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Here’s the now-traditional ace video of the event from my mate Simon and his lad Will. Enjoy. (warning Freaky Manc dance moves)

In the last few weeks I’ve been busy with (amongst a lot of other things) talking to new sponsors for the rest of this and hopefully next year. Dave’s been doing the same and we’ve both had varying degrees of success.

Ragley look after me exceptionally well and I’m racing on some ace machinery that not only keep me reasonably competitive but also help me to enjoy ‘just riding bikes’. There are loads of new products emerging from them in the next few months so I’ll be providing updates as and when new bits appear on the bike. I’ve also been riding with Squirt Lube for a while now too – it’s great to do a 24 hour race or stupidly-long training ride and not have to reapply chain lube.

The observant readers out there will have no doubt noticed some other logos that have appeared over there on the left <–

First off, JMC IT are kindly making a valuable contribution to my racing costs and providing the use of a great big van with lots of seats.  One of the hardest parts of 24 hour racing (aside from racing for 24 hours, obviously) is actually getting everything and everyone who’s helping out to and from races and the high cost of entering them, so this kind of support is absolutely fantastic. It will keep me racing, in other words.

I’m now also being supported by 2Pure who will be keeping the engine running by supplying me with Clif bars, Shot Bloks, recovery products and energy drinks as well as 2 different varieties of Chamois Butt’r – Euro-style tingly and non-tingly varieties that is. I’ve already decided which is my favourite

The chamois cream is a new one for me, I’ve been using ‘another brand’ for some years now so I will report back on the state of my butt in due course. (I’ve actually got rather a lot of Chamois Butt’r so if you want a sample please just ask).

I’ve been using Clif energy products in races and in training for a while now. The energy bars are the bars that taste most like ‘normal’ food in my opinion (like cakes in fact) and I’ve avoided sickness, the dreaded bonk and cramp by using Clif Shot carb/electrolyte drink at all my 24 hour races so far this year. I also gave a couple of bottles to Phil when he cramped up 6 hours into the Grizedale 12 hour race and he went on to finish 4^th…so he’s also a convert too.

We’ve now formalised ‘Team JMC /Ragley’ (we weren’t allowed to have ‘Team Awesome’) –  all of the sponsors I’ve mentioned are supporting us both now so that we can carry on racing lots, continue the tradition of The Daft Ride and hopefully maintain the form we’ve both been enjoying for some time.

Wait until you see the gorgeous new jerseys

Follow Team JMC / Ragley on Twitter

Hit the North 2 was a big success. Despite having less than half the number of people taking part that we should have had, despite the previous 4 months leaving us feeling that this was the last one that we’d do, it turned out to be bloody fantastic. Again. Except this time it was even better….

After the race had finished and everything had been put away, I wrote the following blog post with my usual organiser’s perspective of the event but with an added ‘this is the end’ aspect. We’d already announced publicly that the show was over anyway and surprisingly nobody has really tried to persuade us to carry on (is that a good thing or not? I dunno). Anyway, the post in full;

People say that once something stops being fun, it’s time to quit. Mostly, planning Hit the North 2 wasn’t fun. It was a few months of anxiety and extra plugging because of low entry numbers on top of the regular hard work involved with organising a reasonably large event.

Despite our claims that we do things ‘for a laugh’ and ‘we make this up as we go along’, in reality Andrew and I both want to do things properly so that everyone who pays to take part get great value for money, our sponsors are happy to be associated with a quality event and the numerous people that help us out for nothing (or next to nothing) aren’t left with a load of hassle, something broken that we borrowed or a mess somewhere on their land.

The amount of work had increased anyway (due to there being now two of us doing this rather than three) plus both our families are not getting any smaller. The time when I wasn’t training (which takes a significant amount of time, obviously), I was either at work or I was sending emails, bombarding Internet forums with pleas for more entries, leading course preview rides, writing risk assessments or cutting back 6 miles worth of prickly weeds on someone else’s land.

It just wasn’t fun anymore. If anything it had become a pain in the arse.

After we’d set everything up on Friday, watched as Mark 1 and Mark 2 organised the army of marshals, got excited as the early arrivals set up their tents and caravans, chatted with seldom-seen friends we talk to face-to-face only when we host a race and we made sure caterers had everything they needed to crack on, we got into character ready for the big start….

