by | Mar 24, 2015 | Racing
I have been training for Battle on the Beach for a good couple of weeks and felt happy going into my first endurance based event.
It was my first race of the season and my first endurance race! I was really excited and a little nervous but new I had put in the work over the Winter to be ready for what was about to come!
Saturday morning we packed up and left for Wales Martyn came along in the hope of surfing.
We arrived in sunny Wales (another first, sun in Wales!) and pitched the tent I went off to ride the course which was part beach, part double track, part singletrack. The beach part was tough into a headwind and then pushing my bike back up the steep dunes entrance was lung busting. I had never raced on a beach before and the prospect of racing along it tomorrow was tiring!
The double track was great fast and flowing, the singletrack meandered through the tress with a few short sharp ups which had the surface been solid would have been easy, however the loose sand made it hard work, the key to keeping moving was a low sustained cadence you had to keep a good rhythm in your legs to keep the bike edging forward, also keeping your body weight central over the bike worked well for me, my tyres dug in and my bike creeped past those who had decided to walk.
There was one A/B line the A was a sandy shoot which I found quite fun! As long as you stayed central over your bike and kept away from your back brake just easing the front now and then the bike kept traction, most of the time! At the end of the shoot was two longs the first was roll-able the second, not so much, I went for the jumping off and over instead of jumping over as im still working on this on smaller obstacles and felt this was the quickest option!
The hardest part of the course was through the dunes the very soft sand made keeping up speed and traction tough but a fun challenge.
After practise Martyn and I decided to go for dinner at a pub instead of cook as it was getting quite cold. When we arrived back at our tent it seemed a lot colder the night sky was bright with stars and there wasn’t a cloud in sight, we were in for a chilly night! Just how chilly we hadn’t really realised. Waking up at 5am to find frost on the inside of the tent was another first!
The morning brought more blue skies and we were in for a great days racing and fantastic weather too!
After race briefing all the racers huddled on the beach ready for a mass start (another first) I found myself in the middle back of this group of 600 riders all with different shapes and sizes of bike, as the starting gun sounded we all edged forward through the soft sand onto the harder beach where we could finally get riding.
I paced myself on my heart rate trying to stay at my AT (anaerobic threshold) as I knew I could sustain this pace, the beach was longer on the first lap and seemed to go on forever as I worked my way forward from one bunch of cyclists to another, this was hard work especially when you found yourself out on your own, even though the breeze was light it seemed to make it so much harder! I got to a group moving as a good pace and stuck with them.
After we left the beach and got to the singetrack there was a huge bottle neck which meant having to stop for a couple of minutes, this would be a consistent theme of the first lap at every point where there was a big up or a tight bit of singetrack the pace slowed. (I lost around 6 minutes here)
I enjoyed the first lap coming through the start I hopped off and grabbed a new bottle of drink. On opening it had a slight surprise when the top came off this meant having to stop to fix it! (not helpful!)
After the first lap which was around double the distance of the second and third these short laps where rather ‘easy’ compared to the first one. I crossed the finish line in 2 hours 10 minutes feeling very happy with my performance. I had paced myself and felt like my laps had been consistent.
Things to think about for next time:
- Get further towards the start at the start to avoid so much bottle neck!
- Carry two bottles of drink for the entire race and only stop if I have to…
- Attach pump to bike, so annoying banging around on my back
- Jelly babies as well as gels, cut down the gels and try to eat something else
I came 7th overall in the woman’s open category with a time of 2 hours 11 minutes.
Thanks to Silverback Bikes, Bike Fixers, Grip Grab and Dog Tag for your support.
To read about how the rest of Pedal 2 Pedal did go to my website.
by hattenburrow | Oct 1, 2014 | Racing
On Sunday I travelled to the final race of the year, Mud, Sweat and Gears at Langdon Hills in Essex.
This was my first ever national series race back in 2012 and since then I have done the course three times and it never gets easier!
The course starts with a climb through a field and then turns into the forest for a short rest bite before turning up hill once more. The course is mainly single track through woodland linked together by open cart track sections.
I did all my usual warming up and course ride and was ready to go. I hadn’t been feeling well and this really affected my race, I felt okay on my first two laps but on lap three a mechanical and feeling wiped out brought me grinding to a halt, almost!
I had to ease off due to feeling un well and this insider ably effected my lap times adding four minutes to my lap.
Having raced this course previously and enjoyed it I was frustrated not to be able to give it my all and see how fast I could race it.
