May.
Should’ve been getting warmer and sunnier, after all, we’re talking late Spring aren’t we!
Didn’t seem to work out that way though, with one if the wettest and coldest Mays on record I think. And after a pretty damn good April, it was definitely a bit of a shock.
I got my first Covid vaccine jab on the first day of the month (a Saturday), which meant I had to turn down a winch and plummet ride at Minehead the following day. As I had no idea how my body would react to getting the microchip installed and there being a very real chance of Bill Gates mobilising me for the revolution the very next day, I had to say no, in case things took a turn for the worse in some way on the way up or whilst out riding. As it turned out, I only had a bit of a tired feeling in the arm, so stayed local and hooked up with a few mates for a late Spring evening play about on the bikes.
Now, whilst my race mates are mostly about big rides with lots of climbing and descending, the CFR crew are the complete opposite…go ride a 60 second track over and over again, maybe even just one corner and generally get some rad photos whilst throwing some ride-related banter about.
So that’s what we did. And it was good fun. But kicked off a month of not much bike mileage and so not much improvement in fitness or technical skills in prep for the PMBA ‘Epic’ enduro at the end of the month.
The middle of the month saw my first race of 2021 with a local enduro hosted by Edge Cycles in their new ‘back garden’. With a hidden steep valley tucked away behind, the shop had put some hefty work in over the previous weeks to craft four steep but flowy trails in preparation for the latest ‘Kernow Enduro’.
Having seen some prelim POV vids of the trails, I entered the hardtail category for a change, as the trails looked pretty smooth and I had an itch that need scratching – I really fancied getting the Laufey between the tapes to see what it was like!
The run up to race day was wet. I mean really wet. Like, it felt like it never stopped raining-wet. Knowing that these were barely ridden, fresh cut trails, I knew race conditions were going to be bad. A tactical swap of the front wheel from the Rallon, with a knobblier Michelin Wild Enduro, over the Maxxis Minion DHF, ended up being a good call…but changing MTB SPD shoes for football boots, would’ve been better. Half way into the first practice run of Stage 1, and the tyres were clogged up solid and bodies everywhere sliding down a lengthy off-camber section, whilst clutching to bikes, complete with mud-doughnuts for wheels. My race run of this stage would later result in pushing the bike for most of the stage, but it was the same for everyone, so whoever could walk/slide the fastest, would result in some unusual times.
With a ‘mash-up’ style race, I could’ve done Stage 1 again, but I couldn’t face more competitive Moonwalking, but the other 3 stages were fun with steep turns to slide through and were made weirdly fun in the conditions! With Covid rules applying, results and podiums weren’t on the cards but when I got home, they’d been uploaded and I was pretty surprised to find I was second in the hardtail category. Rad.
The month ended with the ‘big’ race – the PMBA ‘Epic’ at Graythwaite in the Lake District, which also doubled up as the first round of the British National Enduro Series. This was my third entry to this event and has become a firm favourite within our race crew, and although not the 10 stage, 7 hour epic it was back on my first go, due to local tree disease spread and obviously Covid-19, it’s still a tiring day on the bike.
14 miles and a thousand metres of climbing (most of which, is pushing bikes up hills) of all-natural trails with the odd feature added in by the trail building crew, is still tricky enough to race in this area, but plenty of rain in the preceding days and weeks and little-ridden rooty trails, made it even trickier.
I had a pretty terrible practice day on the Saturday, not feeling comfortable on the bike, which manifested in 3 hefty crashes along the way. I also snapped the cable on my dropper seat post but fortunately came prepared and thanks to some trailside help from mates, got it fixed and was able to carry on. For several reasons, I just felt like a rookie racer all over again, so when race day came, I was full of self-doubt. Stage 1 did not go well and on the pedal up to Stage 2, I was genuinely considering dropping out. I just wasn’t feeling it.
I mental note to get my shit together and just ride rather than race forced me to carry on. Stage 2 wasn’t much better for me but the latter stages went without major issues, although nowhere near as quick as I felt I could be. It was a hot day and the view at the top of ‘Nick’s Party Line’ together with the customary ‘PMBA’ ale at the end made up for my lackluster race pace (58th of 102 in category) but this weekend was always going to be about making the most of being able to get away on a proper road trip for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic and having some fun with mates. And that, it delivered!
So anything else for May?
Well, I finally picked up the One-up Components EDC tool after lusting after it for years! I keep it in my One-up 70cc pump so can finally go truly packless for all but the biggest and hottest of rides. It does kinda render the EDC Lite I installed on my hardtail at Christmas a bit useless but the EDC tool carrier does work without the multitool installed, if I want to keep that in the Lite headset carrier.
I also entered a gravel bike event, the Devon Grit, which is in August. After upgrading my Genesis CdF a couple months ago and having a grav-love in for a few weeks, I haven’t ridden the bike much since…mostly because the back wheel developed an annoying regular click (probably hub bearings) and I haven’t gotten round to fixing it yet! Still, I’m looking forward to the event as it’s something different and I’ll be doing it with one or two old riding mates whom I haven’t ridden with in years, so again, it’s great to have events back in again as it gets people back together again after what’s been a tough old time for a lot of people. Another Covid wave seems to be kicking off again as I write, so fingers crossed that events font get cancelled 🤞
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