The Sunday ride

Today is forecast to be the last dry one for a while, so we thought we'd make the best of it and see the bluebells. I love the bluebells, but the pollen affects my chest.

The trails we lovely and dry, we've had very little rain this year. This encourages hooligan riding!! :) Which is why I'm sitting here in pain from body surfing down the fastest singletrack in Surrey :(

Jane had chosen a route taking us over towards Epsom race Course. The first part is one of my favourite rides for testing my fitness. I led the way up Staine street, which was dry enough to climb out of the saddle, I kept it steady to keep the three of us together. Paul was on his new bike and so was eager to attack and test it :)

So we kept together until the start of the 'longest singletrack in Surrey' where I moved over at the top to let Paul through, but he slowed and moved over to let me through :)

I accelerated hard along the 30 metre asphalt stretch by the house and launched off the step into the loose rocky stuff and big ringed it to the farm, where I saw a dog from the corner of my eye and eased a bit. I accelerated again into the twisty section. As I hit the straight section The bike suddenly veered up the banking, I pulled it back down to the straight but something was wrong. The front was sliding and twisting - then the sloooow mooooootion kicked in and the sound went. I could see that the front wheel was locked and sliding to the left - I thought, I'm going down. I looked up and because I was near the ground already, all I could see was a series of tree roots. So I tried to superman it :) I was pretty horizontal as I hit the ground.I felt my shins and knees bounce off every root as I twisted to slide on my back. Then normal speed and sound returned as my helmet hit the ground....ouch!

As I lay on the ground performing a quick triage :) I heard Jane shout look at the wheel. The front tyre was off and the inner tube which was still inflated was enormous, as big as a tractor tyre and wrapped around the forks :-o (no pictures I'm afraid as Paul and Jane were far to bothered about my well being - bless 'em) I'm sure had it been Paul or Jane the second thing I'd have done would be to take some pics ;)

I'm not sure whether the tyre wasn't seated properly or that I'd hit a rock or root and dislodged it, but this is what had locked the front wheel.

Next the pain hit me and I felt sick and and wanted to go to the toilet at the same time. This was my autonomic nervous system freaking out when the body dumps a load of hormones into the system. 'Dumps'being the operative word :) I think that this was probably my hardest crash ever. Later my gps showed my speed dropping from 32kph to zero in an instant :-O Better than any disc brake! lol!

Once the nausea had passed and I'd reseated the tyre. I was on the horns of a dilemma. Which was: a. being full of adrenaline and wanting to go hard. b. frightened that my tyre might come off again.

Ten minutes later we were hammering down the singletrack to Given's Grove :) This is super-fast and narrow. At the fastest point the owners of one of the local mansions has built a raised driveway across the track. We hit this flat out and took off,I skimmed across whole thing about three inches off the ground.......whoaaaaaa!!!

Ten minutes later I'm off the back on the slightest climb and everything's hurting :)

So, now I'm sitting here and slowly stiffening up. My left elbow won't fully extend and supination is very painful, I have bloody knees and shins,  scrapes and abrasions on my shoulders and scapulae and a huge lump on my right sacroiliac. The good news is that I'll have some fabulous scabs to pick later in the week! :)

More btt in Ibiza

This one looks fun, it's around the castle in Eivissa Town.

stage 3 - Las Calas

It rained all through the night, so hard that it woke me a couple of times. 

After the late night last night it was difficult to get out of bed and face the prospect of 2-3 hours riding in the rain.  We had left the bicis in San Antoni and drove over in the lashing rain, hoping and expecting that the event was cancelled :)  At the headquarters we were greeted with 'you have brought the weather from londres' and 'it is perfect for you' ....etc   :)  So, no pulling out for us then!

The sign on was put off for an hour to wait for the rain to ease and it did a little bit.  

We set off through the streets of Sant Antoni in a huge spray of water thrown up from the road, to add to the rain :)  Up a couple of asphalt climbs and we started to warm up a bit until the first off road section which was underwater for the first 100 metres! Today's ruta was to be a tour of the calas, a cala is a sort of bay or cove. So after the big climb of the day, we tended downwards  back to Sant Antoni, dropping down to the little coves and climbing back out again. This meant some nice technical, wet rock descending down to the beach then a scramble across the sand and then often a hike-a-bike section either up the rocks or steps cut into the rock, which because of the rain each step was a mini waterfall Though sometimes it was  super steep access tracks for boats.  . I have mentioned before that when the rock gets wet in Ibiza in some places it forms a slick grease on the top. The locals call this patina and if you hear the shout 'patina, patina!' you can expect that you or someone nearby  will hit the ground soon. It's instantaneous, one nano second you're on the bike, the next you're not :-o 

