Hot, Hot, Hot

Last weekend saw round three of the Nationals and on return Pete Dawe rang me with a report. The course it seems was very quick and very hot, the lack of rain had made for fast trails littered with roots. Pete was feeling good with Mayhem still coursing through his legs so went off hard and was able to hold the pace for the duration leaving him in 17th, his best Nationals position so far this season. Luke Eggar, having survived a near death experience last week when he fell asleep at the wheel (as did Martin and Barny) and ran his car off the road put in another lightening performance and finished 4th just seconds off the podium.

Sean and Barny who seem to have a very full race calendar this season were again in attendance. Sean finished in a very respectable 22nd and Barny was forced to pull out on lap two as a result of a groin strain he had picked up cage fighting the day before. Robin Sillett also rode for the SouthFork Social team and finished a very credible 10th place with three incredibly consistent laps (all 27 minutes).

Blake has once again sent me a very exciting report and seems to be enjoying life as the ‘SouthFork Marked Man’.

God this month has been up and down to say the least. Started out well with a 3rd place finish at the Surrey league road race, which gave me my final points needed to become 1st cat so needless to say I am very happy with that.

Four days later I was in action again at Ilton, and found out how difficult road racing is once you are a marked rider, everywhere I went I had riders stuck to me like excrement to a blanket and disappointingly had to watch the break go up the road as no one wanted to chase if I was there. I managed to get away with two laps to go and nearly managed to bring the break back but missed out by a few seconds and had to settle for 11th.

The next race was Portreath crits and I felt I had a point to prove, if riders wanted to sit on my wheel then I was going to rip their legs off! The pace was high from the start and I was in the first move of the day with a friend of mine Gary Chambers but it wasn’t to stick as people with fresh legs chased us down. As soon as we were back, a counter attack went off from James Smith and Rob Wilcox of Somerset Road Club. I watched them quickly get about 300 yards on our chase group which surprise surprise I was on the front of with everyone looking at me to do the work. So I gathered my self and attacked like a Tasmanian Devil on chilli sauce to leave the other riders trying to hang on to my wheel for dear life which thankfully they didn’t manage to do.

Mission accomplished, I time trailed my way up to the others and we worked together well eventually lapping the rest of the field meaning we had 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the bag at the very least..... This however was a mixed blessing as I was in a 3 man break and two of them were team mates meaning I was at some stage going to get attacked for the win! With about 6 laps to go they started and I must have chased them down one after the other about 30 times in those last 6 laps. Into the final lap they knew they weren’t going to shake me and instead sat on my wheel forcing me to lead out. So I just rode tempo and kept a beady eye on what they were up to. With 300 metres to go I picked it up, put my head down and hoped they wouldn’t be able to get round me. At 200 metres to go they were still on my wheel but I had more left so I buried myself and thankfully held on for the win.

my next race was the Kalas 2 day which after the weekend before I went into with high hopes of a podium position. The only worry was the team time trial as I was in a composite team having failed to persuade any of the Southfork army to join me.

The prologue went very well finishing 3rd, covering the mile in 2.08 and only losing out by one second to ‘the terminator’, Marcin Bioblocki. So all was on track.

In the circuit race I wasn’t feeling great but managed to finish well up in the bunch meaning I didn’t lose any time on GC.

Then into the Time Trial... as I lined up with the four other riders I was worried to say the least, the only one I knew I could trust was Gary Chambers who is a demon time trialist but I was hoping at least one of the other 3 could hang in there as the time would be taken on the 3rd man across the line!!!!

We started slow to give the other riders time to settle in and to my horror had dropped two of them by half way into the first lap! With just 3 of us left Gary and I decided we would do all the work and all the other one had to do was hang on!

Things were looking good then until 2 and a half laps when I heard Gary start shouting as we had dropped the 3rd rider. We sat up and freewheeled for about a minute before he caught us again, then it was just a case of damage limitation as we tried to nurse him home. In the end I we lost over two minutes and it dropped me from 3rd overall to 35th.

