Tour VTT stage 4

Today's race took place in the Medieval town of Sainte-Suzanne. The
weather forecast was dreadful. We awoke in our chalets to the sound
of heavy rain, so began changing tyres once again. With the Rocket
Rons fitted, we went for a practice nice and early, 2hrs before the
race. The course started by going through the town, through the
courtyard of the old castle, down some steps (quelle surprise) and
then down a nice off camber grassy slope with some added rock slabs
for good measure. After the drop onto the road at the bottom, the
course wound its way up the other side of the valley. The climb was
in 3 stages and was 2km in total. Stage 1 was on steep, rocky, loose
ground - it seemed like an old sunken cobbled road - and was very hard
to ride as the rocks were slippery. As the race went on, this section
became easier to ride as a line appeared in the bushes to the left.
Section 2 was big ring and very ridable, a nice double track (kind of)
up through the woods. Section 3 was up a narrow, steep, muddy and
rocky chute and was a mix of running and cycling - although again by
the end of the race only 10-20m wasn't ridable. From the top, you got
an amazing view of the chateau before descending down a very steep,
rocky, wet and rooty downhill. The bottom section was very technical
and steep. The final drop onto the cobbled road you began the climb
on was unrideable due to the steep, twisty steps that had been built
on it - it appeared the race went down what was usually a footpath.
After negotiating this section, the course climbed once again for a
short while before dropping back down to the river and running
alongside it for a while. The final climb back up to the chateau was
very steep and only the middle section was ridable. The lower section
was on loose rocks and traction was largely impossible, the top
section was so steep it was a struggle to push up it. At the top, the
course went through an old door in the Medieval wall of the castle,
then through the village streets and back to the start.

The race started with a short 1km start loop before heading out onto
the course. An enormous bottleneck formed at the first set of
downhill steps, with riders barging their way through. After this,
the field was very dispersed and it was a case of head down and get on
with it. Thankfully, the rain had gone and the course was drying up.
Lines started to appear and the laps turned out to be quite fun. I
rode with Luke for the first 2 laps, then dropped him on the long hill
and set off on my own. I passed a few other riders and, apart from
one little bike-ditching moment at the bottom of the technical
downhill, was happy with the way the race went, especially as I had a
really gungy cough beforehand. I turned out to be the last rider
through not to get lapped and finished 18 mins behind the leader in
40th. Being soaked by a thunderstorm was my penance for being so far
behind. Lee had a fantastic race once again and finshed only 9
minutes behind the winner in 23rd place, our team's best result so far
and much more indicative of Lee's true ability. Billy finished in
33rd, 8 mins behind Lee and 10 mins ahead of me. Luke was 47th, one
lap down.

The continuous racing is starting to take its toll on bodies and bikes
- today's race was very hilly and the mud certainly helped to destroy
our small selection of brake pads. Usually when racing, you will pick
up a knock of some description but then have a week to recover from
it. I now have blisters from all the running, a sore left calf and a
bashed right shoulder. It all adds up... Tonight's accommodation in
the Hotel du Stade is a bit interesting. It feels like they've just
kicked the prostitutes out for the night...

Tomorrow's race is less hilly than today in terms of altitude, but
seems to make a lot of use of the same hill. The course zig-zags
through the same woods 6 times. Wonderful.

GB

Positions after Stage 3

I just found out our overall positions. Lee is in 31st after finishing
33rd yesterday. He isn't too far off being in the mid-20s which would
be awesome. Billy is 38th, I'm 40th and Luke is 41st.

GB

MTB Tour de France day 3

Today's stage took place in a little village called Mortagne sur Sevre
in the Vendee region. Having had little sleep the night before due to
a stinking cold I wasn't really up for the race at all. We arrived at
the race in good time, had lunch at what seemed like a truck stop
cafe, then headed to the venue to pre-ride the course and buy some
anti-cold tablets. Having been caught out by a couple of sections
ridden at race pace in stage 1, I was keen to practice the course more
before this race. After swapping the slick Furious Fred tyres Luke
and I had been using for stages 1 and 2 to more grippy and Racing
Ralphs we set off on the practice lap. The course went up a steep
path pretty much from the start, then through the town and,
unsurprisingly, down some steps. These were the longest and steepest
steps we had ridden so far. Thankfully, there was a smooth line to
the left and right hand sides of the steps down a concrete rainwater
channel, so it was a simple matter of weight back and control the
speed. After the steps, the course headed along the Sevre river, over
a bridge and into the woods. The trails on this section were
brilliant - a few sections were too steep to ride and so running made
an unwelcome return. One section in particular was even hard to carry
the bike up as the rocks were so large and jagged. The flat and
downhill sections in the woods more than made up for the running
though - they were much like a trail centre in feel, just with steeper
hairpins and steeper climbs. Eventually you came out of the woods,
crossed back over the river using a concrete dam which was covered in
moss, very slippery and had no edges to stop you ending up in the
river! After a final climbs which started out as a clamber over rocks
and ended with a good ridable section, the course headed back into the
start arena via a couple of drops and climbs over steps.

