Well, that was interesting!

After a very dry week, I woke up at 5am to the sound of gale force winds and a torrential downpour pounding on the tent! A slight exageration, but none the less, not the weather i was looking forward to for a 100k Mountain bike marathon.

Fortunately, it was a 10am start so time to roll back over and get some more sleep. 

The ride is a mass start event, the first 5 miles are escorted by a sponsors van and are on road, helps to split up the field a bit, then we're onto dirt and the fun begins!

In this case, the fun was a rocky, muddy climb that went from around 600ft to around 1300ft in the space of about 3 miles! At this point my mate Dean decided enough was enough and took the shorter route at the split, while i span on to try and get round the full course.

It's not long beofre i'm flying own a gravelly descent when the guy next to me wipes out fairly spectacularly, i breathe a sigh of relief that i manged to avoid riding over him, and spin back up the hill to check whether he's alright.

He's clutching his elbow, so i take a look "how does it look?" asks Graham. Having seen what might actualy be bone beneath the gouge in his elbow, i'm suitably non-commital "sit down before you fall down and i'll stick a plaster on it!"

Fortuantely, i'm in the habit of carrrying a Lifesystems pocket first aid kit pretty much all the time on the MTB, this is the first time i've had to use it in anger, but i was very glad i had it.

I escort him down to the nearest road, and then off to let the next marshall know.

Once this is done, it's time to put a bit of pace down to try and claw back some places. Really enjoying the riding, the suns come out, trails are drying - what can go wrong?

My freewheel, that's what! over the last few miles i've noticed a bit of a delay when going from freewheeling on the downs to peddaling on the ups, almost as though the pawls in the rear hub aren't gripping properly, when, on a sweet piece of undulating singletrack, there was an unhealthy cracking noise then no peddaling.

I tried a couple of quick fixes, but to no avail, so it was back to the previous checkpoint, where i managed to get a lift back to the event HQ.

In summary, a lot went on on this event! a had a great time, the riding was great and I was pleased to be able to help someone out in a sticky situaton, I was dissapointed not to finish thorough a mechanical, but thats part of life i guess.

5 hours total time, 35.5 miles ridden and 4800ft of ascent