As I drove down the M3 the rain reduced the visibility drastically and the traffic slowed to 60 mph. If I had not pre-entered the SAMS I would have considered turning round, in fact I still considered turning round but the thought of throwing £17 down the drain, a vain hope it might be sunny in Erlestokedown, and a curiosity to find out if other people really were racing in these conditions meant I ploughed on.
The car park was busy and the rain had eased when I arrived, and the ladies lined up at 12.49 to a reduced number of laps over a slightly shortened course. Bravely (or stupidly) I removed my waterproof and handed to an awaiting Cecil Duguid, and as usual we wondered what had happened to Lydia. Arriving as we were about to start Stuart Sidebottom removed her jacket and lined her up.
A good start saw me and Sophie Johnson getting a gap on the other girls, half way round the first lap she was going well through the muddy section and pulled out a bit of a lap only to puncture a few minutes later. Lydia soon caught me up and we rode and pushed the second lap together, getting increasingly cold. Drinking was hard as the bottle was coated in mud. I slipped on the chalky down hill at the end of the second lap falling hard on my side and being slightly winded but was OK, Lydia rode on but the biggest problem was my gloves which were covered in mud making holding onto the grips super tricky, but I continued into the third lap. Painfully cold and soaked through from the rain and deep puddles every time the course left a wood section and onto a field the cold wind caught me and took away my breath like getting into an outdoor swimming pool. Hands and feet were numb and I looked forward to the climb, actually the warmest part of the lap where I wasn’t moving as fast. At the top I was lapped by Will Bergerfelt running, closely pursued by Graham Warby and Dan Duguid not far behind.
I finished and dived for the car, couldn’t get my gloves off to get into the car, tried to clean myself and pour some coffee, shivering uncontrollably I just tipped in down my jeans. Tried to wash the mud off my legs with a bottle of water, it didn’t make much impact.
Despite all everyone had a good day and it felt like a ‘proper’ mountain bike race, the next one is on May 16th at Bordon.
Rebecca Webb
