Middle Pack

Its been a while since I did an an adventure race. In fact over a year, and that was a dark and white 6 hour event in macc forest. Unfortunatly I missed out on the recent Open 5 series due to injury.

I haven’t trained properly for a while and only started running training this week after a lengthy abscence but thought the new 4 hour events may be a good option just to see what my levels of fitness are. Figuring I didn’t have to do too much running if I didn’t have to.

An early sunday start and a drive down to the start was the only uneventful part of the day. After registering and getting sorted I set off on my way. First 2 controls went fine, but this is where things started to go wrong. A mechanical problem on the bike and a wasted 15 minutes trying to sort out my chain and rear derailler as my gears decided not to shift properly and my chain had jammed between cassette and derailler. I may have fiddled a bit too much trying to work it out as I was then just missing gears. Then there was a lot of crunching and grinding, especially from my little gears.

The next couple of controls and I was distracted by my bike but was getting back on pace, only for a slight error sending me over the bars and me banging my rear derailler on a rock this time. So again more faff and a bloody elbow and a wasted 10 minutes as loads of people I had passed overtook asking if I had a puncture? Soon I was up again only to again fly over the bars, luckily onto smooth grass and I was soon back up again and on the bike. My head really wasn’t in it today!

I eventually found that middle chain ring meant i was okay with my gears so stayed in this until the transition for the running stage. Some steep hills and long road sections made this a bit of a bind but was just good to be moving and not having to pull out due to my mechanical numptiness. I was however running very late.

The run was an orienteering course in Lyme Park, the setting for pride and prejudice. I was a bit longer than I thought it would be. The tendon in my foot ached and I was a bit nervous on it but was good to put on my inov8s for the first time this year. They really are like slippers. It did show me though that I have a long way to go before I am realistically fell race ready. It was tough and I chose a route with heavily tussockked grass.

Back on the bike and I was now up against it. I chose my route back to the finish and pushed as hard as I could with my 9 gears. Not good enough as I was 16 minutes late and losing 60 hard earned points. Finishing with 157 points and 8th out of 10 in the male solo under 40s .

On the plus side, some of my splits on the bike are not too bad, although you can see where I had mechanicals. Probably wasting 25 minutes overall and a further couple of minutes with being in the wrong gear for a lot of the rest of the race. I also enjoyed being out and about racing for first time in a long time.

Probably the best thing for me was I learnt how to set up gears. After the race I set upon my gears both front and back and got them running smoother than ever before.Thanks to the sheldon brown, the park tools website and shimano’s tech centre. Just wish it was that easy to get myself up and running smoothly.

Sadly, fitness has suffered more than I thought, especially my running. My nav and route choice is another that has suffered having not used a map in 6 months. I was unable to choose a route and when I did my time estimates were considerably out. I am unsure if this is due to my fitness levels not being what they were or lack of nav practise. Probably both.

Thanks to Dark and White for another great event. A great location and good to see them trying different things. With an ‘O’ course and two bike stages you really had to think about timings and route. This is shown by the amount of people who arrived late.

My only critisism is that I am not sure that 4 hours is long enough and I did prefer the 6 hour format. I guess it is a move to appeal to more people and last years 6 or 3 hour would be an nightmare to administer and also reduce the results.

The next event is in conjuntion with the Sheffield Cliffhanger event, so should be a busy one and I am guessing that the special stage will be slap baing in the middle of the event.

The last two nights I have finally managed to get running again. A small step to getting fit again after a few very patchy months. I realise I have a fair bit to get back to where I used to be back in Autum. I also realise I should have got myself sorted a LOT sooner. It is a stupid thing to do to continue running when injured, but when running is such fun and quite important to my wellbeing, it is hard to tell yourself you need to stop.

This gap since pretty much Mid November, with the odd race to “test my foot” (Another stupid thing to do) and no training has meant I have managed to look at my season goals and make a few adjustments.

Main thing is  no Bob Graham round in 2009. Was planning on the 5th June as it is my birthday that day, it falls on a full moon and is in the height of summer. It seemed too good an opportunity to pass up. Now I think I will give it a miss. I don’t want to rush it. I want a long build up and to enjoy the whole experience. Not cram in a load of training and just end up injured again right before summer.  So plans are afoot for a 2010 BG but there may be some other runs in the meantime worth reading about.  Also means I am free for recce’s and support for anyone interested in a bag carrier?

