Seriously, you gotta go.
This weekend saw my team mate Josh and I going to do the downhill thing in our own XC stylee, on 24 spoked wheels and xc tyres.
It was marvellous!
Saturday was prologue day, so we went to the Kielder Castle area to book in and get some practice for the upcoming qualifier. We were late, and only had about an hour to practice 4 sections that were spread over the local hillsides.
The previous night had seen us arrive late at Rich's (Julio) house and then eat a well deserved curry. I had the best vindaloo, ever, the night before this fun event.
We decided to do a couple of runs on the prologue and then the same on one of the other sections prior to the main event of the day.
Rob (Our Manager) took the safety briefing for us and passed it on on just prior to the start of the flat out run along the peddly but entertaining section.
It was hard work. Josh and I qualified within 1 second of each other, so we were seeded next to each other--Freaky.
I had laughed at Josh earlier for taking a duff line on the prologue practice and gamboling into the trees at the side of the trail. He got to laugh at me as I did the same thing, later. Numpty.
After the seeding run, we went around the rest of the sections and tried to memorise them for the following day. That young gun doesn't know how to go slow, so I had to take him under my wing (or threaten to beat him up) so that he could benefit from a bit of 24hr pace riding to clear the acid from our legs. It was funny; he'd lose concentration on the task in hand, and within seconds he'd be 100m up the trail in front of me. I hate him.
The trails were all very different and seemed to cover almost all aspects of mountainbiking.
We did one which is almost identical to my local loops at Machen, so you'd think I would ace that one, wouldn't you? I was all over the place and kept losing my front end through a lack of commitment in the turns on roots and pine needles.
Another trail was made up of the gnarliest rock jumps I have seen at any trail centre and I have to say how impressed I was with Josh. He was jumping these things with aplomb on his 4" bike, and loving every minute of it. Poor wee bike.
All of the others were mixtures of rocks, loose rocks, roots, berms and jumps.
We had a lot of fun together.
After keeping ourselves busy riding the trails until evening time we headed back to Julio's for...
...another curry!
I was in heaven.
Another late night. We were up again, and out at 7am since the racing started early on Sunday.
So, we got to the start line, and were counted out and off we go, but not into a flat out race. We had plenty of time to get up the hill to section 1. We rode up and chatted whilst at the top we met a load guys that we were destined to do all of the rides with- except the timed stages because we did those at 30 second gaps and alone.
This format means that you get an incredibly sociable ride out with like minded individuals who, after the seeding run, go about the same speed as you do. A sort of camaraderie formed between the nearest five or so riders.
For both Josh and I, the first few runs were a bit of a nightmare. We were "off form" because of all of the driving and late nights. When I jumped on one section I veered off to the right, whilst my bike kept going in the intended direction. So, on the next section, I consciously veered the other way. The bike did it's own thing and I nearly came off. I was all over the place and started to lose my nerve a bit; especially on the bigger jumps on run 3. We kept going all the same, but only felt that we came alive after lunch.
Lunch was, err, prunes, biscuits and Mule bars. I ate tons. We struggled to get to the next stage (5) after our extended break of about 15mins. You definitely have to keep moving, even if it is at a sedate pace.
The last three runs were great fun, and both of us felt that we were back on the gas. But disaster struck Josh on the final run, as he got a flat about a third of the way down. For some reason, I braked a bit when I saw him looking dejected, but I think I still had a good run.
By the end of the day my body felt battered, but both of us had had a superb day.
Next time I do one of these I'm going to use a stronger set of wheels, though. I don't think that the ones I used slowed me down at all, but the thought was there...
Clive, The Force, organised a superb event. I think it was faultless from a competitors' point of view. Absolutely faultless. We're lucky to have Clive as friend and team mate, and I'm going to be picking his brains for speed tips before the next Avalanche Enduro.
I won't be missing it!
The first time I saw him this weekend was as I passed him on one of the sections. He was doing a bit of official stuff, but as I "flew" past him I heard him shouting "He's a 24 hour soloist, look at him go!" and something about speed. I think it was a positive comment. We didn't really get any time to chat apart from that because he was up to his eyeballs in "it". It's a shame, because he's always entertaining to say the least.
I'm cream crackered, but happy.
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