Gore Road and MTB Ruthin

Following I entered the Ruthin one with Phil and Paul from work. Turning this one into a bit of a stag do for Paul we opted to enter the mountain bike race on the Sunday and camp over.

We arrived late after a little fun with M5/M6 traffic and ended up pitching tents in the dark. This was Paul’s first camping trip so it was funny seeing him get to grips with a tent by car headlight.

The planned format for the weekend was the 90 mile road race on the Sat and the 50 MTB on the Sunday.

Waking up in the mist on Saturday I wasn’t feeling the love but Phil’s magic porridge made things better. The boys called me a princess as I slept with ear plugs and an eye mask – essential camping equipment if you ask me!

As we were up early we set off pretty much straight away, around 8. I chose to ride and have a natter with the boys and take in the scenery; not that I was feeling particularly bike fit anyway. In my head I was hoping that the altitude benefits from Everest would see me through.

Phil wasn’t having the best time of it, although he did put in some serious effort, and had to take the sort route. Cramps are not fun on a bike. I then rode on with Paul for another 40 past Bala. I left him where I thought we would be doing a big climb but it came later than expected. I kept an eye out for Paul at the next food stop but had to continue as it was getting nippy.

Event Pic: Phil and I

Event Pic: The bolt pose for Alex, the missing rider

I eventually caught up with a guy called Keith and we swapped stories about trekking and climbing. I really enjoy meeting new people on rides. It also helped hammer out a few miles. He left me at Horseshoe pass as my legs began to feel the strain. I felt no shame though as he said he was a specialist climber. The first half of the pass was awful, I felt like I was riding through treacle (see my face in this event pic). After the switch back I found some pace and ripped up the remainder. Unfortunately I cooled on the descent and picked up cramp. The final few miles were miserable and painful (see my finish picture).

I awoke Sunday morning feeling pretty sore and my bum didn’t like the moutain bike saddle. I was borrowing Mark’s GT and I had a brand new pair of shoes to add to the pain party. Mountain bikers are a bit more laid back than roadies. This was reflected in the 9.30 start. Actually it was quite eventful as the town center roads were closed and we joined around 1000 bikers in a mass start.

The main things I noticed about mountain bikers vs roadies is that there’s not much road discipline and the majority can’t climb for toffee. At the first big hill we bottle necked as people slowed to a snails pace. I used the extra gears to spin face and overtake where possible. With the granny cog I could really up the cadence and flew up the hill. Unfortunately if someone stopped it generally had the effect of stopping us all.

We ended up doing the 25k route as Paul’s leg was hurting. No matter though as he’d he’d completed the long road ride, his furthest to date. There wasn’t as much technical downhill as we’d liked but still enough for me to test out the GT and Paul and Phil to end up in the gorse.

Had a superb time away with the boys and can’t wait to get back on the mountain bike.

A final word must go out to the Ruthin organisers in the form of thanks for superb organisation, signposting and location.

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