As you can see, a rod slots into the hollow crank spindle and will work for nearly all external BB cranksets. Simple yet very clever! The bike is incredibly stable and Andy told me he has used these confidently with full on downhill bikes. The low centre of gravity keeps things very stable. When at race / trail centre etc. the real killer bit is you can turn the cranks (the rear wheel is raised of the ground) and perform easy gear adjustments. You can also easily take the wheels out as the bike see saws around the pivot point.

And if, like me, you’ve got a tide mark of black scrapes in the kitchen / living room at about handlebar height, this may also keep you in favour with your better half ; )

Check out this Great British invention at www.andystand.co.uk  I get the feeling you’ll be seeing a lot more of these around over the next few months…

Anyways… Ant and I had a great fun and fast race. The Gisburn course had a bit of everything; fast flowing singletrack, techy nadgery sections and brutal fireroad climbs. Great fun, great weather, but we came second so maybe not that great then. Only joking! We fought hard with the Leisure Lakes pair and Dave Powell / Jason Miles (Ragley) who proceeded to eek out a winning five minute margin in the final laps. Well done to them and I was really impressed by their turns of speed as well as their friendly fighting spirit.

In other news… out of the blue, Enigma sent me a Ti Ego frame. Whoopeee! Nice end of the week surprise! Check these pics and I’ll be posting a full build soonish…

Also, check Bike Magic for the low done on my Ego St, and thanks to BM for publishing the article http://www.bikemagic.com/gear-news/rich-rothwells-enigma-ego-st/8100.html

Essentially, you tailor order your drink mix to your body type, physiology, and event requirements. My mix has 61 grams of carbohydrate, 3 grams of protein, electrolyte, a dribble of caffeine and couple of other bits and pieces. (I have a none caffeinated mix as well because 24hrs is too long for me to go on caffeine – I went 6hrs on / 6hrs off with no ill effect). The protein staves off a feeling of hunger whilst giving on going muscle repair, and the carb content is exactly right for my energy requirements.

I was skeptical about the idea of going fully liquid but it’s the best nutrition move I have made. There is no digestive strain on my stomach and no sickly feeling (the mix is quite ’sharp’ and not sickly sweet like some other energy drinks. You can tailor the flavouring aspect too). Essentially, all I need to do is drink one 600ml bottle per hour (depending on temperature) and that’s nutrition and hydration taken care of! It’s an absolute revelation! No faffing on with food, quick or no pit stops, and a steady consistent stream of energy. Yes, this was an experiment for me at a major race but it worked and I’ll never go back to solid food for a long distance event.

If you want to give it a go, visit www.infinitnutrition.com. If you decide to place an order, put the code “24ormore” in at checkout. You get £5 off your purchase and, (I’m totally honest about this) I get affiliate points towards my own supply. If I wasn’t so confident in this product, I wouldn’t endorse it. Simple as that. Even better, (especially if you are not so confident on your requirements – that included me!) give them a ring and have a chat. They will talk you through the ins and outs to make sure your mix is just right. Or, if you see me at an event come over and hi, and I’ll give you some free samples.

Ready to go.

Like every other serious 24hr solo racer in the UK, I had decided to make this race a serious target. I haven’t  known a 24hr race to generate such a buzz for months before the big day. It was always going to be a tough field and the start list reflected a who’s who of UK endurance racing.

Also it was on home ground – an hour and a half drive away at Newcastleton. A real pull for me as racing a 24 usually means plenty of time off work, a big drive, sorting accommodation and the logistics of shipping everything including the kitchen sink. Only as it turned out, I found it hard to push this advantage home…

Physically I was in great shape. My winter had gone very well despite the harsh conditions. I was feeling very strong. But the two weeks running up to the race were impossible! I recently started a great new job. I was away for work. I had back to back meetings. I was waiting for bike parts. Charlotte, my chief organiser was away in Miami for work (yes, really!). Sum result was total chaos! (Fortunately Dougie, my good friend and mechanic, came on Thursday to finish my bikes – I simply couldn’t have done it myself!) I have never been so disorganised for a big race! Friday night came and I just threw everything in the back of the ever accommodating Volvo (hoping what I needed was in there!) and Dougie, my dad and I rallyed it to Newcastleton, in a blind hurry to meet Ant, (who was pitting with us) and get to The Grapes for last food orders!

