how the balance always seems spot-on here; well organised, dialled course, always friendly and with the right balance of feel between grass-roots and polished pro event.

Our vague approach was to have fun and really enjoy the course, but also give it some beans if we felt able. We didn't keep an eye on our position and only looked at lap times in order to know when the rider who was out might be back in.

The toughness of the course told with four punctures between us, but we didn't ever seem to lose much time and as it turned out, laps were remarkably consistent between us, nearly all falling in the 24–26 minute range. Our friends and locals the LVIS Singlespeed Superstars were going around at a cracking rate, so we relaxed knowing we were further down the pecking order.

It was great to holler at Jon each lap (Jon may not agree!) and share a change-over encampment with our friends at KMP.

Despite the punctures, we'd had huge fun all day and after James railed-round for our final lap we were all enjoying a long-desired cold beer. Ambling over to the podium ceremonies I heard our name on the tannoy! We were second to the LVIS team and would have finished well in the regular team event - a very pleasant surprise.

Thanks again to my great team - same again next year?

Photo courtesy of Lisa Rowledge - thanks Lisa!

10 Under the Ben 2011

2011-06-13T12:11:00.009+01:00

Better late than never, I suppose!
My rose-tinted specs are well and truly back on now, so I thought I'd better do a wee write-up on Maddy & I's race at 10 Under the Ben.

With last year's 3rd place female pairs prize sitting proudly in our trophy cabinets, we didn't want to settle for less this year. After all, the No Fuss prizes are just too good to miss out on! ;o)

So, in bright sunshine Maddy lined up with all the other first lappers for the usual Le Mans style start. No Fuss Frazer kept them all waiting quite a while though ......

Shortly after lap 1 the rain came on - and it didnae stop!

No Fuss had added a couple of singletrack sections to spice up the race route and these were riding lovely for the first few laps. Rooty and slidy with some new boardwalk. Unfortunately with the newness of the trail and the hundreds of bikers battering through it in the pouring rain, it got pretty beat up and soon turned into gloopy mud soup. No Fuss then rightfully diverted the course onto the harder packed World Champs course. Which was welcomed!

Maddy & I decided to stick to last years race tactic of single laps each, proabably the fastest way for us. But with the rain and the cold, I soon found that my off laps were cold and miserable and I couldn't wait to get back out and warmed up again - albeit soaked to the skin.
All in all, the course was enjoyable and tough enough in places as the laps wore on. I thought that it balanced out well, with the hard going stuff at the start of the lap and then the fun, swoopy reward in the second half.

In the end we managed 10 laps between us and, riding towards the finish line to Maddy's fantastic encouragement (SCX-ers will be aware of this!), I was delight that we'd maintained our 2nd place right through to the finish.

A Benromach miniature and a handshake from Frazer was dished out to every finisher.

No Fuss did another grand job and did really well to keep everyones spirits up in what was pretty unfavourable conditions. As miserable as I felt at times, looking back.....I actually loved it!

Ritchey~Bristol Bike Fest.

2011-06-07T15:43:00.005+01:00

Always a good race and a likely sun drenched affair, this years event delivered. I split the drive down and got 6 glorious hours of sleep (in a row!) in a travel lodge on the thursday evening, before arriving early at the venue (Ashton Court) on the friday at mid day ish. A quick chat with mel & shaggy and then plenty of time to prep bottles with energy powder and electrolyte and get some cheese and ham rolls made up. Awesome.

A few beers with good friends as the warming sun set over the Bristol skyline and bed before midnight.

The race traditionally starts with a Le Mans style run. With the race open to pairs, fours, solos and lots of different classes getting a good start is pretty critical so as not to lose touch with the front runners. This year it went ok until one of the minibike riders on "team inappropriate bicycle" (who were doing the 12 hour race on, well, inappropriate bicycles for Macmillan Cancer Research and are therefore allowed to do whatever) crashed hard right infront of me bringing the whole shebang to a shuddering halt.

Still, i got past part of the crowd and worked my way around the singletrack. Despite lack of fitness, rest and general race-readiness, my aim for this race was realistically second. With Dan Treby (Singular rider and current singlespeed 24hr solo Euro and National honcho) in the mix, it would have been overly optimistic to be aiming for the top step. However, it is a race, and i was keen to try and keep him in sight through the early stages.

On lap 2, it became clear that the rider in front on the ti 29er hardtail with the alt-bars in the Singular Cycles top wasnt Dan. Hmm! interesting! I decided to put the hammer down and see what the story was. Very shortly after, i passed Dan at his pit fixing something on his bike. I knew that i didnt have the strength or fitness to beat Dan mano-a-mano but even so, sometimes fate throws you a bone, so with the possibility he might have a prolonged mechanical or perhaps some other misfortune i decided to keep tapping laps out at an unsustainable pace for the full 12 hours and see how things went. Lap times around 26 minutes with micro stops for a bottle change and perhaps a mouthful of food ticked the clock by, but not quick enough. Around Lap 4 Dan chatted as he cheerily churned by. Ok then!

Not long after this, my lack of saddle time began to show. The Bristol course is great, but it aint easy. Lots of rough and ready singletrack: roots and rocks with precious little if any recovery time meant on a singlespeed you were more often than not out the saddle and giving it beans just to roll the stutters with minimal deceleration. I always find this hard on the lower back and this day was no different. All too soon, i needed to stop to strecth off and it wasnt even 6 hours in. By this time, the mystery rider in the Singular top had evidently caught up and scooted past as i heard the pop of the joints in my spine settling into a little more relieved position.

It was time to get back on it and give chase.

This pattern pretty much summed up the race until 9 hours in. I dont think i stopped riding for more than a minute at any given time and my hydration schedule was working well. On the other hand, it became extremely clear that i hadnt been taking in enough calories as i hit the wall like a battering ram at hour 9/lap 18. Unfortunately i was half way round the course and a painfully slow combo of riding while seeing double and feeling nauseous with a fair amount of walking was neccessary to get me back to the pit in a sorry state.

I stopped to refuel. Cheese rolls, a large handful of Skittles and lots of water. A mere 20 minutes. Eventually i came round and got back out on the bike. In that time however, not only had the 3rd place singlespeeder gone through so had the fourth, which meant i was now in fourth position. I didnt know it at the time but i was probably over 15 minutes down on 3rd place at that point. I took the first lap back out relatively conservatively to see how the energy levels went: all i could think about was that i didnt want to go home not having given my all. Images of my baby's smiling face in my mind kept me motivated and with a possible 3 laps remaining i accelerated. It is always amazing the strength you carry in your head. There was really no way my body should have been able to respond to the demand i placed on it at that point, but somehow or other it kicked in and i pinned the last 2 laps, taking back third place, but not getting close enough to second place to make a fight of it.

22 laps left me entirely broken and admittedly slightly disappointed with my poor tactics and refuelling but i was proud to put VC Moulin on the podium at this fine event.

Dan Treby took the win in fine style - he is so very strong at the moment, and (as i later found out) Mark Goldie in his first 12 hour race, let alone on a singlespeed took a fine second place. Incidentally, he is readying for a tour divide effort in 2012, in which i wish him all the best.

Many thanks, as ever, to the sponsors, and also team Morvelo and Singular and crews and mel and shaggy who graciously helped kept me out of mischief.

Photos are Graham Haller's and from Photo-it.

Edinburgh 48

2011-06-03T11:27:00.000+01:00

Well last night saw the last round of the Edinburgh 48 and another good showing from VCM with Andy, ChrisM, Marty and myself. I'm kinda gutted I missed the first one as the last two have been immense fun. It's really got me thinking about organising a similar local series. Riding cross bikes fast in summer is a total blast, not having the security of soft muddy landings it all becomes very accelerated and sloppy reactions are punished hard.

It's pretty funny racing with juniors and under 16's, they are stupidly fast for this duration of race, its also quite humbling being squeezed out of a line by a junior girl, a tip of the hat I should have leaned harder but my gentlemanly manners wouldn't allow. Anyway I got a reasonable start only to get snarled up in the entrance to the woods where some fast lads had decided to have a cuddle and interlock bicycles, really gents. there is a time and a place.

the charge of the light(weight) brigade

As is usually the way with these sort of races they sort themselves out rather quickly, I was pleased I managed an extra lap this week before being lapped by the the skinnies. Got into quite a good rhythm and was creeping up through the field, then with 3 laps to go, I made a rash overtaking manoeuvre pranged the wheel off a hidden rock and the tub rolled, pop. It took me a while to realise what had happened, when I did I opted to roll it back on and continue, this allowed Alastair Webb(I think) to catch me and pass, darn. We had a bit of a blether and I decided to have another go at escape on the grassy climb to the finish which worked. The remaining laps were spent nursing the bike on the sketchier sections to avoid the tub rolling again and trying to make up the time on the climbs. All in all damn good fun in balmy summer conditions. Scott Lindsay won and everyone else lost.

"Life is here and now, anytime you say the word, anytime you let her rip"

Henry Miller

Both photos by Stuart McInnes at Tri Centre.

Old Skool River Run

2011-06-02T14:06:00.007+01:00

Armed with nothing more than a water bottle and half a Mule bar I headed off to do an old skool ride through an old drove road from Strathrory to Scotsburn.

After the last few days of wind and more rain showers than not I was itching to get out and with hardly a cloud in the sky today I wasn't going to pass it up. My route took me up a sun dappled fire road climb through Inchindown, This gives good views to the West over Ben Wyvis.

The river run has always been a favorite, It has changed slightly over the years, where you once got your feet wet there is now wooden bridges, Although not massively technical it does have some nice hillside singletrack which was dry and dusty today.

I was on my newish Ti hardtail for todays ride with 100mm forks I was overforked compared to bikes of years gone by that I would have cycled this route on.

The last section of trail takes me past Loch Catrina which was glistening in the sun today.

And what better way to finish a ride with hearty plate of Beanz on Toast, with a little sprinkling of cheese........... Is that allowed?

All in the ride is 22 miles and takes in 1581 feet of ascent and 1469 feet of descent, Lets hope this weather holds and I can get out and reverse those figures in favour of descending!

Vattenfall Innerleithen Classic Enduro May 28-29th

2011-05-31T23:02:00.002+01:00

Greg and I were representing VCM at Innerleithen MTB Racing's 2 day classic enduro.

