Exposure 24:12, A race report

24 & 12 Hours of Exposure is the European & UK 24 & 12 Hour Solo MTB Championship race, it’s held once a year in Newcastleton on the Scottish boarders. For anyone who competes in endurance MTB events the race is one of the most important of the year. I was racing in the 12hr open male category on a single speed, against geared and single speed riders alike. The race was the culmination of 5 months of training, under the watchful eye and guidance of Rob Lee. I was feeling good but it’s always hard to gauge the rest of the field, especially so early on in the season.

Gathering in Newcastleton town Saturday morning everybody was in good spirits and relieved the night rain had passed, leaving a dry, if a little nippy, April morning. I’d opted to race in my usual Morvelo race kit and Gore gillet, knee & leg warmers, as an easy option to control my temperature.

Before I knew it we were being led out of the town behind some towns people to the sounds of a piper marching in front. The first lap was at a comfortable pace. I clocked the single speeder I thought would cause me most trouble and endeavoured to put a gap between us during the traffic.

As the laps rolled on I was conscious to pace myself. Each lap was 11miles with 430meters of climbing, so fuelling the engine was an important task, I tried my best to eat one gel and one bite-size Mulebar per lap.

After six hours of riding I was half an hour up on the next single speeder and seventh overall, I decided to swap from my lightweight, but high-geared Niner 29er to my trusty Singular Swift with a lower gear, this immediately gave my legs a rest and the next lap felt good.

As dusk began my Exposure Sixpack and Diablo came out, I love night riding and find it doesn’t slow me down, although I was beginning to tire, I was up to 4^th overall, which I couldn’t believe! In fact it was a massive surprise.

Unfortunately my next two laps were slower as the temperature dropped, rolling back in at 10.30pm I added more clothes and quickly headed back out knowing I was on my last lap. Luckily my last lap felt great and I actually sped up.

I finished in 6^th overall in Open 12hour male, 1^st single speed by over one lap. I’m so happy I’d manage to win the single speed jersey, and happy with 6^th overall.

Got to say a big THANKS to my Dad for his great pit work, and having raced at many venues I can say that Rock UK was one of, if not the best venues I’ve been to, with a great atmosphere and faultless organisation by SIP events.

Roll on next year!!

My blog can also be view here  as I am riding as part of their team this year =)

Exposure 12, almost there.....

So its 5 days until Exposure 12, the bikes are almost ready, taking both of them, six wheels with tyres for various conditions, enough energy gels and Mulebar's (who are supporting me this year) to sustain me, my dad (and pitman) has kept the camping side of things organised, as I have a habit at arriving at races with all my bike kit, but minus any useful camping equipment, the drive up has been planned, emails and tweets circulated to riding friends who are racing as well, the weather is being studied to ensure I have enough clothing, but i'll probably just take everything! 

So there we go, I just need to avoid crashing on my taper rides and I need to remember to enter the 12hr single speed category, as the 12hr open cat has last years 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th placed riders swapping from the 24hr race, i'm quite excited to see how I fair against the top guys of the racing scene, but I need to remember to race my own race, its been a while since I've raced for 12hrs!!

Still no racing, but will be soon

It is less than a month till I head to the Scottish Boarder for Exposure 24/12, the UK and European 12 & 24hr championships. I have wanted to do the race for a while, I had planned on entering it as my first 24hr, as they have a rookie winners jersey, but after last years rookie jersey went to the overall winner of the seniors race as have since decided to wait on entering the 24, instead I will stick to the 12hr race, and aim for a podium finish in the single speed class.

For such an important race it is very early in the year, moved forward from May as to not clash with the new World 24hr Champs in Italy. With some help and guidance from Rob Lee we set up a 10week program to get me there in good shape, I am currently on my last 3 week block and i've been riding more hours than I ever have, but recovering much better than I have in the past. I have decided not to enter any XC races as it usually takes a whole day out of riding for a 2hr race, I am hoping missing these types of races won't take any of my speed away, but I feel the longer training rides are of more benefit.

So far I am feeling positive and fairly relaxed about it all and looking forward to racing a solo's only race. I have lots more riding and race prep to do but I have a few weeks to stress out about that =)

Road Bikes

I have always been against buying a road bike, mainly because a high percentage of roadies look like this:

Undeterred and aiming for a more structured training regime I signed up to cycle2work through work, thinking if I wanted to get one I didn't want to use my savings in the process (plus I will cycle to work)

I bought a Planet X Team Alu, as it seemed a good spec for the money, with almost full Sram red group set and some decent finishing kit. Since getting it last week i've done over 220miles and enjoyed it so far, the simplicity of popping out for a few hours in the evening and coming back not covered in mud has its benefits, plus I enjoy my long xc rides more at the weekend, without exhausting my local trails or destroying my good bikes! I must avoid becoming a full-on roadie but for the time being its working well.

