G2 Revolver Series - Round 1 , The Nightrider

 

Sherwood Pines

19-20 April 2008

Report & Images: Joolze Dymond

Riders line up for the start in the cool light of late evening - 12 hours racing ahead of them

 

While the most of the country was either down the pub or sitting around a warm fireside trying to figure out who to boot off the latest TV talent show, a small but dedicated band of mountain bikers were out and about, proving that, "They'll do anything?" to enjoy the latest enduro event, courtesy of the experienced InEvent crew.

Martyn Salt from InEvent explained this new series of enduro events to me:

"The idea of the series is to offer a different experience at each one. This one was the one in the forest, the next one is at the edge of the city and the last one is the wilderness one. Each one is a bit different, this one is done all at night, the next one is done through the day and the last one is done part day part night, and the courses throw up lots of different challenges too."

With that in mind, Sherwood Pines was the venue for the first of the three, 12 hour endurance races, chosen for its miles of sweet singletrack and the ability to lock down the site at night keeping the course and the riders safe. Conditions on the lead up to the event didn't bode well, with weather forecasters predicting a dire weekend with masses of cold wet rain and driving winds. Despite this, the hundreds that had made the pilgrimage from all corners of the UK, seemed in high spirits as they gathered in diminishing light ready for the off.

The idea for round 1 was to run the 12 hour race from 8pm Saturday evening, to finish at 8am the following morning, so at this time of year the race would be conducted mainly under cover of darkness, made even worse by the grey drabness of the foreboding weather.

On the stroke of 8 and the race was off, lights blazing, as the riders sprinted off down the middle of the event village for the start of a long night, passing as they did the warm and beckoning sight of Quaver catering as they disappeared into the night, with the lingering smell of bacon filling their nostrils.

Just 27 minutes later and the first rider appeared back in the arena, still in full pelt mode, Phil Morris of the XCRacer/29er team was intent on leading his team to victory in the men's team event and did so in style. On the first lap he opened up a cracking lead leaving the rest of the teams chasing.

Having thrown down the gauntlet, it was the boys of Southfork Racing, with the YellowBabies, and the Over 40's who responded and the racing became a real game of cat and mouse throughout the night, with punctures and the usual night riding problems just adding to the mix. Twenty-two laps later and the XCRacer Phil Morris, James Hampshire, Matt Lewis and Paul Errington took the win, just one lap clear of the Southfork racing crew, with the Yellow Babies just keeping ahead of The Over 40's to take third with 20 laps under their belt.

The XCRacers boys gave me a quick insight to their race:

"Phil is awesome and a real legend, he just lead from the front and we had to keep his effort going. We all shared the load, we knew that the Southfork team would be our closest rivals and they were. Bring on the next one, we want the series win now!"

The women's team race went to Red Planet racing with Sally Lee, Celia Geyer, Freddie Platt and Phillipa le Roux racking up 14 laps.

Torq/Kona fielded a mixed team, comprising of Matt Hart, Rob Barker, James and Amanda D'Arcy, and they took a convincing win in their category, scoring a rapid 21 laps which would have seen them placed third overall in the men's race too. Team boss Matt Hart postponed his trip to get his well-earned bacon sarnie to talk to me:

"Yeah a very good weekend for Torq riders and now after all that hard work I need a bacon sandwich! In the mixed team we had a pretty good lead, so we upped the ante and looked at the results mid way and found we were lying third overall in all the teams, so we thought we'd ride hard to put the pressure on that. So we won the mixed team and finished third overall.We started the race doing single laps and then as we began to feel comfortable with our lead dropped down to double laps, which allowed us to be a bit more sociable if nothing else! I really enjoyed the course, though I enjoy any course I can ride at the moment, so yeah spot on".

The Pachyderm Stalkers (there's a tale to tell for this inventive team name but that'll be for a later date?) picked up second in the mixed team, conceding 4 laps to the winners.

The orange 'whitewash' continued in the men's pairs where Torq Kona riders, Charles Newton Mason riding with his coach Anthony Rowland, took on the might of the IronHorse team of enduro specialist Rob Lee & Richard Rothwell, Cyclesense Bikeshed pairing of Richard Holmes and Richard Lansdown plus the 69er Collective team of Andy Gowan and Richard Wood.

All 4 teams finished with a massive and hard ridden 20 laps: Torq nearly made it 21 with a huge effort by Anthony Rowland with just 30 mins to spare before the cut off, he went out for one more heroic lap. Despite his efforts he came home just 2 mins outside the cut off making his last minute effort all unnecessary as the last lap didn't count. Fortunately all the hard work previously gave them the win, with just a slim 10min gap from the IronHorse team, who themselves just narrowly pushed the Cyclesense team into third with a 2min margin.

I caught up with a very tired Rowland to find out if the last lap heroics were worth it:

"It was a real tight battle out there for the top 3 spots, everyone was pushing hard, with only small margins and towards the end everyone was shouting at me to do a last lap, I had 30 mins to get one in but came home 2 mins after the cut off so it didn't count after all that. So I'm gutted. But we still won. We did great and are pretty chuffed. Charles is one of my athletes that I'm currently coaching and an absolute prodigy he's only 18 and was giving me a real run for my money out there. Thankfully he was riding with me not against me! Cracking course and really enjoyable, can't say I was that well prepared but I think we managed to hold it together alright".

More close battles were being played out in the mixed pairs event with Jenn Hopkins and riding partner John' Shaggy' Ross, finding themselves locked in an ever shifting sands of a race as the lead fluctuated between themselves and the Certini pairing of Jay and Maddie Horton and The Element pairing of Mel Alexander and Mark Spratt.