The lack of a Bob Graham free’s up a massive chunk of my year and given me the chance to be a bit more varied in my events.Something missing last year.

Some of my favorite races are now free for me to do! So the first thing I can now do is the Lakeland Classics series again! I have entered Wasdale and Langdale as it is English Champs races and I will do Duddon and Ennerdale to qualify.

I will also spend some of those planned Bob Graham recce weekends doing adventure racing or mountain biking. I have a few pencilled in already as well so should be good. I will also be spending a few weekends either running or biking or both, with wild camps  in our national parks generally having fun and taking in the views with friends.

I will try to do the Runfurther series, albeit without the Fellsman as a friend is coming over from New Zealand that weekend. Mates come before a run! I will also partake in the club championships. First race of 09 ebing Noonstones next week. My first race back (hopefully)

All in all, despite putting my big goal to one side for a full year, I am looking forward to this year! I actually think I am looking forward to it more now than I was before. Without the BG training shadow looming over me, without the recce, recce, recce mentality getting in there, basically without Bob Graham I can relax and enjoy the build up to June 2010.

After a great start to the year with some fast and close racing at both the Open 5 and the Dynamic Adventure Race series Challenger and Endurance series there is a bit of a lull in February.

Someone obviously forgot to tell the Dark and White boys this as they have a full month of Adventure Racing and Trailquests packed into this inhospitable month (I say this as it is snowing outside as I type).

The first weekend of February kicks off with the opening event in the 6 in the peaks series from Dark and White. This one is going to be based in Macclesfield Forest and is a 6 hour event with running, mountain biking and the special feature of abseiling. This year Skins are the main sponsors for the The D&W team always hold good informal events so regardless of the snow drifts this will be a good one.

They are also holding a MTB trailquest and a biking weekend and even would be holding a further event if it was not for lack of entries into their night MTB score events. Busy lads and they keep this rate up throughout the year!

Great weather greeted the competitors for the first Open 5 adventure race of the year at Dalby Forest. This course had been designed by Open adventure regular Paul Gomersall and used the forest and surrounding footpaths and bridleways to the maximum.

The running stage was an great mix of muddy fields, fells and fire roads with the odd stream crossing thrown in there for good measure. Some difficult route choices thrown in there for anyone wanting to clear the running stage.

The mountain biking was a tricky stage with the use of slightly outdated maps and many of the roads and trails not marked on the map. This caused at points packs of competitors hunting in the wrong place for checkpoints. CP33 anyone?

Overall a fast course that really was not affected by recent the recent rain apart from the odd boggy field and a great venue for such an event.

The male solo was the tightest class with Andy Conn nearly clearing the course with 570 points followed closely by Phil Scarf, only 5 points behind despite coming back nearly 12 minutes late and Alistair Morris again 5 points behind him. A very competitive start to the series.

The womens solos was won very convincingly by Heather Dawes of Inov-8 with 533 points. She was a full 49 points ahead of her nearest competitor, Julia Barron with 484 points and Emily Brooks came in 3rd with 465. Heather has to be a favorite for the series if she keeps that form up.

Ian Hughes and Andy Shorney from Skinfit won the male pairs convincingly with 570 points. A great result to match the solo winner on points and hold off the two Accelerate teams of Matthew Davis / Eddie Winslow and Adam Haynes / David Spence with 555 and 548 respectively. Female pairs won by Danielle Sheridan and Jessica Weston from Enduroar.com with 405 followed by Jessie Gebhard and Jessica Anstee (367). Third went to Nicky Jaquiery and Jo Foster (365). Mixed pairs was 1st Andy Mitchell / Jill Hume (549), 2nd Andrew Shaw / Nicola Parker (525) and 3rd Andrea Davison / Jonathan Ellis (490)

So where was middle pack? Well 11th in Male solos with 493 points. Unfortunately missing out on a valuable 25 pointer after getting lost on the singletrack trails.

Show on map

The Rat Race Urban Adventure Series are releasing a new format for the 2008 season that will be launched at the Birmingham NEC at the Outdoors adventure show. It is as the title suggests a 9am – 5pm race around Birmingham taking in all the usual Rat Race adventures including running, mountain biking, climbing, and kayaking plus a few surprises along the way.

Hopefully this format will be copied across a few more cities this year?

The rest of the Rat Race series is their traditional two day formats in Bristol, Edinburgh and London on 14/15 June, 19/20 July and 27/28 Sept respectively.