Thank you to Martyn for coming and cheering me on, Velo Virtuoso for all your support, Bounce for keeping me fuelled and Lake for keeping my feet comfy this season.
by hattenburrow | Sep 8, 2014 | Racing
Yesterday I travelled to Shouldham Warren in Norfolk. This was a new course for the Mud Sweat and Gears series and I was excited about trying it out.
I had not been very well in the run up to the race and had doubts about competing on Sunday but decided as I had made my way half way across the country I should go and give it a go!
We arrived at the course at 8am in perfect time for practise, before the start at 10am.
The course started with a long gentle climb which turned on to a single track which led into the first bomb hole. It then opened up again on to cart track before turning once again into the forest single track. The course was very similar to Thetford in this way and also Dunwich where I have done training, in the sense that it had long sections of single track linked together by open cart tracks.
The course was relatively flat and I knew it would be a fast paced race which would suit my competition. It was quite sandy and loose in places, but because of the fast conditions I decided to stay with hard tyres and loose a little grip over soft tyres which would be harder to push. This worked well and during the race I felt happy and able to carry my speed and only had a few little slips which didn’t effect my race.
My start was not great there was too many riders on the start line and it was hard to get going when we were so tightly packed but I made my way up the hill in touch with the lead riders.
On the first lap we went straight up missing the first bomb hole this is meant to spread out the riders but it didn’t work very well in my favour getting stuck behind riders I needed to get in front of, I waited for the next opportunity to pass and took it. I now had to work hard to catch the others, this is always hard when there is no sight of any one in front but I kept pushing on and soon started to catch up and pass other riders which gave me a boost.
Half way through my third lap I caught sight of Alex Nichol from CCN she seemed quite far away but I pushed on and by the end of the third lap I was on her wheel as we went out into our fourth lap on the hill I took the opportunity to pass. 
Determined to stay in front I kept focused and pushed as hard as I could and soon when I looked back she was gone. I knew that I had to keep the gap because if she caught me on a long cart track with a 29er she would have the advantage but every time I looked round there was no one there. Coming up the last sandy straight I gave it one last big push over the finish line pleased with my progress and glad that I had raced.
Overall in my category I came third and was fifth girl back out of 19. A great result considering how I was feeling.
I was 14 mins behind Laura Sampson who came first. It took me 1 hour 36 mins to complete the 18 mile course with an average heart rate of 177bpm and max of 186bpm. Garmin data here.
Lap 1: 23.20
Lap 2: 24.37
Lap 3: 24.17
Lap 4: 24.06
Thank you to Velo Virtuoso, Bounce and Lake for your continued support. Big thanks to my Mum who acted as driver, support and chief photographer for the day!
by hattenburrow | Aug 20, 2014 | Racing
National cross country series round five, Cannock chase.
I made my way to Staffordshire on Saturday for the last of the national series at Cannock chase. I arrived in time for mid day practise and headed out on the course with Jenny who I had met there. The course started with an open field section before heading down a cart track and back up into single track. Unlike most other course I had come across this one seemed to have. A lot of downhill at the beginning. Which was great but left me concerned as to what was to follow!
The first A/B line feature was a drop off which I decided to take the B line on as I still am not totally confident on my new bike. We turned the corner into the forest to be met with a queue of riders, this is usually a sign something good/technical is coming up, and Cannock did not disappoint, a rock garden appeared between the trees which looked manageable, we stood and watched as it claimed a few victims who fell hard. I decided the 15 seconds extra the B line would take each lap was worth it other coming off and spending a couple of minutes composing myself so took the B line and we carried on to the next A line a drop between a narrow tree gap this was easily rollable and was also the start of the course making its way back up hill on a trail which is part of the trail centre is was brilliant fun and included a wood section which was very similar to QE Park with large roots and a lot of off camber riding which spat you out onto a fire road briefly before winding back up through the trees. This climb seemed never ending and the small bit of reliefs that did come from a downhill section was short lived as turning out into the fire road the course once again climbed up! This to me was the most challenging section because the ground was loose stones which seemed to sap my energy even in practise this was tough, I didn’t let myself get worried about what racing it would be like I just looked for the hard packed areas and watched my line ready for tomorrow. The next section was again part of the trail centre and was a brilliant set of berms, sadly we were riding up them instead of down them which wasn’t so fun! 1km to go, and to me the best 1km tight roots single track leading to a bomb hole drop which was slightly on a bend making it a little more interesting sent you flying up the bank on the other side and headed up and back into the arena.