The next days 72 mile road race was going to be all or nothing for me now and with Sports Beans controlling the pace it proved to be the later. I had a good few goes at getting away but was brought back every time, the pace was red hot all day and with an average speed in excess of 27 mph on a hilly course. It wasn’t really much fun and over half of the 80 man field was dropped. I came home in 11th place on the stage and 24th overall but was bitterly disappointed at what could have been.

Still as they say onwards and upwards, National Championship Report to follow!

Thanks Blake, keep it coming.

I am off to Wales this Sunday to ride a 100k Merida so if I have not dehydrated and died I will report on that next week sometime. I couldn't find any pics of Blake or the boys so went for irrelevant. Sorry

Mike

Mountain Mayhem

Mountain Mayhem is the measuring stick that all mountain bikers gauge themselves and each other against. With this in mind I feel that SouthFork will need to buy some very long rulers.

No one was really looking forward to Mayhem this year. Let's face it, it is always cold, it is always wet and it leaves mud stains on your body that can only be removed with mentholated spirit. Nether the less, we entered three teams. Sean captained the ‘Ten Man Team, Fiona by default captained the Mixed Elite and the four man ‘Sport’ team was led by a small demented squirrel called Norman.

Luke, Chris and Barny flew out of the blocks for the run with Luke well up the front looking very serious, Chris and Barny just behind looking knackered. That first lap from Luke put us in an excellent position and put the Sport team in contention for the podium. During the night we took the lead and fought hard to hold onto it. Through the night we battled with Pete, Gez and Luke laying down some seriously fast laps and myself just laying down as I kept crashing in exactly the same place every lap (apologises go out to the marshal I squashed in his deck chair…….twice). As the sun rose over the new SouthFork gazebo and I quashed yet another bottle of ‘Accelerade’ (now sold from the online shop) we were leading by 12 minutes. With four laps to go we suffered a broken chain and try as we might could not regain the top spot finishing second in our category and 10th overall.




The ten man team were also making their mark with Sean’s consistency, Barny’s new found form, Robs new wheels, Andy’s grim determination, Nick’s funny looking bike, Martin’s funny looking face and Matt’s disappearance (seriously buddy, where did you go? I asked the others and they said you exploded!), they were soon serious players in their category. Fuelled by Sean’s carbon sausages (now being used by Tiverton primary school for ‘colouring in time’) the team finished 3rd in category.

The mixed elite team also rode a strong race, Henry threw down a 46 minute lap only bettered by Matt Loake who would have been quicker had he not paused to blow kisses at the camera (see picture). Chris was also draining the Accelerade and this concoction of carbs, protein and lobsters motivated him to be the only team member to go out for a double lap in the dark while it was raining. Fi, having previously only ridden Mayhem solo, kept looking around at her team members with a look of slight unease and confusion. It may have been this that prompted her to get into a fight in the woods leaving her bleeding from her spud like knee. The team finished either 4th or 5th – TBC.


Nationals are rearing their head once more next weekend. I am not going but will endeavour to interview those who do and get a report blogged shortly after. If Blake has any roadie news I will get that up here too. Finally many thanks to Matt in San Francisco who e-mailed to express his enjoyment of the blog which he is reportedly ‘living vicariously through’. It is nice to know people read it.

Mike

Lake Wettern Bike Race

Fiona has once again been racing abroad but this time she turned to the dark side and did it on a road bike. Fi sent me this report this morning.

The Lake Wettern bike race is epic. It is a one-lap road ride clockwise around a stretch of water so large you can’t see the other side. You start in waves of 50 people in 2 minute intervals any time between 8.30pm and 5.30am and you just keep on riding until you’re back at Motala on the East side of the lake. 19,000 people entered this year and I was lucky enough to win a place to ride.



