PTW

Ok – your man in the muddy field reporting again…

The full spectrum of the squadra were engaged across South Wales today, spanning all manner of velocipede related activities. While the squadra crono were battling up and down Glyneath and the squadra en ligne were fighting for gold medals the squadra de la terre (Charles & I) were getting down and dirty at the Trek Enduro Marathon MTB National Champs in Margam Park.

(Horrendous mix of Italian and French there but I wanted to give the piece a continental feel. Please feel free to eat a croissant and sip espresso as you read this for that added je ne sais quoi)

On a blazing hot day in Margam we lined up with MTB superstars such as Oli Beckingsale and er, some others to tackle 4 laps of a 25km circuit encompassing Margam mountain. Charles had prepared by carbo loading in liquid form until 1.00am, a plan which left him feeling a little worse for wear in the morning but still with his spirits high. A bit of confusion at the start meant that we missed the start of our race by about 10minutes so we had to set off in hot pursuit of the leaders! The course designers must have really wanted top give us our money’s worth as within a km we hit the first climb, a technical, rocky dusty and STEEP affair. With the sun beating down it was a question of sitting down, picking your lines and hoping your tyres held. A string of expletives behind me and I knew Charles had lost purchase on the dirt and would have to make his way up on foot. Needing to give the momentum going I ploughed on and after much blood sweat and quite honestly a few tears I crested the summit, only to be greeted by a bone shaking descent which was just as hard on the body as the climb. This was the pattern of the course, up some brutal climb, and down some brutal descent. Unfortunately, my 10 year old MTB was not quite up to the task and within a few kms I had punctured – blowing out my front tyre. A long walk back to the pits for me (passed by Charles who gallantly gave me his only tube – in a selfless but ultimately futile gesture) where after much internal debate I decided to raid Charles’ spares and pinch his spare tyre to complete another two laps.

During this Charles was battling on, putting in some good times out there on the course and looking strong through the feed station. (where he was been expertly refuelled and encouraged by his very patient girlfriend and daughter!)

I managed another two laps – (Got a push off no-legs on one of the climbs!) and rolled in, absolutely exhausted. Charles did full 3 laps, and pulled out after being lapped by the elites, but having held them off for a long time – no mean feat!

I can say that had we both done the full 4 laps we would still be out there, but what a great day out. Great atmosphere, great weather and a great course. Incredibly hard but the course was full of people all shapes and sizes just trying to get round and offering encouragement to each other. It was a very pleasant change to the daily grind on the road and amazing fun.

Roll on next year…

Yep what a effffing day !!!!!!!!. Can confirm the i finsished 34 and dave finished 41 out of 60 finishers but considering there were over 100 starters i think the results were damn bloody good my friend !!!

And can i also say i was carb loading till about 3am not 1am, but for a very good reason i did turn 30 on the friday and had a shitter of a day on saturday so deserved it

"Horrendous mix of Italian and French there but I wanted to give the piece a continental feel. Please feel free to eat a croissant and sip espresso as you read this for that added je ne sais quoi)"

OOH LA LA, Bien Fait du Disco vous serez coulants bientôt

Great write up, bringing in all the things I hate about MTB "ITS EITHER VERY TECHNICAL OR UP HILL" and I'm not good at either

Bravo! Chapeau!

We are seriously at risk of becoming a fine 'all-round' club... and I'm not referring to some of our waistlines

Was one of the climbs up to The Pulpit? When the MTB Club of Wales (Fat Tyres Breath Fire) were running events in the early 1990's I 'bit it royal' on one of those gnarly descents (think bone dry deep 4x4 wheelruts) and did the sky-ground-sky-ground thing for a few dozen yards before jumping back on my bike to find that one of my X-Lite bar ends had snapped off and one of my fingertips was pi55ing blood mainly because it was hanging off

Anyway, well done Charles and Davey. Splendid stuff!

Hey Charles, at the start of the year I could have sworn you were a VET!!!!!!
but It must be that special "walm up balm" you've been using lately cos your looking younger by the minute!

Alfie wrote

Bravo! Chapeau!

We are seriously at risk of becoming a fine 'all-round' club... and I'm not referring to some of our waistlines

Was one of the climbs up to The Pulpit? When the MTB Club of Wales (Fat Tyres Breath Fire) were running events in the early 1990's I 'bit it royal' on one of those gnarly descents (think bone dry deep 4x4 wheelruts) and did the sky-ground-sky-ground thing for a few dozen yards before jumping back on my bike to find that one of my X-Lite bar ends had snapped off and one of my fingertips was pi55ing blood mainly because it was hanging off

Anyway, well done Charles and Davey. Splendid stuff!

Cheers Alf and Les!

I don't know about the pulpit, but we did climb the 'Kidney shaker' which was nice! The course had changed a lot from the days I used to ride MTB races at Margam (mid - late 90s), but it was all very challenging stuff.

Great picture, courtesy of George :

Awesome picture by George.

Disco in the Dirt - LOL

I put in an appearance. I only did the half marathon. that was tough enough in the heat. Just couldn't motivate my self to do 4 laps. That LONG fire road climb in the middle of the lap was a killer.

The long fire road ! that were easy part !!!!!

Ahh, now you see I enjoy the techy stuff, even the silly climb near the begining. the fire road just draggged on and I GOT BORED. With 130mm travel front and rear the down hills were a blast. Always surprises me on these events how slow some people go on the down hills. When I go up, I always think of the downs that have to follow.

With 130mm of travel front and back and you are suprised how slow some people go downhill? See above for my travel limitations! I felt every stone, twig and blade of grass I rode over that day!

Aye, but then I be mostly watching the hardtails going past me on the up hills. LOL. So just to confirm, that's you in the piccy??

Was a good day though, wasn't it. If a little too warm. Almost felt like stopping for a picnic on top. :-))

Yeah great day! Loved the weather (although got a bit sweaty on the climbs!) I felt like going for a swim in some of the river crossings too!

(and yes that's me in the pic!)

well done boys. was a really hot day. And some of them climbs around margam park are steep. I did give Dave a push but only because he briefly stopped to say hi before setting off up the pulpit.