Afan Raid

My road racing friends Andrew and Stu invited me to join on a mountain biking weekend in the valley. I couldn't wait and was counting the days - but little did I know that it would so massively exceed my expectations.

Firstly off, I could not have asked for a better group of guys - and, apart from battling a little with names, I felt at home from the start. Then the trails, just totally sick. I don't know if I've ever used that term before but it just makes sense here.

Despite leaving Bath to glorious sunny skies, Saturday morning in South Wales was bleak; heavy showers threatening to make a misery of any riding. So we procrastinated. And it paid off - the rain abated and so at least we didn't get rained on. But the trail was extremely wet - brilliant conditions for me to become reacquainted with this whole mountain biking lark!

So we set off up White's Level, a great up and down course. The climb gains 525m through nice single track - a few little technical sections but mostly just straightforward, flowing trail with a few hairpins - the MTB feels like a tanker compared to the crosser! Then from the top the trail cascades back down the hill to the trail centre; the Energy section being particularly brilliant with the table tops and some rocky banked turns.

I need to grow bigger balls - I found it difficult to resist confidence braking into corners, only to realise I could have carried a load more speed! I'm sure it will come with time, but I still feel a little out of sorts come the descents.

So I wasn't too surprised when I managed to clip a rock the next morning and then put my wheel off the edge of the trail. I emerged bruised, still not entirely sure how I did that, but learning that perhaps over-thinking is my enemy. Later I got happier to just let it flow; not that I quite got the knack, but thanks Steve for constantly nagging me to leave the brakes!

Speaking of brakes - goodness - the Welsh mud is vicious! One set of pads (front and rear) after two circuits of White's on Saturday! Madness.

And apart from the crash (and the annoyingly stiffening knee that resulted), Sunday we hit W2 - a combination of White's and a trail ominously named The Wall. It was a good day on the bike, but hard. Not that I could complain: Simon, who had done zero exercise in the last 6 months, let alone having ever ridden an MTB, gamely took it on and finished it. The dude was simply mega.

So overall, a totally awesome weekend. What I've described of the riding is just the tip of the iceberg. More so, I've hardly talked about the group - suffice to say that they are just stellar bunch. I couldn't have asked for a better crew to ride & hang out with, talk bike-geek stuff, stretching techniques and ponder 21-year-olds.

Ace! Thanks guys!

The Hotel Gym

I hate gyms. Passionately.

Being outside and getting exercise is fun, liberating, exciting. Gyms are just boring. The only diversions are good looking women who tend to look back at you like a sad loser if you're caught appreciating.

So I don't usually do gyms, but my sub-standard performance in recent races, and stupid schedule have driven me to using the most dreaded of all gyms; the sad, deserted confines of the hotel gym.

But all in all it was actually quite a good experience. A good half hour each of running and cycling, looking at flashing lines on the screen, managed to feel particularly good today. I was training! A rare occurrence, I know.

So, hopefully I'll be able to keep up this good habit. Bring on the weekend!

Purdown - Western League #3

I'd been dreading the possibility of "heavy rain" as forecast on all weather sites. I don't mind getting muddy, and I don't mind getting a little wet, but drenched sucks. So I was massively relieved that it was warm (if overcast and windy) and not raining when I signed up.

Probably because of the forecast, it was a fairly small field. The venue at Purdown is like a park, but with a big garage in it that looks like it might have once been a fire station or something. And the hill disappears up on the west side. Ominous!

So, a lap of the course: It starts on a grassy field just before the big garage, heading past the long west wall, then turning right to briefly skirt the north wall before plunging down the slope, around a slippery, open hairpin, and then back up the hill. Near a little cluster of trees was a nasty little transverse groove in the hill that was just enough to mess up your momentum before kicking up a little on the run up to the really nasty bit between the bushes. This bit was pretty much unrideable, slick mud and really steep.

After "The Hill" as I called it, the slope gradually levelled off and became grassy again, providing some traction - time to remount. Then a short stretch to a hairpin and a gentle downhill run (into the evil southerly); then doubling back at a hairpin to climb the gentle slope again. The course then turned left again to skirt the field; an interesting little left-right-left - a short blast across another little grassy field, a nice fast, slippery left hander, then a deceptively hard and bumpy climb up out of the little field, then a steep left hander into an all-too-brief stretch of single track before a tight right, then left-left back to the start.

Altogether it was a very hard circuit for me; certainly not suited to me - there weren't many properly technical sections where I could get some advantage back and I am simply in bad shape. And "The Hill" simply murdered me every time; I'd battle to walk up it, let alone jog. It was awful. Second lap up it I was nailed by everyone. I couldn't believe my form was so bad, but hey.

Of course, that was briefly followed by trying to think of good excuses to abandon, but I kept on. Slowly the mud started getting more and more churned, and I found that I was starting to find more of an advantage in the tricky sections - as sparse as they were! Plus I found that I was catching riders ahead even on the hard pulls into the wind. So I slowly started picking riders off and making up places. And I started having a ball; drifting the bike completely sideways into the increasingly slick corners as riders ahead were tip-toeing with one foot out for security - it felt great. Sure, the mud-specific tyres and disc brakes helped, but it still felt great.

I was slowly pulling in a Dynamo - the London Dynamos were Dulwich Paragon's arch rivals (Dulwich being my London club) - and I was becoming increasingly determined to pass him. Bell lap came and I had 50m to make up. Up "The Hill" I was lapped, a good opportunity to grab a wheel into the wind. I took it, made up the deficit and then made my move and caned it for the last 500-odd metres - putting a huge slide into the steep left hander into the single track but taking a lot more conservatively to the line once I'd worked that I'd put in a good gap.

Afterwards I felt pretty good. The legs were good but my lungs were a bit shot, being a fairly fast circuit it was big-time cardio.

Yeah, I need a lot more training to get anywhere near the form where I feel I should be - but the racing certainly is doing me good - if nothing other than helping me learn the limits of my body and honing my bike handling.

Next week is Stroud. Lets hope for a nice, seriously muddy race!

Cowbell - where is the cowbell!?!