Enduro 6 & BMBS R2

Following the sad news that Anna was on an enforced layoff for
Enduro6, I spent the week prior to the race trying to pull in favours
from friends so I didn't end up doing it solo! Luckily, Phil Lenney
(Activ) said that he would be up for the race. This meant that Salsa
had a very strong team, as Phil and I have been glued together in
practically every race foir the past 2 years! When we arrived, the
course was bone dry and very fast. However, with thunderstorms
forecast overnight we retired to the B&B with trepidation over what we
might face the following morning - me more than Phil as he has never
raced at Catton in the wet... However, the next day dawned and with
it came grey cloud, freezing temperatures but no rain! We checked out
the course on arrival back at Catton, fitted the Furious Freds and set
about loading up our pit area. The unique thing about Enduro 6 is
that it is a parc ferme race, where you have to have all of your kit
in the pit area before the start. Having checked out the sign on
sheets, we knew it was going to be a close race. I started and at the
end of my 2 laps we were in 3rd. Phil went out, riding my Mamasita
29er for the first time, and had a bit of a crash in the bluebell
woods - the brakes are fitted the USA way round and he forgot going
into a corner... We spent the next few laps getting back up into 4th
place, with only a few minutes separating the top 5 or 6 teams. Nicky
came up with a good tactical decision to leave Phil out for 3 laps as
he seemed to be getting into his stride and really going for it.
Also, he was racing against Chris Pedder at the time so we were jeen
to really put some time into the AW Cycles pair. I went out to do a
double and managed to catch Keith (Hope), putting us in 3rd. However,
on my return to the pits - DISASTER! Cramp set in and I couldn't run
through the pits to hand over to Phil. He came running over to me and
we handed over the baton. I went and collapsed in the massage tent
under strict instructions to rest and not ride any more laps. So,
Phil went out for the last 3 laps, pulled clear of Keith on lap 1 and
then had 2 more laps against biog Dave Collins (Hope) to try to keep
us in 3rd. The tension was unbearable, as Phil came thorugh the arena
for the final time he had over a minute on Dave. All eyes were fixed
on the final corner to see who would come in first and.... it was
Phil! We had secured 3rd place by only 20 seconds from Hope. Wiggle
generously provided a £10 prize voucher for both of us for our 6hrs of
effort. How nice of them. I used mine to buy 2/3 of a bottle of
Stans Sealant.

The following week it was BMBS R2 at Wasing Park. With the success of
Enduro 6 the previous week coupled with raced here a few weeks
previously at the Southern XC and absolutely hated it I wasn't really
up for the race. I decided to leave the Furious Freds on, more
through idleness than anything else, and went for a couple of practice
laps. What a transformation! The course had dried out, lost it's
sappyness and was very, very fast. The boys from SXC had done a lot of
work following the Southern Series race and had fillled in a lot of
the silly river crossings and taken out the unridable slippery mud
climb. Feeling a lot better, I was gridded at the back of the Elite
field (still no UCI points). This time, I was ready for the
aggressive start and managed to gain a few places off the line. After
a lap or so, I was in a group with 5 other riders, including Phil. On
lap 2, I heard a huge bang - it later transpired that Phil had
snapped his frame clean in half - luckily Trek were on hand in the
arena to patch up the damage, but Phils' race was over. The race
continued and I managed to drop the other riders in the group on the
only real bit of uphill on the course. However, Ryan Sherlock was
coming storming through the field and caught me up going into the
arena. I hadn't ever noticed where the finish was, so kind of
misjudged my sprint (I didn't, basically). Ryan got 17th, me 18th
with Paul Robertson in 19th. I was veyr happy with my first top 20 in
Elite, especially at a course I wasn't expecting to like.

The next big race is the Midlands Champs on the 22nd, then Margam Park
for BMBS R3 the following week. Racing then goes a bit crazy for a
while, with my 8 day Tour L'Heagonal round France with Billy Whenman,
Luke Smith Lee Williams followed by Mountain Mayhem on the 4 man Salsa
team. For once this year, Mayhem isn't my biggest event of the year!
You never know, the new Salsa A La Carte Ti bikes might have shown up
by then too...

Happy trails

GB