Back at the tent we got changed and went to the rock garden to watch the open and sport category’s race, it was carnage! We met the trail builders who were beaming at how technically challenging their rock garden was, it claimed two collar bones and a nose over the course if Saturday confirming in my head that the B line was the better option, even though I felt sure I could ride the A line having ridden things like it in Scotland.
Saturday evening the wind picked up and the rained moved in, luckily by 09.00 on Sunday it had gone and made way for bright sunshine and blue skies making racing conditions pretty good.
At 10.45 I stood on the start line of my last national race in the Expert category feeling very proud of what I had achieved the year had not been ideal, with a dislocated arm meaning I missed two months racing as well as valuable training time, but that didn’t matter now, I was here fit and ready to give it he’ll one last time.
The start was fast and as I expected I found myself battling to stay with the lead riders, not having quite as much speed as they did. I worked hard and started to pull back riders, but found the climbs so tough my heart rate reached 189 and I new I needed to bring it down to last four laps of this demanding course so I eased off a little and took a gel for an added boost. My first lap felt slow and I left the arena on my second lap after 30 mins knowing I had to work hard to bring back the others. I watched the time and made assessments at different points in the course as to how fast it was compared to my previous lap, coming into the arena I was 4 mins up on my last lap and felt good as I left the arena and started my fire road decent I saw Jenny she was not far ahead so I kept pushing trying to close the gap.
The next lap and a half went by quickly as I kept my head down and kept pushing forward as I came back in on my fourth lap I could now see Helen too and pushed hard to catch her, I lost her on the fire road but was motivated by knowing she wasn’t far ahead! A silly slip coming into the forest cost me time and I had to wait at the bottom of the rack garden as three elite girls charged down it all costing me time but instead of panicking (like normal) I kept calm and worked hard coming back into the arena I had given 110% I crossed the finish line only four second behind Helen which I was very happy about.
Lap times:
1st Lap: 28.50
2nd Lap: 27.16
3rd Lap: 26.59
4th Lap: 28.26
by hattenburrow | Aug 18, 2014 | Biking Adventures, Racing
Ride London 2014 – the most fun I’ve ever had in the rain!
On Friday Martyn and I headed off to London ready for the Ride 100 on Sunday.The weather was not looking promising, with thunderstorms and gusty winds forecast due to tropical storm Bertha.
We packed for rain, but could never of predicted just how much rain we would encounter on our journey.
On Saturday we picked up our race chips and as many freebies as we could possible carry before returning to our hotel in Ilford. After realising the train would not be running in time for our 6:17 load deadline we made plans to ride the five miles to the Olympic Park, after all, what’s an extra five miles on 100!
We had planned our nutrition snacks, USN protein, nuts and seeds bars and hour one and three of the race peanut butter sandwiches and a banana at hour two, jelly babies and Bounce Balls for hours four and five and more peanut goodness for hour six, all washed down with plenty of High Five electrolyte drink and water.
The alarm went off at 4am and was swiftly put on snooze, 20 mins later I shook Martyn and flicked the kettle ready for our porridge and tea breakfast.
Attaching race numbers to our bikes there was no sign of the horrendous weather that had been predicted and as we set off towards the Olympic Park we were hopeful for a dry race.
Arriving at the Olympic Park we gave in our bags which we would collect at the finish line and made our way to our wave loading. The park was already brimming with cyclists, all excited and making pre race checks to bikes and clothing. The atmosphere was really exciting, but with an added nerve of tension about the impending stormy forecast. We had been told due to the weather the course would cut out Leith Hill and Box Hill, making our journey one of 86 miles instead of 100. Standing on the start line this seemed like such a shame, later on I would become thankful of this short cut!
All black loading waves went off in quick succession meaning we started before Schedule. I think the organisers were keen to get people moving before the weather came in.
Out on the course we breezed through the first 20 miles with no sign of rain. It was just as exciting as last year, riding on closed roads through one of the busiest cities in the world with not a car in sight, you felt like you were part of something special.
I don’t recall the mile or time when the rain started, just that droplets began to appear on my jacket. The rain didn’t seem to bother us and as we entered Richmond Park we were feeling good and going strong.
Leaving the park, the scenery soon changed from built up urban areas to rolling hills and hedgerows. Entering the country side it became more apparent that it was raining as the wind funnelled through the trees. We headed for the main climb of the course, Newlands Corner. When we reached the hills the water was flooding down the road, so as well as gravity pulling us backwards we had to battle a stream flooding the road. When we reached the top and the view opened up it was one of dark grey sheets of rain! With nowhere to hide from the storm the only thing you could do was laugh about the situation. I was so glad to have Martyn there, we kept each other going and were often joined by loan cyclists taking turns to shelter slightly from the beating wind.
