English
10th, 11th & 12th April 2009
This weekend I planned to ride both the Exposure Lights 40km Night Enduro and the Merida 68km Enduro at Builth Wells. But what I didn’t plan on riding was the Castle Coombe Easter Classic Criterium that took place on Good Friday.
Castle Coombe Easter Classic – This race took place on Friday afternoon and was very damp. Before the start I wasn’t motivated to race because of the weather and crashes in races earlier in the day, I didn’t fancy crashing on my new Carbon Focus Cayo Pro. Once we were all lined up on the start line the rain started to ease and the riders were quite experienced being a E,1,2 race and I was happier to get stuck in to some racing. The race had a large field of around 60 riders and lasted 1hour 40 minutes with an average speed of around 27mph. The race was fast from the gun and it didn’t leave much chance for a break to get away not from the want of many riders trying. There were also a number of primes that I came close to winning the one but was beaten to the line by one of the Sport Beans Wilier riders. The race ended with a sprint finish and a blanket of riders crossing the line, I think my position was around the top 20. I was pleased with my performance and with the Focus Cayo Pro being the first race and thought it to be a good warm up for the Enduro’s.
Garmin Edge 705 Team Edition Data:
Duration: 01:40:26
Distance: 72.06km
Average Speed: 43.04kph
Exposure Lights Night Enduro – This race is a unique event and didn’t start until 8pm on the Saturday night where it was just beginning to get dark. The race was 45km long and predominantly off road apart from a few road sections leading from and back to the arena. The ride was fast from the start with five of us leading (Nick Craig, Stuart Bowers, John Pugh, Oliver Holmes and myself). Eventually we split on one of the penultimate climbs leaving me to chase the three riders in front and I also had Oliver Holmes Chasing me not too far behind. I couldn’t catch up with the leading riders but managed to stay in forth ahead of Oli by the time I got to the finish. The course was brilliant with some of the descents being technical and super fast, luckily I had my Hope Vision 4 Light and a Wiggle Edition Exposure Joystick on my helmet lighting the trail.
Garmin Edge 705 Team Edition Data:
Duration: 02:01:29
Distance: 45.63km
Average Speed: 22.54kph
Merida Enduro – After two hard races Friday and Saturday it was time for the hardest race of them all and with my legs feeling the previous race efforts I knew it would take a few miles for me to warm up. It was a beautiful day with the sun shining and temperatures reaching 15 degrees with light winds making it hard going on the sheltered climbs. The ride started with a 7km neutralised section behind a lead van with over 1500 riders taking part was a picture to see when I looked over my shoulder to see this long train of riders. The selection of leading riders was made on the first gruelling climb that consisted of six riders and they were the same as the previous nights enduro (Nick Craig, Stuart Bowers, John Pugh, Oliver Holmes and myself) and one extra rider Anthony O’Boyle (Team Mojo Orange) my former team mate. We all rode together at a steady pace for the first 30-40km and then we split in to two three-man groups. I was in the second group after local rider John Pugh lifted the pace leaving me to ride with Oli and Anthony. We kept the 3 leading riders in sight for the remainder of the race but never gaining any ground on them. Eventually on one of the final climbs Oli dropped Anthony and myself leaving us to ride in for 5th and 6th position. The course had super long climbs and rapid descents that were really good to ride and I think the weather made the day.
Garmin Edge 705 Team Edition Data:
Duration: 03:05:42
Distance: 64.58km
Average Speed: 20.87kph
This weekend I will be racing the Totnes-Vire two day stage race in Devon which is an E,1,2 race with some of the bigger UK teams entered which should make for some good racing.
Ben