For those not familiar with the format the event is based on riders picking up a timing dibber anytime within a 2 hour window [ie no 'mass start'], making their merry way to the top of the hill in their own time, dibbing to record the start of their descent, pinning it to the bottom of the stage and dibbing out to record their end time for that stage. Repeat another 5 times over the course of two days. Winner is the rider with the lowest cumulative time for the timed stages.

Other than the infernal push-up track none of the timed trails were repeated and gave a good sample of the huge range of riding goodness that lurks beneath the conifers. Saturday's trio of trails were more xc-oriented making use of some fresh cut singletrack as well as some TTFs from the Red XC loop.

Saturday night's entertainment was a bbq and dual-slalom in the field next door. The racing line through the gates was marked with fresh cow poo, apparently ; )

Sunday dawned bright and [much] breezier, increasing to Eezy-up flattening by mid afternoon.

Sunday's timed sections were longer, faster and rougher. The highlight trail was stage 5 which dropped from the top of Plora Rig almost to the River Tweed by starting along an old enduro trail that is tricky to ride as the rocks and roots keep pushing you into a rut-bog that immediately kills any forward progress. Then into a new section of trail, that the FC had kindly decided to thin earlier in the week - the place looked a mess, the trail had not been wrecked but it was difficult to figure out where it went! And where it went was straight across a fire road and into the Plora Craig / Razor Rock trail then turning right after the rock garden into a joyful 'rediscovered' oldskool DH line with the usual Innerleithen ingredients of tightness, steepness, treesyness, loose loamyness and bermsyness.

The payback for this is the ensuing 300m+ climb that needed tapped out to get back to the top for the last run of the event - which used bits of the Matador, Cresta and Gold Run DH tracks - none of which was much as much fun as it was edgy survival on a hardtail.

The key to enjoying an event like this is, I think, to get a bunch o' mates and ride around in a gaggle at an eminently sociable pace, then individually rag it down the timed sections trying to catch the rider who set off 30 seconds in front, while not being caught yourself. The resulting regroup will offer plenty of faffing and blether time, and the relaxed deadlines mean there is little chance of being time pressured.

I'm sure it would still be a fun event if there was more time pressure on, and squeezing the 6 sections into one day would be a hoot [maybe even a night stage? ; ) ]. Every one seemed to be having a good time despite the slightly lower than hoped for numbers [Dalby UCI XC, The stormbound Glencoe British DH series race, and the Medieval weekend next door at Traquair House as well as other bank holiday activities all did their best to tempt folks away.

All in all top fun, and my new success criteria of placing less than my age was comfortably met

; )

See you back in the Valley at TweedLove, love.

Basque In The Sun

2011-05-31T12:54:00.011+01:00

I recently spent a week in the Basque County with long time friend Doug McDonald who is originally from Fearn and now runs BasqueMTB. Doug knows us well and he had a tough week lined up for us.

Our week started damp but it soon picked up to reward us with warm temperatures and dry dusty trails. We cycled in the mountains...............

Along the coast on cliff hugging singletrack................

And finished on stunning golden beaches for end of ride swims in the surf.

San Sebastian.

The Basque Country is a beautiful place with stunning scenery as far as the eye can see, The trails are simply awesome, Ranging from rooty, rocky, techy, big climbs and even longer descents there is enough to keep everyone amused for more than a week.

We didn't manage to ride everything that the Basque country has to offer so that can only mean one thing! To be continued.............

2011 Scottish Downhill Series - AE Forest

2011-05-24T20:52:00.011+01:00

At the start of the year I optimistically set out with a goal of racing all of the SDA rounds this year. Well as you will have read in an earlier post I managed to get myself entries into the first 2 races, the first being at AE forest and the second at Fort William. Well both races have come and gone and somehow I managed to organise my work/family/racing balance perfectly and actually took part.

AE Forest was First and on a course that I had vague memories having not raced there in nearly 6 years.

The course followed pretty much the usual line down the hill. Start line sprint down the hill to a rocky shoot with a right hand 90 degree turn at the bottom and onto a long stretch of off camber joy. Then down a couple of short drops followed with a few burmed turns missing out the much feared Coffin jump instead cutting a line through a wooded section of roots and mud. From here you were shot out on a man made section of trail, over a small river step down and over a large table top double jump. This lead you through a rough section of grass and single track to a wooden set of steps with a couple of line choices to get ones self through. I toiled with this section all weekend and think this is an area where I lost a lot of time. Once through it's time to stand on the pedals and get your sprint on for about 100 meters to get enough speed to bounce across the top of the infamous rock garden and then into the woods again this time snaking steeply and severely off camber in sections down to the massive Step down. Once safely over the drop it some swoopy big burms and crazy speed which leads you over the the edge of the Elevator which must be a 30 foot drop in elevation in the space of about 10 meters and across the finish line.

Saturday Practice

Saturday practice start as usual with a leisurely stroll to inspect the course, lite breakfast then time to ride. Thankfully the weather gods are shinning and the sun is out and the course is dry. I ride well all day cleaning all sections including the tricky wooded sections which I always struggle with especially having not ridden DH for over a year. I finish practice confident I can put down a respectable time come race run time.

Sunday racing

The format for Scottish DH racing is like this: Saturday Practice, Sunday Morning Practice then 2 timed race runs on Sunday Afternoon. My race runs for this weekend are 12:33pm and 3:33pm and I'm seeded 26th in a field of nearly 40. First race run comes around I am unusually calm as the clock counts down and the beeper sends me on my way. I have nice clean run with not a single dab and I'm well chuffed, I manage 2:43.623 and am sitting in 15th after run 1. I manage some lunch and before I know it I'm back on the start line ready for my 2nd run. After the first run I set my weekends goal. I would try breaking into the 2:30's and finishing in the top 15th. The beep goes and and I'm away, I pedal my guts out for the second race run pushing my limits in the sections I know I struggle with. Unfortunatly I have a bit of a step off in the woods after clipping the bars on a tree. I keep going hoping to make the most of my run hitting all my lines hard, I break the timing beam with a 2:40.096! I'm over the moon having crashed the bike during that run. Over all I managed 16th for the weekend itching for the next round. I'd had a great weekend racing on almost dusty trails and finished mid pack and almost attained my goals. No complaints really.

Bring on the Bill.

48 minutes of racing goodness

2011-05-23T21:41:00.007+01:00

Did my first race of 2011 last Thursday evening, the 2nd round of the Edinburgh 48 series organised by ERC. It went like this:

Cut up flyers for Crosslove on living room floor, run a little late leaving Peebles.

Catch up with Greig, Marty and Chris D at sign on, admire the new VCM kit, very awesome; sign on; talk tyres, squeeze tyres, pop a gel; admire the relaxed-ness of it all.

Nip out for a quick pre lap, wash out on a dusty drop-in out of the trees, manage to bang my left hip* nicely and scuff up both shoulders. Eh? Receive some well deserved heckles from Edinburgh Uni mtbers behind. Say helloo to Chris M.

Adrenaline nicely spiked arrive (un)fashionably just in time for the start; Bang! Go! Miss my pedal, miss it again and again. Oh well. Settle in mid pack. Move up a little, mojo lost for the descents. Can't blame the file treads.

Several laps fly by, enjoying this a lot. Course has real rhythm and flow. Sit in behind young Calum McGowan (U14!) up the grass climb, remember that feeling of going slightly into the red to hold the wheel. Briefly ask 'do I really enjoy the pain that comes with racing?'.

Next few laps get smoother all round, catch up with Greig, sit on for a few laps then nip ahead.

Briefly spot Dougie Shearer coming back up ahead in 3rd, but then he's away on a last-few-laps charge. Cross the line after 54mins. 4th spot. Very chuffed for first race. Greig takes 5th, Chris in 14th tantalisingly just ahead of Marty in 15th, looking resplendent on his bright orange s/s crosser.

Receive new kit from our DS. Head home. Drop crumbs in the car. Happy!

New kit!

Really looking forward to the final race in the series on Thursday 2nd June. Can highly recommend it for a laid back, fun race on a great course that works well for both cross bikes and mtbs.

andy

p.s. apologies for the terrible grammar, punctuation etc.

*graze still too sore to sleep on my left side.. hey ho.

12 & 24 Hours of Exposure: European 12/24 Champs.

2011-05-11T15:11:00.000+01:00

This last weekend saw a gathering of racers, somewhat early in the typical mtb season, for the 12 and 24 hour solo British and European Championships, smoothly organised by SIP Events.

For the second year in a row, the venue was Rock UK next door to Newcastleton's 7 Stanes Trail centre. This is a unique event - it is only open to solo racers.

Most of the racers seemed to arrive on Friday evening and immediately began prepping for the midday saturday start. The forecast was not great - thunder and lightning were a sure thing: electricity and tension were thick in the air.

The main story: would Matt Page repeat his stellar performance last year to win: after numerous other fine performances in the last 12 months, he was favourite. However, there was a deep field, with veterans of the sport and relative new comers getting ready to fire their guns. The 24 hour solo was the belle of the ball, but i had decided to enter the 12 hour solo. I like the length; not quite enough time to get to the brain-dead stage, but enough time to knock out some proper miles.

I've never been entirely sure if a separate singlespeed class is a good thing or not, it strikes me that the bike you choose to race on is your decision alone. If you see singlespeeds as a handicap, then dont use them. Of course, i dont make the rules and so my aim was a win in the singlespeed class but also to do well in the open field. This might smack of hubris, but i knew the beefcakes would be dooking it out for the 24 hour crown.

Following a piper down the main street of Newcastleton at midday was an exercise in slow-speed bunch riding and patience. Marty, Craig Forrester, Phil T.Horse and Oli of the Kinesis Morvelo Project and Chipps nattered away as we rolled up the hill to the Rock UK base. Then the hammer dropped and we took off for the trails proper.

It is tempting to go easy for the first couple of laps in an endurance race but i also believe you need to start at a reasonable enough clip that you dont let your body think that the days action is just going to be a gentle pootle. With plenty of overtaking space before the first, slimy climb through the trees, i moved up a little just to see what sort of pace was going to be the order of the day. A second climb was going to be a tester: it nudged the red line on the singlespeed with the 33:18 i was running. But straight after that we were into the swooping narrow gauge trail Newcastleton is famed for. All too soon, we popped out onto fire road, which led to another sweet, winding descent before we headed out again on fire road. With a second tasty tree-lined singletrack section then completed, a sharpish pinch led to the most corrugated grassy descent back to the pits and start/finish area i have ever ridden.

