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!

15th May 2007 Penrith Merida MTB Marathon

Is 5+ weeks enough perspective for your first mountain bike marathon?

I'm not sure. Or maybe I'm just a vv lazeee blogger.

Penrith, May 2007 - first ever MTB marathon to be held in Engerland.

Main lesson 2B learned: 7Stanes, tarmac, "mountain bike centres" ... none of them are adequate preparation for real, natural trails. No human being would create roads, tracks or trails with the terrain, inclines, texture, obstacles, etc etc that natural trails present.

My main problem was cramp. After an hour or so of do-able riding (on the 50km route), we hit the big climb. Contours on the map suggested this would be mainly rideable; a slog but rideable. But the texture of the ground - very wet, grassy, muddy after rain - reduced this greatly. Pushing, my muscles obviously cooled down, thought the day's effort was over, and transitioned into post-ride cramp mode. I reckon many of us pushed for 6km or so.

From then on it was a fight for survival - fending off cramp, stopping to stretch and using low gears to avoid anything that meant "pushing" - the cramp trigger. That in turn led to walking bits I would hav expected to ride, and riding parts slowly on low gears that led to instability, lack of momentum, etc etc.

The other big issue was pedals. I've almost become comfortable with my Crank Bros egg-beater style clipless pedals on my regular routes, but spent most of this unfamiliar route unclipped - both uphill and downhill. Between the variability of the terrain and the threat of unclippable-from cramp, I was rarely confident enough to be clipped in. This was the worst of all worlds; not only did I not get the benefit of the clipped pedals, I actually spent most of the ride with my feet in unatural, less than ergonomically perfect positions on top of the clips.

Bottom line = 5 and a half hours of living hell. :)

Lessons learned:

1) Cramp - prevention and cure.

2) Pushing vs carrying. Discuss.

3) Pedals - there has to be a better way.

Merida Bikes MTB Marathon - Penrith Course Profiles

English Merida Marathon Announced for 2007

Looks like there will be decisions to be made in May next year.

Just read at BikeMagic that there will be an English Merida event in 2007 for the first time. In Penrith, during the Cumbria Bike Fest which runs 7-13 May. The location suits us, but its the same month they're talking about doing a TransScotland.

I see they've also dropped the "100" from the series name to put as much emphasis on the 25 and 50km distances.

TransScotland 07

I have been hearing that following the success of the TransWales 7-day event in August, they were looking at a TransScotland equivalent for 2007. At least that explained why their website was called "TransUK".

Assuming this would be in August, Neal and I reckoned it would be to good a chance to miss and that we should aim for this rather than postponing our first multi-day event until 2008.

I have just discovered that the plan is to actually run both events next year - leaving the TransWales in place and adding the Scottish event in May.

Yikes! Too soon?