We don’t usually have time to pre-ride the marathon courses so the first lap is usually a question of just checking it out to gauge what pace to try and settle into for the remaining seven laps of the 100km race distance. At this point it wasn’t raining and I was thinking it was certainly the most enjoyable course I have ridden so far at Sherwood as there wasn’t much fire-road and there was lots of fun single-track that demanded your full attention if any tree/body incidents were to be avoided.

A few laps in and the forecast rain arrived and I tried to kid myself that it just sounded worse through the trees than it actually was but I soon realised this was yet another case of over-optimism when I emerged onto a fire-road section and it felt something like being under a jet wash. The trails were taking on a whole new persona (i.e. pretty gruesome) and instead of my usual plan of trying to get some good even paced laps this outing was clearly becoming a matter of surviving in one piece. Jo and her team of cheerleaders had kindly braved the weather to give us support and the encouragement was definitely something to look forward to on each lap. It was so much the opposite of the weather we had at Catton that I was hoping that this wouldn’t put her off MTB for ever!!

Two flights over the handlebars and a tree hit later I looked down at my mud caked legs and realised that the pink socks would never be the same again but you would however pay a fortune for a mudpack like this at a health club and I was hopeful that at least I would have lovely skin if I ever got clean. It was about this point when the totally unexpected happened and I came across Warren off his bike and barely able to walk. I of course stopped to see what had happened - he had been in a crash with another rider and when he came to get back on his bike he couldn’t stand or pedal but he was insistent that I carry on and promised to somehow get back to the finish arena.

The rest of the race was a bit of a blur really as my mind was now obviously elsewhere. I came through the start/finish at the end of lap 5 and I could see that he had made it back to the Climb on Bikes tent so I just hoped that everything was OK but when I came to pick up my bottle from the feed zone towards the end of lap 6 I could see Team Manager Paul waiting under a brolly and he told me that Warren had been taken off to Mansfield hospital as the Extreme Medics were concerned that he may have fractured his femur. I therefore called it a day after 6 laps to pack up and rush off in search of a hospital that hopefully contained Warren. Jo had seen him stashed in the back of the Ambulance and had very kindly waited for me in the worsening weather to offer any help – I remember saying that I was sorry I had totally ruined my pink socks!

MASSIVE thanks to everyone who offered their help at the time and have since called to see how he is and especially to those that stood in the cold pouring rain and organised getting me changed out of mud caked clothes, getting both our bikes clean and in the car and then pointing me in the general direction of Mansfield A&E.

Surviving the gritty conditions today were my usual Pearl Vertex shorts and Skins compression top together with Pearl’s gel vent pro full finger gloves which were so comfy and ideal in the mud with no velcro closures to clog up. The Skins top temperature control properties really came into their own as it went pretty darn cold as the race went on but I did manage to keep my core temperature reasonably warm with just the Skins top under my race shirt.

The good news since is that there was no bone break and I successfully managed to bail Warren out of A&E with just his souvenir crutches and a very swollen leg. It also turned out that I was actually the last one standing in my category so even though I didn’t get in full race distance I still took the veteran class points on the day.

Race photographs:Joolze Dymond

NEXT RACE REPORT:

National MTB Marathon Series Round 3 at Margam Park on 3rd June 2007