18th Oct 2009
Well seems an eternity since the last race at Plymouth and it was time to get my race head on again (did i ever have a race head???). So Pete and myself decided to enter the Gorrick Autumn races, a 2 race series taking in some of the best courses in the south,as part of our contiued plan to keep going over the lovly winter months ahead and to hopefully world domination of all the races we enter next year!! ( YEAH RIGHT!!! )
Woke up on sunday morning and felt pretty good and relaxed and some what lighter since i have been on this "healthy eating option!!", loaded the car up and rounded up the kids for the 1.30hr drive to Tunnel Hill, it was a lovly morning a little chilly but when the sun was out it seemed like perfect riding conditions.
Upon our arrival I registered and met up with Pete for a practice lap, the lap seemed pretty good and very tight and technical in some area, but a joy because it was a fairly flat course with only little leg burning climbs (perfect course for me, no hills!!) and some really fun sections on some twist flat out north shore style singletrack. It was bone dry bar a little section that you could not miss really, so first lap was looking good for the race.
So, lining up on the start line of the OPEN race, we decided to get there a little earlier and plopped ourselves on the front row knowing that these popular races attract over 450+ riders through all catagories, and it proved to be a good move as we had over 90+ behind us!! happy days!!, so waiting for the start hooter we were off, Pete had a mare again and couldnt engage his pedal properly and dropped a few spaces, i however found myself in 4th place and feeling comfortable for a change, the 3 guys who were in front were on another planet and were gone going into the first right hand bend, pedaling hard i found that no one was passing me through the first section of single track, legs still feeling good i continued hard and with cheers from my travelling army was encouraged even more to push on.
So half way round the first lap and i am still hanging in there in 4th, then i suddenly had a thought i actually really want to finish this race and decided that maybe i should back off a little and save my legs as i have not been doing a great deal of training and i knew i would blow at some point. Slowing down a little, an inevitable stream of riders steamed past me (a lot younger than me!!) and i settled into a sensible tempo.
First lap flew by was in the top 30, my back at this point was starting to really cause me problems as i was cursing my bike for being a hardtail and not a full "comfy" suss bike!!, second lap was a struggle and not concentrating hit a tree and stacked it (still have the bruises to prove it!) and i also missed my bottle, so was running on empty!!
Going into the final lap legs were begining to cramp up a bit and i knew pete was behind me, with tunnel hill being very twisty you could pretty much gage how far riders were behind you, so i downed 2 gels and the feel good energy boost followed and i pushed it on as much as i could, the final climb was a killer and i managed to pass 3 more people who were struggling on there massive 6″ travel bikes and then it was just a small blast then to the finish line.
Finishing 41st out of 90+ riders and Pete finishing 46th, i felt really pleased with the way it went and looking at my times was pleased to see that i am getting quicker and looking at it i would have finished in the top 30 of the masters race, so using the gorrick series as training i will defo be entering masters for all other events next year.
A summary of the race, it was really good fun and a very slick and well run event (what you expect from the gorrick crew!!) which attracted hundreds of riders of all abilitys, calm relaxed atmosphere, everyone there eas out to have a good time, from a personal point of view, i now know what i need to do training wise to get me up to that next level, its gonna be hard work, but as the saying goes "no pain no gain" and with my weekly increasing weight loss, cycling is becoming a joy again and not a chore.
Gary
results from Team UK-BIKING.NET
Gary Hall 41st Open race
Peter Hall 46th Open race
Next round is on 8th November at Crowthorne (my Fave course)
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Tags: Autumn Classic, Gorrick, Mountain Biking, Photos, race report, Tunnel Hill
Good effort boys, that Tunnel Hill is a decent course.
Sounds like a strong start Gary (maybe a bit too strong!), all the best at Crowthorne..