SUPPORTED BY
Summit Racing/TORQ Fitness Evening Series
Lotts Wood, Amersham: 24 May, 14 June, 12 July 06
By Paul Howard.
Summit MTB Racing are a new club formed in 2005 by riders in the High Wycombe area. Keen racer Brendan Divall with the help of club members started an Evening Race Series in 2005 held at the Wycombe Summit Ski Slope Centre in the adjacent Deangarden Woods. It 'was' a fantastic venue based on a steep hillside with some excellent trails. But there was an unfortunate incident early this year involving someone overcooking the chips in the Centre's kitchen and burning the whole building down to the ground. The whole venue was closed so a new race arena had to be found.
Fortunately Summit had already been working with the Forestry Commission on acquiring a small patch of land, and so Lotts Wood near Amersham was groomed into a 2 mile race course. Think of Checkendon's stony trails, also based in the Chiltern Hills, with 90% of the course being singletrack, up-down-up-down twisting here there and everywhere. A course for riders with good skills and an ability to accelerate quickly. My ideal course. I entered the Masters race, and along with the Expert, Sport and Veterans we all start together so you don't really know who your competitors are.
Round 1 in May was greeted with constant rain for days on end and a very cool evening. As the course hadn't been ridden much we were bedding it in with the top surface of mulch and mud providing for very tricky conditions. I cannily opted for the singlespeed and mud tyres but should have changed the gearing from 32:16 to something like 32:18 as my cadence was reduced to a slow grind in many places. In some sections I resorted to a cyclocross style jump off and run which was faster than riding. After an hours racing we finished in near darkness due to the weather conditions but the event was announced a success leading to further rounds.
I used round 2 in June as a good high intensity training session before the Southern XC at the weekend and pre-Mayhem. The course was extended by a couple of hundred metres and in the bone dry conditions you could really go 'balls out' everywhere. I got baulked at the start when the rider in front slipped his pedal so entered the singletrack in about 5th. Immediately held up I tried to find a way round but with so much narrow singletrack it was problematic. A very dodgy manoeuvre through 'the rough' saw me bouncing over fallen branches and stumps but I managed to get clear of the small group. Until my chain started slipping. It would not stay on a rear cog for more than a few revolutions so applying constant power was a nightmare. I stopped to see what the cause was, but there were no sticks in the cassette, so continued until the start of lap 3 for another look. I found a damaged chain link which was burred and wouldn't flex so it couldn't maintain a smooth path over the teeth. A few minutes of flexing the chain to work it loose partially helped so I jumped back on having dropped a lap on the leaders. So not the best of races but great fun chasing down tiring riders none the less.
July's round 3 was another hot night in ideal conditions run on exactly the same course as round 2, which is good because you can compare lap times event to event. I was determined to lead into the singletrack this time and blasted off the start onto the bumpy left hand line up the first hill. An Evans rider had claimed the smooth right hand line but I thought I was ahead so tried to switch lines to find us side by side and elbowing each other (Robbie McEwen styleee in Le Tour). Yielding I had to let him go, but his ragged style in the singletrack of locking up the rear wheel was not smooth or quick as a train of riders formed behind us. So I tried two more passing attempts including a very alternative line into a bombhole when again I had to give him right of way. Finally I knew where to make it stick so held back a little to accelerate down a descent and pass up a short steep climb. I was away with a clear trail. Luke Smith (Expert) soon caught me as expected so I stayed on his wheel for the first lap but knew to just let him go and ride my own pace. Brendan was trying to hang on to my tail so I made a few little digs which he couldn't respond to. The remainder of the race was spent enjoying the twisty trails and trying different places to put in the effort to gain the most distance. A second place finish to Luke was very satisfying just 1:43 behind, as I took the Masters Series. It was also good to know that my post-Mayhem recovery had gone well showing that I could still race at speed with a very high effort.
If you're new to racing this is an ideal way to try it out. A race under an hour on a short course gives you the chance to improve your lines every lap (we were knocking out six sub 10-minute laps) and can be as easy or tiring as you make it! It's a very sociable and low key affair but exceptionally well organised with course marshals, computerised lap timing, first aid cover and good parking. All being well Summit plan to hold a team race on the 13th September where riders handover a baton to their next team-mate in a relay format. The added twist that the race will span sunset so lights will be required for the second hour. Keep an eye on the Summit MTB Racing website for announcements.
Timings from rounds 1, 2 & 3 respectively...
Pos Laps Time Time+ Lap 1 Lap 2 Lap 3 Lap 4 Lap 5 Lap 6 -------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 5 01:07:18 12:16 13:21 13:12 14:24 14:05 4 5 00:59:24 03:54 10:30 13:21 16:02 09:46 09:45 1 6 00:58:43 09:46 09:41 09:48 09:43 09:57 09:48