Some areas above the calas were huge moonscapes of boulders and rocks and we bounced and banged across these, all the time with the sea roaring and crashing to our left....fabulous :) 

At the top of the last climb out of Cala Bassa we were stopped at the road, because the next section was neutralised. Shortly a police car turned up, this was to be our escort to the finish line. We were told to stay close in ‘peloton’ and not to overtake the police car J About 20 of us set off behind the police car with lights flashing, immediately he sped away and we jumped after him. Soon we were lined out and tucked in behind at 40 kph! People were cheering and clapping as we went straight through traffic lights and around roundabouts into the centre of Sant Antoni………most excellent.  

stage 2

Sant Antoni - Santa Eulalia

The forecast was for 20% chance of rain today, it had rained hard in the night so we expected some more.  It  was much colder as we lined up for the start of today’s stage.

The first part of today’s stage was neutralised and we rolled out of  town as a large group and stopped at the foot of the first climb. We had somehow managed to get ourselves squashed to the back of the first 100 :(  The first climb was  fairly wide fire road and we made good time up this, passing a few of the other ladies. One girl ……. Who was second yesterday tried to get onto Jane’s wheel but couldn’t hold it. She got back on at the next flattish section, and off again on the next rise. We hadn’t seen her for a while when we hit a steep, rocky and rooted greasy section.  Jane was riding very well up this stuff , as people all around were spinning out,  slipping and dabbing. A lot of the guys were walking, but Jane was riding all of it. Then …… just rode past!…. On the worst line possible, she floated over everything….amazing and we just watched her ride away.  This climb lasted over two km’s me and Jane cleared it but it was a long walk for some :)  The steep descent was through a recently cleared forest area and was  at least six inches  deep in wood pulp.We descended fast and I lost the front wheel a couple of times on the bends. But the scary bit was the sticks and branches flicking up and hitting the spokes, I was concerned that at any moment I would lose the rear mech.  

The next climb was a true hike-a-bike section , we shouldered the bikes and scrambled and hiked for a good ten minutes. The next descent was one of my favourite types on the island.- steep wooded, tight  singletrack with rock slabs and rocky drops :)  

We recognised some of the next trails as rutas tres and neuve but in reverse. It’s strange how a previously great climb becomes an amazing descent the other way around. We hit a great descent here again, deeply rutted and loose. On one big drop I flicked up to the right to avoid it and I heard ‘paso, paso!’ on the left. The poor guy ‘supermanned’ over the drop! He was immediately up and apologising to me and Jane and then rocketed of down the trail. My turn next - on the next bend someone went wide, I tried not to and the front washed out………..Rider down!  :) As I got up, I looked up and I was next to the video guy and the photographer……..and they looked very pleased. I shouted ‘saca mi foto?’ ‘Si, si’ they laughed. Everyone loves a crash. :)

The last climb started with an amazing technical section of about 500 metres of  deep ruts and channels which I immediately fluffed and Jane cleared it leaving me and a couple of guys walking. There was about three km to go now, all up. The trail widened into a smoother fire road and we started to reel people in again. This led to a big sprint fun sprint and we dropped the group we were with. At the finish they told Jane she was third women. We met the girl who’d gone past on the technical climb, she was just under three minutes up on Jane. 

We rolled the next 20 odd neutralised km’s with Juan Ferrer and some of the guys from his shop in Eivissa town. It turned out he’d been the guy who crashed in front of me and we hadn’t recognised each other :)

As we came into the finish area we could see the finish line inflatable had collapsed, so we climbed under together and on the other side the t.v. guys were filming us crawling out. :)

vuelta Ibiza stage one

La Vuelta Ibiza

La Vuelta Ibiza is three day stage race held over Easter every year, usually in the north west of the Island.

Stages one and three are around 30km each and more like sportifs. Stage two is 80 km and takes in most of the big mountains and is timed over a 37.5 km mid section.

Yesterday we signed on in Sant Antoni at the headquarters of Mammoth, the organisers. In the usual goody bag was a racing jersey and a t-shirt, it was then that we realised the main sponsor was Space!! Yes, space the rave nightclub, probably the biggest consumer of ecstasy and amphetamine based pharmaceuticals in Europe……yay!  Another quick look through the goody bag  revealed no trace of  free samples :( This may be the start of a new trend, what with Amgen the makers of epo sponsoring the tour of California :) as we pass through the start we hear a shout from Jane’s mother and sister from Wales. The Welsh tifosi  also known as the  taffosi!   :)

Stage one:

Stage one starts in Eivissa Town  on the Vara del Rey. It’s very official, and like the tdf and other big races, we have to mount a stage, walk across and sign in.