After sounding the siren on the PA for a few seconds, eventually the amassed racers heard it (it sounded loud to me, with my ear almost touching the speaker) and off they went for the Le Mans-style run with a difference. Many races have a run at the start to spread out the field so that a huge queue at the first singletrack section is avoided. Normally it’s quite short and tame…so we decided that ours would be quite long and very not-tame. Sending the run route down a muddy bank, through a stream, up a slippery steep bank, along a narrow track then up a flight of concrete steps wasn’t held dear in the hearts of many people judging by the looks on their faces but it served its purpose. There was a good 10 minutes separating the first riders back to the start finish and the ones at the back Like I said, we do things properly. With a great big hammer.

The race went on for the next 8 hours and apart from everyone loving the course, the laid-back vibe and the awesome music being played by Michael at his marshal point at the top of the horrible unrideable climb, not a great deal happened. Nothing ‘bad’ anyway. The medical team had a barbecue and fannied around on their quad bike because they were bored, some people raced very fast, some cyclocross riders showed how to shoulder a bike and skip up a hill, some people rode quite slowly but ‘purposefully’. The caterers dressed as pirates and served amazing food as usual, the beer tent served pints of real ale whilst the DJ played into the small hours (which technically could have been viewed by the police as an illegal rave but with 80’s music and bitter rather than techno, Es and whizz).

It was as good as ever. If anything, it was the best HTN ever.

The good stuff:

Donating cash to charity. This could sound like a cliché and a bit cheesy, but it’s important. For me, it’s the most important thing. Giving away our profit to people and organisations that need it more than we do MAKES THE HASSLE WORTH IT. We’ve not got a lot of profit this time to give away, but someone local will be better off as a result that’s for certain.

People entering and quite literally LOVING the event. People who race a lot love it. People who never normally race love it and only ever enter HTN.

People who travel hundreds of miles to be here.

Meeting and becoming friends with some truly ace people.

Getting permission to do all this from the nice people who own or manage the land that we use – it’s easier than you might think as long as you ask nicely.

Watching other people in addition to us doing big things and giving up huge amounts of their own time for not much more than a cup of tea and a warm handshake to make it happen.

Our brilliant sponsors – JMC IT, Ragley Bikes, Hotlines, Cloversoul, Cooksons Cycles and all the sponsors that have helped us in the past with paying for stuff for us or giving us stuff to give to people who finish on the podium.

Thanks for your support. We love you all.

Results

Some pics

some more pics

People saying nice things

Blog posts from:

Twinklydave

Jon

One Black Dot

Here Come The Belgians

Before I published the text above on this blog I went for a ride. Nothing spectacular about that, just one of regular training routes over towards Macclesfield. It was raining and I was thinking hard about what I’d written and the nagging feeling that deep down I just didn’t believe my own drivel. We’d been speaking to a couple of guys about the future of Hit the North and they were very interested in taking it on – however the thing is, I didn’t really want that to happen at all, despite appearances to the contrary.

I know the lads we had been talking to and I’ve no doubt at all that they’d do a grand job (perhaps even a better job!), but unlike Andrew I’m not ready to walk away from this just yet. I feel bad that I may have messed people around but everyone will get over that I’m sure.

I stopped at the side of the road and hid from the rain in a bus shelter. I texted Andrew to tell him that I was going to carry on and I immediately felt an immense sense of relief. It was a proper Road To Damascus moment. Hit the North was going to carry on as normal and the only thing that would make it die would be when nobody wanted to do it anymore. Last weekend had taught me that plenty of people still want to do it…so that’s good enough for me.

It’s going to be hard on my own, but I won’t’ really be on my own at all –  I’m sure that at least some of the offers of help that were there last weekend will still be there in the months to come. It’ll be hard but at the same time exciting, unpredictable and awesome – a bit like solo 24 hour racing…and I’m good at that.

See you at Hit the North – The Resurrection (or something) – February 2011….

It’s raining this week, which in the context of regular Mancunian weather is perfectly normal and should be expected. It has however been dry and warm for almost as long as I can remember – we’ve even got a hosepipe ban, just like when we were kids… so for the rain to arrive right now, a few days before Hit the North, is a right bloody slap in the mouth. It looks like there’s a few days worth of it out to the west too,gradually turning the dusty fast trails of last week into…well you know what.

Ah well. It could be worse. At least I’m not racing eh?

SEE YOU AT THE WEEKEND HIT THE NORTH’ERS – THE KETTLE’S ON!