It as great to see everyone at the race site and, for such a big race, the atmosphere was super relaxed, probably helped by the incredible weather! Would have loved to have hung around but food and a bed called…

Saturday dawned even warmer and brighter than the day before! Nice, but the buidling heat was clearly going to have a great impact on the race. Well, it did on mine anyway…

The sign-on in the centre of Newcastleton was great fun (even if I was a bit embarrassed to be given the number 2 plate… A nice gesture from the organisers though – thanks! We were lead out by a local group – The Copshaw Riders; chopper forks and wellies… nice! We were paced up the hill and hit the course proper.

As I’d expected, the pace was pretty pedestrian. Everyone was watching each other and a bunch of the usual suspects formed, including Matt Page, Ian Leitch, Ant White, James Lister, Craig Bowles and others. Josh on the other hand, had found the pace a little too pedestrian and wound up those big wheels with those long legs and cruised away to a gap. Nobody was concerned and just let him go….

The group gradually fragmented. Ian Leitch was not feeling his best and sadly pulled out after three laps. James Lister punctured, fought back, yo-yoed, and the effort to get back on the group knocked him out of the race fairly early on. Ant White pulled away. This left me in the good company of Matt Page. We rode together for about three laps at a stiff but sociable pace. Then, at about 8pm we spotted Ant, Matt put his foot down, and we tore into each other!

It was fast and furious but I was fine with the pace. I was recovering well from the efforts. We hit a short but steep climb and I was just about to crest the hill when… cramp! Bugger! I had to stand up and let Matt past me. He jumped onto Ant’s wheel and the pair pulled away. It was sooo frustrating… I very rarely suffer cramp and annoyingly a few more minutes of hot sun remained. It was terrible timing and was a defining point for my race campaign.

Heading into the dark and with nobody to pace myself off, I found it very hard to gauge my effort. I was feeling strong, but a glance at the post race lap times showed an untenable yo-yoing. I’m thinking about getting a moto-pacer – they are used in motorcross/downhill to give continual lap time feedback. They can easily be used to give splits throughout a lap so you can see if you are speeding up or slowing down. This also takes some pressure of pit support.  It is often the case that towards the front of an endurance race field you end up on your own – in this case it was my undoing.

The night wore on and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was still and warm. The moon was pretty big and early on in the evening a bright orange. It’s these times that make endurance racing so good. I felt good throughout the night but it was clear that Ant and Matt were pulling away. And, to many people’s surprise they had not caught Josh and Josh was not fading….

The sun came up spectacularly. I relented from asking a fellow rider what time it was… but eventually I couldn’t resist… ‘Quarter to five’ came the cheery reply…. Doh! I thought it was about 8 o’clock! Obviously my head wasn’t as clear as I had presumed!

It was apparent that a podium would come from the wheels falling off ahead of me. Matt and Josh lapped me but I quickly unlapped my self from Josh and, with plenty in the tank, set to work on the final laps. I rode with James Leavesley for a couple of laps which was good – we had a good chat and he had plenty in his legs to push us up the climbs. I pulled away and hammered out my last two laps. I was confused by my positioning and knew that by now Josh was fading and had fallen into third place. This gave me hope and my tired brain had convinced me that third was possible…. of course it wasn’t and I finished fourth, a place I HATE to end up! Still, 250 miles and 11,000m of vertical climbing is a good day’s work!

Despite my disappointment, it was a fantastic race. The weather was unbelievable! The course was tough but fun. And the atmosphere, even amongst the fiercest competitors was fantastic. I have utmost respect for Matt, Ant, and Josh for their podium efforts and everyone there who pushed through a challenge that is touch and go even for the seasoned racer.

My Enigma rode superbly, even though I did not spend as much time on it as I would have liked because I had little time to set it up properly before the race. Running a helmet mounted Exposure Diablo on a triple piggy back with a MaXx D on the bars was the perfect set up and one I will use for future races. My Infinit nutrition liquid food was superb – all the energy I needed without the faff and discomfort of eating. I’ll tell you more about this stuff soon but for now all you need to know is it works brilliantly – www.infinitnutrition.com

Big thanks to Dougie and my dad for staying up through the night to be barked at for 20 seconds every hour…. I hope they enjoyed the weather and atmosphere as much as I did!

Bontrager24 solo next…. an opportunity to redeem myself. The field was not the strongest until about two weeks ago…. but now Americans Kelly Magelky (US number 2) and Travis Brown have signed up…. Suddenly that podium is looking like a serious  challenge again…. but that’s the way I like it!

