Rolling into the drop on lap two, I'd need my bottle in more ways than one
Sunday afternoon saw me compete in my first serious XC mountainbike race in six years - The final round of the Southern XC series on Pippingford Estate down in East Sussex.
The pre race blurrp read:
The series returns to Pippingford for the final round. There’ll be the best bits of track from round 3 thrown in again, plus some new stuff. Expect some long, steep descents and climbs to match.Just what the doctor ordered I thought to myself; a test of fitness and technical riding at speed in the final round of one of the UK's most challenging series!
Having not ridden a previous round I wasn't seeded on the grid, and was therefore somewhere in the 20's off of the start line. Keeping my cool on the opening lap of four, I used my strength on the climbs (600ft per lap) and straights. By the time we came into the bottle / feed zone and the end of the lap for the first time I'd powered through into 7th place. A fresh Zym from Suze and it was head down and away on my second lap. This lap I decided to attack the descents a bit harder, and try to bridge across to the 3 rider group in front. As you can see from the picture above though, my bottle was shaken from the cage and I went the whole lap without a drink. Gasping for some liquid I took a fresh one at the end of lap 2 and was pleased to be told I'd moved into 5th. Lap 3 was tough, but now hydrated and focused, I managed to pull through into a podium position! I was battling for 3rd when I took my final bottle of the race when starting the final lap, but must have lost concentration as when I looked down again to take a drink, it was gone! At that moment the guy I'd been battling with put in a big attack and was out of sight. Digging in deep and taking a few big risks on the twisting descents, I managed to keep a strong pace going through the final lap and crossed the line totally spent in 4th place (just off the podium, but happy for my first XC race).
It was a total baptism of fire in terms of holding a maximum heart rate for over 90minutes, while having to concentrate totally on where your wheels are going and what's coming up next! Already I feel I've re-learnt a lot from just the one race, and am already looking forward to putting in many more to help with my Xterra performances.
Big thanks to sueme/buff for the kit which kept me comfortable, cool and dry throughout the race, and to Zym for the bottles and drinks which kept me going until the end (I may need a few more bottles though now guys).