All in all, the lap was a good one. It was taking me just over the hour which i feel is pretty good to break up the clock-watching a bit. As the riders spread round the course over the first few laps, it was clear that there was going to be a ding dong for first place in the 24: Ant White, Matt Page, Josh Ibbett and a few others were tapping out a rapid pace. In addition, Rob Lee, Matt Carr and the inimitable Dan Treby were in close attendance on their singlespeeds.

Then the clouds gathered and shed their load on us. All of a sudden the fresh cut trail in the trees early on in the lap became a fight. The grass robbed forward momentum and the spray on the fire roads was a little miserable. The smiles came back for the swooping singletrack and as the rain ceased everyone was hopeful that things would dry out quickly.

I knew i was doing ok - sitting pretty comfortably in the top 20 initially and the legs felt good despite pretty meagre riding this year. I kept the iPod turned to 11 and watched my fluid and calorie intake.

As the day wore on, it was more of the same. Heavy showers, drying out, Various riders taking a stab at the front - testing each other out. At around 8 hours in i had a total crisis of motivation. I had spent 2 laps with the Morevelo boys as they chatted their way round the course. It was great to spend time riding with you guys. But then the energy banks emptied and i was close to pulling. At that point i got an image of my wee girl, Daisy, in my head: smiling, with her fingers in her mouth and her great, big blue eyes full of mischief. I knew that to pull would be a let down - a waste of the time i was taking to be away from home. So i buckled down and got on with the job.

Soon after this point, i had to work out my lap times and the available time left. The rules meant that any lap completed after the 12 hours would not count. I was going to come in before 11pm but with too little time to get a last lap in. It was going to be a gamble as in theory a rider could do more laps than me depending on their strategy. I gave it all i had on the last lap in the dark. I had to walk some of the trail as it had been chewed up by the countless tyres and feet that had passed. But at 10.54pm i came into the finish area knowing i had ridden a pretty decent race.

The intention was to go back and help Chris who was supporting Jac in her bid to win the solo 24 singlespeed female race. But with half a beer on board and precisely zero red meat and bread loading, i fell asleep.

An hour later i was awoken by pounding rain. Thunder and lightening were rebounding around the valleys and i really felt for the 24 hour guys. Again, i fell asleep.

In the early hours, at 5.30am, i woke, grabbed a coffee and went to see how things were with Chris and Jac. Over coffee we chatted and it seemed that around 2am the skies just opened. Most riders had taken a little time off to shelter and some hadnt re-emerged. Jac was just about to start lapping again and we wished her luck whilst at the same time counting our lucky stars. Needless to say, the big guns had barely slowed down overnight. An astonishing performance by one and all.

Soon after, the race closed. On wandering down to the arena, it was clear i had done enough to take the British and European, singlespeed, 12 hour solo win and was 14th in the open. I was under no illusions - the 24 was the real deal here - but i can tell you i was pretty stoked. Dan Treby took the singlespeed 24, Kate Potter of Cotic the female 24 and Matt Page didnt disappoint in his bid to repeat, despite some potent challenges.

We all packed up as the rain allowed and i think quite a few of us were wondering if we will ever try to to do this sort of thing again. I guess you all know the answer to that one...

Without the support of the team, Pro Velo Support, Uncle Geoff, MJS, the Mule bars, post ride Mellis cheese refuelling, the tech support of Bike Love, the excellent Endura kit, the much needed post race Bulmers - this wouldnt have happened. Thank you.

All the pictures on this blog were kindly provided by Joolze Dymond, who deserves a medal for sheltering from the weather and taking pictures for around 48 hours. Awesome as ever.

661 Gravity Enduro RD1 Ae Forest

2011-05-10T09:22:00.000+01:00

The inaugural 661 UK Gravity Enduro series kicked off on the first of its 5 rounds this weekend. While the format is not brand new to the UK, this is the first full series; the previous races have been part of the Europe wide Avalanche Cup series. The main faces behind it are ex NPS organiser Steve Parr and Tally of Uplift Scotland, with the first round being hosted on his home stomping ground at Ae in Dumfries. The format is best described as similar to a car rally, with 5 timed special stages linked with joining stages which while not timed have time limits to get you to your next stage, the idea is that between the stages all bike skills are tested, with some being pedally and others, in the instance of Ae, being near full on DH runs. The bike of choice was a 5”-6” travel bike, I was on my trusty Trek Remedy and it was spot on, though we saw folk there on everything from full on DH bikes to XC hardtails.

At Ae the course was based around the Ae Line XC route, it kicked off with a half hour or so climb up the DH uplift road to stage 1 which ran down The Shredder freeride track and onto the bottom half of Omega Man. From there it was a short hop to stage 2 which was the climb of Rab’s Slippy One run in reverse with one off piste excursion down a short mud chute. While probably the least challenging stage technically, it tested your legs, lungs and eyes for the numerous cheeky racers lines through the various switchbacks. Stage 3 ran down Granny Green Luv and involved a minute or so of hard pedalling along the first part of the trail before starting to gain a bit of gradient from about halfway through as it drops through a number of rocky berms to the bottom of the valley. From there a long link stage took riders to Stage 4 which ran part way along the Edge trail, thankfully this stage was cut much shorter than when the Avalanche Enduro was run here a and the stage went the whole length of the Edge trail, taking in several short sharp climbs and took 7-8 minutes. Although shorter this time, stage 4 still involved some slight uphills and plenty of flat to keep the legs ticking over. After a long (though not quite as long as the 1:45 allocated by the organisers) link to stage 5 the downhillers and more technical riders got their own back for the pedalling through the day with a run down the Ae downhill track. Even with the major features such as the coffin and the step down taken out, it was a major technical challenge for most in attendance, even more so with the torrential rain leading up to the event and over the weekend itself.

During Saturday practice it was stage 5 which was the biggest talking point. While the downhillers were having few issues it was pretty obvious that it was a much bigger challenge than many riders had been anticipating of the event. In the dry it would have been fantastic but in the wet it was pretty challenging on the mid travel bikes that most were running. There was even a couple of folk I heard of who headed home after Saturday practice as a result and some who during their race chose to skip the last stage altogether. Was it too much? I’m not sure, I think it’s hugely important that events are pushing the skill level of riders but I got the general feeling round the pits that the “average rider” was put off by it a little, yes most of them survived but for many it was a stage of attrition rather than setting competitive times which seemed to irk those who had come to race, many for the first time. On balance I’d say that given the weather conditions a few tweaks wouldn’t have gone amiss. See the stage in action for yourself in the video below from Campbell Coaching.

661 GRAVITY ENDURO Ae from Campbell Coaching on Vimeo.

The now infamous stage 5 was also the Saturday qualifying stage, while the time on the Saturday did not count towards your overall it acted as seeding for the Sunday. After having a big off in practice on the qualifying stage which left me with bruised (or possibly fractured but the doc at A&E seemed unconcerned as long as a lung wasn't punctured!) I was happy just to roll down to the bottom in one piece, regardless of time, which is just aswell because a timing error meant that my time wasn't picked up anyway, maybe saved me a bit of embarrassment! As a result I got seeded right at the top of masters, last man down after ex WC racer Nigel Page, I reckon that's the first and last time that'll happen!

Race day dawned absolutely torrential; in fact on the drive through MoffatLawlor had missed their start times and started behind me, not in front! Fortunately they made their times on every other stage, not the sort of riders you want catching you on a bit of Singletrack.

Stage 2 went alright, but it was a pedally one and my ribs were really making heavy breathing a struggle so ended up sitting and spinning when I should have been out the saddle hammering! The cheeky lines through the switchbacks were winner though, I reckon some saved over 5 seconds, just gutted that looking through the times I reckon with a proper set of lungs I could have been sub 4 minutes and in amongst the top 30 in Masters, I got a 4:17. The ride to stage 3 was a little longer though as always with this sort of event the joining stages are a bit of a social affair, getting to know the riders around you and comparing stories from the previous stages. Stage 3 started with a minute or so of fairly flat trail and plenty of pedalling, again meaning I was sitting spinning when I could and should have been putting my fitness to use against the DH boys.

It was between stages 3 & 4 that things fell apart, for those that know it we were on Bran Burn Bash which was part of the link stage, I don't even know what happened, my mind was actually visualising it's way through stage 4 when next thing I know I'm on my ass, or should that be right knee which took the full force of the blow, immediately ballooning up to the point where I couldn't really pedal with my right leg! It was the stupidest and most embarrassing crash I have had in a long time and it put an end to my day, I rolled through stage 4 as it was the quickest way back to the start and skipped the infamous stage 5 for what I think is the first DNF I have ever had over the years!

Me on a rather wet stage 1, can we get some VCM 3 layer Gore-Tex jackets for next time?

Despite my failure to finish it was a fantastic start to the series, indeed the whole concept in the UK. There were a few tweaks that could be made such as making the transition stages a little more challenging, up to stage 1, 3-4 and 4-5 were way too long but the organisers acknowledged it and hopefully will tweak for next time. They could also order the sun for that off camber section next time round, I think that’s the one that the majority in attendance would thank them for! It would also be great to see some of the more technically skilled XC riders out to try it, it is pitched very much as an event for the best all round rider but still seemed to be DH racers who were there taking the spoils, I understand round 2 at Kielder will be a little more trail centre on all stages, perfect opportunity to put the legs and lungs to work over the tech skills!

Photo by Ian Linton
Video by Campbell Coaching
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No Fuss IXS MacAvalanche

2011-05-05T10:39:00.024+01:00

I'd put my name down for this as soon as I heard about it last summer. With the Megavalanche now becoming the main focus of our summer holidays, there was no way I was going to miss the chance to take part in the Scottish version.

With only 70 places available and about 400 people registering, I thought my chances of being picked were pretty slim, but, three weeks before the big event I got an invite email from Chloe at No Fuss. The cost would be £112 and I had until 8am the next day to get it paid or my place was gone. Needless to say, I coughed up!