The atmosphere at the event is electric and streams and streams of people on bikes of all shapes and sizes constantly set forth over the starting mats and head out for their personal Vatternrundan challenge. Our 9.28pm start was a good slot and we had over 2 hours of daylight to enjoy the first 100km, which was down hill or flat and with a tail wind! I immediately stuck in behind an 8ft Dutch guy and barely pedalled for the first 9km, thinking ‘this is going to be easy!’ A puncture and 15 minutes of stress later and I wasn’t feeling so good. Having lost my 8ft windbreak I had to rip past group after group desperately seeking out a bunch that was my pace.



70km passed like this and still no group (although a few waifs and strays had begun to string out behind me). I stopped at the first big feed station and refilled my bottles, gathered my thoughts and shared a nod with Anders, my new cycling buddy from Stockholm who had been the only one of my collection of riders who had bothered helping me out on the front. It was agreed, silently, that we would ride together. He was a Vatternrundan veteran of 4 attempts and knew what it was all about. He was also a mountain biker and us fat-tyre folk tend to stick together!



Together we rode on and at some point just before dusk, at about midnight, a team of Norwegians flew past us. Without any hesitation we jumped on their tail and that magical moment occurred where your speed bounces up and your heart rate bounces down simultaneously. We settled in for the 3 hour dark patch, joysticks illuminating the logo-ed and lycra-d butt of the guy in front. Time flew past and we were eating up the miles, now heading northwards and into a head wind which only made itself known when we wavered slightly to the left of the wheel in front.



Anders had said he would stop for lasagne at a major feed station and at 4am I reluctantly left the Norwegian engine and joined him for a feed. It was good though – a big slice of lasagne and carton of milk. The food of champions! 10 minutes later we were out again and battling into the headwind on our own. We tried 2 minutes each on the front but it was too hard. We slipped to 1 minute and battled to keep our speed above 30. I knew it had been going too smoothly. We had been rocking with the Norwegians at 34 and this was a major blow. But we kept saying ‘we’ll be caught soon and have some shelter’. 50 minutes passed and still no group to join. Anders was losing his morale. We passed my hotel in Karlsborg, which was 200km in and I shouted with joy – that meant we were over half way up the North side. Only 50k left until we turned south again. Anders just grunted.



Eventually we reached another drinks stop and saw a gaggle of green and white riders by the side of the road gearing themselves up to get going again after their stop. “The Norwegians!” I cried. Brilliant. Soon they would catch us and we would ride together again. In the mean time we joined a bunch riding roughly our pace or a bit slower. It was better than breaking away and suffering for even longer so we stuck with them. About this time I had an incredible second wind and felt very strong. I started to organise our group, who were flagging somewhat. “No more than a minute on the front, but ride hard!” I said. The boys laughed at me but did what I suggested and our speed picked back up to 34 or 35 on the flat. We were making far better progress and when the Norwegians caught us we melted in with them easily. I was feeling stronger and stronger with each passing km and riding hard up the climbs. The group thinned and soon it was just Anders and me plus 2 Norwegian teams. We were rocking.



The end of the lake appeared and we turned south. Anders had planned another stop 50k from the end but I said ‘no way’. The thought of more battling on our own without the others was unappealing. With our tail wind we were motoring at 38 or 39 and I persuaded Anders he could hang on for 1 hour more. I gave him some food and we continued. The last 40k was hillier but it was the home straight and everything came out the bag. We were making breaks, sprinting up the climbs, rolling through and off and enjoying the tussle. The Norwegians were a strong team and it was a real learning curve for me riding with such experienced roadies when I’m just used to mountain biking.



Motala appeared, complete with waving marshals, a few sleepy spectators and some tight turns. A sprint finish saw me take 2nd spot from our group and we all stopped, medals on, and shared a smile and a hug after a fantastically exciting and fun ride. The ‘sprint’ of course was pointless because we had all started at different times, but it was all about enjoying the moment and the smiles said it all. I never new road riding could be so fun. I’ll never give up mountain biking, but riding those smooth Swedish roads, smelling the pine forests at night and working hard with a group of great riders was a lovely feeling and a far cry from the procession that endurance mountain bike racing can sometimes be. I will be back next year for sure, Oh, and I might try and beat my 10hrs15 overall time (and my 9hrs47 ride time).



