tuesday ride - othg

The Llama Farm




Today I met with the 'over the hill gang' from Betchworth. We were due to go to the cafe at Four Elms, but Steve offered to take another group to the Llama Farm. I was intrigued, so I went with them :)
The cafe was quite nice, and the Llamas lived outback in a sort of Llama bedsit with pictures of their relatives on the wall.

We had a little bit of warm rain on the return journey, and some loud thunder! I was a little bit scared, but I'm learnig to man up a bit!

A nice steady 90km on the road bike.

El Extreme '11

This is the third year that I've entered the Extreme and from the registration form I can see something's changed. In order to compete in the Extreme event you now have to be federated, which I take to mean have a racing licence. I do not possess a licence so the alternative is a secondary race for non-federated competitors - same course, same distance(65km), same rules. Being stingy by nature I'm loathed to shell out for a licence that I won't need or use other than for this one day so the marcha turista event it is, the only other difference is that there is no 40+ catagory so I'll be mixing it with the youngsters. Raymond has a race licence so has entered the federated race in the 50+catagory. One advantage this has is that Raymond can now ride his own race without feeling obliged to stay with me. We pick up our goody bags and dorsales: yellow for la marcha, red for federated girls and oldies and green for the senior blokes

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Race morning dawns with clear blue skies and we drive to St Josep and gather in the campo de futbol, after a few warm up laps we group ourselves at the start line, the federated race was due to begin at 9am with the non-feds starting at 9.15 so Raymond moved forwards and I hang back with the yellows. The obligatory firecrackers denote the start and it's once around the campo before hitting the main road into town. It soon becomes obvious that us yellows will be in the way so we just tag on the end and just keep going - it seems the staggered start idea has been abandoned. Fortunately Raymond doesn't realise this. I settle in for a steady-fast Sunday Ride, working hard enough to be breathless but keeping out of lactic territory. This pace is fast enough to overtake many people on the initial road section and meant that I had a fairly clear path down the first rocky descent. Somewhere in the past few months I've grown to love loose rocky trails and I begin to pick people off on the downhills, something of a novelty:) All too soon the path starts to climb and deposits us at the start of the first climb - a steep hike-a-bike to wake the legs and lungs up, I am blessed with 7 league legs and pass quite a few people here too. The descent is a steep gravel hairpinned camino and to my surprise I'm not retaken by all the guys I've just passed.
Undulating rough caminos lead onto the next climb - a fairly technical drag to reach the first avituallamente. It's on this climb that I pass Maria from Mallorca, I think this disturbs her as she squeezes past at the crest of the hill but I blat past her on the fast rocky downhill. we trade places again as the descent turns to fine gravel fireroad but she's looking on the limit and as we reach the bottom I tell her that I'm in the other race and not direct competition, I offer her my wheel on the tarmac section, through the rivebed singletrack and then she passes as I grab an energy bar. Too busy eating I miss a turning and by the time I've backtracked she's out of sight. The next climb is one of my favourites Sa Capalleta, it rises in steps then gets steep but has a good line as long as no one gets in your way and it leads to the second stop and signature control. Next comes a wide gravel track descent with a sneaky sharp left, up and you are thrown into a rocky gulley and some fast furious singletrack which spits you onto a fabulous downhill road section of swooping bends - I pretend I'm Valentino Rossi but then decide that I should probably be Jorge Lorenzo, grinning widely.



Police stop traffic on the main road and it crosses into undulating gravel tracks interspersed with rocky singletrack and the odd bit of tarmac. Suddenly I'm powering through the lanes in Kent and really enjoying the ride. I've had someone on my wheel for ages and here I turn to see it's Senor otra vez! I smile and say hello we chat a little then he pulls away on the flat section, he's a powerful bloke! As I try to keep him in sight I notice my bike feels a little wayward and to my dismay my back tyre is soft, I pump it up and ask a marshall how far to the next stop - only 3km, it might make it. The route drops down to a notoriously wet riverbed crossing which given all the recent rain is inexplicably dry and a short hike-a-bike climb. My tyre is soft again so I set about changing it, I expected a pinch from my bonkers descending but it was a hole worn through by the tyre liner (my last 3 or 4 punctures at home have been identical) my spare has been carried around with me for probably 5 years as I've never before punctured in Ibiza, the valve was sticky and making it hard to inflate, some MasterGym guys offered to help and one squirt from a CO2 canister and it was up and running.
Back on track it was a smooth road down to the 3rd check and chip timing zone. I grab a drink and squeeze my tyre, not quite as hard as it had been or am I paranoid? I pump it to bursting point and set off up a rough narrow track with some little drops and nasty sharp ups that sap legs and burn lungs. Then it's the climb that provokes fear in the most hardy minds: Puig D'en Serra a ridiculously steep and interminable rippled concrete climb. Towards the top I pass Jo we are both surprised to see each other. I am pushing it a bit as I think if I have got a slow leak the quicker I can get to the finish the better, after the climb is another technical descent and again I feel a bit insecure, at the bottom I pump my slightly saggy tyre back up and tackle the next climb over a chain fence and the fast descent to the 4th and final checkpoint. Another re-pump and it's the final S'attalaya climb , a wide camino with the most spectacular views and a gradient to tempt you into the middle ring and graunch away. Once at the top it's just a matter of a bonkers downhill course to the finish, a very narrow, rock and root infested trail with a vertiginous drop to the right - completely off camber for me as I tend to get my right foot out if stopping suddenly. I ride some, scoot some, and walk some, aware that my tyre won't like much rocky impact. Two 6 foot rocky steps to negotiate and then it's downhill on smooth tarmac for the last kilometre to the campo. I have to take the bends with care but the tyre gets me home in a time of 4.32.