The format of the MacAvalanche was to be very similar to the French version: mass start on snow; ride through snow; out of snow onto jaggy rocks; peddaly section; and basically a long, exhilarating descent to the finish - at a significantly lower altitude than the start. Except with one awesome difference - a helicopter to the startline, oh yes!

Arriving for sign-on at the cafe about 8am, everyone seemed really relaxed and excited about the race. Eyeballing the sponsored riders in their expensive gear, I started to get really nervous.

A quick briefing from No Fuss Frazer didn't calm me down either. The instructions were for us to first get our bikes to the summit of Meall a' Bhuiridh (1108m). We would take the Access Chairlift to the Eagles Rest then ride along to the Cliffhanger Chair where we'd have to sit swinging, bikes on our knee, unable to close the 'safety' bar. It was blowing a hoolie up on the hill, so the whole chairlift balancing act seemed scarier than the race itself!

Anyway, in practice it wasn't nearly as death-defying as I'd imagined and was actually great fun!

After surviving the Cliffhanger, it was then a steep push up to the summit, where we left our bikes lined up on the startline.

With no option of a practice run in before the race, we could only walk the course back down. This is where I memorised every rock garden, scary drop and boggy section and picked out some 'sick lines' and 'options'....Aye right! By about a quarter of the way down all I could remember was snow...mud...snow...jaggy rocks...boulders....mud.
It took around an hour to walk the course, so that was the time I was aiming to beat in the race!

Once down, it was back to the cafe to get our flight times and another Frazer briefing where he told us not to mess up our flight times as the helicopter was costing about a million quid a minute!

My flight was one of the last to go up and the ground crew guy made my day by giving me the seat in the front - and I didn't even need to call shotgun! It was about a 1minute ride to the top and a wobbly hover/landing onto rocks and it was so cool.

It was seriously windy at the top, so thankfully I didn't have long to wait until the start. To avoid utter carnage at the start, Spook got all 96 us to line up down the hill away from the startline, so we had an uphill run to get to our bikes. I got a not bad start, taking the inside, steep line, grabbing my bike and running through the first snow patch. I jumped on at the first grassy bit and tried to ride into the next snow section, but it was just a waste of time. Running, sliding and falling was faster and I seemed to pass quite a few riders using this technique!

Out of the snow, I'd completely forgotten all of the holes and drops to avoid and seemed to fall and slide my way down this section too. I felt like all the riders I'd passed earlier were now passing me again!

Before long it was halfway down and the long pedally section. The loose gravel had my back wheel stepping out so much, I was convinced I had a flat. But I didn't. Then it was onto the start of the downhill track, then quickly back off it (- phew!) and onto the Weasel track. This was quite muddy and undulating before we took a left, pointing the bike down through deep grass and heather. It was a battle of nerves to just let the brakes off, get your bum over the back wheel and try to skim over the hidden rocks and ditches - and it was great fun!

But I hadn't finished crashing yet, close to the finish, my front wheel disappeared into a muddy hole and my bike ended up pointing back up the hill. I couldn't get untangled and back on quick enough and was gutted to lose another 2 places to a couple of riders who whizzed past me and onto the finish. Och well.

Prior to the race I'd read that they expected the fastest rider to get down in about 20minutes. Joe Barnes took the win (by a country mile!) with a time of 10minutes 59secs. Hannah Barnes won the senior ladies and came 56th overall.

The weather was spectacular and whole event was very well organised with a really friendly atmosphere.

After the prize-giving, a more relaxed Frazer asked if we thought they should do it again next year. There was a resounding "yeah!" and I can't wait for it!

(Photos: Mark Forrest)

Videodrome

2011-04-30T12:21:00.000+01:00

Ride, ride, ride, ride.

2011-04-25T17:50:00.007+01:00

It's a Bank Holiday weekend. The sun is out. Conditions offroad are about as good as they get (especially around here); beech leaves are that budfresh® acid green, great lakes of bluebells in every copse, dirt dry with enough dust to leave a rime around socks and shorts, wildlife in abundance and apparently as drunk with the excessive loveliness of it all as I am. Better ride then.

Helping friends move and chores at home keep me sensibly out of the sun during the hours that a Southern peely wally like me ought to be and riding is fitted into every other daylight orifice.

Time is made to sniff out new trails (and today, lanes) and old places not visited recently enough. A visit to see friends (fellow VCMers Gareth and Lisa) in Surrey means a jaunt around stupidly fun trails there too followed by beers and chilli in front of Liege-Bastogne-Liege (Mr Gilbert's having a good week, eh?).

To top it off, today I meandered over to the Thames on lanes mostly known and some nose-followed. One memorably so little used as to have singletrack on either side of a mossy bank down the centre leading to two-inch deep pea-gravel-wash-off at the bottom. Should make an appearance on the Chill-ton, that one...

Thoroughly decompressed.

A new kit is born...

2011-04-18T20:06:00.028+01:00

The all new VCM kit is now well on the way to our backs/backsides.

Deano's designs have worked their way through Endura's graphics team and the print shop and have now been printed onto paper. The prints head on to the heat presses to be transferred onto lycra pieces by a special blend of magic. These then get passed to the line and sewn into our kits.

Boom!

bikelove

2011-04-18T06:37:00.000+01:00

its been a while since there was any bike porn on here so I will endeavour to rectify this, some alterations since the build(mainly that paranoia stack of headset spacers) but its came together nice, now to find some time to ride the lovely thing. A big thank you firstly to Will at Cadence Bikes in Bath and of course uncle Carl at Bikelove

bike + love

and talking of riding bikes, watch this space for the inaugural 'Midsummer Moulin Ton' details very soon once the route is finalised but the smart among you should be able to work out the gist of this!

Tour of Flanders Sportive.. Loving the cobbles..

2011-04-10T18:22:00.001+01:00

Its taken me nearly a week to find the time to sit down and write this blog post...

After the madness of the Flanders weekend I came home to England to the best week of weather I can remember for a long time so every spare minute has been taken up with riding :)

The idea to go and ride the Tour of Flanders sportive had been brewing for a while.. work has an office in Brussels and one of the guys that worked there was a cyclist so the opportunity to organise some inter office training and combine it with a weekend of riding was not to be missed.

This was my first trip to Belgium and it didn't dissapoint ... it wasn't all waffles and frites as I had been lead to believe but the first few hours riding there after work on the thursday before the sportive gave a taste of the cobble and climbs to come.

The weather for the sportive was immense.. 25 plus degrees... 7am start from Bruge saw us roll out with hundreds of riders..

Without giving a blow by blow account of the ride the day was fantastic... for some reason I didn't figure on the long flat cobble sections that would have to be ridden.. make no mistake pro's make it look easy but cobbles are brutal and can only be tackled in the big ring and with best choice of line.. when in a bunch of riders you take the line you are given.

The sportive is race distance at 260km ... but you don't really get into the thick of the cobbled climbs until 170km in when you hit the Pattenberg.. then the Koppenberg... both 20% plus climbs and luckily the extra distance had thinned the field so myself and work colleague Bruno got to ride them .. unfortunately the other guys riding the 150km had to walk them due to traffic.

Rate this as probably one of the best days in a bike i've ever had.. the sun was out.. new bike was flying.. the course was amazing and the company was good.

Huge thanks to Bruno Stuyts, a work colleague, friend and all round good guy who helped out with all logistics even setting up free accommodation for a few nights.. hoping to get back to Belgium soon for more riding.

hell of the tweed

2011-04-10T17:21:00.005+01:00

1100: 7 VCMers roll out to tackle the inaugral 'Hell of the Tweed' ride. 1102: Greigs crank parts company with bike. 1115: replacement bike sorted and back on our merry way.

Several gates negotiated then onto the main climb of the day up Glensax Valley. Then the 'hell' part, a 45min humph a bike upto Birkscairn Hill. I'm regretting bringing my jumpy (hefty) bike. Simon talks lots and my mind forgets about the humphing. It's a sod of a climb but the others are polite after a few varying line choices we all make the ridge.

Bit more climbing to the summit of Birkscairn, then rutty,rapid, rocky, holey goodness down the other side. Ian seems well chuffed with the descent. Climbing again upto Kirkhope Law then descend,descend descend; Chris M 'rails' the ruts in front with style and speed. Happy. Cheeky little ridge addition with nadge, narrow, heather singletrack descent and back on to the main track.

Gates opened for uninterrupted descending bring more smiles. Brief panic over a dropped phone then relief as Chris D finds it sitting around the front of his gilet! Lucky!

A final little loop of some trails in Southpark woods to finish the legs off then back for the last 30km of Paris Roubaix and food.

Thanks to Marty, Chris M, Chris D, Simon, Ian and Greig for coming down and for being so polite about the bloody hike a bike! and to Rossie for the food.

FBROTY - Westhighland Way Weekender

2011-04-05T23:00:00.005+01:00

Hamish, Dan and I got the Friday evening train to the Fort only to be met by the Lochaber Drug Squad and dog team. Want to know how to put a sniffer dog off the scent? It will cost you...

Chups found and eaten then a short ride in the dark to the Ben Nevis Inn bunkhouse. Breakfast fail. Rescued by some of Hamish's mighty homemade energy bars and some 'borrowed' instant coffee.

We make tracks for the Ice Factor in Kinlochleven. Chups, breakfast rolls and first effective coffee of the day. Wobble off up over the hill and down [via a wee wheel swallowing snow incident] the Dei'ls Staircase.

No time for anything else but some water at the Kingshouse and on to attack the climb past the ski area to the wide, wild expanse of Ranoch Moor.

Well, when I say attack... I mean more powered by Ventolin.

Bridge of Orchy! Sweet bunkhouse and bar tick past at gin o'clock but we must ride on by with dark thoughts about when we will get to tonights rest stop - the Beinglass Campsite at the top of Loch Lomond.

Tyndrum conundrum: a quick snack from the mini-mart or Chups and Stuff from the realfood place. A compromise is settled on as we sup our take out double espressos on the doorstep of the cafe and eat our various mini-mart confections. It is around 2 hours to sleepy place from here and we expect night fall around Crianlarich. Best get going...

Most folks will have a view on the least enjoyable bits of the WHW. Many pinpoint the trail North of Inversnaid to the Bothy. I don't mind that - it has its frustrations but it is at least a scenic place to be. My personal hell exists between the A82 and A82 south of Crianlarich. The push-ups in the pine forest and the cowshit besmirched farm tracks. Oh. and it got lights-on dark here. Thankfully the trail is not so technical that a bar mounted joystick was just about able to cope.