I went for a run today for the first time in about 5 months. I took it quite easy as it’s been a long time and I was also carrying a carrier bag of very sharp gardening tools. I ran out to a certain part of the Hit the North 2 course to make a start on the superb job of cutting back the weeds with a scythe so that we can fit a hundred or so cyclists on it. All was going well until I was noticed by the local swarm of carnivorous flying insects…needless to say I ran away.

‘A hundred or so cyclists’ should have read ‘three hundred or so cyclists’, but for some reason this race almost died before we got started. It’s going ahead now – just. A third of rider capacity on a 7 mile course for 8 hours…it’s going to be ‘thin’ out there. For those that have entered, the race promises to be a unique and sometimes lonely experience. Why not enter? We’re not shutting up shop for another 10 days or so.

Apart from that, I’m getting back into a training routine now following a few days rest, eating and just having fun on my bike after Mountain Mayhem. Still to come this year are the Kielder 100 (which I expect to be super-ace and will be my main ‘thing’ as far as training is concerned), The 3 Peaks Cyclocross (if I get in) and Dusk Till Dawn (now doing this solo instead of in a pair).

There’s also at least one very, very, very Daft Ride before the end of the summer and a nice long hilly road sportive in August that I’ve got my eye on…

Might be some BIG news soon too – watch this space

My name is Andy Gowan and I smell of cheese!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well

No

Not really… we’re testing to see if the @hotlines_europe twitter account just uses an RSS feed – http://twitter.com/shedfire/status/16926508775

My previous blog post about ‘dust’ was quite prophetic in that ‘dust’ was a big feature at this year’s Mountain Mayhem. After the traditional Le Mans-style run to start the race I embarked on my first lap and was immediately badly affected by the huge clouds of dust that were being thrown into the air by hundreds of wheels. I’d had a nagging cough for a couple of weeks, so my tolerance to suddenly breathing in airborne particles was pretty much nil – after every lap for the first 6 or so hours I was having to stop in the solo tent to almost cough up a lung, my chest and ribs were aching as a result, I was having trouble breathing properly and with bloodshot eyes and a concern that I was only going to get worse I was considering calling it a day right there and then.

Luckily Deb (who along with shifts from Phil, Michael and Official Ragley Pit Helper Wayne was going to be my race support for the next 24 hours) said all the right things to me at this time, including pointing out that this, despite the respiratory nightmare, was my best start to a 24 hour race ever and that I should perhaps consider a dose of MTFU.

After 20 minutes of staring at the floor of the solo tent and throwing up my most recent energy bar, I decided to crack on. I’ve not dropped out of one of these things since 2006 and I wasn’t going to do that today. Some Ibuprofen did help to reduce the swelling in my throat and I started to move up the field from 7^th into 4^th place. I was getting faster as a result of being able to breathe better – I was getting my rhythm back and things were slightly less difficult.

The course at this year’s Mayhem in my opinion was the best yet, undoubtedly helped by the fact that it hasn’t rained properly for ages, the mix of sticky plasticine woods (honestly), steep gravelly climbs, fast ‘pedally’ singletrack and dust-and-danger-filled plummets contrasting with the widely held belief that these races are held ‘around the edge of a field’.

I rode as consistently as I could whilst I languished in 4th, despite some irritating mechanical problems, well, not really mechanical as such – more like ‘my bloody seat pack has fallen off again’ type of problems. Finally I got pissed off with that and swapped the other seatpack off the Scandal onto the TD:1 race bike and carried on until I got a puncture. Then a torn rear tyre… I made sure though that even though I used the spare bike to full effect to keep the pit stop time down, I’d only do one lap on it before swapping back to the much more capable Ragley.

In between bouts of sleeping, looking after the kids and some even racing in the mixed team category, everyone taking turns in the pit helper role had been working together to give me unwavering support by making sure that everything was there within seconds of asking for it (a particular kind of food, a bike that needed mending, a bottle to grab as I rode through the pit) since the race had begun, had each been taking turns keeping me informed about my position in the race for the last few hours.  I knew that Rob Lee, who was when I last looked about 10 minutes behind me, had dropped out entirely so the gap behind me to Mike Hall was now almost an hour (and would remain about that for the remainder of the race. I had been taking a few minutes per lap off my now-regular opponent James Leavesley for some time now too. The laps were ticked off BANG BANG BANG until I finally passed James for the first time. I didn’t realise I had until I came into pit, closely followed by James who did a super-quick bottle change and off he went, just when I’d been handed a pan of warm Ravioli. Bugger.