I've lost at least 10-15mins between punctures and wrong turns but it's enough to be first girl in the non-feds and I get a podium appearance and trofeo. It would also have got me the top step in the 40+ federated competition and to my chagrin would have placed me 3rd girl overall which came with a £100 cheque prize. On the other hand Raymond raced his own race, had I been in the same race he would have felt encumbered and he finished first in his catagory beating the Balearic 50+ champeon into the bargain. That meant a lot to him, would I have swapped the money for the smile on his face? every time. Memo for next race - take a spare tube that hasn't passed it's use by date!

Juanita

A king with no crown.

Sant Josep Extreme


Sant Josep Extreme
This is third time that I've raced 'El Extrem' An annual 65km mountain bike race around the hills of San Josep in Ibiza. This time I was racing alone, as Jane hadn't got her racing licence and the rules had changed since last year. This year you had to be federated, as it was also the Balears Enduro Championship. They were running a non federated race alongside starting 15 minutes later, and Jane was racing in this. As it turned out later they'd dropped the 15 minutes later thing and Jane hadn't known and so had rocked up at the back for the start.



It didn't start well, during my warm up around the 'campo de futbol' my gears began jumping . This panicked me and suddenly everything felt wrong: my tyres felt soft, my fork didn't feel right and I wasn't sure if I'd eaten enough. The firecrackers went off on the other side of the field and we set off for a preliminary once around the campo before exiting and up the first road climb through Sant Josep. - I wanted a good start to get into the rocky singletrack descents, that I knew came immediately we turned off road. I didn't want to get held up by any weak descenders or in crashes caused by the more courage than skill guys :)- So, I went as hard as I could to hold on to as near to the front as possible. At about 25 minutes in I felt stuffed, my legs were shaking and my stomach felt a bit queasey. We hit the first 'hike-a-bike' section- a 1km long steep section of loose rocks at over 30% in parts. I struggled up this managing to overtake a couple of riders, thanks to my hiking weekends in Wales :) The next descent was another fabulous hairpin loose rockfest. I tagged onto the back of the elite female balears champion, when I felt something hit my calf and bounce off the chain stay. I thought 'my pump?' and stopped and saw that my saddle bag had unzipped and my mini tool had fallen out, luckily my tube was still hanging in there. Fifteen people passed me before I got going ....arrgh! I was beginning to hate this race. My handling was still pretty good and I caught the back of a group of riders and rode with them up the next climb. The check point at the top was water only and I grabbed a cup and missed, spilling it all down my front! It felt good so I did it again :) I set off before the others, because I knew this descent, a fast gravel fire road which then became a series of rollers all the way to the next climb. I started to feel good and found the big ring :)



At the top of the climb I poured more water over myself and set off fast. Some more fast rocky singletrack and a big stepped rocky descent followed. I was overtaking more and more riders, until I took a right turn and realised that I hadn't seen a marker for a few minutes. Damn, I turned back and 500 metres later I got back on the course. I was still feeling good and pushed on once again overtaking all of those I'd already passed before. As I approached the penultimate climb, I hooked up with a very old looking guy and guessed that he must be in my category :) I tested him on the first bit of the climb and then attacked, if attacking is the right word. Puig d'en Serra is two kilometers of 20% average, but I pulled away from him in my granny gear anyway :) Puig d'en Serra is a sort of graveyard of cyclists staring ahead walking their bikes in the sun, it felt good to pass them ;) Another great descent and 5km of rolling climbing to the foot of the last climb Sa Talaia - 2.5 km of 10% gravel track. I grabbed a coke and tipped more water into my jersey at the bottom and set off. I was still feeling good and immediately reeled in a couple of riders and set my sights on a group up ahead.



As I gained on them I noticed that one of them was wearing an Espalmador jersey from Formentera. I remembered that there were two Espalmador riders in my category. The first 2km of the last descent is a very technical singletrack with no chance of passing. As we crested the climb, I attacked hard across the short ridge to get to the descent before him. this descent is very scary and I would rather have walked most of it. At times it's a a couple of feet wide, with large roots and loose ball bearing sized stones plus a large drop to the right. Halfway down is a fallen tree.I dismounted and as I climbed over, I noticed that he was right behind me. Back on the bike and the next obstacle was a series of odd shaped rocky steps and I chanted to myself 'speed is my friend, speed is my friend' and somehow cleared them. I looked back and a couple of younger guys were on my wheel , so my rival must have walked that section. It felt better to have a buffer and I rode hard through the next singletrack opening a gap on the guys behind me. All that was left now was a 1 km downhill through the town on the road to the finish. Big ring and chain fully to the right, I was cutting corners as close to the police traffic marshalls as I dared. One last glimpse over my shoulder as I entered the campo de futbol and he was out of sight. I crossed the line at 4 hours 2 minutes. I felt a bit disappointed to go over four hours, which I felt I would have made if I hadn't taken a wrong turn :(
I showered and came back to see that the results were up and I was first in my category! I wasn't sure how it had happened, I felt that I'd had a rubbish first half of the race, but once I'd relaxed and chilled the nerves a bit, I had ridden fast. I'd pulled back eight minutes on the second placed guy from the 47 km timing point to the finish at 65km Later at the awards, he was crowned Balears master 50 champion. He's a great rider and a nice guy. I think that if he'd realised that I was so close behind on the last climb, he would have attacked and beaten me. So a bit of luck came my way and I made the top step!




Jane had two punctures and still finished first in her race and would have won the master female catagory and come third overall in the federated race :)