The other big news is that I have a fantastic new sponsor; Enigma frame builders. Enigma have more of an established presence on the road scene and they specialise in high quality custom handmade ti and steel frames. However, they also produce a ti hardtail (the Ego) and a steel hardtail (the Ego st). I will be riding the steel frames. 

At a number of races in the last couple of years, I’ve stood on the start line thinking I would be better of on a hardtail… so few courses really require a full suspension bike and the simplicity, comfort, and ’snap’ of a high quality hardtail has become increasingly appealling. Enigma frames really are beautifully crafted and finished. Check out www.enigmabikes.com  However, when my bikes are built up there will be pics and a review here and I’ll tell you more about the ride characteristics. 

Love the idea of keeping it British too… we have some fantastic engineering companies in the UK (including Enigma + USE / Exposure) and, in the current economic climate, I for one am very happy to be promoting  and raising the profile of these high quality outfits.

Next day was the traditional Thrunton trip and we were joined by Sustrans Area Manager James Adamson (who I will be working with very soon). James turned up on “the ideal Thrunton” bike – a rigid slack angled steel hardtail with big tyres and widest bars I have EVER seen! Stable! James’ claim proved true as he rumbled down the steep rocky stuff with unfaltered control. Goodbye to those two and return home to an email from…. Ant White.

“Fancy checking out Newcastleton Rich?” 

OK. Soooo… Char and I set off early with Ant following in his ‘Magnificent Mystery Machine’… : ) The rain got steadily heavier…. the roads turned to rivers… I was cruising. And Ant was following…. A little pressure on the accelerator. The Mystery Machine bounced happily through the flooded roads behind us… A little faster. He was right up there all the way. I was assured at Newcastleton that “It is a later model”. Ah. That explains it!

Ant set off in torrential rain to do 43 laps (or something). Char and I cruised round in the ‘atmospheric’ rain forest. It was wet…

Well, sitting typing this several hours later, Ant is still out there. With a bit of luck he’ll wear himself out…. We’re doing 6+ hours ’steady’ at Dalby tomorrow. Wish me luck!

None of this effects my focus and motivation for the coming season…. I don’t claim to be the most natural / fastest / talented endurance rider… But, what I do possess is dedication and motivation. One day I will convert all that focus into the ride that I know is deep inside me and, whatever the race position, all the hard work will be worth it. I feel confident that this could be the year. There is a real buzz about the coming season – let’s all enjoy it : )

I’ll be updating my blog accordingly to suit my new circumstances. Just been non stop of late as I’ve also recently secured a new job working for Sustrans, promoting and developing cycling in schools. Great job! 

Life’s been busy, busy, busy…

Training wise it’s all good. Feeling very strong (doesn’t everyone say that?!). Had plenty of good rides around the borders. It’s been pretty home grown recently. Had some good days around Newcastleton (one more line trimming lap won’t harm eh?).

Newcastleton singletrack

Oh, and last week I raced xc at Kielder. And won! Here is the account that has been on the team site if you haven’t read it already:

Turn out was reasonable considering the conditions. Around fifty people stood shivering on the start line. One particularly lean looking chap next to me had a Scott Scale with xc racer boy tyres, full lycra strip and pimpy white Sidis. Had he been here before? I chuckled quietly to myself in my 8mm neoprene overshoes, skull cap, buff, merino top, windstopper fleece….. Bang! And we were off…

I had decided that I was going to go hard off the front and hang in there for grim death… Not the most refined strategy but in the end it worked. I swapped places with my man on the start line for a mile or two then we hit the first drag up and pulled away. Up some hair pins and I got the chance to look back and see a chasing group had formed. The first bit of singletrack was spot on, even if mostly uphill. I pushed hard to try and consolidate the lead.

Out of that section, down a fireroad, across a stream and then the real fun began…. about 5 miles on and off of deep snow with slippery landrover tracks cut into it. Being the first rider through meant I had to ‘cut’ a line… It’s a heck of a good job I’ve been practicing in the snow a lot! Weight back. High smooth cadence. Relax… The back half of the course pretty much carried on in this vein. It then dived off down a steep, slushy, muddy slope. Up a fireroad section and down a steeper, slushier, muddier, slopier thing… complete with the blood thirsty photogrpaher in place… A good bit of rooty singletrack and the lap was done. Two more to go.