Oh well, no time for that then, cheerio! Off I went in pursuit, catching then passing James on the first climb – being called a bastard as I found a little bit more power just to force the bike over the brow of the hill and off into 3rd place…

The next time I saw James he had dropped out and had apparently bonked. Medical staff were involved at the time but he’s fine now. I checked.

Still in darkness, I was told that I was also gaining on Dave so I should just keep on going. The problem was, I knew I didn’t have a ‘catch Dave’ in me any more, never mind a ‘get past him and ride to 2nd place ensuring he doesn’t overtake you back’. We would have to see what happens though.

The reality was that Dave and Ant White in front of him were both likely to be hurting loads but were unlikely to slow down much. Mike back in 4th wasn’t gaining on me. 6 hours to go. You’ve got to keep things together now or it’s all going down the toilet. I’d never felt so spent in my entire life but I knew I had to run on reserve for the remainder of the race….ride every climb. Stay consistent. Leave that granny ring well alone. eat! eat! After a frantic update on the state of play and specifically how far in front of Mike Hall I still was from a fast-running Budge, I was pretty sure the podium finish was in the bag with by then just an hour of racing to go.

If you told me at the start of the race I’d finish on the podium, I probably wouldn’t have believed you, but that’s how it ended. A near-repeat of the Strathpuffer podium but without a picnic bench to stand on and a different bloke in top spot, but the same guys from Team Awesome on 2 and 3. We’d kicked ass at The Big One.

Wads of money and trophies in pockets, ice creams eaten and a feeling that this is the proper start of something bigger, more organised…

full results

It seems like we’re having a proper summer this year. I’m struggling to remember the last time I rode my bike in bad weather in fact (proper bad weather that is – prolonged heavy rain, snow, hail, fireballs, etc  - not a brief shower to dampen down the dust).

This coming weekend looks like it’s going to be more of the same too. In the past Mountain Mayhem, like the Glastonbury Festival, seems to have been cursed with wet weather. Mud so bad that wheels would stop turning, components would be removed forcefully from bikes by large wads of wet grass and the human spirit would be sapped away so quickly and so completely that people would stop at the side of the course, halfway through a 3 hour lap (that should have taken 50 minutes) and would start to cry. Or kick the crap out of their bike. Or both.

This year we’re having dust, sunshine, hardpacked trails, tyre choice that can realistically include semi-slicks and genuine, infectious happiness on the faces of racers, organisers and spectators. The only downside for me is the carpal tunnel syndrome in my wrists that I’m convinced I’m developing that can only be a result of riding a rigid bike for months on bumpy trails and race courses as dry as concrete. Here I go again, ’I really need to get around to sorting out my tubeless setup’. The ability to run 25 psi up front without getting a puncture sounds comfy. But would it be fast?

Anyway, I’m loving it. My pie-in-the-sky plans to force my entire family to move to another infinitely-less-shit climate are on hold. I’m thinking of the possibility of not having to replace an entire drivetrain on two bikes this year like I normally have to do and making them last, if I’m careful, another year. Or a bit of next year at least.

I’m loving the fact that whilst I’m racing for 24 hours I’m not feeling bad about the fact that I’ve once again dragged my wife and kids away from the warmth and shelter of the house to spend a weekend in another muddy field, at times having to hold onto all of our belongings to stop it all blowing away in a gale.

I know that when you read this, most of you will immediately think ‘Oh my god, he’s done it now!’, that I’m tempting fate and the heavens will open next week and won’t close, ever…so to counteract the inevitable effects on the weather of this blog post, I will be taking copious amounts of Goretex, spare gloves, the caravan (which we bought because the weather at UK races is ‘always wet’) and mud tyres to Mountain Mayhem.

As for the race, if I have anywhere near as much fun and excitement this weekend as I had at last weekend’s race, I’ll be very happy indeed. Whatever the outcome (although a good finish would be nice, obviously).

A nice, maybe chilled out 12 hour race, as a pair, seemed to be the ideal preparation for Mountain Mayhem in which Dave and I will both be racing solo. Sure, we’d have to battle hard to get a good result but we were here to have fun and to just enjoy it.

