Not much traveling this week as Trewint was only about 20 mins away, nice one!
Now then, this was the race I did last year when I had that tasty ‘off’ and I’m still bearing the scars of it now, so I was hoping not to complete a ‘double’ this time.
With the rain that we’ve had, this was going to be a wet one and sure enough getting into the field just to park proved a challenge in itself, mud, mud and more mud!
Met up and had a chat with fellow ’gasser’ riders, Jed, Arthur and Tim for a quick chat about the conditions and how tricky it could be (how right we were), then back to van it was to get changed. Although it wasn’t raining at the time, the weather was very wintery and to be honest, it was bloody freezing because of the cold biting northerly wind.
It was nice to get going when the flag finally dropped and off we went. I didn’t make too bad a start, about halfway in the pack as we made our way across an off camber hill that had been cut up really badly due to the quad race earlier and was as muddy and as slippery as you can get. Everyone seemed to be tip toeing their way round as we moved into the wooded section.
The woods weren’t too bad, slippery, but rideable, with some nice roots thrown for good measure and a nasty uphill that later was causing carnage with queues forming to get up it!
Out of the woods we came and again the fields we crossed were just filled with mud as far as the eye could see and no matter what gear you were in, the back wheel would just spin like a washing machine on 800rpm trying to find some grip! The off cambers were like riding on ice and you just couldn’t help yourself sliding down to the bottom and then trying to get the bike pointing in the right direction so you could ‘nail’ it and try and find some traction and get going again. Tricky indeed!
The course itself was only about 5 miles or so, but in the conditions, it felt like a lot more, not hard work, but just tricky and I had quite a few little ‘offs’ due to the front wheel sliding away from me.
The longer the race went on that nasty hill in the woods became blocked with riders trying to scramble up it and thanks must go to all those marshals who were working overtime to help clear it. At this point of the course all you could see and hear were screaming engines, lots of smoke and spinning back wheels, lovely combination that!
After last weeks race and going the distance without re-fueling, I knew it wouldn’t be a problem today as this was only 2 ½ hours in duration so that’s exactly what I did and it worked out a treat, even with the heavy going.
As I came round to the clock with 4 mins left, riders were stood there waiting for the time to elapse, not me mate, so off I went to do another lap.
Not a bad day and I do like riding when the conditions are a little bit more tougher than usual, I just think it’s a great leveller.
Now there’s one thing about racing in muddy conditions and that’s 9 times out of 10 you’re probably parked in a muddy field in the middle of nowhere right? And sometimes you might get stuck right? Well, not only did I get stuck, but also about 20 other vans did as well trying to get out of the place!
So it was out with the coffee and a nice friendly chat with a few other stranded mortals before finally being towed out in near darkness by the local farmer.
Finishing position: 7/16 (clubman 2st)
Bike status: ok
Injuries: none
