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!?!