It was only on the opening stretch of the lap that I got a chance to look back and see who was there. One rider was about a minute behind me. I pushed on hard. Up the hairpins I could look back and see he looked strong. Dig in. Back to the snow section again. The rest of the riders had cut it up a bit now so going was a bit faster but probably sketchier… Lots of dismounts, running, remounts (with the bike in a 6in groove…. tricky!). Some remounts on the ‘wrong’ side of the bike too, a skill I’ve been practicing this winter… and it actually came in useful! (If you want a laugh at your own expense, try it!)

Round lap 2. The Marshalls told me my pusuer was one minute back. Along the straight again and there he was, spinnning away… Flip, I thought I’d lost him… So I put an extra dig in on the climb. Things were starting to hurt now… Into the snow… Problem was from here on it was so technical there just wasn’t a chance to look over your shoulder or you’d be off. So I forgot about him and just focused on the grooves in front of me… Down the uber steep bit and only the forest singletrack to go. Steal a glance back… I was clear.

So I took my first win of the year in my first race. Got to be pleased with that. I used lots of little tricks I’ve been practising over the winter; mounts / dimounts, ’spin ups’ to crest hills, hitting grooves in the snow, improved cornering. All these little things add up to a faster ride.  

Despite living twenty ish miles from my work place (and slightly in the sticks) I’ve been able to get there everyday this week. Yes, it has been ‘challenging’ at times… And I mean REALLY challenging…. The return home yesterday was physically and mentally demoralising as I struggled into driving snow in zero visibility and took nearly two hours to get home…. I felt pretty broken by the time I dragged myself through the door. (One of my work colleagues lives in the same town as me and it also took them almost  two hours to get home by car!).

Now to the point. My choice of vehicle. I bought the frame of this bike years ago. Perhaps the best bike purchase I have ever made. It has been dressed up in all sorts of kit and ridden across all sorts of terrain for a great many reasons:

Big forks + big tyres = steep rocky mountains.

Project 2s + panniers = bikepacking.

Slick tyres + narrow bars + BIG big ring = superfast road commuter.

And this season…. 100ml forks + short stem + mud tyres = superbly stable and fun snow commuter.

A.T.V.

The bike has a superb ride quality, no matter how I build it up. It’s a cliche to say it feels like an old pair of slippers… and it would also be slightly misleading because, whilst familiar, every build has had a fresh and contemporary feel to it. An All Terrain Vehicle if ever there was one. And I’d prefer to take my chances in the rough weather on this bike than in the car….

So what is the frame I hear you say? Well, if you don’t recognise the destickered classic, here is a cryptic clue;

‘In a small sheltered Canadian inlet, tending to oneself’

OK then…… Shuffling swiftly on….

Speaking of design classics, something I’ve meant to post for some time now is a picure of my personalised special 7DS edition Exposure lights; a Maxx D and a Joystick.   

My name in lights

These lights are absolutely superb. Like the steel hardtail they just quietly get on and do the job they were made for. No fuss. No unneccesary features. Purely functional. They have seen me well through the Coast to Coast (in horrendous conditions) and the Worlds. In both instances the last thing I wanted to deal with was light failure.  And they have served me well in the terrible commuting conditions of the past week. I just don’t see how any other light format can be better. Thanks Exposure.

Sometimes the simple designs are the best.

The few days leading up to Josh visiting had been freezing with a nice but relatively thin fall of snow. I had enjoyed some classic rides; singletrack that is usually a wintery muddy mess became rock hard and super fast. Did lots of night riding too. It’s pretty quiet round here generally, so mid evening when it’s minus 5 outside the place becomes yours alone…  One fairly bizarre incident; a huge owl repeatedly swooped down and tried to grab my helmet with the intention of carrying me away! (Note to self; don’t bring Josh here. He might end up in a tree. Ten miles away).

Anways, after a fantastic few days of frozen fun, I anticipated more snowy shredding. Josh arrived and refused an ice cold can of lager. Hell, this boys serious! Next morning I regretted drinking Josh’s portion but was nontheless itching to hit the trails as the sky was crystal clear and there was not a breath of wind.  

We parked across the fell to the south of Thrunton with the intention of crossing the open moorland to enter the back of the woods. Error. The further we ploughed on, the deeper the snow became… The problem was the snow had frozen on top of a foot deep bed of springy heather forming a hard crust that sapped your energy. It also broke across my shins (or Josh’s ankles)  and became quite painful!

