Chase the Boar!!

Another milestone ticked off for me yesterday as I took part and completed the Wye Boar ride. Confirmed as not a race but a trial, the numbered and timed ride took in 37 miles of Forest of Dean and Wye Valley countryside, and had a great turnout and probably ideal weather.
I was lucky and had race mum in attendance taking time out from her studies to look after me, she also shot some photos before and after, thanks race mum (-:
So, the start-

 There's me in the Team Stoned Fish jersey, no 143.

It was a mass start, and everyone trundled out of Speech House field and around the corner to the trailhead where we massed back up and awaited the klaxon to go officially at just after 10am. Notice I'm in full bib tights...that was overdressing. I had to stop a couple of miles in and take them off due to overheating. This meant pretty much undressing fully at the side of the trail. Hey ho.
The course was a good mix of fire roads, singletrack and road sections. It was the first time out for me on the freshly built up (from used parts) full suspension Stumpjumper and I noticed the difference on the descents compared to my usual hardtail frame.
About 2 1/2 hours in I stopped to help a guy with a broken chain and also adjust my saddle as I was getting terrible numb wang. After ten minutes of trying to fix his chain with a removed pin I gave him one of my powerlinks. Charlie if you read this I hope you got to the end ok. Shortly after that I began to cramp up in my quads again. Grr.
A walk along a road section eased them a little.
Back in the saddle and after the first checkpoint and food stop I saw race mum and had a quick kiss and dropped off my bib tights. The course forked at this point with the shorter courses bearing off right, and the longer two left.
More pedalling ensued, along with some fun descents and tricky climbs. I next met up with race mum in St. Briavels at which point I was feeling pretty beaten up from the cramp and tiredness. Not even 2/3 of the way through and I was in the doldrums. A stern 'cheer the fuck up' to myself and off I went. As I took the descent to the bottom of Wyegate Hill I heard my name being shouted in a cheering fashion. A quick look and I saw my friends Neil and Debs who live nearby. I have robbed their picture -

The descent was a good one, followed by a climb that ended in walking and pushing up the other side.
I had a good chat with a fellow hubgear fan aboard a Rohloff hub equipped Singular on the ride along the other side, and still the miles continued to roll on. Coming into Newland I stopped to help another bunch of riders who had snapped a chain, yet another powerlink gone but at least they are moving. Pay it forward people.

As the ride went through a relaxing valley I paused by a bridge to have a bite to eat and got a family to snap a picture.

I'm to tired to even suck my gut in! (-:
There were emus wandering about which made it interesting, and the scenery was really pleasant.
Anyway, on with the ride.
It had got to the point of being an endurance challenge and I buddied up with a couple of guys who were also suffering with the cramps. Encouragement and general feelings of comradeship ensued as the three of us carried on. A section of berms and forest singletrack livened up the last few miles and with the cramp kicking in again the finish was in sight.
After a little walking to stretch the muscles I managed to cycle to the finish line and get my cake and coaster, then down a cup of orange squash.

Fantastic.
37 miles done, time somewhere around 5 hours 45 minutes, position somewhere around the back.
Sense of achievement- massive.
Biggest ride time wise to date and what's more I DIDN'T CRASH!!! The trail karma must be looking after me for helping people out.

Team Stoned Fish's big day out

After the nightmare result for me at the Brechfa Frostbite 40 in January, I was determined to do better this time out. The event was the first in the 2012 Enduro1/X-Fusion Gravity Enduro Series and was held in the Forest of Dean at the Pedalabikeaway trail centre.
Fellow team mates were the usual suspects of Jay, JT, and Aidan. The decision had been made to have team jerseys made up, one as the event encouraged it, and two as actually the price for them wasn't too bad at all, actually cheaper than buying generic branded ones!
Here we all are post race (after handing our numbers back in)-

So how did the race itself go?
In a style similar to a motorcycle long distance trial there were 6 timed stages, but as each rider was sent off on the minute, and had a preset time to be at the start of each stage. This meant that there was little time for chat and tomfoolery on each transit section. I found that I was reaching the start of each stage around 3-8 minutes before my start time. This meant there was just enough time to be taking food on, or having a pee.
In my usual style I managed two crashes on the first stage, first one was over the bars and into the mud with no damage done. Second was riding into a tree and managing to squish my left ring finger with enough force that it is now (not quite 24hrs later) swollen, sore and turning black. Suffice to say it hurt.
After that no more unplanned visits to the scenery occurred thankfully, and the race was well underway. The marshalls at each stage were friendly, and whilst we weren't allowed to pre-ride the course we were allowed to have a walk around if desired.
Some of the transit stages were absolute monsters and necessitated pushing the bike up the steep muddy hillsides, others were a mix of fire roads and singletrack. By the time we got to stage 6, the final one which made use of the Corkscrew section of the DH track we were feeling the burn.
My first ever incursion on a DH track and I've got to say some of it was properly 'oh sh1t!' scary, especially on a light steel framed hardtail. That said, once I accepted that I was simply long for the ride and it would be easier to go quicker it was actually quite fun, especially the hip kicker just near the end.
With a final sprint to the finish line that was it, race over. 3 hours and some minutes and it was all done.
A good day out, and I'm definitely feeling the aches today!
A couple more pics.
Me and my mate Jay (note humourous Tee shirt slogan...)

 and the good old Quickspaz with pushbike alongside, pre-race.

Race?

Well, despite pulling my back and tethering my sciatic nerve 2 weeks ago, I, and the other 3 members of Team Stoned Fish competed in the 6th Forest of Dean MTB Enduro. Big thanks to my physio for the exercises and pummeling, and to the organisers for putting the event on.
L-R me, JT, JB and Jake
The weather was somewhat inclement, meaning plenty of mud and slarr. The start was a bit frantic as 90odd of us in class set off up the half mile fire road climb, the first part of the 10 mile course designed to spread people out before the forest singletrack.
The large bunch of people meant that the singletrack sections through the forest were slower than I would have liked, and passing chances were limited. Still, passes were made even on some of the climbs where I found grip whilst others were slipping. Also I did some cheeky passes whilst pushing the bike uphill faster than others...
Not far from the end was a nice fast downhill section, the ground was a lot softer than it had been and a root jump nearly had me off into the scenery when the landing slid out form under my tyres. Still it was a good chance to make some ground. Tight left at the bottom and then get the hammer down for the final fire road slog to the finish.
Once through the finish gantry I was met by JT who had finished in fifth. I didn't know my placing, but did know I was hungry. Girlfriends met us and I got some much on and warmed up.
Anyway, after checking times and placings, I had come in 15th, in 1hr 7min 59secs. Properly chuffed. JT came in 5th as mentioned in 1hr 3min 4secs, JB came in 61st in 1hr 26min 32secs after three chain breakages and having to run with the bike the last half mile, Jake came in 76th in 1hr 42min 45secs, impressive considering he had been drafted in to replace someone who had pulled out on us last minute and hadn't been on a bike for 10years!
Good times.