Twelve hours on the dot and we three rock up to collect the keys to our hut, dump the bikes, pull on a clean buff and head over to the Drovers Inn for a much needed dinner and beer amonst the amusing taxidermy and one man hard rock cover band.

Sunday comes an hour sooner and we have a later start needing to wait for a cooked breakfast at the Drovers. Fun trails abound down lochlomondside. In the sun and the dust we link a tea break at Inversnaid with a coffee and crisps at Balmaha chewing over the question of Conic Hill.

I was up for it as the views are amazing for relatively little effort and the descent is always an engaging bumpy-scrapy rattle. Hamish didn't say no. Dan had no previous, so it was on.

Photos = words.

As we circled around to the outskirts of Drymen the scenery changed again and we entered the final phase of the way - silence fell as we ground out the scant few easy miles back to Milngavie - savouring the buff loam of Riverside in perfect condition as a final singletrack fling in the failing light.

Lights on again for the final road scoot in to Glasgow. It seems apt that my light gives out 5 minutes from Queen Street Station as do my legs...

Food. Train. Home. Beer. Sleep.

Weekend done.

Cross or Tunnel?

2011-04-05T17:36:00.005+01:00

I was overdue a spot of Cross action.

Would you cross the rickety bridge?

Goatee of Filth

2011-04-04T13:37:00.007+01:00

Thanks to everyone that came up, down and across for this. Thanks also to dRj0n for the photos.

Good clean fun on Ronde van Vlaanderen day, will be replaced with a dirty, filthy tarmac / dirt road mix for Paris-Roubaix next year. No cyclocross bikes.

We'll also be doing a little homework on bunch riding etiquette for the mountainbikers... ;)

The Cycling Bible - as featured on Singletrackworld.com

Mallorca

2011-03-30T08:38:00.009+01:00

A week of pedalling, eating, sleeping and drinking coffee in Mallorca - done wonders for the soul and a decent start to training for cross season. 33 hrs of (steady) riding. 4 years since I was last there, brilliant to catch up with Don and co.

Been out...

2011-03-23T14:10:00.002Z

Been out of the loop for a while. Some new team mates to welcome. Some events planned and some races entered. The long, slow ride to fitness has started.

Keep it VC m.

Hell of the Tweed, Sun 10th April

2011-03-18T00:01:00.007Z

There won't be a cobble in sight and it certainly won't be hellish, but it'll hopefully be a lot of fun.

Yep, on the same day as Paris-Roubaix and hot on the heels of the first VCM monument ride of the year, comes the inaugural VCM 'Hell of the Tweed' off road ride.

The parcours will suit CX or MTB's and will take in some of the finest au naturale trails in and around Peebles as well as a jaunt down Gypsy Glen from the rarely used* 'western approach' or more rideable eastern approach (updated!).

Here's a wee taster:

Local trails ala cx from Andy Wardman on Vimeo.

10am meet at my flat, which looks out onto the Kingsmeadows Road carpark in Peebles, for a 1030 ish start. 3-4hrs or so pedal (gentleman's pace), then soup, cakes, coffee after at mine and a dodgy web feed of the final of Paris - Roubaix.

Holla back if this tickles your fancy.

cheers! andy

*with good reason - involves 45min hike a bike to get up to ridge..

the new boy kicks hard

2011-03-14T22:22:00.000Z

A big hubba hubba to new signing Greig Walker who picked up a very tidy sixth place (check some of the scalps behind him!) at the Innerleithen MTT at the weekend.

Most of you will already know Greig who is a regular on the Scottish race scene, so make him welcome.

Greig heading to 4th place at the 2010 Scottish Cyclocross Champs, pic by Marty

Still Here!

2011-03-09T21:23:00.013Z

Hi Folks, it's been a very long time between posts for me and I very much apologise. Self employed work, family, the kids! I could rattle the excuses out for hours if you let me for my lack of contribution to the team and to my riding which has been lacking to say the very least.

Well I'm glad to say that I've made a move in the right direction to getting back some sort of bike fitness and motivation to ride. I've entered and paid for two races! They are both of the DH variety, my first love of all things 26" inch wheeled. VCM will be represented in the first 2 rounds of the Scottish Downhill series which will be held at AE forest and Fort William. AE forest I have little experience on and look forward to the challenge but Fort William is a track I love but have never actually raced. Fitness is definitely the key for Fort Bill and is something I lack and lack loads of. I can feel the arm pump already. Needless to say I cant wait for both races and look forward to the challenge of racing and riding in our team colours again(especially in the new VCM DH jersey) Bring on a riding 2011.

Well done to all and good luck this year with your riding and racing.

See yas round soon

M

Trailside Surgery

2011-03-07T10:13:00.006Z

Get out of this one? We were in Torridon yesterday and with 4.5Km left to run Dave's tyre exploded. It was like a shotgun going off, Quite impressive once it had echoed all around the surrounding mountains.
Cue a bit of trailside surgey, A new tube, a lot of duck tape, three zip ties and it was back together........... Well until it blew again 2Km further down the trail, Still it got him closer to the van than expected. Having to run the last descent back to Annat must have been mountain bike agony being able to see what he should have been riding.

Lucky seven

2011-02-27T14:55:00.004Z

Well that was a shock to the system. I have a new local loop on the road bike. It consists of seven climbs (three ridden twice plus a bonus one in the middle) over 35 miles. Short and sweet.

The main pinches are up Whiteleaf and Kop hills that reach the same point above Princes Risborough. Chiltern road climbs are nearly always short (1/2 mile or so), but often steep. Good for a quick, hurty spin. A light shower was forecast so I wasn't too fussed when a fine drizzle fell as I left the house. What I hadn't bargained for was the freezing downpour that fell for the entirety of the ride. Roads transformed as I looped back through them into coffee-coloured lakes - Kop Hill a river (with waves!) on the second attempt up.

Extremities froze making descending interesting with wooden, disembodied fingers and the temptation of only ever being five miles or so from home somehow averted with the knowledge that the promised bacon and egg muffins would be appreciated less if all seven boxes were not ticked.

Post-hot-aches tea and biscuits consumed and that nice fizzy-warm feeling is filling the frozen appendages.

The sun's out now, damnit!

It Depends on the Weather

2011-02-23T13:08:00.007Z

I haven't been able to face the mountain bike for the last couple of weeks, It's not like me but a combination of poor weather and months of plugging through mud and snow has taken it's toll.

So graced with a lovely spring day i took to the hills in search of that elusive dry trail.

Starting at sea level the Yankee pier is the furthest out into the Cromarty firth you can get without actually getting wet! The pier was used by the Americans during WW I to transport ordanance to their mine base which is now home to the World famous Dalmore Distillery. Semi submersible oil rigs now occupy the firth rather than the Navy fleet of that time.

My destination for the ride was an old favorite of Cnoc Fyrish a prominent local landmark. With a multitude of routes to chose from I took the most direct route up the Jubilee path, Rising from 175m to 450m in 2.6km it offers a good workout no matter how fit the rider.

The Monument is always a welcome rest after the tech fest of the climb.

Constructed in 1792 it was the brainchild of Sir Hector Munro to provide work for unemployed locals and is an imitation of a gateway to the costal city of Nagapatnam in India. The hill offers commanding views of the Cromarty firth, East coast and the Mountains of Wester Ross.

After the pain of the climb comes the fun of the descent back to sea level through a myriad of trails which thankfully were riding extremly well in the early spring conditions. I ended up being out far longer than anticipated but I was taking full advantage of the vital component of a good bike ride.......... The weather.

97% CX

2011-02-22T13:27:00.016Z

For the most part I have spent the last 6 months mainly riding cyclocross bikes. Various reasons for this; training for the 3 peaks and regular cross races plus the chainstays on my old 853 road bike rusted right through just behind the bb shell; a sad day but the old Raleigh isn't dead yet, she'll be back to worry the carbon bikes on the local club run one day soon.

For the first time I managed a whole season of cyclocross, finishing up fourth in the Eastern League, not bad but the top three were always just out of reach, a tad frustrating but the races were always close and fun. Hopefully more cyclocross this year and a top 3 overall. Getting into the cross races taught me much about tactics and racecraft- hopefully some useful skills that can be carried over into other forms of bike racing. Plan for the coming year is to get back to some serious XC racing after a few years of fun endurance type events. So no long stuff this year, focus on getting the results and racking up some points. Here are a few pictures to sum up my cyclocross exploits...

My car failed it's MOT and buying another would have had a big impact on the bike fund so trips home are now mainly done by train from Peterborough up to Edinburgh. Luckily it seems no worries taking a bike on this line and instead of hammering it up the motorway I can read a book and take it easy, all good.

Training ride round the Tala loop; my favourite training ride back home.

Up the top of the Old Man of Coniston getting some practise in for the 3 Peaks.

3 pictures taken riding down off Helvellyn, some of this was fairly hairy on the 'cross bike, hopefully get back on the mtb.

The Corsa packed with spare wheels for the 3 Peaks, thankfully none were needed. Thanks to Emma for letting me use her car as a bike van for the whole 'cross season.

Not a great start to the regular cross season, half way into the race and my left hand crank fell off. Thankfully this was the only mechanical of the year and after this poor results could only be atributed to a lack of fittness!

So that was the last few months of 2010.

Roll on the first races of 2011.

Doubling Up

2011-02-15T09:10:00.002Z

With the cross season closing out I wanted to take full advantage of any remaining events left to race the cross bike before it gets hung up till probably September.. with this in mind I opted to do a back to back weekend of racing ... but not only double up on the racing but double up on the normal distance :)

Saturday would see Hit the North in Manchester.. Sunday the Super Enduro at Hetton Lyons.

Hit the North is a CX vs MTB 2 hour race organised by Jason Miles of JMC racing... the course was a mix of cross style riding but with mtb singletrack and technical descending thrown in... add a large field of riders (near 200) and you have yourself a fantastic event.

My Saturday started at 5:30am .. up for breakfast then out the door by 6am for the 2.5 hour drive to Manchester from Newcastle.. Ipod full of tunes in the car and some energy drink and life was good.