Thanks to Exposure Lights, Goodness Shakes, Spoke Shirts and Southfork Racing.

Multi Meteo

‘Anyone who says sunshine brings happiness has never danced in the rain’


Margam Park has traditionally been the sweat box event of the season and this year was no different. Temperatures of 27 degrees saw the faces of most riders caked in white salt, many of which were trying to lick themselves to get some of the lost electrolytes back into the blood stream. The suffering began when on Saturday morning the sun hit the highest point of its arc and Luke Eggar flung himself off the blocks, elbows out and eye capillaries bursting. The battle Luke had with Russell Turner in the last round must have laid a gauntlet as Luke crossed the line a minute in front of him to take the second spot on the podium.

Later in the day as the heat maxed out and it started to become difficult to breath I withheld a small chuckle as the gun sounded for the start of the masters and open male event. Gez, Pete, Sean and Barny all sprinted off into the heat haze pouring with sweat before even clipping in. Pete crossed the line in 31st Masters, Barny finished a very respectable 11th in the open followed by Sean in 21st.

The Sunday proved to be just as hot for the Marathon Champs which resulted in most people cramping at some stage. Regretting the chuckle I had suppressed the day before I went out slow in the 100km to try and avoid dehydration. The tactic failed me in a spectacular manner and I screamed like a girl as I cramped on the third and forth laps. More than five hours later I crossed the line 6th in category. The 50km was a very fast ride and Gez who had recovered from the previous day rode a very fast race and came in just seconds behind Pete for 12th and 13th place. Chris also had a good day and shocked us all with a blistering two laps putting him just a few places behind Gez and Pete in 17th. Nick turned up to Margam on some crazy looking rig that was at least 20lbs lighter than it looked and punished me for calling him an asthmatic donkey by flying over the line in 10th place.


This weekend took us to the other end of the weather spectrum. Rising at 5.45am the sky was clear and the temperature pleasantly clement. Within 5 miles of Bristol the sky went black and most of the sky fell on my head, ‘Bike Fest’ began. SouthFork had entered a mixed team (Pete, Gez, Matt and Fi), a pair (friend of SF Rich and myself) and two social teams in the pairs.


The course began with thick mud, greasy tree roots and cold wet shorts filled with blackened grinding paste. Despite this the mixed team rode a near perfect race with consistent lap times throughout securing their dominant position right from the gun. Myself and Richard went off equally as hard catapulting ourselves right up to the top end of the catergory. Sean and Barny were however the big surprise as they set off at leisurely pace posing little threat to anyone. As the conditions wheedled out the runts, Sean and Barny slowly worked their way up the field like a couple of ninjas secreting their way into an evil lair. Sean and Barny finished in 6th place just two places behind myself and Richard in forth. The podium of the day went to the mixed team who exited the woods for the last time in 2nd place. Good work guys. Congratulations are also due to friend of SF Andy who won the solo ‘Old Gits’ with an understated ease.


Sunday was all too much for me so I had a nice rest in bed before attending my son’s second birthday party. Fiona however dragged her stinking kit back on and rode around in circles for another six hours winning the Sunday solo event for another SouthFork podium.


We all have a weekend off next week to prepare our finely tuned bodies for Mountain Mayhem. Personally I will listening to ‘Eye of the Tiger’, ingesting complex carbs and hardening my muscles by rubbing my legs with ice cream.

Mike

SouthFork on Top

With so much going on the next few weeks I thought I should get a blog in quick before it all mounts up I don’t get a chance to include everything.