The start is signalled by lots of fire crackers thrown to the floor in front of the start line, and we’re off! Like most of these races, there are so many taking part that we wait a few seconds and then start scooting and finally cross the start line a few minutes after the front runners. :)

The first km or so is with a huge tailwind blowing us through downtown Eivissa and through all of the junctions held on red as the police stop  the traffic. We gradually move up through the groups here and as we hit the first climb people are coming backwards.  It’s nice gradual wide fire road middle ring climb, we have already decided to keep it steady and ride together as Jane is recovering from  a twisted knee from the  Three Peaks Trial a couple of weeks ago. But, still we’re passing people and climbing easily.  The first descent is down some very rutted and greasy tracks, Jane is a bit nervous at first but soon realises that she has more grip then she thinks.  The next climb is another three kms but a bit steeper and it’s onto the granny ring. Over this one and we find a beautiful hairpin asphalt road descent! Which then becomes a  rutted fire road. Bonkers, a stretch of pristine asphalt in the middle of nowhere. :)

Next up is the last big climb of the route, for me it’s 22/32 mostly on this one. It starts ok but then gradually becomes more and more broken up and rocky on the right hand side. And more and more we are left with a narrow rideable line on the left.  Even this starts to disappear and become an off camber greasy ledge, Jane is riding very well on this stuff and people behind us are slipping into the rut. Just before the top an angled wet root catches her back wheel and she dabs. I manage to squeeze past and at the top of the climb is the refreshment checkpoint. We grab a couple of  cokes and set off down. It’s pretty much down all the way now, but for a couple of bumps.  Jane responds well to coke and she descends well. We catch a couple on the slight rises, but we see no one on the descents. We pass two more guys on a short sharp greasy 20%+ .  Two or three km’s to go now and I get my head down and Jane tucks in behind on a wide camino. We hit a track wide water splash here flat out and a guy flags us down shouting ‘espera!’  This is the official end and the next section into town is neutralised. We stop and a chap comes up to Jane and says something about ‘primera mujer’  and then realises she’s not Spanish and he says well done first woman home. We’re  pretty astounded! He introduces himself as the President of the Balearics racing and says that he lived in Leicester for a while and does a passable midlands accent :) A local girl then turns up and he grabs them both for a photo. After five minutes the group has expanded to about 20 and we’re told to set off  to town we cruise the streets and once again all the traffic is held back for us.

A lovely day out and I wore shorts  for the first time this year……..hurrah!

Sherwood Pines

My first race of the year! Well for a year in fact :)

This time last year I started to get some tendinitis in my knee, and it's taken me a while to figure it out. So this year I've started to put a bit of effort in again, hence joining the alpha's on a Saturday :)

So I decided to race the national series this year. The first round was at Sherwood Pines in Nottingham.

Me, Paul Facer and Tom (Paul's friend who kindly put us up for the weekend) -Hello Tom,Rachel,Martin and Jude:)- Went for a quick spin around the course. I was surprised by how amazingly like Thetford it was.But it was even less hilly!

This year I'm in a different category to Paul, he's vets and I'm now in the grand vets. The start time was 3pm!! 3pm is ridiculous, that's when I take my afternoon nap! Don't they realise that we oldsters start to get up earlier and go to bed even earlier. I'm up and dressed at 7am ready to go, but it's still eight hours before we start. :)

I'm standing in the paddock two rows behind the seeded guys, surrounded by scary looking proto-pensioners in lycra. The gun goes and they're gone in a cloud of choking dust, I'm still trying to clip in as they disappear toward the first singletrack section. I can't close on them at all, until we hit the singletrack where technically I'm much quicker. But, out onto the fire road again and they're gone. This goes on for a while and gradually I pull two or three back on the singletrack sections. This is tough, each time glance down at my HR monitor I see the high 160's.

I gradually pull in a few of the vets who'd set off before the grand vets, and it's over. Four 7.5km laps - 1.42' This short sharp type of racing is utterly new to me, it's usually fours plus.

I can see where I need to improve: My bike handling is fine, and from riding with the Alphas on a Saturday, I can hold the pain and high heart rates. I just don't have any strength. :)

My heart rate averaged 163, My maximum is 175.

Paul had a good race and was a minute faster than me on every lap.

So next week back to riding with the Alphas :)

The picture is me and Paul picking up our prize for coming joint 312th :-)