I think they call it “character building”!
Stopping wasn’t an option. We dug deep and kept rolling on. The marshals were great because of the rain parts of roads were completely flooded and they made sure people went through at safe speeds.
60 miles in, it’s time for a pit stop.
At 60 miles we stopped at a hub to refuel. I had been under the illusion up until this point that under my coat I was dry. Nipping to the loo and having to peal off soggy layers I found out this was not the case, I felt instantly cold and knew we needed to get going quickly to build up warmth again. I frustratingly managed to reset my Garmin at this point too! Martyn and I grabbed some High Five, bananas and urban fruit bags before heading off.
Coming into Kingston the rain had eased to a mere dribble and the sun for the first time peaked out from behind a cloud, this was a great feeling, we felt instantly energised and pushed hard for the finish.
Coming into London crowds of people lined the finish line cheering which lifted our spirits just when our legs were starting to tire.
The tar mac turned to red as we made it to The Mall and sprinted to the line together. We had made it, 90 miles in a tropical storm! 22,000 cyclists, 90 miles and one tropical storm proving that cyclists are made of tough stuff!
Thank you to Prudential and the event organisers and volunteer who made sure everyone was well looked after.
5 hours of character building riding. Another great experience and we eagerly await the 2015!
by hattenburrow | Aug 8, 2014 | Racing
On Saturday I travelled to my parents in Suffolk, ready to take part in round six of the Mud Sweat and Gears series. The alarm went off at 6.20 on Sunday morning and the pre race routine kicked in, oats for breakfast, packing the car, checking I had enough gels and electrolyte drinks, bike on the roof and off we went.
I hadn’t been feeling very well for a couple of days and wasn’t feeling very strong going into this race.
Arriving in time to practise the course, Thetford in Norfolk is a pretty flat part of the country and so the course was mainly flat single track through trees with a slight incline and decline in places. There was one bomb hole which had an ‘a’ and ‘b’ line, this was a simple straight in and out pit so no issue.
After practising I had a banana and cereal bar got my gels and lined up with the others. Today there was five of us in the elite/expert category. I lined up in the middle looking at the bend we had to get round out of the start thinking that would be the best place to start, this turned out to not be the case as the whistle went being in the middle and not the fastest off the line meant I got squeezed by other riders but kept my head down and pushed on. The first lap was short to help spread us out before we entered the singletrack for the second lap.
This first lap felt hard the start had been very quick and my legs felt heavy from not having a proper warm up. I came through the first lap at 17 mins way off the pace I hadn’t had a chance to drink because the ground although flat was rough and I was getting shaken about quite a bit.
Coming into my second lap I felt pretty weak my legs were heavy still and my stomach kept cramping, not a great start when there is four laps left. I kept pushing on riding my own race and trying to not panic about being far behind. To make things a bit more interesting my Garmin fell off my bike which meant I had to stop and pick it up loosing time and becoming a bit flustered about being off the front group.
Half way through lap two my Dad popped up at one of the cart tracks full of support which spurred me on. Going into my third lap he told me I was gaining on another girl ahead and kept talking to me at the gates on the way round, it was so encouraging to know I was gaining on her and getting faster, my legs had eased up and I had been able to drink and had a gel which gave me an energy burst I desperately needed!
I caught up the other rider and over took which again was a big boost, I kept pushing forward riding as fast and as faultlessly as I could. After a while I felt I had lost her enough to start enjoying the race a little more the single track sections through the trees where brilliant and although it felt like you were a rag doll being shaken about the down hill sections were fast as the trees seemed to fly by. Coming into the last lap I felt good and decided to put everything into gaining on the others. The last singletrack section on this lap my legs started to feel a bit tired but I pushed on determined to finish fast.
Crossing the finish line was a brilliant feeling I felt at home on my bike for the first time since getting it and everything flowed together (once I got over the first heavy legged feeling)
I came third in my category and fifth girl back out of 14 which I’m very happy with.
My next challenge is Ride London next weekend and then the last nationals of the year in Staffordshire.
My lap times were;
Lap 1: 17.07
Lap 2: 22.17
Lap 3: 22.45
Lap 4: 21.49
Lap 5: 21.46
Thank you as always to my sponsors and support. Especially to Velo Virtuoso and Geared Up Cycles who keep my bike in brilliant condition, even after I crash it!
