It was 22nd March and the final round of the
Gorrick Spring Series. With a late venue change to Frith Hill in Deepcut, the
sun was shining and trails were set to be dry and fast and expected to make for
an exciting race. The XC based events hadn't gone to plan so far in 2015, and
with racing in Expert, which was fun of elite racers, I didn't have any
expectations other than to race as hard as I could and test myself.
My ride for this race
was something a bit different, I had been given a Haibike Freed 27.5” Carbon
hardtail with Sram 1 x 11, to ride and race test. At first look the bike caught
my eye, with its slick, slanting frame and dark colour combination, which after
a slow practise lap I knew was going to perform well during the race. The
course consisted of quick, technical descents mirrored with short sharp climbs
which were going to test the legs during the later laps of the race.
As I took my place near the back of a quick 14 rider field on
the grid I took on a gel, tightened my shoes and tried to relax. The gun went
and I was soon on the limit, as the first few hundred metres consisted on flat fire
road before descending into the loamy single-track. As the first of five laps passed I was feeling
comfortable and enjoying the course and bike, but I could feel I had pushed a
bit harder than I should, which was an unfortunate trait of mine. As the second
and third laps passed, I was still sitting comfortably and setting a good pace,
but now the sharp climbs were starting to take effect on the legs. Taking a
bottle and feeding on a gel each lap was going to be the crucial part in
ensuring I did not blow up and completed the race.
As I entered the fourth
lap I was beginning to pay for the early effort on the first lap and the
fatigue was real. I took on yet another bottle of water and another gel to keep
me topped up. I knew I had one more lap to go after this and if I didn't take
measures in controlling my effort I was going to blow. I let myself enjoy the
single track sections a bit more, letting the bike do most of the work and roll
as much as possible without losing to much speed, then attacking the climbs, to
get them over quicker. It all sounds a bit odd during a race but it did actually
work.
As I came onto the last lap I began to find a final bit of energy
and motivation. I didn't gain any places but I was riding how I was on the
first lap, being able to throw the bike into the corners and put in efforts on
the fire roads and climbs and eventually which led to me eventually crossing
the finish line two hours and five laps later, excited to be able to sit down.
On reflection I felt
the overall the race was good and I felt happy with being able to put in
efforts even in the later stage of the race. That boded well for future spring
and summer races. The bike was much better than I expected. The lightweight carbon
frame made it easy to keep up on with rivals on the hills and fire-roads. The
smaller 27.5” wheels made light work of the tricky and tight single tracks,
dare I say it, it did make me quicker than on my 29” in these parts. The Fox
fork lockout made riding on the fire-roads quicker and have being able to quickly
add the bounce back into the forks by using the handle bar attachment, made it
much more efficient and something I would like on my own race bike. The only
disadvantages were the smaller geometry, which felt much more up right than a
normal XC race bike and not in such a racing position, but with the help of a
longer stem is easily fixed. The other element I struggled with was the
position of the water bottle cage on the frame. It was much lower than normal
which was reaching for and putting back the bottle harder to perform and I couldn't
complete the procedure was fast as normal.
Up next it the annual Odiham CC / 1st Gear Cycles Mallorca escape to the sun for 4 rides of mountainous riding and then back to the road racing and spring / summer mountain bike races.
Cheers for reading.
Ryan Keynes
Odiam CC / 1stgearcycles.com