In other news my sister has produced some cycling related screen prints, which she sells through her online  shop. They would make a great gift for anyone into cycling or a nice addition to your workshop/bike cave, so please have a look =)

Thanks for reading and enjoy the spring weather

Chris

Trying to Survive the winter/News

We're currently suffering a rather nasty cold snap!! luckily i'm on a smaller week training wise, so less time to survive in the minus temperatures.

Its only my second year of proper winter riding so i'm still learning all the tricks to keeping warm and keeping riding. Here are a couple:

Lights
I am a big fan of Exposure Lights, a few years ago when I was deciding which brand were best they seemed to offer the most complete package, with no external battery pack to get muddled with. The first light I got was the race maxx (middle) at the time it was middle of the bunch for brightness and burn time, but it got me through my first 12hr solo and I still use it for road riding.

Then I needed a head torch, I bought an Exposure Diablo (right) and was amazed how bright it was for such a small unit, and its easily removed from the helmet mount, no nasty velcro, just a plastic snap-in connector. As I started doing longer races I decided i needed to upgrade my main light, after shopping around I found an Exposure Six Pack at a good price, the unit might be quite large, but once its on the bike I don't notice it, and when it does get dark the light it throws out is immense!! the burn time on medium is 10hrs, which is still over 1000lumens, compared to my 480lumens max on my race maxx, and 3hrs max of 1800lumens =)

Exposure lights might be expensive, but they're made in the UK, great build quality and they look great!

Clothes 

A recent winter time purchase were Altura Attack Waterproof shorts not only do they keep my arse dry and free from wiltshire mud, they also help keep me warm on the coldest days worn over my winter tights.

Maintenance 

Despite only riding the one speed lubes are still important to keep the drivetrain running smoothly and prolonging chainring & chain life, i've been using Green Oil lube and bike wash, the lube is great as it stops the chain turning black and gungey like most bikeshop brands and keeps lubing even after 50miles of winter riding. When I do wash my bike the Eco bike wash does a great job of shifting dried on mud, plus its natural and not purple like a certain other brand...

In Other News
Found out I came 5th overall in the Gorrick Brass Monkeys endure series, I was pleased with the result as it was my first attempt of the series and despite one dodgy result I was consistent for such an early season race series.

For this season Rob Lee  a cycling endurance legend and someone i've read about and admired for many years has offered to mentor me, I feel privileged and excited to have someone who knows the race scenes so well helping me, I will go into more depth soon when I can announce more exciting news, but for the time being thanks Rob!

Thanks for reading

Chris

Gorrick Brass Monkeys Rd.3

I raced the last round of the Merida Brass Monkeys on the 22nd of January. Another nice sunny day with a strong wind met us at Aldershot. Having read that the course was in good condition I had fitted my fast rolling summer tyre, adamant they'd be ok.

Having ballsed up round 2, I wasn't seeded, therefore started in the crowd. the start was fine, moved through the crowd, making sure I didn't try too hard as I knew it was a long race! the course was great, almost totally dry and very fast in places, the hills suited me as they were long which I like.

The race progressed well, I was making ground and despite not knowing my position I felt strong and maintained a steady pace. On the last lap I knew if I pushed on I could manage a 7th lap, which would have put put me in the running for a podium, unfortunately 1/4 through the lap I punctured, panicking a little I inflated the tyre, rode off and it went down again, one more can of co2 and it sealed. I took off keen to make up the time I had lost, I rolled in 5minutes after the cut off, with my last lap being 5minutes slower than the others, would have been tight but felt strong so could have managed a 7th lap.

Finished 6th overall, happy to be feeling stronger and pacing myself well. No set plans of my next races, but might have a go at some spring xc races!

The big target is 12 hours Exposure, the national and european 12hr championship race which is on April 8th, scarily soon! must remember how to ride a bike for 12 hours!!!

Christmas, Base and Jay Bars

So another year survived, I had a productive bike riding christmas, getting out on a few nearly 50milers, exploring a few areas near me that i had overlooked in the past. Having a GPS has helped me ride to areas i'd normally have got lost trying to find, but i still try and avoid loosing the course line, i it doesn't have a map, so can't explore too much, i found this to my peril at swinley forest where i tried riding a route i'd found online. bloody hard on a 1 x 1" screen!

I'm trying to ride lots of base miles so i've entered a challenge on Endomondo from a forum i use quite a lot, it shows just how much some people ride!

I've been experimenting with odd shaped handlebars, whilst racing at Kielder 100miles single speed legend Dan Treby flew past me on a climb still sitting in the saddle, he uses the same strange bars so thought i'd try them. They make getting up really steep climbs easier as your body is positioned better, and i can get up climbs seated easier as you can use your upper body more. They work well on technical single track as you get more leverage. So far i like them, shape they weigh 0.4kg =/

Hopefully in the next few weeks I will get my official introduction from my sponsors and support then work out where i'm racing this year!

Someone sent me a cool suuuuper wide angle photo from a race, looks like i'm a small boy riding my dads bike, but i like it =)

thanks for stopping by

Chris