Despite a fast start which saw the 69er's take the initial lead, a puncture put them on a back foot, with Element racing taking the lead. By lap 7 it was all change again as the 69ers took the lead with Certini pair and Element close behind. As dawn seeped through the trees, it was clear this was one race that would have to go right to the wire, all 3 teams finished with 20 laps and just over 6 mins separated them all. First spot went to Jenn and Shaggy, with just under 4 minutes later Jay and Maddie took second and another couple of minutes later Mel and Mark picked up third.

I caught up with Jenn Hopkins of the wining pairing and found out that all her training has been for her next big event, which will be the Great Divide in America, not an event for fast speeds, more for endurance:

"I'm not used to riding this fast at all at the moment which is why it was so brutal oh and I learnt not to listen to the boys about singlespeed gearing when they're willy waving! They said it was going to be a really easy course, so you'll need a bigger gear, so I did that and it nearly killed me so I swapped back to my easier girlie gear after a few laps and I was much faster. That said it was an excellent race, it was very, very tight and pretty nerve racking at times. We were swapping places with the other teams all night and it all got a bit tight. Very happy to get the win though after all that. Course was okay but not great for a singlespeed it felt like it was all uphill, no coasty bits and pretty bumpy. Still there was loads of singletrack, which is always good."

Jenn's team mate Shaggy added:

"Very happy with that result, a win in the mixed pairs and second in the men pairs, not bad as we didn't know what to expect when we turned up. The course was great and we had fun and it all worked out. We started out doing triple laps initially, and then we switched down to doubles. We had a real tight battle, on the first lap there was only 4 seconds between us and then I punctured and then we slowly clawed it back and got a 4 minute margin by the end. It's nice when it's a close race. Brilliant event can't wait to get down to Brighton for the next event".

The pale light of dawn bathes the tired riders in optimism that their suffering will soon cease!

 

Fi Spotwood dominated in the women's solo race. Despite an early challenge by Sara Randle, which kept Spotwood from becoming complacent and made her push on hard, she eventually took the win with a massive 16 laps. Randle climbed off after 8 laps with knee trouble leaving Anne Robinson with a respectable 13 laps to take second and Joanne Evens just a lap behind to take third.

Despite the 12-hour race, Fi looked decidedly fresh when she finished and was delighted with the win:

"That was very good and my first solo win so I'm delighted, but that probably the only enjoyable thing about it. I raced really hard and it was painful, but paid off. I didn't really have any tactics, I haven't ridden a 12hour race for ages, I did this one last year but didn't finish it as I was injured, so I wanted to prove I could do it with this one. I really enjoyed the course, I suppose you could describe it as 'graceful' and now I'm looking forward to a bacon sandwich. There was tough competition out there and it was a bit close on times and that kept me on my toes."

Another big battle unfolded in the solo men's category with lots of experienced enduro riders in the mix fighting for that elusive win. After the first couple of laps it was clear this battle was going to be fought out between Ian Leitch, Steve Heading, Michael Powell and Andy Cathcart. By lap four the leaders were now experienced enduro riders Leitch and Heading, with Powell and Cathart just seconds behind as the unrelenting pace just continued. Lap 5 saw Heading out on his own as Leitch starting playing catch-up after a puncture put him 3mins adrift. He soon got back on terms, however, the fast start beginning to take it toll on the Heading. Leitch took full advantage of his rival's problems, taking a flyer and not looking back until he crossed the line with an impressive 19 lap tally, to take his first enduro win.

Afterwards, Leitch told me tiredly:

"I'm chuffed, I never win, so at last it's all paid off. I went much harder than I usually go, I kind of attacked early - usually I ride really conservative but here I got in this silly mindset and just went for it and it kind of paid off.
I was tussling with Steve Heading, then I punctured, so I dropped some time and had to work hard to get back up to him. When I got back up, I thought 'I'm going go for it', so I did, and yeah, it was good. So yeah pretty pleased to be able to ride around all night in a wet wood, great way to spend a Saturday night! Now I've got to drive back to Brighton".

Ian also mentioned his next big ride was a crack on the South Downs Record, both ways?. Should be a walk in the park for him after this fast race!

The next 4 finishers all racked up 18 laps but it was local rider Michael Powell, taking on his first night race, who kept on the pressure despite a slight wobbly in the middle of the night, and took second overall and with it the vets' prize.

Powell later explained:

"You'd like to think with me being local I'd have an advantage but they always seem to find trails that I don't know when we race here. It was hard work, especially as I've never raced at night before. That was pretty scary. It was tough and I nearly climbed off at 11 laps but my friend kept me going. I'm not sure I want to do any more. I think I'll stick to the National Marathon series instead. I've never known dawn to be such a welcome sight. On the first lap everyone set off like absolute lunatics, I just couldn't believe it. It was pretty close out there between us, well apart from the guy that won it he was absolutely flying".

Neil Crampton had started consistently rather than chasing down the fast pace at the beginning, his consistency paid off as he took the senior men's second spot on the podium, while Andy Cathart picked up third. Steve Heading carried on to take second in the vet's event, finishing fourth overall. The final vets spot went to the aptly named Shakey (I guess he was quite shakey after 12 hours of racing?)

After 12 hard hours of racing it seemed the most sought-after thing for most riders was not sleep, but bacon sarnies! I'm told that's why enduro racing is so popular; it just makes those sarnies taste even better. Thanks to Clive and the girls for Quaver Catering for staying up all night providing plenty of sustenance to the cold and weary riders.

Thanks too, to Rory of USE for not only providing an excellent light charging service but also for the enthusiasm and cheering he did throughout the night.

Finally a big thanks to the weather gods, for making sure it didn't rain until the racing had finished and the podiums were completed?. A nice touch. Roll on Brighton, where the fun is sure to carry on, with new trails to contemplate and lots of bacon sarnies?