The weather started in the North East as wet and miserable but gradually got better as I headed West.. by the time I got to the race venue the conditions were mild and the sun was trying to come out... after signing on and catching up with friends I got changed and did a lap of the course... there were some fast flowing singletrack sections, rock gardens, hellish bike carries and even a stream crossing to contend with.. dull this course wasn't and it kept you on your toes the whole time.

At the startline I assumed my usually rubbish position of 4 or 5 rows back .. we started up a tarmac climb .. I picked off as many places as possible before the inevitable bottle neck and then the procession through the first singletrack... out onto the wider trail I was out the saddle sprinting to make up some lost ground before a dismount and carry up some steps.

My first off of the race came quickly heading down the 'chute' of mud.. as it kicked into a steeper drop I wiped out the front end and into the dirt.. straight back up into a climb. Into the fast flowing singletrack it wasn't long before I came across Rich Rothwell with a mechanical and not longer after that Ian Leitch with a nasty looking broken seatpost :(

As the first lap ended the order had been sorted seeing me back in the back half of the top 10 ... a few people around me constantly exchanging places.. the mountain bikers would drop me on the descents then I would take ground back on the flat and the climbs.. I was so focussed on the constant exchange of places we were 80 minutes into the race before I had taken any food or a great deal of water :(

By 90 minutes I was fading.. I had a gel and before it could kick in I dropped a few more places just clinging onto the top 10... the gel kicked in and it was 'Go' time... I retook 3 places and approaching another racer my high of the gel turned into a low and it was back into limp mode.

By the start of the 6th lap I was fading.. luckily the nearest racer to me was also and an agreement was made that if I didn't turn the last lap into a head kicking competition he would concede the place... sensing no further need for survival my body really gave in and I struggled round the last night driven by the thought of finishline snacks.

6 laps in 2 hours and a 10th overall..

I think I could have finished nearer the top 5 but I learn't the lesson of nutrition the hard way after a fair few months of 50 minute races needing no food or water.

Sunday was an easier start to the day with the event being local and already having driven 300 plus miles to Manchester and back the previous day.

The Super Enduro is a cross race to see out the end of the local TLI cross races.. a one off non league event there was no pressure.. the legs definately felt jaded after the combo of the previous days racing and driving so expectations were low.

Unfortunately the field of riders was low with the extra distance to be covered and the rubbish wet weather only bringing out 20 riders or so to start the race.

The race started down a stretch of tarmac into the wind and it wasn't long before I realised that my position at the front of the field was one of a windbreak for everyone else so I eased up and rolled onto the first dirt of the course.. Unlike Hit the North this was more a true CX cross.. no need to dismount and nothing too technical.. a horrible long drag to the top of the course being the worst section and a dicey straight muddy descent into a sharp left hander being the highest risk manouevre of the course.

Very early on in the first lap I had to watch Steven Ward ride comfortably away into the lead... I then similarly had to watch 2nd and 3rd spot leave me fighting for 4th.. there was no snap in my legs so I had to look to play the longer game.. I was caught up with 2 other riders in the battle for 4th.. every chance I got I put in a little dig just to test the other guys.

As the hour mark passed I took on a gel and took the lead to our group of three riders.. on a sharp short climb I pulled out a few metres so decided it was a good time to get going if i could.. I pushed on the pedals a bit harder into a flat section then as I got out of the saddle for another short climb I felt my bars shift.. as I looked down my bars had bent.. I stopped and as i took hold of the bars they snapped :( disappointed that my race was over was being balanced by relief that they had gone on a climb and not a descent.. the race was over.. as it was Steven Ward won comfortably lapping the whole field!!

Thats the cross season done and dusted for good.. this week should see the arrival of my new sponsor mountain bike frame for 2011.. pictures as soon as it gets here :)

HTN pictures courtesy of Ed Rollason

happy valentines

2011-02-13T23:23:00.000Z

if you can't be good be bad.

Goatee of Filth

2011-01-27T00:15:00.005Z

Often referred to as La Doyenne of the VCM Monument rides (rest of VCM Monument rides to follow), Goatee of Filth is back again for it's third edition in 2011.

Date - 3rd April 2011

What will happen this year:

* will be 80ish miles of Fife roads and lanes
* will be as many cheeky cobbled sections as we can find (hoping for at least one new secteur)
* will be soup, coffee, cakes (and a maybe a cold refreshing beverage) whilst watching the pointy end of the Ronde van Vlaanderen back at GoF HQ

What won't happen this year:
* won't be rain
* won't get lost in Saline
* Jon won't wheelsuck Maddy for the last 15 miles

Start time and exact route tbc. Pace brisk to middling. Sprints to be contested.

Anyone interested in a still to be named offroad ride soon?

fabrication

2011-01-24T19:00:00.003Z

Oh my:

FROM STEEL: The Making of a Soulcraft from michael evans on Vimeo.

NECCL RD 7 - Eston Hills

2011-01-12T13:19:00.001Z

After finishing the Christmas cross period with an 11th at the CXNE RD10 Gateshead race completeing 3 cross races in 7 days I was ready to take it a little easier.

I reigned back training to every other day and looked forward to the next round of the TLI ran NECCL cross league... we have the luxury in the North East of 2 leagues.. where I couldn't place in the BCF ran CXNE series due to my provisional license I could place overall in the TLI ran NECCL league.

Sundays race was at a classic North East mountain bike destination.. pretty sure maybe 15 years ago I raced mountain bikes here.. the course was altered slightly due to plenty black ice clinging to any piece of tarmac it could find but what was run as the course was plenty challenging enough.

With some wooded sections.. a cheeky climb and some horrible drags in grassy mud to bring your speed down to a crawl it was a tough offering.

The start was uphill and unusually I got on the front line... the field had a few big names mising due to the Nationals on the same day so it was an opportunity to shift up the field and claim some extra points.

From the off Tony Fawcett was gone.. gapping the field by 20m at the end of the first descent.. Darren Binks in pursuit with the rest of us a good 10m back from Darren. I sat in 4th and after a bit of jostling for position.. I was strong on the straight boggy sections and Alex Mcclean from Hetton Hawks would gap me in the woods.. I saw myself into 3rd with a good 20m gap.

As the race progressed I eased out my gap while Alex and Vince Potter (Blackhawkbikes.com) battled for 4th.

I equalled my seasons best finish with another 3rd place... still half a lap down on claiming a top spot but I feel I know where the improvements need to be made.

Best news is I am now firmly in the 3rd spot overall for the season... last race on Sunday and a minor miracle could see me creep into 2nd but as it stands i'm very happy.

Before I forget...

2011-01-10T21:37:00.018Z

The year that was...

Dearie me - having had a rummage through the VCM archives for 2010 it would appear that I barely managed to blog a word.

Shameful, I know but it was a busy and fulfilling 12 months.

Kicking off almost a year to the day when I put a plaintive last ditch Facebook request for a Strathpuffer 4th man - answered in the affirmative by Oregon local Mr Tom Letsinger thanks to his BA airmile collection and penchant for doing slightly silly things. Somehow [and with no small contribution from Chops-Options & Mr Darwood we picked up our snowdomes for 3rd place in the 4 man team.

I had met Tom while doing the TransPortugal the previous year and had kept in touch with one of the Organisers / Cheif Mechanic - Jose Carlos. One of the many hats he wears is as occasional guide for Saddle Skedaddle tours in Portugal. That company, based in Penrith, have an annual off-season guides get-together [a jamboree?]. Anyhoo - Jose Martin needed someone to pick him up from Manchester Airport and I happened not to be working that week - cue a mini-road trip to tick off some midwinter classics and cheek in the Peaks and Lakes. Ace!

Jac and I belatedly celebrated our birthdays at the start of March with a 2-dayer along the Fife Coastal Path. If you get a chance you should do this route - not much in the way of climbing, and a fat tyre bike would not be out of place. Is there anywhere else in the UK where you can get almost 100 miles of costal riding? If so please let me know...

An interlude of new-kitchen disruption followed and a post easter trip to Portugal to test mettle against the first Geo-Raid pairs-only, 2 dayer enduro race weekend of the year. Based in mid-north Portugal we had a frantic 5hour drive from Madrid to get to the race site. A Truly Brutal 100km day followed 4100m of ascent in 30 Deg C heat was too much - Both Jac and I suffered from being out in that furnace too long. This had been my first mtb ride that had not featured snow or ice for 5 months... we decided to bail the easier second day and see the tourist sights . A shame as the course and location were stunning. The descent to and resulting climb out of Drave were a highlight. I will be back.

Then followed some pit bitching at 24hr Solo and Puffer lite for Jac. July's Singletrack weekender was a great event and format [July] - although some over exhuberant descending on the first lap led to double pinch flats and plenty time for heckling.

The Welsh SSUKs was tip top in August. Amazing venue for riding and camping. And we were led out on a classic Doethie Valley loop by the lovely Goonster. We followed this up with a frantic drive back up to the lakes and a cracking North Lakes [North High Street] the next day.

All to soon it was cross season - Dan and I had received agreement from all the season orgainsers to run an electronic lapcounting system. We co-located our money and mouths and jumped on a steep learning curve to get our system up and running in time. Thankfully we found some children to test on and all was well...

A brief cross season interlude and 1st Wedding anniversary spend crumpled up in an airplane jetting off to NZ for the SSWC2010 - more stunning riding, the SSWC seemed a little less firey this year but that is more likely me than it...

Rotorua Trails! Oh my - hero dirt flowing goodness.

The Queen Charlotte Track - 75km of buff quiet seaside and ridgetop trail in the Marlborough Sounds - inspirational stuff. And the steak and cheese pies from any dairy in town... dribble.

Then it was back to minor calamity for the cross season: controversy and cancellations. Although the Scottish Cross series is made of sterner stuff - keeping calm and carrying on through to the series finale in Mull.

Roll on the 2011 good times!

happy new year

2011-01-04T09:14:00.003Z

Tervuren vrouwen 2-1-2011 from jef cleemput on Vimeo.

its quiet out there, a big end of season posting coming up..

To the Moulineers!

2010-12-31T16:49:00.002Z

Christmas Cross

2010-12-30T19:38:00.000Z

With a 'forced' weeks holiday from work nothing left to do but ride and race.. not quite a Belgium Holiday calender of races over the Christmas period but so far i've managed 2.. CXNE RD 9 on Boxing day and Macclesfield Monster on 28th..