After a really early start I travelled up to Gisburn with Phil, Budge and Andy (who were all racing solo) I met up with the other half of Team Ragley and we set about dumping all of our food and spares next to the Cooksons gazebo. It was still early. There was an hour to go until the 7:30 am start….

Somehow drawing the short straw to do the run (I must remember Dave’s ‘do not get changed into cycling clothing’ ploy for next time) the race started and I puffed and wheezed my way up the gravel road to the start/finish area where my bike was. I’ve not done any running since autumn last year so to only lose a handful of places at this bit was an achievement…I started my first lap with the taste of blood in my throat.

not how to ride bendy bits

Obviously we were expecting a battle as with any race but we weren’t expecting Rich Rothwell and Ant White to be racing in the pairs too. Another pairs team from Leisure Lakes were also dishing it out and early in the race we appeared to be running in 6^th place. Soon afterwards and following a few more flat-out laps we were leading. We continued to lead the race until I had a disastrous lap where I had two punctures as a result of poor line choice, clumsiness and lightweight tubes. I really must get around to sorting out my tubeless setup….

That lap cost us a load of time and dropped us right back to 3^rd. Gutted, but we decided at that point (with about half of the race still to go) that we were going to still go for the win. Lap after heroic lap followed in one of the most exciting 6 hours of bike racing I’ve ever experienced. First the Leisure Lakes guys were overtaken, leaving some time still to make up on Rich and Ant. The sun was beating down on us but we were remaining consistent, we were closing on first place. They were also out for the win and the transitions were getting more and more frantic, until the point where I overtook Rich on the final part of a lap and came through the timing gate a whole nanosecond in front, shouting ‘DAAAAAVVVVE!!!’ like I was his mum or something. I could see him and Ant taking off their coats ready to receive the timing chips and off they went to start their penultimate lap…..

Dave was first back but I knew that 2^nd place was only a couple of minutes behind as I saw Ant riding into the transition pretty much as I was on the way out.

Big Lap. Give Dave a head start as much as possible.

Back into transition. Off Dave went. Turns out I’d given him about a 2 minute cushion.

Anxiety followed. The race would end at precisely 19:37 (the race had started seven minutes late), when no more laps could be started. I needed Dave to come back before Ant, but AFTER 19:37 (otherwise I’d be heading out for another bloody lap).

At 19:37:48 (ish), Dave crossed the line. We’d won. WE ROCKED. So much for ‘nice, maybe chilled out 12 hour race’ though.

Results here (you may notice that we were rocked so hard that we had in fact won the pairs, the teams, the solos, the whole bloody lot)

At the presentation we drank beer and feasted on the hottest chilli ever. It was so hot that most people couldn’t even finish it, there was more sweat being produced as a result of this stuff than had flowed from anyone’s pores during the race and even though the chef said he didn’t slip with the bottle of Insane Death Sauce, I think he did. Mental.

Saturday is exactly a week before Mountain Mayhem – the second 24 hour race I’m doing in the space of 4 weeks. Before this and to kick off my week-long taper (which follows a week of hard training, which itself followed 2 weeks of recovery from UK24), I’ll be racing at the Gisburn Dirty Dozen – a 12 hour lap-based race that uses the berm-tastic man made trails at Gisburn Forest. Racing for 12 hours solo a week before a 24 hour race wouldn’t be a great idea so I’m one half of the Ragley Bikes pairs team, Dave being the other half.

Despite my regular appearance at endurance events as a soloist, I must admit I fell in love with the pairs racing thing last October at Dusk til Dawn. The main reason for this is that you’re able to race your lap pretty much flat-out, safe in the knowledge that you’re going to have a period of time off the bike after each hard lap to recover, regain your composure, eat food without plastering it all over yourself, fix your makeup, that sort of thing.

You’re not waiting for ages and ages in between laps, getting stiff and frozen as you’re not waiting for 3 team mates to ride their laps and motivation to ride like a maniac comes from the fact that you’re letting your team mate down if you make a pigs ear of it or you decide to have an easy lap.

Basically it goes like this; “AAARRRGGHH….aahhh….AARRRGGGHHH….aaahhh….AAARRGGHH….aahhh”… and so on.

Dave and I have even got an unofficial fastest lap contest between us (although I’m not fully expecting to win this). Whether a 12 hour pairs race is good prep for Mayhem remains to be seen however next week is rest week, it has the chance of putting us both in a great frame of mind for the weekend after and remember this is all about having fun. And fun it’s going to be. The weather forecast even looks good.