Sunday, August 19, 2007

23rd June 2007 Aviemore Merida MTB Marathon

After a week working away from home, I decided a night at home and an early start was a better idea than a night in a tent - especially since this event was part of "The Outsider" festival. Promoted as an outdoors/music fest, most of the promo I saw was very much music festival oriented so I was a bit pensive that the dominating theme would be crusty, muddy, insanitary etc.

Arriving at 8am it seemed onsite security was only just waking up and it would probably have been possible to arrive, camp and get into the arena at that time without challenge. Signposting wasn't all that clear for Merida participants and security staff had to be sought out to get directions/info. Most went blank at any mention of Merida, mountain bikes etc.

Anyway, bitching aside ... nice drive up the A9, sunny on arrival, get signed in and set up.

At the start, not a massive turnout and I start near the back. The first few km of tarmac seem to go off at a blistering pace and I'm trying to spin easy to keep cramp and knee pain at bay. result is I'm falling further behind even at this early stage.

Having entered the 75k, it's clear to me at the split that my knee isn't going to welcome an extra 25k so I divert on to the 50k route, getting the damning blue spot on my race number to signify.

At the feeding station, the skies open and from then on it rains and rains and rains for the rest of the day, making everything off a path or road into a very muddy slog.

Last part of the day dominated by 75 and 100k riders coming through on technical sections and not wanting to hold them up - so lots of time lost stepping aside.

Performance still very disappointing at something like 5hrs 30min. Don't get me wrong - delighted to have finished, I finished ahead of some younger and thinner people - but still very far away from where I need to be.

Stuff that worked:

Elete water. Didn't completely fend off cramp, but it was much, much better than Penrith.

Flat pedals. Sure, they're not as efficient as properly-used SPDs, but they're a lot better than riding SPDs but not being clipped in!