Here we are. 2021. A new year and for the first time in a lonnnnnng time, a new blog post!
With not much else to do other than ‘Stay home, Save the NHS and Protect lives’, (but go to work if you can…if you can’t, stay home…unless you need a KFC…then go out, but stay local…unless you need an eye test, then go as far as you like…), I’ve decided to occupy my tiny little mind by bringing the blog back.
We all had, and are still having, a very surreal experience with Covid-19, but from my absolutely inconsequential riding life, here’s how ‘Twenny Twenny’ went down..
Before it went batshit crazy, I’d been looking forward to 2020. I was moving up an age category for racing, from Masters to Veterans, and was aiming for consistent top 10 finishes and a podium finish at a regional level enduro race. I’d also entered my first Enduro World Series race, the Trophy of Nations race at Finale Ligure, Italy which, taking place on my 40th birthday weekend, would be an awesome way to celebrate with. That would also be my first ever riding trip abroad, so to say I had high hopes for the year, was a massive understatement.
What’s that coming over the hill, is it a monster?
No, it’s Covid-19.
The year didn’t start well. Riding home from work one mid-January evening, whilst going around a roundabout, I got hit by a car thanks to the driver ‘not seeing me’. A fair cop…1200 lumens from one light and the flashing lighhouse attached to my helmet, could be ‘tricky’ to see 🙄 ‘Fortunately’ his car took more damage than my bike and I got away fairly lightly, with only a deep glass-filled gash in my knee, but that definitely wasn’t the bang I wanted to start the year with.
By early March, race season was starting to look shakey as organisers were frantically trying to figure out whether things can go ahead or not thanks to rapidly escalating ‘rona’. I managed to get a couple of races in that month, with a Mini Enduro race at the Forest of Dean at the start of the month first. It was wet and muddy and cold and I wasn’t feeling as fit as I wanted for my first race of the year (having to re-do one of the four stages after a timing malfunction didn’t help!) but 11th out of 71 was a good start.
A couple of weeks later, and the first round of the Southwest Kenda Enduro series dropped into Haldon Forest, just south of Exeter. This one got in just before lockdown V1, and the weather was hideous! Freezing cold and muddy. Oh so funkin’ muddy! Stage 1 had a horrible 1 or 2 minute pedal near the start over flat terrain and on wet, slick roots….no real warm up – resting to maximum heart rate before you can shout ‘XC WANKER!’ Horrible! I rode around with fellow Cornwall Freerider and local race legend, Jason Gidney and with us being pretty evenly matched, the race banter was in full flow…mostly from Jason. He’d entered the 2020 Trans Madeira race, which on a shitty day like today, sounded like paradise. I finished 8th of 51 so was stoked with a top 10 and in conditions I don’t normally feel fully confident in. But where did Jason finish in our friendly rivalry??!…6th, 5 seconds ahead after the four stages #shakes fist#
Lockdown kicked in a week later so the next few months were just a case of riding local and keeping fairly mellow. Although I love racing bikes, for the first time in a few years, it was nice just go out for chilled rides, explore my local area and revisit tracks and trails I’d not ridden in years. In recent years, I usually found myself feeling like most MTB rides had to have a high degree of ‘winch & plummet’, even if that meant driving 1 or 2 hours to get to some decent hills, so just going out with a mindset of enjoying local riding was kinda liberating. Covid-19 had made XC riding cool again but a turn up of the sun dial also massively helped.
That said, it wasn’t all rosey. Most of my riding is solo which I’m mostly fine with. It’s good to get away from things and people and just indulge in my own bike time and the sound of Maxxis 3C bouncing off ancient Cornish granite. But I like riding with others just as much and as the summer rolled on, I started to feel quite lonely on rides. The last few years, I’ve ridden on and off with a local riding group, and those winch and plummet type rides have been with my race mates from over the Devon border. But with few local group rides and no travel, it was just me and that wasn’t enough after a while and I lost motivation to ride for several weeks. Bikes are fun but like most things, they’re better with mates and I realised that I don’t really have anyone I can count on locally to kick me up the arse, when the mojo isn’t there. It didn’t help scrolling through Facebook, Instagram and Strava, seeing people out making the most of the weather or furlough or just good riding and I really had FOMO at times.
Lockdown V1 stopped and August saw a chance for Southern Enduro to run a slimmed down version of the Southern Enduro Champs at the usual banging private venue at Minehead, Somerset. Instead of the usual format with Saturday practice of 10 stages and race on the Sunday, the ‘Covid-safe’ version would be five stages raced blind on Saturday and then mostly the same 5 stages raced again on Sunday, in a smaller geographical area with ‘social distancing of course’.
