Matt Page Blog: NPS Rd1, Sherwood Pines
6th April
This weekend saw me enter my first XC race in almost three years, jumping right back in at the National Series. I had been undecided on racing for the few weeks leading up to the event, but finally decided to give it a go five days before. I felt the long journey would ultimately be worth it, as it is incredibly hard, if not impossible to recreate race conditions and pace when training.
Having not raced XC for several years I have not had a racing licence, as they are not required for endurance events. The consequences of this were that I had to race in the Sport category, as British Cycling would not allow me to enter Expert, which is the level I raced at previously. Worse still, because I had no ranking points from last year I would not get a grid slot, so I would be starting right at the back of the capacity 80 rider field on a course that is notoriously difficult to overtake.
The week leading up to the event had been a completely normal training week, I was not resting or easing up for the race, even doing a 60 mile MTB ride on the Friday before. Most of Saturday was spent travelling to the event, with just enough time to put in three practice laps. From the practice laps it was evident that the race was going to be very fast as the course was mostly flat, with long, twisty single-track sections separated by short fire road blasts. The only long fireroad was a slight uphill drag soon after the Start/Finish line. There would be no rest or recovery time at all.
At the start of the race I was in the 7th row back, with each row having roughly eight riders. I knew from then that this was going to be a tough race! Fast, mass starts are alien to me these days, so when the gun went I just gave it everything and tried to claw back as many places as possible. On the drag out of the start I managed to pass several riders, but I still had what seemed to be an endless stream of riders ahead. The whole first lap was a slow and frustrating affair. I was stuck behind riders on singletrack sections with no opportunities to pass. When any short wider sections came I used them to pass a couple of riders each time. By the end of the 1st lap I had clawed my way into 12th place, although at the time I had no idea of what position I was in during the race.
The second and third laps I tried to keep the pace high while still catching and passing riders ahead. I was also passing the slower Junior and Expert riders who started two and four minutes ahead of us, which made things tricky. I was feeling strong, so just kept pushing as hard as I could, as the race was only 4 laps I knew my endurance would carry me through.
Starting the 4th lap I caught a glimpse of three or four riders at the end of the long drag, I guessed and hoped that these would be the leaders of the race so put everything into catching them. By halfway round I’d passed one of them, and had another in my sights. We had a bit of a battle as I tried to get past, finally managing to do so shortly before the finish. Coming into the final straight he was right on my wheel and we were both sprinting flat out, I gave it everything as I honestly didn’t know if I was sprinting for a podium place or 20th! I crossed the line inches ahead of him, to take what I later found out to be 4th position.
Considering everything that happened I am quite happy with that. My lap times; first lap excluded were very consistent: 21:16, 20:50, 20:56, 20:50.
This is what I am most pleased about, as when I used to race XC before my lap times were never consistent. I’ve certainly got the bug back for shorter racing, and if I feel able to fit any more into my season I will as they are great for training.
I used my Garmin Edge 705 during the race to monitor my HR and lap times. I have uploaded the data to Motion Based, it is available here