Coming up this weekend is the next National XC at Margam Park followed by the National Marathon Champs on Sunday at the same location. Next weekend is Bristol Bike Fest so I will endeavour to fit a blog in reporting on those before Mountain Mayhem.

Recent news sees the end of an era with the death of the ‘Glamourflage’. A new is kit is going to print that will look very much like the South Fork Downhill kit but tighter……. Oooo yeah. Last Blog I asked for the other South Fork factions to let me know what they were up to and have been rewarded by road team member Blake Pond so many thanks buddy.

Set2Rise was the race to be at last weekend and myself and Fi were there to ‘Flash the Flage’ in the mixed pair category. My experiences of SPAM events involved dragging myself through field after field of hub deep mud whilst listening out for new and inventive swear words to use later. It was with some huge pleasure that I discovered the lap consisted of seven miles of bone dry single track perfection…………imagine Thetford with hills.

Both Fi and I have been off the bikes injured so we began with caution slowly teasing are bodies up to speed before blowing up and dragging our sorry bottoms in circles for 12 hours. The saving factor was without a doubt Fi’s boyfriend Andy who had a mug of a tea ready after every lap, looked after the bikes, timed the laps and the battery life and delivered food and motivation right through the night. With Andys help we won the category convincingly and took the top spot of the podium.

It must be a good week for wiping the South Fork shoes on the top of the podium as Blake Pond reports form Totnes.



‘A Great night of racing promoted by Mid Devon CC in Totnes saw closed roads and large crowds lining the streets to cheer on a full field of 50 riders for an hour of racing plus 3 laps.

The pace was high from the gun with all the top riders happy to show their cards and try to establish a break on this tight technical and cobbled 1k circuit.

Within ten minutes of the race starting the field exploded and saw the lead group of five riders including myself lap the bunch which meant that over 35 riders were eliminated. I attacked several times without success testing the legs of Mid Devon’s Jake Durrant who kept closing me down. The pace slowed at the 45 minute mark allowing the chase group of 10 riders to re join us at the front of the field.

I decided the front was the best place to be and rode tempo keeping the other riders strung out behind , noticing some were starting to struggle I made a decisive move at around 55 minutes and attacked up the drag through the high street quickly opening up a gap of 15 seconds on the bunch, I have been time trialling well of late winning the Barnstable Ten this week and used this form to keep the gap. With 2 laps to go it was in the bag baring a crash. Coming into the climb on Fore Street for the final lap I had time to zip up the South Fork jersey and enjoy the win in front of the crowd.

Five seconds later Jake Durrant crossed the line closely followed by Gary Chambers for 2nd and 3rd.’

Good work Blake, keep it coming. Next report after Bristol Bike Fest.

Mike

Munching in May

Since my injury I have had gaps in my week where I would normally be training, recording my training or talking to the boys about training. In order to avoid the inevitable despressing void I turned to saturated fat and buns which has been a less successful training technique than I expected. Fortunately I am now back on the bike and readying myself for the next few busy weeks.

Round 2 of the ‘UK Bike Park Downhill Championships’ was another successful outing for the shop boys with Nick bettering his position from round one by finishing top of the podium in round two. Richard took his new bike (an Iron Horse Sunday) along having not ridden it yet and lost a few postions while he was getting used to the ride, this pushed him off his usual spot on the podium but he’ll be back up there in the next round after all he has been described as ‘****ing awesome’. Nick has some good photos festering in the South Fork camera that I will post up here as soon as I get them.

Dalby hosted the National XC Champs last weekend and Matt Loake, Luke and Gez made the long drive up to represent. Gez described the new course as mixture of natural and man made trail that flows well at speed gradually building your confidence and excitement before slapping you in the face with a rock. Gez can testify to this as he hit a log on the warm up lap and now sports an attractive blue tatoo that matches the forest floor on his knee. Matt had bad day as we all have sometimes, scooped his lungs off the front wheel and pulled the plug on lap three. Luke rode a fierce battle with Russell Turner of team Certini and scored himself a podium place. Good work buddy.

