Mud Sweat and Gears Round Two Codham Park – 21st April 2013
On Sunday I travelled to a rather sunny Braintree for the second race in the Mud Sweat and Gears Eastern Series at Codham Park.
This was probably one of the most fun but demanding races yet this season. The pre ride of the course highlighted several features which would need extra attention, including a steep grassy bank, technical singe track sections and a rock garden.
The course started off down a gravel track before making its way over fields and into the first part of single track which led you up to a steep grassy bank. After the bank the course again made its way across fields and into a section of wooded single track, ending with a stream crossing, before again heading back up a grassy hill. The next section was by far the most enjoyable as the course headed downhill towards the BMX track, it was really good fun.
The following section was a technical single track with steep drops, hard climbs and a rock garden thrown in for an added bit of interest. All in all this course picked up the mountain biking play book and threw as much at you as it could in a 6 kilometre loop.
After a strong start I was lying in second place trailing behind Melaine Melanie? Paddington (EHF Racing) and briefly over took her, only to find myself very quickly back in second place. After trying to keep on her back wheel for a while i made a silly mistake resulting in my chain coming off and having to stop to put it back on, losing valuable ground on her.
On my first two laps I felt strong but due to another error of mistakenly taking the “chicken run ” through the last section of singletrack i lost more valuable time.
I kept pushing on and knew that Alex Nichol (Team CCN) was not far behind me and this helped spur me on, determined not to loose my second position.
I finished the 15 mile course in 1 hour 39 mins and my heart rate data shows that I was maxing out nearly all the way round.
Things to take away from the race:
> slower cadence bigger gear to try and get more speed
> work on long grassy hill climbs, need more power
>wear sun cream!
All in all I’m really happy with this result and buzzing for the British Cycling Nationals in Redruth next weekend. Bring it on.
Fingers crossed for more sunshine!