Racing for fun - the final Nutcracker of 2010

Photo taken by Enigmatic Photography; photographs of the event can be viewed on flickr.

The final race of the Nutcracker Mountain Biking XC series was held at Hamsterley Forest in County Durham in October and as we set off early on Sunday morning it felt like winter was snapping at our heels. It might have been a beautiful frosty morning but boy was it cold when we arrived at 8.30 am. Every item of clothing was gratefully donned before we mounted our bikes and went in search of the event village and starting line.

The boys were racing in the morning and the temperature felt sub zero when they made a start but that didn't stop us giving Ben plenty of stick for wimping out on the river crossing and using the bridge instead. Still he raced hard and finished third in the Juvenile category in both this race and the series. At the same time Adam was competing in the Sweat Monster and a time trial lap of 1.34 minutes put him in second place; he struggled to maintain this pace for the race and had to settle for third overall. Not a bad outcome for a couple of lads just having some fun!

By the time the grown ups were due to race in the afternoon the temperature had risen a little but no way was it warm enough for the shorts option. Having done a practice lap earlier in the day I decided to live dangerously and stick with my SPDs. There were some tricky sections but I figured it was all in my head and if you're not committed when you're racing when are you? 

I was last off the start line not realising that the Grand Vets were being started separately after the Vets but I figured it would make little difference ... sooner or later I was going to be bringing up the rear with only two woman Vets racing. The course opened with a long section of fire trail that gradually increased in gradient until you turned off road and just kept climbing. I can climb all day on road but on off road technical uphill I haven't got the power and if you can walk faster than you can bike it kinda of defeats the object in a race. Then again there is the dilemma of  'well if you never bike it how are you going to bike it better'. These are the ridiculous conversations I have with myself as I drag my stubborn body round; that is in between generally ranting at myself for being SO slow - remind me again why I love to bike? 

Of course it wasn't all fire trails and hills there was some slip sliding through the rooty woodland undergrowth, where the gradient went radical in the opposite direction, and a river crossing. Since I was last the least I could do to entertain the spectators was give them the real deal through the water and yes it was as cold as it had looked earlier in the day. Just five minutes into the second lap I was momentarily confused by Mark coming towards me in the opposite direction. No I hadn't taken a wrong turn, a nasty virus had finally got the better of him and unlike me he wasn't use to going so slow.

The second half of the course consisted of more ascent via both fire trails and recently felled forest before we hit some fun man made descent full of bomb holes, bumps and berms. You couldn't help but have a massive grin plastered all over your face by the time you exited that section. Later there was radical descent of the more natural type; a hugely muddy vertical section that tried to misdirect your wheels by all means possible. Me and my bike were one and it was either going to be brilliant or I would wipe out in a glorious mud bath of shame ... somehow I gave the bath a miss this time round. And who ever shouted well ridden as we shot out the end of it all and headed for the finish line made my day.

That completes my first Mountain Biking Series. I came second overall in the Female Vet category simply because there were only two of us who actually competed in four or more of the races but I had a ball. I would encourage anyone with a love of biking to give racing a go no matter how scary it might seem - how you feel at the end of the race is worth it every time. Here's to seeing a few more female competitors in 2011.

Keeping the Faith

I love being out on my bike whatever the time of year - once I'm out there. The 'getting out' is always the tricky bit and its always like a zillion times easier if there is someone else to go with. I freely admit I'm spoilt because I can pretty much decide to ride any day of the week. BUT if there's nobody else free to go I feel like I shouldn't be free to go either. Its not a logical thing its just a fact. Its lucky for me that I know more than a few others that are keen to keep going even once the temperatures start to dip and the winds pick up. And so it was this Wednesday.

We headed out of Danby Dale up onto Castleton Rigg before turning back towards Castleton via some moorland single track with a few surprises. I bottled the eeky little edge where the ground falls steeply away from you on the left just as you summit a moorland mound. Pleased as I am with the progress I've made with my clip ins there are still moments when my head rules my heart - never the right way round on a bike!

We had a deadline to be back for so every time we came to a natural pause the next bit of the route was added to fit the time left. The off road ascent up to Park Nook was climbed ... almost to the top and then we churned through Danby Park Wood which had transformed into its muddy tyre sucking winter version and will no doubt stay like that for many months to come. On leaving Park Wood we turned left and suffered up squelchy uphill grassland which had us sucking in big lungfuls of air to pacify the burn in chest and legs. Wonderful to be alive and out among the glory of even a less than sunny autumnal day. Then it was a 'should I or shouldn't I' moment as we came through Ewe Craig Beck, which can run very deep in the winter, but it was fine and with a bit more conviction wouldn't have even needed a pause on the far side.

Little mental challenges, assessing and reassessing; outside with nature right against you; the physical effort; and all of it shared with a like minded friend. Perfect. Soon we were passed Rosedale Intake and out the top of Danby. Tempting though it was to just keep going time was passing and we needed to be back; so it was a quick return via the road and before we knew it bikes were being hosed down and hot tea brewed. Here's to more Wednesday rides this winter.