This was a very close race for the Sunday Riders. Kb took two minutes out of me and the Mighty Dinsdale was six minutes later.
The mighty Dinsdale - 6th in the ladies.
KB - 10th in the 50-59 men.
Photos:here
This is a tough race my heart rate monitor showed an average of 160 bpm for the whole race - my maximum is 178 ie most of the the race at 85 - 90% including the descents!!
The race started very quickly with a 'neutralised' 6k at 35-40kph. I tried to stay with the front group for as long as possible, hoping to keep an eye on kb. This meant that I was absolutley stuffed when the race turned off-road to ascend the Ingleborough climb. I couldn't see kb anywhere, so I assumed him to be way up the climb with the front runners. After a short farm track and some grassy riding the hill suddenly steepens so much that you have to pull yourself up using the wire fencing with the bike shouldered and stamping your feet into the ground for grip.
A few moments later I noticed kb, two people in front of me. I thought it was strange that I'd caught up with him(it turned out that I'd passed him on the road section when he was being sick)and now half a pound of porage lighter had passed me just before I'd spotted him. I heard voices behind me,it was the mighty Dinsdale Here my gps says that I was at 96% of my maximum heart rate and my speed was just under 1km/hour. I could barely breathe, and the Mighty Dinsdale was cracking jokes with the marshall!
Once we reached the top Kb disappeared over the edge into the mist of the descent. Initially rocky the descent then became very steep and grassy, punctuated with deep boggy front wheel snatching dips. I was going well on the descent overtaking lots of people who were walking. About 200 metres from the crowds at the bottom I heard 'left, left' and Rob Jebb shot past doing at least 50kph. Here I saw Jane but didn't need to stop. the next section was a pretty uneventful road transfer to the next big climb,Whernside. I made sure to eat and drink and shared the effort into the wind with a big northern guy who didn't say much.
I could ride a bit of the beginning of the Whernside climb, but soon once again there was a long snake of riders shouldering their bikes. As we climbed the clouds rolled in and it started to rain, which was nice and cooling. At the top I could barely see two metres ahead and was beginning to feel pretty cold and miserable. Then my surroundings started to look strangely familiar and I realised that we had hiked this section the day before. Hurrah! I know this bit. I jumped back on the bike, ignoring the vow I'd made the day before not to ride the narrow strip of trail on the edge of the drop to the valley below:-o This descent consisted of huge slabs laid with 15 cm gaps between them. Again lots were running or walking this section. This is where mtb skills come in handy, I rode this section hopping the gaps taking loads of places back from the super fit fell runners.(note to self:go fell running next year) I even rode the set of stone steps by the Ribble viaduct. At the bottom Keith was just leaving leaving the pits, he'd fallen on the easy bit and smashed his front wheel. Jane the pit-babe had just performed an F1 style wheel change. I refuelled, got my face wiped, and set off in pursuit.
Up the road, I caught big northern guy again, he was surprisingly chatty and we worked to gether again while I swallowed some gels. I spotted kb about 200m up the road who looked like he was suffering a bit. At that moment a bunch of youngsters came past so offered a free ride I took it;) Northern guy missed the jump. As we passed kb, I opened a slight gap and shouted for him to get in. He shouted that he'd bashed his knee in the fall and was taking it steady to assess it. I got back on the group for a short while, but wanted to keep some powder dry for Pen y Ghent.(in hindsight I should have opened the biggest gap I could on kb, as he doesn't stay down for long:)
This is the cruellest part of the event. The finish line is 3.5 k's down the road, but at this point the riders are turned off the road to go 5.5km to the top of Pen y Ghent and back down the same way! I turned up the track which was surprisingly rideable,now I was pleased that I'd put very low mtb gears on and could use the 22/34 to pass riders who were tired and walking. I put my head down and started to push hard on the pedals, when I heard a yell up ahead. It was one of the riders coming back down sliding all over the place on the rocks. I wasn't sure what to do, so I did a track stand and he managed to avoid me. I caught another rider and asked what the protocol was for right of way. He said that the descending riders go where they like and we have to avoid them! I looked up to see another rider bouncing down track with bloodstreaming from both knees. I steadily passed people on the way up(and some passed me) avoiding the incoming guys, until the last couple of km which steepened and became looser. So, once again I shouldered the bike and started the plod to the summit.By now the sun had come out and was baking every one on the hill.
At the top I checked in and decided to have a pee. at that moment I heard a noise behind me I turned to see kb running to the checkpoint,leap onto his bike and set off down. Damn, I was mid- flow! I chased but knew that I didn't stand much chance of catching him - he's an excellent descender. I could only hope that he was so reckless that he'd puncture on one of the many stone water bars we had to hop over on the way down.
Now, I was one of those riders dropping down the descent sliding and hopping rocks with people jumping out of my way...fabulous!!! a few hundred metres farther down I heard ' Go Raymond' It was the Mighty Dinsdale on her way up and only a few minutes from the summit. Panic stations.... did I want to catch Kb more than I wanted to avoid being caught by the Mighty Dinsdale?....Hmmm.
Ramon
