Racing, Rain, and OrientBeering
Last weekend we headed to Lee Quarry, Lancashire, for the Singletrack Classic Weekender. A weekend of bike racing involving 3 different events all to be completed on one bike. Gareth had raced last year and come 3rd, having a great weekend in the process, so we were both keen to be there this year.
The weekend started with some TORRENTIAL rain on Friday evening, enough to flood the main arena and make us glad to be drinking beer, with us and 4 friends squeezed into the nice dry and warm van!
Thankfully, after an early rainstorm on Saturday, the weather improved and the course for the downhill race looked to be drying out nicely for saturday evening's race.
First event though was the Trials. A series of 5 technical challenges, with penalty points given for any failures, which would be used as a handicap in the cross-country race on sunday. These were;
- Trackstand on a raised platform for 10 seconds
- Skinny log ride across a swamp
- Log See-saw
- Hill climb
- Steps up and down
http://www.singletrackworld.com/2011/04/shimano-singletrack-classic-weekender-the-trials/
Next up was the Downhill, which was brilliant fun! A fast, swoopy course with some sections that could potentially slow you down if you didn't pick a good line, as well as lots of fun jumpy sections. It started with a slippery, off-camber hill which saw more than a few victims sliding down sideways, then gradually got faster and faster, ending with some purpose built singletrack trail. My run was going perfectly, until I caught the person in front (we were set off at 30 second intervals) and couldn't get past on the narrow trail :( It was pretty frustrating and I was gutted at the end of it not to have got a faster time when it had gone so well at the start. Gareth started well but unfortunately had an over-the-bars incident part-way down, losing valuable seconds (he still finished faster than me though....grrrrrr!)
Saturday evening saw a new event introduced....the Polaris Orientbeering challenge! Basically you had to ride to another quarry on a newly built trail, ride the fast, fun quarry trail (whilst whooping loudly with glee on every berm :) ), stamp a control card, and then head back for your prize.....a pint of Old Speckled Hen. Needless to say, it was pretty popular and well worth the effort!
So the final event was sunday's XC. I had 7 minutes of penalties after the 2 previous events, and Gareth was starting with 3 minutes penalty. The course was great, really fun riding, and some leg-burning and lung-busting climbs. Initially the rules had said riders would do 3 laps, but when the winner finished, the race ended, so essentially if you were lapped, you only did 2 laps. I was going well, and knew there were no other women in front of me after I'd been riding at 100% from the start, for a lap and a half, when Nick Craig (super fast XC world class racer) came past me. I got a second wind of energy knowing that I would finish at the end of the lap, so promptly picked the pace up more and raced up the last hill.....only to be told the rules had changed and i had to do another lap! After several minutes of wandering around confused as I was told several different things by different marshalls, I decided to just get on and ride just in case I got overtaken whilst waiting to find out whether it was actually 2 laps or 3!
Anyway, 20 minutes later I crossed the line as the women's winner.....yay! Gareth had finished earlier in 14th place in the men's category, and promptly thrown-up on the finish line from trying so hard!
We had a brilliant weekend of riding, beer, and bbqs, and watching friends race too, and will definitely be back in a couple of years time to do it again. We didn't do too badly for prizes between the 2 of us either! (Gareth got a spot prize for being sick!)
The video link below sums up the fun and games of the weekend nicely :)
http://www.singletrackworld.com/2011/07/shimano-singletrack-classic-weekender-video/
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