CXNE RD9 was a local affair.. only 10 miles from my house.. the event had been upgraded from a fun race to a league event and I had convinced a visiting friend, Ian, to race on a borrowed bike.

The course I had pretty much ridden a few months prior but the sloppy mud had been replaced snow and Ice... the car park was filled with riders having ridden a lap putting more pressure into their tyres.

The start was one of the best I have ever had.. although the front rows were gridded I found a cheecky hole in the middle and was up into the top 10 off the start and holding the pace well.. by the end of the first lap the top boys superior bike handling had seen gaps opened.. a rushed mount after a short run up saw my unship my chain and lose 5 places trying to wrestle it free from the chain device :(

The rest of the race saw me clawing back the places I had lost seeing me finish back in 12th ... Paul Oldham took the win chased by Steven Ward.. Ian Bibby after a heavy first lap fall was back in 6th.

After the race I packed up the car.. fired home.. put more bags and the whippet in the car and drove to meet Grace at her parents in Manchester.. as well as the excellent meals and coffee's on offer at her parents it gave me chance to fit another race in just a few days later.

The Macclesfield Monster is the first race in the North West leauge after Christmas so the turn out was good... as well as a leg stretching it offered a chance to catch up with a friend I hadn't seen for 10 years.. Duncan Astle.. creator of Here Come the Belgians.. after a quick chat we lined up for another kicking.

The conditions at Macc were the opposite of CXNE race.. raining, sloppy mud and greasy corners... the course was fantastic.. some great little climbs.. boards up for dismounts and run ups and some off camber corners from hell :)

The gridding at this race went league top riders first then national points leeaders so I was a fair bit back... with the National Cross Champs looming alot of the big hitters were out.. Oldham, Bibby and Craig to name but a few.

Straight into the race I was into a battle with 4 other riders as we switched places so many times I lost count.. and when I thought I was clear the slightest mistake and a rider would pop past..

My first mistake was a late dismount before a board and I slid shin first into it.. ouch!! ... I still maintained contact with the little group I was riding with.. next I washed out my front wheel on a corner and unshipped my chain again although this time it went on quicker but a gap had opened.

As the race progressed I noticed that I was running wider and wider into the turns t bottoms of descents.. my brakes were almost non existent.. with 3 laps to go and just before I was lapped by Nick Craig as he rode to 3rd place I started a little descent that went into an off camber 45 degree left.. Nick Craig railed it.. I went for some brakes to check my speed and both levers came to the bar and I accelerated into the corner.. I briefly held the drift before the front wheel washed and I was left comically sliding down the hill on my back.. wet grass offering no resistance to slow me down.

At that point I called it a day and accepted my second DNF of the season.. too many cheeky descents to ride with no brakes.

Not the most productive races with a 12th and a DNF but entertaining all the same.. the only downside being a sore throat and cough I have so training will be minimal and hopefully I will be good to race again on Sunday 2nd :)

NECCL RD 6 - First top 3 :)

2010-12-14T14:05:00.000Z

Its been 2 weeks since my last race... I was entered to race the Northern Champs race but after a Christmas party incident in a Paris bathroom left me with a very sore head I had to give it a miss.

Wasn't sure how I was feeling before this one... training is going pretty well.

The venue, Dalton Park, was almost free from snow but in leaving it left behind a pretty soggy mess so full mud tyres were perfect.

The course wound its way front and back of a big hill feature with a section along an exposed top... the climbs were pretty short, the descents nicely off camber or slippy.. all good cyclocross elements.

The start was on a narrow path on a slope only a few riders wide so the field spilled onto the grass either side and as we set off I was nicely cut up by a guy that came from above me.. with the anger of that move I was out the saddle on the first short climb and up into the top 5.. by the back half of the lap I had moved into 3rd with a clear view of 1st and 2nd riding away.. the severity of the start strung the field out quickly leaving myself and 4th place to battle out most of the race with 5th a comfortable distance behind and the guys in front now out of reach.

I love the intensity of cross racing... its something you don't get in endurance events... you ride the whole race with people breathing down your neck.. the pressure never lets up.

Towards the end of the race I notice 4th place wasn't there anymore and I got to relax a little and just maintain a gap... then the bell lap came and then it was done.. first top 3... now i just have to do it when there is no national on and the field is at its strongest.

Race Video

Bingo!

2010-12-10T00:18:00.002Z

Shamelessly pinched from 104Bronson [and so it goes...]

Print out and take to a cross race near you this weekend.

isle of mull cyclocross

2010-12-09T07:39:00.000Z

I'm sorry I'm going to miss Mull this year (please Davie move it further from Christmas)
Good luck to all the team who are going, look forward to hearing tales of courage and victory.
Simon, behave yourself, you are warned!

And for all those attending the dance on Saturday night, you've still got time to practise.

Racing Daze

2010-12-05T14:57:00.005Z

It seems a while ago now since we had a good race, Snow eh. Happier times when we managed to have a race.

PSA- Scottish CX Champs Postponed : (

2010-12-03T19:23:00.004Z

Roobaish...

www.scottishcyclocross.org.uk/

Go do something else instead...

Snow Cross

2010-11-29T10:53:00.002Z

Lying in bed with the phone constantly refreshing the event website.. no change... it was still on.

The recent cold weather had seen a good foot of snow dumped over the week and there was no more putting off my first snow cross experience.

The first challenge was digging out the car... the next negotiating the various driving styles I encountered on the hour drive to the race venue.. afterthis nothing would be a problem.

The car showed todays was racing would be in a very manly -5 degrees ... the event car park park was already filling up as I arrived... you can never underestimate peoples desire to get out and ride :)

Near 60 riders and a few fields wiith 8" of snow covering the race was going to be amazing... made better still as although last week was my first sign on for Velo Club Moulin this was my first week wearing the colours...

.. and almost as good as that my new wheels had been finished so I would get to race on new tufo tubs :)

The course had some really tough sections but on the flipside also had some compacted sections were you could get good speed up but overtaking would mean coming off the good line and fishtailing through deeper snow... doesn't get any more fun than this.

My start was less than ideal... 50 metres of clambering to get both feet in the pedals then riding squarely into a plastic marker post saw me distinctly mid field with lots of work to do.. seems like this is becoming the norm for me every week so it didn't worry me.

The racing went... sit in on the deeper snow sections into everyone elses groove... pop out on the wider compacted sections and steal a few places.... repeat.. any foot down on the floor would lead to you not being able to clip back in so running any sections was avoided.

I cut my way up through the field and could see a group of 4 riders ahead.. then I heard the commentator announce they were fighting for 4th place so the chase was on to get across to them... when I did we had a great battle.. everytime I got up and past I would panic a corner and dab loosing the ground and places I had made... I ended up sat in 5th place on the bell lap.. just behind 4th place.. as we got to a steep climb 4th place went to the side to look for the better line and I gambled and smacked it straight up the middle through the crap of mud and snow... both of us coming to the top close but I had a half wheel and nipped through... a quick blast out the saddle and a few turns later saw my best result so far with 4th place.

The power of Velo colours is strong :)

Next week Northen CX champs.. weather and roads allowing i'm hoping to break the top quarter of the field.

CXNE RD 7.. Stainton

2010-11-24T12:01:00.004Z

With much trepidation here goes my first Velo Club Moulin Blog post....

A week after the Gateshead race and an £80 parts repair bill later I was back at another cross race.

The Stainton venue was windy and cold... watching the Junior race from the comfort of a warm van the motivation to get changed and get riding was low.

With no National Trophy race on the field was stacked with some top quality rider... Oldham, Ward, Collins, Murray, Moss, Nixon.. the list was extensive so today wasn't gonna be easy.... as I walked the car park checking out who had turned up my top 5 hope went to top 10 then to a more realistic top 15... I'm not frightened to admit I still have alot to learn and it was obvious that I was about to get taught a few new tricks.

First sign on for Velo team :)

After a quick change Ipedalled out onto the course... to not long after turn around and head back to the van.. I had changed rear wheels and forgot to fit a spacer to inside of freehub so cassette was rattling.. luckily I had the other wheel with spacer with me and was able to borrow tools and sort it.

The course looked pretty awful but once on it it rode really well... plenty of turns, a nice climb, transitions from dirt to tarmac which were only surpassed in their bike sliding ability by a set of off camber bends which were really tricky made more so by having to slide up and though a gate only a rider wide :)

I was mid field on the start line and spent the first lap executing some high risk dubious cornering overtakes to cut my way up towards the top 10.

On a set of low boards that could be bunny hopped I saw new team mate Dave Crawley standing with his bike, later found out a snapped rear mech... I feel your pain Dave!!!

The race was excellent... I had a great battle for most of the race with the same Malton Wheeler rider as we exchanged places two or three times a lap.. he still had the memories of me overtaking him last lap a few weeks earlier... He would be a little quicker through the turns but I would get on the gas on the climbs and take position back.

About 45 minutes in I was overtaken by the leader ... Paul Oldham... no great shame as the form he has at the moment I was surprised it didn't come earlier... another 40 seconds later then Steven Ward came through... a North East rider having a great battle with Oldham and squeezing out the other Hope factory boys for the second place spot.

A lap to go I was just behind my Malton Wheelers rival on the start finish climb so I rode hard past and then buried myself for the rest of the lap.. one final out the saddle effort and the race was done... 13th place in a good field of riders... I know I have both more to give and to learn so looking forward to North of England CX champs in a few weeks.

Picture courtesy of Lee Adeola (http://www.flickr.com/photos/leeandamanda/)

Videos of the race can be seen here;

Video 1
Video 2

Velo jersey arrived yesterday so will be fully representing from now on in :)

Wearing the colours

2010-11-22T18:19:00.004Z

Having not particularly been in a cycling team before (well, not since the Mint Sauce Race and Flowers team back in 1994 or so...) I thought I might as well make the plunge as I often found myself in the company of VCM riders at many of the races I went to. And being one of the non-Scottish lot, I figured that it might be cheery to ride in the colours in the well-organised Yorkshire Cyclocross league. Besides, it was a cheap way of getting a 'cross skinsuit.

My last three races have been good, bad, then good again as I snatched a good start at the first race in Huddersfield and valiantly battled for 30-oddth with my pal Simon on a smooth and very fast playing field course.