Surfing the crust.

Like lemmings we pushed on…. The picture actually shows an easyish bit… It got progressively harder…. and harder. But of course, once in your mire, turning back is no longer an option. The last 50m were the worst… now up to our thighs in heather and snow we dodged the hidden bogs. Well, I see we, I mean ‘I’. Josh ended up with one wet foot. I think he was starting to hate me… a process that would evolve as the two days wore on!

We hit the crags above the woods and one of the best traverses anywhere. Normally. Problem was, at some point in the last day or so it had thawed and then refrozen into glassy ice. On really techy rocky trail. It made a  trail that is super challenging in the dry a nerve wracking concentration fest as we slithered down ice coated rock steps…. If you look closely at this next pic you will see that Josh is acually riding on sheet ice…

Josh ice skating.

Then the descent proper started… Even half rding, half scrambling was hairy as a river had refrozen down the track… We rode the bottom sections no problem though…

Leaving the crags.

After attempting another open trail, the penny finally dropped that ‘exposed’ was not the future so we headed into the woods where the snow and ice hadn’t penetrated. A few of the classic Thrunton singletrack sections and we were done. We had intended a relatively easy day but conditions made this into a real work out and a great test of handling skills.

Of course we had to have the obligatory curry and we settled down to watch a surf film. Josh now wants to be a surfer. I think it was the shots of tropical islands playing tricks on his head after a day in the freezer.

We got up early to head to Newcastleton. The plan was to start at Kielder, ride over Bloody Bush Road to Newcastleton for a lap, and then back over. This seemed more sensible than driving round to Newcastleton as the roads would undoubtedly be seriously icey.

So we set off. It was ridiculously cold. Josh and I are not built for sub zero temperatures. Between us we carry as much fat as a Weight Watchers ready meal. We both whinged like small children as we lost sensation in our hands.  The snow was frozen and rutted. The fireroad climb was gradual to steep in places. Traction was incredibly hard to find but it was great practice blending balance with an even smooth pedal stroke. Well, I enjoyed the challenge… Josh was less enamoured with the snow and at times the air was bluer than our fingertips. However, in this pic Josh looks more ‘focused’ than ‘pissed off’!

Icey rut joy.

We plugged on. It was super hard work and very slow going. The snow got deeper. We reached the start of Bloody Bush Road and it became apparent that carrying on would have been pointless. And it had taken us over an hour to cover ground that would normally take half that. You can see here that there had been a fresh dump of really thick snow;

Bloodybush Road.

 We turned back. It was great fun retracing our tyre marks and riding the ruts. This has long been a weakness of mine (and Josh’s) but I’ve been developing my technique and it really seemed to come together in the snowy fireroad. In fact, it came together so much that I was going pretty quick…. a couple of out of control fishtails and I decided to quit whilst I was ahead….

We nipped back to Kielder Castle for some food and a coffee and felt frustrated that we had not reached Newcastleton. But we had enjoyed a couple of days of ‘unusual’ riding! Not text book ‘training’, but I for one have enjoyed my rides recently because the weather has forced me to practice some techniques that I wouldn’t naturally spend time on. I hope Josh enjoyed his time here and I know he recognised the quality of the riding in these parts even if he couldn’t see the trails! Hopefully he, and the rest of the team will make it up here for some rides before the season kicks off. You can’t beat a bit of Northern Exposure.

Our new team name is Syncros Endurance and our new team blog is http://syncros-endurance.blogspot.com  Our bikes will be pimped up with tasty Syncros finishing kit… fantastic components worthy of the bikes we’ll be riding…. Yep, you’ve guessed it, they’ll be Santa Cruz. Next season I’ll be on board a Carbon Blur.

Now, if you’d asked me, ‘What bike would you be riding if money was no object?’, I’d say a Carbon Blur. Beautifully designed. Perfectly crafted. Functionally as damn near perfect as a mile munching bike can be. And the final build is going to be light… around the 22lb mark. This is no one trick pony either; these bikes can hammer trails in a way that many race specific machines can’t. Perfect for my general Riding as well as my Racing.

When the bike gets built up, I’ll post more info and some pics.

I’m feeling incredibly motivated for 2010. No better way to channel that energy into the trail than through the best race bike chassis on the market. Here’s to the new season.