The race, which was at 6pm, started badly for Luke and myself as we
were boxed in behind someone who didn't seem to notice the race had
started. When we'd negotiated our way around him, we found ourselves
riding with the leading women for a bit. We kept attacking and trying
to bridge the gap between us and the group ahead. Unfortunately, my
chain came off on one of the runs up some steps, so I dropped back a
lot of places while I unjammed it and got back on. Luke was long gone
by this point. I was so cross as by now we were making good progress
through the field. It took me 2 laps to catch Luke again, then we
rode round together for the next 2 laps. On lap 5, I managed to drop
Luke on the final hill. All the while we were passing people who had
gone off too hard and blown - it was a tough course. At the end of
lap 5, I caught Billy who was just riding round as he didn't feel so
good today. We rode together until the leaders came past to lap us -
then Billy tore off after them leaving me to ride the last 1/2 lap
alone. His change of speed was most impressive! At the finish, Frank
said that Lee was having a great race - he was the only one of us not
to get lapped and so the only one to ride all 7 laps (we did 6). Lee
was really pleased with his ride today - even if the spectators lining
the course thought he was Italian (it's the jersey....).

Stage 3 really was a brilliant race - it was nice to finally get some
proper MTB trails to race on. Having so many people cheer you on all
the way round the lap was awesome. Now we have a rest day before 3 XC
races in a row on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

GB

Tour de France VTT Stage 2

Well today's stage was like nothing I've ever raced before. It was
very hot, again, and very, very dusty. I'm still sneezing dust out
now...

It was an 8km lap almost entirely on gravel roads and the race lasted
for 7 laps. It was pan flat apart from a couple of very gentle
gradients. There was one exception to this - a motocross style
up/down/up/down/up/down on a very steep bank which was pretty much
unridable due to the loose gravel and the gradient. It was a case of
run up, jump on, skid down with your feet hanging everywhere and then
repeat x 3 per lap.

The start was mental - 80+ riders in a huge bunch until we hit the
up/down bit. This spread the field out quite a lot and we all ended
up riding in different groups. Billy was with the first group, then
the second group, Lee was in the group ahead of me and Luke was in the
group behind me. I spent 4 laps riding with a Spanish and Japanese
rider before I lost them going through the up/down section. I spent
the whole of the next lap chasing the group down and caught them again
just before the up/down bit only to loose them again as I was running
slower than them! Give me some proper hills any day! Sadly, this
event doesn't seem to have any until Thursday. I could see Lee for
most of the race, but just couldn't make it back to the Japanese
rider's group. I rode 3 or 4 laps on my own - killer on this course.
On the last lap, Luke's group of 4 riders caught me on the up/down
section. I had hoped to be able to stay with them and contest the
sprint at the end, but crashed on one of the loose downhill bits and
cramped in my left calf. I howled, partly with pain and partly with
frustration that I'd been ahead of Luke for 6.5 laps and now he'd
overtaken me! I rode the last 1/2 lap with a group of 2 other riders,
who I beat in the final sprint.

Billy finished 31st (again), Lee 36th, Luke 39th and me 42nd, all in
around 1hr 54mins - Lee's average speed on his Garmin was 17mph!
Crazy. We were 10mins behind the winner (or vainqueur in French,
which sounded a lot like something else when he was being called to
the podium...).

Tomorrow we have been warned that the stage is very difficult - both
the commissaire and race organiser, usually very jovial, looked
genuinely worried when the were telling us about it... We shall see.
Now I best get on with stretching out my calf.

GB

MTB Tour de France Stage 1

Good evening

So today was a 4km TT around the park and gardens in Niort. It was
nice and hot and Furious Freds were definitely the order of the day.
The course started with a very slippery (or not if you had proper
tyres...) and windy gravel path before crossing a bridge, going down
some steps and alongside the river. After avoiding a tramp, his dog
and a mallard you climbed into the gardens which were built on the
side of a 50m high steep slope. You had to run up some steps, then
down a very steep flight of steps with turns. 50% rode, 50% ran. I
ran, the rest of the team rode. Even some of the top guys we watched
later were running - although the winner was very fast and very
smooth. It looked as though he was riding a smooth piece of trail.
After that, the course wiggled up and down the hill, up and down some
more steps and then round the swimming pool back to the finish. The
course was very steep in places and the steps needed a lot of practice
to get used to them. Encouragement from Lee helped a lot here.

Out of 75 starters, Billy finished in 31st with 8.08 with Lee in 33rd
only 1 second behind. Luke was 49th in 8.29 and I was 50th, again 1
second behind! Looks like we have some good team battles going on. The
winner finished in 7.15, 2nd in 7.22 and 3rd in 7.27. 2 of the top 3
were U-23. Billy was 12th U-23.

2 valuable lessons learned - First, pre-ride everything at race pace,
even the easy looking bits. Second, duck more. I smashed my head twice
- once on a low branch and once on a low bridge. Ouch.
Tomorrow is a flat XC race also in Niort but somewhere else to today,
it looks much like Sherwood. 8 laps, 7km laps.

GB

MTB Tour de France

Hi
Team Whyte/Salsa GB of Billy Whenman & Luke Smith (Whyte), Lee
Williams (Wiggle) and myself are currently in France for the 10th
Annual Tour L'Hexagonal - the MTB Tour de France. So far we've done a
lot of being very hot in a van and a lot of sitting around being hot.
Tomorrow we start cycling and being very hot. We have a one lap, 4km
TT to open things. The course is around a pool, round a park, up a
hill and down through the town. Should be exciting racing and at least
I can't get lapped at this stage. The palmares of the other riders are
very impressive - Olympians, National Champs etc - I feel a little out
of place but let's see what happens when the gun goes...
I'll try to post updates as and when internet connections allow, which
will probably be in the evenings.
GB

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