Pic by 'Here Come the Belgians'...

Next time out was the Bradley Woods round that featured a lot of woody singletrack. A real mountain bikers' course. Unfortunately, after a bad start and some frankly rubbish legs and lungs, I was presented with an excuse in the form of rolling first my front tub, then, as I was limping back to the finish and waiting for the winner to lap me, my rear. Don't rely on last year's glue folks!

And then this weekend: Bingley - a race where I've had mixed success. Two years ago I crashed my car on the way to the race, just made it there on time and then my crank fell off - but not before I'd worked my way into last place. This year, fate was a little kinder to me. I showed up to sign-on eight minutes before the start, just managed to pin my number on and get to the start for the start - which went well and I found my way somewhere up the top half. Then a combination of low tyre pressures and low (34T) gearing kept me riding when others were bumbling, giving me my first top 30 for a long time (out of a sizeable 81 in Vets)

Anyway, here's to the next lot... Oh, and my own race that I'm running on January 2nd if anyone's looking for some New Year resolution riding to do in Yorkshire...

Auchentoshan

2010-11-21T20:06:00.004Z

Wow, what a fantastic race today at Auchentoshan. A stunningly good cross course, even better than previous years. Features perfectly placed and well thought out, a perfect blend of different surfaces. A near complete test of all your cross skills: handling, dismounting, remounting, running up, fast corners, slow corners. The only thing missing was the mud, but i'm not complaining. I'll take a fast, flowing course with just enough 'shoogle' over a mud slog everytime. Not that i'm adverse to mud, it's just for me that feeling of zipping along is just more fun.

Fantastic organisation by Glasgow United for the 25th anniversary of the race -event timetable posted up a few days before, marshal at the entrance, marshals to help park up (and fix on numbers), slick sign on, extra speakers with commentary dotted around the course, podium, well drilled podium direction from the organiser, podium flowers (!), custom medals. Bloody well done and thanks to all involved.

After a front row call up I managed to get a good start, slotting in behind Davie Lines then sneaking by before the first barriers to lead into the ace woodsy singletrack. Craig Hardie soon got upto the front though and quickly stomped on the pedals to get a gap. JFM then passed and Davie needed a bike change. Sitting in 3rd spot I felt ok but like I couldn't really push on super hard, legs/body/head just not totally on it. Still, well chuffed I was able to hold the gap of 5 - 10 secs on JFM for the rest of the race. Would have even better to have been able to close it.. I seemed to be able to close the gap on some parts of the course - zig zag turns out of the start/finish arena, singletrack through the woods, banking upto the road, but slower on the open, power sections and through the stream/run up. I just couldn't get the transitions through the stream or over the barriers properly dialled. Need to practise them cross drills more..

pic from all round top bloke and very rapid Mr Craig Hardie

So a little frustrated I couldn't go harder today, but I should put things in perspective - I would never have imagined i'd have been riding near the front of an SCX race this season! I'm very grateful my health is hopefully back on track and for fantastic support out there around the courses - the noise of the VCM crew at the banking today was deafening! Almost giving you wings to ride up it. Seriously, that's how it felt.

Great rides again from Maddy and Lyndsey, think Gordy and Simon were top ten or thereabouts. Ian looking smooth and fast in the vets. Bravo!

For me, lots of rest, food and bike fettling this week in anticipation of the Glasgow double header and maybe a word with myself to just keep things fun (and the warm up rollers at home...)

andy

give uncle geoff some

2010-11-21T13:47:00.001Z

film by andy waterman

new rider

2010-11-19T05:37:00.000Z

Welcome.

Tyne and Wear based, Paul Errington has been riding for Genesis bikes for the last two seasons and before that for the XC Racer/29'ers. Whilst primarily an endurance rider he is also a dab hand a cyclocross, so far this year getting a 6th and a 9th at the North East Cyclo Cross League. Other than that he is looking to get his cat2 license in 2011 and take part in some team events. I think he will be a really useful guy to have around and it also gives us some representation in North East England.

By his own admission its been a lean year mainly from kicking it off with a couple of biggy events, the Arrowhead 135 and the Yak Attack in March. 2009 was the bigger year, being 1st placed SS rider in the Keilder 100 and taking part in, Transportugal, Transprovence and Salzkammergut.

Anyway I'm sure some of you may already know him, so welcome Paul.

Lochore Meadows

2010-11-18T11:39:00.009Z

I set off for Fife on Sunday morning with the memory of my rear mech incident at Strathclyde country park still fresh in my mind. Knowing i had a score to settle i was happy with the preparation and miles in my legs. Travelling down the road it was evident that the chances of a wet race were pretty high. Arriving at Lochore Meadows competitors were faced with the first true cyclocross conditions of the season with a biting cold wind, a few drops of lingering rain and more than a healthy spattering of mud. Setting off on my warm up i bumped into Iain wheeling his bike back to the car minus his rear mech, this was a sign of things to come, with a slow lap to inspect the course my gears were protesting from the off. How were they going to last?

A quick De-mudding of the bike at the start line and we were off, I had an amazing start and quickly found myself in the top five, I knew it would be difficult to keep it going and i lost a couple of places in the first quarter of the race. Still I plodded on nursing the bike through the mud as best i could, meanwhile all around me riders were tearing their rear mechs off as though they were going out of fashion, Including Simon who luckily had a spare bike waiting in the pits. The massive support on the course spurred me on and i managed to grab back a place in the last lap which bagged me sixth, My highest placing so far.

The Crosslight must have weighed twice what it should at the finish but it survived to tell the tale and hopefully my rear mech demons have now been laid to rest. I have to give a big shout out to the extremely vociferous, Cowbell wielding VCM fan club out on the course the noise was deafening at times and was a welcome boost each lap, Thanks guys & girls you know who you are.

Iain had rotten luck with his rear mech, out before he had even started. Maddy and Lyndsey had yet another good showing in Third and Fourth respectively and Simon even with his bike troubles finished Thirteenth.

a day at the races

2010-11-14T20:22:00.000Z

Simons drivetrain

mud

Maddie

Lyndsay

Gordy

It was great to watch some racing today and fine performances by the team. big shout to Iain Mellis whose rear mech exploded on practise, not good, I can wholeheartedly sympathise, still a lovely bike though. as for the racing, Maddie and Lyndsay put in strong rides for 3rd and 4th in the womens race and over in the seniors Gordy Mac put in an absolute storming ride for 6th in a very strong senior field, Simon also suffered some bike woes whilst in 10th, a spare bike at the ready (so pro) and I think he finished around 12-15th. all in all a fine outing.

Stevie on the gas somewhere in the Essex hinterlands

2010-11-13T17:09:00.000Z

Big Hill Division

2010-11-08T17:51:00.000Z

First time VCMer

2010-11-07T18:05:00.002Z

Today marked the start of my time with VC Moulin and i set the bar pretty high with a win in RD4 of the north east CX league, an absolute mudbath with some technical wooded singletrack sections made for a fantastic course. after slogging it out for 40 minutes with blackhawk bikes Alan Nixon on gradually reducing numbers of gears it came down to survival and after pulling away with two laps to go he threw in the towel. results and pics arent online yet but ill post some when i find them, look forward to meeting some fellow VCM riders on the double header in glasgow and ill see how i fare against the northern lot...

Dave Crawley

Unexpected

2010-11-05T05:37:00.006Z

I'll be honest, i've never been a huge fan of the Mugdock course. Too much like an mtb course, too much rooty, lumpy, bumpy, muddy, narrow - ness. Fair weather cross rider you'll likely be thinking. Well partly, probably, but I love courses that flow and have some zip and rhythm. Meadowmill this year was that. Auchentoshan, although techier has it.

Mid week I'd all but convinced myself not to race. Rest up, stay healthy, never really enjoy Mugdock anyway.... Then Miffae called looking for a lift and I instantly changed my mind.

After watching Maddy and Lyndsey tearing things up in the Womens/Vets/Juniors race (well done!), I pulled myself away to try and get warmed up. A failed attempt at riding rollers with 25psi cross tubs on had me warming up on the narrow back road. A slightly skipping gear 3rd from top not helping pre race nerves much. Much closer to race time, my front tub decided to let some air out of a hole i've never really got sealed up properly (it's fine so long as you don't try to put more than about 28psi in... ). Yikes. Too late to try and fix and not wanting to meddle I decide to just race on it..

The start is a little crazy. With only one rideable line on the left of the uphill lumpy, grassy start, the whole 10 or so wide field makes a bee line for this immediately from the gun. Gridded on the 2nd row I get blocked in but do get to enjoy a shoulder on shoulder, handlebar on handlebar moment.

Not the best start but by mid lap I manage to move up a little. Ahead a group of 5 has moved off the front. I try hard to make the back on this group but a rapidly moving forward James Fraser Moodie blows things apart and takes off alone in front. A few laps later i'm feeling pretty good and chuffed to realise that i'm holding my spot in 4th or 5th, riding pretty well, enjoying things immensely and crucially able to push myself really damn hard.

My efforts to stay away from Greig Walker and Colin May just behind bring me closer to Neil Walker in front. Not quite believing i'm catching him, and with lots of fantastic encouragement from Lyndsey and Maddy I try to ride straight past him through the start/finish. It doesn't quite work but then a little later I hear the (horrible) sound of metal and carbon on ground behind me... I don't look back but hope Neil is ok (he is).

I then pass JFM with a mechanical. Up into 3rd! Through the start/finish more cheers and encouragement that i'm closing on Davie Lines. This well and truly fires me up and with 2 laps to go I pass Davie through the start/finish, jump away and manage to hold onto 2nd spot.

Eye of the tiger. Raar! Photo by Duncan Gray. Representin! Photo by Steve Turbitt (SCX photog and race reporter extraordinnaire)

At the finish I need a lie down. Miffae comes in soon after and we think he's made the top ten (11th in the results). So, both well chuffed with our rides. Me - chuffed with pretty consistent lap times, pleased I stayed upright. Chuffed my tub stayed up and that Tufo's don't mind being bottomed out onto the rim lots. Chuffed with the course too, it was a lot of fun, not too muddy, still quite techy, tough run up, ace log to ride over, more flow. Mugdock I take it all back!

cheers,

andy