Go on then, I'll give you one more chance....

“There are no second chances in life, except to feel remorse.” 
― Carlos Ruiz Zafón, The Shadow of the Wind

Scott Mountain Marathon Round 3: Church Stretton ride report

I can't remember how coy I was when summing up my thoughts about the last Scott MTB Marathon I entered, so I'll be clear this time....the route sucked. It consisted of far too many fire road climbs and then squandered that effort with too many arrow straight lumpy and uninspiring descents. It didn't make me want to try another.

So why did I end up at Round 3 then? I had the option of hitting the road (Nah, did a century last weekend), MSG XC at Ickworth (Nah, it'll be over in 90 mins and flat) so let's think about another marathon event. I looked over the OS map to confirm that Church Stretton wasn't suffocated by acres of FC plantations and was relieved to find that was the case. I also hadn't visited the area since doing my Silver D. of E. so the chance to ride the Long Mynd, Minton Batch, etc perhaps wasn't to be missed.

Once again GringoJimi and I dropped in on C6 Bikes on the way, we both needed some drink mix and I needed a new helmet. 

I went for another Skratch Labs bottle taster bundle and Jimi opted for a bucket of Torq. While there we learned some top secret news about team bikes for 2016....more details to follow.

For my new helmet I went for a Giro Foray. I've gone off MTB or trail helmets for riding in, the peak never seems to do much and they seem unnecessarily heavy. The Foray felt comfy straight away. It's only about 50g lighter than the Specialized Tactic II it's replacing (if the labels are to be believed) but once on it doesn't protrude into your peripheral vision so it almost disappears.  

After a quick look over the new Storck range we hit the road and thankfully the M6 was kind to us. The Marathon arena was much the same as round 2, that is, a decent range of food and drink and a sprinkling of trade stands, no bad thing.

The main event...

As with Round 2 the start was a bun fight. 700 riders fed into a single lane road couldn't be anything other than that. I guess it the interests of everyone having the same start time it has to be done that way. Having learned that a quick start was essential to clear the main bunch we planned to quick off the block, alas the sheer volume of riders made that impossible. As it's not a race, and a large percentage of riders aren't out to race trying to force your way through the pack would just make you look an arse and probably lead to a massive crash. Bide your time and the first big climb gives you the opportunity to get past a few.

The route itself was a vast improvement over Round 2. Far fewer fire roads, instead lots of nice trails crossing "proper countryside". I did feel a bit guilty at the volume of riders when it appeared to have been the number one weekend for D. of E. groups to hit the hills too.

Basking in the sunshine...

The weather for the most part didn't disappoint, two bottles of Skratch (One raspberry and one lemon/lime) were enough even though it started off roasting hot. I say for the most part as 20k from the end the heavens opened in a big way. Thankfully I was through the Jurassic trails of Eastridge when the downpour started. It's also interesting how motivating it can be to get the hell out of Dodge in adverse conditions. The return leg repeated one of the more sketchy, technical descents and Strava reveals I completed it faster in the wet than I did in the dry with fresh legs!

I just want to finish now...

I really enjoyed my ride in Shropshire and lamented that I have driven through without stopping en route to Wales many times. Like Arnie said....I'll be back!

Post script.....The conditions for the XC race at Ickworth were atrocious with mnay people abandoning the race after clogging with mud on their practice lap. Bullet dodged!

Scott MTB Marathon Round 2 Rhayader

The wise man does at once what the fool does finally.
Niccolo Machiavelli

Having let work get in the way of doing the Builth round of the Scott Marathon series I was twice as keen to do Round 2, particularly as I've ridden a lot in Mid-Wales but usually while on a laden bike-packing bike, not an XC bike carrying just a couple of gels.


I'd be chauffeured there by Gringo Jimi in his recently pimped-out van, this was another first, Mid-Wales, unladen bike and no Bivi either!

Prep for the event meant a new chain, PF30 BB and Jagwire gear cables for the Spearfish. My last marathon outing in Wales led to a significant walk of shame from Crychan Forest to Llanwrtyd Wells as my well used Nobby Nics were fatally and repeatedly punctured by slate chippings. The Onza Canis fitted to the Spearfish were only a couple of rides old so a quick once over and they were cleared for take-off. Any signs of wear and I'd have binned them, it's not worth the gamble.

Leaving my final  packing to the last minute *again* meant I couldn't lay my hands on a mini-pump or any drink mix. Luckily we were dropping by C6 Bikes to pick up a Park work stand so I was able to get my missing items.

Doing my best to avoid the tempting Santa Cruz display I chose myself a Birzman Mini-Apogee, it looks to be the smallest useful pump I've seen. Weighs nowt, feels sturdy considering the size and best of all fits in my tiny seat pack.....I felt 70km of Welsh off-roading was certain to lead to a lost pump from a jersey back pocket. I can't comment on it's performance just yet as I didn't suffer any punctures!

Birzman Mini-Apogee  14cm tall, 2.5cm diameter and 4cm across at the head. 80g and good for 120psi!

I took a gamble on the drink mix by opting for Skratch Labs . I'd not tried any before but had heard good things and C6 had a handy trial kit that comprised of a bottle and 6 different sachets. 

Skratch Labs Taster pack: Specialized 500ml bottle with 6 different flavour drink sachets

The Lemon sachet, when mixed with 500ml of water had just enough flavour without the artificial excessive sweetness that is often typical of powered mixes. Like the pump I'll reserve judgement until I've tried the rest but it was certainly nicer than the Torq lime mix given out by the Scott Marathon feed station.

It would have been so pointless to kill himself that, even if he had wanted to, the pointlessness would have made him unable.

Franz Kafka

"Reckon we could fit that in the van?"

So on to the event. You might have guessed I like going on long rides, I'll happily do closed course rides but if I can go out for a few hours and not cover the same trail twice that's even better. The marathon series then should be perfect, it's on public trails so it's not a race and it's a (25, 40 or in our case) 70km lap.

The event was based at Rhayader Rugby ground and for £35 the facilities, live band, pasta meal and decent event T-Shirt are good VFM.

Camp site the night before

With 600+ entrants leaving through a small market town it was never going to be a smooth departure but I think some sort of seeding would've been sensible as it was a bit of bun fight.
There was a pace car but everyone seemed perfectly able to keep pace so the bun fight continued for a good few miles.

The evening before I saw the route map and it looked suspiciously like it spent a lot of time in commercial forest plantations, unfortunately this proved to be true. I'd say the route was probably 60% fire roads, 10% fall line arrow straight single track, 10% muddy land rover tracks, and 20% Tarmac. There was some of the gotta catch 'em feeling from regular XC races but a lot of the time was spent thinking oh, another fire road climb. 

Still, look for the positives, it lashed down in Suffolk while Wales had glorious sunshine and racking up some height gain can't be all bad.

Getting back to the van the rider parked next to us was impressed we'd done the 70k ride and had thoroughly enjoyed his day so the organisers are obviously doing something right, for me (and Gringo Jimi) it was 70k of very samey trails.

Gringo Jimi's Santa Cruz Highball CC XTR *swoon* and Britney Spearfish