Yet again, and unusually for the Southern Enduro Champs, the weather was crap! More mud, more rain and some good ol’ southwest mist mixed in. The 2020 shortened season appeared to be invoking the spirit of the ‘Enduro Wet Series’!
I’ve always loved the blind racing format but it’s rarely used these days, partly because ‘locals’ have an unfair advantage with trail knowledge, so a practice session evens things out a touch for non-locals. Well, that played out true to form for me, having raced there a few times before and after day 1, I was sitting in 8th place. I didn’t ride as well though on Day 2 and got caught by a sniper root near the end of the final stage, getting sent to the ground followed by frantic fumbling to get back up and figure out which way the handlebars are pointing before moving again. I dropped to 12th of 49 and whilst it was great to be racing again after five months off, I was so frustrated at myself for throwing away a top 10 on the final stage 😤
By this point, with little race action, a drop in time on the bike and Coronavirus restrictions in full effect everywhere, the idea of racing the EWS race in September, just didn’t seem like a wise move. The race was still going ahead but with so many uncertainties, including my confidence in completing a big, hard race on my first trip abroad, and coming out of it with body and bike unscathed, I cancelled my entry somewhat reluctantly.
Maybe this year? Or probably next! And after seeing Jason do well at a rescheduled Trans Madeira, together with Brendog’s videos from the same race, I REALLY want to Trans Madeira now!
2020 was mostly about hardtail riding. My Orbea Laufey, bought late 2019, is a fun trail hardtail and is perfect for local riding. The enduro bike was hardly touched all year! It was intended to be my cheap second bike…the ‘winter hack’, but it’s ended up being the go-to when I head out for a few hours riding. Come my final race of the year, I was even really tempted to race on it.
One thing I did notice this year with more people walking and riding in the countryside, was more litter being dropped. I ride packless most of the time so if I see the odd wrapper out, I’ll pick it up and stick it my pocket to put it in a bin later, but that’s about all I can manage. Occasionally, I’ll make a specific trip to my local woods with a pack and a bin bag and do a proper clean up. I can never understand the disrespect of nobheads (riders, walkers, whatever) who can take this with them but can’t be arsed to take it back with them. Anyway, I hooked up with Dom at the awesome Trash Free Trails to help out with a Halloween Trail Clean in October/November of some more local woods. So many Monster Energy cans and Lucozade bottles were picked up…seriously, why are kids drinking that shit?!
Another thing I tried this year…using a turbo trainer. Oh yeah, I said it. Before this year, the thought of riding indoors was something I never thought I’d do. I mean, come on, riding your bike for an hour and not actually going anywhere is mind numbing just saying it. I won’t lie…I panic bought a smart trainer at the start of Lockdown V1 in case we weren’t allowed out at all. Like, literally the day before. And it stayed in it’s box unopened for 2 months and 3 weeks until I thought, I’d best decide now whether I’m keeping it, or take it back before the extended return period ended! I opened it up, set it up and tried it out…and kept it. I’ve discovered that actually its a pretty good thing to have. Great for training and during the winter when riding a bike involves more time cleaning after the ride than actually riding the damn thing, it’s a good alternative to have when you’ve just had enough of the endless ‘ride, rinse, repeat’ cycle. Maybe that’s just me!
Coming to the end of the year and there was one final race able to be squeezed in after a Lockdown V2 (or was it V1.5?)…a mini downhill race at the new Bikepark Kernow, near St Austell. The small local bike park opened earlier in the summer and together with The Track, Old Hill and Woody’s, means there are more riding options than ever in Cornwall, which is awesome to see.
I was very tempted to race the hardtail but opted for the bouncy bike, if only to treat it to a day out for once. Again, wet and muddy conditions were the deal and race organiser, Adam Lock, mixed together a couple of the trails into one track with some fresh sections to keep it interesting. Two timed runs went down after practice and I was in 2nd place after Run 1 but dropped to 3rd with a slightly quicker but not mistake-free Run 2. Still, on the podium finally which was great and a little high to finish the year on!
So there we have it…a strange old year. Much more chilled out, much less expensive and very much solo.
What’s 2021 gonna be like?? Much the same it looks! There won’t be much racing until at least the second half of the year and with Lockdown V3 in effect right now and no travelling for riding for a while, it looks like another year of mellow local rides, mostly on my own and mostly on the hardtail.
Like elsewhere in life at the moment, gotta focus on the positives, on what you can control and ride this storm out. Things will get better…just maybe not til 2022!
Cover photo: Ian Lean/Trash Free Trails
orena45blog - MTB Riding & Racing 