On the social team I am sad to report the death of Sean’s FSA seat post. The funeral will be in his garden on Wednesday for those who wish to pay their respects. In order to finance a new post Sean will going to France to sell bags of urine to the Tour riders, if anyone wishes to make a donation please contact him through the shop.

The next three weeks are shaping up to be exciting with ‘Set2Rise’ next week, ‘Margam Park’ the week after and ‘Bristol Bike Fest’ after that so keep an eye on the blog for updates. On a final note I feel I am excluding the efforts of the South Fork road and tri riders so would appreciate information on what you are all up to. My phone number or e-mail can be obtained from the shop if anyone wants to keep me updated.

Mike

Battered, Beasted and Barefoot

‘The most dangerous strategy is to jump a chasm in two leaps.’ – Benjamin Disraeli

An interesting two weeks littered with daring do and damage has occurred since the last blog post, fortunately some aggressive and successful racing was involved somewhere along the line.

The first ‘Merida’ of the season kicked off in Builth Wells and was for the very first time rewarded with sunshine, dusty trails and sunburn. I was fortunate enough to be representing the shop along with Matt Loake who had driven all the way up from Cornwall to flash the ‘Glamouflage’ in the sunlight. The race started with a seven kilometre lead out by the Merida van which was rather pleasant. Sitting in the pack feeling strong, getting sucked along at 25mph I couldn’t help feeling like I was going to be right up there with the fore runners on this day. I changed my mind a few minutes later as the van pulled away and I went backwards choking and retching on the first climb. After an hour I started to feel better, my lungs cleared of flem, I picked the pace up and started working my way back up the field finishing in a respectable position near the front of the pack.

Matt Loake had a very different Merida to myself going off very fast in the first breakaway and staying in the second group when the lead bunch split. Unfortunately I found Matt at the 30km mark in a field surrounded by sheep, covered in dust, bleeding a bit, with no shoes on his feet and his new team bike under one arm. My immediate thoughts were that he had forgotten he was no longer in Cornwall and thought that everyone had to share one pair of shoes therefore had handed them over to another rider. I quickly discovered that Matt had forgotten he was no longer in Cornwall and thought that everyone had to share one pair of shoes therefore had handed them over to another rider.

Elsewhere the Downhill team were leading an aerial assault on Blandford Forum during the first of the ‘UK Bike Park Series’. Nick may ride XC like an asthmatic donkey but on a downhill bike he dons the persona of the winged Greek god ‘Eros’.
"Ruthless Eros, great bane, great curse to mankind, from you come deadly strifes and lamentations and groans, and countless pains as well have their stormy birth from you in the arena of downhill riding." - Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica
Nick finished 2nd in the first race putting himself in an excellent position to challenge for the series win later in the season.
The Southern XC Series last Sunday was apparently the race to be at with super dry trails, plenty of single track and an huge turn out of over 400 riders. Gez, Pete and Luke were in attendance with a mixed bag of results. Gez rode an excellent race in an exceptionally fast field of riders finishing 14th despite a crash on the last lap. Luke took 5th in the sport category just a few seconds behind the podium spots and sadly Pete took a big crash on the head dislocating his shoulder and earning himself a trip in the blood wagon. We all hope you have a speedy recovery Pete.
Fiona attended a skills course in the Lakes last week and discovered she was a natural at performing manuals, unfortunately she pushed her limits a little far on a later ride in Aston Court flipping the bike and spraining her ankle. Fi is currently on crutches so we also wish her a speedy recovery.
I have myself also sustained injury after a training ride with the Tiverton boys left me with a damaged knee that has kept me off the bike for the last ten days. I wish myself myself a speedy recovery as there is no one else to do it.
Finally, congratulations to ‘SouthFork Social’ rider ‘Tiverton Matt’ who with his new wife is expecting his first baby. Good work buddy.
Mike